As long as the crafting button had not been pressed, anything could be put inside an empty potion bottle.
I had no idea why.
[As expected of a coward who sides with traitors, all you can do is hide.]
Ignoring him, I pulled the [Empty Potion Bottles] I had saved as crafting materials out of my Inventory, along with some miscellaneous items I had been unable to sell at the shop.
Normally, the idea would never have occurred to me, but the bug item called the [Notebook] made me think it was worth trying.
Although technically, what I was doing was still within the bounds of the System.
[But one cannot hide forever.]
“I was not planning to.”
First, I threw the remaining [Flame Potions] one after another to distract him.
At the same time, I aimed them directly at him, hoping that the impact of the potion bottles shattering might deal some Damage.
But the boss merely snorted and casually knocked the potions aside.
SHATTER!
FWOOSH.
[A meaningless act.]
Of course, those alone would not accomplish much.
“But what about this?”
I picked out small, sharp pieces from the miscellaneous items and crammed them into an [Empty Potion Bottle].
“This actually works.”
Putting them inside was a success.
Perhaps because what I had placed inside was not a potion, however, even after I sealed the opening, the item was still displayed merely as an [Empty Potion Bottle].
[Have you finally realized your place and surrendered?]
“Unfortunately for you, no.”
This time, I mixed the [Empty Potion Bottles] filled with junk among the [Flame Potions] and threw them at him.
WHOOSH, WHOOSH.
[Repeating the same pointless act.]
The boss snorted and knocked the bottles away just as he had before.
SHATTER.
But unlike the [Flame Potions], the [Empty Potion Bottle] that was empty in name only burst apart and scattered the miscellaneous items inside in every direction.
They spread so evenly that some even flew back toward me.
[What is this……?!]
“Oh…….”
I had thought it failed because the bottle had struck the wall instead of the boss.
Apparently, I had thrown it harder than I realized, because even the contents of the bottle that shattered against a wall far from him managed to hit the boss.
Caught completely off guard, he staggered.
[What in the world have you done, that you dare wound me?!]
“You are not important enough to be saying ‘dare’ like that, are you?”
[You wretch! You vermin!]
“Oh. Thanks.”
I replied in a completely emotionless tone and threw another prepared [Empty Potion Bottle].
WHOOSH.
Perhaps because of what happened before, the boss hesitated when he tried to knock the bottle away.
SHATTER.
[Aaaaaagh!]
This time, it struck him squarely in the face and created quite a spectacular sight.
Fragments were embedded all over his face, and seeing him writhe in pain almost made me feel as though I had done something wrong.
If he had actually been human, I would have felt genuinely sorry.
“Still, this will not kill him.”
I was continuously dealing small amounts of Damage, but considering the boss's Health pool, there was no way I could win with a cheap trick like this alone.
I would eventually have to attack him with a proper ranged weapon like the crossbow.
Even though my [Empty Potion Bottle] attacks had caught him off guard, he had not lowered the barrier of wind surrounding him, so it was difficult to find an opening for a follow-up attack.
“Status Window.”
Still, I finally had enough breathing room to open the Status Window, something I normally would not even have considered doing.
I skipped everything I had already checked outside and quickly examined the Status Effects section.
<Status Effects - Doppelgänger's Curse(Cannot Use Melee Attacks)[00:12:12], Doppelgänger's Curse(Cannot Approach Boss)[00:23:17]……>
“Haah…….”
Fortunately, they were not permanent Curses that lasted until the boss died.
All my previous plans had been made under the assumption that they were permanent…….
In that case, I would change strategies.
[To think…… that you dared wound me…….]
I would endure until the Curse expired, make sure he had no opportunity to cast another one, then use the opening to kill him with a melee attack.
It was an extremely simple plan.
And at the same time, an extremely difficult one.
Because I would have to keep that chatterbox's mouth completely shut.
[I shall never allow you to pass.]
“Try it if you can.”
WHOOSH.
SHATTER.
If I kept talking to him so that he could not utter the words of another Curse, he would probably become too distracted to do so.
Of course, talking to him also divided my own attention, which made it a fairly dangerous strategy.
I already needed all my concentration just to attack him.
Now I had to deliberately split my focus.
