————-

“（Wh-What the heck is that! ?）“

　There was surprise in Angolmois' voice.

　What he was surprised about was probably ‘that' and ‘that'.

“（All attacks are negated! ?）“

“（That's right. ）“

“（And it forcibly lowers your stamina to 1!?　Does such a strange magic exist! ?）“

“（It does. And also, it uses it quite often too. ）“

“（…………）“

　As I expected, even the Great Spirit King became lost for words.

“（There's no problem with the attack negation. What's scary is that the near instant death attack is in a “wide area”. And even more scary is, after Darkness Magic, it uses ‘a large number of different attacks'. ）“

“（Then…… You should heal up quickly. Is that the reason why you bought so many potions? ）“

“（No, it's better not to heal up right away. Ideally, one should heal up after being safe. ）“

“（Why? ）“

“（Because after using Darkness Magic, it will either use Darkness Summon or Jojutsu to attack. With the former, the priority is to prevent it, and to avoid it if it's the latter. ）“

TLN: Jojutsu (or Joujutsu) is fighting with canes, as opposed to Bojutsu or (Boujutsu) which is fighting with staves.

“（Wait. Jojutsu?　Never heard of that. ）“

“（You'll see it soon. ）“

　The skills of the Darkness Wolf aren't only the ones I just mentioned. Let's share those while including them in the behavior patterns this time. These are the Darkness Wolf's patterns that I've learned and acc.u.mulated after thousands of tries and kills.

————-

① Rush → ②  Body Slam or Claw attack or ③ Bite or ④ Darkness Transfer.

　③ Bite → Darkness Howl → Darkness Transfer → ① Rush or ⑤ Darkness s.h.i.+ft.

　④ Darkness Transfer → ① Rush or ⑤ Darkness s.h.i.+ft.

　　⑤ Darkness s.h.i.+ft → Darkness Magic → Darkness Transfer → ⑥ Darkness Summon.

　② Body Slam or Claw attack → If the attack succeeds, Darkness Transfer → Darkness Howl → ① Rush　／ If the attack is unsuccessful, Darkness Transfer → Darkness s.h.i.+ft → ⑥ Darkness Summon.

　　⑥ Darkness Summon → Shadow Cane or Dark Flame Spear and Darkness Trasnfer to wherever is closer.

　　　Shadow Cane → 「Jojutsu Mode」until it goes 'down' （Repeatedly using Darkness Magic and 【Jojutsu】）

　　　Dark Flame Spear →  「Strongest Mode」until it goes 'down' （Repeatedly using Darkness Transfer and 【Spearmans.h.i.+p】 attacks）

　　　　After going down → Darkness s.h.i.+ft → ① Rush.

Jojutsu Mode： Turns the shadow into a cane, relentlessly attacking. A Shadow Cane characteristic is that, even if the shadow is attacked, damage is received.

Strongest Mode： Makes long reaching attacks with the Dark Flame Spear while transferring from shadow to shadow. Every time the Dark Flame Spear is thrusted, a powerful Dark Flame comes out.

※ 《False Shadow》 can be added randomly to the above patterns.

————-

“（……That's totally outrageous. ）“

“（That's basically what I said. ）“

　For the Great Spirit King to be calling the Darkness Wolf outrageous. It really is a nasty opponent.

　Its stats were not high, but there was this “theory about how it was the strongest among the monsters in Mobius” among players. The secret behind that strength was the annoyance of the attacks. In particular, the 《Darkness Magic》 and 【Jojutsu】 combo was quite nasty. I really want to tame it in this world by all means.

“（I'll say some important points. The first attack of the Darkness Wolf when in wolf-form is always a Rush, and the first attack when in human-form is always either Darkness Magic or Darkness Summon.）“

“（Hmm, how do you respond? ）“

“（Well, the response to those situations is already ingrained in my body, I might not have to share that, but I'll tell you anyways. ）“

　There are about 11 points to consider when facing the Darkness Wolf.

１． Try not to receive the Darkness Magic as much as possible. In case you do, immediately drink a potion after getting to a safe spot.

２． Never receive Darkness Magic while in Jojutsu Mode.

３． Don't get hit by the Dark Flame Spear.

４． To check if in False Shadow state, just check the Darkness Wolf's shadow. If there's no shadow, the False Shadow state is active.

５． Set up a bonfire in advance to fix the positions of the shadows.

６． When in human-form, damage it with 《Rook Archery》 and 《Dragon King Swordsmans.h.i.+p》.

７． When in wolf-form, damage it using a combination of 《Rook Archery》 and 《Lightning Attribute・Third Form》.

８． If it comes close while in human-form, counter it with 《Bishop Swordsmans.h.i.+p》. Aiming at the feet will knock it back, and with a critical it will go “down”.

９． If it comes close while in wolf-form, counter it with a combination of 《Bishop Swordsmans.h.i.+p》 and 《Lightning Attribute・First Form》. If it's a critical, it will knock it back.

10． Make good use of the invincible state of 《Transform》.

11． If 《Tame》 fails, it's more time-efficient to use a potion on the Darkness Wolf.

“（Why is that? ……Why would you use a potion on the Darkness Wolf?　And what's the invincible state of Transform? ）“

“（The Tame skill stated that it can be used when the monster's HP is at or below 20%, but in reality, it can only be used once you shave off 80% of the monster's HP. Therefore, it's better to recover the 80% of the Darkness Wolf's HP using potions, and it's more efficient than waiting for its natural recovery. ）"

　You can always kill it and wait for it to resp.a.w.n, but in this world there's no guarantee it will appear again, so it's better to play it safe and recover it with a potion.

“（Incidentally, the Transform skill has the characteristic that it gives an invincibility state until the transformation is completed. I think it's around 8 seconds. Did you know you can't do anything during this time? ）"

“（I had no idea. I can't even begin to grasp the abyssal knowledge that you possess, my Second……）“

　This is mainly for an emergency evasion.

　Basically, you would fight alternating between 《Spirit Possession》 and 《Transform》 in order to avoid dropping the buffs.

　《Spirit Possession》 at Grade 9 increases the stats by a total of 450%, the active time is 310 seconds and the cooldown time is 250 seconds.

　《Transform》 at Grade 9 increases the stats by a total of 360, the transformation time is 420 seconds and the cooldown time is 230 seconds.

　In other words, after transforming, you can use possession and then, when 230 seconds have pa.s.sed, you can use 《Transform》 again. This might not be important now, but there's no harm in remembering it.

————-

“（We will arrive soon. ）“

　The port town Koula could be seen ahead.

　Then, I noticed just by chance. My hands that were holding Seventh Teiō's reins were shaking.

　……Trembling with excitement. Every cell in my body is restless thinking of the deadly fight that will last for weeks to come.

　How long will the tame require?

　I quietly spent the night before the start of the battle wis.h.i.+ng to tame it as soon as possible, while reminiscing of the Darkness Wolf who was now in a world where I have yet to see it.

Thank you for reading.

＜Status Details＞

Named after shogi pieces (The word in bold is the one being used in this translation). From easier to acquire to harder.

Swordsmans.h.i.+p

s.h.i.+eldmans.h.i.+p

Archery

They use the “Form” or “step” system of martial arts. From lower to higher.

From lower to higher, then it changes to the “Dan” system of martial arts, which means Grade.