It was dark, even darker than the darkest night.
I imagine that the process of creating this thing was rather easy, since all you needed to do was to paint the whole thing black and be done with it.
「Luukan……!」
It was a chunk of data that was even more broken and terrifying than the Golden Scorpion. Even though it was a model made out of zeros and ones, the feeling of approaching death was so overwhelming that your whole body was feeling it all the way to its very core…… It felt as though you were just waiting for your own execution.
Even though I was way stronger than the day we first met and it put the curse marks on me, I could understand it in an instant: we couldn’t possibly win against that thing. It would be utter stupidity to think otherwise.
「KARORORORORORO……!」
Night Prowler Luukan emerged from the darkness of the night and gazed at us with its golden eyes, his jet-black body not making even the slightest move.
It looked at the members of the SF-Zoo calmly, then switched to Rei and eventually its gaze fell on me like an executioner’s blade.
After all, it wasn’t just a mindless monster. I assume that the AI steering its actions was as advanced as the ones animating the actions of the most advanced NPCs.
「Everyone, begin the operation! The strategy is the same as we agreed on! First, Anti-Dragon formation!」
As we were glaring at one another I realized that I readied my weapons out of reflex. If it wasn’t for Animalia’s sharp command, I would most probably have rushed towards this monster without thinking.
I was confident that I would be able to at least put up a decent fight, so the command issued to the members of SF-Zoo confused me greatly.
I don’t think they understand the gravity of the situation at hand. They needed to get the hell out of here before they were literally slaughtered.
「Sanraku-san.」
「Let’s put some distance between us. It is impossible to simply aggro this thing just like that.」
The battle hasn’t started yet. In terms of racing, we were still waiting at the start line for the green lights to light up.
Before the slaughter begins, we need to be as far from SF-Zoo and Lukaan as humanly possible……
「…… Are, are you sure about that?」
「Rei, do you have any experience with fighting Night Prowler?」
「About three encounters…… In all of which I got one-shotted instantly.」
Oh, you’ve encountered it even more than I did? Should I call you senpai then? Nah, forget about it for now.
「For me it was only once, but…… It was enough to understand that this beast will not simply go down without putting up quite a fight. I also don’t want to interfere and die because of SF-Zoo, so for now let’s just wait and see how the situation develops.」
Even against an entire raid team, I don’t think that Luukan will fall that easily. Besides, it was an opportunity for me to witness its battle style from an outsider’s perspective, so don’t mind me and just let it slaughter you all for my experience’s sake.
SF-Zoo. Seeing as they were experienced in catching formidable monsters, none of the party members seemed to have wavered in Luukan’s presence. They were all calm and composed.
「Let’s see, five tanks…… No way, please don’t tell me that all the rest are Debuffers!?」
And not your usual tanks, no less. Those guys were literal walls or even meat shields. With full body armor and tower shields in their hands, they seemed to have sacrificed every single fiber of offence in favor of defense.
They lined up in a single row, protecting the Debuffers like an insurmountable wall.
「This is SF-Zoo’s most basic formation and tactic. The tanks are just there to focus aggro on themselves and sponge all the incoming damage…… The Debuffers do all the real work.」
「I can’t imagine they are going to withstand attacks just like that…… Do they have some special skills that help them tank better?」
If you have five tanks, you can easily switch the one aggroing the attacks if you needed it. And when others are taking the damage, you can replenish your health and wait for your defensive skills to go off-cooldown.
Tanks focusing the aggro on themselves were a force that no monster could possibly ignore. And once they do that, the literal storm of debuffs will follow suit from behind them…… It was surely a poor boss subjugation strategy, focused more on catching your prey alive rather than finishing it off.
「But, that’s about it.」
「???」
For some extent such a strategy will surely work…… But there are so many more elements that you need to be aware of when it comes to enemies, not to mention that their mobility is pretty much non-existent at this point.
「Wow, this is going to turn really ugly really fast.」
Night Prowler is as cunning as any player out there. It wasn’t a bad idea for SF-Zoo’s tanks to scatter slightly to avoid being taken out all at once like bowling pins. It might have worked wonders against any other monster. But not against Luukan.
Luukan melts into the darkness like some sort of apparition and right after that it appeared behind one of the tanks, as if it was always there in the first place.
