Chapter 834: December 18th: The One Granted the Sixth Tail
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What Isuna "desired" more than anything else was her own safety and the eradication of all obstacles.
Rather than cowering in anxiety or kneeling in submission to terror, because she sought her own preservation by her own hands, Isuna released her hostility preemptively.
"............"
If so, then Kyogoku's attack—which theoretically threatened her own safety—should have been highly inconvenient for her as well. Therefore, using her kin, Shiuko, to fire a poison snipe into the back of Kyogoku's exposed head while Hiiragi maneuvered as bait should have been the most logical, natural course of action.
"............"
But Isuna did not move. She simply remained completely hidden, staring intently at Kyogoku's back......... almost as if she were appraising her.
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Player Killers and weapons with the Destruction attribute share an inseparable relationship.
While the correct and original usage was to weaken enemies by destroying parts like tails and horns, logic dictates that if it can sever the tail of a beast, it can certainly hack off the limbs of a person.
Sever the legs, and they cannot run; sever the arms, and their combat power is halved. If a player intends to murder another player, wielding equipment with the Destruction attribute is the absolute foundation.
Naturally, Kyogoku, who was still actively continuing her career as a Player Killer, possessed weapons specifically for Player Killing separate from her anti-monster gear.
That was exactly what she currently had equipped: the Voracious Katana "Mane-Tearing Hound." It was the man-slaying blade that had continuously supported the name of the Player Killer "Crossroads-Killer" Kyogoku.
"Now then........."
The fact that her beloved katana had been deflected so easily meant that the Brilliant Scorpion Gauntlet covering Hiiragi's arm surpassed the Destruction attribute of the Mane-Tearing Hound purely through its material strength.
Perhaps she could destroy it if she continuously hammered tens or hundreds of attacks into it, but unfortunately, Kyogoku wasn't looking to perform a damage test.
(Aiming for the weapon is fruitless...... which means if I'm going to aim anywhere, it's the legs.)
Hiiragi's combat style—which didn't involve completely abandoning shame and stripping off her clothes for the sake of speed like a certain someone—could not accommodate heavy armor.
If she was only wearing something on the level of light leather armor, Kyogoku could likely sever it entirely along with the leg without expending too much effort.
"Tch!"
Using the skill "Three-for-Two Strides" [*1] which allowed the user to cover a distance of three steps in a single stride, Kyogoku instantly closed the gap and launched a thrust from a low stance aimed at Hiiragi's right flank. However, Hiiragi hadn't survived PKK attempts up until now solely by using hit-and-run tactics; because she could ignore damage from her elbows down, she simply swept her arm outward, deflecting the tip of the Mane-Tearing Hound.
"───【Flame of the Sixth Tail】"
"Kya!?"
An impact struck Hiiragi's left flank right as she parried the attack and attempted to throw a counter. Accompanied by a heat resembling a pocket warmer pressed against her skin and the smell of burning...... what she saw while reflexively leaping backward was a purple "tail" extending from behind Kyogoku.
"A tail, it's burning......!?"
"Thanks to making a pact with the Fox-sama, I can do quite a few things, you see...... 【Nine-Tails Sixth】"
As the tail flickering with purple flames brushed against the Mane-Tearing Hound, the flames residing within the tail spread to the katana as if they were being smeared onto the blade.
Taking a mid-level stance with her purple-flame katana, Kyogoku wavered the tip she pointed at Hiiragi, almost as if fanning the flames.
"What will you do? I'll wait if you want to force-logout?"
"............"
'If I could do that, I wouldn't be struggling here'. Hiiragi glared at Kyogoku, knowing full well she had asked that fully aware of the answer.
In exchange for the benefit of being able to directly steal resources from other players, Player Killers lost many things in return. One of those was the forced logout.
When one needs to logout of reality as quickly as possible due to some circumstance, VR games allow players to select a forced logout. ShanFro was no exception, but if there was one difference, it was that a forced logout was counted as a "Sudden Death" within the game.
