Chapter 563: The Crimson Feathers Shine Even Now
Author's Preface
Thinking about Sunraku-kun's next-stage status is so insanely fun it's crazy.
If I make this public during the current arc, I'll have to finish all the events in ten in-game days... Is this an RTA?
As a general rule in Battle Royales where every player is crammed into a single field, it's pretty much a given that anyone who stands out too much or lags behind too far is going to get ganged up on.
It's not simply a matter of hitting them because they're strong or picking them off early because they're weak; treating them as a common enemy is what creates a majority. However, there is exactly one loophole in this unspoken agreement.
And that is when the sole standout player is strong enough to outmaneuver everyone else, even with the entire lobby turned against them.
The remaining five units seemed to have agreed on a temporary truce, seeing as how two Nephilims had already been shot down by the one-armed crimson unit's demonic maneuvers—which, nine times out of ten, could only be her.
Three of the five units occasionally wobbled, perhaps unaccustomed to piloting Nephilims... but the remaining two were definitely skilled, or rather, actual NephHolo players.
Their frames swayed back and forth, but that was a technique to allow for immediate reactions to sudden movements—essentially a form of idling. Because NephHolo operates under the premise of piloting Nephilims, which strictly speaking aren't traditional robots, it's packed with all sorts of needlessly detailed micro-mechanics. For instance, the time it takes to reach maximum speed from a complete standstill versus moving from an idling state differs by about twenty percent.
As if on cue, two of the Nephilims darted forward. A simultaneous attack from a lightweight unit that had shaved its armor down to the absolute limit and a gun-specialized unit likely tuned for close-to-mid-range combat... The remaining three units also swarmed the one-armed crimson with a slight delay, treating her as their immediate target for now.
But right at that moment,
"Ooh!"
A voice of admiration involuntarily leaked out. Why? Because the lightweight unit and the gun-specialized unit leading the charge had both come to a sudden stop at the exact same time. And they did it at the precise moment when the three trailing units that had blindly charged in behind them would absolutely be unable to change direction.
No, logically, I understand the play. The sole surviving crimson unit had lost an arm, meaning its only remaining method of attack was the beam chainsaw equipped to its right arm.
Looking at the other Nephilims, it seemed they could only equip four weapon slots total, yet that one-armed unit was only utilizing two. At this point, its only weapon was that single chainsaw... which meant it was "incapable of handling anything at mid-range or further."
In that case, you just throw out a decoy and whittle it down from mid-range. Those two skilled units had likely arrived at the exact same conclusion and perfectly synchronized their actions without even communicating.
The ones who drew the short straw were the three units who had likely never played NephHolo before. Intending to act as the rearguard, they found themselves abruptly thrust onto the absolute frontline, and—perhaps trying to match the two units that had suddenly hit the brakes—they slammed into a completely unshielded full stop right in front of the crimson unit of all places.
"Whoa, seriously? Multi-hit damage with stagger mechanics?"
"Is... is that amazing?"
"To put it simply... well, as you can see, the possibility of an instant-death one-shot just opened up."
Strictly speaking, the crazy part is being able to take an enemy from 'one action' straight to 'instant death', but that nuance probably wouldn't get across unless I was talking to a NephHolo player. It meant a ray of light was finally shining on multi-hit weapon types, which had virtually zero demand outside of aesthetics back in the original NephHolo... but even so, this was taking it to the absolute extreme.
Looking up, I saw the chainsaw thrust into the nape of the Nephilim's neck, violently throwing sparks as it ground the poor victim away from the inside out. Even if they tried to run, the crimson unit's movements clung perfectly to their escape trajectory, continuing the assault, making it utterly unmanageable. Normally, inputting an "escape" action should allow you to break free from the damage, but since the crimson unit simply wouldn't let them go, there was only one possible end for them.
"Four units left. They sacrificed one decoy, but the two main threats have gotten into position."
"Umm, those two who hit the brakes suddenly?"
"Yeah. If they had kept moving as they were, one of them would have almost certainly been targeted, so they essentially used the decoys to buy themselves some time."
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Pencil Knight King: Too naive, shouldn't they have crushed and discarded one more unit?
Sunraku: No no, you have to conserve your remaining ammo. Human resources are irreplaceable.
Pencil Knight King: What's the point of preserving generic Human Resources? If you're stingy with your burst DPS, you're beyond saving.
Sunraku: That's only if you look at them as standalone units. NephHolo has a bullet economy, so even if a turret's performance is garbage, it still has value as long as it has ammo to fire.
Pencil Knight King: Ah, I guess there's that way of looking at it too. But against a hypothetical enemy like Rust-chan, a scarecrow turret is still just a scarecrow turret, isn't it?
