Is It Bad That the Main Character’s a Roleplayer?

Chapter 160

Usually, if an explosion went off inside one’s mouth, one would die. However, my opponent was a Great Demon, so I couldn’t afford to expect such a straightforward ending.

For that reason, even as smoke billowed around me, I was already preparing for what would come next. And that ‘preparation’ included gathering Arcane Power into my sword, so I’d be ready to counter whatever was thrown at me.

Buooooooh!

> [You damn mortal!!]

‘Persistent bastard.’

See? I knew that would happen. If things just kept going like that, the Great Demons’ reputation would be on the line here. There was no way it would simply die like that.

Of course, I would have much preferred Moby Dick just whimpering and giving up, but there was no way that Great Demon would ever grant my wishes.

Sure enough, Moby Dick eventually emerged from the smoke. However, its size was simply too massive to dodge once I realized what was happening.

“Cough!”

I could hear the kimchi dumpling coughing up blood behind me. The whale must have broken several layers of her barriers as it rose.

However, I had my own problems to deal with. I was in no position to worry about the kimchi dumpling.

With the barrier broken, all that remained beneath me was open air and the gaping maw of Moby Dick.

“Demon Knight!”

> [I’ll swallow you whole and digest you!]

My body plummeted downward.

“Tsk.”

But I couldn’t just let this happen. That’s why I’d gathered my Arcane Power to begin with.

‘Cut it down.’

So, I unleashed the Arcane Power I’d gathered in advance in a precise and sharp sword strike.

Slash! The black, crescent-shaped [Slash] swept away the whale floating in the sky as if it were in the deep sea. However, I couldn’t tell whether I’d landed a serious blow or merely grazed it.

Flutter!

Anyway, after unleashing that [Slash], I still got swallowed by that whale’s enormous mouth.

Ah, I hadn’t fallen down its throat yet, and its mouth was still wide open, so maybe “swallowed” wasn’t the right word here.

Still, this wasn’t a good situation for me. Although I was confident that I’d hit it, it seemed to have been ineffective, given there was no cut, and I hadn’t stopped falling.

I couldn’t just let this happen. As a last resort, I plunged my sword into the whale's smooth, slick, protrusion-free tongue.

However, perhaps because of my weight or because the flesh was simply too soft, the blade didn’t actually anchor me and just cut through the tissue.

The whale was so large that I couldn't even wedge myself between the roof of its mouth and its tongue to stop my fall. The distance between the two was too far for my feet to reach.

Was I really going to be helplessly swallowed into that abyss-like throat?

Even if I was inside of it, I could still raise havoc and tear into Moby Dick’s flesh from within… I’d much rather cause some damage from outside, though. Plus, the thought of making a nosedive from 4,000 meters in the air was still a bit worrying.

But the die had already been cast.

Rather than despairing over my situation, I decided to tear into that Demon whale’s flesh as much as I could, ensuring it would suffer greatly as I plunged deeper and deeper into its throat.

Bubble, bubble.

Just then, the [Slash] I’d sent out finally left its mark, creating an opening.

On either side of me, bright gray lines formed before splitting wide apart, widening the opening even further.

> [Y-You wretched…]

At the same time, everything around me began to boil and bubble as if turning into water.

The internal organs, bones, flesh, everything.

> [I can’t…]

And just as everything melted into water droplets, light began seeping into the endless darkness around me, revealing the vast sky.

“Demon Knight!”

“Hahaha, buddy. I’ve got you!”

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I then felt someone grabbing hold of my body.

I almost instinctively lashed out but stopped myself when a flash of platinum appeared before my eyes.

Bers had caught me in her strong arms, and clinging to her back was the Inquisitor, emitting radiant light.

Thud!

Our bodies rolled onto a Divine barrier that had suddenly appeared beneath us.

Bers let go of me at just the right moment, so I managed to avoid getting crushed beneath both her (who looked to weigh over 100kg) and the Inquisitor (who, in armor, also easily exceeded 100kg).

I’d survived.

“Y-You did it, Berserk!”

“Look! Didn’t I say I could do it, priest!”

I got up, right next to Bers and the Inquisitor.

