"Ready?"
"Absolutely, Father-sama!"
Sensing Naohara's gaze, Aura answered with vibrant energy. Father-sama was watching her. She couldn't let that expectation go to waste. So… sorry about this, Momonga-sama.
Aura fixed a serious stare on Momonga before her. Magic continued to gather within her body as she prepared to seize the initiative, planning to strike first and suppress Momonga as a spellcaster, taking control from the very beginning.
"Naohara, is Momonga really going to be fine?" Herohero asked, looking at his friend with concern.
"Relax. If he's willing to fight Aura head-on, that means he's already prepared a plan. You know him well enough—he never fights a battle he isn't confident he can win."
Naohara explained calmly to Herohero. How could he not understand Momonga's personality by now?
As a max-level NPC created by Bukubukuchagama, Aura's strength was unquestionable. Whether it was her class skill combinations or her equipment, everything was top-tier. More importantly, now that she possessed intelligence, she was no longer a machine that simply followed preset commands like before.
Aura had the Beast Tamer class, allowing her to summon and magically enhance large numbers of magical beasts, many of them comparable to around level 90. Without proper intelligence on her abilities, it would be easy to be forced into a disadvantage. When countless beasts unleashed their assorted skills and spells all at once, even a max-level player would find it troublesome.
But for Momonga, who knew everything about his opponent, the outcome had effectively been decided from the start.
In a game where spending money could change everything, investing enough meant there were countless ways to invalidate an opponent's summons. All kinds of strange and specialized items emerged one after another. Even Naohara had to admire the game's developers. Managing to operate a game like this for twelve years was no small accomplishment.
Taking Naohara himself as an example, as an ultimate heavy spender, he had pushed his race, classes, and resistances to an almost terrifying degree.
Name: Naohara
Race: Dragonoid lv15
Catastrophe Dragonoid lv10
Dragon Lord lv5
???
Class: Sword Saint lv10
Dragon Magic Caster lv10
Dragonslayer lv5
???
Karma:15
With the help of premium items, Naohara didn't need to select so-called prerequisite classes. He could skip them entirely and directly choose stronger, rarer classes like Sword Saint and Dragon Magic Caster.
The combination of overwhelming melee power and terrifying magical output made Naohara the strongest PvP combatant among the forty-two members of Nazarick. Even Touch Me, who held the [World Champion] class, willingly admitted defeat. In his Dragonoid form, Naohara could fight Touch Me at roughly even odds. In Catastrophe form, he held a clear advantage. And when fully transformed into a dragon, he could dominate outright.
If he hadn't felt that Dragonslayer suited him better, Naohara had even considered grabbing a World Disaster class just to try it out.
After all, the title of the strongest magic damage dealer was something he found extremely appealing. In the end, however, considering the synergy between Dragon Magic Caster and Dragonslayer, he chose to abandon that idea.
Simply picking powerful classes without proper planning would ruin a character. As a perfectionist, Naohara had no intention of letting that happen.
Momonga's perspective.
"Momonga-sama, I'm going in!"
Aura swung her whip-like weapon, her voice filled with excitement.
The scene gave off an intense sense of déjà vu, causing the two spectators to freeze for a moment. Something about it felt… wrong.
That weapon, paired with that line, was really not a good sign.
Momonga cast a strange glance at her weapon, silently complaining to himself. At the same time, a magic circle slowly formed in his hands. Dark crimson gas spread outward, forming a thin membrane that enveloped his body.
[Crimson Guard]
This was a magic-based defensive skill Momonga had learned by looting a corpse when he reached level 80 as a Skeleton Mage. A ninth-tier spell, it increased his defense, reflected a portion of incoming damage back at the attacker, and applied a brief stiffening effect.
"Come on. Let me see what the strength of a Guardian really looks like."
Momonga continued layering defensive and enhancement spells onto himself as he took up a ready stance, his gaze fixed on Aura. Now that he was a Supreme Being, sneak attacks were beneath his dignity. Naturally, the first move had to come from his subordinate. All he could do was apply a modest number of straightforward buffs.
"Thirty enhancement spells should be about right… no, better add a few more. If I get careless, I'll pay for it."
After a moment's thought, Momonga resumed buffing himself. Only then did he feel truly at ease.
Aura, meanwhile, pushed off hard with both legs and charged forward at full speed. Flames spread along the whip in her left hand, while a magic circle activated in her right.
She understood her own strengths and weaknesses perfectly. Compared to close combat, she was far better at fighting from a distance. However, against Momonga-sama, a magic caster, trying to keep her distance would be the most foolish choice imaginable. The only path to victory was to force her way into melee range.
During the game era, NPCs fought purely on auto-pilot and lacked real combat experience. However, as created beings, their designers had already embedded vast amounts of combat data into their settings during development.
Because of that, Aura was exceptionally skilled at dealing with all kinds of classes.
"Oh? So you chose close combat instead of a ranged attack?"
Momonga looked at the charging Aura with mild surprise. Her decision was unexpected. It seemed he was once again learning something new about NPC autonomy.
Remaining calm, Momonga slowly raised his Dragonkin's Blessing. A magic circle appeared atop it, and an emerald-green barrier spread outward, completely enveloping him.
[Dragon Soul Protection]
[Flame Whip Strike]
[Maximize Magic, Life Drain]
As Momonga's barrier took shape, Aura's attack arrived. The flaming whip lashed violently against the shield. Immediately afterward, a dark crimson magic circle appeared directly above it, releasing a powerful suction force, as if trying to draw something out of Momonga's body. Yet under the barrier's protection, the effect failed completely.
Seeing that her attack had done nothing, Aura quickly retreated, staring at the shield in shock.
"Ugh… is that an equipment skill?" Aura guessed as she looked at the dimly glowing barrier.
"That's right. Thanks for helping me test this weapon's effect. Now it's my turn."
Momonga's figure was still standing where it had been, yet his voice suddenly sounded right next to her ear. Aura's heart skipped. Without realizing it, she had already been approached at close range.
"A necromantic doppelganger?"
"Correct. But there's no reward."
[Perfect Warrior]
The warrior transformation magic activated. In an instant, all of Momonga's attributes rose to the level of a standard level 100 warrior. The drawback was that he could no longer use magic.
(This is how Perfect Warrior works in the original story. It temporarily turns the user into a level 100 ordinary warrior. Otherwise, as a mage, Momonga wouldn't be able to equip warrior gear at all. Even if he forced it on, he wouldn't be able to engage Shalltear in close combat.)
A skeletal hand, covered in more than a dozen layers of glowing light, swung forward at a slow pace. It looked weak and harmless. However, when Aura sensed the more than forty enhancement spells layered onto it, she was instantly alarmed. If that punch landed, it would tear away a massive chunk of her health bar.
Without the defensive bonuses of a melee class, her defenses were extremely fragile. She absolutely could not let that punch hit her.
"Move. Move! Damn it, why can't I move?!"
"Could it be…!"
"There's no point struggling. I already cast the binding spell [Seal of the Dark Realm] beforehand. You can't move right now."
As Aura struggled in place, Momonga explained patiently, his fist already slamming straight into her chest.
"I'm sorry, Father-sama. I was completely defeated."
That was Aura's final thought before the punch, empowered by forty buffs, sent her flying. With force strong enough to shatter even the hardest rock, her body shot away like a cannonball and smashed deep into the arena wall.