The Insect King, Valkan, was a clever one.
Having lived for over a hundred years, he had accumulated many experiences.
Thanks to that, he understood his weaknesses very well.
He knew that his body was his greatest weakness.
That's why he possessed various means to protect his body from external threats.
Gourds, paralyzing poison, dimensional bugs, summons, and more...
In short, even if someone targeted his vulnerable main body, they would inevitably face considerable difficulties.
*Ugh...*
Though I hadn't overlooked this fact, experiencing it firsthand was truly annoying.
Even when I got close, I couldn't land a proper hit.
*...But that's fine.*
I forcibly calmed my anxious mind.
Time might be on his side, but there was no reason to become hasty.
I needed to whittle him down calmly.
Chip away at him until somehow I could make him use "that."
That was my primary objective for now.
Just as I was thinking this—
"Pierce through."
Suddenly, he muttered something. Purple magic circles began to form all around me.
A pattern I'd seen countless times in the game.
Before I could even think, my body moved first.
The next moment, numerous spikes erupted from where I had been standing.
Each spike was as thick as my thigh. Surprisingly, all these spikes were actually a type of insect.
*Dimensional Thorn Bug.*
The Insect King's greatest masterpiece and the guardians that always protected his fragile body.
These creatures, wrapped in dimensional magic, normally hide in spatial crevices, then draw their weapons out from beyond space when he calls them.
Fortunately they weren't poisonous, but since they could appear anywhere at any time, I always had to remain vigilant.
"Oh? You dodged that. How did you know?"
Ignoring his words, I charged straight at him.
As I swung my Holy Sword down again, another organic mechanism formed on his arm.
After more than five minutes of battle, quite a few organic mechanisms had appeared on his arms.
Though none of them were fatal wounds.
"Hehe, wonderful. This Hero Party is actually fun to fight. I heard the previous Hero was absolute garbage... seems they picked a good one this time?"
"I always think this, but you talk too much. Can't you just shut up and fight?"
Despite his wounds, which should be quite painful, he was still smiling leisurely.
He must think he still has the upper hand.
"You seem quite impatient, Hero. You must also know that time is not on your side?"
I glanced behind me.
I could see Adel and Camilla steadily slaying monsters. Having adapted to insect-type monsters, their killing speed was remarkably fast.
Even so, they couldn't keep up with the rate at which monsters emerged from the summoning circles.
"Struggle all you want. In the end, I will be the one left standing."
Valkan stretched out both hands and began forming hand seals.
For a moment, ominous magical energy writhed in his hands, then two more purple magic circles appeared.
They were similar to the monster summoning circles he had drawn earlier.
Soon, monsters began pouring out of the magic circles he had created.
Sand worms with acidic blood, one-meter-long beetles covered in spikes.
Seeing this, Camilla cursed.
"Damn it! There's no end to them!"
"Yulice! We need additional support. This isn't working!"
Seeing this, Valkan cackled.
"I can feel it. I can feel my children gradually converging here. You are all destined to be crushed to death by my children."
"I don't care how many come."
I gripped my sword.
The Saintess must have finished her prayer, as another light was seeping from the Holy Sword.
['Flame of Judgment' seeps into your sword!]
[Your blade shall become a flame that destroys evil.]
One of the Saintess's buffs.
It allows me to deal additional damage against enemies she designates.
"I just need to slaughter you before that happens."
I accelerated my blood flow to the maximum.
My wildly beating heart filled me with exhilaration.
Blood Flow Acceleration enabled me to do more than I had expected.
Not only did it increase my strength and speed, but it also enhanced the circulation rate of my mana.
And that mana could be used again for physical enhancement.
Swoosh!
Like burning fuel, I gathered mana in my legs. I soaked every muscle fiber in my legs with mana.
When my muscles contracted to their limit, I charged at him again.
Bang!
A speed of a completely different dimension than before!
It was an attack aimed at his complacency, as he had somewhat adapted to my previous speed.
"What?"
He couldn't help but be surprised by my suddenly increased speed.
I swung my sword down.
"Kuhuk...!"
His face contorted in that instant.
My sword, enhanced with additional buffs, sliced across his shoulder. His crimson blood sprayed in a fan-shaped pattern.
A blow close to a critical wound.
Now he wouldn't be able to smile so leisurely as before.
"This is absolutely thrilling."
"You..."
The rest of the battle continued in this manner.
I would charge in, desperately trying to inflict wounds, while he would use various tools to somehow block me.