Sunraku: Well, that just ends the debate completely. I was speaking in general terms here.
Sunraku: Wait, so you already realized it was her?
Pencil Knight King: I've never actually seen our NephHolo-Shilling Girl play before, but I heard "Red" was her favorite, so I just thought, ah, that must be her... she really did come...
Sunraku: Apparently, when she's going all-out, Mold provides support for that monster.
Pencil Knight King: How much stronger does she actually get?
Sunraku: Imagine Wethermon with eyes on his back predicting your tactics like he can see the future.
Pencil Knight King: You've gotta be kidding me.
◇
It's no joke... Also, I realized from watching, but that bastard Rust totally ripped off the concept of my precious Fourteen-Color Bird-chan, didn't she? Instead of trying to stabilize the unbalanced state of having only one arm, she's making it even more unstable by firing individual boosters to perfectly trace the enemy's evasive movements.
But she wasn't the only one moving as planned; the two units in pincer position began their assault. No matter how strong Rust is, she can't instantly kill her opponents in every situation. She fired her boosters to disengage, but the two units boxing her in had no intention of letting her escape easily.
The custom Nephilim Rust built secured mobility by reducing its weapon slots, but since she didn't shave off her armor, she wasn't the absolute fastest. She only managed to seize the initiative with that starting dash because the other seven units were being cautious.
Therefore, the fastest Nephilim on the field wasn't the one-armed crimson, but rather the lightweight unit that had stripped off almost all of its already thin and light armor... The one flanking Rust was the true fastest Nephilim here.
"It looks like that lightweight unit is tracing the outer edge of a circle to trap the crimson unit inside, while the gunner sits in the center handling the offense."
"But, wouldn't that mean... the gunner would get targeted?"
"They would, which is why the gunner is moving too."
It was close to the movement of a spinning top. Those two units were trying to corner Rust using a dual-layered giant circular motion composed of three Nephilims: the gunner tracing the inner circle, and the lightweight and the one-armed crimson tracing the outer.
The gunner maintaining a continuous barrage while fleeing from the crimson unit was impressive, but the lightweight unit perfectly syncing with it was terrifying. The level of technique on display here was way too high for a mere demonstration.
"But, that crimson Nephilim... is handling it, isn't it?"
"It's a huge advantage that she perfectly understands the Nephilim's range of motion."
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Pencil Knight King: I feel like I'm watching rhythmic gymnastics.
Sunraku: That's a technique anyone can do, but very few people actually can.
Pencil Knight King: What does that mean?
Sunraku: Nephilims are basically mannequins with ball joints, so they can take on some pretty absurd poses.
Sunraku: But because the players controlling them don't know how to move their bodies like that in real life, when they actually try to pull it off, the Nephilim's body ends up moving stiffly.
Pencil Knight King: Ah, so their real-world perception stops them from being flexible?
Sunraku: Exactly. But apparently, Rust is super flexible in real life too, so she can utilize the Nephilim's full range of motion.
Sunraku: By the way, Mold is supposedly stiff as a board.
Pencil Knight King: Wow, a piece of trivia I can't envision ever being useful for the rest of my life.
Pencil Knight King: More importantly, I have to make some kind of comment as the host, so think up a line that sounds good.
Sunraku: Stop using a real-time ghostwriter.
Sunraku: For now, why don't you praise the crimson unit pulling off demonic maneuvers using the unbalanced state of having only one arm, and the two flanking units trying to corner her into crashing into the two decoys?
Pencil Knight King: Adopted.
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『Wow, what incredible movements. The crimson Nephilim utilizing its collapsed balance from losing an arm to confound its enemies with erratic motions, and the two units boxing it in, trying to force it to crash into the remaining players to form a momentary majority... What do you think, Eito-chan?』
『Ehhh!?』
Ripping off her ghostwriter's idea word-for-word and then immediately lobbing a killer pass to someone else—seriously, how is that bastard's mind wired?
Author's Afterword
In other words, Rust is capable of Mack Knife-level flexibility in real life.
Rust and Mold are general attendees, but because the NephHolo development company sent them a VIP invitation, they get to skip the lines for NephHolo.
Why give them such blatant favoritism, you ask? Because obviously, the NephHolo devs want the strongest player showcasing their brand-new, cutting-edge NephHolo 2 demo. The reason Sunraku wasn't invited is that his overall score is too low.
By the way, the other seven players were chosen via lottery, so they were legitimately matched up randomly. A moment of silence for the poor souls forced to fight against a maximum-tension Rust.
Comments
I wonder how she would fare in Nephilim Hollow against Rust and Mold.
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