chapter4 · 083-ep83

Episode 83: ...No, No Way, Right?

"...Yeah, this is bad."

This one, realistically, might be game over.

Even within Interference Eye+'s range, a serious number of them were headed my way.

And not just from the front.

Several were coming from the way I'd just traveled, and even the ones in the side passage had changed course midway.

"Where am I even supposed to run?"

Either way, staying put was a bad idea.

Tilting toward Agility with Enchant Swap, I hunted for a passage with fewer signatures.

By the way, about Enchant Swap: apparently swapping cost no MP.

"That way, then."

The moment I broke into a run, two monsters rounded the corner ahead.

"Already!?"

One was the armored Greyfish I'd just fought.

The other was one of the beast-like ones.

As I cut to slip past them sideways, the armored Greyfish's sword moved.

"Whoa—"

When I moved to dodge the flying slash, my body cut in a touch closer than I'd planned.

Same feeling as when I'd tested Universal Adaptation.

The moment the slash passed, the beast launched itself at me.

"You too!?"

Dodge. Now.

By the time I thought it, my body had already slipped slightly in between me and the armored Greyfish.

"Huh?"

The beast shot past my side.

And it was standing somewhere the Greyfish's sword couldn't easily reach.

"It picked that spot."

I'd done it myself, but only understanding the why afterward was a strange sensation.

While I was processing that, the next one came.

With Enchant Swap, I tilted toward Strength this time.

Among the enchants fixed by battle armor were some lingering from Enchant Echo.

Apparently Enchant Swap could convert those Echo copies to other stats too.

Only the stat being enchanted changed, though.

If I swapped an Agility Enchant Echo to Strength, it didn't become a plain Strength enchant — it became a Strength Enchant Echo.

"Well. Yeah, obviously."

If swapping made it normal, it wouldn't be an Echo anymore.

I drove a fist into the nearby armored Greyfish's gut.

These monsters were tougher than the old ones, but with Strength boosted through battle armor, my punches landed just fine.

"Yes!"

It didn't drop in one hit, but I knocked it back a good distance.

Just as I moved to follow up, the beast that had shot past came back around.

This time I'd seen the movement once.

The instant it lunged, merely intending to dodge was enough — my body moved exactly as much as needed and no more.

The beast whipped right past me.

"This is so easy!"

No big evasion meant my counter was already loaded.

Still tilted toward Strength, I punched it from the side and the beast tumbled across the floor into motes of light.

"One at a time? Totally manageable."

I'd written myself off when I saw the numbers, but it wasn't as hopeless as it looked.

My body wasn't what it had been on day one, fleeing for three hours.

The stats battle armor boosted, sure — but my movement fatigue had dropped a lot since then too.

I'd been moving since morning today, and my legs still worked fine.

"Look at me growing."

Felt kind of nice.

Okay, bad time for it.

I checked Interference Eye+.

"Whoa, more of them!"

Not the time for self-congratulation.

Four in the passage ahead.

More behind those.

And the signatures trailing me had closed in too.

"I literally just said 'one at a time'!"

If I tried to punch through them one by one, the ones behind would catch up.

I had to act before my exit sealed completely.

"So this is what it's for."

My stockpile was still over ninety percent.

I'd used Dispersion plenty of times over these two days.

It wasn't limited to dumping everything in one blast anymore.

I aimed my right hand down the passage ahead.

"A little wide... Dispersion!"

Energy poured out of me and fanned out ahead.

It drifted right of where I'd aimed, but still caught three of the monsters in the passage.

"Ohh!"

Two dissolved into light on the spot, and the last went flying into the wall.

"Plenty, plenty!"

Didn't need a perfect shape. I just needed the road open.

I re-tilted toward Agility and bolted through the gap in one go.

"This could work?"

Anything that closed in, I'd take down with Universal Adaptation and battle armor.

Whenever they packed together and blocked the road, Dispersion would clear them out.

On the run, at least, it seemed survivable.

"Okay!"

Just a little breathing room.

