Ching──!
At the sound of glass shattering, a pair of black gloves was suddenly fitted onto my hands.
The DH identity. I was so used to it by now that it almost felt awkward not to use it.
Well, not that that could possibly be true.
I flexed my hand once, then looked over at Mr. Dongrang, who had taken up a ready stance.
An obvious monster. A body several times larger than a human's, and a massive scythe.
His presence was certainly threatening, but... paradoxically, I didn't feel all that much danger from him.
As a matter of course, dealing with monsters is easier than dealing with people.
In the City, it's common knowledge that an enemy with reason is far more troublesome and annoying than one without it.
From that perspective, Mr. Dongrang shouldn't be all that difficult.
The moment I finished thinking that, Mr. Dongrang kicked off the ground with all four of his limbs and charged at me.
Downward smash. I slid a light step to the side and dodged it.
KWAANG─!!
A follow-up horizontal slash. I leaned my upper body far back.
Whooosh─!
As expected, the force was terrifying.
One or two bad hits and I'd be done for.
Still... that last attack made it seem like the current Dongrang was leaning toward having no reason.
Would this cunning man really use such an obvious move if he still had reason left?
Ah, there it is again. Downward smash. Then a horizontal slash.
KWAANG─!! Whooosh─!
The pattern hadn't changed either. If he really was the same as before, this would be much easier.
Downward smash again. This time in succession.
KWAANG─!! KWAANG─!! KWAANG─!!
Now the horizontal slash. Repeated, just like before.
Whooosh─! Whooosh─! Whooosh─!
It really was easy. Overall, was he below Kromer?
Mr. Dongrang had been attacking for quite a while, so if things kept going like this, the attack turn would pass to us.
Still, I wasn't going to participate.
More accurately, I didn't have the spare capacity to participate.
In fact, even dodging had been half luck.
My eyes stung, and my brain was exhausted and complaining of pain.
It was the worst possible environment for doing anything, and I was barely managing to evade attacks by force.
It was hard enough just to move properly; if I pushed myself any further here, that'd be overwork. Overwork. I'd die if I kept going.
"Haa..."
I sat down for a moment and steadied my breathing.
There were still so many attacks I'd have to dodge; it would be a problem if I burned out this early.
The attacks from the Sinners, who were striking Mr. Dongrang while he was left open by his repeated assaults, would be enough.
I dodge, they hit.
Yeah, if it just kept going like this...
───.
Then, for some reason, after the Sinners each finished their attacks, I felt my body grow slightly heavier.
A sensation as if the speed at which my body moved itself had slowed down.
My body had suddenly become strange, so I instinctively clenched and unclenched my hand over and over.
...Slowed down. By rough estimate, maybe 20%?
That was pretty dangerous. And it was coming again.
For now, I needed to dodge backward...
KWAANG──!!
"...Oh."
Damn, that was close. If I'd been even a little late, I'd have been turned into minced meat.
...If I'd been unlucky, I might've been hit.
So what was the reason for the slowdown? The condition? Was it just the power of a Distortion?
My head filled with complicated thoughts, but I didn't have the leisure to sit around and deduce them.
For some reason, attacks that looked even more threatening than before were filling my vision.
"......"
In the realm of instinct, my eyes activated.
Horizontal slash, smash, horizontal slash, horizontal slash, smash, smash, horizontal slash.
First, I rolled once hard, then used the centrifugal force to flip through several somersaults. In between, I forcibly stopped myself and forcibly twisted my direction...
Whooosh─! KWAANG─!! Whooosh─! Whooosh─! KWAANG─!! KWAANG─!! Whooosh─!
It was an acrobatic movement that would normally be hard to show off, but if used properly, I could dodge everything like this.
Of course, thanks to that, most of my condition took a severe hit.
...If this turns into a long fight, I'm at a disadvantage.
The next attack was a horizontal slash, or a downward smas—
Hwoong──!!
Damn it, a charge at this timing?!
It was only because I hurled my body sideways at the last second that I survived; otherwise, I really would've died this time.
...Can I even live through this? By the time the fight ends, I feel like I'll already be a corpse.
Was the sky answering my anxiety...
Kuduk, kudududuk...!
After that last surprise attack against me, Mr. Dongrang, who had been getting beaten down by the Sinners, began to change little by little.
Ah... please. I don't have any spare strength left.
If he transforms into something even more annoying to dodge...
Hm?
"The enemy is exhibiting abnormal behavior! Everyone, stand by!"
The form of the transformation was not as bad as I'd expected.
For one thing, the weapon disappearing was the best part. He'd been at a size disadvantage, and not even being able to reach my range had been a real pain.
Moreover, the plant-like tendrils that had been sparsely growing from his body, as if binding him, grew larger and began to cover him little by little.
At most, half of his body. Even if those had merely replaced his arms, grotesque as it was, it was still advantageous to me.
