Chapter 158: Seriously, Who the Hell Gets the Karmic Retribution?

It took the bait. It was fifty-fifty whether I could properly drag the aggro over to me, but I'm saved by the fact that the guy has a good memory.

"If this was an event battle, I could have just evacuated to a safe zone using Vorpal Blade Arts [Fading Mirror], but... terrifyingly enough, this is just a normal, everyday battle."

It's not a scripted loss, nor are there any event-based stat corrections applied. If I die, that's the end of it; it's just your average everyday life where only the difficulty is cranked up... Well, it's an 'anything-goes' kind of non-everyday life, but I can't hope for any event-like salvation.
In other words, this tower reflection strategy isn't on auto-pilot; I have to manually adjust the angle of incidence for the Killer Whale Bastard's laser.

"The tower near his feet is probably around that tall, so I need to go a bit higher... No, angle-wise, maybe a bit more to the left?"

Relying entirely on intuition and unverified visual information, I approximated the height and location of the Killer Whale Bastard, and fine-tuned my clinging position on the tower accordingly.
I don't know if it's a design compromise or perhaps the lore justifies it as "reusing architectural methods," but there are quite a lot of buildings with similar shapes in this city. I searched for a building identical in shape to the one right at the Killer Whale Bastard's feet, calculated the height from there, and corrected my misalignment.
It's basically the same principle as adjusting your aim when using a primitive ranged weapon like a bow; all that's left is to pray to the heavens. On this front, simple RNG with only two outcomes—hit or miss, like Russian Roulette—won't save me.

"At the very least, it's slower than the speed of light... It shouldn't be impossible..."

In "arcade cabinet games," which are practically extinct nowadays outside of virtual recreations in VR, there was apparently an era overrun by absolute demons who would firmly declare that even the speed of light was too slow. It's not like they actually moved faster than light, but if there were humans out there who could look at the speed of light and say "not fast enough," then surely I can do this too.

"Come... come... come...!"

I pried my eyes open to their absolute limits, suppressing even the instinctual urge to blink since it's entirely unnecessary in VR. With a gaze that was likely burning with the highest level of intensity I've ever mustered in my life, I simply stared at the artillery cannon known as the Atlanticus Repnorca, determined not to miss a single twitch.

A quick-draw duel in a Western... No, perhaps catching a blade barehanded (Shinken Shirahadori) is a closer analogy. As the receiver who isn't allowed to strike first, I will intercept the Killer Whale Bastard's Blade (Laser) without knowing exactly when it will be fired.
Last time, I'm pretty sure it took about ten seconds to come flying at me. But the question is whether it leans closer to nine seconds or eleven seconds... If I misjudge it, everything falls apart.

In the distance, the Killer Whale Bastard's flames flared violently. The lightning dwelling in its crystal wings converged onto its main body, and light gathered at the brow of its orca-like figure.
Since it's come to this, I have no choice but to entrust myself to intuition and heavenly luck and take it on. Even if I try to dodge after seeing it, I'm in a terrible position for it; there's an 80% chance I'll die. So if there's one last thing I can rely on... I'm counting on you, my enunciation!!

"[Transfer: Storage Space (Enter Travel)]!!"

The light approached. Scorching the atmosphere and evaporating seawater I couldn't even perceive, a beam of light moving at maximum speed surged forward to pierce through me.
My body began to disappear from this world. From where exactly was I vanishing? The light closed in, my skin trembled, it hit...

"...!!"

A moment that felt like an eternity is still just a moment. The laser that threatened to burn my eyes out vanished without a trace, and I found myself standing on a floor, still frozen in the exact posture I had while clinging to the wall. The double impact of the shock from my tension breaking and the shock of tumbling over made me exhale all the breath I had been holding in my lungs.

"N-Not yet... [Transfer: Reality Space (Exit Travel)]... whoa, that was close!?"

