Chapter 598: Shattering the Ravages of War is a Brilliant Red Fighting Spirit
Author's Preface
Is this chapter getting way too long...? (I still have a mountain of things to write about)
Having accumulated kill scores and continuously bathed in death, Remember Death Without Parting becomes as light as a feather. No, that's a lie. It's slightly heavier than a full juice can.
To go even further, if you swing it around carelessly, there's a high probability it'll catch air resistance; a giant fan alone turns mere gas into a wall feeling like sludgy water.
"CuT throUGH the wiND, and I'LL cUT yOU down tOO!!"
But if you grip it tightly, swing it straight through, and cleave even the wall of air itself, that massive mass—which now feels no heavier than a canned juice—becomes a super-heavy lethal weapon that smashes into the Cyborg Beetle.
Twice, three times, four times. Swinging it one-handed compromises my DPS, so what should I do to swing it with both hands? The answer is simple: just hold on using a method that doesn't rely on my hands.
The beast carapace generated by the metamorphosis from Violent Blood Crimson-Clad Skull Crown adds parts that shouldn't naturally exist on a human body. For instance, the eyes on the head; the total of six eyes on the left and right might seem like decorations, but even if you randomly cover any four of them, as long as one eye is open on both the left and right, your field of vision is maintained.
Similarly, the expanded human body exhibits capabilities beyond mere decoration. For example, not just hooking my legs onto the Cyborg Beetle's thoracic horn, but also wrapping my tail around it so I'm hanging upside down like on a horizontal bar...
Skill "Peerless Martial Endowment" activated. When using this skill with a non-proficient weapon, the effect of increasing proficiency doesn't matter right now. What's important is that it's a skill that can raise firepower even with weapons outside my proficiency.
"Guh... EvEN with crACks, hOW stroNG is thIS...!"
But even after full-swinging with both hands, the cracked carapace won't shatter. Damage is probably getting through, but I can't push it all the way to a decisive blow.
This is bad. Ten seconds until the Rampage penalty triggers... I can't finish it off, so I have no choice but to find a way to clear the penalty condition!
"I'll mAkE it evEN heavIEr...!!"
I swing my body like a pendulum to revert the inverted heaven and earth back to normal. Then, riding on top of it like a rodeo, I pull items out from Inventoria.
Eat this, shitty beetle... Super heavy metal, the triple dead-weight of Tactical Mech-Turtle 【Genbu】, Manifest Wall Shield of the Empress Castle, and Remember Death Without Parting!!
A mechanical turtle crashes into its skull, and with the addition of a shield bash from an ultra-massive shield that's essentially a compressed fortress on top of an already heavy ultra-greatsword, a weight load vastly exceeding the Cyborg Beetle's capacity assaults its entire body.
The act of flying through the sky looks liberating, but in reality, it's an extremely delicate action fraught with limitations. What happens on the day you take on a weight that exceeds your limits...? This happens.
"DoN'T worRY, I'M veRY familIAR wiTH belLY landinGS."
I used to mess this up all the time in FPS games with fighter jets. The pros would do this master-class move where they fly right along the ground and slash things with the airplane's wings, and trying to copy them, I ended up crashing countless times... Thanks to that, the only thing I polished was my skill at ejecting from planes.
"CraSH aND buRN!!"
Leaping off the top of the Cyborg Beetle as it gets slammed down and skids across the ground in a belly landing, I twist my body while furiously scraping the ground with my feet and hurl Remember Death Without Parting with full power.
Two seconds left. Spinning as it flies, Remember Death Without Parting mows down the child spiders. One, two... One second left, zero......
"I surVIVed it!!"
Having cleared the penalty thanks to a third one detonating in a chain explosion, I tap 【Genbu】 and the Manifest Wall Shield of the Empress Castle, storing them back into Inventoria while deploying my armaments.
Maybe that skid didn't deal much damage against its sturdy carapace. It expertly drifted with its six legs, and I block the beam fired from the Cyborg Beetle's horn with the Mirror Shield of the Nether-King, refracting it away. I've got a lot of preparations to make for the finishing blow, so shut up for a second, you shield frisbee!!
I've mostly figured it out. What I needed was power, but of a different type. To shatter a crack, you don't need a slash... you need a blunt strike. Equipping the Brilliant Scorpion Gauntlets, I ready the lethal Exceed Charge... Ah, I haven't charged it with magic.
"BriNG it oOOOoOoooN!!!"
Parabellum Routine! Activating Levin Trigger: Hazard simultaneously with the designated pose! Successively activating the linked skills "Exploding Core Torrent", "Until the Journey Ends", and "Advent Fist Pressure"!!
Left jab! Left jab! Left jab!!
