Chapter 685: Echo Upon the Mirror's Surface, Roar From the Skyscrapers - Part 3
Inexhaustible Womb Mother Goose.
While the other monsters were moving around quite actively, that light-car-sized goose was hiding quietly inside a hollow in a massive tree. A bird the size of a light car trying to hide in a tree was actually absurdly conspicuous...... but still, to think they nailed the guess so perfectly.
However, the moment this goose entered a combat state, it began rapidly spewing eggs out of its ass...... wait no, its cloaca? with the explosive speed and momentum of a machine gun.
The eggs violently smashed against the ground, shattering open to release already combat-ready chicks that immediately launched themselves at us...... I see, despite its appearance, it possesses an incredibly troublesome nature. If it lays eggs like a machine gun, that means chicks will be born and swarm us like a machine gun.
Honeybees form scrums to counter hornets. While each individual bird is a trivial enemy on its own, if they surround and batter their target, a massive swarm of chicks can easily peck to death a player or two.
A single chick is a weakling, but by swarming, their potential threat level can easily rival that of a monster well over Level 150. While exhibiting the orthodox performance of a swarm-type monster, it likely stands at the apex of the ecosystem purely due to the fact that its supply never stops.
But Mother Goose suffered from three massive misfortunes.
First, as the price for its torrential egg-laying ability, the main body's performance is pathetically low. Whether it's because egg-laying consumes not just its energy but also the vast majority of its physical processing capability, the beast can barely move.
Second, the durability of the chicks is low. Having chicks swarm over like a tidal wave is certainly a threat...... but naturally, if the target is someone whose armor the chicks' beaks can't pierce, defeating them requires a decent amount of time and effort. And the target whose armor those beaks can't pierce isn't just standing around doing nothing.
And the third.
"Weaklings" "appearing in massive numbers" "during a single battle"...... the conditions have been met. It drew the absolute worst matchup possible in this game. I'll mash you all together into fishballs, so bring it on!!!
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"Fuhahahahahahahaha!! My destructive urges are being satisfieddddd!!!"
Combining the semi-permanent massacre combo of R.I.P. and Remember Death Without Parting, the "do not touch" hazardous state granted by Levin Trigger: Hazard, and the massive spinning sweep of the Vestige of the Raging Storm Emperor [Extreme]—which trades the use of Overflow for an overwhelming boost in rotational momentum to heighten my peerless power...... I was currently countering the tidal wave of chicks with a 10-kills-per-second overkill genocide.
"I'm counting on you, Eta-Zero! Leave the mobs to me!!"
"Leave it to me! I'm counting on your support, professors!!"
Our tactic against the sheer numerical warfare of the Inexhaustible Womb Mother Goose was incredibly simple.
I, who can single-handedly massacre the weaklings, would draw the chicks' aggro, and while I did that, Eta-Zero would strike the main body with the full support of Bansai-shi and The Professor.
And right now, as I swung Remember Death Without Parting at full force to rack up my kill score, locked in an absolute stalemate against the chick tsunami by perfectly offsetting the chip damage from the swarm with an even greater amount of healing to act as the ultimate decoy, Eta-Zero charged headlong at the main body, the parent bird, using...... well, let's just say a fighting style I hadn't really seen before.
"I don't care if you're a goose or a turkey, to me, you're just a sitting duck, Mother Goose!!"
Eta-Zero held absolutely nothing in his hands. It wasn't the so-called bare-knuckle brawling...... but it wasn't exactly unequipped either. Unlike Katzo, who fights completely bare-handed, he was equipping a specific martial arts weapon. But the singular reason his strikes still looked bare-handed was because those fists blended far too perfectly with his protective armor.
At a glance, they just looked like part of his gauntlets, but despite falling under the weapon category, they were designed with the prerequisite of being used simultaneously with specific armor pieces...... To put it another way, just like Rei-shi's sword and armor, they only displayed their true value when used as a complete set.
So then, what exactly were the "techniques" unleashed by a heavily armored warrior wielding no visible weapons?
"Full Armed Wrestle!!"
With a roaring twist of his entire body, the upper arm section of his armor smashed directly into the giant goose's neck. The clash between a cervical spine with low base specs and a fully-buffed, full-power strike didn't last long......
"Ooooooh! 'Talos Lariat'!!!"
