.｡.:✧ Chapter 19 ✧:.｡.

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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‘Did I come to the right place?’

I inwardly sighed in relief at the fact that the familiar scenery I had seen countless times in the game finally appeared. I was worried that I might have taken the wrong direction halfway, so it was a huge relief to have found the correct location.

I had to ride for two full nights before finally reaching the boss field of the Headless Armored Cavalier. In the game, it only took around 10 minutes on horseback.

After tying the horse, which looked more energetic than me despite riding for two days straight, to a nearby tree, I took out the items needed for the boss fight strategy from the saddle.

‘One, two, three, four, five… Good. They’re all here.’

Confirming the number, I put them into the pouch at my waist. These were the key items for the Headless Armored Cavalier strategy. To ensure they wouldn’t miss, I even practiced throwing with stones of similar weight and size.

If these missed and the gimmick failed, it was safe to say that clearing the Headless Armored Cavalier would be virtually impossible.

Of course, it wasn’t physically impossible, but under the premise of making no mistakes whatsoever, it could be beaten by concentrating for a little over 20 hours.

It was only possible in the literal sense. It wasn’t something a human should do.

ㅡSqueal!

Hearing a screeching sound resembling a pig’s squeal nearby, I drew the Blood-Stained Sword. It was the sound made by the mobs wandering around the boss field.

As I continued forward along the path, I saw monsters that looked like emaciated and twisted wild boars, scaled down to the size of a medium-sized dog, roaming about in the distance.

There were a total of 8 mobs that needed to be taken down on the way to the Armored Cavalier boss fight. They were all the same type, and befitting the name “mob,” their patterns consisted of only two moves: charging with a body slam and biting.

It was harder to intentionally get hit by their attacks if you were in the right state of mind.

I slowly approached while adjusting the distance. And at the point of taking six more steps, I stopped my legs. The one closest to me flinched and reacted upon seeing me.

The other ones lined up behind it were busy doing their own thing. Even though I should have been visible from that distance, their reaction showed that the game’s recognition system was directly applied.

‘It’s a good thing for me.’

Because I had it all memorized in my head, knowing how close I needed to approach to lure them out one by one.

In the combat system of Brightest Darkness 4, fighting against multiple street mobs was much harder than a 1-on-1 fight against most bosses. The Darkest Light Mod was insanely difficult for both.

Therefore, the key was to aim for 1-on-1 combat as much as possible. One at a time. It was an unchanging truth that applied to all Brightest Darkness series.

The boar monster that recognized me charged recklessly. Then, at a distance of a few steps away from me, it leaped into the air, opening its mouth wide and baring its teeth. It was the biting pattern.

I swung the Blood-Stained Sword towards its teeth. With a clang, the creature’s body was slightly knocked back. Taking advantage of that opening, I quickly thrust the sword into its lower jaw.

As the blade pierced through the emaciated flesh, the tip of the sword that had been stabbed through the lower jaw emerged from the top of its head. The thrashing stopped in an instant.

I pulled out the sword, but no liquid flowed out. In the game, the HUD would have displayed how much experience I gained. Without it, I wondered if I had done it correctly.

Well, considering its head was pierced through and it showed no movement, it must have been dead. In the game, it died with a single hit after deflecting anyway.

“Next.”

I took a few more steps forward. Another emaciated boar in the distance reacted to my presence and charged at me with heavy steps.

If I were to point out the core combat element of the Brightest Darkness series, I could say it was the concept of “combat fatigue,” which was essentially a second health bar.

Combat fatigue accumulated in certain amounts when defending against attacks, deflecting attacks, taking damage, and rolling. In a way, managing combat fatigue was much more important than managing health.

If the combat fatigue gauge was full and you were hit by an enemy or failed to properly deflect an attack, the gauge would reset, and the character would enter a helpless state for 2 seconds.

In the helpless state, you couldn’t perform any actions until the character recovered, and all damage received was amplified by 1.5 times. Even in vanilla, if the gauge burst during a boss fight, you had to be prepared for death.

In the Darkest Light Mod, it was even worse. The duration of the helpless state increased to 4 seconds, and the damage amplification increased to 2 times instead of 1.5 times. It was practically a death sentence.

That was why deflecting was considered so important. As long as you properly deflected the enemy’s attacks, even if the combat fatigue gauge filled up completely, it would never burst and would remain full.

