Chapter 156 - Boss Battle: Sir Pimpington, Disgraced Lord of Regret and Roses

Faster than anyone could have predicted, Sir Pimpington goes on the assault. Only a few scant feet away from the warrior Princess, a faint blue outline of the Fencer’s silhouette appears. The sapphire ring flashes brightly and the Pimp disappears from his position on the other end of the room only to reappear exactly where his ghost-like echo was projected. This process only took a few seconds, tops.

Sam is taken by surprise- even if she can’t show it too well. “The fuck?! That’s cool as shit!” She compliments the enemy.

I switch my voice projection feature off so that Pimpington can no longer hear our upcoming strategies and reflexively shout, “SAM, MOVE!”

The Princess tries to backstep but he closes in, his rose rapier glowing with the telltale aura of Arts usage. Pimpington performs a singular poke with his sword that Sam blocks with the broadside of her sword. Just as soon as the piercing strike hits the opposing metal, he reels his weapon back and unleashes another, and another and another. His speed is astonishing, and try as she can, Sam can’t keep up.

One of the attacks slips past her guard and the tip of Pimpington’s sword radiates with shining energy. It heads straight towards her vitals- but the Princess’s reaction time is impressive and saves her from certain death. “HECK NO-” She yells in defiance, twisting her body ever so slightly so that the oncoming tip hits the pauldron of her right shoulder instead. It pokes a hole clean through as if it were paper, but it doesn’t pierce the Princess’s gambeson.

Pimpington pulls back and swipes his sword out of the shoulder armor, before dancing a few paces further backward in an impressive display of fancy footwork. He’s not showing off, either. The experienced Fencer’s form is like a gentle breeze sweeping across the room, yet his aggressive stance betrays his serenity and implies he could transform from a breeze into a maelstrom at any given second. “Hm, impressive. Though I suppose you’d actually have to have a bit of skill if you made it this far,” He pauses for a moment to twirl his curly mustache.

“My friend made me this armor!” Sam performs a short leap backward to put some distance between them. “You’re lucky I can’t get mad right now, you prissy red flower man!”

I use the pimp’s brief bewilderment at Sam’s bizarre statement to get off a message of warning. “I was right, he’s a Fencer. What he did just now was a combination of Arts. The attack was Multi Thrust, and if you look at the tip of his sword you’ll see it’s glowing. That’s Piercing Point, a passive Art that pokes straight through most armors. Be careful!”

The girls all confirm my words for themselves and notice that when he’s idle and not on the offensive, only the tip of his sword remains constantly glowing. Other classes have similar Arts, but Fencers have just about the best version of a physical, piercing melee buff there is. A good way to deal with an enemy using this is to move in and don’t give them enough distance to use their thrusting attack, but... a Black Mage, a Great Blader, and a Shield Maiden are not equipped to fight at that sort of distance.

We’d need someone even faster than a Fencer, like a Monk, or a Rogue. Gods, this match-up is troubling...

If that wasn’t enough, on top of his incredible experience as an adventurer knight Pimpington has those ten rings of his which, assuming they’re all magic, provide ten random abilities unrelated to his class...

“Zutiria, help get them an opening.”

‘I’ll try something light that won’t fire off a projectile that he can deflect, maybe grab his ankle with Darkreach,’ Zutiria signals her intent to me and raises her staff. Darkness begins swirling around her magical weapon, but a glimmer appears in Pimpington’s eye.

“Naw, we ain’t gonna be having any of those pesky support spells, ya feel me?” The villain pulls his left hand from its position behind his back and points the pointer finger at Zutiria. The jewel, a magnificent topaz, glares as he commands it to his whims. A sparkling beam of magical energy fires off like an arrow at the defenseless Sorceress, and in her panic she cancels the oncoming spell.

Peri gasps at the magnificent-looking attack, “NYAA!? THE PIMP HAS A LASER BEAM!”

I adjust my glasses and study the screen. “Meri,”

“ON IT!” The Shield Maiden leaps infront of the beam, and her glorious shield tanks the arcane projectile like it were nothing. The magic doesn’t do so much as singe the point of impact. Using this burst of momentum, Meri begins advancing as she transforms her shield into its buckler form, withdrawing the blade.

‘Damn it... I’ll just look for chances to support for now. I can’t make myself a target, and I can’t use anything that he could reflect with that amethyst barrier of his...’ The Mage frowns at her limitations, clenching her staff tight.

“Good plan, stay in the backrow.”

