I Reincarnated into a Game Filled with Mods

‘Did I find the right place?’

Finally, I sighed in relief at the familiar scenery that had been boringly present in the game. I had worried along the way if I had taken a wrong turn, but thankfully, I had made it here properly.

After running for two nights straight, I finally reached the boss field of the Headless Armored Cavalier. In the game, it would have taken around 10 minutes on horseback.

After tying my horse, which looked much livelier than I did even after two days of running, to a nearby tree, I took out the items needed for the boss fight from my saddle.

‘One, two, three, four, five… Good. I have everything.’

After confirming the count, I put them into the pouch at my waist. These were crucial items for taking down the Headless Armored Cavalier. To ensure I wouldn’t miss, I even practiced throwing with similarly weighted stones.

The moment I miss and fail to counter the gimmick, clearing the Headless Armored Cavalier becomes practically impossible.

Of course, it’s not physically impossible, and if one focused for a bit over 20 hours without any mistakes, it could be done.

Only theoretically, though. That kind of thing is something a person can’t seriously do.

—Kueeeeeek!

Hearing a grotesque sound like a pig getting slaughtered nearby, I drew the Blood-Stained Sword. It was the sounds made by mobs wandering around the boss field.

As I continued down the path, I spotted monsters wandering about, looking like shrunken, withered boars the size of medium dogs in the distance.

There were a total of 8 mobs I had to deal with on the way to the armored cavalier boss fight. They were all of the same kind, and true to their title, their patterns consisted of a headbutt and a bite.

If I kept my wits about me, dodging their attacks was more challenging.

I adjusted my distance and slowly approached. At the six-step mark, I stopped. The closest one shuddered and reacted upon seeing me.

The others, lined up behind it, were too busy with their own business. It seemed that the game’s recognition system applied here as well since they were clearly within my line of sight.

‘That’s good for me.’

I had a clear understanding of how close I needed to be to lure them one by one.

In the combat system of Brightest Darkness 4, fighting multiple street mobs was far tougher than a one-on-one with a typical boss. The Darkest Light mod was no different; both were incredibly tough.

Thus, maximizing my chances for one-on-one battles was key. One at a time. An unchanging truth throughout the entire Brightest Darkness series.

The boar monster, recognizing me, charged recklessly. It then leaped, opening its mouth wide and revealing its teeth. A biting pattern.

I swung the Blood-Stained Sword toward its teeth. Thud! With a solid sound, its body was knocked back slightly. Using this opportunity, I quickly jabbed my sword into its lower jaw.

With the sensation of the blade digging into withered flesh, the sword tip pierced out from the top of its head. Its squirming stopped instantly.

Pulling out my sword, no liquids flowed out. If this were a game, I would have gotten some XP displayed on the HUD. But with nothing showing, I wasn’t sure if I had achieved it correctly.

Well, considering that its head was pierced and there was no motion, it must be dead. It died from one hit after a bounce back in the game, after all.

“Next.”

I took a few more steps forward. A withered boar that had been further away reacted to my presence and came charging.

If I were to point out a core combat element of the Brightest Darkness series, it would be ‘Combat Fatigue,’ a concept that’s practically the second health bar.

Combat Fatigue accumulates whenever an attack is defended, parried, when being hit, or when rolling. In some ways, managing combat fatigue is far more critical than managing health.

If you get hit by an enemy while at 100% combat fatigue or fail to correctly parry, the gauge resets, and the character is rendered powerless for 2 seconds.

In that powerless state, you can’t do anything until the character recovers and take damage at 1.5 times the normal rate. Even in the vanilla game, when the gauge bursts during a boss fight, you had to brace for death.

In the Darkest Light mode, not only does the duration in the powerless state extend to 4 seconds, but the damage amplification also increases to 2 times, essentially meaning the game is trying to make you die.

That’s why parrying is highlighted as important. If you can properly parry an enemy’s attack, the combat fatigue gauge will remain full, never bursting.