Of course, enemies also had a combat fatigue gauge. Filling it up was the prerequisite for performing a special attack called “parrying.”

And this Headless Armored Cavalier was the only boss that could be parried despite being a monstrous enemy.

ㅡSnort!

The horse, fully clad in heavy armor from head to toe, snorted at me. The rider sitting on top, with nothing above the shoulders and also heavily armored, threateningly spun the spear.

It perfectly explained why this boss was named the “Headless Armored Cavalier.”

The horse’s shoulder height was already nearly twice that of a normal horse, and with the thick armor covering its entire body, its imposing presence was overwhelming.

Without any exaggeration, just from running around nearby, the ground shook tremendously.

ㅡNeigh!!!!!!

The horse reared up on its front legs and let out a loud cry. Now it begins. I gripped the Blood-Stained Sword tightly with both hands. As the distance closed, instead of a cute sound like “clip-clop,” a clanking noise was heard.

‘From left to right, from right to left once each. And then a downward thrust.’

It was the pattern I had already explained in detail in front of the knight commanders. I deflected the horizontally swung spear from each side and dodged the downward thrust by rolling.

The rider pulled out the spear stuck in the ground with his right hand and spun it above his head a few times to shake off the dirt. Then he swung it forward in a large arc and rode away on his horse.

Drawing a large circle, the charging cavalier thrust the spear at me again. As I deflected the attack, a heavy clang resonated, and the impact reverberated throughout my body.

The next attack followed immediately. The horse reared up on its front legs, and the rider prepared to thrust the spear downward from above his head. Seeing that, I brought my hand to my waist.

‘It’s deal time.’

The term “deal time” also meant that the armor breaking gimmick could be performed. As soon as the horse’s front legs hit the ground with a thud, the rider thrust the spear down with all his might.

But I had already rolled out of the way. The spear tip was deeply embedded in the innocent ground, raising dust. Taking advantage of the moment the rider was retrieving the spear, I took out the key item for this boss strategy.

Small bombs that exploded on impact. They were the only items capable of breaking that armor.

‘Now!’

Just after the cavalier had pulled out the spear, I aimed at the horse’s head, activated the fuse of the bomb, and threw it.

The bomb flew accurately towards the horse’s head and exploded in a spectacular blast of colorful flames as soon as it touched the armor.

ㅡNeigh!!!!!!

Startled by the flames and explosion, the horse let out a cry and jumped. The rider on top swayed. I considered throwing another one but decided to play it safe.

In vanilla, if one landed correctly, you could throw the rest one by one while the enemy was stunned, breaking the armor right away. But in the Darkest Light Mod, the stun duration was too short, requiring extremely precise timing.

‘Let’s not get greedy. Let’s go with the safe route. Safe.’

If I hit the horse’s head with five bombs like just now, the iron armor encasing the horse’s body would break, exposing its bare flesh. From then on, it didn’t matter where I hit; damage would be dealt.

In vanilla, there was even a merchant in this nearby field from whom you could purchase bombs at a low price and in unlimited quantities. In terms of setting, that merchant was the inventor of the bombs.

If you chose the option to talk to the merchant instead of buying items, he would blatantly give a hint about this boss fight, saying that these bombs were his invention and that “if you hit the weak spot multiple times, you could break even the thickest iron armor.”

Of course, breaking iron armor was a gimmick limited to the Headless Armored Cavalier boss fight. No matter how many times you hit other armored enemies, you couldn’t break their armor.

However, unlike in vanilla, where there was a merchant selling unlimited bombs, allowing you to challenge again and again even if you made mistakes in throwing, the Darkest Light Mod had incomparably more vicious conditions.

The merchant didn’t even exist, and the player had to personally search for bombs throughout the nearby field. Moreover, there were only five in total.

To remove the armor, you had to hit it five times, but there were only five bombs available in this nearby field.

In other words, if even one of the five missed, it was game over.

ㅡSnort!

The horse snorted and glared at me with furious eyes. Its entire eyes were covered in a red glow, exuding a menacing color.

I sneered at it and gestured with my finger as if to say, “Come at me if you dare.” I wasn’t sure if the creature could understand this gesture though.

The armored cavalier charged at me, shaking the ground.

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