Chapter 262: The Serpent That Devours Hate from Head to Tail
Necessary condition, number three.
It is to carry out the action of slashing the poison-fluid sword myself, after locking down the enemy's movements and securing the positioning. For that, I need the speed to start from the back foot and seize the initiative, the firepower to make it happen for sure, and the means to control both.
Sunraku: "Can't this be automated...? A request to the devs... No, that's probably impossible."
Viewed a certain way, Pale Sheen looks like a deba knife scaled up. I grip the handle on the Netherlight section on the back ridge of the blade, pointing the tip behind me, holding it as if at my hip. With my right hand, I take out a component crystal that has been objectified. I bring it close to Pale Sheen, and the palm-sized crystal is swallowed into the great crystal sword, like a drop of water merging into a larger puddle.
Sunraku: "There's probably no way to loop this anyway, so I'm ignoring item conservation and going all out!"
I feed every component crystal of Goldhuneenay Reptica I've secured in this fight into Pale Sheen, activating the ability of the combined blade.
Sunraku: "Deep Coating!"
Voice recognition has its romantic charm, but in this moment where even a single second feels like a loss, it's nothing but annoying. By consuming component crystals, the drawn blade gains a strengthening effect proportional to the amount consumed. Visually, it's the questionable sight of pouring money—items—into it to gain power, but if you could get strong just by looks, life would be easy.
Sunraku: "Now come, Goldhuneenay. One strike...!"
Activate Levin Trigger: Hazard. I hold Pale Sheen in my left hand, then grip the other handle with my right, dropping my hips into an unmistakable iai draw stance.
That's right. The Whalelore Moonblade—Pale Sheen—is not just a greatsword. It is also a deep navy "sheath" and a golden "blade" that shines brighter within.
Sunraku: "Clear Sky Style Secret Technique... First Blade...!"
By activating the Clear Sky Secret Manual with a device from the Divine Age, the player can burn the Clear Sky Style techniques directly into their brain... well, that's just the in-game setting. If it started affecting me in real life, that'd be terrifying. Perhaps because of that setting, Clear Sky Style skills are unlocked in a slightly different way from normal skills.
First, one skill is unlocked, and by using it thoroughly and persistently, the next skill is unlocked. What's different from normal skills is that even after the second skill unlocks, the first skill remains. Also, each individual skill can be further strengthened, eventually reaching its final form—the secret techniques that Wethermon the Tombguard used.
Thus, the First Blade—it is a drawing technique bearing the name of wind, leading up to the ultra-fast draw, Tachikaze.
Self-Proclaimed Goldhuneenay: "Gaaaaah!"
The self-proclaimed Goldhuneenay, originally a snake, lunges forward with a beast-like quadrupedal crouch. I step in, cloaked in lightning. Inside the slow-motion world of Moment Sight, the sensation of power dwelling in the sheath in my left hand and the blade in my right feels unnervingly strong. But at this rate, it'll just be a simultaneous collision. That won't do. To seize the initiative, I need to leap over the intervening steps...!
Sunraku: "Apport!"
If we are both racing forward, then take one step, skip two and three, and plant the fourth. A forbidden taboo that shortens the distance, ripping away the entire process and leaving only the prologue and epilogue—this is the ultimate move for me, who started from behind, to seize the initiative.
Right in front of the self-proclaimed Goldhuneenay, I burst into the air. Its serpentine eyes widen at the sight of me. Feeling a bit of absurdity in its reaction, I twist the corner of my mouth and activate Possessed by the Great Asura King and Flit Float. I kick off a foothold of air, stepping into the void. The golden blade, about to be drawn, is wreathed in a deep navy aura, its flash truly the radiance of the moon trailing the night sky.
Sunraku: "Clear Sky Style... Hayakaze!"
The moment of the draw, another skill activated simultaneously with the Clear Sky Style drawing technique. It is the other skill possessed by the Whalelore Moonblade—Pale Sheen: "Eclipse Vorpal." By accepting the forced cancellation of the combination, the magical energy charged in the sheath accelerates the blade—Goldsheen—pushing it out for a faster draw.
And the Clear Sky Style First Blade, Hayakaze, is a draw-attack skill, its properties granted to the blade being drawn. In other words, these two skills can coexist within the single process of iai.
Self-Proclaimed Goldhuneenay: "Wh, wha...?!"
The accelerating night sky. In this underground cavern sealed off from the heavens, moonlight wrapped in lightning, transformed into a gale, trailing the night sky, rings out a high, singing SFX. The drawn blade, following the effect of "Eclipse Vorpal," exerts its effect not as Pale Sheen, but as the Whalelore Moonblade—Goldsheen. Faster than the twin poison-fluid swords can react to the impact, their blades turn to crystal. And slicing through the poison fluid, the blade still advances, carving a by-no-means-shallow line across the self-proclaimed Goldhuneenay's neck.
