The Destroyer’s Sword

Sometimes, when people go through something big, a memory they had completely forgotten suddenly comes to mind.

【The new monster <Varg> has been released. Try the related quests! Double EXP event!】

[HOT] Reasons why Plunderer needs a nerf (long post warning)
[LFP] Varg quest party (2/4)
[Question] Can’t I lend an SL weapon to a friend?

Back when skill bugs were rampant, I had helped a guildmate with a Varg quest at their request.

【Awakener ‘WhiteHairIsEnough (Guildmate)’ has joined your party.】

The beast-kin monsters had a strong sense of community, so killing even one of them would flag you as ‘Hostile’ and they would chase you to the ends of the earth.
So we just stunned them and left, but there was one that was particularly persistent in following us.

【<Nameless Varg> has dodged Awakener ‘WhiteHairIsEnough’’s <Triple Shot>.】

• Ugh, seriously, is this evasion rate for real? He hasn’t been hit once; I think he’s bugged?
  “I think WhiteHair-nim just missed that one…”

• Ahem! A bug!!!

A Varg wearing a wolf mask and draped in gray fur.
He didn’t have ears or a tail, so at first, I didn’t even know he was a monster.
If the status window ‘Nameless Varg’ hadn’t been attached above his head, I would have thought he was a player.

【Awakener ‘Shinbi-jui’ has summoned <Leviathan>.】

There were no other of his kind around, so I figured it would be okay to kill just one and swung my spear.
When the mask split and his face was revealed, I couldn’t help but gasp in admiration.

“Wow.”

Even with one eye covered in blood, his features were sharp, complete with a rebellious yet melancholic gaze.

He was handsome enough to momentarily captivate even me, who had so little interest in ‘interactions’ with NPCs that I would skip the scenes in ‘Legacyth Chronicle,’ a game famous for its mature content.

• Whoa, for a monster, he’s quite handsome; hey, share your character customization values.

If a low-ranking one looked like that, how handsome would the Varg chief be?
If I had known they looked like this, I would have voted for them instead of the Empire.
I think it was out of an unknown regret and a sense of apology that I impulsively gave him that.

• Shinbi-nim, aren’t you going to kill it? It has a debuff.
  “If he chases me later, I’ll kill him then. Here, take this and don’t follow me. Got it?”

【Are you sure you want to lend the <God-Slaying Sword (SL)> to the <Nameless Varg>?】

• Whoa! You’re just giving that expensive thing to a monster? An SL weapon?!
  “It’s not even upgraded anyway. And I’m not giving it, I’m lending it. It’ll come back when he dies.”

• Well, he looks like a mob, so he’ll probably die soon anyway.

But my God-Slaying Sword never returned, and although I was puzzled, I didn’t pay it much mind.

It was a weapon I had no use for anyway and was just taking up space in my equipment window, so before long, I had completely forgotten its existence.
I couldn’t even remember who I had given it to.

But why.
Of all times, now.

“I hate you, Destroyer.”

Gasp, gasp.
I shot up, swallowing a name that now felt foreign even to say out loud.

“……”

A half-moon hung outside the window.
I looked up at the moon, shrouded in thick, dark clouds, and opened my equipment window.

【God-Slaying Sword (SL) (Owner: Karvan Baharga)】

Why did I only remember now?
A Varg without beast ears or a tail couldn’t be common.

And the probability of him possessing the ‘God-Slaying Sword’ out of the few SL-grade weapons that existed couldn’t be high.
Recalling his consistently composed face, I tightly gripped the sword, which radiated a bluish chill.

“…Leviathan.”

【The weapon <Leviathan> is not currently in your possession.】
【You cannot summon a weapon in this field. Please move to another field and try again.】

“Good morning, Awakener. You’re up early.”

During the time I was gone, Baalzeph had changed as if he were a different person.
No, a different NPC.

I mean, he acted as if the status ailment ‘Rudeness’ and the passive skill ‘Asshole’ had been removed.

“Oh. I’m glad you’ve returned safely.”
“I was so worried, thinking something had gone wrong.”

Instead of interrogating me about where I had been and what I had been doing, he smiled and said he was glad I was safe.
Even when I acted dazed all the time, he didn’t press me, asking what I was thinking.

‘Why are you only here now?! You lazy Awakener!’

I dare say the reason for this was definitely that thing.

‘Shouldn’t you come and pay your respects right away!’
“I told you not to come in and wake me up without permission…”
‘Kyaaak! How long are you going to keep talking back?!’

