ch341-ch360 · 360-ch360

Chapter 360: They Say Legs Have Three Times the Arms' Strength

(【Charge・Armor・Agility Up・High】【Charge・Armor・Magic Up・High】【Charge・Armor・Endurance Up・High】【Charge・Armor・Strength Up・High】)

With super mode, speed is everything.

In the end, I went back to putting Agility first.

I couldn't afford to waste even 0.1 of a second out of fear of the recoil.

Incidentally, I'm not wearing armor—the "catalyst" for activation is my shoe.

If 'Rocket Punch' can launch a gauntlet, 'Rocket Kick' should work too—and from there, well, then the shoe can be enhanced too. That's the theory.

(【Charge・Armor・Armor Enhancement・Armor・High】)

Armor enhancement comes after super mode is up.

(【Scouting】)

First, assess the situation.

【Presence Detection】 and 【Presence Concealment】 were already running when I entered.

I used 【Scouting】 to check whether anyone was hiding nearby.

A dedicated scout type might slip past 【Presence Detection】, after all.

"Naa—tsu—kiii—!"

Soushi breaks into his run.

I'm in super mode, so it looks slow.

Armor super mode is the high-tier enhancement, so it feels even slower than spear-only super mode.

Aikawa is down...... but there's a response on 【Presence Detection】, so she's alive.

Looks like we made it in time.

And the man standing beside her.

By the 【Presence Detection】–Umemoto theory, his strength is about middling.

(About Anego-san's level, maybe?)

Among the Triple-Ranks I know, he's stronger than the newly minted women adventurers other than Anego-san—but I'd say he falls short of the Association staffers Ishikawa-san and 'Yellow-Green-san.'

Aikawa should be considerably stronger.

So why is Aikawa down?

A little away from Aikawa are Mizuki and the other two—they're safe too.

And near them, a man with a gun.

I see—a hostage.

Another man who looks like their friend is sprawled nearby—so once she dropped one, he took a hostage and she couldn't do anything anymore.

'◇－◇－◇－◇－、◇－◇－◇－◇－！！'

'△－△－△－△－'

What language?

I can't make it out, but he's pointing his gun this way.

(【Gate】)

I put the 'Left Eye Gate' right beside the gun-wielding man and the 'Right Eye Gate' beside me, grab his gun arm, and pull.

Once he's through, I snap the 'Gates' shut.

All told: 0.5 seconds.

Whoops—my pull crushed the bones in his hand with a crunch.

I botched holding back because I'd JUST entered the dungeon—and because this guy isn't an adventurer.

Without Level or Status corrections, this is about what you'd expect.

He's down on the ground, and—might as well take care of the rest of his limbs while I'm at it. Crack, crack.

In a shonen manga, this is where it gets hot—the hostage's gone, so Aikawa gets her rematch, that kind of development.

"Against enemies just starting to ready themselves, that one hasn't lost yet!"—that kind of thing.

Then the enemy turns around and Aikawa's standing back up, like that.

But this time it's turning into the shoujo-manga kind of development, with Soushi-kun riding to the rescue.

"So—uu—shi—! No—! This—guy's—! Too—stro—ong—!!"

The downed Aikawa shouts.

She doesn't sound too bad off.

(Maybe I should have her fight after all?)

She does feel stronger than Soushi.

For some reason, magic jobs feel weak under the Umemoto theory.

But if it's Soushi......

"Waa—ter—Pre—ssu—re—!!!"

Nice—'Water Magic' making use of the falling rain.

The 'Water Magic' laser-jets from Soushi's hand—into the man's leg......

(The evasion skill!? Now! 'Armor Shot'!)

I saw the evasion skill and fired before I knew it.

I mean, until very recently I was fighting someone who spammed the evasion skill FOREVER, you see.

When I see the evasion skill, I just can't help timing my attack to its end.

Because if I don't attack at THIS moment, he'll just use the evasion skill again......

(Ah, oh no......)

I fired 'Armor Shot' like kicking a soccer ball.

The shoe blasting off my foot outpaces Soushi's 'Water Magic' from a moment ago—launched like a true laser, ignoring inertia through the 'Charge Armor' effect, accelerating even further—into the man's belly......

The man's body, bent into a '<' shape, goes flying—and keeps on flying.

"Oi! That was dangerous! It just grazed me!"

Super mode cuts out, and the flow of time returns to normal.

Soushi is furious—but it didn't graze him.

The shock of the shoe passing by made it FEEL that way.

That's how much power it had......

"Whoa—you OK—?!"

Without so much as a glance at the fallen shoe, I dash to the man I sent flying.

His pulse...... can't find it.

He's...... breathing.

Heart's still going, too.

'Geboggeboh.'

Eek—he's coughing up blood......

K-keep the airway clear—how did that go again?

No, no—first, hear my excuse.

My MP wasn't even up to 10, so it was supposed to be fine.

So what went wrong? The soccer kick.

Normally when I fire 'Rocket Punch,' it's no-motion. No windup.

But this time I fired 'Armor Shot' off a full soccer kick, and all that momentum came along for the ride.

Throwing a spear: with just 10 MP banked, I have more than enough strength to punch clean through a watchman orc on a hilltop.

My MP fell short of 10, sure—but they say the legs have three times the arms' strength......

"Maybe he botched holding back."

"......Right. Serves him right."

Soushi and the others' conversation drifts over.

These people and their ill-omened chatter.

But my hands are shaking.

(Me too, just like Umemoto-san—off to Hokkaido......)

Ah—I wonder if Miko-san managed to find Umemoto-san?

Big snow up there by now, probably?

Come to think of it, it's raining in this dungeon.

Rain-fall dungeons are rare and precious, you know.

They become water sources, and some get designated emergency shelters.

At the same time, if criminals hole up in a dungeon like that, they can live off the land and never be caught—so these usually aren't open to the public.

Plenty of cases like that overseas.

This one will probably end up an SDF-only dungeon.

......This is me escaping reality.

If only this were a dream.

(Ah—there's the goddess.)

So it WAS a dream?

Well, I did come to Mizuki's house exactly as told—I'll take my reward.

"Mind stomping on my foot for a sec?"

"Eh? The foot without a shoe? L-like this?"

Yes, yes—give the right foot a good grind, please.

Doesn't hurt. A dream, just as I thought.