I kept moving, picking open roads with Interference Eye+.

Naturally, it didn't go smoothly.

Around the next bend, two more.

One launched a slash at me — but I'd seen that move plenty by now.

By the time I moved to dodge, my body wasn't fleeing sideways — it had advanced slightly diagonally forward.

"'Cause this way I close the distance."

The gap kept shrinking.

Enchant Swap to Strength, punch from barely a pass-by distance.

When the second one dove in from the side, my body didn't get yanked fleeing toward it.

A small turn of my torso let the attack slide off, and I never broke stride.

"Universal Adaptation is seriously pulling its weight."

Without it, I'd have had to stop dead over and over by now.

Battle Armor Acceleration had my base movement faster than before, too.

All this running and fighting, and my legs hadn't turned to lead like they did during that three-hour escape on day one.

"I wanted this on day one!"

Bit late for that.

More signatures swelling in from ahead.

"How many of you are there!?"

This time around five of them had packed into the same passage.

Taking those one at a time was not happening.

"Dispersion!"

I spread this one slightly wider than the last.

Three went flying, and it even caught some behind them.

"Yes — open!"

I slipped past the survivors.

Only one chased me down; I dodged its attack glancing backward and sank a fist in.

"Wait, am I actually farming pretty well here?"

I was trying to flee, and my kill count was climbing anyway.

Great for the thousand — not that I had spare attention to count.

More signatures just ahead.

"Seriously, more?"

There was no end to them.

No matter how many dropped, more turned my way.

I could tell several were still moving from farther back than before.

"Why does everyone like me so much!?"

I'm not happy about it, you know.

When the beast charging from ahead attacked, my body sidestepped half a step almost entirely on its own.

That slid me right alongside it — Swap to Strength, punch.

"I can still do this!"

One-on-one, nothing to fear.

Even two at once, after seeing their attack types enough times, my body would manage somehow.

The problem was getting sealed in from the front.

While I hunted an escape route with Interference Eye+, the next passage packed with bodies again.

"Ugh!"

No choice — Dispersion.

I dropped it into the middle of the road and slipped past the ones left sprawling.

The same cycle repeated several times after that.

Punch down whoever got close; blow apart the passage whenever it started to plug up.

Two days of practice had improved my Dispersion shapes somewhat — at minimum, clearing the passage ahead no longer missed wildly.

"Huh. I'm actually decent at this."

Judging by that first count, I'd genuinely thought I was finished. So far, nobody had caught me.

If anything, my body still had room to spare.

"Maybe Battle Armor Sustain is pulling more weight than I gave it credit for."

This deep into a fight in battle armor, my body wasn't weighing down.

Day-one me would've been whining about wanting to sit down ages ago.

"So glad I grabbed that one."

Two more from the front.

My body slipped toward the open side unprompted and dodged one's attack.

The other was too close, so I caught its flying slash with Stagnation.

"Stockpile."

A bit of what I'd spent trickled back.

"Good."

Still, Dispersion was draining faster than the refills.

Curious, I checked.

【Current stockpile: 61%】

"Oh, that's a real dent."

Starting from over ninety percent, I'd burned through more than I thought.

"Well, still over half."

Enough to open the road a few more times.

Good enough for now.

More running.

Before long, the passage ahead was plugging up with monsters.

"Again!?"

Do these guys actually know where I'm trying to go or what?

Obviously not.

I blew the group apart with Dispersion.

I'd spread it too wide this time; the one on the edge barely felt it.

"So you get to stay standing."

Universal Adaptation slipped its attack wide as it closed in, and I punched it from point-blank.

"Good. Next!"

I watched Interference Eye+ while running.

"...Hm?"

Fewer than before?

No — still plenty.

Ahead of me, behind me.

"Probably because I'd killed so many."

Fair.

With this many going down in Dispersion blasts, of course the numbers were thinner than at the start.

No spare thought to spare; I kept going.

I dropped a few more, and when the road jammed, spent Dispersion again.

【Current stockpile: 38%】

"Under forty percent now."

