kscans

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 final check, just to be sure!"

"Mhm…!"

I had already flipped the switch via thought command, but it would be another thirty seconds or so until my key 'weapon' was fully prepped. It felt like a waste to just spend that time dancing around and dodging.

There was always a chance the next attack might just inexplicably land, or that the 'opening' was triggered by the number of hits rather than their power. If I had to wait anyway, it would be a waste not to test it out!

And so—

"Hraaaah!"

Right after I leaped to avoid another shell flying dispassionately toward me, I summoned Alicia to my arms, and my right foot caught the [Giant's Hand Axe] I'd called forth while upside down.

Activating [Rocket], twenty percent output—fly, my giant axe boomerang!

""Tch—!""

I desperately wanted to comment on the sight of my battle-axe, which had shot forward at a ridiculous speed, being just as ridiculously and anticlimactically deflected by the cocoon. But that was just a greeting.

I'd already released her from my 'princess carry' and was simultaneously closing the distance—

"—[Hourai]!"

"Hmph…!"

We faced the 'blackness' in an instant, slamming our respective blades into it.

I drew my jade blade; Alicia's clothes were dyed blue. Even as we both unleashed simultaneous strikes that converted speed into power, the unmoving cocoon remained unscratched.

Four seconds had passed. The next attack was coming—but half a second was more than enough to disengage.

…Or so I thought.

"—What the hell was that?! It was beyond just 'hard'! Also, thanks for the save, I appreciate it!"

"…I almost dropped my sword. It's far beyond what I expected. You're welcome."

It was a sense of hopelessness I hadn't felt since I challenged [Angalta, God-Wedge Sword-King] with the infantile [White-Flawed Straight Sword]. It was, without a doubt, the most ridiculously durable thing I had ever encountered in Arcadia.

Whether it was out of consideration or something else entirely, Alicia had slammed a High Potion into me as I disengaged. But even before I could thank her… I just couldn't help but shout.

If I hadn't followed the bad feeling that had flared up just before impact and loosened my grip, the sensation in my hands might have been blown away, hindering my ability to execute an emergency princess-carry escape.

Could even my ace in the hole pierce that thing? Kicking away the budding doubt, I prepared for take two. Next up: attack volume.

"Alicia, do you have any kind of multi-hit skill?! Three, no, four… something with fifty or more hits!"

"Fi… N-no, I don't."

"Okay, got it! In that case…—"

Next shell, dodge.

Princess release!

"I'll go in for a bit."

I activated Matoi as I dashed forward.

My body, momentarily shifted into a higher gear by layering 'Outer Force' onto the 'inner' power of my kick-off, instantly returned to the cocoon's immediate vicinity—Kesshiki Ittoryu, Seventh Strike - Modified.

"[Kiraboshi]."

I'd just fired it off blindly a moment ago, but looking ahead to an unknown future, I couldn't afford to waste HP by spamming [Rocket] without a second thought. Thus, I kept the output just under sixty percent.

I couldn't manage seven flashes in an instant—four at best… but in just under five seconds, I could land around fifty hits. Keeping my grip flexible so the blade wouldn't be knocked away by the extraordinary hardness, I struck again and again—

"No good, huh…!"

Every blade I swung merely slid off the cocoon's surface.

I gave up, disengaged, retrieved Alicia, and dodged.

"…Haru."

"What is it?!"

"There are some things that even I can't do."

"Huh?!"

"Your question just now was based on a ridiculous standard. You need to properly recognize that you're the [Acrobat]."

"Wha-huh…? My apologies—whoa…!"

Was she angry that I'd suddenly made an unreasonable request, or was she sulking because she couldn't say 'yes'? Alicia, whose steely mentality seemed to have adapted to our current predicament, started saying something carefree, but the situation hadn't changed one bit.

Your Highness, we could be finished the moment my 'intuition' fails me…!

—In any case, as expected, it seemed that not only was half-assed firepower useless, but the odds of overwhelming it with a high volume of attacks were slim. Given its complete lack of reaction, I could trust that, from an Arcadia game design perspective, the possibility was extremely low.

Yes, I could trust it.

This was a way of thinking I'd put into practice time and time again…—As a fundamental premise, I hold a deep, game-like sense of trust in the 'unreasonableness' of this world.

Starting with the [Dusty Worm, Great Serpent of Dust] and [Bastide, Scion of Dust] in the now-nostalgic beginner area, the [Great Flowing Sand Cavern]; the rabbit hell of the [Spiral Crimson Tower]; and even the Colored monster, the [Tsarkalv of the White Throne].

And it wasn't limited to enemies. The same applied to us Title Holders, the 'special' cream of the player crop.

Even the great [Sword Queen] herself, Alicia, had things she was bad at and weaknesses she possessed. This world tolerates the special and the strongest, but it absolutely will not tolerate 'perfection'.

If there was anything 'perfect' in this virtual world, it would be the world itself. This game, which perfectly paints the world its system wishes to paint, shouldn't have a stain on its record like a completely, utterly unbeatable foe.

In other words, no matter how 'unreasonable' the challenge, there is always a way to beat it.

Which means that cocoon must have one, too—because this place and that thing were content prepared for me and Alicia. Therefore, a trump card capable of piercing it must exist for either me, Alicia, or both of us.

Yes, thinking about it from a meta perspective—

Ah, I see.

My Plan A—no, Plan B—which I'd proposed on a whim, is suddenly sounding a lot more convincing, isn't it? In short, this phase…

Isn't the correct answer simply to retaliate?

That's right. Just as I was convinced from the start that it was that kind of thing—this is probably a form that manifests the being with the highest kill count against me.

"Alicia."

"Ready when you are."

Thirty seconds of dodging and weaving. The standby call for my long-awaited 'weapon' echoed in my mind, and the moment I called her name, she responded instantly. The heavy trust that I would normally struggle to bear becomes the most reliable thing on the battlefield, making me laugh.

"Alright… I'm going in on the next one. I'm counting on you for what comes after."

"Understood. Leave it to me."

Our words were brief. We exchanged our resolutions without hesitation.

"—!"

As promised, right after dodging the next shell, I released Alicia and charged straight ahead.

And then, I loudly called forth my weapon—

"[Ruby Rabbit Bullet]!"

A crimson cannon that I shouldn't be able to fire in this body.

A one-trigger suicide stick that would cause the explosive warhead to detonate the moment I touched the trigger, unless I was in my magically compatible alternate form—however…

This thing was a delightfully tricky contraption, handmade by that playful fire-user.

"—Scarlet-Thread Linkage 24-Style Armor-Piercing Warhead."

There was no way it was just a fireworks cannon that could shoot a lot of rounds.

"'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 their number.

Before the cocoon's eyes, the gun I held aloft was covered in a mass of crimson crystals, bloating, transforming, until its form was no longer that of a slender 'matchlock'—its massive, intricate barrel was now something more akin to an 'anti-materiel rifle'.

'Woodpecker', an armor-piercing round that links twenty-four warheads, is the absolute lowest class in terms of raw power against large targets among all my trump cards.

However, when it comes to the single point of piercing—it's in a league of its own, an absolute top-tier that all my other trump cards combined couldn't hope to match!

Now, try and take this, you reclusive fox.

Both of us are modeled after the 'Rabbit', a single-point breakthrough. Let's see which is superior—

"Pierce through—[Mayhem Bunny, Great Crimson Rabbit Cluster-Cannon]!"

I'll shatter that shell of yours and show you what's what.