Chapter 868: December 20th: Lightning Can Be Faked With Roars and Flashes, But Transparent Flames Invite Underestimation
【Tactical Mechs】PvP Combat Research BBS Part 475【Is he human?】
654: Jingi Koukan
Was the PvP we were doing all just make-believe?
655: Gomafu Azara-shi
Isn't PvP supposed to be human vs. human? A human fighting a non-human is just a boss battle, isn't it?
656: Oftun King
So that's how you fight with a kusarigama... I wonder if you can repurpose whip-type binding skills with it.
657: Nekomata-gi
Even if it's advantageous for PvP, I was reluctant to equip highly revealing gear, but after seeing Tsuchinoko-san, it feels like such a stupid thing to worry about...
658: Senshi-tive
He restricted his armor and took basically zero damage, what the hell?
659: ecoJAWS
I bet he's using a vision skill, but coming in for the kill at high speed with his eyes wide open and leaving a trail of afterglow is way too terrifying.
660: Tsuru Pettan
From the looks of it, the opponent didn't seem like a PvP amateur, and a Luck Endure is basically mandatory in this game... did that uppercut just pierce through his Endure?
661: Hydro Bonpu
Wasn't it a multi-hit? The impact effect was flickering.
662: Telvin
A multi-hit skill that isn't an unarmed rapid-fire type... was there ever one with a gold effect?
663: Kisou Tengai
An unarmed skill with multi-hits and high firepower is one step away from being mandatory in PvP, isn't it?
664: Earthfelt
I'm a bare-knuckle PvP guy, but I think that was landed with a perfect 100-point critical, which is why the opponent was taken down in one hit.
I've heard Tsuchinoko-san is specialized in criticals, so I think his upper-limit damage ceiling is extremely high.
665: Hexenschuss
The kusarigama user executed a perfect move too, though... It was just his misfortune that his opponent was a guy who could calmly land a critical uppercut to the jaw while having a chain wrapped around his neck and being pulled...
666: ecoJAWS
I thought that was a vision enhancement, but there's no point in using that in that situation, so was it actually a thought-acceleration skill?
I thought those were exclusive to bow and katana builds.
667: Asaborake
Thought acceleration actually branches off from parrying skills, you know.
Although if you use it on its own, you go into slow motion too.
668: Kamoshamoshamotoki
Or rather, it sucks that you can't do live commentary in-game unless you're physically there. Guess I'll log out and watch the stream...
669: Akasha
Local attendee here, I got a single-digit Sword of Challenge so I'll be challenging him after this.
670: Banryuu Gorai
A lot of people are completely put off by him, but normally, if the current absolute pinnacle of light-warriors is hosting a kumite, there's no reason not to challenge him, right? I'm getting more fired up for this than a chaotic brawl in the war event.
671: Yadomoto °C
The Light Warrior BBS usually ends up bringing up Tsuchinoko-san at least 3 times before using up one whole thread... well, it's absolutely true that the Orchestra stream was way too shocking, though.
672: ω-Nee
That skill where he circles around while accelerating is strong, isn't it... Just being able to flank at high speed in PvP while the user sets the size of the circle is just too much of a human right in PvP.
You can learn that in the Leviathan, right?
673: Uke Kensei
The weapon he used in the first fight against that macho guy is way too insane. The fact that a slashing effect appeared on impact means he was launching sword skills with it, right? That's totally broken.
674: Telvin
The firepower is way too low, so it's probably not as broken as you'd think.
If he can secure a guaranteed 1-hit kill on a light warrior with that uppercut from earlier, then it's weird that the macho samurai was only near-death after taking that many hits from a multi-hit slashing skill.
If he didn't die from that number of hits, then even assuming he was equipped with Talismans of the Full-Body Heroic Figure, maybe that slashing shot doesn't receive STR scaling?
674: Star Gazy
It does feel like the gunshot itself is primarily meant to inflict the skill's effect, with damage being a secondary concern.
Though I feel like you could still use skills with its weirdly shaped sword hitbox if you just swung it normally...
676: Joe Jack
More importantly, what was up with those nunchucks?
677: ω-Nee
Just a fake-out.
678: Asaborake
His movements right up to striking the pose were so perfect that I got completely fooled.
I mean, nunchucks actually exist in the game... I bet three-section staffs are a thing too.
679: Hydro Bonpu
The next challenger has entered!
680: Kisou Tengai
What's Tsuchinoko-san going to use against him?
681: Nekomata-gi
The challenger is a spear user, huh. It has a relatively long reach, so normally they'd be at an advantage, but...
682: Earthfelt
A spear is useless against someone who can fight at mid-range, is insanely fast, and specializes in point-blank combat... You'd at least need a shield.
683: Kamoshamoshamotoki
A knife?
684: Akasha
That's a throwing item, not even a weapon anymore...
