Chapter 597: Stepping Into the Crucible of War Will Surely Drive You Mad
Author's Preface
Rugby was amazing. Not just Japan's fighting spirit, but South Africa's thorough playing, as if to say they wouldn't let a "fluke" happen twice.
Or rather, de Klerk is way too much of an overpowered meta character. What are you, Merlin or something?
I get it now, I really do. Crawling out of the tent after my fourth death, I have perfectly comprehended the prerequisites for this battlefield. And the fact that my initial strategy was completely off the mark.
"I completely understand now. I was an idiot for trying to push through with conventional theory."
"You're as undeterred as ever desu wa..."
"you're n-nuts..."
Nuts? How rude. Call it Guts. Say Guts. But even I might have had my spirit broken if I just kept doing the same thing; that's how hellish this free-for-all was.
Sticking my neck into the summit battle between the spider and the centipede is risky enough even for someone as used to it as me, but now we've added a frenzied Cyborg Beetle and terrifying scorpion beams into the mix. Even if I try to play the hyena for third-party gains, the probability of dying to a stray bullet is about five times higher than usual.
"Question: Do you have a breakthrough strategy?"
"Forget about the consequences."
"Consent: So, the usual."
In a sense, it is the usual—a total slapdash rush job pivoting away from the specific tactics meant for this battlefield. Fundamentally, fighting in Sigmonia requires positioning that absolutely relies on the spider and centipede not directing their hostility toward us. But this time, aggro is being shuffled at a dizzying pace, and the weather is calling for laser rain—an irregular situation among irregular situations.
Playing it safe is actually strangling me. The balance for conserving resources is way too strict, so I just end up dying before I can even use my trump cards. All four of my deaths so far have followed that exact pattern. That's why I'm changing my policy... I'm going in with the resolve to just slash everyone to pieces myself. I'll maneuver using evasions that link directly into counterattacks, not evasions meant for running away.
"I'm gonna go play a Musou game for a bit."
"Have a good trip desu wa〜"
Indigo Chalice activated. After casually swapping my gender, I launch myself into the mortar-shaped battlefield. First target: the child spider Armilets. High Connection: "Oath of a Thousand Swords" activated.
With full follow-through swings that completely pierce their slash resistance, I cut down the seemingly endlessly spawning Armilet Gargantulas one after another.
Obviously I can't one-shot them, but they're mobs that'll self-destruct sooner or later anyway; as long as I land at least one hit, I'll get the kill credit. Every single one of them has the exact same ugly mug, so I can't be bothered to remember which individuals I've cut down. I just keep attacking at random as I sprint through them. If I don't have the range, I transform the sword in one hand into a gun to extend my reach.
"That was cloose!!"
Limit Over Accel activated! The massive body of the centipede crashes down into the exact spot I leaped back from with my doubled escape speed. Basically, in Sigmonia, unless Dora and the Queen show up in a single battle, only one Trainol and one Fortress will spawn at a time.
But both of them are fortress-class behemoths. Just getting caught in the collateral damage poses an extreme risk of death... But thanks to that, a massive amount of Armilets got crushed, which incidentally triggered chain explosions among the other individuals.
"Mass slaughter in a single battle!"
That is the condition to wake this sword up!!
The moment I can hoist the gravestone ultra-greatsword, Remember Death Without Parting, with a single hand, all the conditions are finally met. Donning the crimson skull, I let out a loud roar!
"Hell yeah, let's go! Blood Release!!"
A formidable foe, a difficult enemy, and therefore, it's a short-term decisive battle! I'm going to defeat the FM's Chrysalis within these five minutes using every single trick at my disposal!!
"Two Wheels of Wind and Fire" and "Stairway to Heaven" activated. Letting out an echoing roar, I leap, kicking off the empty air to bound from the ground—the battlefield of the trash mobs—straight up to the main battlefield at an altitude of 100 meters.
"I'll be bORrowing your baAAack..."
The good thing about the Fortress Gargantula is that, structurally speaking, the stability of its back is far superior to the centipede's. While squashing Armilets to avoid the Rampage penalty, I lock onto the Cyborg Beetle, which is dodging the lasers, spider shells, and barrages of poison with maneuvers that put fighter jets to shame.
Its aggro is shifting at a dizzying pace. After all, its hostility doesn't wane in the slightest whether it's facing a behemoth or an entire army. If something gets in its way even a little bit—be it spider, centipede, or scorpion—it will charge at it with everything it has. It's a pure lump of fighting instinct.
"LooKIng inTo a scOpe wiTH this geTUp is so freaKIng sUUUURreal..."
Readying the sniper rifle named Puerro, I line up my sights on the Cyborg Beetle, which seems to have set its sights on the centipede this time... and pull the trigger caught on my beast-like claws.
"HeadshOOOooot!!"
See that! How does it feel getting peppered by a sniper from Puerro! Annoying, isn't it? Very annoying! Unlike the highly-telegraphed attacks of the giant monsters, an FPS-trained snipe earns an outstanding amount of aggro based purely on its "accuracy rate"...!!
Taking zero damage and not caring about it are two completely different things. Much less for a guy whose murderous intent hits the maximum just by having someone enter its field of vision; if it takes an annoying chip-damage attack like that... Here it comes, right on cue! A massive bite!!