Sometimes I managed to wound him, other times I was blocked.
[You have been poisoned by paralyzing venom!]
Indeed, as he was skilled, his countermeasures gradually increased.
[Paralyzing venom neutralized!]
Still, I charged forward, trusting in the skills I had accumulated.
Several more minutes passed in this way.
Numerous wounds accumulated on his body, and I had also consumed a considerable amount of mana.
Haa... haa...
Our breaths intermingled in the audience chamber.
Then, he laughed again.
"Kh, khehe..."
Though rough and breathless, his laughter clearly contained a sense of composure.
"It's over now."
"..."
I paused my sword and looked around.
Buzzing!
Somehow, the sound of wings flapping could be heard from the passages leading into the audience chamber.
Like soldiers rushing to protect their king in danger, the sound of their wing beats was extremely urgent and intense.
After about ten minutes of flight, his army was finally gathering here.
This meant that the battle situation we had barely maintained until now would be completely reversed in an instant.
"It's been fun until now, Hero. You will surely be recorded in history books as having died valiantly. Don't worry. I'll tell my historians to write about you in elegant prose."
Without bothering to respond, I looked elsewhere. Amidst the fierce battle, I saw a woman chanting spells alone.
Lily Spencer Beatrice.
Our team's mage and the ill-mannered brat with the most powerful offensive capabilities. She was gathering mana throughout her body, her red hair fluttering.
As massive amounts of mana gathered in one place, the floor trembled under its presence. After chanting for a while, Lily suddenly opened her eyes and uttered one word.
"Explode."
At that moment.
KABOOM!!
Her concentrated mana surged in all directions.
The surging mana settled precisely on dozens of passages and then took on explosive properties, collapsing the passages.
"Hya..."
What remained were dozens of blocked passages and Lily with a satisfied expression.
That girl, she always said she wanted to blow things up, and now she finally got her wish.
I smirked at Valkan's dumbfounded face.
Those piles of rubble wouldn't hold back the bugs forever.
The other side had plenty of monsters that could be considered monstrous.
However.
"This buys us another five minutes."
That should be enough to hold out.
And five minutes is more than enough time to do whatever needs to be done.
The Insect King's face soured in real-time.
*
Perhaps because I had whittled him down sufficiently during those ten-plus minutes, I was able to pressure him more easily during the next five minutes.
Trusting in the Saintess's buffs, I somehow kept pressing him.
Each time the Holy Sword slashed forward, more serious wounds accumulated on his body.
Finally, most of the bandages covering his body were cut away, revealing his hidden form.
"You..."
Skin like a dead, rotting tree.
Pieces of skin clinging tightly to bone with almost no flesh.
And various insects crawling over them.
It felt like looking at a half-decayed corpse in the process of decomposition.
Meanwhile, only his eyes glowed ominously, creating an incredible eeriness.
A monster obsessed with dark magic who had sacrificed parts of his own body.
He was more like a kind of lich than a human.
"I'll admit it. You've prepared very thoroughly to capture me."
He opened his mouth.
A chilling sound like scraping metal echoed.
Despite clearly being in a considerable predicament, his voice still showed no urgency.
It wasn't that he maintained his composure throughout with a mind that had reached enlightenment.
Rather, he still had something he believed in.
"It's been decades since I last used this technique..."
He muttered briefly with eyes lost in memory.
Then he began wrapping his body with bandages again.
The severed bandages scattered around began to envelop his body.
Soon his skin was covered with bandages again, and then he "hardened."
Literally. The person I had been fighting until just now simply hardened.
I hurriedly tried to charge at Valkan with my sword, but what he had prepared activated faster.
CRASH!
Like protecting a king, spikes sprouted around him.
These were the spikes of the Dimensional Thorn Bugs that had tormented me until now.
This time, he was using his guards not for attack but for defense.
That wasn't all. Chitin armor, tough skin of sand worms, and various other defensive parts surrounded him.
I swung my sword to test it.
Wondering if it would cut through.
Clang!
But all I heard was a hollow sound of hitting something solid. His organic barrier was only scratched, while the main body remained unharmed.
Tsk, I clicked my tongue once.
*It's begun.*
His only survival skill.
Molt.
Once he enters this state, he can't move for a while, but he recovers from his wounds inside.
And now I need to break through that barrier before his recovery is complete.
"Phew."
Thinking about it again, he really was troublesome in many ways.