685: Jingi Koukan
That being said, with that striking performance, he's basically just as troublesome empty-handed.
686: Uke Kensei
By the way, how do you even read this challenger's name?
687: Ronin Saint
Takukyubin, Ta-ku-kyuu-bin, Home Delivery (Takkyubin).
688: Star Gazy
Or rather, just how many weapon variations does Tsuchinoko-san have?
How many has he used so far?
689: Tsuru Pettan
Sword, twin swords, katana, gun, halberd, fists, shield, nunchucks... were a fake, a gun-sword, a knife?
690: Oftun King
Seriously, how many is that?
His skills are gonna overflow if he uses that many.
691: Akasha
Well, I wonder about that.
692: Joe Jack
Challenger, opening with a discarded-chant magic!
693: Star Gazy
That's not a spear, it's a wand!!
694: ecoJAWS
Completely disguising himself as a spear user, armor included, to unleash AoE firepower, huh... It might work on trash mobs, but against a strong monster it wouldn't amount to more than a cat-feint, so he must be a PvP player.
695: Earthfelt
Tsuchinoko-san is dodging!
696: Yadomoto °C
Wait, how is he dodging that? That was a complete surprise attack.
697: Akasha
He just said, 'Sorry, but I'm completely used to pulling off and falling for those kinds of bluffs!'
698: Asaborake
What kind of life do you have to live to go through an environment where mutual deception is the norm?
699: Banryuu Gorai
That fire-attribute magic, if I recall correctly, doesn't have much power, but it scatters like water spraying from a hose and stays on the ground for quite a long time, right?
700: Telvin
It's 【Blessings Burning on the Earth】, a field-suppression magic completely meant for PvP.
701: Senshi-tive
No, but it's actually a good move. Granted, at that distance, even if he charges in at high speed, it won't be a surprise attack.
What are you going to do, Tsuchinoko-san?
702: Uke Kensei
Couldn't he just use that gun from earlier?
703: Asaborake
If he can use Flame Shower, he's probably in an upper-tier job, and if he has solid PvP movements, he'll use Mate-Pro eight or nine times out of ten, right?
704: Oftun King
【Offensive Material Interception Barrier】 is a barrier that blocks physical attacks up to a certain amount, right? I sometimes see magic classes die when it gets shattered because it can't withstand a monster's attack.
705: Jingi Koukan
In PvP, it buys you time to chant, so it's normally a highly capable magic.
706: Asaborake
Well, if you swing a greatsword with full momentum and smash it, it shatters pretty easily though.
From mid-range, unless it's firepower like an anti-materiel rifle, it can usually withstand two or three sh—IT SHATTERED!?!?!
707: Earthfelt
What did Tsuchinoko-san just do!?
708: Hexenschuss
He kicked the knife!?
709: Macaroni Daedalus
I was watching from a place where Tsuchinoko-san is relatively easy to see, and there was some kind of skill effect on it.
On both the knife and his foot.
710: Tsuru Pettan
Huh? A skill that kicks to throw?
711: Ouji Tofu
What the heck is that?!
712: Hachinoji Eikei
It smashed Mate-Pro in a single hit, hit the user, and self-destructed... or rather, it dealt ultra-high damage while self-destructing?
I recognize this M.O., this absurd firepower that shatters the moment you swing it!
713: Hexenschuss
This is Pasta's work!
714: Ronin Saint
Instead of a weapon that feels like a consumable item, that Pasta bastard actually made a consumable item...
◆
In preparation for this "operation," I requested the cooperation of two players.
One is... well, it is incredibly, immensely unwilling on my part, but as far as I know, she is a magic class whose name would easily come up first, or at least in the top five, when ranking the best in this game... Deep Slaughter. A jack-of-all-trades becomes omnipotent once they cross a certain threshold. Without the cooperation of Deep Slaughter, who handles offense, defense, and teleportation as if to say 'I have everything covered', it would have been impossible to maintain this 1v1 situation.
And the other... Imron.
She can craft weapons, she can craft armor, she crafted the Swords of Challenge... and above all, she has a wide face.
Weapon crafting, which would require decades of training if attempted in real life, allows you to skip those years in ShanFro based on the sheer number crafted. Blacksmiths here exist in numbers that can't even be compared to reality, and they too, whether shallow or deep, have connections, just as warriors and mages exchange opinions.
It was also Imron who mediated the connection with a Blacksmith holding the player name Mass-Produced Pasta—a name you really shouldn't give to a person.
Imron is a Hero Blacksmith possessing the Holy Hammer Mjolnir. And the moment it is known that the Holy Hammer exhibits special effects on forging, the path player Blacksmiths aim for branches into two.
Either they hone their skills to catch up to and surpass Imron, or they master strengths that Imron lacks. Mass-Produced Pasta-shi is a Blacksmith of the latter category. The weapon types he creates, the "Pasta Series," are extremely simple, yet possess exceptionally sharp and specialized performance.
