A Basement-Dwelling Loser, the Inquisitor – Chapter 41

[Rene]

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─I’m left all alone again.

For a moment, that chat slipped by, but I had no room to respond.

As he said, I’m the only one left in the field.

And Albion’s remaining HP is roughly 90%.

…There’s no chance of winning.

No matter what desperate struggle I make, it will mean nothing.

But I won’t give up.

I’ll hold on a little longer, so I can see all the patterns I can.

To help with the next challenge, just a little bit more.

But despite that vow…

[Penetrate!]

Of course, that damned pattern came.

A translucent circle forms underfoot.

Standing here means I’ll be pierced by the ice spear that erupts from below.

But even trying to find a safe spot to escape this circle…

“…Tch.”

The ground was already covered entirely by translucent circles.

No gaps were visible at all.

It’s an utterly unreasonable pattern.

Still, I threw myself with all my might, but of course, I didn’t reach that clean spot far away.

Eventually, a sickening crack! echoed within my body.

And the ice spear perfectly pierced my torso, ignoring even my full body armor.

But still, my HP remains. That means I can fight.

…If only I could move.

Being pierced by the ice spear causes a freezing status, making it impossible to move at all.

The duration is 15 seconds.

It seems like a short time, but in a raid, it’s enough time to die five times.

The giant right hand of the monster rushes toward me.

It’s a normal attack, devoid of any dialogue or pattern, which crushes my body.

〔Death〕

★

“…How many patterns have we seen so far?”

“I remember about six…”

“Not special patterns, but regular attack patterns, right?”

“That’s correct.”

“If we’re to count special patterns, it would be the ice spear pattern that appears when left alone.”

Right after the 15th challenge of the Albion raid ended.

Rebongi were discussing Albion’s patterns, but the lively atmosphere from before was gone. They looked deflated, a sight that was obvious to anyone.

It was only natural.

Fifteen attempts over two and a half hours.

And in those attempts, Albion’s HP had never gone below 90%.

The patterns weren’t particularly difficult.

If anything, they seemed easier than the Tagirion raid.

They were simple and not particularly fast.

But Albion was incredibly sturdy.

Even when everyone poured out their damage during the damage phase, Albion’s HP barely dropped by 1%.

Even on a weekend, it was already morning, and the fact that we hadn’t even started the special patterns unique to raid bosses brought a second wave of despair.

As a result, everyone’s focus gradually slipped, making it natural to fall to even easy and simple attacks.

“No matter how I think about it… right?”

There was no reply to that question, but they all already believed.

‘This is an unbeatable raid.’

From the start, it had been a raid initiated without even filling half of the party’s limit of 35.

With insufficient numbers, it was naturally tough to hold the front lines, and it was obvious that damage and support were lacking; everyone there thought so.

Except for one person.

“Hey, Rene?”

The berserker in charge of the raid’s front lines called out to her, who was silent.

But she didn’t respond at all.

Rene simply stared down without a word.

‘Is she tired?’ he wondered, and called out to her once more.

“Hey, Rene. Giving up here is…”

“Just a moment. I have something to think about…”

★

There was no way to clear the Albion raid this way.

That’s what I concluded after long deliberation.

No. To be precise, clearing it is certainly possible.

If we challenge it after preparing the numbers and conditions to be at their peak, it would be a raid we could clear.

But does that mean in our current situation we could NEVER clear this raid?

“That can’t be right…”

“Uh?”

“Ah, it’s nothing…”

The activation condition for the Albion Hunt is that a certain number of people form a party and reach the peak of Rivagar. At least, that’s my guess.

There have been people who’ve reached Rivagar’s peak, but there hasn’t been a situation where so many people formed a party and ascended at once.

And since the raid activates immediately when you form a party at the top, the developers are saying that this raid can be cleared as long as you meet the minimum number of people.

Of course, in our case, there’s an issue with the party composition as well… But could changing the composition fundamentally change the flow?

Impossible.

While it might ease things up a bit, I believe the major flow would not change.

One of the biggest problems in our party— the lack of damage— would still remain if the number of people didn’t change.

So, in the end, it would lead to a situation where someone dies the moment their focus slips and gets hit by a pattern.

Of course, if we could somehow maintain the raid without any slips, it might be different, but that’s just not realistic.

Slips in focus are unavoidable. It should be considered natural.

It would be strange not to tire out when looking at an HP bar that doesn’t seem to decrease, to the point of feeling absurd.

