Chapter 548 - A Hero's Tale for You, A Hero's Tale for Another, Part IV
"Alright—this is gonna take a sec! Guess I'll run a quick final check just in case!"
"Mm…!"
I’d already flipped the switch with a mental command, but it would be about thirty seconds until my key ‘weapon’ was ready. It would be a waste to spend that time just dancing around and dodging.
For all I know, the next hit might go through without a problem, and it's entirely possible the gimmick is based on hit count instead of raw power. If I have to wait anyway, it's a loss not to try!
So then—
"HRAAAGH!"
Immediately after leaping to evade another casually fired cannonball, with Ashe in my arms and my body upside down, my right foot caught the [Giant's Hand Axe] I had just summoned.
[Rocket] activated, twenty percent power—fly, you giant axe boomerang!
""Tch—!""
I desperately wanted to comment on the sight of my battle-axe, which had shot off at a ridiculous speed, being just as ridiculously and casually deflected by the ‘cocoon,’ but that was just a greeting.
I’d already released her from the 'princess carry,' and at the same time, we charged—
"—[Lightning Edge]!"
"Hmph…!"
We slammed our respective blades into the ‘blackness’ that we instantly faced.
Me with my green blade drawn, Ashe with her clothes dyed blue. Even with both of us delivering a simultaneous flash that converted speed into power, the immovable ‘cocoon’ remained unscratched.
Four seconds down, the next one's coming—but half a second is plenty of time to disengage.
…Or it should have been, but.
"—What the hell was that?! It wasn't just hard, it was on another level! Also, thanks for the save! Much appreciated!"
"…I almost dropped my sword. It was far beyond what I expected. You're welcome."
It was a sense of futility I hadn't felt since I challenged [Angalta] with my infantile [White-Flawed Straight Sword]. This thing was, without a doubt, the hardest object I had ever encountered in Arcadia.
Whether it was her being considerate or something else, my gratitude to Ashe for tossing a high potion at me as we disengaged was preceded by… an urge to just scream.
If I hadn't followed the bad feeling I got at the last second and softened my grip on the hilt, the sensation in both my hands might have been blown away, hindering my ability to use the emergency evasion formation (the princess carry).
Could even my ‘ace in the hole’ pierce that thing? Kicking away the creeping doubt, I moved on to take two. Next up, hit count.
"Ashe, you got any multi-hit moves?! Like, three, no four… something with fifty or more hits!"
"Fif… I-I don't."
"Okay, got it! In that case…—"
Next shot, evade.
Release the princess!
"I'll go for a bit."
I activated [Matoi] as I dashed forward.
Layering ‘Outer Force’ upon the ‘Inner Force’ from my ground kick, my body, which had momentarily shifted gears with double acceleration, instantly returned to the ‘cocoon’s’ vicinity—Kesshiki Ittoryu, modified seventh strike.
"[Kiraboshi]."
I impulsively fired it off earlier, but looking ahead to an unknown future, I couldn't afford to waste HP by spamming [Rocket]. So, this was at about sixty percent power.
It wasn't quite seven flashes in an instant, maybe four at best… but in just under five seconds, I could land about fifty hits. I kept my grip flexible so the blade wouldn’t be sent flying by the extraordinary hardness, and I struck again and again—
"No good, huh…!"
Every blade I swung slid right off the ‘cocoon's’ surface.
I gave up, disengaged, then retrieved her and dodged.
"…Haru."
"What is it?!"
"Even I have things I can't do."
"What?!"
"That question you just asked, your standard is off. You need to properly recognize that you're an [Acrobat]."
"Wha-huh… My apologies—WHOA…!"
Was she mad that I made an unreasonable request, or was she sulking because she couldn't say “I can do it”? Ashe, whose iron mentality seemed to have adapted to our current predicament, started saying something carefree, but the situation hadn't changed at all.
My lady, my ‘hunch’ could fail at any moment and it'd be all over…!
—In any case, as expected, it seems that not only is half-assed firepower useless, but pushing with a high hit count is also a long shot. Given the complete lack of reaction, I should probably trust that, from an Arcadia standpoint, the possibility is extremely low.
Yes, I can trust that.
It’s a way of thinking I’ve practiced time and time again…—As a fundamental premise, I hold a deep, game-related trust in the ‘unreasonableness’ of this world.
From the Dusty Worm and Bastide in the now-nostalgic beginner area of the Great Flowing Sand Cavern, to the rabbit hell of the Spiral Crimson Tower, and even to one of the ‘Colored Monsters,’ Tsarkalv of the White Throne.
And it's not just limited to enemies; it's the same for us players, the ‘special’ cream of the crop, the title holders.
Even the great [Sword Queen] herself, Ashe, has weaknesses and things she's not good at. This world may allow for the special and the strongest, but it will never, ever allow for ‘perfection.’
If there is such a thing as a ‘perfect existence’ in this virtual world, it would only be the world itself. This means that in a game that perfectly depicts the world its system wants to depict, there shouldn't be any blemishes like a completely, utterly unbeatable challenge.
In other words, every ‘unreasonable’ challenge must have a solution.
Which means that ‘cocoon’ must have one too—because this place, this enemy, was prepared for me and Ashe. Therefore, both of us, or at the very least one of us, must hold the key to breaking through it.
Yes, thinking about it from a meta perspective—
Ah, I see.
Plan A, no, Plan ‘B,’ which I just came up with on the spot, is starting to sound mysteriously convincing, isn't it? In short, this phase….
Isn't the correct answer simply to retaliate in kind?
That's right. Just as I was convinced it was from the very beginning—this is probably a form that manifests the ‘existence that has killed me the most times.’
"Ashe."
"Ready when you are."
Thirty seconds of dodging and weaving. The long-awaited ready call for my ‘weapon’ echoed in my mind. The moment I called her name, she responded instantly. The heavy trust I usually have to struggle to bear is the most reliable thing on the battlefield, and it makes me laugh.
"Alright… I'm going in on the next one. The rest is up to you."
"Understood. Leave it to me."
Our words were brief. We exchanged our resolve without hesitation, and,
"—!"
Just as I declared, immediately after dodging the next cannonball, I released Ashe and charged straight ahead.
And then, with a triumphant cry,
the weapon I summoned was—
"[Ruby Rabbit Bullet]!"
A crimson cannon I shouldn't be able to fire in this body.
Unless I'm in my transformed state where my magic is compatible, it’s a one-trigger suicide stick that would cause the explosive warhead to detonate the moment I touch the trigger—however,
this thing is a delightfully clever contraption made by the Artisan of Playful Fire.
"—Scarlet-Thread Linkage 24-Style Armor-Piercing Warhead."
It's not just a firework gun that shoots a lot.
"‘Woodpecker.’"
A reversal of proliferation: fusion and linkage.
Once the owner flips a ‘switch,’ this weapon links its core warheads one by one, changing its properties according to the number.
Before the ‘cocoon,’ the gun barrel I held out was covered in countless crimson crystals, bloating, transforming, until its form was no longer that of a slender tube, a ‘matchlock rifle’—its massive, clunky barrel was more like an ‘anti-materiel rifle.’
The armor-piercing ‘Woodpecker’ round, created by linking twenty-four warheads, is bottom-tier in terms of power against large targets among my available cards.
However, when it comes to the single point of piercing—it’s in a league of its own, an absolute, undisputed top-tier that all my other cards combined couldn't hope to match!
Now, have a taste of this, you shut-in fox.
A single-point breakthrough, both modeled after a ‘Rabbit.’ Let’s see which one is superior—
"Pierce through—[Mayhem Bunny]!"
I’ll shatter that shell and show you what’s what.