Chapter 213: Together Under Heaven — Part Nineteen
To tell the truth, for Rust, bows were nothing more than a fantasy weapon. It wasn't like she had any experience with real-life kyudo or archery. She just chose them as her main weapon because they were a long-ranged option.
But even so, her battle style of "move and shoot" could still reflect the techniques she'd honed in Nephilim Hollow. And her familiarity with using nothing but a bow throughout her still-short playtime in SLF... In this situation, it was what allowed her to take the optimal actions to accomplish what needed to be done.
Rust: "...Mold."
Mold: "That's the last of it, Rust. I'm out of MP, so I can't give you any more buffs."
Rust: "...Yeah, got it."
She looked off into the distance. That amazing, fabulous mechanical armor was firing truly elegant cannon blasts.
She couldn't use something like that right now, but before that coming new world—the new game—arrived, she definitely wanted to try out the robots of Shangri-La Frontier.
If that was the case, then making a big contribution in this battle was probably the right way to raise her favorability with the two other mech owners besides Sunraku.
Rust: "......Haa..."
Her magic bow, the "Rahr Willow," was already near its limit. But Rust praised it for still having enough durability left at this very moment to withstand eight shots.
The biggest feature of the magic bow weapon type was that it could fire magical attacks as skills... However, that was just the advantage of a generic magic bow. For Rust, the biggest benefit was that the magical, non-physical arrows were less subject to physical constraints.
Rust: "...This is annoyingly tricky to aim."
That meant she could attack with a feeling similar to the "beams" seen in sci-fi. On top of that, by further straightening the arrow's trajectory with Mold's enhancement magic and her own skills, Rust could fire a truly linear shot that could justifiably be called a "beam."
Her target was the Lord of the Abyss's back. The eight jewels.
The first shot, corrected for accuracy by the skill "Heavenly Eye Arrow," was loosed. The arrow of light, tearing straight through the void, struck one of the jewels on Ctarnidd's back, right at the base of a giant tentacle, and burst.
Rust: "...Next."
The second shot, its penetrating power enhanced by the skill "Stream Arrow," was loosed. It pushed through the fragments of the shattered first jewel, pierced a second, and exploded.
Rust: "...Next, next, next."
Skill "Rapid Volley," skill "Bucking-Horse Mounted Shot," skill "One Arrow, Two Birds"... Because she was attacking with a non-physical bowstring and arrows, the magic bow didn't need the powerful draw required for a heavy bow. Thanks to that, the arrows, fired in rapid succession with tremendous speed, pierced jewel after jewel during the few seconds it took Ctarnidd to hit the ground.
And Rust's assessment was exactly right. The giant tentacles corresponding to the shattered jewels writhed in sync with their destruction and crumbled away from their bases.
Rust: "...Two more...!?"
Mold: "Rust!"
But here, Ctarnidd chose an action that no one could have predicted.
The remaining two tentacles—massive "arms" extending from the upper right shoulder and the left flank, where the jewels were located—flexed violently and slammed into the ground hard. There was no way the challengers could have known this accurately, but the tentacles, which followed different physical laws for self-interference versus interference with others, could perform movements that should have been impossible.
The super-heavy tentacles slammed into the earth. Yet to Ctarnidd, they were lighter than air. The upward energy that repelled gravity, and his own body weight, which was only as heavy as Ctarnidd's main form. The immense energy from the giant tentacles, which could even deceive air resistance, sent Ctarnidd flying even higher.
Rust: "...He... jumped...!?"
Mold: "Run, Rust!"
Rust realized it. At this moment, Ctarnidd's state had been precisely reversed.
This wasn't airtime caused by being hit. It was self-generated airtime, deliberately securing the positional advantage of being above. His massive body would likely fall before long, but for just this moment, the balance of power had completely reversed.
And what that descending tentacle was aiming for was her...
Psyger-0: "I won't... let... you...!!"
The rust-colored armor dove in. Rust was shoved roughly and tumbled to the ground. What Rust saw from her knocked-down position was Psyger-0 bravely standing up to the descending super-heavy mass.
Psyger-0: "Gu...aah...!"
Weakened, with both skills and magic sealed, Psyger-0 had no way to intercept the tentacle. She slammed her Vorpal Sledge, a lethal sledgehammer, and her rusted Divine-Demonic Sword Antinomy, into the tentacle with all her might, using the recoil to barely shift both the tentacle's trajectory and her own position. But her body, struck by the giant tentacle, bounced like a ragdoll.
Rust: "......!"
Psyger-0: "I'm still... okay... Shoot!"
No, that wasn't the concern. Wasting even a moment just to force words from her throat was a loss of time. The action Rust chose was, indeed, an attack.
