ch281-ch300 · 286-ch286
Chapter 286: You Can't Sense Your Own Presence
(Black, is it......)
【Presence Detection】 had no reaction until the helmet warrior emerged from the darkness—could I just not tell black apart from darkness?
Or is it because it's a dream?
Either way, black is a first for a presence color.
(【Charge・Spear・Weapon Enhancement・Spear】【Charge・Spear・Magic Up】【Charge・Spear・Endurance Up】【Charge・Spear・Strength Up】【Charge・Spear・Agility Up】)
I start 【Charge・Spear】 before taking a stance.
Last time I went second, so I started with my flank already gouged.
That is—though the first strike only grazed me, it took enough to call it gouged.
Probably—no, certainly—a 【Charge・Spear】 attack.
And as for the shield: not a plain 【Shield Shock】, but 【Charge・Shield・Shield Shock】 off of 【Charge・Shield・High】, I'd say......
Because his charge time was short, I only got a tingle out of it, thankfully.
If he was running two super modes—hyper mode—the speed and reaction time make sense.
But I can't accept that my equipment is still one single rental spear......
(You can't tell your own presence's color, can you......)
Maybe this guy is me, and my presence is black.
If job, skills, special skill, level, and stats are all identical......
With the helmet warrior outgearing me, I have no chance of winning.
(Tch. And here I was thinking I couldn't even start without a stance......)
The helmet warrior lowers his spear into a stance.
If he takes a stance, then I have to take one too.
Fortunately, when I woke, my MP wasn't reduced.
(Then I can fight at full power!)
First strike wins!
As long as I land a hit......
A thrust with one feint mixed in.
He takes the feint bait, but deals with it easily.
Astonishing reaction speed—he bats it aside with the shield.
My MP charge was a mere 20, and yet...... not a single scratch on his Shield Gauntlet.
(A 20-MP charge won't get through that shield, huh...... 【Charge・Spear・Weapon Enhancement・Spear】【Charge・Spear・Magic Up】【Charge・Spear・Endurance Up】【Charge・Spear・Strength Up】【Charge・Spear・Agility Up】)
I brace for a counterattack, but he pulls back, so I re-charge 【Charge・Spear】.
(Why did he pull back......)
Did he re-charge his shield as well?
Same as last time......
After releasing, he steps back once to re-charge, it seems.
(......Then I'll make him use it!)
I make as if to attack again, luring out his strike.
The cross spear's thrust comes.
(Fast!)
A blow you can't handle precisely because you don't know it's coming.
I barely pull just my body off the line and receive it on the rental spear's shaft.
The instant the cross blade touches the rental spear, it's cut clean in two.
Weapon enhancement at full output.
It breaks THIS easily?
(But this works!)
Just as I expected, the helmet warrior pulls back to recover his footing.
The momentary gap created by chaining skills......
"'Aiming'!"
The rental spear is in halves, but my 【Charge・Spear】 never lapsed.
He's still only got the shield super mode running.
With that gap on display, even on speed I have a chance.
The aim: where the Shield Gauntlet can't reach—below the right knee......
Got him!
I slip past at the last possible moment and pulverize the helmet warrior's right leg.
(I can do this!)
Me with a halved spear, versus a helmet warrior without a right leg.
I'm decisively ahead!
(【Charge・Spear・Weapon Enhancement・Spear】【Charge・Spear・Magic Up】【Charge・Spear・Endurance......ah)
I turn to pursue the collapsing helmet warrior and re-charge—when something falls from above.
(Eh? Hot?)
I dodged—or should have......
Am I burning? Me?
"Uaaaaaaah"
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"—aah, ah? ......Huh?"
"Haruki-san?"
I bolt upright.
Kasumi-san, right in front of me.
......A dream, then.
Everyone's gazes converge on me.
"Sorry. I was having a strange dream."
A ripple of laughter breaks out, then everyone goes back to their conversations.
Embarrassing......
It seems I was in the middle of a meal.
Lunch, probably?
"I'm sorry. If it was a bad dream, I should have woken you. You were smiling right up until the moment you woke, so I simply let you be......"
In Kasumi-san's hand: rations.
The biscuit-block sort of thing.
By day three's lunch, meals have degraded to preserved rations.
