Chapter 1421 The Setting Sun Part 5 Part 1

─── Are you absolutely sure that the reflection you are seeing upon the surface of the water is yourself? Or maybe it’s someone completely different?

* * *

With both Shuu-san and August seemingly restarted to the state of being useful, we managed to form something that could vaguely be described as a party…… Hmm, but I see. We are not out of the woods yet.

「Guah!]

「Kyah!?]

「OH MY GOD……!!!]

These two are not weak Players. There are not useless in the traditional sense of the word, but…… The compatibility of both of those guys with the Bossdunine is abysmally low, since they are that kind of a Player who apparently prioritizes rushing forward while brushing off all kinds of damage that is being thrown their way. Now, if Bossdunine was alone in here this wouldn’t be all that bad, but the fact that her dragon-snakes accompany her right now, this makes this entire situation even worse!

God fucking damn it…… Healer, I need Healer really bad right now! Where is Natsu-san where you need her the most? Isn’t she going to just conveniently pass by this place right about now?

「God damn it…… Not to mention that someone in here is awfully persistent for some reason!!]

While doing my best to avoid the dragon-snake’s attack that has been assaulting me with its mouth wide open, I hit it with the bullet of the Aerial PD, aiming dead in its eyes, since it was so intent on keeping its eyes on me. However, the impact of the blow that was released only managed to strike against the snake’s nictitating membrane that it closed off in order to protect its precious eyeball, so the only thing that this attack managed to accomplish was to anger it even more. It then started to bash its body against the ground, causing it to shake violently.

What the hell is wrong with this thing, why is it only aiming for me exclusively!? No, seriously!? For some bizarre reason or whatever, this monster is only going after me and just won’t switch targets for anyone else! And what’s worse here is that it does that indiscriminately of the fact if I target Bossdunine or not!

No, it’s actually hard to say that this thing is actually only targeting me, so it must be splitting its aggro here and there, but it’s the truth that it targets me more than it does others……! …… No way! Could it be!? Could this asshole have a grudge against me or something like that!? Since Bossdunine’s aggro is also being pointed specifically at me, could this be the trigger? It goes after anyone that their Master is aiming to take out!?

「Tsk……]

Just what the hell am I supposed to do here……?

While looking at the sky for a moment, I continue to think about the appropriate strategy to move around the battlefield where we were becoming more and more cornered with every passing moment. What is the strategy to get the “S” rating in here? How can we possibly come out on top? Just defeat Bossdunine and be done with it? Or is it going to be the survival of those other “Goldunines”? Or maybe it’s going to be just the survival of the Goldunine with which the Player managed to forge a contract with?

Help me out a little bit here, Sword Saint! I then twist my neck to avoid the poisonous sword that flew remotely in my direction, and then I step on the head of the dragon-snake that came to bite me from under the ground, and then finally I could take my distance. Besides, if I don’t do something about this thing really quick, I won’t be able to join other party members in need!

If this was only Bossdunine that I had to worry about in here, I could possibly try to take her on openly and try to lure from others to give them some opportunities. However, at the current moment those pesky dragon—snakes are all but blocking me from doing that, so there’s just no way for me to do that.

「What do I do? No, seriously, what do I do here!?]

I can see clearly the choices that I can make right here and right now, but I seriously don’t know which one of them I should choose!

・ Only I alone manage to get the hell out of here.

See, that’s actually not that bad of an idea. The quickest way to do it is to reduce the number of other Goldunines, making it easier for me to get away. However, if I need the number of Goldunines in order to defeat the Bossdunine in the end, it can be a checkmate for my win conditions. Not to mention that the likability meter for those two respective players is going to plummet down hard.

・ Allow other Goldunines to escape as much as possible

Just by thinking this, it feels as though the difficulty level has risen considerably. And technically it shouldn’t be all that hard! I mean, it would only amount to me having to pick up two middle schooler—sized girls and run away with them. So why do I think that the difficulty is so great here!? I mean, I guess that the Player needs to keep on moving with the determination to lose their life if it means clearing the winning condition, but still……

・ Just defeat the Bossdunine

If I’m being totally honest here…… I don’t think that its possible for me right now. Besides, I still did not clear that Unique Scenario EX that is tied to her. Unique Scenario EXs are something that allows the Players to have a deeper understanding of the Unique Monster that they are about to face down the line, but this one was especially mysterious and it wasn’t making things easier. I also do not think that a sudden surprise attack event like that is going to do the trick here, but getting myself killed on purpose is no good, either I guess that for now the best thing I can do here is to try to repel Bossdunine the best I can.

「……………]

Around this part somewhere, there should be Sigma flying in the sky, waiting at the designated place right before the Bossdunine launched her surprise attack.

At that time, I thought it would be best to have her surveil the area from above for any kind of immediate danger, but right now it turns out that the speculated “danger” came out to be about eight time more dangerous than we could have ever expected it to be. And it is precisely because of that fact that I did not give Sigma any new instructions, or ordered her to deal with that threat.

While hitting a bullet right into the forehead of one of the poison maidens who was about to home in on me while making an angry face, in response to that she immediately switches her weapon of choice, and once again I had to rethink my approach to the Bossdunine. It happened many times now. More than I could possibly count.