Chapter 126: Embracing Your Ambitions in the Light — Part Twelve
Ah, yes. To put it bluntly: twenty thousand characters vanished.
Between the stomach pains, the shock, the recovery attempts, and everything else, I was an absolute mess yesterday, so I couldn't update. I'm deeply sorry. Daily uploads may be a little rocky for a bit, but since I'd already written through to the epilogue of this chapter once, I'll do my best to excavate it from my memory and write it all out. Sorry for the trouble.
There are moments when a human being simply cannot escape what must be done—no matter how hard they struggle. Sometimes it's receiving the final baton as the anchor. Sometimes it's rolling a hexagonal pencil over a question you just can't figure out. And sometimes, it's right now.
Akitsu Akane: "Ceecrue-san! Let's do this—big job incoming!!"
Ceecrue: "With Emul putting Vorpal Soul on the line, I would shame myself before Father if I were to lose my nerve now, de gozaru!"
A game senpai, reunited in Shangri-La Frontier through sheer chance. It's not even a relationship you could call friendship. But if she can help them overcome this trial—if it's within her power—then she wants to. To Akitsu Akane, that's simply what it means to be human.
She'd heard about Lycagon's invisible attacks. Their weakness is "light."
—With its main body's movements sealed, it's bound to aim for a breakthrough using its clones. At least, I really hope that's what it does.
Akitsu Akane: "I'm getting fired up...!!"
Sunraku had probably been counting on Ceecrue's combat strength, not hers, to stop the clone. That's why he'd given her those instructions. She has no complaints about that. She'd come this far on nothing but a hunch—that perhaps, just maybe, the kind player who'd indulged her selfishness back in Berserk Online Passion was the same person. She'd left almost all the fighting to Ceecrue and Emul. Thanks to the accessory around her neck, her level had barely risen at all, and she knows full well she's the biggest liability here. But even so—the moment she realized Ceecrue needed "light" to lock onto the invisible clone, she'd declared, "Leave it to me."
Akitsu Akane: "I really can't hear anything but footsteps... I can't see it, but it's there!"
Ceecrue: "Akitsu Akane-dono! I am ready to sortie at any moment, de gozaru!"
Akitsu Akane: "Haven't you already sortied, technically? Eh, whatever—let's go!!"
Akitsu Akane shifts the fox mask she wears. Its original purpose—beyond hiding the curse (Marking) carved by that golden dragon—was to conceal the fact that, in her excitement over buying SLF, she'd made her avatar look exactly like her real face. With the mask now pushed aside, her bare face is exposed. Crossing at her left eye, the deep red X-shaped curse mark carved into her face distorts as her expression shifts.
Akitsu Akane: "Blade-Hiding Art, secret technique!"
This magic (ninja art) is extraordinarily rare in that its power scales directly with the player's lung capacity. Of course, for Akitsu Akane—not even past level 50—imitating the appearance alone is the limit. The actual power is pitifully lacking.
As the final step in acquiring the Ninja job class, the "Retired Ninja Kasumi"—who serves as a master to apprentice ninjas, assigning all manner of training quests—bestows upon graduating rookie ninjas a parting gift: a secret scroll containing a ninja art. Among what players call the "un-resettable ninja art gacha"—the final quest reward—Akitsu Akane had pulled a "secret technique grand prize." It is a ninja secret ultimate technique that imitates the breath of a dragon that left a powerful impression in her memory. And in the less than a month since she'd started this game, Akitsu Akane has encountered only a single dragon.
Akitsu Akane: "Sssssssss... Dragon-Might Breath! Waaaaah──────!!!"
She completes the hand seal—a motion she'd worked hard to memorize—and with a shout that really didn't need to be so loud, unleashes the technique. Mimicking the appearance of the breath attack of Siegwurm the Sky Ruler—one of the Seven Colossi—a searing heatwave that transcends mere flame and becomes a beam brings brilliant light to the dark night sky.
The breath of Siegwurm the Sky Ruler is no mere fire. And yet, even with its power reduced, its light output is still more than sufficient. Considering that the genuine breath could level a fortress with ease, what Akitsu Akane unleashes from the formation unfolding before her mouth is about as similar as a toothpick to a great tree. But even if it can't match the heat of the golden Dragon King's sun-substitute, raising the light level in this specific place is enough.
Akitsu Akane: "Aaaah... Ah, I'm sorrryyyyy──!!"
Suzaku: "Piii!?"
Her voice, which had nearly faltered, regains its force through an apology—the breath had grazed Suzaku's wing as it executed its dive. And already, the rabbit—the true answer to the clone, bearing a single-edged blade—had sprung into motion.
Ceecrue: "My mind's eye has pierced it true, de gozaru!"
Dawn is still far off. But the imitation breath Akitsu Akane unleashed has scorched the darkness from the illuminated grassland, exposing the invisible wolf to a semi-translucent state. Its claws and fangs are aimed at Sunraku. But between man and wolf, a rabbit with a drawn blade throws himself.
Ceecrue: "Bear witness! My Takemikazuchi!!"
