I Reincarnated into a Game Filled with Mods – Chapter 47

Chapter 47

“…I expected it, but seeing it in person is even more overwhelming.”

Rize muttered as she looked at the Rock Centipede. Erika and Iris, standing next to her, had the same reaction. It was understandable, considering its height when fully stretched out was taller than most castles.

Moreover, that was the size after the back part of its body had been severed. Originally, it would have been 2-3 stories taller. Considering its sheer size alone, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it bigger than the final boss.

The Rock Centipede was curled up like a coil, as if dead. Right next to it was a Rune Stele that looked incredibly insignificant in comparison.

Even that was almost the size of a player, so it wasn’t a small stele by any means. However, because it was right next to the Rock Centipede, it looked relatively paltry.

A faint green light emanated from the stele.

“Anything unusual besides what you told us, newbie?”

“No, nothing. What I told you is all there is.”

After finishing my explanation, I explained all of the Rock Centipede’s patterns to the three of them. Perhaps they had come to accept it by now, but they didn’t even ask how I knew such things.

Actually, there weren’t that many patterns, so once you entered Phase 4, the strategy itself was relatively easy.

It was completely different from Phases 1 through 3, where physical, magical, and even divine attacks were completely ineffective, forcing you to use gimmicks.

There wasn’t even a noticeable change in Darkest Light Mode.

The reason was unknown. Maybe it was the last shred of conscience the creator of Darkest Light Mode had, as if to say, ‘Don’t die in Phase 4 after spending more than an hour performing gimmicks.’

‘With that conscience, they should have reduced the number of gimmicks.’

It’s been a long time since they were declared to have no conscience just from the atrocities they committed in Phases 1-3.

“Aim for the head as much as possible, right? You said it would be easier to catch if we did that.”

“That’s right. It’ll probably be stunned after just a few hits from you guys.”

Phase 4 of the Rock Centipede was a boss that could be defeated by what is called ‘burst damage’.

If you land a few heavy attacks on its head, it gets stunned, and if you hit it while it’s stunned, it gets stunned again, and if you hit it again, it gets stunned again, and this cycle repeats endlessly until you defeat it.

The only difficult part is getting it stunned the first time.

Basically, because it’s so huge, your weapons won’t reach it, so you have to induce a specific pattern to hit its head. And if the interval between attacks is too long, the stun gauge resets, so you have to pay attention to the timing.

Of course, that’s not even considered a risk. The only thing you really have to be careful of is focusing too much on hitting the head and forgetting about the patterns, getting hit, and dying, but I wasn’t worried about that at all.

‘With their skills, they wouldn’t get hit even if they wanted to.’

It’s a creature whose full-speed charge is much slower than a player character’s running speed.

No matter what kind of attack it used, it was practically impossible for the Knight Commanders, who had learned the patterns from my explanation, to get hit by the Rock Centipede’s attacks.

“Alright. Rize, Erika, get ready. Even though it’s an easy opponent, don’t let your guard down. Complacency is the enemy.”

The three Silver-armored knights strode forward. I sat down on a rock behind them. There was one thing I needed to check while the Knight Commanders were fighting.

Elemental energy surged around their respective weapons. Wind swirled around the longsword, ice crackled on the twin daggers, and flames blazed on the katana.

The Rock Centipede, which had been coiled up as if dead, sensed something ominous and slowly unfurled its body. Pieces of rock fell from its bisected head.

Since the place where I was sitting was outside the boss room in game terms, I focused on the creature’s actions without worry. Depending on what it did now, our future strategy would change.

Rize and Erika split up, flanking Iris on either side. Rize on the left, Erika on the right.

Rize was the first to move. She made a wide half-circle to the left and quickly approached the end of the creature’s tail. The Rock Centipede turned its head to match her movement.

It seemed to be preparing to use its downward slam attack, but when flames suddenly struck its head, it jerked its head back. It was Erika. Flames blazed from her blade.

Instead of slamming its body down, the Rock Centipede raised its head high and plucked a stalactite from the ceiling.

‘As expected, the aggro shifted.’

Confirming that, I resolved to solo the boss fights from now on.

This was because the pattern it was about to use had changed. The Rock Centipede wasn’t a boss with off-beat timings or feints. If Rize had been alone, it would have definitely continued with the downward slam.

But after getting hit by the flames, the aggro shifted to Erika, and it canceled the downward slam and pulled out a stalactite from the ceiling.