Naturally, when logging back in next time, they would respawn at their last save point. And if they did it under the current event rulings, all their equipped weapons and armor would scatter onto the ground right there.
......More importantly, when a Player Killer performs a forced logout, a "PKK" penalty judgment is applied in addition to the "Sudden Death."
(What do I do!? Run!? Scrolls are......... no good, Kyogoku-chan is needlessly perceptive, she'll hunt me down before it activates! Geez! If only my connection would just cut out right now!)
The Kyogoku that Hiiragi knew didn't have fox ears or a tail. Given that she originally mainly used daggers, Hiiragi could fight to some extent even within the katana's range, but more than that, she had no idea what Kyogoku was going to do.
And above all, the sniper support from Isuna—which she had been waiting for—for so long, so long, so, so, SOOOO long—was simply not coming. She wondered if Isuna was perhaps being attacked by something else entirely, but dismissed the thought, doubting Kyogoku had the foresight for something like that.
She was the type of person who, even in this day and age, would actually issue a PK declaration before challenging someone to a fight, like some moldy antique obsessed with Bushido. It was hard to imagine her secretly preparing an accomplice to act separately...... Then why? she wondered, but she didn't have the time to ponder it deeply.
(If that's the case............)
Grip. She clenched the hand hidden inside the Brilliant Scorpion Gauntlet. She only had one chance; she had to carefully pinpoint the exact timing.
"C-Could you overlook this, please......?"
"Ehhh?"
Smiling a flimsy, wavering smile, Hiiragi began begging for her life. All traces of her previous fighting spirit vanished entirely. Faced with a Hiiragi who looked ready to start rubbing her hands together in supplication at any moment, Kyogoku made an expression utterly drained of its venom. Finding an opening there, Hiiragi rapidly rolled her tongue, pleading for her life.
"I-I haven't been PKK'd even once yet, right!? Right!? I even got the title for maximum karma, so I kinda want to extend my record as long as possible, you know......"
"Hmmmmm."
'I can sort of understand that feeling', Kyogoku mused.
(Not yet, not yet............)
"But if I let you go, you'll probably just attack me the moment I turn my back."
"I-I would never do that! Really! L-Look, I'll even put my weapon away! See? Let me go, okay?"
Kyogoku stared half-lidded at Hiiragi, who had stored the Brilliant Scorpion Gauntlet in her inventory and raised both hands to show she was unarmed. Perhaps feeling the emptiness of trying to maintain a sense of tension against this, Kyogoku lazily lowered the tip of her readied katana toward the ground.
(My chaaaance!!)
While raising both hands, Hiiragi briefly glanced at her right hand. She was wearing a glove, and upon closer inspection, one could see it was adorned with amber decorations.
Among the equipment Sunraku had dropped, it was an absurd piece of gear on par with the Brilliant Scorpion Gauntlet—the Levin Trigger: Hazard, which generated terrifying speed in exchange for exaggerating the user's movements. Its activation condition was striking the amber against the left side of the chest......... While raising both hands, she casually adjusted her position. Outwardly pretending to be terrified of Kyogoku's "Mane-Tearing Hound," she slowly, slowly finalized her preparations.
Hiiragi hadn't mastered the use of the Levin Trigger: Hazard. However, just because she hadn't "mastered" it didn't mean she couldn't use it.
(If it's just charging straight ahead and thrusting a dagger, I've managed to get the hang of that much......!)
If it was just that single action, she had somehow learned how to manage it. And as long as she could set up the situation, it carried immense value as a frontal assassination. Waiting patiently while steadily advancing her preparations......... the time had finally come.
".........Haaaah, I somehow completely lost all my motivation."
"Kyogoku-chan.........!"
