kscans

Chapter 19 - A Cliffside Tour Straight to Hell

"—And so, I've arrived at stage three."

The muscle-bound old man... he wasn't unfriendly once you got him talking, but he was fatally tight-lipped. After somehow prying the location of the required materials from that walking pile of muscle, I learned they could be found in the third area, which I had conveniently just unlocked.

So, I immediately set off for my first solo expedition since this morning, but... hmm, well now, this is...

"Sora's going to cry again."

The area was called the [Cliff Road of the Sky Bridge]—and the other side of the transfer gate was the top of a sheer cliff where fierce winds raged. And I can't even read the area name. How the hell are you supposed to say that?

...Wait, this is no time for jokes. What do they mean, 'Sky Bridge'? This is just a cliff's edge! The path is less than a meter wide.

I kind of got the feeling they wanted to deliver a variety of adventures and combat scenarios, but aren't they ramping up the danger a little too fast? You don't try to kill the player with the terrain on the third map.

"Fighting bird-type mobs on a footing like this is..."

The material I need is called [Glowbird's Tail Feather], so they're bound to show up, right? These 'Glowbirds,' or whatever they're called. This is a bit risky... or rather, tough. No, it's impossible. I can't even get a proper footing, so my throws won't have much power.

By the way, the first thing I did when I got here was check below the cliff, but it was impossible to even estimate the altitude.

To be specific, it was a sea of clouds... The only way in or out is the transfer gate, but does this mean we're not near a town or anything? The terrain is just too insane.

"I just have to believe there's some way to deal with this."

If it doesn't work out, I can just think of it as practice for falling from a great height... Damn it. Ever since that boar squashed me flat, my fear of death has been getting numb.

For now, judging by the terrain, this stage should be a straight path. A complex labyrinth of sheer cliffs wouldn't make any sense. As long as I'm careful not to misstep and fall to my death, I should be able to reach the goal... I hope.

"Anyone with a fear of heights would be stuck here. The gross scorpion was bad enough. I wonder if there's a way to skip stages..."

No use just standing here frozen. Guess I'll get going.

Luckily, with my acrobatics-boosted agility, I'm confident in my movements. I probably won't fall to my death over some minor accident.

"...I feel like I'm jinxing myself every time I say something like that."

Muttering to myself, I took a step onto the unreliable footing.

◇◆◇◆◇

"Oh?"

I wasn't about to go full-sprint on this terrain, so I proceeded cautiously for a few minutes—when something caught my eye.

"Could it be... No, it definitely is."

On the cliff-face side. On one part of the rock wall I'd been using for support as I walked, a piece of a foreign object with a clearly different color and texture was exposed.

Its color was a dull blue—that must be the blue iron ore I'm looking for.

"Finding it just lying on the roadside like this must mean it's a common, general-purpose ore."

It's not in a spot I can't reach, so I should be able to mine it without any problems.

"Now then..."

I summoned the pickaxe they so graciously lent me when I accepted the quest. This quick-change ability affects not just weapons, but all equipment including armor. It's seriously useful.

Okay, I'll wind up—

"No wasted effort."

As if to break the area around my target,

"Just swing away!!"

That explanation of mining was way too vague, you muscle-bound geezer!!

But it seemed to work, game-wise. After swinging the pickaxe rather haphazardly two or three times, a lump of dull blue rock tumbled from the cliff face with a satisfying thunk.

"Alright. That's one... It's bigger than I thought, huh?"

The rocky chunk that rolled to my feet was about the size of a shot put. It looked pretty heavy. I wonder if my inventory capacity can handle it.

"It'd be better if held items and inventory were separate... but, yeah, this should be manageable."

Most games I know have separate slots for equipped items and inventory, but Arcadia applies a total value.

In my case, that means the combined weight of my straight sword, my great axe, and all the loot I've gathered so far is what counts against my capacity limit... Yep, it's all the great axe's fault.

This game probably isn't designed for new players to use large weapons.

I'm too new to know the reasoning behind that design choice, but at this early stage, without the expanded capacity from leveling up, it's difficult to even wear armor while holding a large weapon, let alone anything else.

