Chapter 875: December 20th: Skills are "Able" Techniques
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.
".........Hm."
I thought I landed a pretty "good" one just now.
The blown-away Riot didn't shatter into pieces, nor did he roll on the ground; incredibly, while being blown back, he regained his stance and "landed".
"Damage mitigation? No, it didn't feel like he guarded against it, but..."
When you punch a player who has applied defensive skills or enchantments, they feel, how should I put it... hard. It's a sense of resistance, like they don't get blown away as much as you'd expect... But that Might of the Horned Bull just now was definitely a direct hit.
Yet he still withstood it. And it didn't feel like a luck-based endure effect either. He was acting as if he landed coolly, but I didn't miss that he had severely scraped his knees. That was a scrape guaranteed to deal at least 1 point of damage... Meaning, at that point in time, he had enough HP to withstand "Might of the Horned Bull" plus a scrape.
There are three conceivable possibilities.
1: He's using some countermeasure that mitigates the damage value itself rather than relying on defense.
2: His Lifeline is just naturally Extremely Thick.
3: In short, as long as the damage doesn't drop his HP to 1, he doesn't care if he gets a scrape. Which means...
"Is the black smoke mainly to conceal healing effects? There was some kind of red light mixed in for a split second, wasn't there?"
"............"
If you're going to roleplay, you ought to use your silences more carefully. That right there is the silence of affirmation.
A silence leaning toward denial is easier to fake — just laugh it off with a snort for the time being.
"I don't believe healing during combat was prohibited........."
"Well, I didn't explicitly forbid it, no."
If he's going to heal, there are ways to deal with it, and if it's allowed, I'll use it too.
That being said, if I can't figure out the underlying principle, it's a genuine threat. If it has reproducibility, I might not even be able to land a finishing blow if I mess this up.
"............"
Assuming it needs to be activated "before" receiving an attack, it makes sense why he'd hide its activation. Because, in essence, it's a counter technique.
However, that red light appeared "after" he took the attack, which means he doesn't intend to hide the activation itself... I think. It can't be helped, time to bait him.
"For a magic trick, the secret behind it is pretty easy to figure out, isn't it!?"
"Tch!!"
Remaining deliberately unarmed, I rush him honestly, raising my fists in a way that screams, 'This is more than enough.'
"Do you really not want your abilities deduced from your face that badly!?"
"!!!"
Oh, a hit on the very first bait. I was planning to bait him by guessing whether it was from the neck up or the neck down, but... A healing effect caused by something identifiable on his face, huh.
The first thing that came to mind was a "Curse." I'm very familiar with those, considering the scars left on me permanently from attacks by Lycaon and the now-deceased Siegwurm. They're good for nothing, but it's a fact that they possess secondary effects aside from their demerits. However, those are basically permanent effects, so it's a bit hard to believe they can be conveniently used to heal in response to damage... I can't definitively say it's impossible, so I'll put that on hold.
Riot's movements as he swings his dagger are quite masterful. Does he have experience as an assassin? I wondered, but that's obviously impossible... In that case, the most likely possibility is that he's a veteran of a game that demands this kind of movement.
I'm fighting empty-handed, but it seems that Might of the Horned Bull from earlier left a very strong impression. He's attacking, but he's somewhat hesitant... or rather, he's wary of close-quarters combat. After all, I've thoroughly demonstrated that blades won't work on me.
Even so, energy-saving mode won't last that long either. If I don't settle this soon, the maid outfit might literally explode at worst... Even though it's just a maid outfit, I still feel it would be a "waste."
"Now then............"
・He's hiding his face because seeing it would reveal the principle or logic behind his ability.
・If I get extremely close, I can faintly see his face through that black smoke.
・Riot's avatar is male, slender, and good-looking. Well, this doesn't really matter.
・His eyes are red, his canines are well-developed............ and he has pale skin.
With this much information gathered, inferences naturally become hypotheses, leading straight to the answer.
But despite all that, I've arrived at the conclusion that "knowing it doesn't mean I can do anything about it"... I can't do anything about racial traits.
Which means the methods I can take are naturally limited... No, I should say the method I can take has been decided.
"Then it's about time we settle this, you cannon fodder... Your assassin playstyle is overwhelmingly lacking something!"
