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 98
Chapter 98: Skeleton King
At the entrance to the target mining point, two armed dragonkin soldiers were standing guard.
As soon as they spotted Sora and the others, they crossed their spears to block the path, preventing them from advancing.
“Adventurers, ladies, the path beyond here is closed.”
“The Skeleton King has appeared at the mining point. If you value your lives, you’d better turn back now.”
The soldiers, ordered by the Dragon King to block passage, gave us this all-too-familiar warning.
Sora puffed out her chest a little, acting important, and silently thrust her right hand forward, showing the ring equipped on her thumb.
When the two soldiers saw the Fafnir royal family’s ring on my finger, their eyes widened in disbelief.
“This is… the genuine ring of the Fafnir royal family!?”
“O-Our deepest apologies!”
Realizing it was the real thing, the two hurriedly apologized and immediately lowered the spears that had been blocking our way.
With permission to enter, Kuro and I boldly walked past them.
Next to follow us were Alice and Satanas, the dragon girls duo.
The soldiers didn’t react to Satanas, but when they saw Alice, they were so shocked they nearly collapsed, exclaiming, “Why is the princess here!?”
“I had to bring her here by fate’s decree. If it’s alright with you, could you lend us your support?”
“With the princess’s orders, we’d be honored.”
“Understood.”
It seems we’ve gained two new companions.
Using the skill ?Insight II?, I could see that both of the soldiers were at a pretty high level—level 40, to be exact.
On top of that, both were spearmen and had kite shields equipped on their left arms. Since their profession was knight, if they joined us, Alice and Satanas’s defense would become even more solid.
I did wonder if leaving the entrance unguarded was safe, but since we were about to defeat the source of the problem, I convinced myself it wouldn’t be an issue.
With the two soldiers added to the team, before the battle began, Sora used enchantment skills on everyone.
For herself and Kuro, she prioritized light attributes and attack, while for Alice, Satanas, and the soldiers, she focused on defense.
Although it meant using a large number of MP recovery potions, Sora normally used her sword’s abilities to auto-recover, so the cost wasn’t a problem.
“I’ve never seen such high-level enchantment magic before…”
“Amazing. With this, I feel like we could even withstand the ?Greater Dragon?’s attacks.”
While the two soldiers were expressing their amazement, we did our final check.
“Alice, you guard Satanas. Kuro will be the main attacker, and I’ll be the one to take the brunt of the enemy’s attacks. The target should go after Kuro since she’s attacking, but if by any chance Satanas or Alice gets targeted, the two soldiers will focus on defense. Meanwhile, Kuro and I will take down the monster quickly.”
“Got it,” Kuro responded in her usual laid-back manner, and we stepped into the battlefield.
The mining area, where only those authorized by the country could enter, awaited challengers. It felt like stepping into an ancient Roman Colosseum.
As we entered the vast, dust-filled dome-shaped space, ?it? appeared.
Particles of light began to form out of thin air, gathering in one spot.
The particles combined, quickly taking the shape of thick bones, and right before our eyes, a monster materialized in no time.
I was a little curious about what would happen if we attacked in this state, but since Alice was patiently waiting, I decided to hold off as well.
After a short while, what materialized in front of us was a massive humanoid skeleton, about five meters tall.
The skeleton’s body was draped in tattered clothes that looked like they once belonged to royalty, and it wore a battered, scarred crown on its head.
In its hands was a gigantic sword, over 5 meters in length, almost as tall as the wielder itself.
Judging by the size of the enemy, that weapon likely belonged to the category of greatswords.
The blade was rusty, with chunks missing from the edge, and it didn’t look like it had much cutting power.
The monster’s name was ?Skeleton King?.
Its special ability was a roar which inflicted the status ailment ?Seal? on players, preventing them from using skills.
Seeing this with ?Insight II?, Sora quickly pulled out an MP potion and layered five ?Status Ailment Resistance III? skills on herself and Kuro. She then commanded Alice and the others in the backline to activate their defense skills preemptively.
The powerful level-60 boss, bearing the title of “King,” let its eyeless sockets fill with light as it slowly rose from its kneeling position.
Its gaze locked onto us without hesitation, and a terrifying hostility bore down on Sora and her team, exerting immense pressure.
“Gwoooooooooooooo!”
With a roar, the ?Skeleton King? charged toward us, greatsword in hand.
Sora, protected by her own resistance skills and the five-layered enchantments, withstood the attack. However, Alice and the others in the backline, who took the full brunt of the roar, were afflicted with ?Seal?, temporarily preventing them from using any skills.