Hiiragi did not miss the exact moment Kyogoku let out a large breath and relaxed her shoulders. Operating the window with her left hand to draw her dagger, she pressed her right hand to her chest. In that instant, the pitch-black electrical current overflowing from the amber enveloped Hiiragi's entire body, granting her the excessive acceleration derived from the heavenly black Kamui.
"Wide open!!!"
───It was a movement truly befitting the phrase "lightning speed."
Closing the distance instantly with an initial velocity easily mistaken for teleportation, Hiiragi forcefully thrust the dagger in her left hand forward. There was no way Kyogoku, in a completely relaxed state, could possibly dodge it. Smirking with the certainty of victory and the thought that she really had picked up something great, Hiiragi definitely felt the sensation of a blade tearing through flesh......... her own flank.
"Eh.........?"
"You know, Hiiragi."
───It was a movement truly befitting the phrase "lightning speed."
A movement stripped of all inefficiency to its absolute limit, exactly like flowing water or the wind itself. While dodging Hiiragi's lunging dagger with minimal motion, Kyogoku transitioned from a relaxed state to instantly flooding her entire body with physical strength, delivering a single flash of her purple-flame katana across Hiiragi's flank. And sure enough, that single strike had inflicted massive damage.
"H-How............"
"The sword was 'unsheathed,' you know? Obviously I was in a combat-ready state."
And above all.
"It's Kyo-Ultimate. You always get that wrong, you know."
If you get caught off guard by something on that level, you wouldn't survive in Bakumatsu.
Realizing that even her hidden trump card, the Levin Trigger: Hazard, was useless, Hiiragi turned her back and tried to flee......... but the purple flames burning on her flank were practically a wordless death sentence declaring that she was already locked on.
"Entrusted with the Sixth Tail...... 【Ten Demons' Night Parade】!"
The purple-flame tail flared up intensely and brushed the empty air. From its trajectory, ten purple flames took the shape of skulls and forcefully shot forward.
"Eh, wait, wha......! Don't come closer, okay......... okay.........!?"
The 【Nine-Tails Sixth】 that Kyogoku had used earlier wasn't just a simple enchantment. It placed a marker on the exact spot the attack hit, causing all subsequent magic utilizing the tail to home in on that location.
Looking back and making eye contact with the ten incoming skulls, Hiiragi frantically tried to escape the deadly assault, but as if drawn to the purple flame wound on her flank, the skulls chased after her back......
"Hiee."
The flames of the skulls that bit into Hiiragi's entire body triggered a massive explosion.
Author's Afterword
・Nine-Tails
A queen of the Beastmen who was said to have existed in the past. A terrifying magician who harbored nine colors of flames within her nine white tails.
She is the symbol of the "Foxfire Society," one of the three current major Beastman factions. The current chairwoman, None, her direct descendant, is capable of bestowing the "Tails" passed down through generations to loyal retainers. (These "Tails" are not physical objects, but rather an external aptitude attached to a title......... in short, it's a Unique Job.)
This means that one is entrusted with a fragment of the hundred demons once said to be led by the Nine-Tails Queen.
・Entrusted with the Sixth Tail【Ten Demons' Night Parade】
Magic that generates skulls of purple flame and fires them forward. It forms a sort of designer combo with 【Nine-Tails Sixth】; by applying a marker beforehand, homing capabilities are added, causing ten high-firepower skulls to track the target.
Kyogoku is entrusted with the sixth tail, "Purple," and possesses the authority to command ten of the hundred demons in the night parade. As the cost—or rather, the price—for this, Kyogoku must respond to requests from the Foxfire Society as much as possible. That is why she is rarely seen on the Old Continent.
Translator's Notes
- [1] Three-for-Two Strides (二足三紊 - Nisoku-sanmon): A pun on the Japanese idiom "二束三文" (nisoku-sanmon), which means "dirt cheap" (literally, "two bundles for three copper coins"). If anyone asking, yes the ratio is 3 to 1 but looks like the author really want to make that pun.
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