And anyway—I was smiling?
"Ah—no, I'm fine. How's the situation?"
Checking the time, barely over an hour has passed.
"Yes. The combat-class people have finished taking their upper jobs, and we are on our lunch break. Going smoothly. The guarding here is fine as well—the newly made upper-job holders take the lead in fighting."
From here it's the general-class people's turn—the main event.
There are more of them than the combat-class, so it's one at a time.
Whether we can make it back to Floor 25 before dark is today's other point......
If it gets dark, I should go ahead and clear the monsters......
"And the jobs? Anything rare?"
"It's personal information, so not from my mouth......"
Having said that, Kasumi-san checks her surroundings and then flashes me a sign.
She'll tell me in secret once we're back, apparently.
Well, I can already hear people bragging all over the place, so by the time we return I'll know everyone's......
"Kasumi-san, get ready, please. These guys won't listen—they're going."
"Yes, yes....... The guard is in good shape, so please rest again after your lunch."
The combat-class people keep bragging, so everyone else is desperate to become upper-job holders.
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(【Charge・Spear・Weapon Enhancement・Spear】【Charge・Spear・Magic Up】【Charge・Spear・Endurance Up】【Charge・Spear・Strength Up】【Charge・Spear・Agility Up】)
Robo-ko-san trying to bring in her robot—restarted with a magic stone—and Anego-san refusing her......
Watching that exchange, I apparently fell asleep somewhere along the way.
Third time, is it.
While thinking "again," I immediately start charging.
("'Aiming'!")
Coming out of the same spot is his own fault!
(The feedback feels light? What is this guy, on the inside......)
Feeling something off, I snatch the cross spear from the helmet warrior as he topples backward.
Weapon change.
The helmet warrior topples into the darkness and vanishes from view, but this can't be the end.
Last time, the attack came from somewhere else.
Above, probably.
Something else has to be here.
(【Charge・Spear・Weapon Enhancement・Spear】【Charge・Spear・Magic Up】【Charge・Spear・Endurance Up】【Charge・Spear・Strength Up】【Charge・Spear・Agility Up】)
Re-charge.
I pull back to the center of the spotlight, watching above—this spot should let me respond.
(Left!?)
Black armor emerges from a different direction than the helmet warrior.
(Eh......? Kasumi-san?)
No—the armor looks exactly like Kasumi-san's, but the presence is different.
This one's presence color is black as well, and a far larger presence than the helmet warrior's.
The walk, the footwork—not Kasumi-san either.
And the stance...... that's not a naginata stance. It's a spear stance.
Answering in kind, I take my own stance.
A cross spear in hand.
With this spear, I can use Hiramatsu-ryu......
(Hm? Is this spear a bit heavy?)
The instant my focus slips, the black armor steps in—smooth and soundless.
Startled by how casually it steps in, but I'm in super mode—more than enough to respond.
Its speed is nothing special.
The helmet warrior was far faster.
(Windmill! Eh?)
I flick up the spear tip thrust straight at me with the butt spike—or so I meant, but what got flicked up was MY spear.
The black armor's tip had slipped in beneath my spear without my noticing.
With the barest movement it goes for my right shoulder—I can see it coming.
(Dodge—I'll make it in time!)
No sooner do I think it.
A thick guandao—the Green Dragon Crescent Blade—sinks into my left shoulder.
Kasumi-san's weapon, all right—and the saw blade at that!
The old version, isn't it......
(The spear...... Ugh—damn it. The attack came at the side I dodged to......)
I dropped the spear just now......
Naturally, super mode cuts out too.
I was convinced the attack was coming for my right shoulder, let go with my right hand to evade—and ended up stabbed in the left shoulder, unable to hold a spear at all.
All of it calculated. All of it guided.
The black armor—this one is simply strong......
(No pursuit? What's wrong?)
Stuck in a despairing pinch, yet after pulling the blade out, the black armor doesn't move from the spot......
What's wrong?
(Ah)
I feel heat and look up—a fireball is right upon me.
【Fireball】?
Far too big for that.
Dodging isn't even the question.
Though it lands some distance away, the blast swallows me whole.
I sense the black armor's presence charging in—but my consciousness cuts out right there......