Chapter 213: Sharing the Same Heaven - Part 19

In truth, to Rust, a bow is nothing more than a fantasy weapon. It's not as if she has any real-world experience with Kyudo or archery; she chose it as her main weapon simply because it was a long-range weapon.
However, even so, the "move and shoot" battle style allows her to reflect the skills she cultivated in Nephilim Hollow. Furthermore, the sheer familiarity born from exclusively using a bow throughout her entire—albeit not particularly long—playtime in ShanFro enables her to take the absolute optimal actions to accomplish what she needs to do in this situation.

"...Mold."

"This is all I've got, Rust. My MP is completely empty, so I can't provide any more buffs."

"...Mhm, understood."

Directing her gaze into the distance, she saw a truly amazing and fabulous mechanical armor firing a truly elegant artillery barrage.
She couldn't use that immediately, but between now and the arrival of the new world, she absolutely wanted to experience the mechs in Shangri-La Frontier.
If that's the case, making a massive contribution in this battle to raise her favorability with the mech's owners—of which there were two besides Sunraku—was undeniably the right move.

".........Huuu..."

Her magic bow, "Lal Willow", was already nearing its absolute limit. However, Rust silently praised it for retaining just enough durability to withstand eight consecutive shots at this exact moment.
The greatest characteristic of the magic bow weapon type is that it allows the user to fire magic attacks via skills... However, that is merely a general advantage. To Rust, the greatest merit is that, because the arrows are non-physical magic, they are largely unhindered by physical restrictions.

"...This is subtly hard to aim."

In other words, she can attack with a sensation similar to firing a "beam" straight out of sci-fi. Moreover, by further straightening the arrow's trajectory using Mold's buff magic and her own skills, Rust can fire an arrow so perfectly linear it might as well literally be a "beam."

Her target: the back of the Lord of the Abyss, the eight jewels.
With her accuracy boosted by the "Arrow of the Heavenly Eye" skill, she fired the first shot. A spear of light tearing straight through space struck one of the jewels glowing at the base of the giant tentacles on Ctarrnid's back, shattering it.

"...Next."

Her second shot, its piercing power amplified by the "Stream Arrow" skill, was loosed. Brushing past the scattered fragments of the first jewel, it pierced through the second jewel and detonated.

"...Next, next, next."

The "Bucket-shooting" skill, the "Prancing Horse Archery" skill, the "One Arrow Two Birds" skill... Because it attacks using a non-physical bowstring and arrows, a magic bow doesn't require the user to draw and pull with heavy physical force like a greatbow. Thus, arrows fired in incredibly rapid succession pierced the jewels one after another in the mere seconds it took Ctarrnid to fall to the ground.
And Rust's assessment was entirely correct. The giant tentacles corresponding to the shattered jewels writhed wildly in tandem with their destruction, crumbling and falling apart right from the roots.

"...Two left...!?"

"Rust!"

But at that exact moment, Ctarrnid chose an action no one could have anticipated.
The two remaining tentacles—giant "arms" extending from the upper right shoulder and the left flank, corresponding to the positions of the remaining jewels—violently snapped like whips, slamming heavily into the ground. There was no way for the challengers to accurately know this, but the tentacles—whose physical laws differed when interacting with itself versus interacting with others—made an ordinarily impossible movement a reality.
The ultra-heavy tentacles slammed into the earth. Yet, to Ctarrnid, those tentacles were lighter than air. Upward energy repelling gravity, combined with a body weight consisting solely of Ctarrnid's main body. The immense energy generated by the giant tentacles, deceiving even air resistance, bounced Ctarrnid upward.

"...It jumped...!?"

"Run, Rust!"

Rust realized it. In this exact moment, Ctarrnid's state had truly been inverted.
This wasn't it being suspended in the air from taking a hit; it was a voluntary suspension, securing the high ground to attack from above. Its massive body wouldn't be able to maintain the hang time for long, but in this specific instant, the power dynamic had been completely reversed.

And the target of the descending tentacle was her.........

"I won't let you.........!!"

Rust-colored armor dove forward. Roughly shoved aside, Rust tumbled across the ground, falling flat. What the shoved Rust saw was the figure of Psyger-0 standing head-on against the ultra-heavy mass swinging down upon them.

"Ku, ugh...!"

Weakened, with both skills and magic sealed, Psyger-0 had no means to intercept the tentacle. Swinging the Vorpal Sledge and the rusted Antinomy in a wide arc, she slammed them into the tentacle with every ounce of her strength. Although the recoil barely managed to shift the tentacle's trajectory and her own position just enough, Psyger-0's body was still violently struck by the giant tentacle, bouncing away like an absolute joke.

".........!"

"I'm still fine... Shoot!"

No, that's not her concern. Even vibrating her vocal cords to say that would be a waste of time. The action Rust chose was, without a doubt, an attack.
The second tentacle was being reeled back, but refusing to let the opportunity to strike slip away, Rust aimed her bow toward the heavens.

That's right, because creating openings is exactly his job.

