Chapter 756: Cloudy Night Sky: The Shadow Dances, and the Pioneer Steps Forward
Author's Preface
The long subtitle is over, but it's going to continue for a little bit longer.
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It was nothing major, just a lingering sense of unease.
And the wind had taught me that the answer had been right beside me all along.
Walking for a while after leaving the Sea Serpent's Apple, I initiated my move right around the time I entered the sea of trees from the frontline base.
"........."
Run, jump, swing my sword, immediately swap to a different weapon via the Inventoria, reload my gun while landing from a triple axel.
During all that, I was staring at "it" the entire time. Using the thought acceleration from the skill "Eye of Eternity" to stare at it intently, without looking away. Combining what I saw there with what I had seen back at the entrance of the "Sea Serpent's Apple"...... brought me to a conviction.
In this game, a player's field of vision is completely unrelated to darkness. That means...... no matter how dark it is, and naturally even when there's a light source, there is absolutely always a "shadow."
"There's no way a game would have shadows that don't blur from the flickering of flames......!!"
The true identity of the unease was that when continuing to move at dizzying speeds above a certain threshold...... the shadow's movements became delayed compared to the main body's by just the tiniest fraction, an amount so small you couldn't even consciously perceive it unless you stared at it during thought acceleration.
Almost like listening to voices singing a round, one tempo behind your own.
This something mimicking my shadow...... to trace Arcanum's words, this must be the "Truth" degraded into blackness, and this guy was exactly the flag needed to undo the Reverse Position.
It was nothing major; it just meant I had been exposing my disgrace this whole time while dragging the solution around with me.
"........."
Even after I realized the truth, this Truth-kun continued to mirror my movements perfectly. Crouching down and trying to touch it...... my fingers sank into the shadow. I pulled them out reflexively, but there was nothing particularly stuck to my fingers.
Touching the shadow...... no, that's not it. If that were the case, my feet would have sunk in ages ago since I accidentally stepped on my shadow all the time. If so, then consciously touching it must be the condition.
"Well, whatever. I can more or less imagine what's going to happen."
How should I put this...... the timing is, yeah.
I mean, this is that, right? The kind where you have to face yourself? The type where you surpass a copy of yourself with a "Did I grow during the fight!?" kind of realization.
What am I supposed to do, I just recently cleared Orchestra, which is basically the absolute peak of that specific trope?
Regardless, I tried sinking into my own shadow as if rolling into it. Obobobobo, I can breathe without any problems, but it feels like I'm submerged in water.
I try parting the water? but I don't feel like I'm moving forward at all. Maybe it's something like a loading screen, I'll just wait a bit......
.........
.........Ah, my ass hit some kind of ground.
"......And? It all comes down to what spawns."
Yup, yup, my pitch-black vision is gradually turning pale white. Lightly kicking the floor with my toes reveals it's colder and harder than I thought, like the polished stone floor of marble or something similar.
And within that whitening space, a black lump exactly the size of one person is gradually taking the shape of a human...... ah......
"t-to think i'd end up fighting myself......"
I don't know, I don't know how to react to this.
The content is overlapping entirely, is the ShanFro management team okay? Wait, or is it the other way around? Is Orchestra designed to crush players with a superior AI just as they think they've surpassed themselves in this Reverse Position scenario?
No, wait, I don't know yet. Optimistic thinking like that is what led to me suffering a brutal payback. Alright, alright, I'm gradually getting pissed off now; a moderate amount of anger causes strength to well up in the body.
From what I can see, this Reverse Position version of "Me" really does look like a copy of myself. It's an entirely black silhouette, so I can't tell its facial structure or anything, but at the very least, it's not wearing a weird mask.
"Uhm...... do we need a gong?"
He just attacked me normally. Round One, KAANG! (Inner Gong)!!
When it comes down to it, the character "Sunraku" is a mobility-specialized character who sacrificed defense; the countermeasures I painstakingly built up during the Orchestra battle can be transferred directly to this fight.
But as expected, it doesn't seem like it will be a perfect 1-to-1 match......... the "Sunraku" reproduced by Orchestra reflected my information in real-time. In other words, if I learned a skill, he could use the same technique, and if I procured a new weapon, he could use the same weapon.
And that should apply equally to the negative aspects as well.
"Oi, oi, oi, are you trying to spite me, you bastard!?"
A "Sunraku" originating from a different Arcanum than Orchestra's "Sunraku." The actions of the enemy, who could practically be called Shadow Sunraku, were incredibly familiar movements that I can no longer use.
Pitch-black lightning, the exact activation effect of the Levin Trigger: Hazard that I lost due to the combined combo of that shitty PK and that shitty update...... I see, so this one simply spawns as my "Player Peak" or something similar. Because if it was Orchestra, the other side wouldn't be able to use the Levin Trigger: Hazard either.
