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 239
Chapter 239: The Crimson Archdemon
There was a clear impact.
I had definitely drained the enemy’s life force completely.
Unlike the Great Calamity, this enemy wasn’t a special type with multiple HP gauges.
Among all the foes I’ve faced, the only one who resurrected was the Hellheim knight, and even that required extremely specific conditions.
In this world, resurrection isn’t impossible, but it demands a tedious and complicated process.
Could this defeated enemy possess such an ability or perhaps some kind of special item?
“No way… You’ve got to be kidding me…”
Shin groaned, disbelief evident in his voice.
After Gresil exploded upon taking my spear attack, the scattered light particles began to regroup, turning a deep crimson hue.
The red light coalesced into a mass, forming an eerie, humanoid shape.
In boss battles, it’s common to expect a second phase after defeating the first form.
But typically, this happens in designated arenas, not in the middle of an escort quest. Only in the most sadistic games would something like this occur.
“This feels bad… I’ve got a really bad feeling about this…”
I muttered under my breath.
Within seconds, the silhouette took shape, vaguely resembling Gresil.
However, a closer look revealed that its body had diverged far from human form.
To put it plainly, it looked like a classic fantasy Archdemon.
Its skeletal structure imitated a human’s, but its skin had transformed into an armor-like surface, and two sharp horns jutted from its head.
The creature, now a monstrous figure with a sinister form, unfurled six wings and let out a deafening roar.
“GRROOOAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!”
“…!”
The roar slammed into us like a sonic boom.
Still recovering from the immobilization effect of my earlier powerful skill, I staggered, barely able to keep my balance as I stared in disbelief.
“What the hell is that…?”
My companions reacted similarly, all frozen in confusion at the sight of this enemy’s final form.
My insight skill revealed its name:
The Crimson Great Demon, Gresil Archdemon.
A direct subordinate of the Demon Lord Shaitan, gifted with her blood.
This creature was a monster capable of annihilating the Hellheim’s 4th through 6th battalions alone.
It had been given human flesh, but upon its defeat, that façade shattered, revealing its true, hidden nature.
Receiving intel from my partner ?Lucifel?, a cold sweat ran down my forehead.
The Hellheim knight orders are ranked numerically, with their position signifying their power.
The one we previously fought belonged to the 7th Order, not even among the top five.
And yet, we barely managed to scrape through that battle.
This monster single-handedly annihilated three orders ranked higher than that. Calling it “strong” doesn’t even begin to cover it.
If we fight it now, we’ll be wiped out for sure.
But the worst part is its most terrifying ability: being killed by it reduces your “Remaining Life” by 20.
The appearance of such an unprecedentedly powerful foe, combined with this punishing penalty, is the epitome of cruelty.
“Everyone, listen up! If you’re killed by that thing, you’ll lose 20 life points!”
“Wha—!?”
A collective gasp erupted from my companions.
Everyone froze in shock at my warning.
The overwhelming pressure emanating from the creature, combined with its horrifying ability to reduce lifespan, left them paralyzed with fear.
The only one who stepped forward besides myself, was Kuro. She is always eager for a fight with strong opponents.
She’s reckless… just like her master.
With a fearless grin, Kuro moved to stand beside me as soon as my immobility subsided.
Seeing our determination, the rest of the group exchanged uneasy smiles but raised their weapons, ready for battle.
Behind us stood Setsuna, still in training.
Losing lifespan was a terrifying prospect, but retreat was absolutely out of the question.
The enemy, noticing our defiance, raised a twisted, sinister scimitar that had transformed along with its master.
“GRRRAAAAAHHHH!”
With blinding speed, it unleashed a barrage of slashes too fast to track.
Starting with a cheat move already!?
Kuro and I leaped to the front, cutting down the flying slashes to shield our teammates behind us.
Even with the defensive skill ?Sword Guard? activated, each strike felt as heavy as a ?Rage Slash?.
“Hah!”
“Tch!”
Still, with Kuro by my side, I felt we could weather this storm.
We covered each other’s openings, deflecting every single flying slash that came our way.
When the relentless assault finally ceased, there was a brief, tense silence.
In that moment, Shin stepped forward from the rear and unleashed his strongest attack.
“Take this—Fire Attribute Ultimate Magic: Explosion!”
A massive crimson magic circle unfolded, centering on the enemy.
As Shin poured a tremendous amount of MP into the spell, searing energy began to gather at the circle’s core.
With a snap of his fingers, an enormous explosion erupted.
“Did we get it!?”
“Shin, stop setting up death flags!”