Luukan’s shadow transition was something that only a veteran of fighting with it could possibly grasp. For a complete newcomer, it might have been instant transition. So no matter how tight your defenses might be, in the face of that attack you are nothing more than a punching bag, soon to be ground into minced meat.
One of the tanks got smashed with Luukan’s paw and flew forward while rolling on the ground. Poor sap didn’t even see it coming, so responding to that attack was also impossible.
But surprisingly enough he was still breathing. Guess that’s to be expected if you sacrifice your attack power and mobility and pour everything into defense.
In addition, their communication was also quite good. One of the remaining four tanks covered the fallen one and took a fatal blow in the process, but he bought enough time for the three others to pick up their comrade and patch him up.
It was good that they were so proficient at tanking, but that would leave the debuffers vulnerable and open to attacks. However --
「First group…… FIRE!」
「「「「ATLAS BIND!!!」」」」
The first group, about four magic casters, cast their spell at the same time in unison. Their spells turned out to be chains, and each one of them bound one of Luukan’s legs.
They shot from the ground and immobilized Luukan, but seeing how it immediately started to struggle to break free, the spell’s effects wouldn’t last for long against an opponent like that.
「Good, hold it down! Second group, back them up!」
But it doesn’t seem like SF-Zoo was quite finished, for the second group of magic casters fired their spells at Luukan.
Another chain, withered human arm, binds of ivy, stone arms…… all of those elements got placed on top of Atlas Binds, reinforcing the restraints on Luukan’s limbs.
Is that supposed to make the Atlas Bind stronger? Or simply hold it down in case Atlas Bind breaks? Just as I was considering that, Animalia came to the front.
「Leader!」
「This is how the perfect capture looks like! Behold! ‘HANDS OF TARTARUS!!!’」
Animalia raised the weapon she was holding in her arms. It was a staff, but just one look at the thing would confirm that it was most probably a Unique Weapon, unlike anything her squad was using. When she chanted the name of the spell, Luukan’s legs started to twist and distort unnaturally. At first I thought it was a bug, but I soon realized that it was in fact the space itself being distorted around its legs.
Then, there was a giant arm that popped out of the distorted space, firmly grasping Luukan’s torso and not letting go of it.
「Eh, what is that thing!?」
「…… This is the unique ability of that woman’s weapon, “Key of Hades”. If I remember correctly, it holds the power to render any creature immobile for about thirty seconds with no ways of avoiding that effect once the spell captures you.」
「Any creature, huh……」
「It looks like SF-Zoo really has a chance at capturing Night Prowler Luukan……」
Oh, I wouldn’t worry too much about that.
If anything, even though I realize that I wouldn’t be able to best that monster at the current moment, I see that defeating it is not in the realm of impossible.
But despite being immobilized, the expression on Luukan’s face was not of an animal that was soon to be robbed of its freedom.
「Is, is that so? Look, at this rate, they will surely……」
「No, take a closer look…… Here it comes……」
「Eh?」
That’s right. Now I remember. I finally started to understand what exactly happened at that time.
In a moment, all of the information in my brain formed one single chain that finally started to make sense.
At that moment I was sure of it. Night Prowler Luukan somehow managed to unite with the shadows and create an invisible copy of itself.
Or not. It was not the shadows. For me, it looks as though Luukan was united with the darkness itself, not only the shadow.
To be more specific, the darkness I was referring to was not the darkness on the ground or the air. It was the darkness of space itself.
And now I can clearly see that at the exact moment of attack, Luukan’s body stayed the same, with not even a single move being made by it.
-- Hypothesis.
That attack was not “Invisible Bite”. Far from it, actually.
It was something along the lines of “Being attacked by an invisible alter ego”.
And the trigger to that attack is the disappearance of moonlight, and the light of the stars itself. A state of perfect and impeccable darkness that no light could possibly hope to pierce.
An attack of an entity hidden in the darkness of the night, or even completely assimilated with it!
「Do you remember what kind of weather there was during all of your encounters with this thing……!?」
Night Prowler Luukan. It seems that I was in the wrong about the meaning of that name.
It’s not “Night Prowler” because it attacks at night. It’s a “Night Prowler” because it uses the night itself to attack you.
At the same time I arrived at that conclusion, the darkness mercilessly assaulted Animalia.
