Chapter 78

“Who are you…?”

The Crying Nun turned her head with a crunch-crunch sound. It was definitely a noise that should never come from a person’s neck.

“Is someone there…?”

I could only see her face clearly after she fully turned her head towards me.

It was an incredibly hideous face. The skin on her right cheek was half-rotten, and black liquid overflowed between her tightly shut eyes, dripping down her cheek and chin onto the ground.

It looked as if she was shedding tears, but in reality, it was black liquid filling her body and spilling out uncontrollably.

Despite her decaying body, her features were still somewhat beautiful. She must have been quite a beauty before becoming like this. Of course, that was meaningless now.

“Aah… If someone is there… Please help me…”

The nun stumbled as she tried to rise. Perhaps due to the shock, a pile of rotten flesh slid down her body. The spots where flesh fell off were immediately filled with black liquid.

Her body started to be stained by darkness. In proportion, her human skin gradually shrank away. With each step she took, the rotten flesh made a squelch sound.

“It hurts… I’m suffering… Please… Have mercy on me…”

The outstretched right arm, in a desperate plea, fell limply. The squishy blackened body vanished as if it was being absorbed into the ground.

From her half-melted shoulder, a new arm sprouted. However, even though the severed part regenerated, the recovery showed no signs of stopping. The black liquid stuck to more black liquid.

The nun’s right arm quickly grew in size. It was now hardly recognizable as a human arm.

“Why… Why aren’t you helping me…?”

The nun bowed her head deeply. A sobbing sound leaked through her tightly shut lips. She looked incredibly pitiful, yet there was nothing I could do.

How could I help someone long ago tainted in body, moving solely on instinct while holding onto a handful of memories? That nun had long been devoured by the Abyss.

If helping her meant granting her eternal rest, then perhaps.

“I see.”

Her previously bowed head slowly lifted. Her voice had turned ice-cold. Through her lips, the sound of teeth grinding slipped out.

“You came here to mock me. To further humiliate me as I suffer like this…”

The sobbing turned to rage, and the pain morphed into hatred. Her right arm, which had already been swelling, grew even larger. Her whole body seemed on the verge of being swallowed by her shoulders.

As if that wasn’t enough, black liquid erupted from behind the nun, tearing through her bare skin. The wriggling black liquid took the shape of a human arm and stomped on the ground, announcing its arrival.

“Then….”

The nun widened her eyes, glaring straight at me. Her eyes had turned completely black.

“I will make you suffer the same pain as I do!!!!!!”

From her gaping mouth, rows of closely packed teeth were revealed. If this were a game, the cutscene would end here, and the OST would start, marking the beginning of the boss battle.

This nun was indeed the boss of this place, Rune Dungeon: the ‘Fallen Priestess Lucia’.

The term “fallen” had a double meaning here. It referred to both surviving a fall from a bridge and becoming a heretic who despised the very god she once served.

I calmly took my stance. I had yet to use the special ability of the Blood-Stained Sword. For now, I didn’t need to attack Lucia.

In the 1st Phase, I needed to use something else rather than an attack power buff. A buff could only be applied to a weapon once at a time.

Lucia approached me with her arm that erupted from behind her, stomping the ground with each step. The nun’s main body swayed in the air like laundry on a windy day.

The abnormally large right arm spread wide. A sweeping pattern. I carefully observed the movements and rolled back just as it began to thrash about.

In the blink of an eye, the arm swept across a massive area. In a normal game, the pattern would end there, but in Darkest Light Mod, it was only the beginning.

The nun’s main body dropped down to the ground. In its place, the two arms that had risen from behind her were raised high. Logically, one would think she’d slam down with those arms.

But that was a fake. I looked not up but to the side. The right arm that had just swept across the ground was swinging again.

This time, I slapped the arm away with my sword, and as I was pushed back with a thunk, I rolled a couple of times to evade. Only then did Lucia slam down the arms she had just lifted.

—Kwak!

I widened the distance. If I blocked that slam with a parry, I would be left open for follow-up attacks. It was similar to the Charge Attack pattern of the Headless Armored Cavalier.