The unleashed blade does not aim for Lycagon's clone, but for the ground directly beneath Ceecrue. From the blade driven into the earth, visible polygons of power surge into the land. The next instant—from beneath the invisible Lycagon's feet, mere inches from Ceecrue—countless shafts of "bamboo" erupt, shoving aside soil and grass. They rise like a palisade of spears, like a lattice, like an iron wall—halting the clone's advance and piercing it through.
Ceecrue: "Hmm. A single blow is not enough to extinguish this phantom wolf, de gozaru..."
Akitsu Akane: "Cough, cough... Ceecrue-san, I've been meaning to ask this for a while now—why does stabbing your sword into the ground make bamboo grow...?"
Ceecrue: "The fruits of training, de gozaru."
Would she too be able to grow crystal or bamboo if she trained? The self-proclaimed newbie—who can fire a dragon's breath from her mouth—watches her senpai fight to settle things with Lycagon once and for all.
A grand-scale game where you can fire a dragon's breath from your mouth—that's Shangri-La Frontier. No, seriously, what the fuck was that? That was clearly the kind of laser you'd see in a mecha game. But the invisible Lycagon's form has been exposed. And Ceecrue's... spell? That absurdly green, verdant wall has sealed the clone's advance. Now is the moment to hammer in our trump cards.
Sunraku: "We end this here!"
Lycagon's eyes are fixed on me. Is it simply because I happened to be nearby, or is it staring at the one it cursed? Whatever the reason, that look in its eyes... is damn satisfying to see.
Sunraku: "Blow it the hell away!!"
Suzaku: "Point marking. Commencing attack."
Emul had struck Lycagon's hind leg. Even with instant regeneration, the part that's still regenerating is fragile—that's just the way of the world. No matter how badly a powerful enemy has beaten the protagonist, once it becomes a regenerating monster, it dies in a single hit. Not that this is relevant here. What matters now is that Suzaku's dive-attack blade has pierced the hind leg—destabilized by Emul's assault—and pinned it in place, as if making itself a wedge. Having reached its operational limit, Suzaku's power had already cut out moments before the strike, but an accelerating machine's momentum doesn't just stop. Truly a self-sacrificing devotion. Oil as a reward—would that do?
And allow me to say it—the line that's so cliché in this kind of scene it practically writes itself...!
Sunraku: "I've been waiting for this moment!!"
The truth is, the right gauntlet's function has been in use throughout this entire battle. It's one half of the ability built into the right fist—meaning the weapon has two abilities. First: its ability as the "right fist"—to charge one Crystal Bullet's worth of magical energy after five minutes of exposure to moonlight. Scattering the clouds with Suzaku wasn't just to seal the invisible clones—it was also to ensure the right gauntlet's ability would be at full capacity throughout the fight. And second: the ability of the weapon itself—the Gilta Brille. It converts all accumulated magical energy into raw destructive damage output. A brutally simple damage boost. And the most terrifying part about this accumulated damage... there is no upper limit to the magic charge. That alone makes it seem invincible, but the devs sure as hell didn't let that slide. Exceed Charge comes with demerits that match its raw firepower.
First: obviously, to activate Exceed Charge, you have to hoard magical energy. A special parameter displays how much has been charged, but if you're using Crystal Bullets, that accumulation naturally won't progress. Second: recoil. The Exceed Charge description reads, "User and armament receive extremely severe recoil damage." "Extremely severe"—just from those words alone, if you get cocky and overcharge it, the worst-case scenario is a runaway detonation that erases everything around you. Even if I—with my guaranteed 1 HP survival against recoil and self-damage—don't die, the weapon will be obliterated, and so will everything nearby. And finally: once used, Exceed Charge has a cooldown of an entire fucking week. Enjoy it as a once-a-week treat, I guess.
With all that factored in, Exceed Charge is a genuine trump card. But if I don't play it now, when the hell do I? There's a part of me that wants to throw away all restraint and unleash so much firepower it steals the "Maximum Firepower (Attack Holder)" title. But this is just a preliminary skirmish—not even a Scenario EX. I can't go that far into self-destruction. And besides, I'm just the setup—the jab to make the enemy flinch, clearing the way for the real finisher.
Considering both the energy problem and the recoil problem, this time I'm going in at 80% charge—partly as a test run. It won't be usable again for a week, but there's no way I'll need it again that soon, right? If I'm fighting apocalyptic bloodbaths that regularly, my body won't hold up.
Sunraku: "If you're gonna dodge the moon, then I'll slam the moon straight into you..."
The right gauntlet's segments slide open. The golden crystal embedded within—the heart of the Golden Scorpion I fought to the death on that crystal cliff—gleams brighter and brighter. The Crystal Lifecore of the Golden Scorpion drinks in the moon's power, and the internal mechanism groans and shrieks as it converts that energy into destructive force. Lycagon has no escape. With Suzaku—now dormant—pinning its hind leg, the wolf cannot choose evasion. Then a counterattack? No.
Sunraku: "I'm faster!!"
My positioning. The angle of its head. The timing. The frame advantage. The aggro chaos. Everything connects, intertwines—a spider's web called "strategy" binds Lycagon in a stranglehold. Now then—appetizer before the main course. Please, for the love of everything, don't be full and dying after this.
Sunraku: "This is payback for that night. Take it... Reject!!"
Gold tore through jet black, and detonated.
Bamboo-mikazuchi (whispered)