As Rou pointed out, despite the direct hit, the enemy’s HP gauge had only dropped by 20%.
Amidst the inferno stood Gresil, completely intact.
We readied ourselves, bracing for whatever it might do next, weapons at the ready.
But instead of preparing another ranged attack, the enemy flew straight toward us.
It was absurdly fast, faster than anything I’d ever seen.
In an instant, it crossed the blast zone and closed the distance to where Kuro and I stood.
“GROOOAAAARR!”
Reacting instinctively, Kuro unleashed ?Momentary Interruption?, while I countered with ?Strike Sword?.
The enemy avoided both attacks with unnatural precision, charging forward without losing momentum.
“What…!? This thing!?”
“It won’t stop!?”
Breaking through our front line with terrifying ease, Gresil went straight for Shin, who was still immobilized from using his magic.
“Oh no…”
“Not on my watch!”
I raised my shield and activated ?Taunt?, stepping in to block its path.
Gresil’s attention was forcibly drawn to Rou, as its two curved blades emitted a vivid green skill effect.
What followed was a horizontal four-hit combo: ?Quad Death Nail?.
“Ugh… This thing!?”
Now in its true form, the enemy’s stats had risen to near-catastrophic levels.
The first strike knocked Rou back significantly, and the second strike sent his left shield flying.
Row barely managed to block the third strike with his right shield, but the fourth hit landed squarely on his torso.
Even with the enhancement from his skills, Rou was completely overwhelmed.
His HP was reduced by half, and he fell to the ground on his back.
As Gresil raised its curved blade to deliver the finishing blow—
“I won’t let you!”
An arrow of wind fired by Inori struck Gresil directly.
Though it landed a critical hit and reduced the enemy’s HP by another 10%, it did nothing to halt its attack.
“Not on my watch!”
At the last second, Shio activated ?Taunt?, forcing the enemy’s attention onto her.
Having moved to avoid involving Setsuna, Shio now stood face-to-face with the monstrous creature, shield and sword at the ready.
“Shio, this is bad!”
“It’s fine. Let me show you a parrying technique even better than my brother’s.”
Shio perfectly read the incoming barrage of attacks, deflecting and redirecting them with precision that surpassed my own.
This was possible only because of her innate, extraordinary focus.
By entering a state of extreme concentration, Shio could completely read her opponent’s movements for several tens of seconds.
Frankly, even I would find it nearly impossible to land a hit on her in that state.
“Sora!”
“Got it! Let’s go!”
Kuro and I sprinted at full speed, activating a dash skill to close the distance and assist Shio.
Though she was holding her ground valiantly, the enemy’s relentless attacks left her unable to counter.
For Shio to be forced entirely onto the defensive… Gresil’s current speed rivaled that of our master.
Inori, unable to find a safe moment to release another arrow, hesitated; even a slight miscalculation could prove fatal.
But Shio’s focus had its limits. It couldn’t last indefinitely.
Realizing there wasn’t enough time, I decided to burn my “life point” and activate Angel Mode.
“What…? I can’t transform!?”
“Master, this is bad. A Seraph Curse has been deployed in the surrounding area.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s a curse designed to counter angels. It seems the enemy set up a cursed item in this area before the battle began, anticipating your involvement.”
“A cursed item like that…!?”
“I’m sorry. The condition for activation was using a skill, so I couldn’t detect it…”
Looking at the icon in the upper-right corner of my game profile, I noticed a cross mark over the angelic halo symbol.
I rarely used Angel Mode, but I never imagined such an anti-angel item existed. It was completely unexpected.
With no way to accelerate using angelic power, my only option was to run as fast as I could.
But just as I resolved to press on, Shio reached her limit.
“Guh!”
Her sword was knocked from her hand, and the damage to her chest reduced her HP by 60%.
Falling to the ground in a stunned state, she was completely immobilized.
This is bad. Really bad!
Even with my once-a-day acceleration skill, ?Accelerator?, I wasn’t going to make it in time.
Inori fired an arrow to draw the enemy’s attention, but in retaliation, Gresil unleashed a flying slash, cutting her HP in half.
I was so close, but Gresil’s movements were still a step ahead of mine.
Everyone braced themselves for Shio’s inevitable demise when—
“Perfect timing.”
As if emerging from thin air, someone appeared between Gresil and Shio.
With two blades in hand, the figure intercepted Gresil’s curved swords perfectly.
It couldn’t be…
There was no mistaking it, the traditional kimono, the twin swords, the black hair framing a cool beauty in her early twenties.
It was the undefeated game champion—Shino.