The heavyweight lariat exploding against the goose's neck achieved a borderline-comical knockback, sending the massive light-car-sized body flying through the air...... This was Eta-Zero's battle style. A fantasy pro-wrestling performance executed by an Armed Wrestler, a hidden unique job branching off the Gladiator tree, which challenges inhuman entities to physical brawls using explosive power restricted entirely to an extremely narrow, 1-meter close-quarters range.
It's a completely absurd job where almost every usable skill inflicts a knockback effect. According to him, the unlock conditions are obnoxiously tedious in exchange...... but even factoring that in, this performance was making Eta-Zero's already thick, overbearing character feel even denser.
The fact that Mother Goose had such low specs that she could be used as a punching bag was likely another reason he could pull it off...... After all, the chicks that were originally supposed to stay back and intercept him seemed to trigger Lycaon's Scar's "strong opponent" detection when they swarmed, so almost all of them were flowing toward me instead. And even if he got pecked a little, for the fully-armored Eta-Zero, it didn't even amount to chip damage.
"Ora ora, what's wrong! The beatdown ain't over yet, you sitting duck!!"
An enzuigiri into an elbow drop. A heavily armored wrestler with a pacifier in his mouth executing literal pro-wrestling moves on a giant goose...... No good, my head's starting to hurt.
"Tch, I can't even see the pro-wrestling over you fishball ingredients!!"
It seemed her egg-laying speed increased the more cornered she got, so I had been practically buried under them for a while now, but my kill score was racking up at a rate that completely surpassed even the fight against the Devouring Great Crimson Clad. Both R.I.P. and Remember Death Without Parting were continuing to fire off their effects at absolute full throttle...... If I had been in my usual half-naked state, I probably would have died thirty times over by now.
"Professor! How many minutes left!!"
"Ten minutes! No, nine minutes!!"
"Step on it, Eta-Zero! There's no way we're getting any extra time for this!!"
"Yeah!!"
My damage multiplier was so thoroughly buffed that I could practically pulverize the chicks with my bare hands at this point. If Eta-Zero's putting on a pro-wrestling show, then I'll show 'em my Lucha Libre! I don't really know much about it, but shatter to pieces, three birds at a time! Patada con Giro!!
......
............
..................
『Ah, my beloved children. Even after being cast out into the world with nothing but your bodies, you have gained strength and returned to me. And now...... having learned and cultivated yourselves, you stand at the apex of this miniature garden.』
Ultimately, the Inexhaustible Womb Mother Goose, taking a two-way lariat from both me and Eta-Zero, collapsed, and the chicks that seemingly shared their lives with their mother shattered into pieces as well...... It seemed The Professor and the others' hypothesis was correct, as "Ivory" finally revealed herself.
『You humanity once bore the title of Primate, standing as the most preeminent existence among all creation. However, after their defeat on this planet, they perished...... but they left behind you, the next generation of humanity.』
"Ivory's" words were gentle, like speaking to a baby sleeping in a cradle, yet mixed with a trace of loneliness, like speaking to a young adult finally setting off on their own.
『For humanity to bear the name of 'Primate' once more...... that is my earnest wish. Please, show me the boundless potential of mankind.』
"But sometimes, it's fine for a child to act spoiled like a baby with their mother...... Ain't that right? Mama."
Could you please stop trying to make me laugh right in the middle of a serious conversationー?
Author's Afterword
・Armed Wrestler
A top-tier hidden job unlocked by winning tournaments held in every single arena across the Old Continent against both players and monsters, and then securing an NPC "Sponsor." Unlocking this job grants the ability to equip "Battle Fist" weapons designed for use alongside armor.
When used concurrently with corresponding armor, the Battle Fist weapon category applies massive damage corrections not just to punches, but also to attacks utilizing the legs or the entire body.
While the damage multiplier of "Full Armed Wrestle" isn't exceptionally high, it applies knockback to varying degrees on almost every single skill, making it horrifyingly competent...... Or so it seems. However, if three or more players are fighting the same enemy, the knockback multiplier drops. On top of that, if used solo, the knockback will launch the enemy completely out of your own attack range, making it a rather tricky skill to manage (A duo is barely acceptable, because then it becomes a Tag Match).
Additionally, you gain special perks when buying items from your NPC Sponsor's trading company, making it a subtly highly profitable job.
By the way, once you become an Arm Wrestler, you will be called by your Ring Name when participating in the arena (which you can set yourself).
Eternal Zero's Ring Name is "Baby Heart".
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