And the fact that he kept advancing into a more monstrous form was also good news.
Usually, that makes their actions simpler.
Kuduk, kudududududuk.
And then, the transformation ended.
His lower body was similar to before, but his upper body had changed drastically.
The robe-like clothing wrapped around his body had vanished, revealing a body made of monstrous red sinew.
The tips of his fingers were covered in plants, and following those plants led to a huge eye, seemingly the source of the vegetation that was gradually consuming his body.
His head had transformed entirely into a mouth, with the brim of the hat above and the white mane below, making it look like the lower jaw of a mouth.
Around him were several ominous-looking dead trees... wait, I've seen this somewhere before.
...Isn't this the gimmick from Camellia?
"It's coming! Tighten your formation!"
Hearing Ms. Otis's words, I focused again... but.
That thing wasn't aiming for us.
"Still not enough..."
KWADEUK, KWADEUDEUK─!
Mr. Dongrang, leaving behind those meaningful words, bit down on the tree he seemed to have created with his ability.
...We're supposed to stop that, right? Right?
<......>
Mr. Dante fell into thought for a moment.
He was probably trying to figure out how to handle that action.
Judging from past experience, I figured he'd reach an answer quickly.
Mr. Dante wasn't that incompetent a manager...
<...Looks like we need to stop Dongrang from breaking that tree. Otis, please revise the tactics.>
"Understood."
...This is getting bad.
"Yes."
"Are you insane—"
"......"
"Understood. I'll do as instructed."
...I couldn't bring myself to refuse because Ms. Otis's gaze beside me was far too sharp.
That woman looked ready to kill me if I said no.
Still, I agreed because it was at least doable somehow...
Our clock-headed manager really does seem to have mastered only one thing: how to make people work right up to the edge of death.
...But what can you do? If they tell you to do it, you do it. That's the fate of an employee.
"......"
I steadied my breathing lightly, then moved aggressively for the first time in this battle.
Tap, tap-tat!
I closed in on Dongrang at point-blank range as he tried to finish off the tree in an instant, and then...
KWAANG──!!!
"Ghk..."
An uppercut! I shut that mouth trying to bite the tree.
Even to me, that was a clean hit. It must have dealt considerable damage, so if I just pushed a little more, his attention would come my way.
Meanwhile, Dante...
It seemed he was using the same response as with Camellia.
...For some reason, it always feels like I'm the one marking the boss.
Did I do something wrong to Mr. Dante?
"Need to fill it..."
Mr. Dongrang opened that huge maw and charged at me.
Judging by how wide it opened, I wouldn't be able to block it like before...
At this rate, wasn't his weakness being exposed way too easily?
The eye at the center of the plant.
I drove my right hand straight through that exact spot.
"...Hup!"
THUD─!!
"Grrrrk..."
And then I immediately widened the distance. Fighting a monster at point-blank range is just asking to die.
...Tch. If it was going to be like this, I should've brought a key instead of my fist. Sister Saseo always said that suited me better.
Meaningless to regret it now, though.
After creating some distance and settling into a stance, Mr. Dongrang, who had been hanging his head low, suddenly lifted it.
"Still not enough..."
The direction of his gaze was the tree that still looked intact.
Ah, damn it. I should've gotten closer. This is a pain.
I kicked off the ground again and moved toward Mr. Dongrang... ah.
"Pfft."
"Damn..."
The maw that had been heading for the tree instantly twisted its destination toward me.
An obvious feint.
And with his body accelerating, I couldn't dodge it.
But that didn't mean I could just take it head-on.
I forcibly twisted my leg sideways and forcibly turned my upper body.
From the front... to the side.
KWADEUK─!
"Kgh..."
With a savage sound, a deep wound was carved into the left side of my upper body.
Damage at least severe enough to count as a major injury. Which meant I probably couldn't expect my left arm to function properly for the rest of the fight.
While my brain was running at full speed, Mr. Dongrang shook his body violently again and opened his mouth wide.
I need to avoid the follow-up...!
Whooosh─ Kadeuk!
My body, twisted to the extreme, narrowly escaped those teeth by a hair's breadth.
It wasn't something I'd seen with my eyes or predicted in advance, so the dodge was pure luck.
...That was close. I thought he had no reason, but maybe he still had some degree of intelligence.
No, judging by how he reacted when I succeeded in the surprise attack... was that what he was aiming for from the start?
Hah... this is insane. That was a perfect misjudgment. He'd been one of the Wings' top employees, and I underestimated him too much just because he'd been Distorted.
If my condition had been even a little more normal, I would've noticed...
There's no point blaming it. Failing to account for that would still be my own lack of ability.
For a brief moment, I reexamined my body within that short span of time.
What was left was basically just my right arm.
But even that was being used by a body whose condition was far from normal, and my balance itself had already collapsed.
"It's emptied out..."
By contrast, the other side didn't look tired at all.
...Can I really do this?
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