Astral Online: Cursed by the Demon Lord to Become the Strongest Beautiful Girl, I Rapidly Grow and Dominate with Cheat Skills Despite Being the Weakest Profession - Chapter 105
Chapter 105: Revenge
If I had to give this quest a title, it would undoubtedly be ?The Skeleton King’s Revenge?.
Why did this suddenly come to mind?
It’s because the moment the giant skeleton appeared, it said, “I will not rest until I settle the grudge from that time…” spouting vengeful words as it showed itself.
Moreover, the boss monster’s name had changed from ?Skeleton King? to ?Skeleton Grudge King?.
Standing beside me, Kuro, kindly explained that *grudge* is an English word meaning “resentment.”
Sure, this was part of a series of connected quests, and while I did think to myself, “Oh, it’s the same boss monster again,” seeing the fired-up giant skeleton king in front of me made me chuckle.
*So, you’re here for revenge, huh?*
Even though he had already been defeated once, this persistent skeleton king’s reappearance blew away the serious atmosphere I had been feeling.
The battle stage with the boss was a wide, circular space in the mining area, similar to the underground of the ?Hephaestus Kingdom?. There were no obstacles, meaning the only thing that mattered here was the players’ strength and skill.
Just like before, I entrusted Alice with protecting Satanas, and Kuro and I took up our formation to face the ?Skeleton King? together.
However, it seemed that this time the giant skeleton king hadn’t come just for revenge.
He had been powered up compared to the last time we fought him, and not only that—each time he took a certain amount of damage, he began spreading a ?Curse Mist? around, inflicting a ?Seal? status.
Knowing the enemy would use “sealing” abilities, Kuro and I preemptively stacked resistance skills on ourselves, nullifying the curses he randomly scattered around.
Alice and Satanas were standing just outside the range of the effect, so there was no worry about them being sealed.
Even if Alice or Kuro had been hit with the curse and couldn’t use their skills, it wouldn’t have mattered much this time.
The skeleton king couldn’t get past my defensive line to reach Satanas and the others anyway.
The enemy readied itself, gathering strength in its legs, preparing to break through Kuro and me.
I seized the opportunity and aimed for the enemy’s knees with the light-attribute-enhanced charging skill, ?Light Sonic Sword V?.
The enemy’s movement was forcibly canceled by the powerful blow, and, as a bonus, it suffered a temporary delay.
With the enemy’s movement stopped, Kuro dove in, chipping away at its HP with hit-and-run attacks using her skills.
No matter the size, any creature is vulnerable during the moment before it starts moving, and even a boss monster can’t withstand an attack during that time.
Moreover, with the intermediate-tier enhancement skill ?Strength?, my strength was far greater than before.
Utilizing ?Insight? and ?Perception? skills to their fullest, I didn’t miss a single movement of the skeleton, staying focused to always stay one step ahead of the enemy.
It was like in a fighting game—where it was always *my turn*.
On top of that, the support system ?Lucifel? now notified me when a skill’s cooldown was finished, allowing me to focus entirely on the enemy in front of me.
Occasionally, I used ?Light Strike Sword V? to deal damage, fulfilling both the tank and attacker roles by myself.
Compared to monsters from the past that completely ignored the laws of physics, this current enemy, which didn’t defy common sense, honestly wasn’t scary at all.
Ridiculous games can be wild—like, imagine a skeleton spinning one arm at high speed and flying through the air, right?
I dodged the enemy’s thrusting attack, ?Strike Sword IV?, with ?Sonic Step?. Then, with its sword still thrust out, I countered it with a heavy strike from the side using ?Rage Slant IV?, creating a delay. Kuro shifted forward and delivered the finishing blow.
She landed the double horizontal attack ?Light Dual Nail?, then swiftly leapt upward, delivering a bone-crushing strike with the combo skill of ?Martial Artist? and enhancement magic, ?Light Dragon Kick?.
The enemy’s HP dropped to zero, and the giant skeleton king, who had returned for revenge as the ?Skeleton Grudge King?, met its second defeat, dissolving into particles of light.
By defeating the monster, Kuro, who delivered the final blow, received the item ?Water Dragon Jewel? as a drop.
She materialized the item, showing me a gem with a light blue glow and a dragon’s crest engraved on it.
“Sora, I got a gem drop.”
