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Chapter 164.1: Big Boss
The capture of the palace area by the Tendou team advanced without a hitch.
「『FULL THRUST』!」
「『HEAVY SMASH』!」
The 『Black Metal Spear』 thrust by Jury and the 『Black Metal Axe』 swung by Mary was easily smashed through the solid living armor. When the two gals who gained superior skill for vanguard vocation got Ruiichi’s alchemist made weapon, they gained everything they needed to fight against the living armor from the front. But, since they’re still slightly weaker than Living Armor, they played safe and fought in tandem against one opponent.
「Haa, this fella is too fricking solid,『Tera Sagita』!」
On the other hand, though Kyouko wasn’t lucky enough to get a new offensive magic, she became more proficient in using 『Tera Sagita』 to the point that it could pierce through the solid defense of the living armor. Her tera sagita’s power, precision, rapid-firing speed increased exponentially to the point that she could fire three at once.
Though one tera sagita was lacking the power to penetrate the living armor’s defense, it was strong enough to disturb their movement while she used pin-point shot to drill a wind hole into the living armor’s armor.
「Kyouko, that’s enough!」
「Leave the rest to us―― ORAORAORA, 『HEAVY SMASH』!」
Despite her complaints, Kyouko’s 『Tera Sagita』 managed to keep the living armor in check, creating the opportunity for Jury-Mary to drive in the finishing blow.
Though they had no idea about the proper way to judge whether they’re alive or dead due to their non-existence physical body, they decided that it was enough as long as the other party’s body didn’t move anymore after barraging it with their strongest skill. And then, since the other party didn’t move anymore, they deduced it was safe to assume that the other party had already died.
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When the vanguard Jury-Mary worked in tandem with the rear guard Kyouko who grew into splendid 『Geomancer』, the trio of gals who gained more experience the more the fight became an extremely fearsome force that could slay living armor with their cooperation play.
And now, three days after they explored the palace area, most of the living armors that appeared were left to the trio by Ryuuichi while he fought the black living armors which were clearly more powerful than the grey one. [TL: Assuming that the grey one is the one that was left to the trio is normal living armor.]
The best thing about living armors was the loot gained from salvaging their corpse(?), whether it was weapons or armor, all of them were far more superior in terms of quality than the loot they gathered from the skeletons. On top of that, there were a lot of treasure chests in this area filled with various items such as potions or magic items.
Though the increase of the treasure chest’s appearance also accompanied with the increase of the one with trap, it was far from enough to deceive Ryuiichi’s『Eye』, after canceling the trap with brute force, all that left was the item inside the treasure box. [TL: Tendou is walking hack code!!!]
And then, though they gained a whole lot of items and weapons during today’s exploration too
 the item suitable for Kyouko, a geomancer, had yet to appear.
「Woops, finally the boss huh.」
After walking through the huge palace area for one week, they finally arrived in front of the giant double door which apparently led to the boss’s room.
Without trying to hide his fighting spirit whatsoever, Ryuuichi kicked open the seemingly extremely solid, double heavy metal door and entered the boss’s room at once.
And just as they expected, an opponent, as grandiose as the double heavy metal door, was already waiting in the center of the room.
It was a giant, jet-black knight around three metres tall. The armor itself was clearly far more powerful than the other living armors they had met so far, and more grandiose. The golden ornaments in various parts of the glossy black armor were proof enough of it being a higher rank than the other living armors as if to say, I’M THE BOSS.
In addition, even its weapon, the great sword that was stuck in the floor beside it, looked as grandiose as its owner with golden ornaments on its black background.
「Alone, is it? it seems this guy ain’t have lackeys either――」
「『Tera Sagitta』!」
Kyouko’s magic had already struck the General Armor even before Ryuuichi got the chance to pull his sword.
From the very beginning, she knew that all of her attacks could do nothing more than create a dent on the armored living armor or at least stop them in their tracks, and yet
 she couldn’t help but be shocked upon seeing her magic turned into grains of sand before it touched the armor of the General Armor.
「Uwaa, is that a barrier? That’s cheating, right?」
「Randou, you’re actually moving faster than me.」
「Eh? I mean, it’s a monster, an enemy, rather, it’s the boss of this area. Nothing wrong with getting the first strike, you know.」
「At least think a little bit before you take such action
 But well, I’m not in a position to tell you about that either.」
Heaving a deep sigh, Ryuuichi switched his mind to enter battle mode.
「Leave that guy to me, the rest of you back down, and don’t disturb my fight.」
「Okay then, since I don’t think that my attack is going to pass through that kind of defense, I’ll leave the rest to you, Tendou. Godspeed.」
「Good luck Tendou-kun! Shall we have a chat over there, Kyouko?」
「Well, I know you can do this, Tendou-kun! and Kyouko, shall we have you to reflect on your recklessness over there?」
「Eh, what’s the matter girls? Why do you speak as if I’m in the wrong?」
After glancing from over his shoulder towards Kyouko who wore a dissatisfied look on her face as she was being dragged away from both sides by Jury-Mary towards the giant metal gate, he looked at the enemy before him.
「Heya, it seems you’re quite powerful.」
It wasn’t flattery, just blatant truth. He could feel the same kind of pressure rivaling the red dragon he fought before emitted by the General Armor who stood like an immovable stone statue in front of him. No, compared to the deranged Red Dragon who lost its mind because of Azuma Shinichi, 『Summoner』’s control, on top of their old age, the General Armor before him which was filled with razor-sharp killing intent like the killing machine in SF movie might be able to show an even higher performance during the battle. The dragon might’ve had higher specs as a monster despite their old age but the General Armor definitely had an overwhelming performance in the aspect of combat.