If that's the case, then this event is......
"A battle between a player receiving the Reverse Position correction and a shadow receiving the Upright Position correction......!!"
The Upright Position effects of the Arcanum "The Fool" are double DoT, halved success rate for recovery actions, and halved recast times.
In contrast, the Reverse Position effects are halved DoT, doubled recovery amount for recovery actions, and doubled recast times.
It really is just like the upright and reverse positions of Tarot cards. The Upright Fool throws away his safety to enhance his performance. And the Reverse Position seeks safety, turning himself dull and sluggish......
The movements of the Shadow Sunraku leaping in are fast. I see, dealing with thought acceleration is definitely a pain. 3.
Defending against Shadow Sunraku's slash with Dis Pater, I activate the thought acceleration skill "Chronostaxia" in that very instant. Ignoring concerns about the recast time, I trace the black lightning sprinting at high speeds with my eyes. 5.
To tell the truth, the Overflow state doesn't allow for very dexterous movements. Strictly speaking, it makes curving movements extremely difficult, since just twisting my waist a little too hard could result in a triple axel.
By carving linear movements using acceleration to perform a polygonal motion that resembles a circle, a pseudo-curve isn't impossible, but achieving smooth movements during an infight is still difficult with just base performance. 6.
"Kuh."
But that's strictly on the premise that skills aren't used.
Hoping that an enemy which reproduces stats and accessories wouldn't be able to copy skills is honestly just wishful thinking. In the spot where his eyes probably are—though it's extremely hard to tell—is a familiar effect...... Chronostaxia. He used thought acceleration too. 7.
I don't really get why an NPC, or rather an AI, would go out of its way to use thought acceleration, but the important part is that these are the "actions of Sunraku using thought acceleration," which means a level of smoothness is added to those previous bouncing-superball-like movements. 8.
What a pain. I thought this plenty of times during the Orchestra battle as well, but a mirror match is something that dilutes the character's advantages and directly tests the player's raw skill. 9.
My shield is knocked away; no matter how many times my recovery amount is multiplied, my actual HP is practically garbage. As expected, when the opponent is "Me," unless the firepower is exceptionally high, I won't die in one hit, but that's exactly why I forcefully interrupt the initial motion of his dual-wielding, continuous attack sequence by intercepting his right-arm sword.
Mobilizing all my skills to take a single step back, but the opponent has already stepped two paces forward, clearly intending to finish me off.........!!
"10 seconds."
If you're reproducing me to that extent, then naturally, you haven't forgotten about the demerit effect of Overflow, right? The Upright Position effect has its drawbacks too, you know.
One step refers to moving one leg forward or backward. In other words, if I've stepped back one pace right now, it means my other leg still hasn't moved. So this is the "second pace."
I push out the remaining leg...... only my right leg, sliding it forward as if trying to do a front split. What do you think happens then?
Overflow is also applied to any flinching caused by an external impact, so, for example, if one were to get their foot caught and trip like this───
"......There's no need to even use AoE attacks when it comes to strategies for defeating 'Me'."
If he trips, he dies.
The demerit of HP halving every 10 seconds is doubled by the effect of "The Fool," meaning the player known as "Sunraku" fought while taking damage that forcibly reduced his HP to 1 every 10 seconds.
Furthermore, the damage from falling is neither self-inflicted nor recoil damage. Therefore, the Luck parameter's "Endurance against self-inflicted and recoil damage" does not activate, and instead, the effect of "When receiving fatal damage, reliably endure with 1 HP exactly once" is applied.
"Did you know, 'Me'? Bullets have a longer range than swords."
And the bullet I fired into the defenseless back of Shadow Sunraku, who had spectacularly face-planted, pierced right through his body effortlessly, without granting even a sliver of time to react—even for Shadow Sunraku, the reproduction of my "Peak" with both thoughts and movements accelerated.
".........Hah."
To think that slacking off on such an, such an incredibly easy battle resulted in that mess.
My "Things I Want to Do If I Got a Time Machine" ranking has shifted drastically......
Author's Afterword
"The strongest move" and "the most effective move" are similar yet different things.
Shadow Sunraku: "Shouldn't you, like, struggle a bit more!?"
Canon Sunraku: "We're missing a street sign and a Decotora."
Q. Why does Sunraku become a stain on the wall?
A. Trips -> Bounces due to the impact of hitting the ground combined with the acceleration built up until then (uses up his Endurance here) -> Steps forward due to a reflexive action, causing extra acceleration that makes him lose control -> Slams directly into the wall and dies.
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