The arm, buried into the ground, split into multiple tendrils that twitched and flailed about in the air. It was an attack coming in the delay after my parry. If I got hit, it would mean instant death.

While Lucia was doing that, I scanned the surroundings.

‘The Sacred Catalyst…’

In the game, items would be marked separately, but here, I had to search for it with my own eyes. It must definitely be somewhere inside the Boss Room.

“Why is this? Is my current state not enough? Do you wish for me to fall apart even more here?”

A heartbreaking cry burst forth, filled with anguish. I distanced myself from the wildly thrashing right arm and dashed around the Boss Room to where the Sacred Catalyst might be found.

Perhaps due to her body structure, Lucia never ran during the boss fight. The way she closed the distance with the player was different.

Of course, if I carelessly tried to drink a potion just because I created some distance, I would get hit by her counter-pattern and be shot out like a statue.

‘There it is.’

As I predicted, the Sacred Catalyst was lying exactly where it was in the game. I quickly grabbed it. Just as I picked up the Sacred Catalyst, I heard a loud bang! from behind me.

I turned around. Lucia’s form had completely vanished. Confirming that, I mentally counted to two and immediately rolled aside.

With an even larger boom! sound than before, Lucia’s body crashed to the ground. Black liquid splattered in all directions from where she landed.

While the boss was regaining her stance, I examined the Sacred Catalyst. Even though it was soaked through with black liquid, hiding its original color, it was still sufficient.

I held the Sacred Catalyst in my left hand and the Blood-Stained Sword in my right. Focusing on gathering something, I concentrated power into my left hand. The blackened catalyst began to emanate a dark white light.

That was half-success. Just as I had seen in the game, I took the Sacred Catalyst to the area just above the cross-guard of the Blood-Stained Sword, brushing it along the blade upwards.

At that moment, a dull golden light enveloped the blade of the Blood-Stained Sword. It wasn’t the perfect gold like when Stella wraps her Flail, but it was still recognizable as sunlight.

With that, the other half was a success. I strapped the Sacred Catalyst back to my waist. This was the key to the 1st Phase of the Lucia boss fight. It’s referred to as the “Blessing Enchantment”.

In the 1st Phase, Lucia had immense resistance to physical attacks.

With my current strength, even if the attack power buff of the Blood-Stained Sword lasted indefinitely, I would need to beat her for over two hours just to take her down with normal attacks.

On the other hand, blessed weapons or Sacred Spells dealt tremendous additional damage. If I were a buffed Cleric, I could easily pass the 1st Phase with just two Sacred Spells.

The reason a Sacred Catalyst with enchantment-type special abilities was lying around in the Boss Room was precisely that.

‘I’ll need one more after this.’

That would be a thought for after defeating Lucia. I took out a potion, drank it, and tossed the bottle casually.

Since I had just used the Sacred Catalyst, my health would have diminished, so it was for replenishing. It’s better to refill these when there’s a gap.

The special ability of the Sacred Catalyst allows characters who haven’t raised their Faith or Divine Power to use buffs; it’s treated as dark magic. The setting claims it’s because the catalyst was tainted by the black liquid.

Dark magic is much more powerful in damage than regular magic of the same tier, yet it requires a slight amount of mana as well as additional HP consumption. The higher the tier, the more HP is consumed.

In contrast to the buff of the Blood-Stained Sword, the amount consumed is fixed, so the lower the health stat, the more disadvantageous it is, and for someone like me with a stat of one, each spell could be fatal.

In fact, I could even die from this. If I cast dark magic with low health, my HP would drop to zero, causing my character to fall dead. Naturally, this consequence would be treated the same as ordinary death.

I didn’t want to idiotically commit suicide in a clever way like that.

I pointed the Blood-Stained Sword forward. The blade glowed with a faint golden hue, still partially darkened. Until now, it had just been a preparation process, and now the true start of the Lucia boss battle was about to begin.

“KYAAAHHHH!!!!!!”

Lucia let out an eerie scream and charged towards me.