[Did you truly believe you could defeat me and pass beyond this place?!]
“I have met plenty of bastards like you already. And I killed every last one of them.”
Another one.
WHOOSH.
THUNK.
Even though he could barely keep his eyes open, he still controlled the wind well enough to prevent the bottle from shattering immediately.
Not that it mattered once it hit the wall.
SHATTER.
[I am not like those wretched creatures who were never chosen by the King!]
“Oh, really? I see.”
And another one.
WHOOSH, THUNK.
SHATTER.
“Wow. How impressive.”
[Are you mocking me?!]
He took the bait that easily.
The boss completely lost himself to rage and began wildly waving his hands.
Thanks to that, the [Empty Potion Bottles] filled with miscellaneous items flew in every direction and shattered all around him, spraying fragments everywhere.
THUNK.
SHATTER.
[Aaaaaagh!]
Watching him repeatedly choose the stupidest possible response made a laugh escape me.
Hmm.
What could I say to make him even angrier?
I quickly searched for something.
“You know, those other guys were really tough. It took forever to kill them. They were genuinely difficult.”
As I spoke, I stuffed more miscellaneous items into another [Empty Potion Bottle].
[Grrr…….]
Was he listening?
I hoped he was.
“But I do not think you will be like that.”
I cautiously poked my head out from behind the shield to check whether he was paying attention.
Despite suffering from the fragments embedded throughout his body, his head remained fixed in my direction.
Good.
He was listening.
“Unlike the others, you look like a ‘human,’ do you not? Like those traitors you hate so much.”
[Silence!]
“Oh.”
Good reaction.
“So if I time it right and land the hit properly, I feel like I could just slice through you once and kill you…….”
I had only said it to provoke him, yet the words left a foul taste in my mouth.
It sounded as though I was saying monsters were troublesome because they were hard to kill, while humans were easy enough to kill that I would gladly charge at them.
Even though I had thrown myself at both with the same determination to kill them.
WHOOSH.
“Ah.”
My hand must have slipped, because the bottle flew wildly off course.
[That shall never happen.]
“There is no such thing as ‘never.’”
I used to think something like this could never happen to me either.
<Status Effects - Doppelgänger's Curse(Cannot Use Melee Attacks)[00:01:02], Doppelgänger's Curse(Cannot Approach Boss)[00:12:05]……>
One more minute.
WHOOSH.
[No. That shall never happen!]
His shout sounded less like anger and more like a desperate scream.
[I am not the same as those traitors.]
THUNK.
“Sure. But your body is the same.”
[I am not the same as those traitors…….]
He muttered the same words over and over, as though he absolutely had to convince himself of them.
Judging from his expression, he either looked completely dazed or on the verge of entering some berserk pattern.
SHATTER.
[I am not the same as those traitors…….]
Even as fragments pierced his body, he merely continued repeating the same sentence.
“Hmm…….”
Did I push him too far?
Should I have provoked him less?
It was too late for regret.
And since bosses did not seem to lose their memories when the run changed, that was even more true.
<Status Effects - Doppelgänger's Curse(Cannot Approach Boss)[00:12:05]……>
“Good.”
First, I would throw everything I had left.
WHOOSH.
SHATTER.
The [Cannot Approach Boss] effect still remained, but I could compensate for that with a weapon that had greater Reach.
A longsword would be ideal if it could reach him, so to test it, I pulled out the weapon I had been using most often during this run.
[I am not the same as the traitors.]
The wording had changed slightly, though the meaning remained the same.
Hopefully, that was not a sign that he was Awakening or entering a Berserk state.
But hopes like that rarely worked out, so I had to move while assuming the worst.
Before he could properly open his eyes again, I yanked the shield free from where it had been buried deep in the stone floor.
[I am merely part of the King's design, prepared to return unto the traitors exactly what they inflicted.]
“So now you are calling yourself a tool?”
Would he rather consider himself a tool of the King than be treated as the same kind of existence as the traitors?
I could not understand that way of thinking at all.
[Therefore, I am different from them.]
Still, perhaps my provocation had worked, because the wind was beginning to weaken.
[For a lifetime—or through one's descendants, for generation upon generation.]
No need for a battle cry.
I drew a deep breath.