“Hm, so collecting these might lead to some kind of special item to counter the ?Demon Dragon King? after all.”
“Isn’t the support system going to tell us?”
“Not likely. It seems that it can’t provide information that can’t be clarified by ?Insight?.”
“I see, it can’t be helped since it’s a system.”
?That’s right, it’s a system, so it can’t be helped.?
Kuro couldn’t hear the voice, yet the support system naturally chimed into the conversation. I scolded it silently in my mind to make it quiet.
After safely reuniting with Alice and Satanas, I noticed that Satanas didn’t cry even once this time, perhaps because she had grown accustomed to the repeated battles.
Rather, she seemed to be overflowing with excitement as she jumped and hugged Kuro.
“Your last kick was so cool, Kuro-chan!”
“Indeed, it was a beautiful kick even from my perspective.”
“Oh, now that I think about it, Kuro, your profession is a ?Martial Artist?, but I’ve only seen you use kick techniques and the body enhancement skill ?Battle Spirit Boost? until now.”
Both striking and kicking techniques of a martial artist mainly focus on close-range combat, so when fighting with a weapon, it becomes difficult to maintain the right distance.
That’s why Kuro had mentioned before that body enhancement tends to be the focus.
Kuro, the girl with black hair, smiled shyly, happy to be praised.
“Hehe, I’m trying to gradually combine it with sword skills.”
It seemed she was in the midst of trial and error to increase her capabilities in her own way.
It was wonderful that instead of abandoning things she couldn’t use, she was making an effort to become able to use them.
With that thought in mind, Sora decided to suggest one thing to her.
“Then how about training in defense? With your style, you could block attacks with your weapon and then jump in for punches and kicks.”
“Will you teach me?”
“Only if Kuro wants to.”
“Yeah, I want you to teach me!”
“Well then, let’s head back to the surface for now. We need to report to Dragon King Otter about everything, including the soldiers’ survival.”
After obtaining the gem as a drop item from the boss monster, I checked the item list and then closed the window screen.
Then I directed my gaze toward the entrance and heightened my alertness even further.
…As expected, they’re coming.
The situation was exactly the same as before.
I instructed Kuro and Alice to be on guard and placed my hand on the hilt of my sword, ready to intercept any enemies at a moment’s notice.
In times like these, having only one entrance was a blessing, I thought to myself.
The reason it was a blessing was that the enemies had no choice but to pass through there.
As I stayed vigilant, my ?Insight? skill captured the enemy’s silhouette, and I drew my sword while simultaneously activating my attack skill.
The skill I selected was ?Angriff Fliegen?, which could unleash slashing attacks in mid-air and had recently become one of my favorites.
By further combining it with wind attributes, the slashing skill transformed into ?Aerial Fliegen?.
The divine wind blade that sliced through the air cleanly severed the approaching enemy’s arm as I had intended.
For a moment, Kuro and the others couldn’t comprehend what had just happened.
To their eyes, they could only see the silver-haired swordsman preparing to draw his weapon after receiving the signal that an enemy was approaching.
The enemy—a black-clad dragonman, a worshiper of the Demon Dragon King—seemed unable to understand what had happened to him, his expression frozen in shock.
Kicking off the ground, I activated ?Sonic Sword V? and closed the distance rapidly, switching to my signature thrust technique.
“I thought they’d come since the situation was exactly the same. I don’t know if their target is Alice or Satanas, but…”
—If they intend to harm either of them, they will die.
I mercilessly pierced the enemy’s chest, turning him into particles of light.
“Sora!”
Kuro shouted to alert me of danger.
Taking advantage of my companion’s death as a distraction, another assassin approached from my blind spot, closing in.
However, with my ?Perception? skill, there was no such thing as a blind spot for me. Even if the area were completely dark and nothing was visible, the movements of any enemies within range were laid bare.
I activated ?Perfect Protect Call? and blocked the slashing attack ?Rage Slant III? from the other assassin with my left arm, which had no armor.
“What…what!?”
The dragonman assassin yelled in disbelief that a powerful attack could be blocked with an unprotected arm.
I turned my cold gaze toward him and said,
“I’ll teach you as a parting gift—this is the power of an ?Enchanter?.”
“Y-You’re an ?Enchanter?…”
In return, I activated ?Triple Stream IV?, unleashing a flowing three-hit combo that mercilessly reduced the enemy’s HP to zero.