Chapter 190: The Crumbling Pinnacle

In actual history, rapiers were primarily used by nobles for dueling and weren't particularly useful on the battlefield. But this is a game world—a place infinitely close to reality yet fundamentally different. And the rapier wielded by this boss character is packed with more than enough resources to send a player straight to respawn.

The main attack of a thrusting sword is, naturally, the thrust. What makes thrusts troublesome is that, when facing them head-on, the attack is a single "point." Slashing or sweeping attacks form "lines"—push the logic far enough and they're easy to deal with. Stat parameters complicate things in practice, but in the extreme, a vertical slash can be blocked with a horizontal guard. But a thrust is a "point"—its hitbox is tiny, making it fairly difficult to handle.

Sunraku: "Think you can keep up with that, Ammone Knight?"

Ammone Knight: "...!"

Do you have any idea how many TAS-level freaks I've fought this past month? Just recently, I ran into someone pulling off literal human TAS. Even now, thinking back on it—what the hell was that? Is there some kind of battery hatch on her back or something?

Having clearly distinct roles means it's also clear who fulfills which role. Two strikes from a forward step, then a riposte thrust—I slam my sword in from the side to parry it, and drive a gouging thrust into the Ammone Knight's elbow, fully extended from its thrusting form. Games where you manage a limited set of tools are fine and all, but action games armed with skills tailored to my tastes really are the best.

Activate Mirror of Fading. While the cutlass slices through empty air, I switch to a zweihander and slam the massive greatsword into the base of the Ammone Knight's head, right where the boundary between head and torso is already vague. The advantage of thrusting attacks isn't exclusive to the enemy—players get equal benefits. And I can deal with it. The only one taking damage here is you.

Rust: "Firing."

Sunraku: "Got it!"

At Rust's voice—she seems to have recovered from her status condition: Frenzied Delight—I quickly leap back and clear the firing line. In the next instant, an arrow rips through the air with a tremendous roar and slams into the side of the Ammone Knight's face.

Sunraku: "...If this were an early-game trash mob, that would've one-shot it."

Rust: "I tested it a few times and figured out the threshold where it doesn't get nullified. Now I just have to land them carefully..."

Mold: "I made that one full physical spec—think it'll work?!"

It might be odd for the perpetrator to say this, but I observe the Ammone Knight after that absolutely brutal-looking knockback. Aside from being sent flying by the tremendous impact, it shows no sign of taking damage.

Sunraku: "Decent enough!"

Mold: "Rust, next I'll try fire!"

Rust: "Got it."

As Rust falls back to the rear and Mold begins chanting, I swap my equipment to the Gilta Brille gauntlets and stand before the rising Ammone Knight.

Sunraku: "Next, let's play rock-paper-scissors. I'll even give you a handicap—I only throw rock."

But if you try throwing some half-assed paper, I'll just force my rock-fist to win anyway. With reduced reach but movement closer to barehanded combat, I face off against the cutlass and rapier. And just when the bastard has forgotten about everyone but me, from beyond its awareness, arrows imbued with some kind of power—loosed by the Strong Bow—steadily whittle it down.

Then, after Mold's investigation into which element is effective completes one full cycle, about ten arrows later:

Ammone Knight: "...... ...!"

Sunraku: "Well, you were on the stronger side. But if you want to corner me, you'd need to spam instant-kill moves with zero cooldown for thirty seconds straight."

Even if I took my current stats and fought Wethermon again, pulling off the same feat would be questionable. Still, if there's one thing that bothers me, it's the bastard's battle style.

(Something feels patchwork about it—too many extraneous movements, maybe? Superfluous?)

The appearance is off from the start. A monster that looks like a knight personifying an ammonite—why the hell is it wielding a cutlass? The rapier attacks honestly had me sweating a few times, but the cutlass attacks were so half-hearted I could've dealt with them even running on post-all-nighter energy. Well, cutlasses are weapons strongly associated with pirates anyway, so maybe being sloppy with one is just right...

Sunraku: "...Pirate?"

Rust: "What's wrong?"

Sunraku: "No... it's just—could it be?"

Just like when I defeated the Clione, the Ammone Knight doesn't vanish with the usual death effect. It dissolves like bubbles, and I narrow my eyes at the shell-like material item left behind—and the cutlass.

Mold: "It actually dropped as boss loot..."

Rust: "Neither Mold nor I use close-range weapons. So—"

Sunraku: "No, Rust or Mold, one of you take this."

The two of them have question marks floating over their heads, but if they check their item lists, they'll probably understand what this cutlass—engraved with a red whale—signifies. Considering all the oddities so far, I'd guess this cutlass isn't a boss drop at all, but something involving an entirely different factor.

I see. I've been had. I see, I see. Now that I think back, that's exactly how it was.

Sunraku: "It was hidden behind the impact of the EX Scenario... so that's what this is."

Rust: "...!"

Mold: "What's wrong, Rust?"

Rust: "...'Scarlet Whale Cutlass.' This is—"

What comes to mind is the first day of the Ruluiath survival—strictly speaking, that moment when we clashed with the fishman ghost ship and were dragged under by the giant tentacles. In my blacked-out consciousness, the last thing I registered was the system message announcing the start of the EX Scenario. Yes, indeed. No one ever said the scenario we'd been in just moments before had ended.

Sunraku: "They're progressing simultaneously..."

The conclusion: the Unique Scenario "Strike the Apostle of the Abyss" isn't over yet.

In other words:

Sunraku: "Right now, two stories are unfolding on the same stage."

One is the Bonus Unique Scenario "Behold the Abyss Above, as the World Turns on Its Head"—challenging Ctarnidd, who reigns over Ruluiath. And the other: the Unique Scenario "Strike the Apostle of the Abyss"—the scenario about storming the ghost ship that kidnapped the father of Stude, the self-proclaimed great pirate brat.

Sunraku: "Maybe 'Strike the Apostle of the Abyss' had multiple endings."

The Normal End is defeating all the fishmen on the ghost ship. But if you fulfill certain conditions and come to Ruluiath, it branches into another route. Thinking about it that way, I can kinda understand why the Ammone Knight had a cutlass.

Sunraku: "In that case, the one who took the quest should be the one to advance it, right?"

Even talking to NPCs in SLF has a bit of a dating sim mixed in. Someone who's had a certain amount of interaction would be better suited to make contact than a total stranger. In the case of the EX Scenario, I'm just one participant. As far as Stude is concerned, I'm nothing more than "the bird-head who tagged along with the two who took the request."

Sunraku: "Here's your chance to guide a lost lamb, as the quest-takers."

Rust: "What a pain... Mold."

Mold: "Ahaha, I'll come along too..."

Anyway, setting that aside—that makes two Blockers down now... but there's no particular change to the field. Still, if something does happen after all four are defeated, it'd be a problem, so we plan to take down the fourth right at the last minute on Day Six. I hope we can find her before then... Where in the world is Rei-shi, and what is she doing?

◆

It was a trivial sisterly quarrel.

A lack of proper reporting, contacting, and consulting. A younger sister who got ahead of her older sister. Resistance against the tyrannical exercise of older-sister privilege. Those who interfere with love get kicked by a horse—and since there was no horse, the younger sister snapped.

Momo: "...Rei!"

Rei: "I am neither your accessory nor a dog on a leash, Sister!"

It was a trivial sisterly quarrel. But in a certain place... for the jet-black wolf, it was a fatal collapse.

[Well, to summarize: what happened in Arc Two, and where the heroine went at the start of Arc Three—big sis found out.]

[And after this and that, the heroine snapped.]

[I won't say exactly what, but there are 124 entries in the call history, plus a visit to her house.]