It was dark, even darker than the darkest night.
I imagine that the process of creating this thing was rather easy, since all you needed to do was to paint the whole thing black and be done with it.
「Luukan……!」
It was a chunk of data that was even more broken and terrifying than the Golden Scorpion. Even though it was a model made out of zeros and ones, the feeling of approaching death was so overwhelming that your whole body was feeling it all the way to its very core…… It felt as though you were just waiting for your own execution.
Even though I was way stronger than the day we first met and it put the curse marks on me, I could understand it in an instant: we couldn’t possibly win against that thing. It would be utter stupidity to think otherwise.
「KARORORORORORO……!」
Night Prowler Luukan emerged from the darkness of the night and gazed at us with its golden eyes, his jet-black body not making even the slightest move.
It looked at the members of the SF-Zoo calmly, then switched to Rei and eventually its gaze fell on me like an executioner’s blade.
After all, it wasn’t just a mindless monster. I assume that the AI steering its actions was as advanced as the ones animating the actions of the most advanced NPCs.
「Everyone, begin the operation! The strategy is the same as we agreed on! First, Anti-Dragon formation!」
As we were glaring at one another I realized that I readied my weapons out of reflex. If it wasn’t for Animalia’s sharp command, I would most probably have rushed towards this monster without thinking.
I was confident that I would be able to at least put up a decent fight, so the command issued to the members of SF-Zoo confused me greatly.
I don’t think they understand the gravity of the situation at hand. They needed to get the hell out of here before they were literally slaughtered.
「Sanraku-san.」
「Let’s put some distance between us. It is impossible to simply aggro this thing just like that.」
The battle hasn’t started yet. In terms of racing, we were still waiting at the start line for the green lights to light up.
Before the slaughter begins, we need to be as far from SF-Zoo and Lukaan as humanly possible……
「…… Are, are you sure about that?」
「Rei, do you have any experience with fighting Night Prowler?」
「About three encounters…… In all of which I got one-shotted instantly.」
Oh, you’ve encountered it even more than I did? Should I call you senpai then? Nah, forget about it for now.
「For me it was only once, but…… It was enough to understand that this beast will not simply go down without putting up quite a fight. I also don’t want to interfere and die because of SF-Zoo, so for now let’s just wait and see how the situation develops.」
Even against an entire raid team, I don’t think that Luukan will fall that easily. Besides, it was an opportunity for me to witness its battle style from an outsider’s perspective, so don’t mind me and just let it slaughter you all for my experience’s sake.
SF-Zoo. Seeing as they were experienced in catching formidable monsters, none of the party members seemed to have wavered in Luukan’s presence. They were all calm and composed.
「Let’s see, five tanks…… No way, please don’t tell me that all the rest are Debuffers!?」
And not your usual tanks, no less. Those guys were literal walls or even meat shields. With full body armor and tower shields in their hands, they seemed to have sacrificed every single fiber of offence in favor of defense.
They lined up in a single row, protecting the Debuffers like an insurmountable wall.
「This is SF-Zoo’s most basic formation and tactic. The tanks are just there to focus aggro on themselves and sponge all the incoming damage…… The Debuffers do all the real work.」
「I can’t imagine they are going to withstand attacks just like that…… Do they have some special skills that help them tank better?」
If you have five tanks, you can easily switch the one aggroing the attacks if you needed it. And when others are taking the damage, you can replenish your health and wait for your defensive skills to go off-cooldown.
Tanks focusing the aggro on themselves were a force that no monster could possibly ignore. And once they do that, the literal storm of debuffs will follow suit from behind them…… It was surely a poor boss subjugation strategy, focused more on catching your prey alive rather than finishing it off.
「But, that’s about it.」
「???」
For some extent such a strategy will surely work…… But there are so many more elements that you need to be aware of when it comes to enemies, not to mention that their mobility is pretty much non-existent at this point.
「Wow, this is going to turn really ugly really fast.」
Night Prowler is as cunning as any player out there. It wasn’t a bad idea for SF-Zoo’s tanks to scatter slightly to avoid being taken out all at once like bowling pins. It might have worked wonders against any other monster. But not against Luukan.
Luukan melts into the darkness like some sort of apparition and right after that it appeared behind one of the tanks, as if it was always there in the first place.
