ch361-ch380 · 369-ch369

Chapter 369: 【Contradiction】 Part 2

"Here, your umbrella. I brought a sword too, just in case...... we don't need armor, right?"

"Right, thanks. We're only going to look, after all."

I take the plastic umbrella.

(【Charge・Spear・Weapon Enhancement・Spear】)

A one-instant activation.

It's fine—it works on an umbrella too.

Well, it's more or less a spear.

Maybe I should bring the gauntlet along after all......

Ah!

"What? There's no hole in it, you know?"

I open the umbrella and point it at Aikawa.

Imagery is everything.

Hiding my body from Aikawa as I do it......

(【Charge・Shield・High】! It works! 【Charge・Shield・Armor Enhancement・Shield・High】!)

And release.

The umbrella was a shield.

And a spear as well.

With my shoes, that makes three things I can activate on—no Shield Gauntlet needed.

Well, up to around Floor 20 I wouldn't need weapon enhancement anyway.

At my current strength, a full-power kick could probably one-shot an Orc General too.

"What are you grinning about?"

"Oh, both the spear charge and the shield charge went through. Umbrellas might actually be amazing."

If we had them put a jumonji crosshead on the tip, it might even work as a real weapon!

No—forget it, why not a drill......

"Oh, that thing? It IS fun, isn't it. It's plastic, though—does it actually work as a shield?"

When I say that, Aikawa does the box step.

She's testing whether she can enhance it herself.

"Did it work?"

"Hmm. Just the shaft, I think. The umbrella part—the ribs holding it up—probably didn't get enhanced. Hold it up for me. And keep it enhanced."

Dance enhancement covers weapons in general, so as long as Aikawa recognizes something as a weapon, she should be able to enhance anything.

Me showing off the shield version first might have been a mistake.

"Hold it, hold it. You'll put a hole in it."

Kiiing, kiiing—that classic metal ring you'd never expect from a plastic umbrella rings out.

No hole opened. Safe.

"Whoa, that's amazing! Isn't that way too hard?"

"Well, mine's burning MP, so it should be harder than an ordinary shield job's. Even if an attack exceeds its capacity, it'll spend the charged MP to block it—once, anyway."

My MP is draining, so please stop.

"Ah, I get it. Like 'Charge Spear''s MP-release attack—no wait, it's a shield, so a release-defense. That's how it works. Hm-hm. A spear that pierces anything, and a shield that blocks anything. Oh! Then what happens if you thrust 'Charge Spear' into 'Charge Shield'?"

Are you the customer from the land of Chu in the old story?

Contradiction......

Long ago, in the land of Chu, there lived a merchant who sold shields and spears.

The merchant declared, "This shield is so sturdy, nothing can pierce it."

And praising his spear: "This spear is so sharp, there is nothing it cannot pierce."

A customer asked, "What happens if you pierce that shield with that spear?"

The merchant could not answer.

It was Han Feizi who wrote it, if I recall?

The tale of how an all-piercing spear and an all-blocking shield cannot exist at the same time.

And I can't answer either—or so you'd think?

"The one with more MP charged wins, I'd say? The shield side is the high-tier version, so it charges 2 per second—but a shield that's charged 20 over 10 seconds versus a spear that spent 30 seconds charging 30 MP of MP? I'd give it to the spear. In practice, though, 1 or 2 MP is within the margin of error, so at similar charge, the shield wins on the base material, I guess?"

Strictly as a matter of skill effect, it's about whoever has the more MP charged.

Actually, I traded blows with the 'Helmet Warrior skeleton' and its shield did block me—but neither its shield nor my weapon broke.

"If it can't pierce, the spear loses—isn't that way too unfair to the spear, huh?"

No spear in a normal state can pierce a shield to begin with.

"So that attack that one-shots the Manticore can be blocked too, then? That's absolute defense!"

"It can block it—but only once. And it's not really absolute defense, either. 'Sword Saint-chan''s 【Dimension Slash】 cut through it like it was nothing."

Well—it wasn't exactly nothing......

"Ehhh? You said you fought her before, right? 'Sword Saint-chan' used 【Dimension Slash】 in a practice match? Isn't that SO petty of her? So 【Dimension Slash】 is the strongest spear, huh—"

It was 'Sword Saint-chan skeleton' that used it, mind you.

Well, the real one does seem like the type to be a sore loser, so I won't deny it.

"Everything's ready, right? Let's go."

I move to use 【Gate】—and freeze.

That 【Dimension Slash】 of hers can be blocked by a 【Gate】 too, you see.

But is 【Gate】 the strongest shield, then? Its area is simply too small—the Lich's fireball can't be stopped by it.

It goes BOOM and explodes, and the flames curve around and swallow you.

That was the upper-tier fire spell 【Blast Ball】, I believe?

But 【Magic Shield】 erases it easily.

Is 【Magic Shield】 the strongest shield, then? It only erases magic—even a 【Charge・Spear】 breaks right through.

There are matchups, is what it comes down to......

"Ah, one more thing?"

"What?"

There's more?

Forgot something?

Should I bring the Lilliputian Spear too, just in case?

We don't know what monsters will show up, and as a projectile......

Throwing the umbrella is a bit much.

"The umbrella can charge as both a shield AND a spear, right? So what happens if you charge both at once?"

"Hm? You can charge both."

It wasn't the umbrella—the Shield Gauntlet was holding shield and armor super modes at the same time, after all.

"And the charge? What happens with the release attack?"

You can charge both, but when it fires, it's 'Armor Shot'—only the armor side ever does a release attack.

What she means is: what if you layered something like 'Shield Shock' on top of that......

"Never tried it, so I don't know. It's dangerous, and I don't need any more firepower. And if the right answer turned out to be 'the dungeon wall blows clean off,' that wouldn't be funny."

The power probably wouldn't just double, though.

It should put out firepower equal to the total MP charged.

But the effects would come out per each skill type that fires.

'Aiming''s accuracy, 'Armor Shot''s launch, 'Shield Shock''s numbness.

Mix and match to suit the purpose—could be useful.

"Ah, that one's a no, then. Sounded fun, but the newbie nearly lost her job over that too...... When you first went after the Manticore, you put a hole in the ceiling too, right? If that had come out, it would've been really bad, huh?"

That, yes.

For the newbie it was a billion-yen loss, after all.

Amazing she wasn't fired.

For me, it was bad enough that the goddess summoned me to yell at me.

The goddess......

Come to think of it......

(【Gate】)

It appeared......

This is......

"Oh, we're going in? Then after you—wham. Hey, what IS this!?"

Aikawa, charging to be first into the new dungeon, smacks her face right into the 'Gate.'

"That's the first 'Gate' I've ever produced. It doesn't connect anywhere."

Stunned by Aikawa stomping around in a fury, I answer anyway.

It being unconnected is fine.

No—could it be......

Just to make sure it wasn't a mistake, I use 【Gate】 once more......

Ah. This is......

It's no coincidence......