Now, what was that sound? Was that Riberiosâs mind that broke to pieces? Or maybe it was his body? The impact of the blow sent Riberios flying towards the wall of the arena. He crushed into the wall only to fall back to the ground.
ăBut stillâŠâŠ There is LeaderâŠâŠ toâŠâŠă
Collapse. Then Riberios dispersed into a geyser of red polygons, but he would not receive any penalty for dying. Just like that, Katsu was the only one left standing.
ăAlright, that takes care of the three people I was supposed to take care of.ă
Indeed, with the three people taken care of, Katsu was out of aces up his sleeve. Both Tactical War Beast and his sub-class of Destroyer had been revealed, and there was nothing else he could do right now.
ăBut that does not mean that I wonât give it my all.ă
Right about now, there was only one person that remained on the battlefield. Saiga-100, the leader of the âBlack Wolvesâ.
ăSo? Care to explain to me why you did not order Katsu to retreat now that he has done what he was supposed to do?ă
At first I thought that Pencilgton wanted Katsu to lose on purpose, so that âBlack Wolvesâ could at least retain some of their now lost dignity. However, it seems that no such command was given, which was making me wonder about the meaning of such action.
But surprisingly enough, it seems that I was the only one in here who did not get it.
Pencilgton smiled bitterly here. Kyo-Timate smiled like a complete lunatic. And Rei looked downright apologetic.
ăWell, itâs really a rather simple story, my dear Sanraku-kun. For exampleâŠ.. Hmm, oh yeah, for example, please imagine this: what do you do in order to beat a raid boss solo? The one that is brokenly strong?ă
ăWhat was that strange pause supposed to mean? And exactly when you looked at me? Well, letâs seeâŠâŠ You would need appropriate levels, equipment and information about the boss itself.ă
But well, even I know that there are things beyond our control. Things you have no idea that are a factor unless you actually encounter them. And I also know that general gamers tend to look down on shitty game players, even though shitty games help you accumulate experience as a gamer and train your skills.
It was then that I could see Saiga-100 landing on the edge of the arena, just at the edge of my field of view.
ăThatâs right, and if thatâs the case, thenâŠâŠă
The golden sword she was carrying struck through Katsu like a hot knife through butter.
ăHow strong do you think one player can get through the course of one year? Especially if the thing they were training to take down is none other than Nightprowler Luukan?ă
Hit by four super-fast sword slashes, Katsuâs body fell to the ground and immiediately respawned.
And once Katsuâs body was with us again, he only opened his mouth with an expression of shock on his face. His mouth was also left agape.
ăâŠâŠâŠ Huh?ă
Apparently, what just happened was too much for him to process on the spot. Ah well, guess Iâll fill him in later.
ăWhat the hell was that?ă
ăThat, my dear, was the unique magic of the Swordmaster sub-class, a âSword Artâ. And that one was called âQuintetâ. You can control up to four additional swords at once, and the one in your hand is the fifth. As you could see, they are quite deadly in close quarters. This is part of the reason why âSword Saintsâ are thought to be one of the strongest avant-garde class in all of ShangriLa Frontier.ă
ăWhatâs more, Saiga-100âs Quintet is even more unique. See her main weapon? Thatâs the âHoly Blade Excaliburâ. It was created by combining the high level holy sword with high level materials by âSacred Hammerâ cat blacksmith of level one hundred. And its special ability is so downright broken that it just makes you want to laugh.ă
ăWait a minute, could you explain that once more? That was a whole lot of words to listen to. Fancy ones, at that.ă
ăItâs a downright broken weapon that hits you up to thirty times with a single slash.ă
The fuck is this? Thatâs downright scary!
ăAhh, that would explain why I felt that my flanks were being attacked at that moment as wellâŠâŠă
ăUmmâŠâŠ In my sisterâs caseâŠâŠ Her magical power is also pretty great, thatâs why she can be flexibleâŠâŠ I do believe you call someone like that âAn avant-garde with a rear-guard potential who is strong at distance controlâŠâŠâă
ăSo itâs like âYou cannot fight me because you cannot get close enough to meâ.ă
ăI donât know why, but I get a feeling that she would fit perfectly into many shitty games with that awfully specific setting.ă
For me, she surely feels that way. Or that someone made a project for that weapon and abilities, and there was no time or resources to see if it was all good and balanced. Or that when they realized that something was wrong with them, it was already too late for adjustments or fixes.
Only if they did just that, everything could have been resolved peacefully, without anything noticing or having to suffer because of the unbalanced power. But that on the other hand, would be straight up boring. That being saidâŠâŠ
I am often myself a fighting maniac who likes to challenge himself against strong opponents of various sorts, but from that kind of enemy I would like to get as far as humanly possible.
This is just that, you can sense that you get no fun or thrill from trying to fight this thing. It just feels wrong. Like trying to make notes, only to find out that youâve been writing the same characters over and over again in your notebook.
ăShitty games?ă
ăAhh, even though I am in the ShanFro therapy for such a long time now, I knew it ââ it is really hard to actually forget about your roots. And I am rotten to those very roots. But no need to concern yourself with that, Kyogoku-chan.ă
ăIâm going to drive you into the ground.ă
ăWell, sorry to break it to you, my dear Momo-chan, but the only one getting driven into the ground is going to be you. For you see, I really like my guild mates there, and if I can help it at all, I want to be the cornerstone of their victory!ă
Ignoring that arrogant and aggressive declaration, it seems that Pencilgton was going to be the next one to step up and fight here.
Perhaps she also changed the equipment so that her specification would fit her current opponentâs abilitiesâŠâŠ Right about now Pencilgton was standing on the field with very light clothing and a spear that was giving a striking resemblance to the golden sword wielded by Saiga-100.
ăNow then, come on, Momo-chan! Since we have nothing more to say to one another, we might as well just get down to it!ă
ăHer navel is showingâŠâŠă
ăPersonally, I could never muster enough courage to wear something like that.ă
ăS-Same here. I would never wear something like that, tooâŠâŠă
ăHave you no shame woman!? What about your conscience? And what would your Mother say to you if she saw you right now!? I donât even know how to call you right now!ă
ăThat was the only thing I could think of to prepare for this battle! Also, Iâm only HALF-naked here! Just like you! Look in the mirror before you start lecturing someone else about shame!ă