Chapter 38: Situation: Fruition
Author’s Opening Note: Sorry for the inconvenience.
My initial plan had been to break through the one who seemed easiest to handle... the greatsword user among the PK players, who was clearly looking down on me as a low-level scrub and toying with me.
No matter how you slice it, a greatsword can only deliver so many attacks per second—meaning I could get away with fewer actions to evade. And his equipment, which practically screamed "physical build," made it seem unlikely I'd have to worry about a surprise magic attack.
Well, the real reason was that he seemed like the one who was looking down on me the most. But anyway, my original plan was to seize the initiative, catch him off guard, slip through, and run... Why am I stubbornly explaining it in past tense? The reason is simple.
That very greatsword user just now folded backwards into a perfect "C" shape, scattering polygons like a comet's tail, as he was blown clean past the gate. In fact, that obviously dangerous shockwave passed right by me—if I'd been even slightly to the right, I'd have been vaporized too.
PKer A: "What the—!?"
PKer B: "A one-shot!?"
PKer C: "Who the hell did that!?"
The greatsword PK exploded into polygons right in the middle of the main street beyond the gate. One look at the small-fry PKers' reactions told me this was an unforeseen development. With them panicking like that, they certainly weren't about to calmly launch an attack. And so, without bothering to watch that predictable scene, I turned and looked directly at the player standing there, sword still extended from the swing that had just been made.
(At a glance, clearly a high-level player. Name's not red, so doesn't seem to be a buddy of Pencilgon's...)
In the first place, there's no such thing as an absolute ally for the player that is me in this situation. They say the enemy of your enemy is your friend, but the most fitting phrase for the current situation is "the enemies have started cannibalizing each other."
I have a Unique, and I have neither the backing nor the levels to fend off interference. The fact that it's a talking rabbit—a Unique that many would likely covet from a different angle than pure strength—only makes things worse. Animalia-san is a perfect example; the odds are extremely high that animal-loving players will target me too. No, more importantly, I need to gather as much information as possible about that player.
A player killer—no, a physical-build greatsword user—taken down in a single hit, HP completely depleted... She's most definitely a frontlines-class player, and entirely specialized as a vanguard, utterly incomparable to Animalia-san or Pencilgon. Judging from the way the PK got sent flying and the damage assessment, I'd assume she's a type that boosts the power of a single strike...
Sunraku: "Equipment... greatsword, shield, full plate armor..."
Damn it, when equipment variety increases, it's a pain in the ass that you can't tell at a glance whether they can use magic or not. I should assume she can use magic.
Clank, clank. Ignoring Pencilgon and the others entirely, the armored knight approaches one step at a time. Now then, what to do in this situation. I came up with three improvised plans.
Plan one: Frontal breakthrough. Even if the armored knight is coming from behind, pray she's all brawn and no brains, and if possible, land an assassin kill.
Plan two: Reverse course. Fight that high-level vanguard player? Go back the way I came. Of course, there are three players who look like they've hit the level cap, but you know!
Plan three: Withdraw. As if I can win. Force logout, or... no.
Sunraku: "Plan four it is."
Without a moment's hesitation, I charge straight for the gate at full speed. Why is it that strong types always look so stunned when a weaker opponent charges at them without any hesitation? Have they never experienced a newbie with a C4 rush? At least that puppy of a wolf sure hasn't.
Without slowing down in the slightest—in fact, without even drawing a weapon—I close in on the PKers. If I had to say what I've got equipped, I guess you could call it "Equipment: Emul."
Psyger-0: ".........!"
Three. The armored knight starts running, flustered.
Emul: "Kyaaaaaa—! We're gonna die, die, die, waaaa!!"
Two. The armored knight's hand on her greatsword tightens, and the PKers finally start shifting into combat stances.
One. The—
Sunraku: "What's that?"
Psyger-0: "!?"
Emul: "Nya!?"
A full sprint, then a full stop, then a full-on looking away... As if a passenger in a car that suddenly halts is thrown forward by inertia, as if someone suddenly pressed the pause button on a rhythm game mid-song.
A "void" lasting a few seconds is born. From the outside, it's a classic, clichéd trick, but precisely because it's a game where everyone slips into role-play and nothing is too absurd to happen, a move like this works laughably well.
Sunraku: "Emul, prepare the gate."
Emul: "Ha, hyai!?"
