Chapter 654 - The Raging Wind Never Ceases
Later, countless colorful words would be used to describe that single “moment.”
For example—“I was so dumbfounded, I completely forgot about commanding or anything, right in the middle of the battlefield,” were the words of the General Commander, who had watched my back from closer than anyone.
For example—“You really don’t want people thinking that’s the standard for an ‘Eastern Ranker,’ right? Compared to that, I’m practically a normal human being, aren’t I?” were the words of the [Undying].
For example—“I think he’s an idiot,” “He’s reached a new level,” and “Being trained so hard by two samurai seems to have knocked a few screws loose,” were the words of the ‘Eastern Wings.’
For example—“Well, I expected at least that much from him,” were the words of “the samurai.”
For example—“It was far beyond my expectations… or rather, I think I’ll just give up on trying to anticipate anything he does. I’m done with it,” were the words of the [Lady-in-Waiting].
And for example—a flood of comments from other rankers and regular players overflowed, such as: “I just laughed,” “A literal monster,” “He’s practically their natural enemy,” “Scary,” “How is that my only junior…!”, “That’s Istia for you,” “I’m at a loss because there’s nothing to learn from him,” “Isn't he basically playing a different game from us?”, “All rankers are playing a different game, that’s a given,” “Being barely able to see him in slow motion is hilarious,” “Not being able to understand it even when you see it is even more hilarious,” “I laughed so hard the grass withered,” “Haru-chan is cute,” and so on…
And to cap it all off, the one who had drawn the most attention, the only one whose reaction was in time to return a sword strike, the [Sword Queen]… she spoke a short impression, laced with happiness, frustration, and adoration.
—“That’s just not fair.”
And so, of all the opposing forces who tried to act based on prediction, intuition, or reflex, only a few dozen players even reached the point just before reacting.
The figure holding the sword vanished in the distance.
Those who moved, those who succeeded, were a mere three at the head of the four-hundred-plus North-South alliance raid. Among them, only one made it in time.
Not the [Knight] who tried to block it,
Not the [Heavy Tank] who tried to bind him,
“—!!!”
But the sword princess, and her alone, who had burned the image of the “Heavenly Storm” into her eyes once before.
In that moment, the god-speed “storm” dodged the intercepting silver flash—and the raging, endless “wind,” accompanied by “water,” tore past, leaving sound itself behind.
So, what happened in the end?
“““—”””
It was the sight they saw when they turned around.
The vast amount of “red phosphorescence” that filled the space, so numerous that it was pointless to count how many bodies it had originated from, told the entire story of the event.
◇◆◇◆◇
“—Dammit… I missed.”
I walked, no, I ran, no, I tore through them, and that was my first thought.
It was great that I was still alive after that one step, but my faint hope that a whole forest of light pillars might shoot up by some mistake seemed to have been in vain.
On the contrary, I had slightly miscalculated my path, causing my trajectory to curve.
Somehow, I had a feeling that was the very reason I was still alive right now, but considering the trade-off with the results I had wanted, it was hard to say if I should be happy about it.
In an instant, I had crushed the straight line, ending up at a wall. Not just the passage leading to the maze of the base, but I had flown straight into the dead end. Along with the laid-out “nets,” I had sliced through, sent flying, and knocked away the “people” and “things” that had been packed into the maze area—
“““““…………”””””
At the terminus, hundreds of eyes were fixed on me as I stood on the wall, unharmed, amidst a scattering of golden light.
With the obstacles gone, the line of sight was physically clear, but the sheer volume of death effects made it hard to even see my ‘starting point’… I’d say the casualties were around a hundred or so.
Well, what a shame.
Defeating a ranker was asking too much, but honestly, I had unleashed that one strike with the intention of wiping out all the regular players. The Final Strike, [Seiran], is essentially “[Shizuku]” moving in a straight line at the speed of “[Hayate].”
With the enhancements from [Water Enchant], the maximum range of [Shizuku] is just under ten meters. I swung that around at super high speed while blasting through a long distance in a straight line. In other words, [Seiran] is an instantaneous straight-line蹂躙 mixer.
Let me state this clearly: if it lands properly, no “mob” can withstand it. Which is precisely why I was so frustrated that my path veered upward, only grazing the front of the raid force.
The further back I went, the thinner the density of the “blades” scraping the lower area became, eventually resulting in just a glancing blow. The victims were likely concentrated in the front-line group, excluding the rankers.
“I guess I can’t expect a first-time move to go perfectly every time…”
Caught by gravity, my body fell.
I twisted around as I landed, my feet coming down on a high pile of rubble. It was none other than the wreckage of the “nets” that I had cut through along with their victims.
More accurately, it was the wreckage I had sliced to bits and then forcefully deflected with my ‘shield.’
[Ectulus Aurum (The Woven Garment of Golden Splendor)]—the sole ability of my battle garment, [Sakura Hanaori], crafted by Nia. It’s a limited-use, instantaneous protective ability, a matching set with my partner’s [Dress of El-Clelia].
It’s excellent when used for its original purpose of defense, but as you can see, it works just as well for offense. In fact, since I can time it perfectly myself, it’s even easier to use this way… or so I’d say, but my creator would probably get mad at me for using it in a weird way, so I’ll keep my mouth shut.
Anyway.
Regardless.
The second objective was missed, but the first objective was successfully completed.
Just because you guys got lucky and escaped my screw-up, don’t think you can just stand there gawking.
“—And with that, the pincer attack is complete. It’s a little lonely being the only one on this side, but… I wonder how much of a threat they’ll consider me?”
Hey, you folks in the rear, direct your attention to my right hand. What I’ve taken out is—
“[Ruby Rabbit Bullet].”
“—!! Oh craaaaaaaaaaap!!!”
““Ah, we’re dead…””
““““Hold on a sec—!””””
Like hell I'll wait. Here, BOOM!!!
Out of the frying pan, into the acrobat.