"BrINg iIIIIIIIIt!!!"
I'm built different this time. I grip Remember Death Without Parting with both hands and wind up. Planting both feet firmly on the Fortress's carapace, I take the stance for a deadly line drive, cultivated in baseball games where knocking out the opponent is the most efficient strategy... It's a rather flat bat and a way-too-rugged ball, but in this world, a sport where you use living creatures as balls is super trendy. Did you know?
Timing it perfectly and putting all my strength into it, my critical swing, backed by the twist of my entire body, clashes with the lower horn of the Cyborg Beetle charging fiercely at me. Bullet, li... li, ne.......
"FoUUUUUUUl!!"
Gyorin! A harsh screech echoes as two incredibly hard objects scrape against each other with tremendous force, and my body slides off the Fortress's back. But the Cyborg Beetle doesn't get off unscathed either. I won't let it. As a result, it took a foul-ball-like trajectory, but the fact remains that I dealt critical damage to its head horn. And the fate of a character stripped of their mobility has been set in stone across all ages and cultures.
"RighT tHeRE, it's gonNa be a rAIn of LiGHt."
I have the scorpions' thought routines down to an art. They relentlessly pursue any enemy that shows weakness with absolute bastard-level aggression. They will absolutely never overlook even a one-second opening. That holds true even for the Alexand Scorpions, a closely related species to the Crystal Scorpions.
The massive body of the Cyborg Beetle momentarily slowed down as its propulsion was temporarily interrupted by its clash with me. Not missing that split-second opening, the Alexand Scorpions hammered it simultaneously with their long-range bombardment. It's currently 3:00 AM, an all-night march with the brilliance of Tannhäuser still burned into my brain... Lasers, amplifying the red glow of the Crystal Crown within their azure bodies, impact the Cyborg Beetle one after another. Terrifying precision, as always. For monsters, their aim is way too high.
"BUt niCe asSIsT!!"
The clear "opening" of a flinch state, the "firepower" that likely surpasses even my current output, and the "numbers" typical of the Crystal Scorpion family of monsters... Taking an unblockable, massive hit from all of these combined, the Cyborg Beetle's body is blown away, yet it somehow tries to recover its posture... Ah, the Fortress's bombardment scores a direct hit, and Trainol headbutts it.
"lEt Me in ON iT toO!!"
Having taken a continuous barrage of non-standard attacks, the Cyborg Beetle sports cracks across its carapace that are far beyond minor injuries. Yet, rather than letting its fighting spirit wane, it blazes even hotter. Firing a laser from its thoracic horn, it crushes one of the centipede's eyes as it tries to pursue, then traces a gouging curve and slashes off one of the legs supporting the Fortress's massive frame (even if it was already shaky from the battle) with its forewing blades! What an absolute monster! But am I your next target? Interesting. We're pressed for time, so I'll press the attack too!!
On top of the Fortress is no good. It's a passing grade as a foothold, but from a broader perspective, it's a sphere, so I can't brace myself perfectly. In that case, I should use mid-air jumps to set up a short but perfect stance to intercept it... No, it's the other way around.
As the Cyborg Beetle closes in, I come up with that at the absolute last second. Instead of a batting pose, I ready Remember Death Without Parting like a shield, exposing my belly in a guarding stance to await its charge. Immediately after steeling my resolve, my body is effortlessly blown away by an impact that I wouldn't have been able to withstand without a certain degree of buffs... But that was exactly my aim, and the cyber-physical laws actualized by the physics engine calculate the exact result I desired.
"WhaT a paSSioNAte hUG..."
Right now, I'm flying through the air, wedged right between the upper and lower horns of the Cyborg Beetle. The upper horn on this thing is shaped like a tank turret, and given the physical structure of a rhinoceros beetle, while it can crush by pinching, it can't cleanly sever...!!
I counter its attempts to shake me off by clinging on with everything I've got, utilizing my boosted stats. Furthermore, even if I myself don't feel the weight, the Cyborg Beetle still feels the massive weight of Remember Death Without Parting. Flying creatures aren't nearly as free as people think. Can you really keep flying with this kind of dead weight attached to you? And to top it off, this dead weight is actively trying to kill you!!
Since I can't rack up the kill score to disable the Rampage penalty up here, these 30 seconds are going to be crucial... Let's steel our resolve! Both of us!!
Author's Afterword
Supplemental explanation because I saw it a lot in the comments section:
Q. Why was "Warphan" able to become an Exordinary?
A. Other than that one individual sleeping in the central area, all the others were caught in the battle between the centipedes and spiders and died before fully growing. Because it had the luck to be the sole survivor amidst the ravages of war, absorbed the properties of three different species, and continued to sleep directly beneath a Tsar-Beryl close to the bottom of the continent, it was selected as an Exordinary. Individuals in other locations aren't blessed with such luck.
This time, Wimp dug a massive hole to hide in, but even without Wimp, an active space is always generated underground in the center of Sigmonia due to some factor. It is an Exordinary that you can only encounter by digging further into the ground from there. By the way, I mentioned it was the "sole" individual earlier, but the next one will definitely spawn. It probably just got buried and hasn't been found yet (a matter that irritates Tsukuyo-san).
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