I want to expand my capacity soon and at least put on some armor so Sora doesn't have to give me the side-eye for being 'frail,' but we'll see.

"I guess I can find the iron ore like this, but the real problem is the birds."

It hasn't been that long since I set foot in this area, but it feels like I should have had at least one encounter by now.

At this rate, this is just a cliffside hike. If you ignore the fact that one misstep means death, it's not so bad... Damn it, my sense of the value of life is plummeting. The death penalty isn't light, so I need to stay on my toes.

After proceeding further along the cliff path for a while—

"...Here it comes."

Without warning, a cry like a kite's echoed through the air. It reverberated through the valley of cliffs rising from the sea of clouds, making it hard to pinpoint the location.

On this footing, my signature mobile combat is impossible. I put my back to the wall, readied my straight sword, and waited to intercept the attack—and there it was.

"From below...!"

The enemy attacked from below—bursting through the sea of clouds. I reflexively swung my sword at the object closing the distance before I could even get a good look at it. It took off, distancing itself from me with a loud flap of its wings.

"A Glowbird, huh... Seriously, it's overgrown."

As I got a full view of it, those words escaped my lips.

Its body was blue. With four large wings in two pairs, its slender, flimsy torso looked more like a butterfly's than a bird's.

What was most remarkable was its size. Including its long tail feathers, which were more than double the length of its body, it had to be well over three meters long. The wingspan, when spread, looked even wider.

"Isn't that too big...? And this is a common enemy?"

As I stood there stunned, the great-winged bird parted its yellow beak and let out a threatening cry—then, it closed in fast.

"Tch!"

It closed the distance. It was going to strike with its talons or its sharp beak—or so I thought. In some trick of acrobatics, it maintained its flight with only its smaller, lower wings, and swung its massive upper wings down at me.

"What kind of bird does that?!"

I never expected it to use its very lifeline as its main weapon. I hastily intercepted the huge wing that came at me with a terrifying WHOOSH!.

I was startled, but I reacted in time. The blade, which met the wing in a counter, slashed through the blue wing... but it didn't cut!?

"It's hard!?"

A loud metallic clang rang out as the straight sword and the great wing were mutually repelled. Impossible, I thought as I looked closer—and saw a 'hand' reminiscent of a wyvern's, complete with a thick talon, halfway up the wing's edge.

"Damn, this is annoying!"

I wasn't given time for a long complaint. Another wing attack came from the other side. I tried to block—not gonna make it!

"Quick Change!"

In place of my repelled right hand, I summoned the great axe to my left. I instinctively shielded myself with the axe head, which was incomparably larger than my sword—

"Gah...!"

Wasn't this thing just a mass of feathers?! It's too heavy! I blocked a direct hit, but my health dropped sharply, and...?!

"Tch—Crap!"

As if being swept by a broom, my body was pushed aside by the force of the wing's blow. The battlefield is a narrow cliff path. If I stumble in the wrong direction here...

"Gasp..."

The feeling of the ground disappearing from under my feet.

—Huh? Seriously? For real? ...Huh?

"W-wait a—"

Swatted by the great wing and thrown into the air, my body hung there for a moment of weightlessness, and then—

"Gah... Damn youuuu!!?!"

I was falling. Before I could even glare at the Glowbird that let out a triumphant squawk above me, the weight of the great axe pulled me down, and I was swallowed by the sea of clouds in an instant.

"Not... yet!"

I'm not dead yet. I don't know the structure of this stage, but if I'm above the clouds, there should be some time before I'm slammed into the ground, the final destination of my fall.

In a normal game, death would be sealed the moment you fall. But this is [Arcadia]. If it lives up to my expectations, it should properly smash me onto the ground and finish me off!!

"Then...!"

My first idea for a 2D-style solution in this kind of situation—stab a sword into the wall to break the fall.

I used Quick Change again, swapping the great axe that was hastening my demise with my straight sword. My vision was almost zero in the thick clouds, but since I fell straight down from the cliff's edge, it was easy to aim at the rock wall rushing past me.

Suppressing my racing heart and rising panic, I pulled back in a forced, upside-down stance—

"Hraaaah!!"

