I Reincarnated into a Game Filled with Mods – Chapter 81

Chapter 81

If you were to pick the most difficult boss to catch in the Brightest Darkness series, the bosses that completely change their concept and patterns in each phase would be ranked first.

If you enter phase 2 after dying dozens of times in phase 1, you’re likely to die dozens of times again because you can’t adapt to the drastically changed concept in phase 2. And when you think you’ve adapted to phase 2, you’ll forget phase 1 and end up in a vicious cycle.

The World Eater, the de facto final boss of Brightest Darkness 4, was a prime example. It had 4 phases, and the patterns and concepts changed in each phase, making it incredibly difficult to fully adapt.

‘Fallen Priestess Lucia,’ or ‘Sun Priestess Lucia,’ also belonged to this category.

In phase 1, she fights like a monster, losing her reason and wielding a hideously mutated body, while in phase 2, she tears off her transformed right arm herself and fights like a human.

As the Brightest Darkness series reached its 4th installment, the number of bosses that change their concept in each phase naturally increased, but the reason Lucia’s recognition is the greatest among them is because of her touching story.

Lucia’s boss fight is the process of a priest who lost her mind after being consumed by the Abyss, regaining her sanity through faith, and meeting a human-like end.

It’s a process worthy of being called an ode to humanity, so it’s only natural that many people like it.

Of course, those who were moved only by the story and were repeatedly turned into statues hundreds of times because they couldn’t beat Lucia for the life of them were terrified.

ㅡKwaang!

The vertically swung sword of light created a massive shockwave. The golden light that formed the holy sword originated from the Divine Catalyst held in Lucia’s left hand.

The sword that plunged down disappeared into a bright halo, and divine power began to gather in the catalyst once again. I considered closing the distance, but I waited patiently, unsure what the next pattern would be.

The halo transformed into a giant spear. Lucia raised her arm in a javelin throw stance. It was a pattern where I could get close. I quickly moved my feet.

I circled clockwise around Lucia, and the moment a clear, tinkling sound echoed, her left arm moved and threw the spear. I rolled a full circle and dug deep inside.

The holy spear precisely struck the spot where I had just been and exploded. I ignored it as I was already out of the explosion’s range and swung the blood-red blade, where blood was coagulated, at Lucia.

Since there was no need to apply the Blessing Enchantment with the Divine Catalyst, it was time to utilize the Bloodstained Sword’s special ability, the attack power buff.

However, it was the last buff I could apply because I couldn’t replenish my health due to consistently using potions since phase 1.

“Ugh!”

Lucia, hit by the Bloodstained Sword, groaned and staggered greatly.

In phase 2, Lucia’s other reduction rates drop to the level of an ordinary human boss, but her resistance to holy attacks increases tremendously. It was the opposite of phase 1.

If cleric-type characters could breeze through phase 1, they would have a headache in phase 2 unless they prepared other means of attack.

Lucia couldn’t even put up a proper fight and was just getting pummeled, groaning with every hit I landed. It was a phenomenon that occurred because her poise was incredibly low.

But I couldn’t just keep hitting her until she died. I precisely struck her four times and then rolled back. Immediately, a golden holy explosion occurred near Lucia.

It was a pattern designed to target those who just kept left-clicking while clinging to the boss because her poise was low.

In vanilla, there was at least a slight delay, but in Darkest Light mode, it was practically instant casting, making it almost impossible to see and dodge.

It meant to back off after hitting her appropriately.

“The Sun watches over me…”

A prayer flowed from Lucia’s lips.

Her knees knelt on the floor as if worshipping a god, and she bowed her head as if offering something, raising her left palm upward.

The Divine Catalyst placed before her kneeling knees shone brightly. Divine power overflowed, blocking my approach, and a golden, round sphere formed on the ceiling of the boss room.

A small sun rose to the highest point. Lucia rose to her feet in response. The Divine Catalyst in her left hand, which she had picked up again at some point, was still emitting light.

The light transformed into the shape of an iron mace. Thump, Lucia took a step forward. At the same time, the sphere, which had split itself into several pieces, began to shoot towards me.

‘…It’s too late to turn counterclockwise.’

I quickly calculated which direction to dodge while looking up at the blazing sun. It was a pattern that could be dodged in a similar way to the Human Butcher’s final struggle, the boss of the tutorial area.

That is, if Lucia wasn’t charging at me from right in front.

Lucia reached me in an instant. Unlike phase 1, where she never ran, in phase 2, she used leaps, teleportation, and running without hesitation to try and kill the player.

Ignoring the sun falling to the right, I also dashed to create distance from Lucia and rolled forward just before the small sun landed. A ferocious explosion sounded behind me.

As the light struck down a second time, Lucia swung the iron mace she had created with the Divine Catalyst. Holy sword, spear, and now an iron mace.

In vanilla, she only used the iron mace, staying true to the setting, but when she entered Darkest Light mode, she became a weapon master who created all sorts of weapons for some reason.

‘This game is dirty.’

After praising Lucia in my mind, I deflected the iron mace that was about to crush my head. The moveset itself was shared with Stella, so it wasn’t too difficult.

ㅡBang!