Because the Rock Centipede was such a slow and huge boss, the change in pattern was very noticeable. But if the boss was only slightly larger than a human, it would have been difficult to notice.

What if I was trying to identify and react to a boss pattern, but the aggro shifted and it did something completely different? If the new pattern was a wide-area attack, I would be guaranteed to die.

‘I can’t take that risk.’

While I was thinking this, the Knight Commanders continued their fight.

Erika easily sliced the rock that the Rock Centipede had thrown in half. The cut and melted rock rolled harmlessly across the floor. Heat haze shimmered off the blade, distorting the surrounding scenery.

Rize immediately attacked. Her twin daggers grazed the left side of the Rock Centipede’s body, severing more than ten legs in an instant. The severed legs froze momentarily before shattering into pieces.

And as soon as it turned its head, flames struck from the other side. Perhaps because they were Knight Commanders who had worked together for a long time, their teamwork was impeccable.

With Rize continuously spewing ice from the left side of its body, severing its legs, and Erika unleashing flame-infused slashes from the right, the Rock Centipede flailed around, unable to regain its composure.

In the midst of this, Iris, who had been standing still, raised her longsword, still in its scabbard.

She stepped forward with her left foot, putting her weight on it, and brought the scabbard in her left hand to her right side. She twisted her right arm so that her wrist faced outward and grasped the hilt of the sword.

Goooo, the wind began to swirl around her. A pressure visible to the naked eye was sucked into Iris’s scabbard. A whirlwind enveloped the scabbard, drawing in the surrounding air.

The distortion of the wind intensified, and when the whirlwind began to warp, Iris drew her sword.

She raised her right foot, turned her body half a circle clockwise, and stepped forward with her right foot in front of her left. At the same time, the longsword was drawn from its scabbard.

The sword slashed down vertically.

At that moment, the whirlwind that had been wrapped around the sword shot forward.

The wind, drawn into a perfect straight line as if creating a thin wall of wind, struck the Rock Centipede in the blink of an eye. A heavy cracking sound echoed.

The Rock Centipede’s body, where it was struck by the wind, was instantly cut in half. The cross-section was as smooth as if it had been sanded down.

A whirlwind followed the path of the wind. The whirlwind sucked in the surrounding rocks as if inhaling them, then exploded right next to the Rock Centipede, scattering debris everywhere.

‘Wow, I’m seeing this in real life.’

The technique Iris had just used was one of the patterns from the Iris boss fight. Even in vanilla mode, getting hit by it almost guaranteed death, let alone in Darkest Light Mode.

The Rock Centipede, its body reduced to about a third of its original size, staggered greatly. Then Erika, who had been keeping her distance and only using flame slashes, closed the gap.

Although its size had been drastically reduced, the length of the remaining part was still considerable. It seemed that Erika was aiming for that remaining part.

The katana in her hand was not just covered in flames, but the blade itself seemed to have transformed into flames. Flames erupted wherever she stepped.

Erika had somehow gotten right next to the Rock Centipede. She gripped the hilt with both hands, the tip of the blade pointed to the left. She leaped into the air and twisted her body.

Her entire body spun clockwise, and flames formed a whirlwind around her.

The whirling blade of fire instantly melted the exoskeleton at the very bottom of the Rock Centipede. Another chunk of segments was cut off from the body that was only 1/3 of its original size.

The rotation didn’t stop there. Her body soared higher, spinning another full circle clockwise. Again, the Rock Centipede’s body melted away.

Suddenly, flames erupted from the tips of Erika’s feet. In that state, Erika, who had soared even higher in the air, spun her body one last time and unleashed a final slash.

The blade grazed the Rock Centipede’s head horizontally. The part that came into contact with the blade practically evaporated. A deep gash was left on the creature’s face.

‘That was hard to block too.’

That was also one of the patterns from the Erika boss fight. The fire damage was so strong that weapons couldn’t properly deflect it, so you had to have a shield with high fire resistance to block it without rolling.

Just before the completely shrunken Rock Centipede collapsed to the ground, blue ice shot up from the ceiling. It was Rize.

As she brought her two daggers together, a long sword made of ice and frost formed in her hand. The surrounding air froze, emitting a chilling aura.

The weapon was aimed directly at the Rock Centipede’s head. Rize’s weapon had grown to a length that matched her height.

ㅡCrack!

The silver armor covered in ice pierced the Rock Centipede’s head and landed on the ground. The headless body collapsed limply to the side.

The Rock Centipede boss fight was over.