From a dead standstill, into another full sprint in reverse... A few seconds for everyone present to refocus their attention on me. A violent, sharp shift in speed over a short time that would be absolutely impossible in a real body—only possible because stamina is quantified in numbers.
I close in on the armored knight, who had taken one step and was already right behind me. On the second and third steps, I "run" up her sword. And on the fourth step...
Psyger-0: "......Wait, fugu—!"
Sunraku: "Sorry."
A tall avatar makes for great footing at times like this.
Using the massive greatsword and the STR supporting it, I sprint up the incline of the blade it forcibly provides, then use the knight's shoulder as a springboard, reversing our positions and leaping over the PKers behind me in a single bound. I nearly lost my balance from jumping a bit too enthusiastically, but I throw in a mid-air somersault and stick the landing.
Sunraku: "Hahhaa—! Pulling off acrobatics without system assist is just the best!"
Emul: "Wah, the shaking's making it hard to concentrate—wa!"
A long, lanky avatar like mine really comes in handy at times like this. It lets you reproduce the movements of those tall track-and-field athletes you see on TV without any of the physical limitations.
Sunraku: "Oh, I got permission earlier, so entering's fine, right! Not waiting for an answer, sorry!"
Gatekeeper: "Eh, ah!"
Leaving those words with the gatekeeper, I finally set one foot beyond the gate.
Sunraku: "Psyger-0, huh... I'll at least remember the name."
I murmur the player name I glimpsed for an instant, committing it to memory. As long as high-level players are aiming for the Unique I hold, it won't hurt to remember the names and styles of the players who stand in my way. Honestly, I can't be bothered to remember the PKers other than Pencilgon, though.
Without looking back, I dash into Thirdrema.
Psyger-0: "............"
Just silence.
Was it because the ace of "Schwarz Vulf," the top clan whose name resounds on the frontlines, was used as a stepping stone and, on top of that, made a fool of? The answer is no.
(I... I got spoken to...!)
For Saiga Rei—Psyger-0—it was as if a Hollywood star she idolized had just spoken to her. But the face holding back a grin, the body trembling with joy, filtered through the lens of full plate armor and the eyes of strangers, could only look like a body trembling with rage.
While a fair number of onlookers back away from Psyger-0, there are also those who approach her, forming a ring.
PKer A: "H-Hey... are we seriously doing this? She's the 'Maximum Firepower (Attack Holder),' you know...?"
PKer B: "You chicken? Maximum firepower just means she's got buffs and debuffs backing her up. If we kill her here, we could make it into the single-digit rankings!"
PKer C: "If she gets inside the city, it's over. We can't win against Bounty Hunters. And if things get dicey, we've got Pencilgon-san with us, so..."
Due to the update, special NPCs called "Bounty Hunters" appear under the condition of "performing a PK inside the city." These NPCs, whose CPU is so brutal it's called a demon AI, will chase PKs to the ends of the map with inexhaustible stamina and kill them without mercy. They also possess the special ability of "taking the equipment of the player they killed and using it as their own." As a result, when the old rank 8, old rank 10, and old rank 3 within the Ashura Kai clan were PKKed, and further when it became clear that multiple Bounty Hunters exist, virtually all PKs—both inside and outside Ashura Kai—were forced to refrain from fighting within cities. That's how effective the deterrent was.
The PK clan "Ashura Kai," composed of player killers who had begun adhering to city morals for that reason—its members eagerly discuss their overly optimistic calculations, all premised on the insurance that is Pencilgon in a pinch. At that exact moment, the fact that Pencilgon had just been instantly killed by Animalia's suicide curse that took her down with her, turning into polygons, remains unknown to them.
Psyger-0: "............"
To a third party, it might seem like trivial joy, but to the person herself, it was progress on par with an astronaut's first step onto the lunar surface. However, Psyger-0 then realized: come to think of it, if those PKers hadn't been there, wouldn't she have been able to talk with him much more reliably, without him running away? Upon realizing this, her greatsword lifts—not like with Sunraku, but now with clear, conscious intent.
Psyger-0: "...Uh, how do I put it... this is... taking out my anger... respectfully—no, I mean... just taking out my anger."
A death sentence delivered through painfully forced role-play. A few seconds later, the player killers would learn the meaning of the title "Maximum Firepower (Attack Holder)" without ever receiving the aid of Ashura Kai's No. 2.