[I am different from those who receive a grace they could never repay even throughout eternity, yet forget it before a single generation has passed.]
“Then go repay that grace yourself.”
Worried that the sword might not reach him, I gripped the very end of the handle and swung with as much reach as possible.
WHOOSH.
SLASH.
[Aaaagh!]
It had been close, but I reached him.
More than that, the blade had cut nearly halfway through his waist.
“Your waist is barely hanging on.”
It was still a critical wound.
One or two more attacks might be enough to kill him.
Or, better yet, he could simply die from hemorrhagic shock as he was.
[Why…….]
“Haah.”
He only heard the parts he wanted to hear anyway.
Did I really need to explain myself again?
[Why in the world…….]
WHOOSH.
I swung the sword again so he would not even have time to think about casting another Curse.
[Urgh!]
I did not care what he was thinking.
[Ugh…….]
SLASH.
I could not afford to care.
[Why are you in this place…….]
WHOOSH.
“If you want me to understand, speak clearly.”
Not that I intended to let him.
SLASH.
[Why…….]
I deliberately timed my attacks so his words kept breaking apart, but the boss stubbornly forced the sentence out in the end.
[Why are you in this place?]
The moment he finished speaking, my entire body tensed.
I had no idea what kind of Curse might activate or how.
“I do not know what you are trying to imply with that question.”
[You should be a being who cannot exist in this place.]
Without realizing it, I stopped the sword I had been swinging.
“……I am standing here right now. How does it make sense to say I cannot exist here?”
What, was I a ghost now?
Or was this another Curse?
He had combined a location with words denying my existence.
A spatial displacement Curse, perhaps?
Even then, I doubted it would throw me outside the Boss Room, but there was no telling what might happen.
I prepared myself to attack immediately no matter where I was transported.
“Considering you mistook someone you were looking at earlier for someone else, maybe your eyes were badly injured. Do you not think?”
[No. I mean that you should be incapable of coming to this place. Why are you here?]
“…….”
[How in the world are you here?]
Despite what he was saying, I remained exactly where I had been standing.
“What?”
Had the Curse failed?
Or had it not been a Curse at all?
Had he genuinely been asking out of pure curiosity?
[A being permitted to exist, yet one who does not belong to this place.]
“What are you talking about?”
It was hardly the first time a boss had spouted nonsense, but hearing him deny my very existence made me feel uneasy.
Besides, whether it was nonsense or not, I needed to stop him from speaking words that could cast Curses.
Yet I had stupidly stopped and listened to him.
[Uurgh…….]
Whether he had lost the will to attack or simply no longer possessed the ability to do so, the boss stood motionless like a puppet whose strings had been cut.
In case he tried to speak again, I attacked rapidly and repeatedly, giving him no opportunity to open his mouth.
WHOOSH, SLASH, WHOOSH, SLICE.
Because I still could not move close to him, every strike was almost like a trick performed with only the very tip of the blade.
Still, I succeeded in steadily carving wounds into him.
<Status Effects - None>
While I kept attacking, the [Cannot Approach Boss] Curse finally disappeared.
I had grown thoroughly sick of only being able to scratch at him from a distance.
“This is the end.”
Perhaps the boss sensed it too, because a complete sentence finally emerged from the mouth that had only been producing groans.
[The King shall never forgive you…….]
“I do not need his forgiveness.”
Then I swung the sword horizontally with all my strength, completely severing the waist that had been hanging by a thread.
[…….]
The room became utterly silent.
The boss did not even scream as his body collapsed.
But unlike the other bosses I had killed, the corpse did not disappear, nor did the doors open.
I kept my guard up.
“…….”
Even the sound of my own breathing gradually faded until absolute silence filled the room.
“Is it over?”
Was the game taking longer to process it because I had defeated the boss in a way that did not count as the proper strategy?
Or had the internet disconnected?
“Haah.”
As though all the tension had suddenly drained out of me, I dropped heavily to the floor where I stood.
It would be a serious problem if that thing suddenly got back up, though.
“Is it really over?”
There had been times before when I cleared several newly reached floors in a single run.
But this was the first time I had pushed through more than ten floors without stopping.
Assuming that thing was actually dead.
“Let me rest now.”
I was exhausted.