I repeatedly slam jabs into the Cyborg Beetle's body, which is now covered in cracks from the impact of the crash. It seems its wings are crushed, and it can no longer take to the sky.
Looking around, a bizarre void has formed in our immediate vicinity. The moment this annoying beetle crashed, the aggro of both the spider and centipede reverted to their usual state... namely, their usual bloody war against their sworn enemies. And with the Cyborg Beetle that had invaded their airspace gone, the scorpions seem to have lost interest in the world below as well.
Even the slightest twitch of its massive body could blow me away, but the trick to fighting this type of monster with zero damage is to throw in steps. One-two, one-two. Throwing punches while stepping forward, backward, left, and right—it's just like boxing. Though maybe that's exactly what it is.
In other words... It's a one-on-one brawl, you bastard!!!!
"AImiNG fOR a K.O.!!"
Persistently spamming left jabs. With Advent Fist Pressure, the power accumulated by the left fist converges into a lethal right hand. I wonder if there's any consideration for left-handed players? Not that I care.
This is just my personal opinion... Spiders, bees, butterflies, centipedes, ants, grasshoppers, mantises. There are many types of insect monsters, but beetle-types, represented by rhinoceros and stag beetles, are hopelessly terrible at making tight turns.
Their heavy armor and monstrous strength shine when challenging opponents larger than themselves head-on, but against smaller, nimble opponents, all those advantages convert directly into "sluggishness," making them overwhelmingly weak in that regard.
That is precisely why I can so easily rack up stacks with my left fist. For the Cyborg Beetle, which continues to fight while forcibly stitching together its own collapsing body using the terrifying muscle fibers beneath its carapace against cracks that are already several centimeters wide, how many seconds it's been since it was born is no longer relevant.
From the moment I brought this thing out from underground to the surface, I constantly considered the possibility of it running away. It was entirely plausible that a newly-hatched monster would prioritize survival.
I won't deny that the moment the Exordinary Discovery window popped up, I had some calculating thoughts about whether we could fight it to the end, but the possibility of it escaping was still there.
"I'LL prAIse yOUR fIGHting spIRit... BUt!!"
The one who wins is me. Gamers are meant to clear games. The idea of letting a full-priced game gather dust is absurd! GH:C doesn't count.
The accumulated charge converges into my right arm. The counted left reinforces the Airflow residing in the right. Bring on the firepower. Did you think you could stop me just by moving your head and swinging your horn? Don't be stupid; your turning radius is so trash I can dodge it with a jump.
There's no time left. Four minutes and thirty seconds out of the five minutes have passed... In thirty seconds, I'll drop into hyper low-tension mode. Then I'll finish this right here! I'll pulverize you, FM's Chrysalis!!
"It'S the fiNAL rOUNd!!"
Aerial combat is no longer an option. Realizing this, the FM's Chrysalis targets me utilizing its front legs, which are developed for combat compared to its hind legs, but sadly, all of its capabilities are horribly unsuited for anti-small combat.
Stomping down on the thrust-out front leg, I even use it as a pathway to close in right in front of its face and wind up my right fist. The skill effect radiating from my right hand already indicates that the next strike will be anything but ordinary. The FM's Chrysalis freezes—not in "motion" to attack, but in "stillness" to defend—and my fist slams into its carapace...
Gon.
Sorry, that wasn't the finishing blow.
Critical Raise activated. I place all my accumulated savings onto the betting plate, aiming for a single-bet jackpot!!
At the exact moment my HP drops below 10% due to the demerits of Exploding Core Torrent and Levin Trigger: Hazard, Stepping on the Horizon of Deathly Struggle activates. And here is my true trump card... Divine Arm of a Hundred Excellences!!
The multitude of mobility-expanding skills allows my body to evade the FM's Chrysalis's attack and reach my intended target. There's no point punching its relatively undamaged face; my target is the upper thorax, the most heavily damaged part of its body.
Five seconds left. End right here, FM's Chrysalis!!
An application of the mid-air jump. Despite heaven and earth being inverted, I accumulate stacks using the empty air as a foothold, place my bet, and slam my fist—its doubled power reinforced even further—with every ounce of my strength. This is the final push. Skill "Astral World Guideline" activated.
A fist slammed in following the guidance seen by these eyes. For a moment, a blank space in my thoughts makes me wonder if the game froze... but that is immediately painted over by the impact that detonates right after.
An impact so immense it would be presumptuous to even compare it to the whiffed striking sound from earlier shatters the cracks crawling across the FM's Chrysalis's entire body until they become fatal... And then, at the exact same time the strength drains from its body, the red carapace covering my own body bursts and scatters away, disappearing.
"Th-There's no need for a ten-count..."
One-hit knockout. I win.
Author's Afterword
Serving as a quick recap, this was the chapter of Sunraku fully utilizing his skills.
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