Perhaps it was a surge of adrenaline, but the thrust I unleashed from a position where I couldn't even get a foothold was, if I do say so myself, a critical hit.

The blade slammed into the rock wall with great force, embedding its tip deep into the stone—and a split second later, it snapped with a high-pitched metallic shriek.

"Gah... Dammit!! I guess it would hate me after all the crap I've put it through!!!"

My fall didn't stop, and I let out a cry of utter agreement with the muscle-bound blacksmith's theory that my "beloved sword hated me."

Damn, would it have been different if I had some kind of piercing attack skill...? No, given how it broke, it was probably a durability issue. Even if it had stuck, it would have just snapped anyway.

Fortunately, it seems equipment doesn't vanish when it breaks. I apologized to the straight sword, now a pathetic sight with its blade missing from the middle, and stashed it in my inventory.

"Seriously, my bad, beloved sword... ...Wait a minute."

This is taking a while. How long am I going to be falling... or rather, how long am I going to be in these clouds? I feel like I've already dropped over a hundred meters, but there's no sign of the clouds breaking.

I really don't get it. What kind of terrain is this?

"...Could this be that thing?"

A suspicion suddenly formed in my mind, leading to a hypothesis—and before I could even examine it, a foreign object flew into my monochrome white vision.

It was a bizarre sight that could only be described as a "stone net." Countless stone bridges, each several meters wide, intersected to form a 'net' like a wide-meshed spiderweb.

"—Whoa, that was close!?"

It was only for a moment, but I was captivated by a sight I'd surely never see in real life. As a result, one of the stone bridges rushed toward my face.

Instinctively—or rather, reflexively—I summoned the great axe and, to escape my falling trajectory which was about to clip the edge, I slammed it sideways into the side of the stone bridge.

"Owww...!"

This time it didn't snap like the straight sword, but a severe shockwave shot back into both my arms.

Fortunately, I managed to get my body out of the way, but the numbness in my hands was intense. I returned the great axe I almost dropped to my inventory—crap, what do I do now...?

The web of stone bridges continued downward in layers. I just survived the first crisis, but if another bridge comes along on a direct collision course, my avatar will be shattered in an instant.

"............I could just give up, but..."

As I miraculously slipped through the wide-meshed net, I muttered to myself, nearly out of options.

Logically, this is an impossible situation. By any common sense, I'm done for... This is the part where I just give up, close my eyes, and tell myself, "I won't fall next time"—but,

"I decided to give this adventure everything I've got—as much as I possibly can...!!"

Next impact. Thirty meters until I intersect with a bridge on a glancing trajectory—twenty, ten... Roar, acrobatic AGI!!

"Ngh—!!"

Fighting against the gravity pulling me down, I forced my body up, twisting and coiling it—and slammed the soles of my feet against the side of the stone bridge.

"Nngh... Next!!"

I ignored the HP bar that vanished by a good twenty percent and the intense numbness that made it feel like my right leg was gone from the knee down.

I deliberately shifted my trajectory and aimed for the next 'footing'—a stone bridge one level below—and landed.

"Gah, that hurts!!"

The numbness, now indistinguishable from pain, seized my left leg, but the numbness in my right was fading slightly.

I still have HP left—I'm not dead yet!!

Third level, fourth, fifth... I gradually redirected the force of my fall sideways, turning the impacts into landings.

Little by little, I reduced the shock, and the damage lessened with each stage—but this next one is the limit. If I die here, well, it can't be helped!!

One last push-off. The target landing spot isn't the edge of the bridge, but the dead center. If my legs can't withstand this landing, it's goodbye and good riddance!!

Crushing the fear I'd been avoiding between my molars, I used Quick Change—and at the moment of intersection, I slammed the summoned great axe into the stone bridge with all my might.

An ear-splitting impact sound, a ridiculous shock that sent stars across my vision and shot through my body—I was blown back by the recoil, thrown, tumbling, and finally ended up spread-eagled, looking up at the web of stone bridges.

"..................It's okay to say it, right?... I'm amazing."

Looking at my HP bar in the corner of my vision—which had held on by a sliver—I muttered that to myself, completely drained of strength.