In addition, he also realized a fact after fighting all the living armors along the way, they used actual swordsmanship, a trained combatant instead of a monster that fought with their instincts. They’re not just brandishing their axes or spears recklessly, they’re thinking like humans, using their weapons effectively. Even the weakest living armor in this area possessed some real skill to make full use of their weapon. Since that was the case, their boss, the General Armor, should be a weapon master. A genuine monster who couldn’t be compared with Yokomichi who only knew how to rush ahead.
It had been a while since he met an opponent that could make him go all out.
「Here I come.」
Contrary to the king who displayed an arrogant smile, the General just pulled out their sword from the floor and readied their stance in silence――
.
..


「YAAY, VICTORY!」
「AS EXPECTED OF TENDOU-KUN!」
Jury-Mary combi’s cheerful voice resounded inside the room. But a puff of 『Wild ïŒ—ă€ after a tough battle had calmed him down.
「Haa~h, that’s exhausting indeed.」
After having a proper taste of precious cigarette which he got from Kotarou, Ryuiichi recalled the 『King Sword』 that pierced through the helmet of the General Armor and canceled the 『King Armor』’s gauntlet on his hand which he used to pluck the core.
The form of the armor and the sword which slowly turned into particles of light was then turned into a golden vortex surrounding the helmet armor of the defeated General Armor.
Raw Material has been acquired.
『Dark General’s Great Sword, Xam’dringer』
『Dark General’s Helmet, Xam’dbog』
King Sword purification start―― COMPLETE
『King Sword』 New form, 『Dark Sword, Xam’d』
As expected, his 『King Sword』 gained a new form after he defeated a formidable enemy which he met for the first time in a long time.
The new form was a great sword resembling the one used by the General Armor, it had a bulky double-edged sword blade with golden ornaments shining on its black background. Its destructive power which came from its weight and overwhelming sharpness aside, it even had the same ability as the raw material.
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General Armor’s great sword could fire a shockwave when swung, create a stone block when it hit the floor, and shoot lightning from its sword blade.
After the fight, a third of the floor of the boss’s room was smashed to pieces, half of the wall was burned black. All of the destruction was due to the fierce combat between Ryuuichi and General Armor.
Anyhow, a new powerful magic had now been added to Ryuuichi’s King Sword.
By the way, his King Sword could still switch back to its previous form, 『Firedrake Sword, Salamandra』 and skeleton boss’s『Unrefined』 as he wished Though he still had the blue greatsword form which he got after beating the crocodile-like lizardman boss in the underground lake, it had yet to get its turn to show off.
He possessed many kinds of swords that increased on their own along with his growth to the point that he was too lazy to remember every single one of their form. Even if he changed his sword form, he would use the weakest form of his sword, 『Unrefined』 when he was going easy against the other party.
But since he got a form whose power surpassed the previous strongest form, 『Firedrake Sword, Salamandra』, 『Dark Sword, Xam’d』 would become his main weapon from now on.
And then, the harvest of this battle wasn’t just 『King Sword』’s new form.
Predation Skill
『Phantom Mailă€ïŒšClad the user’s body with invisible armor that has the same defensive power as the Dark General’s helmet.
『Nega Waveă€ïŒšFires a shockwave from a sword blade.
『Curse De Soilă€ïŒšBlackening earth as a result of encroachment from dark magical power.
『End Boltă€ïŒšBlack lightning born from dark magical power.
『Nether Vortexă€ïŒšDark General sure kill slash. Repulsive dark aura formed into a vortex of destruction.
『Fear Gazeă€ïŒšAttracting the enemy’s attention by using instilling fear in them.
『Horror Breakă€ïŒšCoercion with resistance against the undead.
『Terror Breakă€ïŒšCoercion with resistance against the ghost.
Ryuiichi walked to activate the transfer circle with the core in his hand while being fed up with the information that was crammed into his head.
After Ryuuichi absorbed the boss’s weapon and armor helmet, there was almost nothing left of it. Even though he consumed most of its materials, he had some parts left.
Ryuuichi glanced at the wreckage of the armor that he didn’t absorb, and then hoisted his hand toward the wreckage.
「
 『Servant・Alchemist』」
The alchemists made of particles of light appeared along with the golden magic circles and were starting to create something from those wreckages. Less than a minute later, the particles of light dispersed, and a new weapon was already in Ryuuichi’s hand.
「Hee, ain’t bad.」
Ryuuichi muttered with a satisfied look on his face, something that he rarely did. The weapon which received the king’s praise was a gun.
To be exact, a golden revolver. It was an extremely gaudy-looking gun no matter how one looked at it.
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When he tried to pull the trigger, the revolver’s percussion hammer moved and the six chambers rotated. There was no reaction whatsoever, giving it the impression of a model gun, or airsoft gun.
「Randou, take this.」
「Eh―― ah, uwaa, don’t just casually throw it away!!」
Kyouko who reacted a moment slower after seeing Ryuiichi casually tossed the revolver towards her failed to catch it, and let it fall on the ground.
「Then, ain’t this one useless without bullets?」
「You can increase the power of your magic by injecting your mana into it when you fire your magic with it.」
「E~h, seriously?」
「Try it later. And stop pointing its muzzle towards me, that weapon is dangerous.」
「Ka~y. But well, thanks.」
「It’s not a big deal. Now let’s get out of this area.」
Thus, Ryuuichi had also managed to finish the present for Kyouko in this area and moved to the next area along with his group.
「That’s
 a huge plaza.」
The place they’re transferred to was a vast plaza, so vast that they ended up being mesmerized by it.
「Uhm, this place is more than twice as big as the usual one, isn’t it?」
「It kinda like a park.」
Jury and Mary were looking around inspecting the biggest plaza they had ever seen.