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Chapter 159.1 : Berserker Vs Archer
Meiko had already lost Kotarou’s 『Twin Shadow』. But as a result, she arrived right in front of the basecamp of Sakurai Touya. Just one more step until she checkmated the 『Archer』 who stayed in his hiding place.
And from this point was the rear unit’s oldest problem. He who broke through the bluff shield of Kotarou finally could go all out to shoot the berserker to death with his arrow.
Arrows incessantly rained above Meiko. The number of arrows he fired within a single moment was comparable to dozens of archers firing their arrows at the same time, however, it was actually achieved by a single person using rapid-firing skill. Facing the barrage of arrows that didn’t leave any gap for her to escape, Meiko calmly raised her shield.
「――Tsk, as I thought, normal arrows won’t work on her huh.」
The huge 『Dark Tower Shield』 used by Meiko repelled those rain of arrows. Though every single one of those arrows was strong enough to crush even the gore’s tough scales, it was far from enough to pierce through the bulky and tough shield of the living armor.
「Then――Take this!」
Drawing the bowstring of his black horn bow to the limit, he fired a single arrow. It might be just a single arrow, but the arrow that he fired with his martial art just now had the highest penetration power amongst his other skills.
Faster and more powerful than normal shot, the archer’s martial art, 『Piercing Shot』 made a beeline towards Meiko.
「Kuh!」
The clash between arrows and shield gave birth to a loud metallic sound along with spark of fire.
The thing that made someone as strong as Meiko groan wasn’t the heavy impact added to the arm but the arrowhead in front of her eyes.
Her prided shield had been pierced through.
「So my 『Piercing Shot』 can pierce the shield, but it isn’t powerful enough to pierce through the shield.」
Though the arrow that he fired with 『Piercing Shot』 managed to pierce the bulky dark tower shield, it was lacking the power to hit Meiko who was protected by her shield.
Instead of feeling relieved, he felt more anxious right now. The next one, and the one after that could pierce through the shield and hit Meiko. The shield might break as long as he kept firing arrows with piercing shots.
「Wash your neck till I arrive in the rooftop!!」
「I’m gonna tear that annoying shield before you can do that!!」
The Berserker strengthened her defence as she moved forward while the archer goal was to destroy her defense. The distance between both of them was only the height of the building.
The long-distance attack kept raining incessantly on Meiko who arrived right in front of the archer’s base.
「~~~~~!」
The sound of strong impact kept resounding due to the collision between the arrow and shield. At the same time, droplets of cold sweats started to appear on Meiko’s face upon seeing more and more arrowheads penetrate her shield.
The archer fired two 『Piercing Shot』 at the same time. Although it managed to pierce the berserker’s shield, it fell short from reaching Meiko who was hiding behind the shield, and far too weak to destroy the shield.
Meiko’s shield managed to defend its user―― or so she thought, right in that very moment, the archer fired his third shot.
「Ah!」
The 『Dark Tower Shield』 got separated from Meiko’s hand as a loud sound of clashing metals resounding in the area.
「Great, it turns out you can’t withstand the 『Pinpoint Wave』 huh.」
The third martial art used by the archer to shot his arrow wasn’t the 『Piercing Shot』, it was the martial art that would cause a shockwave upon impact, 『Pinpoint Wave』.
The effect of that martial art was to convert the arrow’s penetrating power into shockwave, amplifying the impact and tremor that happened the moment his arrow hit its target to an unimaginable level. It was only natural for the shield to get separated from Meiko’s hand since the third arrow was fired almost simultaneously with the first two 『Piercing Shot』, thus amplifying the impact of those three arrow to unimaginable level.
The archer was looking at Meiko’s flustered face. It was natural for her to get flustered knowing that she lost the only way to defend herself against his arrows.
But it was only for a moment when her shield got separated from her hand. By the time her black shield crashed against the ground along with a loud metallic sound, she was already looking at the archer’s position on the rooftop of the building.
The berserker fighting spirit wouldn’t crumble just because she lost a mere shield.