Overused it a bit.

Running this dry would be bad.

Singles were fine with battle armor alone, but if enough of them lined up, I'd lose my one-shot way through.

"Punch as much as possible, then."

Time to ration Dispersion.

Anything in reach I could fell one at a time, and for two or three at once there was always Universal Adaptation.

With my body auto-tuning to enemy attacks, my movement was far cleaner than before.

More and more, I'd "dodge" an attack and find myself already in punching position.

"This is seriously handy."

At this point, isn't my body better at dodging than I am?

Which is, in its own way, a little unsettling.

I dropped a few more in a row, and —

"...Huh?"

Something nagged at me again.

Early on, the next one had arrived the instant the last dropped; lately, little gaps were opening up.

"Are they finally thinning out?"

I'd felled a serious number, so that was probably it.

Looking far out with Interference Eye+, signatures still pointed my way.

"See? Still coming."

So maybe I imagined it.

That was when several poured into the wide passage ahead all at once.

"Nope, not this one!"

Way past five.

Wait any longer and they'd wall me in completely.

"Dispersion!"

I released it a little wide.

The front rank blew apart, and a few deeper in got caught in it too.

"That one cost me."

The road opened regardless.

I bolted through.

The one straggler lunged, and my body slid aside like it was the most natural thing.

Before its body finished flying past, Enchant Swap gave me Strength, and I punched it from the flank.

"There!"

I didn't stop running.

A while later, three more ahead.

"Still coming, huh."

I moved to blow all three away at once — but checked my stockpile first.

【Current stockpile: 9%】

"Whoa, that's all that's left?"

That last blast must have drained a lot.

"Nine percent isn't taking three at once, right?"

One, maybe.

But spending it halfway into zero felt scarier.

While I waffled, the three kept coming.

"Forget it — spending it!"

I narrowed the Dispersion onto the lead one.

Even so it clipped the ones behind a little, and a gap just wide enough to pass opened up.

"Now!"

Tilt to Agility, and through the gap in one burst.

The pursuit stayed hot on my heels.

"Bad, bad, bad."

If the road blocked again, I'd have no choice but to grind it out one at a time.

I checked while running.

【Current stockpile: 0%】

"It's empty!"

Seriously?

"How am I supposed to open a road now!?"

And of course monsters still ringed the area.

Interference Eye+ found me a direction, and I took the passage with the fewest signatures.

"First priority: distance!"

I ran, still tilted toward Agility.

Thankfully, this passage held none.

At this speed, the pursuers behind wouldn't catch me for a while.

I ran for a bit.

"......Hm?"

The footsteps had gone quiet.

Until now, no matter how many corners I turned, several had stayed glued to my tail.

"Did I lose them?"

I looked back with Interference Eye+.

"...Huh?"

The pursuing signatures had stopped.

Not just one.

The one that had chased me to the mouth of my passage just... walked off in another direction.

"Huh?"

I widened the range again.

The ones that had been beelining from far away weren't doing that anymore either.

Some had stopped mid-route; others carried on into different passages.

"Why?"

I didn't do anything.

I just ran.

"Because I put distance between us?"

But just now, even ones much farther out had turned toward me.

Besides.

"...Now that I think about it"

I feel like the numbers had been easing down for a while.

I'd assumed that was my kill count doing its job.

I had killed a lot; that was probably part of it.

But that endless conveyor-belt feeling of new ones arriving had quietly faded partway through.

"What changed?"

The location?

Was where I'd been just a freakishly crowded spot?

"But they were coming to me."

They even changed course when I moved.

Then what else?

"........"

I opened my Status.

【Current stockpile: 0%】

"This?"

Until recently it had been over ninety percent full.

It dropped every time I used Dispersion — and somewhere along the way, the incoming monsters thinned out too.

And now, zero.

As far as Interference Eye+ could see, nothing was converging on me anymore.

"...No, no way, right?"

Concluding from this alone was jumping the gun.

But.

"Is Stockpile mixed up in this somehow?"