Chapter 31: Man Flies, Rabbit Jumps

"Guoh......... Uwaaaaaaaaah!?"

Humans do not have wings. Thus, humans use various methods to fly in the sky. As for the difference between "Flying" and "Jumping," it ultimately comes down to whether or not you have the power to stay in the sky by your own strength... and right now, I am in a state that doesn't even qualify as jumping. I've been blown away.

(My HP is... whoa, it barely went down!)

I had assumed I was dead the moment I was launched, but it seems the real danger of this attack is the fall damage... death by falling.

(That's way too nasty...!!)

This attack is more malicious than dying by being bitten by those fangs! The guy who designed this boss definitely has a bad personality; I can assert that with confidence. But what should I do? I was launched so high that I have time to think, but the next spot where I make contact with the ground will be my dying place.

(Think... what do I do!? Dying from a fall is just unpleasant! No, but is this a problem I can solve with player skill or magic.........)

Magic. If I look down just before my body—which has finally reached the limit of its rebellion against gravity—starts to fall, I see the other creature in this place. A small white and brown figure, with vivid clothing colors... Emul is safe. It seems this isn't a bastard of a boss that follows up with a combo while I'm like this. Ah, damn it, shut out unnecessary thoughts. I need the shortest, fastest, optimal action... What do I do? If I take damage, I'll explode into polygons instantly. I haven't tested it, but there's no need to think about fall damage from a height of four or five stories without any countermeasures. This is an impossible game... No, save the reflection and regret for after I respawn. For now, struggle! While trying not to think about the unnecessarily realistic sensation of falling, I desperately wracked my brain. The thing to deal with is fall damage. Avoid slamming into the ground? Reduce the damage even if I do slam into the ground? Damn, both seem impossible.

Borrow Emul's power? I don't know how versatile teleportation is. If it requires prep time, I'm checkmated. Worst case scenario, I'll fall on top of Emul. How about having Emul hit my falling body with a Magic Edge to blow me sideways? ...I'd probably just explode from the combined magic damage and fall damage. Rejected!

(Ah, I'm checkmated, huh.)

There's really nothing I can do about this. Next time I try, I'll have to come up with countermeasures for falling or for the attack itself. It's a fall that lasts less than ten seconds, but I've concluded that there's no solution I can come up with. The least I can do is brace myself for the impact of the fall............

"..................Aaaah."

I've never been able to get used to falling deaths in games since the old days. With Full Dive, if the vision just blacked out while falling, that would still be gentle. There was one where I felt a sensation like electricity running through my whole body, followed by a total loss of sensation... and then a respawn. Come to think of it, that game was banned. It's sleeping on a shelf in my house, though.

"......Waaaaaaaaah.........!"

Anyway, I feel like that attack won't hit if I'm out of the swamp. As expected, I'm the war criminal here for stepping forward half-heartedly despite claiming to be an efficiency freak. Next time, I'll mercilessly cheese it from a distance with Emul's magic.

"Witness my Vorpal Spirit, desu waaaaaaaaaaa!!"

"Ngh!?"

"Disposable Magic Scroll (Magic Scroll): [Instant Teleport (Apport)]!!"

The scenery shifted. A floating sensation different from the fall of a few seconds ago, and a fluffy warmth at my waist. In the next instant, the position of the flowing clouds I was looking up at shifted (......). Not a teleport? Emul jumped onto me while I was falling? Wait, where on earth......... In the next instant, a shock ran through my entire body. But it was different from the fall damage I had anticipated. Or rather, for a swamp, it felt awfully rough...

"GISYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!?"

Mud spray roughed up the swamp like a wave. It wasn't a fall where a player drops from top to bottom (......). My impact, which turned into an attack (..) on the monster by utilizing the energy of falling from a high altitude and charging in prepared for the recoil, switched the nature of the damage calculation from fall damage to recoil damage. I had no way of knowing this at the time, but there is a skill called "Meteor Fall" that operates on the same principle and activates in a state like mine. And the physics engine, which processes skills, applies to similar phenomena as well. Or rather, aside from unique skills, most skills are triggered by performing movements close to that skill once a certain level is reached (refer to manual).

And although this is my personal view, the Mud Digger was swimming leisurely after landing an instant-death attack on me, the player. But because Emul set him as the drop point, he couldn't dodge properly and took a direct hit from my "Pseudo-Meteor Fall." Both our HP bars were whittled down, and polygons scattered flashily. Reversal of the attack, switching of damage types, luck checks......... Everything mixed complexly, unraveled, organized itself, and reached a conclusion.

"......Hey, Emul."

"Uhyah... I thought we were going to die, desu wa... What is it?"

"You are the best, desu wa."

"P-Please stop mimicking my speech, desu wa!?"

Just like when we fought that Black Wolf, we were near death (1 HP)......... but the ones who survived were us.

Author's Notes & Lore

I can't sleep with my feet pointing towards Emul-san anymore. (I owe her my life.)

Disposable Magic Scroll [Instant Teleport (Apport)]: A magic that, upon activation, designates coordinates within a 5-meter radius of the user and instantly transports them from the activation point to the designated coordinates.