kscans

Chapter 822 - Show Your Radiance, O Chosen One. Are You Worthy of Being Entrusted with Love? Part Six

Starlight Magic: [Lightning Gale]—a special body enhancement art that transforms one's own body into the grand magic of lightning and wind. A unique spell renowned for being in the top five in the virtual world for its sheer lawlessness.

Its maximum duration is thirty seconds. The price is a complete seal on all skills for a number of days equal to the number of seconds it was active.

It wasn't just lawless; its difficulty to handle and its unreliability also placed it high in the rankings of problem children. But once activated, the violence it unleashed was not merely immense, but truly colossal.

"[Eyes Oculus]."

My right golden eye opened, my thought acceleration fixed at its maximum rate.

Against an over-leveled "shadow" or the strongest player, the "Princess," I might have needed it, but for this, the silver eye's attack prediction was an unnecessary luxury.

My movements—easily surpassing a numerical equivalent of 2000 AGI with all my skills combined—were not quite at the literal speed of lightning, but still…

"H-here I gooo! ORAA!"

…there was no way some run-of-the-mill boss enemy could possibly keep up.

Coordinates set, a single lightning-strike step. The movement of my avatar, having deviated from the laws of physics, could not accurately be described as "walking" or "running." It was, quite simply, a flash of electricity.

Not walking, but transferring. Not running, but sending. Once I set a route and a goal and took a step, my body, converted into lightning, carved flashes of light across both ground and sky.

And so, in a tenth of a second, I crossed the pandemonium of monsters. I looked back, un-targeting the countless creatures that had lost all their HP and were entering their death sequence, and then—

The second bolt of lightning.

I didn't need a weapon; a single touch was enough. If even a fingertip grazed them, a high-powered magic attack, woven from my absurd 1500 MID, would burst forth in an instant.

Even if they had resistance to lightning, a swirling gale would follow in its wake. Even if they had resistance to wind, the piercing thunder would strike first. The great strength of its composite attributes was one thing, but the raw firepower was simply too high for a complete resistance to be realistic.

Even against fantasy itself, that held true.

As always, for one of my own trump cards, it was just ridiculously, absurdly broken… but hey, if it wasn't this powerful, I wouldn't even bother using it, right?

Five seconds passed.

Ten seconds passed. Which meant, up to this point—

"Take it all, you damn thief…!"

—all my skills would be unusable for ten days straight. The price for this feeling of omnipotence and exhilaration was, fittingly, an unavoidable and utterly unbearable theft of time.

Well, can't be helped. It's a fate I just have to accept… and on that note, here we go!!!

"Tempest Release…!"

Even when using just one eye, the ten-fold acceleration of the mana-guzzling [Eyes Oculus] could only be maintained for just under fifteen seconds. And no matter how accustomed I was to insane, high-speed combat maneuvers, there was no way I could control this demonic form's extraordinary speed with my normal thought process.

In other words, the practical activation time for [Lightning Gale] was less than half of its supposed thirty seconds. I mean, who would even accept being unable to use skills for an entire month? Setting that aside—the limit was fifteen seconds.

A lightning step. A swift storm roared with the heavens' thunder.

Double the base spec of 'Double Final Action Speed.'

In other words, after unleashing speeds easily exceeding an AGI equivalent of 4000, and commanding lightning and wind attacks amplified by a final critical excitation, I tore through with all my being.

"How's that…?"

"…Eighty… ninety percent, you say?"

At the end of my furious rampage.

After clearing the entire stage as if to laugh at my formerly hesitant self, Itsuki-senpai, who hadn't moved an inch from where the storm had passed, let out a drained voice.

As for me, I was now collapsed at her feet like a worn-out rag doll.

"…"

"Ah, yes. Mm-hmm. You did great. Get some rest."

An intense sensory fatigue washed over me. In Arcadia, where there is no pain, its substitute was a ridiculous headache—a numbness that invaded my thoughts, leaving me unable to even muster a witty retort.

The results were spectacular, far beyond my expectations.

But what came next was—the sound of teleportation spinning despair, and the tremor of the earth against my cheek.

From the very beginning until now, I had slain hundreds, yet their momentum didn't stop. Boss enemies were constantly being warped in, once again swelling into a massive horde before my eyes.

This was simply hell. What's the deal with the balance on this thing? Seriously, give me a break.

"Ugh… hnn… Natsume-senpai…?"

"What is it?"

"Solo… how long do you think you can hold out…?"

"…If you mean fighting every single one without letting any slip past…"

"Yeah."

"M-maybe… forty, fifty seconds. I suppose…?"

"I see. So you're at the point where you don't even have the energy to bluff…"

Honestly, it was a miracle that the three of us had managed to resist for nearly five minutes in total.

For powerful enemies that players should challenge in numbers to become the numerous ones themselves was something that should never happen in a game. It was only natural for the game balance to shatter without a trace; trying to hold our ground was impossible from the start.

So now, all we could do was…

"Think I can manage even without my skills…?"

"If you actually manage that, you'll officially stop being a human player."

…come full circle and just exchange weary banter.

The earth-shaking rumble approached from the distance.

"Man… what should I do? I really don't want to get swallowed up by that…"

"Well, it would be a pitiful way to go. …Should we just do a mercy killing? Go out together in a nice explosion?"

The end was drawing closer, little by little.

"That's a pretty wild suggestion. Wouldn't that just give us a whole different kind of trauma?"

"I'll hold you gently and then pull the trigger out of your line of sight. It'll be over in an instant."

"Hey, are you okay? You seem to be panicking quite a bit, you know?"

"I told you from the start…! I'm just as scared as anyone else, you know…!!"

Just the two of us, all alone on this vast, far-too-wide stage. With the one we had to protect at our backs, we glared, each with our own expression, at the tsunami of unreasonableness we could no longer hold back.

"…Hngh… come on…!!"

"And you're standing… seriously, you're quite the monster."

We stood side-by-side, weapons and pride in hand, displaying our unending resistance.

All my skills were sealed. My MP was completely drained. I was so exhausted that even simple movements were a struggle, let alone combat—but that, and that alone, was a NO.

"It's not over yet…"

The raid was still ongoing.

There was Nia, fighting in the distance. And the faces of my friends, who were likely praying for my success somewhere in another world… no, more than that, I could see them, placing an almost overwhelming amount of trust in me.

"Giving up just isn't in my character as an acrobat…!"

"…Hah, look at you, trying to act all cool!"

Recall—an ability, not a skill, allowed me to summon [Samidorizuki]. With my right hand, I drew my rabbit dagger, preparing to dual-wield the green and red blades.

I still had one last trump card up my sleeve. However, it came with a host of problems, and I probably wouldn't be able to move properly anyway. I was genuinely on the verge of collapsing at any moment.

But still… no, because of that.

"Well then, shall we? …By the way, how long do you think we'll last as a pair?"

"Fifty-five seconds."

"Hah, an extra five seconds—I'll gladly take it…!!"

To step forth, to the very end of my limits and beyond—that is what it means to have an adventure. Kicking away my fear, with my incredibly reliable senior beside me, just like always.

I moved forward, without hesitation.

—Or so I say, but this is just an excuse in hindsight.

It's not that I didn't believe it was possible, you know.

It's not that I wasn't hoping for it.

I was just so desperate, so close to death, so utterly exhausted that my brain wasn't working properly. The proof of that… should be clear from my reaction in that moment.

Because of course I'd shout.

I should be cheering.

Because that voice, the one I wanted to hear more than anyone else's at that very instant, had finally arrived.

"—Sword Ring (Schwert Kreis)!"

My partner's voice struck my ears.

---

The protagonist.