After falling several dozen meters and slamming into a flat, hard Divine barrier, my entire body ached. I was really lucky I didn’t end up with a concussion.

Still, at least we’d survived. I checked our surroundings without complaining.

First, I had to find out what had happened to that damn Moby Dick.

“The Demon…”

But where the hell did it go?

I continued to look around for Moby Dick as the clouds rapidly gathered and static electricity crackled so intently that the hair on my body stood on end.

Unfortunately, the massive whale was nowhere to be seen.

“The wind is getting stronger.”

“A storm?”

Just as Bers said, a storm seemed to be approaching us. And here we were, standing on a barrier with no ground to anchor ourselves or weapons to hold on to.

My frozen hair and clothes fluttered in the intense wind. I could almost hear faint, ominous cackling.

> [Right. It was my mistake to take it easy when facing the Hero and you.]

Suddenly, a gloomy voice echoed from within the dark storm clouds.

Raindrops began to fall, striking our cheeks and bodies. Since we were so high up, they were more like ice pellets, but I could just brush them off for now.

> [But I won’t be holding back anymore now.]

However, the gradually gathering storm clouds that finally overtook us weren’t something we could ignore.

From those dark clouds emerged a merman, which made the surrounding clusters of clouds appear like an inverted sea.

> [I will not die alone.]

While making that declaration, the merman’s fins and ornamental clothes fluttered. Eyes twice the size of my head stared directly at us.

The silver pupils within the black sclera, making the eyes seem like those of a snake, glinted ominously.

I couldn’t help but swallow hard.

> [Let’s see how long you can endure.]

Wow, so that was the transformed Moby Dick? That meant we’d entered this boss fight’s second or third phase, right?

But it was a little hard to praise myself for holding out so far when it was about to hurl a spear bigger than its entire body at us. Wasn’t that a bit over the top?

> [Die.]

And to top it off, the moment it was thrown, the spear got struck by lightning.

* * *

At first glance, the spear falling slowly toward us looked like divine punishment.

“You damn Demon…”

“I’ll make a path!”

In any case, we had to dodge it. And there was only one way to do it: running outside its range.

As such, the Inquisitor hurriedly expanded the barrier in one direction. They say experience was the best teacher, and it seemed she was rapidly growing evermore skilled at manipulating the Divine barrier.

However, as always, the Inquisitor just wasn’t made for speed. No matter how slow the spear was falling, her pace made it an extremely close call.

“Kaha, let’s run!”

“I-I can run myself!”

“You’re too slow, priest!”

“…!”

So Bers threw the Inquisitor over her shoulder and ran off while I took the lead.

Grrrrr.

As if that hadn’t been enough, deep-sea monsters began to descend upon us, even from areas where the Inquisitor hadn’t placed any barriers.

Even without any barriers, those things could just step onto the fog that lay right below us. No, they actually swam through it.

They then aimed for the barrier path or tried to leap onto it to attack us.

How incredibly annoying.

“These pests are seriously annoying!”

“These worms…”

I left the monsters behind us to Bers—though I couldn’t really tell how anyone could swing a halberd with just one hand while carrying a fully armored person over their opposite shoulder—and focused on firing [Arcane Spear]s.

They didn’t work too well on big bosses, but they were pretty useful for dealing with these trash mobs. I managed to take down dozens of them in no time.

And just as we thought we were out of the spear’s range, it plunged into the clouds below.

The clouds, pushed aside like soft cream, quickly absorbed the spear’s lightning and flashed brightly as thunder rumbled.

“Ugh.”

But those weren’t just visual effects.

As thunder roared in all directions, the barrier just above the clouds was also struck.

Thanks to the Inquisitor’s efforts, the barrier barely avoided getting shattering. However, she couldn’t avoid taking damage herself.

The kimchi dumpling coughed up blood again. Drip. This was the first time I’d seen her bleed from her nose.

Craaaack!

But we still didn’t have any time to catch our breath. Moby Dick was relentlessly attacking us.

Not only had it thrown another spear, but also those homing water serpents and ice pillars to further disrupt our escape.

The issue was that we had no way to strike back.

Even if we wanted to attack its main body, it was too high up, and every time I forced myself to shoot an [Arcane Spear] at it, Moby Dick would just hide inside the sea of clouds where my attacks couldn’t reach it.