「As long as I entered the building, victory is mine――」
Few more steps and Meiko could enter the building that became the base for Touya.
But still, there was an important factor that made the archer choose this building as his sniping location. That building was the important home in which his beloved person who got injured was sleeping, awaiting the potion.
He was the only one who could defend that place.
「But still, how long will it take for you to reach me? I’ve laid traps in this entire building. I’m still on the high ground.」
Though Touya was originally not well-versed in that kind of knowledge, after several trial and error, he could finally lay numerous booby traps inside the building.
Using a pitfall trap for the crumbling passage, wire trap that was connected to the Poisonous smoke bullet, stairs that were covered in torch oil, there was even the possibility of it being lit up.
The effect of the trap had been proven by various unlucky monsters who got stranded in the building or group of govus. Even if, for example, the power of a trap alone wasn’t enough to kill them, one slip was all Touya needed to finish them off.
The layout of every single trap in the building had already been perfectly memorized by Touya. He was still in an advantageous position even if they fought in close combat in this building, yes, even if his opponent was a berserker. His advantage was unshakeable.
Touya managed to keep his composure knowing that Meiko was going to self-destruct the moment she entered the building.
But then, Meiko didn’t run into the building―― she ran along the wall, all the way up to where Touya was hiding.
「C-could it be
 wall run!?」
Such an impossible spectacle became reality right in front of his very eyes.
Meiko’s feet stamped strongly on the outer wall of the building as she did a vertical run, each one of her steps were strong enough to crush the wall itself.
Though Touya was rather shocked upon seeing the dream scene of vertical run
 properly speaking, he could pull off the same feat by using 『Fast Drive』.
「So such feat is possible as long as one has movement type martial art huh
」
He guessed that Meiko might’ve 『Fast Drive』 too, or a dedicated martial art for this case such as 『Wall Run』, or maybe, she simply used pure brute force to run on the wall, though he had no idea which one of those possibility, the fact that she was ascending at incredible speed was a reality.
Touya got flustered for a moment due to Meiko’s unorthodox tactic. However, he had yet to give up.
「You no longer have your shield. and you can’t use anything to protect you. You’re basically a sitting duck to me, Futaba-san.」
This was the last chance for the archer to kill Meiko.
Despite the killing intent from Meiko who ran on the wall that was pricking on his skin, Touya didn’t hesitate even a single moment to nock his arrow.
He straightened his posture on the side of a big wall as if he was about to jump from the rooftop, aiming towards Meiko who ran on the vertical wall as if it was a leveled ground.
「Pierce through, 『Piercing Shot』!」
He used martial arts to bring a certain kill to Meiko.
The arrow that would kill Meiko for sure arrived in front of her eyes in less than a moment, but―― it got knocked down by a black flash.
「Repelled!? Dammit, at this distance――」
In Meiko’s hand was a sword that was releasing an ominous red aura. The fiendish looking-single-edged sword whose length was no different from sushi knife was the cursed weapon, 『Dismemberment Demonic Butcher Knife』 that evolved after she defeated the four armed gogma, the boss of goma’s castle.
The Bull Demon Sword which imbued with a power different from enchanted weapon called 『Curse』 could easily knocked down the powerful piercing arrow from the front. But then, being able to display the full prowess of the cursed knife showed just how terrifying the reaction speed of the berserker.
「To think that you hide an enchanted weapon as your ace in the hole. But I ALSO HAVE THE ENCHANTED WEAPON!」
Sometimes quantities would serve better than qualities for a reversal tactic. And now was the time to do that.
The only thing that protected Meiko right now was the knife in her hand. With that, she could even parry Touya’s heaviest and fastest arrow. But she was in the end still a human. No matter how durable her body had become due to the effect of her vocation, it definitely wouldn’t become tougher than her black shield.
Thus, all he needed was a normal arrow to get a clean hit. And to achieve that, he would shoot as many normal arrows as possible.
In addition, he wouldn’t even use a poison arrow.
『Deadly Poison Arrowă€ïŒšAn arrow which arrowhead was coated with extremely deadly poison 『Viola Poison』.