In other words, we shouldn’t pursue conventional methods like this now.

We need to find another way.

“…Everyone, was there anything strange during the raid?”

“Hmm. I don’t think so.”

“If we’re to nitpick, the damage was way too low…but that’s partly because our party numbers are lacking.”

I agreed with that comment.

The lack of damage was entirely our fault for not having enough numbers.

“Hmm…”

I didn’t think there was anything particularly strange in the patterns.

There was a new status effect called freezing, but that can be considered a special skill of the raid boss…

Wait a minute.

“Tanks!”

“Yes?”

“We haven’t tried using Scadi’s Tear while frozen, have we…?”

“Right? We couldn’t use consumables while in the frozen state.”

“Originally, Scadi’s Tear is a potion that only treats frostbite, so it would be meaningless to even have it…”

That statement is correct.

Scadi’s Tear is a potion that has no effect besides curing and providing immunity to frostbite.

So naturally, it wouldn’t help against a new status ailment like freezing.

We all concluded that right after the second attempt ended.

But what if it were different?

“Then, was there anyone who got frostbite during the raid, even once?”

No one responded positively to my question.

Is it even possible to go over two hours without catching frostbite in Rivagar?

Impossible.

Unless the system is forcibly blocking it.

A growing certainty began to form.

To solidify that certainty, I took out Scadi’s Tear and read the description.

《Scadi’s Tear》

《A potion made from the tear of Scadi, the goddess lost from human memory.》

《Cures the status ailment – frostbite and grants immunity to frostbite for 30 minutes upon use.》

“…Indeed.”

The keyword of a forgotten goddess, along with the name Scadi.

The answer was much closer than we had initially thought.

★

[Insignificant pests, dare to awaken my slumber!]

〔Ruler of Nibrload. The fierce ancient white dragon Albion awakens from its slumber!〕

“Everyone, drink it now…!”

Scadi.
A hunting goddess from Norse mythology, also known as the goddess of winter.
And the other name of Nibrload is the Land of Eternal Winter.

〔The blessing of Scadi, the goddess of Nibrload, rests upon you.〕
〔Immunity to freezing status | Increased damage dealt to Albion〕

〔Albion senses its nemesis, the power of Scadi, and becomes ferocious!〕

─This is real lol
As expected!
Well, it’s roughly the story where the goddess Scadi of Nibrload was defeated by Albion or something like that.
But right now, that’s not important.
I’m not curious about that at all, but what’s important now is clearing the raid.

“It said it’s become ferocious; is this going to be okay?!”
“…Well, I guess we’ll find out from here on.”

[How dare that goddess!]

“Ugh?!”
Albion’s first pattern is to rush at the ground, creating a shockwave, followed by a tail sweep attack.
And this time it was the same,
[Disgusting!]
Except the speed has increased tremendously.

“It’s really angry…”
“Well, since it’s been called a nemesis, that’s only natural?!”
Still, the experiences gained during the fifteen attempts were not in vain.
Even though I panicked in that moment and couldn’t give any orders, the Rebongi moved on their own, just like they had been doing.

The brilliant, colorful light soaring up into the sky and the crimson barrier reclaiming its original form.
Finally, as the tankers were being pushed back, they managed to halt Albion’s attack right before the damage phase came.
“Three seconds!”
I shouted with all my might.
Boom!
A tremendous sound shook the ground.

Magic rained from the sky, while swords and spears ravaged Albion’s tail.
And Albion’s HP bar visibly dwindled.
If until now, the HP bar that had been reduced during this pattern hadn’t even hit 1%, then with just that one attack, it had dropped nearly 5%.

[GRRRRRR!!!]
With the pattern’s speed increased, my prediction that the damage phase would also be shorter was on point.
With a roar, Albion spread its wings wide.
And once again, a translucent circle was drawn at our feet.

This ice spear also conflicted with the freezing status, but thanks to Scadi’s Tear, the freezing status is nullified.

But the sheer power of the attack is also a significant problem, strong enough to instantly kill dealers on contact.
So all I could do was hope the dealers would dodge well.

〔The goddess of Nibrload, Scadi, bestows her blessing once more!〕

Just as I thought that, the system message appeared, and the circle beneath us vanished.
[How dare you!?]
Albion’s HP bar had dropped to 80%.

[Well, good. I will tear apart all your disgusting pets!!!]
And then came the sudden blizzard, a clear indication of a raid boss’s special pattern.
In other words, the real start of the raid.

This really takes me back…