“Barely anything’s happened yet and this is already way more intense than anything so far, nyaa...!” Cherry stands up, her stool falling to the floor from hastiness. She and Peri both jump up onto opposite sides of the large office desk so that they can watch the battle unfold, instead of having to peek over my shoulder.

Snow isn’t saying a word. While she’s mostly over her comical irritance, it’s been replaced with a grim and concerned expression. She clutches her paws to her chest and watches with bated breath.

While Sam strafes around the room looking for an in, Meri draws closer to the enemy Fencer. As he stares down the approaching adventurer, Pimpington smirks and raises an eyebrow. “Aw, damn! Ain’t this just the cutest thing? Y’all are workin’ together ‘n shit. No ‘I’ in teamwork, amiright? Not gonna be enough to take me down, though...”

From behind the rose-shaped knuckle guard of his sword, the ruby ring on his thumb glows. Before I can even put in a word of warning, a second Pimpington somehow splits off from the original and he dashes towards Meri from her right side.

“THE FUCK IS THIS SHIT?!” Sam gapes at the reveal of yet another of the pimp’s magic rings.

“It’s ok, I got this!” Meri plants her feet into the golden floor beneath her, switching back to tower shield after the buckler served its purpose as bait to draw him in.

As the second Fencer steps into distance for a lunge, Pimpington smirks. Something isn’t right- and there’s only seconds for us to react. “MERI, GET OUT OF THERE!”

“HUH?!”

Snow gasps, and the maids watch with bulging eyes as the enemy phases straight through Meri’s shield and fizzles harmlessly out of existence.

The problem?

Meri turned away from the real pimp to deal with this Feint-like after image. Rose-red colored energy swirls around his rapier as he draws it back, and when he thrusts it forward it shoots a spiraling drill-like projectile right at Meri’s exposed flank. As the attack spins out towards the helpless adventurer, ephemeral rose petals from the sword itself wilt off and join the attack. If it weren’t heading directly towards someone I love with all my heart, I would almost certainly be marveling in the beauty of this attack.

“OH NO YOU DON’T!” Gritting her teeth, Meri twists her torso to the side and soaks up a portion of the attack with her tower shield in the nick of time.

The rest of the Art hits the left side of her armor directly. Since it wasn’t a direct attack with the tip of his sword it doesn’t pierce, thank the Gods, but it still bangs up her arm plating a bit. Interestingly, the many petals that split from the roses on his rapier made little scratch marks on Meri’s armor wherever they touched.

I was wondering about the wilting petals... it figures that they were too inconspicuous to just have been an aesthetic effect. They must come out on command and add themselves to any long-distance attacks that stem from his sword.

I have the book from earlier still on my desk and it’s flipped to the corresponding pages. There are a lot of Arts listed, and I identify the last attack as Thrust Wave... this isn’t good, Pimpington has access to extremely high-level Fencer Arts.

“W-What the heck was that?!” Meri clenches her left fist tight, ignoring the pain of the surprise attack as best she can.

“Was that a Feint?!” Sam’s eyes glimmer with recognition.

“Naw, naw, naw. Feint ain’t the same as a full-on after image illusion, ya feel me?” Pimpington corrects the Princess and advances towards the girls, making my dread heighten with every inch.

“That makes sense... this didn’t feel like when Nikita used Feint during our training... this felt like it was actually there- until it wasn’t,” Meri says softly while glaring down Pimpington, not dropping her guard against the foe for a second. “What do we do...?!”

I take a deep breath and calm my thoughts as best I can. There aren’t a whole lot of options I can think of that lead to the girls gaining an upper hand... not with their current skillsets, at least.

Perhaps this is one of those dreadful situations where I need to push forward despite knowing that there’s a risk of damage? Nothing ventured, nothing gained...

Over the course of tonight, I’ve come to realize just how taxing a power like Taskmaster can be. I spent ages wanting a way to help provide feedback for Sam on the field, but... now that I can actually take command, I realize the heavy burden that carries.

Whatever happens, all responsibility falls on my shoulders.

...No. No, I won’t make a mistake. I’m going to get my girls home, and they’re going to be victorious.

“Sam, Meri. Get in closer, you need to not give him the range to perform his thrusts if you can help it.”

“AW YEAH-” Sam rushes in, smiling.

Meri is more subtle about it, merely nodding her head and running forward.

As Zutiria watches from the back row, Pimpington smirks and twirls about in place, shedding his over the top, fluffy pimp coat to increase his maneuverability. “That how we doin’ this? C’mon, then, show this pimp what ya got.”