"What...?"
Firepower in a single strike? No. As long as the target dies in the end, whether it's DoT or instant-death magic, the quality of the method doesn't matter.
Stealthiness to remain undetected? No. Assassinations and stealth kills are different things. Whether you drop from a tree undetected to plunge a knife into someone's cervical spine, or charge from the front screaming "Divine Punishment!!!" to deliver a daytime-drama-style execution with a sideways kitchen knife, both fall under the category of assassination.
So what is Riot lacking?
"───Assassinations must be swift. That's an ironclad rule."
With those words, I take a step forward.........
......
............
Little Girl Sensei once said, "There is no bird that doesn't know how to fly."
This isn't about whining with sophistry like 'penguins know how to fly too.' It means that birds that fly in the sky don't just float in the air without understanding anything.
In short, imagination. What kind of "speed" do I want...? What naturally comes to mind is the blessing of the black lightning I lost.
If so, there's only one thing to envision. Therefore, its name is───
............
......
"───'Faster-Than-Light.'"
Rank 7 Connection, at the end of pursuing what was lost from me... I obtained the speed of light.
"!!?"
From Riot's perspective, this probably makes no sense. After all, I appeared right in front of him out of nowhere, only to vanish again.
To reveal the trick, all I did was "dash right in front of him at extreme speed, then circle around to his back using Multiple Circular Motion"......... It's just that I was moving so fast I looked like nothing more than a streak of light.
And then, I gently press my palm against the back of Riot, who I had just flanked.
A face with a poor complexion yet an eye-catching "red," sharply elongated canines. A red healing effect... I don't know the exact details, but I do know of its existence.
A state that maintains the "mold" of one's race, yet alters the racial designation itself... Riot's true identity is the Dragon-Blood Vampire Race! That's the true identity of that blood-like healing effect!! Even if I know that, what am I supposed to do about it! Anyone would die if you drive a stake through their heart!!
So, that's exactly what I decided to do.
"I'll beat you until you die, and I'll do it swiftly...!!"
Bazun!! Like the sound of an explosion... or maybe an incredibly heavy slap. A heavy, echoing impact is unleashed from my palm resting on Riot's back. To the one taking a direct hit, it must feel like being a frog glared at by a snake...
This right here is the Rank 2 Connection, "Limitless Tremor."
The activation condition for this skill is making contact with the palm or the sole of the foot. The effect is a powerful, three-second Stun.
I'll make you realize right now what it means to be stunned in front of me for more than two seconds───!!
Author's Afterword
Star Sea Courier + Idaten Avatar + Gravity Transcendence + Ablaze Advanced Yell + Divine Aid of Dione + Limit Ascension + Sky-Scraping Ground-Shrink
He didn't acquire it because Sunraku did a mysterious dance while linking them, chanting "Speed of light, come to me, speed of light, come to me...!!"............ Rather, it was unlocked through a double correction: "did he perform an action close to it?" and the Speed Holder title's effect that "makes it easier to acquire speed-enhancing mobility skills."
Strictly speaking, it's a skill like a light-speed flipbook that "moves straight ahead while passing through objects to the goal by performing ultra-continuous short-distance teleportation in a state of being there but not being there." As a result, the speed to reach point B from point A in a straight line is higher than Critical Speed, but acquiring this does not grant the Speed Holder title.
In short, it's a sophistry skill that fudges the process by claiming, "I'm technically existing in this space and moving forward from the start to the goal, so this is a running skill," and self-reports that, as a result, he is moving at the speed of light!
Using this "you could say that looking at the result" acceleration simultaneously with the acceleration from "a result following a correct process" is Tias's Tachyon. (In a footrace, if everyone but you falls over, it means you're the fastest, and even if you run normally, you're the fastest—a squared acceleration. So when Little Girl Sensei eats cake, everyone in the world is being tripped, huh.)
By the way, even though it's basically teleportation, due to its nature of "moving straight toward a visually confirmed coordinate," it has the demerit that if another object is placed there, or if the path is visually blocked by a wall or something, the user will crash violently into that blocking object.
In reality, he isn't running or accelerating, but because he self-reports it as such, the corresponding damage is applied retroactively.
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