Chapter 874: December 20th: Maid Outfit Bomber!!
Author's Preface
This is an act of sabotage for the 2023 Dark Ancient Battlefield. I want skyfarers to read this slowly and carefully until 12:01 AM the day after tomorrow.
"Eternity" energy-saving mode. By "not regenerating" about half of the skirt, the long sleeves, and some percentage of other miscellaneous parts, the energy consumption rate is halved... in short, it doubles the remaining operational time!!
Naturally, wearing fewer clothes reduces the defensive coverage area. Since I have no idea what he applied to that dagger, on top of Riot still holding the advantage of the smokescreen, it might be risky.
But that's exactly why I'm doing it! Besides, it's not like I don't have a secret plan. If he's literally going to "wrap me in smoke", I have an idea of my own.
"Vestige of the Raging Storm Emperor・Extreme...!"
Deploying for a single step!
Vestige of the Raging Storm Emperor・Extreme doesn't accelerate you unless you take a second step. It just makes you do a triple spin on the spot, but......... what's important is the principle, or rather, the process.
I'm not entirely sure what this accessory is, but it houses the power of some incredibly strong wind-attribute something. The principle behind its acceleration isn't enhancing my muscles or anything like that......... it's being pushed forward by the wind.
Being colorless and transparent, making it hard to see, its form is revealed now that the smokescreen has provided it with color. The vortex of wind pushing me forward grabs the smoke, drags it around, and then blows it away. Well would you look at that... I was being propelled by such a strong wind.
However, because the smokescreen that had thickly enveloped my surroundings was violently blown away, a human-sized patch of smoke was left isolated on the spot. He might have been able to hide his features, but he couldn't completely hide his figure... Judging by the bullet hits, I thought he was getting fairly close, and it seems I was right.
"Even beating you down head-on counts as an 'assassination'! It's an assassination battle!!"
"What a ridiculous argument...!"
As if to say, 'What part of charging in with a handgun readied but not firing is an assassination?', Riot raised his voice for the first time. Even so, it wasn't as if he was panicking; his hands calmly applied some sort of enchantment to his dagger.
The moment I visually confirm that, I throw away the guns in both my hands.
".........!?"
"I'll teach you what the ultimate deadly weapon that no sensor can ever detect is...!!"
Skill activated.
"Miracle of the Divine God of Victory───"
◇
The smokescreen Riot used is the "Black Sealing Veil," which currently boasts the absolute highest performance in the item pool when it comes to blocking vision. It is an excellent time-stalling item that applies debuffs not just to sight, but also to hearing and smell, but it has the drawback of a short duration per use.
Therefore, Riot maintained the smokescreen by continuously using "Blackout." It was an extremely painful expense, but he did so because he judged the opponent was worth it.
Looking solely at the result, Riot, whose thorough efforts to hide his position using both the smokescreen and his own concealment skills were exposed by a skill that "presents the optimal attack route," remained comparatively calm.
That is exactly why he was able to launch a counterattack against Sunraku—who had challenged him to close-quarters combat even going as far as to throw away his guns—all while wondering "Why?".
The smokescreens he had continuously thrown were blown away, and by now had almost entirely vanished.
He had no leeway to throw any more, so the audience surrounding the barrier, who hadn't been able to see anything until just now, were also able to witness the scene.
"A horn...?"
More than the reason for the mysterious shout of "Mogami River," more than the maid outfit turning into a miniskirt, more than the fact that both of them are on the verge of clashing right now.
Sunraku's right arm was shining brilliantly in gold from the shoulder to the fingertips, and because he had bent his elbow......... yes, their eyes were stolen by the sight of a blow resembling the horn of a bull exploding into Riot.
"───Might of the Horned Bull!!"
◆
During my process of leveling up again, there was something I realized.
In Shangri-La Frontier's skill development, there are a few methods to transform existing skills into new ones.
For example, Evolution, where the skill itself transforms upon leveling up; Fusion, where skills are combined to become one; and Connection, where two or more skills are linked together as one. But that wasn't what caught my attention.
There is a skill called "Hercules Strike". And there is also a skill called "Hercules Blaster".
The difference between these lies in the means of attack required to activate the skill... but that's not what's important.
Basically... it means there's a series, right?
That's when I focused on the skill called "Divine Strike of Certain Victory".
Hercules, that was Heracles, right? If Heracles' name formed a series, then under the hypothesis that skills bearing the names of gods or heroes have series, I thoroughly researched this skill.
A huge part of it was discovering through donations to Elk that it's possible to re-learn skills I had learned in the past.
In short, I repeatedly used "Divine Strike of Certain Victory" as synthesis material and then re-learned it. For leveling, I made use of those modified bio-weapon-like things in Behemoth.
Because if I wanted to see the "derivatives", I'd probably need various attack patterns... and sure enough, my prediction was correct.
The acquisition of the "Miracle of the Divine God of Victory" series bearing the name of Verethragna. That was something that further elevated my performance.
A lariat clad in a skill effect resembling the horn of a shining bull slammed into Riot's neck, and in the split second before that power was released... I felt like I caught a slight glimpse of Riot's eyes.
It was as if they wanted to say, 'Why was the blade I thrust into Sunraku's stomach repelled?'... There's only one reason, obviously.
Unlike Shakkotsu Saishin, which cancels out the Scars themselves and temporarily nullifies their restrictions, right now, I'm just forcing myself to wear clothes, so the buff/debuff interference nullification from the Scars is still active!!
Did you panic when your concealment was exposed? The moment you enhanced your dagger with Enhancement Magic, its threat level dropped below a blunt knife as long as I protect my face and waist!!
"Blow away!!"
Along with my shout, the power loaded into my upper arm pressed against Riot's neck exploded. Riot was violently blown away, trailing black smoke.
Author's Afterword
I didn't know the name of those parts that look like the cuffs of long sleeves left behind on short-sleeved maid outfits for a long time, but I just learned it today after looking it up. They're called wrist cuffs, apparently.
・The "Miracle of the Divine God of Victory" Series
There are ten of these in total. Or rather, you could say the "Miracle of the Divine God of Victory" series is a sub-category of the larger "Divine God of Victory" series.
Aside from Might of the Horned Bull, Sunraku has learned one other "Miracle".
・Might of the Horned Bull
The Kenka Bomber, or more accurately, its origin, the Ax Bomber. A lariat or punch delivered with the arm bent in an L-shape at the elbow. Because there's a hitbox on the fist as well as the elbow, against giant enemies where a lariat can't be applied, it's also a skill where you "charge with a readied fist and smash it straight into them," like a combination of a dash and a punch. [*1]
Translator's Notes
- [1] Kenka Bomber, Ax Bomber: Kenka Bomber is Neptuneman's signature lariat in Kinnikuman, which is a direct parody of Hulk Hogan and his Ax Bomber.
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