A halo exploded right next to me, but I ignored it as it was out of range and focused on parrying the iron mace.

After deflecting the final attack of the three-hit combo, I stopped my body from being pushed back, checked the location of the falling sphere, and rolled out in the opposite direction.

The attack that explodes that sun-like sphere is spell-based, so it can’t be properly defended against with deflect. Even if I deflect it properly, the spell damage will penetrate completely.

Even worse, if I’m unlucky, my battle fatigue gauge might be full from deflecting the iron mace, preventing me from rolling, and the result would obviously be instant death.

Actually, it was much better to dodge Lucia’s weapons by rolling rather than deflecting them if possible. But I had no choice given the circumstances.

‘I wonder how much the influence gauge has built up. I shouldn’t deflect the next attack.’

I estimated that if I used deflect one more time, maybe two at most, she would be influenced. To completely block status ailments, I had to equip a shield with 100% resistance.

If the attack power buff was gone, I could just run away and stall for time even if I was influenced, but I couldn’t do that now because the buff was still active.

The small sun, which had exhausted all its power, flickered and gradually faded. Deep darkness descended upon the boss room. Only the Divine Catalyst in Lucia’s hand served as the sole light source.

At that moment, the bloody light that enveloped the blade began to flicker and shake. It was a sign that the attack power buff’s duration was coming to an end.

‘Already?’

I glanced at Lucia. Her gait was normal, and there were no visible injuries, so I couldn’t tell how much health she had left.

‘Shouldn’t she be about done by now?’

That damn HUD was frustrating every time I thought about it.

I had been diligently beating her up the entire time the attack power buff was active, except when the patterns didn’t cooperate, but I couldn’t check how much health she had left.

It was practically impossible to drag out phase 2 Lucia into a long fight. This was because the divine spells she used included healing. And it was the kind that restored health by percentage.

If there was no way to interrupt her healing by staggering her, it was common for her to go from near death to full health. And the moment my attack power buff ran out, I had no way to stagger Lucia.

‘Tsk. No choice, I guess.’

According to my calculations, I could probably finish her off before the attack power buff ran out if I just hit her a few more times. It was safe to say that this was my last chance.

I charged at Lucia, focusing all my attention on the Divine Catalyst. I deflected the iron mace, dodged the holy spear, and got right up close to her. Normal attack, normal attack, and another normal attack.

‘…Now.’

And the moment I saw signs of her about to unleash a holy explosion, I rolled to the side.

Having dodged the divine power that exploded in all directions unscathed, I closed in on Lucia again and swung my sword. Lucia groaned and staggered with every hit.

I tried to avoid doing this kind of thing as much as possible because it was so risky, but I had no choice but to make a forced time attack because my damage calculation had gone wrong somewhere.

‘I wouldn’t have even looked at this if it weren’t for this situation, really.’

I grumbled inwardly even after dodging the attack.

As you can tell from the expression “practically” instant casting, it wasn’t completely impossible to dodge it by rolling if your reaction speed was good enough.

It’s just that the evasion difficulty was so ridiculously high that even seasoned players wouldn’t dare try it because it relied on prediction more than 95% of the time.

Anyway, I managed to succeed on my first try, and all that was left was to pray that I could maintain that level of concentration until I cleared Lucia.

“Ahhhh…!”

Lucia let out a final scream. The golden light residing in the Divine Catalyst began to fade.

‘Wow, I can’t do that twice.’

It seemed like she really didn’t have much health left because Lucia collapsed not long after I started my all-out attack. Honestly, my heart sank when she started her recovery pattern at the end.

It was fortunate that her health ran out during the windup for her recovery; otherwise, I might have been stuck forever.

The sound of a human body collapsing could be heard. No, it was something that was no longer even vaguely human. Her whole body was melting and dissolving as if it were rotting away.

The flames that had been blazing from her right shoulder also died down as the divine power that had been suppressing the mutation completely disappeared. Something strange wriggled in the cross-section. It looked like her arm was trying to grow back.

Lucia was gasping for breath, spewing black liquid from all the holes in her face. Wheezing, half-sobbing breaths leaked out constantly.

With this, the Lucia boss fight was cleared. I felt the tension release from my body all at once and collapsed to the floor.

It felt absurd that I was defeating a DLC boss at this level, as if I was participating in some kind of ultimate undead tournament. If this were a game, it would be a different story.

‘Damn Holy Kingdom.’

I wondered what the Pope was doing, making me uneasy by saying DLC story lines at this timing.

As if to prove that I had defeated Lucia, the rune stele that had been embedded in the wall was revealed as the black mud washed away. A faint green light emanated from the characters engraved on the stele.

I could acquire the rune and go straight to the surface, but I had to finish what I had to do here first. I got up and approached Lucia, whose entire body was melting and gasping for breath.

I had met the event conditions by using the acquired Divine Catalyst more than three times. There was no reward for proceeding with it, but it wasn’t an event I was doing for rewards anyway.

Perhaps hearing my footsteps, her melting head turned towards me with difficulty. It was amazing how she got the direction right even though her eyes probably couldn’t see properly because of the black liquid.

“…Is someone, by my side?”

Her lips moved slightly.