Ten seconds left. My energy gauge is almost completely empty. Continuing to equip this any longer is dangerous, and I can't fire any more artillery shells either.
But there's still a way. There's still something I can do.

"Push it to absolute full throttle, Seiryu... To the sky!!"

『Understood!!』

Ctarrnid currently holds the geographical advantage. To take it back, I have no choice but to overwrite that geographical advantage with an even greater one. You idiot Ctarrnid, the sky is my and Seiryu's territory.
The path of force fields extended straight up vertically. Sprinting up it looked exactly like a carp climbing a Rising Waterfall to become a dragon. Overtaking Ctarrnid, the blue dragon soared into the night sky where the darkness was finally beginning to thin.

"Disengage!"

Four, three, two... one......... Made it!
That was close, just one second left before the three-minute mark... Not being able to equip the Rising Waterfall again hurts, but if it lets us defeat Ctarrnid, it's a perfectly fair trade.
Tossing the entire 【Rising Waterfall】 set—aside from the head equipment—into the Inventoria, I issued my final order to Seiryu, which was still barely holding onto its power.

"Throw me!!"

Transforming Togetsu into 【Twin Moon】, I held the combined twin blades in my left hand and reached my right hand out to Seiryu. Seiryu's mechanical arm grasped my extended hand, and squeezing out every last drop of its energy, Seiryu swung my body around like a hammer throw... and hurled me straight down.
Desperately controlling my body—which was plummeting even faster than the powerless, falling Seiryu—I aimed the blade of 【Twin Moon】 directly below me and activated my skill. The light of the Crescent Vorpal illuminating me as I challenged a superior foe left a trail of light reminiscent of a shooting star, and for this single instant, the divine protection of the game's physics engine surpassed even Ctarrnid.
For a moment, Ctarrnid—who had been trying to swat Rust and the others with its second tentacle—shuddered as if it noticed me... but it's too late. I'm already making impact.

"Grovel on the ground, Ctarrnid!!"

The crescent moon, possessing the speed of a shooting star, surged forward, tearing through the dawn wind.
The crescent blade shattered one jewel and slammed Ctarrnid back down to the earth. But the recoil was immense.

"Gwah........."

Plummeting from far above Ctarrnid's ten-meter hang time meant I had essentially been pitched straight down by a pitching machine. Naturally, the moment I touch anything, that impact rebounds directly back into me.
Furthermore, in this exact moment, I had completely abandoned any attempt at a breakfall or landing for the sake of the attack. Given that, the divine protection of the game's physics engine is absolutely going to make me pay the bill.

Numbness and extreme weakness washed over my entire body. Without a doubt, that just dropped my HP to 1. I endured it, but I landed on Ctarrnid's back, which means I'm going to fall to the ground again from here.
I can't even Inventoria Escape because my MP ran dry ages ago. Seiryu is completely dead, its reactor out of juice. And even if someone catches me at the bottom, there's no way I'm walking away with zero damage.

(Is this where I die...)

But even if I'm numb and weakened, I can at least move my body. The message I sent to the guys below was simple.

"...Kill it!!"

The final arrow was loosed. Right where I was about to fall, the last jewel on Ctarrnid—who had hit the ground first—was blown to pieces, leaving only Ctarrnid, stripped of every single giant tentacle.
Rei-shi sprinted. Closing in on Ctarrnid—who had bounced slightly from the intense tremor of being slammed into the earth—she swung her sledgehammer upward, catching Ctarrnid right around where its neck and collarbone met.
Ctarrnid was forced into a severe backward arch, exposing its completely defenseless front.

And this is checkmate. Akitsu Akane leaped forward, taking the stance to fire her Apology Cannon.
For this single instant. Everyone gave it their all for exactly this single instant. Weaving the hand seals to activate Dragon's Breath, Akitsu Akane took a deep breath.

Suddenly, Akitsu Akane's exposed true face turned toward me, flashing a look of hesitation. I wondered why she was hesitating at a time like this, and suddenly realized the reason.

Ah, I see. With this trajectory, I'm going to get hit by the Dragon's Breath too... Well, that's a trivial matter. I'm going to die from fall damage anyway.
If that's the case, there's only one thing left to do. Plummeting head-first, I gave Akitsu Akane a solid thumbs-up and declared it once more.

"Blast it!"

There was no verbal response, but all hesitation vanished from Akitsu Akane's movements.

"Now then, Ctarrnid, we're both existences that won't truly stay dead even if we die. Die without holding back."

The ground rushed closer, but I didn't close my eyes. The last thing I saw was the flash of a dragon filling my entire vision, and a tiny glimmer that looked exactly like someone's falling tear...

And then, swallowed by the light alongside Ctarrnid, I died.

Author's Afterword
In reality, a leveled-up Akitsu Akane's Dragon's Breath can instantly obliterate a Level 99 Extend Sunraku in a single hit, even at max HP.
It's less that Akitsu Akane has incredibly high firepower and more that the weirdo is just way too fragile...