Sunraku: "Fuh... It's decided...!"
I land with sheer willpower, refusing to fail at all costs, and cancel the effect of Levin Trigger: Hazard. I ready the Whalelore Moonblade, now split back into two blades, and turn around. A brief silence. Then, the moment the fully crystallized twin poison-fluid swords shatter, a purple damage effect erupts from the self-proclaimed Goldhuneenay's neck, and its scream shakes the tunnel.
Self-Proclaimed Goldhuneenay: "Giiiiaaaaaaaah?!"
Sunraku: "Ngh... Can't follow up right away..."
Clear Sky Style: Hayakaze is a full-power strike that consumes all of your stamina at the moment of activation. The more stamina consumed, the higher its power, but naturally, you suffer temporary stamina exhaustion afterward. As I pray for the full-body enervation—like being bound head-to-toe in chains—to end as quickly as possible, I use the fact that menu operation is still possible to swap the Whalelore Moonblade for Gilta Brille.
Sunraku: "Get up, get up, get up..."
I'll grab the itemized poison fluid—the "curse"—then grind the enemy down with Reject; if there's still anything left, I'll burn through every consumable I have to finish it off. It's the same for the self-proclaimed Goldhuneenay. The self-proclaimed Goldhuneenay glares straight at me, and only me, its eyes harboring a pure rage so intense it makes all its previous hatred feel like lukewarm water, as if even its own body might burn away.
Self-Proclaimed Goldhuneenay: "Kill..."
Sunraku: "That's my line..."
I'm dead serious now, too. I'm going to beat you down. The emotions driving us may be different, but we both burn with fighting spirit. One with a body dulled by fatigue, the other with a body recoiling from pain. Threatening our bodies to move faster, we both think only of how to finish the other, and wait for that instant.
Self-Proclaimed Goldhuneenay: "Disgusting... Truly disgusting. For me to be me, both humans and myself are truly disgusting... right?"
Perhaps that's why I noticed. Because my thoughts were focused solely on the self-proclaimed Goldhuneenay, the noise stood out all the more. And the Apport magic memorized in Lapistella Cloak divided my fate from that of the self-proclaimed Goldhuneenay.
Sunraku: "!? Tch, App—"
Self-Proclaimed Goldhuneenay: "Die..."
A hatred that could burn everything away. A chill as if an icicle had been thrust into my spine. A dense, numbing presence. Every danger signal the game could express made me choose to withdraw from that spot before I could even confirm.
And at the same moment I recognized the sight of my position dropping roughly five meters backward—
Self-Proclaimed Goldhuneenay: "Gipuh—"
A massive black mass slammed into the self-proclaimed Goldhuneenay from the side. The three-meter-tall self-proclaimed Goldhuneenay is sent flying just like a human, letting out a bizarre sound. Then, as my vision gradually adjusts, I recognize the true form of what sent the self-proclaimed Goldhuneenay flying—and what would have sent me to the same fate if I hadn't used Apport.
Sunraku: "A giant... snake?"
A body with huge scales, rivaling the Arctus Regalex—meaning, as big as a train. The distinctive sheen is that of a reptile, and the basic information of where this tunnel connects supplies me with an answer.
Sunraku: "Oi, oi, you're kidding..."
???: "Still alive? Then the unpleasantness continues, doesn't it."
A small silhouette standing at the edge of the bowl-shaped hole. Compared to the self-proclaimed Goldhuneenay, it is far too small—a petite, pure-white girl, no taller than a human high schooler... or even middle schooler. She wears a bizarre outfit, as if the traditional costumes of various regions were torn apart and haphazardly stitched back together, but because the modeling is, as expected, that of a beautiful girl, it looks as if that was always the fashion.
But above all.
More than the contempt on her expression, her eyes surpass even the self-proclaimed Goldhuneenay's hatred. The thick, red serpentine eyes—just meeting them seems to turn your body to stone—make it absolutely clear that she is no lost, frail girl.
And lurking behind the monster in the shape of a girl are four giant serpents. With horns, they are no longer mere snakes... in fantasy terms, perhaps they should be called dragon serpents—Naga.
???: "I..."
Is it a soliloquy? Or words directed at me and the self-proclaimed Goldhuneenay present?
???: "I hate the person who gave birth to me. I hate the me that threatens me. I hate the rabbit that stands in my way... Ah, the world is as unpleasant as ever today!"
Therefore, the pure-white albino snake girl declares, with a cruel smile loaded with overflowing murderous intent.
???: "Won't you please die?"
Self-Proclaimed Goldhuneenay: "You—! Dieeee!"
But in the next instant, the self-proclaimed Goldhuneenay, recovered from the shock of being sent flying, lets out a roar and attacks the snake girl commanding the four dragon serpents—Goldhuneenay the Inexhaustible.