Chapter 882: December 20th: Questioning the Rights and Wrongs of that Beauty
Author's Preface
I missed the mark by 7 on my Hall of Fame predictions, so this is my accountability update, six more chapters to go...
The character "Faeria" is... indescribable, yet if you open your mouth, you can spit out an infinite amount of complaints. That is the kind of character she is.
In terms of setting, she is certainly a good-natured, slightly sheltered character, but her output contains all possible malice... no, what is it... harmful intent? Hostile intent? Or something more like... are they mocking us? ...what is it, really... even though I could name as many things as there are stars in the sky for "specifically what parts of her are trash," I do not know how to summarize it all and express it.
The character's personality, actions, challenges... added to the gameplay demands, difficulty, bugs... multiplied by the development side's negligence, arrogance......... a disgusting dish made with disgusting ingredients and disgusting seasonings, strictly following a disgusting recipe.
No, even this doesn't feel right... it's truly hard to describe. I can't definitively call it 100% trash, but if you asked me, "Well, if it's 99% trash, is the 1% decent?" I'd want to instantly deny it and say, "No, that's not the case at all."
"If all the elements were graded on a deduction system, it'd be 0 points, but on an addition system, it's about 10 points, so you can't definitively call it 0 points, which pisses me the hell off... Don't you think it feels something like that?"
"............"
Garunose, the core of his killing intent was fully worthy of empathy. To think he was a Fae-kuso player... Is this a trick of fate, or the gravitational pull possessed by Faeria's face?
"With a fellow alumni of that game, huh... A well-made encounter for a spontaneous live stream."
Garunose's face, replying somewhat ironically, did not look like he was feigning ignorance or forcing himself to go along with the conversation. In other words, that was indeed the case.
That said, since he's a fellow comrade, I have no reason to ask Garunose "Why?" anymore. But he has one for me. And the words he asked the next time he opened his mouth didn't deviate from my expectations.
"...If you've played it, why are you on the defending side? Were you asleep during the 'three minutes'?"
"No, I drove a flying kick into her."
"Is that so... for me, it was a roundhouse kick."
An atmosphere of "I understand..." emerges between Garunose and me. The audience watching this battle surely has no idea what we're talking about.
However, the sympathy connecting Garunose and me, despite completely not knowing each other's character, transforms into a strange sensation... as if we had met somewhere before, and had just now remembered that friendship.
"So... why am I defending, huh? Well, you know... there's copyrights and various other things... but it's just an accidental resemblance, right?"
"..............."
"When I encountered her by surprise, I genuinely almost threw a punch completely unconsciously, but... well, she didn't make me run from one end of the New Continent to the other on errand quests. If so, wouldn't it be barking up the wrong tree to force a grudge meant for a different person onto her?"
Even I think that's a sound argument that leaves no room for rebuttal. But Garunose's reply to it was also a kind of sound argument... or rather, it was a claim so logically consistent that experienced players like Garunose and me would want to call it a sound argument.
"I don't... just want to erase that face from this world. It's to make them understand that reusing that face was a mistake."
"..............."
This time it was my turn to fall silent. I'm weak when you point that out...
In the first place, the origin of this whole thing, or rather the root of all evil, is that they mysteriously brought in Fae-Trash's data via a Star System conversion from a trash game.
Then, if you ask who is to blame, it's none other than the person whose name is listed in the development of both Fae-kuso and ShanFro... Amachi Ritsu.
Therefore, Garunose made a calm yet firm declaration of intent. "I haven't forgiven them yet"───
"I see, huh........."
There's really nothing that can be done about this. What I'm defending is the "Arfiliya is not Faeria" part; if the official setting was that Faeria herself was in ShanFro, I don't know what I would have done.
Both Garunose and I are ghosts from the past, earthbound spirits trapped in the land called Fae-kuso. A part of me wants to lament how sad it is that two earthbound spirits have to beat each other up, but.........
"I won't deny it. I can't deny it......... but when that happens, there's only one method to choose."
If you want to push your own way through, sometimes you have to mow down the others clashing into you from the opposite side. No matter how respectable it is, no matter how painfully you can empathize with it.
"If you want to pass through here, defeat me first... or something like that."
Was this the line of a brave warrior, alone, holding back an assassin aiming for the princess? Or, from his perspective, was it the line of a mid-boss standing in the way as the opening act for the Demon Lord?
In response to my fighting pose, he too readied his tower shield, the mass of its "surface" hiding his One-Handed Axe.........
"───Saina."
"Acknowledged: Good luck in battle, Contractor."
I felt like I could hear the audience's murmurs of 'So nice~' unusually clearly. I pondered whether I should give them a smirk in response───
A gunshot.
"Hyuhhh!!"
The next moment, as if blowing out the candles on a birthday cake... the breath released from my pursed lips brushed against the scarlet jaw, and, as if lighting a match, was converted into a Scorching Line and fired straight at Garunose.
Seiten Style "Soukyuu". A skill that normally fires a high-speed clump of air in exchange for narrowing the range to the absolute limit, now imbued with flames due to the effect of the Cardinal Jaw. Against monsters, it serves as nothing more than a feint to startle them, but with heat added and against a human... it possesses an effect that goes beyond a mere feint!!
"...!"
My target was just barely above the tower shield, slightly exceeding the wall that separated the majority of the human Garunose from me. Because it was close to his head, he couldn't completely ignore it, and the deceptive laser pierced through that spot.
My thought acceleration, Eye of Eternity, was already activated, so within the slow-motion field of vision, I could recognize Garunose's eyes turning towards "Soukyuu"......... It's completely just a first-move feint, so why is he reacting to it?
But it's a feint. In other words, the real attack lies elsewhere.
Within the slow-motion, I closed the distance all at once at a relatively normal speed, and right before him, Multiple Circular Motion. I take his back with an invincible surprise-attack gimmick!!
The first move's laser, the second move's gap-closing, and the third move after circling behind him... striking the back of his head with Divine Strike of Certain Victory. No matter what kind of helmet he's wearing, a multi-hit fist should definitely be able to drive the impact and damage in... or so it was supposed to be.
The moment the fist I swung through hit the back of his head, I realized... It wasn't the back of his head.
The point of impact for my fist had changed from the back of his head to around his Side of the Head. The moment I recognized that he "was already turning around"...
Gya-gigii!! With a sound like metal smashing against metal, my fist was repelled by Garunose's elbow strike.
"Wha........."
You gotta be kidding me, hey, he went and parried it with his elbow!!
Author's Afterword
Thrusting the "Trophy Head" of Faeria at Amachi Ritsu, saying, "You're wrong."
The humiliation of tasting anger twice, I wonder if it will clear up even after doing all that.
・Full-Body Martial Arts
A skill that applies a parry hitbox to all five limbs, where if you use a weapon, you can just deflect with that, and even if you fight bare-handed, since you deflect with your hands and feet, there is no great benefit in applying a hitbox to "all five limbs," and because it is sufficient to use lower-tier skills that apply a similar parry effect to the hands and feet which have a higher recast rotation rate, it is considered a skill with very little necessity to acquire.
Furthermore, the lower-tier skills that apply a parry hitbox to the arms do not include the elbows and upper arms in their area of effect.
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