Chapter 279: The Sword-Wolf Faces the Thunder-Fire Beast, Part Nine
No update tomorrow!!!!!!!!!! (I'm spent.)
I really did let the characters run way too far on pure impulse...
Either way, I'm half-naked, so is there really any point in going out of my way to cancel the curse? Absolutely.
Do you understand the sorrow of Netherlight, getting treated like industrial waste while its partner was running at full power right beside it? You'd better understand. If you don't, I'll teach you myself, dammit!
Sunraku: "What's wrong, what's wrong?! If you're tired, want me to take your head off in one stroke?!"
Psyger-100: "What in the world...!"
A meteor shower of Sworvant swords rains down. Every one of them could be called the pinnacle of a technique that has elevated the switch from automatic to manual control all the way into an offensive method.
So what?
I've emptied two cans of Riot Blood. Right now, I'm in the same condition I was that day... the day I collided head-on with Sylvia Goldberg.
And more importantly, this isn't some slapdash Cursed Prison setup. I'm moving as "Sunraku," the character I raised from the ground up.
Sunraku: "I've got enough room to see it first and still react!!"
Arcanum: The Fool spins faster than ever before. The instant a recast ends, the skill is activated again, one recast chaining into the next as if the ability to activate skills itself had been sealed away.
I kick off the air and race across it, stomp onto swords and slide along them, then teleport while already in the middle of a sword swing to strike from a blind angle. There is almost a full year's difference between Psyger-100's playtime and mine. Precisely because of that, even after I pour on an assault this fierce, Psyger-100 does not sink, does not fall, does not yield.
If we're talking pure player skill, Psyger-100 isn't even worth comparing with Sylvia Goldberg. Sylvia was beyond merely abnormal. She matched my full power while laughing and didn't even get winded. A complete monster. The same goes for Bakumatsu's top-ranked players. There are a surprising number of people in this world who make you think, "This person was born for this and nothing else."
Psyger-100 is not one of those people. I'll be completely honest: if this were player skill alone, I don't feel like I'd lose.
But that's not the point. Psyger-100's strength as a player lies somewhere else. This isn't some shallow realm where talent alone is enough to carry you.
Psyger-100: "Interesting...! You need this much ability to stand toe-to-toe with Lycagon? Fine by me! Then I'll throw everything I have at you and defeat you!! If that brings me closer to defeating it!!"
What is the single most important thing for a gamer?
Player skill? No. You can boot up a game without any.
Rare items? No. That's not completely wrong, but you can still enjoy yourself all the way to the final boss with nothing but a tree branch.
The most important thing for a gamer is motivation. No matter how garbage the RNG is, no matter how much you're a hopeless amateur who loves the game anyway, as long as that blazing passion keeps burning inside you, there is no limit to what a person can do.
By that standard, Psyger-100 is top class. Even after an absurdly long year, the flame of her passion for "defeating Lycagon" shows no sign of fading. The many weapons she controls are crystallized proof of Psyger-100's passion. Every sword flying through the air carries the passion, the time, and the effort she has poured into this game.
Hardcore gamer. Yeah. There probably isn't another player that term fits better. The devs must be smiling from beyond the grave.
And that's exactly why I start burning hotter too. There's a special kind of joy in throwing everything you've got at someone who's this deeply invested in the same game. That's why PvP draws people in. That's why PK never disappears. Sure, there are plenty of impure motives too, but at the root of PK is the pure desire to fight another player like yourself instead of an AI-controlled enemy.
SLF's AI is absolutely in a class of its own. All you can do is applaud AI that feels as if those creatures genuinely exist. But that's one thing and this is another. It still can't erase the fun of PvP.
Psyger-100: "【Sworvant: Sextet】!!"
Sunraku: "Time to test something... Fly, Netherlight!!"
Right now, I've gotten lucky.
Psyger-100 almost certainly hasn't unlocked the level cap, since she hasn't gone to the New Land. In other words, she should be the same displayed level as me: Lv.99 Extend. And yet Whalelore Moonblade is activating against her.
Is it because she's probably repeated level-down builds over and over? Or is the condition based on her stats, which are likely numerically higher than mine because of those level-down builds?
Whatever. Whalelore Moonblade is supposed to work only against opponents whose level is higher than mine, so being able to use it here is a stroke of luck. And that stroke of luck is exactly what makes the "test" I'm about to perform possible.
Was it my spoken command or my thoughts? I don't know which one the weapon recognized as the order, but Netherlight obeys my will and exposes its true capabilities to the light of day.
Leaving aside its combination ability as a Blade-to-Blade Sword, Netherlight has two abilities.
The first is, of course, the Netherlight Effect — the ability that was basically industrial waste until this morning. Since it's classified as a buff, Lycagon's Contusion rejected it, turning it into a useless trash ability that did nothing besides make my hand crackle. That problem got solved this morning, though.
But Netherlight has one other ability: by consuming HP or MP, it can change its shape. More specifically, once certain conditions are met, it can transform from a dagger form into a rapier form, a curved-sword form, and so on. Honestly, the dagger form is the easiest one to use, so this ability had been gathering dust too... but originally it was designed to be used together with the Netherlight Effect.
So let me demonstrate the conclusion. What exactly is the Netherlight Effect?
It manifests when a critical attack lands. Based on the number of critical attacks that have landed, and depending on Netherlight's current form...
Psyger-100: "Impossible... A 'flying slash' that doesn't go through a skill?!"
Sunraku: "Ha-ha! Test successful! I knew it — break the 'formation' and Sworvant fails to activate!!"
...it enables ranged attacks.
This is Netherlight's true power. It's not some bonus sheath for Goldsheen that just makes my arm crackle and changes shape for no reason! If anything, Netherlight is the one with the broken specs!
Sunraku: "It was so blatant that it actually took me longer to notice... So, what're you gonna do?! From here on out, I'm mixing disruption into everything!"
Psyger-100: "Bring it!!"
The kind of ranged slash changes with Netherlight's form. In rapier form, it becomes a flying thrust with high piercing power. In curved-sword form, it becomes an arcing flying slash. In dagger form, it becomes a rapid-fire barrage of flying strikes!
The Master of the Sword isn't the only one who can launch attacks through the air. Even a Mercenary who's basically still jobless can manage it. Right here, right now, I'll prove it.
Sunraku: "Even a starting job can pull off a giant-killing!!"
I raise my left arm, wrapped in a blue aura that looks like pale-blue cold and, at the same time, its exact opposite — flame — and point Netherlight at Psyger-100.
No more holding back. Throw everything into the fire and keep heating it up until it all burns away!! Ahhahaha, I'm so hyped right now that I'm scared of the crash afterward!!!!!