Then, did it ever come down to give us a chance to attack it? Of course not. That damn boss was just one-sidedly attacking us without giving us a single turn.

“Sending out only small fry, how cowardly! Just come down here and face us properly!”

Bers was the first to reach the limit of her patience.

After splitting the heads of countless mobs with her halberd, her body drenched in their blood, she suddenly shouted out.

And the Inquisitor? She’d initially fought some with her mace but was now just sitting in one spot. It was already difficult enough for her to maintain our foothold against the continuous attacks and protect us from the strong winds that occasionally tried to blow us away.

And finally, as for me…

‘Just hold on.’

I never gave in to despair.

Instead, I found myself thinking that this, dying so pathetically, couldn’t possibly be our fate.

Of course, this wasn't just wishful thinking. I mean, there couldn’t be such an unfair and absurd boss in this world, right?

Everything had a weakness. Therefore, that boss also had to have one.

It just might be something we couldn’t exploit with pure strength alone.

‘If you just hold on.’

Slash!

I gripped my sword tightly, smashing through the increasingly fierce attacks.

My body had become somewhat battered by the attacks I hadn’t managed to parry or destroy, but none of my injuries were critical. That was enough.

‘He’s going to die on his own.’

“You.”

I could sense the latest attack was much weaker than the previous one.

“Looks like you don’t even have enough strength to make those spears anymore.”

> […Die!]

So, you really have reached the limit of your Arcane Power, huh, you bastard?

> [A mere vessel!!]

The corners of my mouth raised, pulling my mouth into a smirk as I looked at Moby Dick, who poked its head out.

In my head, I was already composing a complete strategy on how to take that bastard down.

“Struggle all you want, you vermin. The world will never move the way you want it to.”

> […Wrath!!!]

I had a hunch ever since noticing our turn to attack never came, but this guy wasn’t the type of boss one defeated by killing it. It was the type that would self-destruct if one held out long enough.

Just a few moments ago, I was thinking things like, ‘Should I just destroy the seal?’ or, ‘This is just too much, downright impossible!’ but now my thoughts had changed to, ‘I can do this,’ which was proof enough of that realization.

That bastard was starting to grow weaker.

“Demon Knight, I…”

“Hold on.”

“…Yes!”

The only variable in this was the Inquisitor’s stamina.

I gritted my teeth as I watched waves of Divine Power, which could even purify blood, engulf the kimchi dumpling.

I would’ve taken her place if I could, but since this was something only she could do, I had no choice but to push her.

I felt sorry, truly sorry.

> [I’ll… I’ll at least take you with me!]

So, I at least had to bring back that damn bastard’s head.

I saw Moby Dick, as a last resort, emerge from the sea of clouds and rush toward me, spear in hand. It was like watching a meteor hurtling toward me.

“Hah, finally…!”

“Somehow…!”

However, I didn’t intend to dodge. That wasn’t my role.

“Moron.”

“Huh?”

“Were you talking to me?”

“Jump.”

I tightly gripped my Zweihänder.

“You’re in the way.”

I injected exactly half the remaining Arcane Power I’d somehow managed to conserve into my legs. Black energy overflowed from them, swirling around me like flames as it strengthened my body.

“You’re really mean.”

“Demon Knight, what are you…”

“Always monopolizing the best prey.”

“Huh?”

“When we get down, you owe me a sparring match.”

They were flames undeterred even by the freezing air at an altitude of 4,000 meters.

“Berserk, I can’t follow this conversation—”

“Let’s go!”

“Waargh!”

And when Bers grabbed the Inquisitor and leaped off, all the pieces were finally in place.

Right before the barrier dissolved, I kicked off from it with all my might.

“You thought I’d exchange blows with you head-on? How foolish.”

> […!]

I narrowly dodged Moby Dick’s spear, using its bladed segment as a foothold.

As huge as it was, it lacked precision.

“I’ll cut you down.”

Of course, being small also had its drawbacks, but… not right now.

「Activating Indomitable Spirit!」

I poured every last drop of my remaining Arcane Power, even converting the last bits of my HP into Arcane Power, into my blade and split the sky.

A black moon appeared in the heavens.

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