Luukan’s shadow transition was something that only a veteran of fighting with it could possibly grasp. For a complete newcomer, it might have been instant transition. So no matter how tight your defenses might be, in the face of that attack you are nothing more than a punching bag, soon to be ground into minced meat.
One of the tanks got smashed with Luukan’s paw and flew forward while rolling on the ground. Poor sap didn’t even see it coming, so responding to that attack was also impossible.
But surprisingly enough he was still breathing. Guess that’s to be expected if you sacrifice your attack power and mobility and pour everything into defense.
In addition, their communication was also quite good. One of the remaining four tanks covered the fallen one and took a fatal blow in the process, but he bought enough time for the three others to pick up their comrade and patch him up.
It was good that they were so proficient at tanking, but that would leave the debuffers vulnerable and open to attacks. However --
「First group…… FIRE!」
「「「「ATLAS BIND!!!」」」」
The first group, about four magic casters, cast their spell at the same time in unison. Their spells turned out to be chains, and each one of them bound one of Luukan’s legs.
They shot from the ground and immobilized Luukan, but seeing how it immediately started to struggle to break free, the spell’s effects wouldn’t last for long against an opponent like that.
「Good, hold it down! Second group, back them up!」
But it doesn’t seem like SF-Zoo was quite finished, for the second group of magic casters fired their spells at Luukan.
Another chain, withered human arm, binds of ivy, stone arms…… all of those elements got placed on top of Atlas Binds, reinforcing the restraints on Luukan’s limbs.
Is that supposed to make the Atlas Bind stronger? Or simply hold it down in case Atlas Bind breaks? Just as I was considering that, Animalia came to the front.
「Leader!」
「This is how the perfect capture looks like! Behold! ‘HANDS OF TARTARUS!!!’」
Animalia raised the weapon she was holding in her arms. It was a staff, but just one look at the thing would confirm that it was most probably a Unique Weapon, unlike anything her squad was using. When she chanted the name of the spell, Luukan’s legs started to twist and distort unnaturally. At first I thought it was a bug, but I soon realized that it was in fact the space itself being distorted around its legs.
Then, there was a giant arm that popped out of the distorted space, firmly grasping Luukan’s torso and not letting go of it.
「Eh, what is that thing!?」
「…… This is the unique ability of that woman’s weapon, “Key of Hades”. If I remember correctly, it holds the power to render any creature immobile for about thirty seconds with no ways of avoiding that effect once the spell captures you.」
「Any creature, huh……」
「It looks like SF-Zoo really has a chance at capturing Night Prowler Luukan……」
Oh, I wouldn’t worry too much about that.
If anything, even though I realize that I wouldn’t be able to best that monster at the current moment, I see that defeating it is not in the realm of impossible.
But despite being immobilized, the expression on Luukan’s face was not of an animal that was soon to be robbed of its freedom.
「Is, is that so? Look, at this rate, they will surely……」
「No, take a closer look…… Here it comes……」
「Eh?」
That’s right. Now I remember. I finally started to understand what exactly happened at that time.
In a moment, all of the information in my brain formed one single chain that finally started to make sense.
At that moment I was sure of it. Night Prowler Luukan somehow managed to unite with the shadows and create an invisible copy of itself.
Or not. It was not the shadows. For me, it looks as though Luukan was united with the darkness itself, not only the shadow.
To be more specific, the darkness I was referring to was not the darkness on the ground or the air. It was the darkness of space itself.
And now I can clearly see that at the exact moment of attack, Luukan’s body stayed the same, with not even a single move being made by it.
-- Hypothesis.
That attack was not “Invisible Bite”. Far from it, actually.
It was something along the lines of “Being attacked by an invisible alter ego”.
And the trigger to that attack is the disappearance of moonlight, and the light of the stars itself. A state of perfect and impeccable darkness that no light could possibly hope to pierce.
An attack of an entity hidden in the darkness of the night, or even completely assimilated with it!
「Do you remember what kind of weather there was during all of your encounters with this thing……!?」
Night Prowler Luukan. It seems that I was in the wrong about the meaning of that name.
It’s not “Night Prowler” because it attacks at night. It’s a “Night Prowler” because it uses the night itself to attack you.
At the same time I arrived at that conclusion, the darkness mercilessly assaulted Animalia.
