Chapter 277: The Dragon's Calamity Endures, and the Wolf Howls ~ The Beast of Lightning and Fire Confronts the Sword Wolf, Part 7

Author's Preface

"I can truly feel the settings being created endlessly!" (Image omitted)

To be completely honest, the previous update was somewhat of an operational mistake, but right now my mental state as an author is running a bit wild.
It's not like I'm mentally cornered or anything, it's just a case of "I read an interesting work and my creative urge exploded."
Since everything just felt like a hassle, I decided to plunge into a consecutive posting festival. Please forgive me if I don't update tomorrow.

Among the weapons existing in ShanFro, there are those like the "Counter-Blade Sword"—weapons that are entirely separate from each other, yet combine into a single weapon. In other words, "weapons that are classified as separate entities but exert a shared effect when used in the same place."

For example, the five swords Psyger-100 deployed in her Quintet.
These five swords sharing the name "Imperial" exert their true effects during combat processing when they are in the same location and hostile toward the exact same target.

"Each weapon enhances its corresponding stat. But I am using all of them by myself. Meaning..."

"You're hogging all the bonus effects for yourself!"

STR, DEX, AGI, TEC, VIT.
The one wielding the Spada becomes more powerful.
The one wielding the Cutlass becomes lighter.
The one wielding the Rapier becomes faster.
The one wielding the Main-Gauche becomes more skillful.
The one wielding the Falchion becomes harder.

So, what happens if there is a Saint of the Sword who possesses and masters all of them? Son of a bitch, even without the Holy Sword, she still got normally buffed!

"Haaah!"

"Kuoh... damn it!"

I took no damage, but the sheer physical strength blew my fist away. I managed to dodge the follow-up attack by a hair's breadth, but I had no choice but to open the distance. And if I open the distance, the chaotic dance of the Servant Swords will bare its fangs at me.

"Don't underestimate me! Take this! Toaa! Hyaiii!"

"You're moving to an almost exasperating degree... Are you an acrobat in real life or something?"

I dodged the first sword with a jump, used Flit Float to execute a mid-air triple axel to evade the second, clashed my swinging fist against the third to intercept it, and forcibly bent my body to perform damage control against the fourth sword aiming to catch my landing. My posture broke, but I swiftly got back up and returned to a stance of high alert.
As Psyger-100 recalled her Servant Swords to her side and asked that question in an exasperated tone, I made an effort to act like I had plenty of leeway while my brain rapidly calculated how to turn the tables from here.

"Oi oi, if you're gonna face Lycaon, isn't this level of skill mandatory? If you want to recruit an evasion tank of this caliber, you've gotta be able to do at least this much."

"No... expecting that level of skill is a bit..."

Shut up. If you spend three hours playing tag with a giant creature, get bombarded by Divine Punishments from every direction, and deal with surprise attacks from interstellar weapons, anyone would become able to do this much. Just look at the top rankers in Bakumatsu. Those guys have reached such an extreme level that they've started creating tactics combining mathematical formulas and psychology to guarantee instant-kill Divine Punishments, you know? It's an era of carnage where absurd weather forecasts like "Sunny, with a chance of Zanbato aimed at the crown of your head" actually make sense.

That being said, while I bought time with my (self-taught) talk skills, a high-speed process of selecting equipment and tactics was unfolding inside my head.
A prolonged battle is impossible. I've fought through the night against Lycaon and the Golden Scorpion before, but ultimately, because they were AI-controlled monsters designed on the premise of "being defeated," their action patterns had a certain upper limit, which allowed me to construct a loop of delay tactics.
But against Psyger-100 standing right in front of me, who knows how many strategic patterns she can form with thirty-five swords? I can't do that here. The longer this takes, the more I'll be overwhelmed by her sheer volume of attacks. If that's the case, a short, decisive battle... but even that is difficult.

Now that it's confirmed she possesses trump cards beyond just Adversity Awakening, a careless charge is the worst of the worst moves. Carelessly charging in without knowing what will come flying at me is honestly a higher difficulty than thoughtlessly charging at a permanently invisible Lycaon. So what should I do? Truth be told, I've already reached a conclusion on that matter.

"Good grief, please don't tell me your true objective is dragging the Uniques I possess out into the light of day..."

"Hoh, are you going to show me something?"

"Well... By the way, Psyger-100-shi, you do understand that this mark carved into my body is something entirely different from 'Lycaon's Curse,' right?"

"............Ah. It's incredibly frustrating, but when it comes to Lycaon, it seems you are far ahead of us... no, far ahead of me. I would be exceedingly pleased if you would explain it to me, if you don't mind."

I stored the Cestus of the Crimson Lotus Sea (Regalecus Cestus) and switched weapons. It's a waste to put it away while the effect duration is still active, but if I'm going to use that, there's no point in keeping this equipped.

"This is Lycaon's 'Scar'... After I smacked that shitty wolf around and told her to 'do something about this curse,' she went and updated it of all things. I can wear clothes now, but after three minutes, they explode."