Kuro had a 75% chance of getting the status effects, but luck seemed to be on her side as she somehow managed to avoid the remaining 25%.
The enemy’s opening move was an attack skill called ?Break Upper?, aimed to break through defenses by slicing upwards from a low stance.
Sora, drawing her magic sword, stepped forward to engage, and the skeleton swung its blade upwards from below, intending to cleave her small body in half.
Compared to when Kuro’s father, Hart, had used the same move, this attack looked like it was in slow motion.
With ease, I stepped to the left in a simple evasion maneuver and slammed a precise ?Strike Sword IV? thrust into the side of the blade.
Just that alone caused the ?Skeleton King? to lose its posture, and it scrambled to regain its balance to avoid falling.
Taking advantage of this opening, my partner Kuro dashed forward with ?Sonic Sword III?, aiming for the core in the skeleton’s chest, which looked like its heart, and activated ?Dual Nail III?.
“Seiiii!”
The high-speed, double horizontal strike hit the same spot with pinpoint accuracy, shaving off about 10% of the ?Skeleton King?’s HP.
With this, the ?Skeleton King? should now target Kuro, who inflicted the first damage.
Or so I thought—my prediction was wrong, and the monster’s gaze turned toward Alice and the others.
Darn, so it’s that kind of enemy!
Ignoring both Kuro and me, the ?Skeleton King? charged straight toward Alice and Satanas. Alice, stepping in front of Satanas to protect her, readied her rapier and shield.
“Satanas, don’t leave my side, no matter what!”
“O-Okay!”
The massive skeleton rested its sword on its shoulder and activated a two-hit greatsword skill, ?Dual Tornado?.
Like a whirlwind, the massive horizontal slash knocked away the soldiers protecting the princess, shields and all. As the second strike came crashing down, Alice raised her eyebrows in determination and took the blow head-on.
“Gu… ugh…!”
Before being sealed, the only skill Alice managed to use was ?Phalanx?, which halves the damage of a single hit.
Of course, unlike Rou, she couldn’t block the attack with perfect technique, so her body was gradually being pushed back.
However, as the Dragon King’s daughter, her innate physical strength and sheer grit kept her from being overwhelmed.
“Take that!”
Seizing the moment when the force of the slash had completely stopped, Alice deflected the blow with all her might.
What incredible grit and raw strength.
The ?Skeleton King?, having its attack deflected, lost its balance and dropped to one knee.
—Well done, Alice!
Silently praising her, Sora granted Kuro the ?Light Attribute?, the skeleton’s weakness, and with a quick glance between them, the two charged forward.
Kuro led the way, positioning her sword horizontally and activating ?Rage Slant?.
With a dazzling light, she slashed a diagonal line across the enormous skeleton, reducing its HP to 60%.
Kuro had shaved off 40%.
The remaining 60%—I’ll finish it off.
Sora hoisted her magic sword onto her right shoulder, kicked off the ground, and used the skeleton’s greatsword as a platform. From there, she launched into a high jump with the rapid acceleration of ?Sonic Sword?.
The chosen skill: a one-handed sword attack.
A four-hit combo, ?Quad Slash?.
First, a downward diagonal slash from right to left. Following through, she reversed her blade and delivered an upward diagonal slash, cutting along the same line.
Suspended midair by the inertia of the skill, Sora switched her grip and followed up with a left downward slash, then a left upward slash to complete the combo.
The ?Skeleton King?’s chest now bore a large X-shaped gash. However, despite the attack buff Sora had stacked, some kind of “guts” skill seemed to kick in, leaving the monster with 10% of its HP remaining.
“Uwoooooooooh!”
With a roar that rivaled the skeletal monster’s, Sora dodged the grasping hand of the enemy and activated ?Leap Boost III?. Kicking off the ground, she soared once more.
This time, she selected her most powerful thrust technique.
With her sword glowing a brilliant blue, Sora’s ?Strike Sword IV? plunged deep into the ?Skeleton King?’s head.
As its HP hit zero, the gigantic skeleton disintegrated into particles of light and vanished.
Author Notes:
?Skeleton King?
For regular adventurers, this formidable enemy seals their skills from the very start, forcing them into a grueling endurance battle for 30 minutes until the seal is lifted.
Needless to say, the Skeleton King couldn’t capitalize on its strengths against the protagonist, who has 100% resistance to status ailments…