Weapons and armor have durability, and if it reaches zero, that weapon is basically lost. Therefore, "how much durability to secure" is apparently an important factor when Blacksmiths craft weapons and armor. Naturally, if they place too much emphasis on durability, it just becomes a "sturdy weapon," and they cannot grant it any further effects. Among the weapons I own, the 【Swirling Vortex White Waves】 falls into that category.
Well, that has its own demand, but... naturally, once you reach that train of thought, coming up with the next stage is only logical.
If you invest too much in durability, it just becomes a sturdy weapon and you can't grant it other abilities. Then, what if you shave down the durability to its absolute limit...? Just how much of an effect could be loaded onto a weapon so fragile it would shatter if you blew on it?
───Extra Pasta Series 【Penne】
It's a throwing knife with the idiotic property of beginning to self-destruct the moment you start to swing it, and an idiotic appearance of being entirely solid gold, but he laughed and swore to God that they could guarantee the firepower hidden within it.
If you want to land a hit with something more fleeting than a soap bubble that self-destructs in one second, then you have no choice but to stab them from point-blank range... This is a throwing knife, right?
However, Mass-Produced Pasta-shi did not lose his smile in response to my perfectly valid point. I see, 【Penne】 is indeed fragile. It begins to collapse the moment it's used, and its sharpness can only be maintained for a single second... but he said that one second, which required more effort to craft than a poorly made full set of armor, was created specifically to be that way.
That throwing knife begins to collapse the moment it's used, and is forcibly shattered after one second passes.
Let's rephrase.
By shaving down the durability to the point where it begins to shatter the moment you draw it back to throw, that throwing knife succeeded in harboring non-standard destructive power as a throwing knife, and its durability... is exhausted "absolutely in one second." That time limit is neither more nor less.
"Ba.........!?"
"Stab it within one second, that's all that's required."
Conversely, it's a throwing knife that maintains its performance as a weapon as long as it's "within one second". The answer I came up with was the Kick Arts "Distorts Trigger." That skill, which kicks and fires the weapon with a twisting spin, imparted bullet-like rotation and speed to the 【Penne】.
Conversely, the throwing knife, which maintains destructive damage for a full second, blasted through the supposedly physical-damage-nullifying barrier deployed by the mage disguised as a spear user without even a moment's resistance... piercing straight into the fake spear user's throat, where it shattered.
"Impossi, ble...!"
"Actually, that cost 5 million Mani a pop."
"That's so expensive.........!?"
Thwack! I landed a normal throwing knife on the opponent, whose movement had been halted with 1 HP remaining from the outrageous firepower and knockback. Player's Endure is truly a pain; you really have to make sure to drop their HP exactly to zero.
Still, Takukyubin... how do you even read this? This game really has way too many phonetic kanji names.
Now then......... I don't intend to let them catch on just yet; dress up in victory to hide your true depth. I have to make them think my move pool exceeds a hundred, even a thousand, and that I'll expend even those like hot water and water.
I completely hide my true feelings of, "There's no way my wallet and stomach wouldn't ache from using a 5-million Mani consumable! Even I only have two of them!" without showing it on my face or in my voice. PvP is a battle of how flashily you can show off your strengths and how plainly you can display your weaknesses. The only place where you're allowed to charge in shining with both your weaknesses and strengths fully exposed is Bakumatsu.
Author's Afterword
Materials required to craft 【Penne】
・Golden Iron Ore
Exactly as the name suggests, golden iron ore. A lump of golden iron that is the most superior and strongest.
Superior to all other iron ores, it becomes the finest material regardless of its intended use.
Originally, all iron ore should be identical. But those that shine in gold and silver, and those that are dulled in black, white, and ash, hold different values. Therefore, that shining iron ore eventually came to be called the "Radiance of Value."
An ore not found in the Crystal Nest Cliff.
・Aroncares Lapis Hard-Crystal
An extremely mana-dense crystalline body formed by being repeatedly compressed and purified over a long period by mineral-eating monsters. Its hardness itself isn't all that impressive, but its true worth is fully realized when used as a coating agent.
Mineral-eating creatures ingest ore, excrete ore, nurture ore, and then offer their remains to the ore. It is a perfect cycle completed entirely with stones and life.
An ore found in the Crystal Nest Cliff.
・Lapisteria Star Crystal (5th Magnitude Star text)
A peerless jewel praised as a "fragment of the starry sky fallen from heaven." They are ranked by "magnitude."
The brilliance of the stars breathing within the crystal is a flash of magic, harboring a tremendous amount of magical energy.
Once, humans drifted through the sea of stars, but eventually took root on the earth. Perhaps the radiance of this jewel is a part of the starry sky traveling down to the earth, yearning for humanity.
An ore found in the Crystal Nest Cliff.
Volume 11 of the manga adaptation of Shangri-La Frontier is now on sale.
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