Of course, the enemies also have their combat fatigue gauge. Filling it up is a prerequisite for executing the special attack known as ‘Parrying.’

And, this Headless Armored Cavalier was the only boss capable of attempting a parry despite being a monster-type enemy.

—Puru-ruruk!

Fully armored, the horse kicked at me. The cavalier above it, equally armored and with nothing on his shoulders, spun his spear threateningly.

This illustration well explained why this boss was named the “Headless Armored Cavalier.”

With shoulders at least double the height of an ordinary horse, the immense thickness of the armor draping over it exuded an overwhelming presence.

No exaggeration; simply running around made the ground tremble intensely.

—Hihihihihihihing!!!!!!

The horse reared its front legs and let out a loud wail. It was starting now. I gripped the Blood-Stained Sword tightly with both hands. As the distance shrank, rather than a cute dudududu, I heard a dududuk!

‘First from left to right, then from right to left. And then downwards.’

That was a pattern I had previously jabbered on about in front of the Knight Commanders. I parried each horizontal sweep of the spear, and evaded the downward strike with a roll.

The cavalier pulled the spear stuck in the ground with his right hand and twirled it above his head, shaking off the dirt. Then, he swung it forward and rode away again.

As the cavalier made a large circle and came charging back towards me, the spear stabbed downward.

I parried the attack, and with a heavy clang! the shock reverberated through my entire body.

The next attack quickly followed. The horse raised its front legs, and the cavalier prepared to thrust the spear downwards.

Seeing that, I moved my hand to my waist.

‘It’s deal time.’

The term deal time implied that I could execute the armor-breaking gimmick. Just as the horse slammed its front legs down, the cavalier thrust his spear down with all his might.

But I had already rolled out of the way. The spear tip plunged into the innocent ground, stirring up dust. Seizing the moment as the cavalier retrieved his spear, I pulled out a crucial item for this boss raid.

A small bomb that creates an explosion upon impact. This was the only item that could break through the armor.

‘Now!’

Just after the cavalier pulled out the spear, I aimed at the horse’s head and activated the bomb’s fuse before throwing it.

The bomb flew accurately toward the horse’s head, detonating in a magnificent explosion with vibrant flames as soon as it made contact with the armor.

—Hihihihihihihing!!!!!!

Startled by the flames and deafening sound, the horse let out a cry and leaped up. The cavalier on top staggered. I considered throwing another but decided to play it safe.

In the vanilla game, if one landed accurately, I could take my time tossing the others one by one while the boss was stunned, breaking the armor state. But in the Darkest Light mode, the stun duration was too short, demanding extremely precise timing.

‘Don’t get greedy. Let’s play it safe. Safely.’

If I could hit the horse’s head five times like that, the armor surrounding its body would shatter, exposing its bare flesh. From that point on, I could hit anywhere, and damage would be dealt.

In the vanilla game, there was a merchant in this area who sold bombs at ridiculously low prices in unlimited quantities. Supposedly, he was the inventor of the bombs.

Instead of choosing to talk and buy items from him, selecting to chat would lead to hints about this boss fight, claiming that “hitting the weak point multiple times can break any armor, no matter how thick.”

Of course, this armor-breaking was limited to the Headless Armored Cavalier boss fight gimmick. It wouldn’t break against any other armored enemies, no matter how many times you hit.

But unlike the vanilla game, where there was a vendor that sold bombs in unlimited quantities allowing retries even after a misthrow, the conditions of the Darkest Light were infinitely more ruthless.

The merchant didn’t exist, forcing the player to gather bombs from the surrounding area. Not to mention, there were only five bombs total.

To strip the armor, I would need all five hits, but those five bombs were all I could gather from the nearby area.

In other words, if even one of them missed, it would be game over.

—Puru-rururuk!

The horse glared at me with furious eyes, clearly mad as it kicked again. Its entire eye was covered in a fierce red glow.

I mocked it, beckoning with a finger as if challenging it. I wondered if that beast would even understand this gesture.

The armored cavalier charged towards me, shaking the ground.

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