Chapter 646 - An Inherited Step
With the exception of a few singular anomalies who refuse to be bound by common sense, there are two fundamental theories for how agility-focused builds approach PvP in Arcadia.
Broadly speaking, you either push or pull. While both strategies rely on footwork that leaves opponents in the dust, it boils down to this: either you go all-in on offense and overwhelm them in a single breath, or you use your speed advantage to dictate the rhythm of the fight, draw them in, and methodically wear them down.
Ultimately, there is no option other than to attack. In a world—a game—where the unknown is constantly being updated with a vast number of new skills every hour, it's crucial for a fragile AGI-type, who can be taken down by a single minor accident, to not let the opponent do anything.
Therefore—
"Hah! Nice! That spirit, that grit—it seems you're the real deal!"
"Hahh—!"
Even if his opponent was a monster from another dimension, he had no choice but to press forward.
How many times had he dashed? How many times had he hit her blind spot? How many times had he attacked? And how many times now had the dagger in his right hand struck her body?
He was directly in front of the Heroine, who had turned to look behind her in reaction to his feint. As if to say that slipping past her sight was meaningless, her left palm flashed out without a look, easily catching the point of his blade—a thrust he had put his entire body into with both arms crossed... and again, the sound of metal clashing rang out.
While it couldn't compare to the legendary Uniques, Anima, or Narrator's Armaments, Kanata's beloved sword, the [Lycoris Milles (Steel-Silent Serial Thorn)], was a one-of-a-kind piece crafted by a renowned magitech artisan.
Both its base materials and craftsmanship were undeniably first-class. It wasn't an item that should be so easily blocked by a player's skin when they weren't even wearing proper armor—but...
"Tch...!"
"Whoops, again?"
Unfortunately, even without external protection, she herself was far from ordinary.
The moment Oubai Touri, still standing on the battlefield with her HP completely untouched, tried to close her left hand, Kanata pulled his blade back and instantly activated [Rebellion, The Single Arrow to the Far Distance] for a seven-meter, high-speed retreat. Just as she'd said, it was the same fruitless exchange they had repeated time and again.
"Well, this is a problem. That's quite a pair of 'boots' you've got there."
"...I'm honored."
He knew the secret to her absurd defense. Or rather, since she had publicly disclosed it herself, it was common knowledge to anyone with even a passing interest in the world.
The first-clear reward for the high-difficulty dungeon, the Otherworldly Plains of the High Sky: the special title, 'The Grounder.' Like the 'Names' of the rankers, it was a title with a constantly active effect—an extremely specialized title that came with both a massive advantage and a massive disadvantage.
Its power was 'super-enhancement of the avatar on the ground' and 'super-weakening of the avatar in the air.' To put it simply, as long as her feet were on the ground, her body was tougher than anyone else's, but the moment both feet left the earth, she became more fragile than anyone else.
On the ground, she transformed into a titan who could stop even the Sword Queen's strikes with her bare hands.
In the air, she transformed into a helpless lady who could be injured by a carelessly thrown pebble.
"..."
"You're thinking. Thinking hard."
The rock-hard sensation, like striking steel, was another of 'The Grounder's' enhancement effects.
'Iron Body of the Earth Mother'—an automatic defense that instantly hardened any chosen body part. Although it was limited to an area the size of a single palm, in the hands of a Ranker who possessed an extraordinary combat sense and a wealth of experience, its troublesome nature went without saying.
To break through it, one would have to launch a surprise attack that surpassed the reads of a PvP expert second only to the second-ranked Heavy Tank (with the exception of the Sword Queen), engulf her in an area-of-effect attack that ignored partial hardening, or slip past her guard at a speed so immense she wouldn't even have time to decide to harden.
"..."
"Well, that's a good thing. ...But."
However, once again unfortunately—Kanata had none of those options.
"Just thinking all the time gets boring, don't you think?"
"Kuh...!"
Her great hammer touched the ground. A tremor erupted, and the Heroine before him vanished.
It was another of 'The Grounder's' enhancement effects, 'Great Quake Travel.' It allowed for instantaneous movement by gliding across the ground by riding vibrations.
It was a power not unlike Kanata's own Anima. Its top speed varied with the intensity of the tremor, and when riding the localized earthquake generated by her [Grace Luquate (Earth-Shaking Root Vine)]—
It became a blur of motion rivaling, if not surpassing, the speed of someone with 500 AGI.
She approached unarmed, a fist raised.
Contrary to its massive scale, that great hammer was a semi-material object with no attack power of its own. Thus, her sole method of attack was bare-knuckle brawling, a style befitting her many nicknames.
But do not underestimate her. With her stats specialized into the one thing her brawling style lacked, and enhanced by 'The Grounder's' effects of 'toughness' and 'speed'—
"Come on, let's enjoy this strange fate!"
"—"
A powerful fist, launched by the brute force of over 700 STR, could easily shatter objects and, when striking the 'Indestructible' environment prepared by the gods, would unleash an unimaginably destructive shockwave.
[Rebellion] activated again, retreating—he managed to escape thanks to the power of his Anima, which followed its path unerringly, ignoring earthquakes and everything else. But he couldn't avoid the impact, which was more than a mere atmospheric tremor, and it rocked his avatar to the core.
That blow she'd struck on the floor was, without a doubt, the most powerful one since their engagement began.
Had she grown tired of Kanata's constant hit-and-run tactics, or was this her boisterous way of demanding he 'hurry up and show his hand'?
This wasn't just a 'fist' backed by raw strength. It was a serious blow, fortified by the myriad of unconventional skills befitting a Ranker—
He wanted to believe that was the case..
Because if it was... then right now, as she took another step forward and raised her fist at Kanata, who was genuinely struggling to regain his balance, it would mean that she had,
Just as planned, walked right into his trap—headfirst.
He had given her more than enough information through his repeated, fruitless hit-and-run attacks. In other words, she was likely aware that his [Rebellion] was ill-suited for offensive use.
The 'gliding' made possible by his Anima had a restriction: 'a trajectory that touches an obstacle cannot be set.' In addition, it had a feature that was both a safety mechanism and a weakness: 'at the end point, it comes to a complete stop from one hundred to zero, ignoring inertia.'
Therefore, an action like transitioning from the momentum of a glide directly into an attack was impossible.
Any offense initiated with [Rebellion] would inevitably have a moment's pause at both the start and the end, and he couldn't hope for any attack power boost from inertial momentum.
Needless to say, against an opponent outside the norm like a Ranker, 'a moment's pause' was fatal. It was only natural that his attacks were being read, and having every one of them blocked was all part of the plan.
On top of that, she had probably figured out the left-right alternating rule and the fact that he couldn't activate his Anima unless his feet were on the ground—she had to have figured it out, or he'd be in trouble.
That was why he had stubbornly, relentlessly launched attacks again and again, even knowing they wouldn't work. Without that understanding, this very moment...
His next move, from a state of being airborne from the shockwave, would never land.
His feet were only slightly, but definitely, pushed off the floor. His right hand, which couldn't land a blow even when wielding a blade, and his left hand, which he'd kept empty since his challenge, now,
Behind his back, finally gripped the hilt of a weapon.
From the shadow of the scabbard that held [Lycoris Milles], from the black-lacquered blade sealed within another scabbard, worn quietly like a charm—
"—[Ignition]!"
A flash like red lightning erupted.
It was a blade meant to bare its fangs at the heavens.