On top of that, I can't Convert my sub-jobs, strong monsters actively flock to me, and apparently even the Saint-chan or whoever can't dispel it. It's a restricted playthrough loaded with nothing but bullshit perks, but since there's still a method of salvation left, I can't even complain to the management.

"Actually, while I was progressing through a certain Unique, I obtained a means to not erase, but to offset this 'Curse'."

"Offset. That is deeply fascinating."

"It's payback. I'll give you a live demonstration too."

What I pulled out was a bizarre weapon. If I had to describe it, it would be a "dagger with the blade removed." Like a Spetsnaz knife after the blade has been fired, it lacked ninety percent of its reason to exist as a dagger—it couldn't even be called a weapon, just a gripping stick of some sort.
But if you observed closely, you'd notice a strange crystal affixed to the center of the crossguard, right where the base of the blade should be. Needless to say, this was none other than the component crystal of the "Curse" originating from the self-proclaimed Goldunine... the Unique Monster "Goldunine the Inexhaustible," obtained during that deathmatch in the underground tunnels.

"Its name is apparently 'Scorched Bone and Crushing Flesh' (Shakkotsu Saishin). It has the curse of a Unique Monster... Goldunine the Inexhaustible, embedded within it."

The truth my words pointed to was simple and clear. Upon hearing the fact that I had already "fought against a fourth Unique Monster," everyone present aside from Rei-shi emitted an aura of sheer astonishment.

"And then, with this...!"

When gripped tightly, a non-material blade formed on the bladeless dagger... creating a cursed dagger capable of acting as a brutal weapon that inflicts a mild curse just by being swung normally. Then, flipping the blade around, I plunged it directly into myself.

"And here too!"

Yanking Shakkotsu Saishin out of my torso, I violently stabbed it into my right thigh. It really doesn't matter, but apparently stabbing the right thigh extends the effect to the left side as well, so I don't need to stab myself in three places. The consideration is so incredibly minor it brings tears to my eyes. Peh!

"This might force me to alter my plans..."

"Meaning?"

"Just how many Uniques are you hiding?"

".........Heh."

I wasn't laughing at Psyger-100. Thinking about it calmly, after completely ignoring the tutorial, immediately freeloading in a Unique Monster's castle, and everything I've experienced up to this point... I just ended up laughing at how truly unique my own experiences have been.

"Come at me with everything you've got, Sword Saint-dono. From here on out, I'm shifting up about three gears."

"...That, appearance is."

Bishiri. A distinct sound of cracking, utterly unnatural for a human body to produce. Starting from the wounds where I stabbed Shakkotsu Saishin, my torso and legs began to crack. I had worn the Fish-Face mask to prevent her from predicting my teleportation destinations, but from this point on, even the slightest obstruction to my vision would be annoying. Swapping my equipment to the Lacedaemon Helm, the cracks of collapse barely stopped right before reaching my face and waist, and flames began leaking from the fissures.

"'Shakkotsu' (Scorched Bone)... I heard it's an alternate name for 'Bokkotsu' (Oracle Bone), an ancient method of divination."

Smashing scorched bones and reading the cracks to divine omens of good and evil—a primitive test of luck. Offsetting a curse with another curse, shattering my own body to divine the future. Who represents the good omen, and who represents the bad? Or perhaps, the question is: Whose bad omen will I become?

I did it, Meiki-kun. Today, in this very moment, is your debut match.

"As I thought, rather than paving over a river, I much prefer a fighting style that burns the soul. Let's make this an elegant game of chicken to see who burns out first!!!"

Dealing with Psyger-100, who possesses a massive number of cards in her hand, ultimately leads to a simple conclusion.
It doesn't matter if you have a hundred cards in your hand; if I blow you away before you can use them, they might as well not exist. Even assuming she has a countermeasure prepared for me, I will crush her head-on with a trump card so overwhelming that it forces her to use nothing but that!

If I'm facing an opponent with Boss-character-like specs, the only answer is to gain Boss-character-like specs myself!
I'm shifting up even further, so you'd better be prepared!!

Author's Afterword

• Shakkotsu Saishin (Scorched Bone and Crushing Flesh):
  A dagger of offsetting that temporarily nullifies an already established "Curse" by intentionally applying a materialized "Curse" directly into the physical body.
  It is activated by stabbing oneself with it, nullifying the "Curse" afflicted upon the user for five minutes.
  As a price, the user's base physical VIT (excluding additional stats from equipment) is halved.
  It is hatred, it is wrath, it is the venom of a snake's fang capable of chewing up even a curse. The flesh cracks, as the curses devour one another. Should the user's will yield to the curse, their body will undoubtedly shatter.

It's normally an incredibly severe penalty, but for him, the penalty essentially doesn't function at all.
Surely, even Goldunine-san never imagined there would be someone with "VIT so pathetic that my malice completely phases through it."