…About three months ago from now.
When I had just woken up in Midvalen, I saw what Loktis showed me and doubted my eyes.

【…From the thorny thicket, the ‘Divine Outcast’ <Skollcat> appears….】

It was none other than a boss monster called ‘Skollcat.’

As you can tell from the grand summoning message that gets its own printout, it’s a monster so ridiculously strong that even veteran players can fail to defeat it if they slip up.
But, due to the nature of boss monsters, you could only challenge it once a day after getting permission to enter a special field called a ‘shrine.’

In other words, it was a being you would never encounter unless you entered the Skollcat’s shrine of your own free will.

‘Kyaaaaaak!’

…But why on earth was it summoned in this neutral city!

I gulped as I watched the calf-sized cat throwing a fit.

Was it the third, or fourth outcast?
Like Ganev and Letusha, it was a boss released in the early days, so all its attack patterns were figured out and it was treated as a pushover, but it was still strong.

【’Divine Outcast’ Skollcat

Grade: ★★★★★
Attack Power: SL
Ability: Immunity to All Poisons
Exclusive Weapon: Manticore’s Stinger

One of the gods said to have existed in <Paradise> long ago. It lived luxuriously, eating fruit on the border between the desert and the green lands, but was unable to control its beastly nature and was exiled from the divine throne.】

Its attack power itself wasn’t high, but its hitbox was small, making it difficult to pour in damage.
And if you were scratched even once by its scorpion tail, you would be inflicted with the ‘Poison’ status ailment, which continuously drains your health, making it one of the annoying bosses to fight one-on-one.

‘Want to die without a sound~?’

Its pattern of jumping all over the place was so vicious that, apart from when I plundered the Skollcat’s ‘Immunity to All Poisons’ skill, I never even thought of fighting it again.

‘Kyaaaaaak! Let go of me!’

But, no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t understand why that thing was here in Midvalen.
I recently deleted its ‘Immunity to All Poisons’ skill to remove the Hyena-kin’s skill, could this be a bug caused by that?

‘Why did you forcibly bring me to this shabby place!’

I couldn’t believe it and kept rubbing my eyes, but the words that came with its hissing were unexpected.

“…It didn’t attack you, you kidnapped it?”

“Yes, how did you know? We went to its shrine at the border of the green lands and personally escorted it here. By His Majesty’s command.”

The answer I got back was even more absurd than I had imagined.

“It seems his collector’s instinct has been triggered.”

Baalzeph had started to engage in eccentric behavior while I was gone.

Not only did he demand all sorts of artifacts, as he had from me, but he now ordered the capture of NPCs and monsters from all races indiscriminately.
It seemed that boss monster was one of them.

“What on earth does he plan to do with them…?”

“I don’t know either. Only that the order is to treat it with the utmost respect.”

…Treat it with the utmost respect?
I glanced at the Skollcat beyond the bars.
It was furious, its fur standing on end, and it was just hissing.

‘Of course. It was perfectly fine in its shrine and then suddenly got captured. If it were me, I’d be pissed too.’

【Patch Note: Fixed an error where the ‘Demon Outcast’ <Janus> would disappear.】

…Come to think of it, there was a bug where boss monsters wouldn’t appear in their exclusive shrines quite often.
Could it be something like this?
I stared blankly at the hissing Skollcat.
I had no idea what was going on.

“Now, now, O great cat god who boasted of past glory….”
‘Kyaaaaaak! I’m hungry! I’m hungry, I said!’
“P-please accept this offering and calm your anger….”

Meanwhile, a few Empire knights were attached to it, diligently trying to soothe him or her.

‘Bring me fruit, not that stuff! I hate meat!’
“It wants fruit, not meat.”
“Pardon? That can’t be. The Skollcat-nim has been known to like meat for hundreds of years…”
‘Fruit! Give me fruit!’

…Don’t tell me, am I the only one who can hear this?

I stared blankly at the Skollcat, which was hissing so hard its uvula was visible, and then I realized.

Come to think of it, the Skollcat was the only boss monster in beast form.
There was the ‘Incarnate Outcast’ Letusha, but he was half-man, half-bull, and walked on two legs.

‘You vulgar vampire bastards!’

On the other hand, the Skollcat, although the size of a calf, was definitely a cat.
Large ears like a fennec fox.
Eyes that looked like they had eyeliner on, and a scorpion tail adorned with splendid ornaments.

‘Give me fruit!’
“Y-you guys really can’t hear this?”
“…It’s just wailing, ‘Kyaaak!’”

Was that why?
I was the only one who could understand what the Skollcat was saying.