The other tentacle was being drawn back. But Rust raised her bow to the heavens, refusing to miss the chance to attack.
That was right. Creating that opening was his job, after all.
Ten seconds remained. The energy was almost gone. Keeping this equipment on any longer would be dangerous, and I couldn't fire any more cannon blasts.
But even so, there was still a way. There were still things I could do.
Sunraku: "Full speed, Seiryu... Into the sky!!"
Seiryu: "Roger!!"
The terrain was in Ctarnidd's favor. The only way to take it back was to overwrite the terrain advantage altogether. You idiot, Ctarnidd. The sky is me and Seiryu's territory.
The path of force fields stretched straight vertically. Running up it really was like a carp ascending a waterfall to become a dragon. We overtook Ctarnidd, and the blue dragon climbed into the night sky, where the darkness had begun to lighten.
Sunraku: "Release!"
Four, three, two... one... I made it!
That was close. One more second and it would have been three minutes exactly. It hurt that I wouldn't be able to wear Shoro again, but if it meant beating Ctarnidd, it was a fair trade.
I dumped the entire Shoro set, except for the headgear, into my Inventoria. Then I gave my final order to Seiryu, which was still barely operational.
Sunraku: "Throw me...!!"
I switch Togetsu — Moonblades: Waxing & Waning into its combined “Twin Crescent” form, hold the joined twin blades in my left hand, and reach my right hand toward Seiryu. Seiryu's arm grabs my outstretched hand. Mustering its last reserves of energy, the blue dragon swings my body around like a hammer throw... and hurls me straight down.
While barely controlling my falling body, which is plummeting faster than the power-drained, crashing Seiryu, I point Twin Crescent's blade straight down and activate my skill. The crescent light of Crescent Vorpal illuminates me as I challenge a mighty foe, trailing behind me like a shooting star. For just this one instant, the blessing of physics calculation lets me surpass Ctarnidd.
For a moment, Ctarnidd, who had been about to smash Rust and the others with his second tentacle, trembled as if noticing me... Too late. I was already about to hit.
Sunraku: "Grovel, Ctarnidd!!"
The crescent moon, having gained the speed of a meteor, tore through the pre-dawn wind.
The crescent blade shattered one of the jewels and smashed Ctarnidd back down to the earth. But the cost was steep.
Sunraku: "Gwah..."
I had fallen from even higher than Ctarnidd's roughly ten-meter hover height, then been hurled straight downward like a ball from a pitching machine. Naturally, the instant I hit anything, that impact would rebound into me.
What's more, at this very moment I had abandoned any attempt to break my fall or land properly for the sake of the attack. In that case, the blessing of physics calculation would make me pay the bill.
Numbness and weakness spread through my entire body. There was no doubt that impact had dropped my HP to 1. I endured it, but I had landed on Ctarnidd's back. Which meant I was going to fall from there to the ground all over again.
I couldn't use Inventoria Escape; my MP had been empty for ages. Seiryu had already shut down after its reactor ran dry. Even if someone below caught me, there was no way I was getting out of this without damage.
(Guess I'm dead.)
But even numbed and weakened, I could still move my body. There was only one message I needed to send to the people below.
Sunraku: "...Do it!!"
The final arrow was loosed. Ctarnidd's last jewel, which had fallen ahead of me to the spot where I was likely to land, shattered into pieces. Only Ctarnidd remained, stripped of every giant tentacle.
Rei-shi ran. She closed in on Ctarnidd, who had been smashed into the ground and was bouncing slightly from the impact. With her sledgehammer, she uppercut a spot somewhere between his neck and collarbone, jerking Ctarnidd into a backward arch and forcing his face up, leaving him exposed and defenseless.
And this was the checkmate. Akitsu Akane burst forward, taking a stance to unleash her Apology Cannon.
Everyone had given their all for this single moment. For just this instant. Akitsu Akane formed the seals to activate Dragon-Might Breath and took a deep breath.
Suddenly, her exposed face turned toward me, showing hesitation. I wondered why she would hesitate now, and then realized the reason.
Right. With this trajectory, I'll get hit by Dragon-Might Breath too... It's a trivial matter. I was going to die on impact anyway.
So there was only one thing to do. Still falling headfirst, I flashed Akitsu Akane a thumbs-up and told her again.
Sunraku: "Bring it!"
There was no reply. Only the hesitation vanishing from Akitsu Akane's movements.
Sunraku: "Alright, Ctarnidd. We're both at a point where dying doesn't really mean dying. Don't hold back. Die."
The ground rushed toward me. Still, I didn't close my eyes. The last things I saw were the dragon's flash filling my vision, and a small glittering light like someone's tears...
And then, swallowed by the light along with Ctarnidd, I died.