Chapter 306 - The Wedge Sword-King Enshrines a God, The World Records the Heroic Tale of Two - Part 2
"—This is just brute force with extra steps!"
One, two, three—a total of six blades. Not content with just the twin swords in its hands, four flying golden magic swords (a total ripoff of Sora's style) were mercilessly pummeling me from every direction.
Give me a break, that's a seriously dirty trick.
That's the kind of power you should never give to an AI-controlled enemy—the kind that never makes mistakes!
"Gah… whoa, guh!? Hey, wait… d'gh—!"
Right, left, front, above, lower right, behind, front, front, back-back-right-back-le—
"—ft!?"
In the nick of time.
Unable to disengage, I was forced to stop and defend. A single magic sword slipped past my awareness—but my one and only lifeline brilliantly cut off the fatal blow.
As if to add insult to injury, [Everquartz] used its momentum to slash at the blue knight, forcing it to divert resources to deal with my sword.
Seizing the momentary break point that created, I slipped through the encirclement and temporarily disengaged.
Perhaps it shared a similar nature to its previous form; the armored knight, now at a distance, lowered its stance and corrected its posture as if to say, 'Let's reset.'
This bastard, pretending to be all honorable—
"Calling in backup is cheating… in more ways than one."
Not only was it a pain to deal with, but more importantly, 'ignoring me to go help its partner'—this is the kind of thing that will definitely make Sora sulk later.
I'm not the bad guy here, right…? I'm not, right!?
Ignoring my inner turmoil, the magic swords formed a four-man cell, having moved from the white knight to the blue one. It was infuriating. Damn it all, I only have one ally.
And to top it off…
"Return."
That one ally has the worst fuel economy. The white sword zipped around me, seemingly eager for more action. I apologized to it mentally as I returned it to the ring.
I'd relied on its autonomous movement for an emergency escape, but using it regularly was out of the question. In just a few dozen seconds, nearly ten percent of my MP had vanished. This was no laughing matter.
Man, this is worse than I thought.
This isn't an opponent I can afford to hold back against.
If I went all-out with `Fatal Leak`, I could probably handle it, but that would also drain my MP. I couldn't hold back, but I had to conserve some resources—high-difficulty MMO bosses usually have a second or third transformation, after all…
"…Okay, then."
It's been a while, but I should be able to manage. It seems I was punished for all the mischief I caused in public; the skill got a slight nerf with its evolution, but—
"Here we go, blue knight—it's juggling time."
—for the most part, my signature skill, `Construction`, has been properly enhanced.
Allow me to demonstrate a fraction of its true power!
`Hare Real` and `Land Insulate`—I ignited the cornerstones of my mobility. The lost explosive power from `Ignition` was forcefully compensated for with the multi-stage acceleration of `Matoi` to start up.
And… of course it can keep up. I knew it. Stat-wise, we're probably about the same, huh? Around 250 AGI?
It reacted to me as I started circling around it, and the blue knight gave chase, displaying agility that would easily surpass any normal light warrior.
But it couldn't catch me.
With repeated bursts of `Matoi`, the gap between us widened in an instant through unstoppable multi-stage acceleration. Once I activated `Floating Star`, the chase was over in just a few seconds.
I reached my top speed, likely equivalent to 500 AGI, and my vision blurred into a single streak of color.
But if my opponent gives up the chase and settles for just 'reacting'… then I can just force my attacks on it one-sidedly. Even with my vision like this, I can manage!
Now, let's begin.
"—`Construction`!"
What I summoned was an extra-large projectile.
For the first throw… I choose you, [Giant's Hand Axe]!
I hurled the great war axe in my right hand with all my might, completely ignoring its weight. The black mass flew through the air with a wicked slicing sound, closing in on the blue shadow in my blurred vision—BOOM.
I'll check if it hit later. For now, I just have to reload.
For the second shot, it's your turn, newbie. Welcome, my nostalgic great iron lump, the reincarnation of my former ace—its name is the great warhammer, [Gravidon].
I don't know the meaning or the sense behind the name! But it's a masterpiece from my personal magic craftsman, and its weight and destructive power are top-notch. Got a problem with that? RAAAGH!!
"Hrrrryaaaah!!"
Neither the craftsman nor the weapon probably expected it to be thrown on its debut. The great warhammer, once again tossed effortlessly as if all its weight was ignored… impacted with a deafening roar.
Man, things have gotten so much easier. I'd always thought the 'weight-reflection lag' was a gray area, but I never expected it to be implemented as an official ability.
In exchange, when `Blink Switch` evolved into `Construction`, I lost the other side effect, the 'instantaneous coordinate fixing.' But hey, I guess that's why I have `Rocket` now.
So now I'm supposed to fly properly instead of using a glitch, huh?
Like hell I can fly properly with such crude wings!
Anyway—the grace period was extended from 'a brief instant' to 'five seconds after switching,' drastically lowering the difficulty of handling super-heavy weapons.
Before, I never had the leeway to run at full speed while juggling like this. So how 'bout it, blue knight? This is a hellish fighting style, isn't it?
I can retrieve and reload at will. A rapid-fire cannon with infinite ammo. If you think you can take it all…
"Then try and take it!"
『—, ————』
Even if my vision was useless, it wasn't like my user interface was blurred too.
Whether this barrage, a manifestation of the impossible, was reaching its target or having any effect was—eloquently demonstrated by its rapidly depleting HP bar.
`Construction`—A high-tier unique skill that evolved from the fusion of the all-weapon proficiency skills `Blink Switch` and `Combo Accelerate`. In the story, the protagonist claims it 'ignores weight for five seconds after switching,' but the correct description is that it allows the user to 'perfectly master any armament for five seconds after switching.' This means it can temporarily ignore not only weight but also all equipment restrictions based on stats. However, since the coordinate-fixing effect upon summoning has been removed, a mishandling can cause the user to drop their weapon and have an accident. Whether this madman would ever make such a mistake again is another question. It also has a bonus passive effect where 'the more types of armaments used during combat, the greater the correction multiplier becomes.' Using about twenty different types might even surpass a dedicated skill tree.
[Gravidon] Crafted Weapon: Great Warhammer. A manifestation of a ridiculous concept created by the Firecrafter in response to a certain client's absurd request for 'a blunt weapon that's the embodiment of weight.' The base material is [Black Dragon Scale Rock], an ultra-heavy, ultra-durable rock material also used in the [Giant's Hand Axe]. Its appearance is similar to the axe, a top-heavy short-hafted type. It hasn't been utilized in the main story yet, but it incorporates materials from the 'Rabbit.' The striking surface is coated in 'crimson,' and it has a little internal mechanism as well.
[Black Dragon Scale Rock]—A common rock material that can be found in any spot referred to as a 'quarry.' Its main characteristics are its absurd weight and durability, but because the former is so extreme, few can handle it properly, resulting in dead demand.
Among some enthusiasts, it is praised as 'an excellent material for workout equipment,' but what meaning there is in weight training in a virtual world where 'Strength (STR)' is determined by pure stats is a mystery. The enthusiasts probably don't know either.