That laser isn't a single-shot type; it's a continuous irradiation type, so I need to wait a certain amount of time before returning to my original spot.
I did everything I possibly could at that moment. If this failed... I guess I'll just have to somehow let Araba escape and launch a suicide attack on the Killer Whale Bastard.

"Kukuku... The results are excellent! This is excellent, Araba!!"

"Ah, damn it, between you disappearing and reappearing and the Deep Sea Lord writhing in agony, I can't keep up with any of this!"

"Fuhahaha! Look! Listen! And whatever you feel is the truth!"

The floor vanished, replaced by a wall. Normally, people can't stand on walls, so naturally I started falling, but at the scream I saw in the distance—and could hear even from here—I forgot to even stick the landing and rejoiced like a madman.
If Araba, who had apparently been hiding behind the tower, hadn't caught me, it might have ended in a pathetic death by falling. But more importantly, look at that, listen to that, understand that!

"The axis was slightly off, but it's within the margin of error; that's a splendid direct hit!"

The flames meant to burn the insolent ones who touch the King, the crystal wings meant to shred the insolent ones—a massive amount of resources exploded outward in the form of polygons like a burst balloon, spraying like a shower of blood from the right half of the Killer Whale Bastard, where the reflected attack had undoubtedly struck a direct hit.
The colossal beast that had been such an astonishing threat was now writhing and screaming, just like the Giga-Oarfish back then. Perhaps it never expected to be pierced by its own arrow, or perhaps it had forgotten about our existence entirely, as it gradually lowered its altitude.

"A chance to win! We're finishing it off!!"

"Are you serious!?"

"The recoil of the laser, the damage, there's no way it has the leeway to pull off a discharge attack right now; it's no different from a tuna washed ashore, so we're grinding it down right here!!"

"U-Understood!!"

It was barely staying afloat using buoyancy and the strength of its left half, and the flames on its body had weakened so much they looked like they could go out at any moment.
This is to blow off all the pent-up frustration from being forced to play pretend-ninja up until just now; I'll fillet you into three pieces!!

"It's Giant Killing time!"

Raising the Aspiring Blades of the Hero high, I leaped from a roof and aimed a slash right at the Killer Whale Bastard's left pectoral fin. Triggering Flit Float in mid-air right after my leap, I made full use of that single mid-air foothold to launch another attack.

Sliced into as if the base of its pectoral fin was being gouged out, the Killer Whale Bastard let out an unmistakable scream and arched backward, finally dropping its body onto the ground. But this is no good, the slashes themselves aren't dealing very effective damage. It seems there's no skin or muscle underneath the flames, just straight bone, making edged weapons ineffective, and its skin is incredibly tough to begin with!
But if that's the case, I just need to approach it from a different angle. Adjusting my position and swapping out my weapons, I readied my iron fists containing gold and silver and circled around to the Killer Whale Bastard's direct front.

"Sunraku! How on earth am I supposed to attack!?"

"Just gnaw on its tail fin or something!"

"...It's hard!?"

"Like I give a crap!!"

Its flames had weakened to the point where they were practically gone, and something resembling the skull of the Killer Whale Bastard—stripped of skin and muscle—could occasionally be seen through the gaps in the fire. I can't help but wonder what kind of ecology (lore) this thing has, but if it has a head and a skull, and I have blunt-force attacks, there's only one thing to do.

"I'm gonna rock your world...!"

A present of a concussion from me to you. Don't worry, no need to thank me; just hand over your drop items instead.

Humans are intellectual creatures who invented oven mitts to grab hot pots and fire tongs to hold burning coal. As for me, with both arms covered in metal gauntlets, I fearlessly began to beat the absolute daylights out of the Killer Whale Bastard's fire-enveloped head.
Even so, it seems closing the distance like this makes Damage Over Time (DoT) unavoidable; I could feel my HP being steadily shaved away.
But having already transformed into a DPS-dispensing machine, I couldn't be stopped. Dismissing all self-inflicted damage as collateral Damage[*1], I simply continued to relentlessly hammer in strikes at maximum efficiency. Since I was attacking while taking DoT, the fact that I couldn't use skills that consume HP was a bottleneck, but other than that, I wasn't holding anything back.
It's not like I have a grudge against this guy specifically, but in times like this, using a grudge as your driving force can let you output some great firepower performance-wise. A grudge... a grudge, huh...

"Why! Just to fix her mood! Do I have to go all the way across the map! To run errands for heeeeeeeeeeeeer!!"

Damn you Faer-kuso!! What the hell do you mean "eating a Premium Deluxe Parfait will fix my mood"!! Go suck on an eggshell you lunatic dumbasssssssss!!

"What a ferocious expression... Could that perhaps be the Birdian Desperado I've heard rumors about? No, Sunraku is not a Birdian, but still..."

"Just remembering it is making me even more pissed off!"

Every time I recall her (Faer-kuso's) appearance, a heat ignites in my heart. This feeling... this is... yes, this feeling of thinking strongly about someone, without a doubt... Hatred!!

With the highest-class physical and mental buff known as "Taking it out on someone else," a rush of strikes, each one packed with anger and murderous intent, steadily whittled down the Killer Whale Bastard's HP.
After all, this is a monster where everything but the skull is made of fire; there's no better target, and strikes to the head could easily be fatal.
The Killer Whale Bastard attempted to resist, but on top of having its ultimate attack reflected back at it and its head turned into a percussion instrument, its meager attempts at resistance were constantly interrupted by flinch animations.

"Whoops, dangerous... my HP is below 10 percent."

Startled by the sudden sensation of fatigue that kicks in when your HP is almost depleted, I hurriedly distanced myself. Even if I was using past traumas[*2] as power, I couldn't exactly fake the numbers. Just like tap-dancing on a poison swamp will result in a swift death, camping right in front of a fire source will steadily drain your HP gauge.

I almost died to the DoT, but its flames should have dealt far more damage than what my HP lost.
Perhaps entirely out of strength to resist, the Killer Whale Bastard lay limply on the ground, and the flames covering its body were mostly gone, leaving the exposed foundation beneath.

"To think that something that was an apex predator until just moments ago is now dying like this... Should I call the law of the jungle cruel?"

"I wonder why we're winning despite challenging it with just the two of us..."

"Gotta thank the landlord of this place."

I gave an appropriate response to Araba, who had apparently been faithfully gnawing on the Killer Whale Bastard's tail fin just like I told him to, and turned back to the dying Killer Whale Bastard.
It's not that I don't feel sympathy or pity looking at it like this, but if you felt sorry for every Mob you fought, hunting games wouldn't exist in this world. If lip service alone could save the world, poverty wouldn't exist; I learned that in United Rounds.

"I doubt it means much to say this to a Mob, but rest in peace."

Activating Airgetlam, I smashed a double sledgehammer, powered by luck converted into sheer force, right into the crown of the Killer Whale Bastard—the Atlanticus Repnorca—which could now only let out a frail, moaning cry.
And perhaps that served as the finishing blow, for the massive body twitched once before crumbling away all too easily.

Since I spent almost the entire night pulling this off, it goes without saying that I overslept terribly the next day.

Author's Afterword
Truth be told, you can actually fight the Killer Whale Bastard and the Giga-Oarfish normally "underwater." It requires a lot of steps to do so, but you don't strictly have to go all the way to Ruluiath.
However, Ruluiath is the only place where the players can fight these aquatic monsters "effectively on land."

Translator's Notes

• *[1] Collateral Damage: The Kanji is written as "Necessary Expenses" (Hitsuyou Keihi), but the Ruby text reading forces the English "Collateral Damage" (Korateraru Dameeji).

• *[2] Trauma: The Kanji is written as "Memories" (Omoide), but the Ruby text reading forces the English "Trauma" (Torauma).