Chapter 365: Avenger of the Shubir Emblem
Whew—our hero is soooo coooool!
Sunraku: "Look, Emul. That's what they call public humiliation play."
Emul: "There's one trying to run away, wa."
Sunraku: "What!? Eat this, commissar arrow!!"
Well, the arrow, loosed on a trajectory that's neither good nor bad, pierces the ground at the feet of an elf who was trying to slip away unnoticed. The elf, realizing the woman in the mourning dress is watching him, scrambles back toward Tottori. I see him off and turn my attention back to how things play out. I've named it "Operation Hero." In a situation where barging into someone else's quest takes guts, we use Tottori — the ignition we set up — as a catalyst to forcibly drag other players in... Now that I think about it again, it's a plan full of holes.
But Tottori — a puppet hero whose whole act is a farce, not a system-designated hero at all — still has a title that's nothing to sneeze at. After all...
???: "Yo, brother! Can't let you hog all the glory!! (First meeting)"
???: "I told you, didn't I? Anytime you're in trouble, I'll lend a hand. (He never said that)"
???: "The elves’ future is ours to protect!! (First contact with the elves)"
Tottori: "You guys...! (Who the hell are these people?)"
See, he's the player who wandered the jungle with the elves, and carried the hopes of bringing them to the frontline base all on his back. One who meets expectations earns trust in return. And if Tottori, having done just that, chooses to stand against the Third Knight Order, then people will absolutely appear to answer that call.
Sunraku: "If they show off how buddy-buddy they are with Tottori here, it might raise their favorability with the elves, after all..."
Oh, the tragedy of these bystanders. Somewhere in their hearts, they've realized they can't beat Tottori's overwhelming advantage, so they at least want to signal that they're facing the same direction... That feeling, I get it.
Sunraku: "Alright... Just glad it's working."
Oh, yes. This is a game. "Authority" doesn't work on players. If necessary, gamers are creatures who'd assassinate a king. No matter how real SLF feels, as long as it's a game, players aren't bound by social morals that fit the world setting. One after another, players flock to Tottori's side, and the Third Knight Order is losing its nerve. Fools. You thought surrounding them would work, and now your numerical advantage is flipped, and you're panicking.
The Third Knight Order, surrounded in turn now that the onlookers have turned hostile, doesn't even try to hide their panic. But you could say the head still lives up to his title, even in disgrace. The mastermind of this scene, Julian, still wears a composed smile, but his sharp eyes gleam — fixed on one thing only: the king... I see. That is indeed the fastest, shortest, and optimal play. Without bothering with the players, if he just takes down the king, the First Prince's faction gets its objective.
Sunraku: "Tch... I lost the bet, huh. Just like with GGC — maybe I'm just weak at bets where I can't directly interfere..."
No helping it. I'd hoped to just sit back and watch as a one-man-one-bunny commissar squad, but... Time to march. Time to beat some ass, fair and square.
Sunraku: "It's low-key painful that the weight reduction and stat boosts all drop the moment combat ends..."
I can't use Memento Mori. No, it's not that there's no way to use it, but it'd be brute force — inefficient. Setting aside whether I'll use it as a flashy bluff or not, I've got something else I want to test anyway.
Sunraku: "Alright then, let's go give Masterstroke Sword-san another nightmare!"
Emul: "Somehow I'm starting to feel a tiny bit sorry for him, wa..."
Well, just thinking about it simply, my current combat power compared to when I first met him is about 1.5 times... no, with skills factored in, two or three times stronger. The husband-wife gear set isn't much use in anti-human NPC fights, but it's perfect for hiding my identity. I've got the veil, after all. So then, let's go.
Sunraku: "Toh!"
A single knight breaks into a sprint. Not his full strength unleashed, but as if to prove his skill hasn't dulled one bit, Julian the Death-Dealing Sword draws his blade and runs.
Julian: "Prepare yourself...!"
Sunraku: "Oops."
His target: the king's life alone. In this world, there are indeed those whose mere existence is inconvenient. In the chaos of power — for the First Prince, the current king — his own biological father, Toravante, fits that description. That's why, even if he's abandoned the idea of finishing off Aria, he absolutely must take Toravante's life. The Death-Dealing Sword. That name is no mere decoration or falsehood. It's simply that the man at the top of the knights is... too strong. In system terms, Julian's TEC and DEX have reached terrifying numbers. Not high-speed movement, but elevating a single strike to the realm of guaranteed death. Julian's thrust skill, "Fatal Stab," forces a high-probability instant-death check on its target if it lands. Against Toravante, who has no direct combat ability, he could finish him without even needing the check.
But. And yet. Why is Deep Throater wearing a triumphant grin, looking at something other than Julian? Why, at this late hour, does King Toravante still maintain his unshaken composure? What is this skin-searing, nasty presence?
Sunraku: "———I announce the drawing of a sword."
The answer appears. A single shadow in the sky. Blocking the rising morning sun, a black silhouette drops through its fall and pierces the ground, cutting off Julian's path. What it is, only those who fought against the red monster know. But if you expand the condition to those who have merely seen its form before...
Julian: "This... this sword is...!!"
Sunraku: "———We, the wandering blade. We have no wielder, yet we are a blade that entrusts its body to the hand that bears it."
With a tap — a shockingly quiet and light footstep for something that fell from the sky — the black-clad figure lands atop the giant sword thrust into the ground. A monochrome blade. And a woman in mourning dress, grieving something, like a specter appearing atop a gravestone, like a grim reaper that draws in the dead.
Sunraku: "———We, the blade that tugs at thin wishes. We, the blade that severs the accumulated karma of past deeds."
Two golden swords in both hands. Her face is hidden by the veil, unseen. But the words woven like a song resound through the frontline base, overwriting the silence.
Sunraku: "———The blade stands to block the course of karma, and now here proclaims aloud to strike down evil."
Her left arm remains at ease, natural. With the tip of her right sword, she points it at the Third Knight Order Commander, Julian... one who has amassed vice—Karma Value.
Sunraku: "———We, the avenging blade. Now here the sword is drawn, evil is struck down, and the wish shall be fulfilled."
At the back of the mourning woman, an emblem floats up as if painted with light instead of ink. It bears a sharp gaze fit to shoot an enemy dead, a great beak, a right wing of flame, a left wing of lightning — an emblem of a new Avenger with a sword motif worked into its design. The way it floats behind her, she seems almost to spread wings of flame and lightning herself.
Deep Throater: "Making a flashy entrance like this... Can't complain if this gets recorded and spread around, riiight, Sunraku-kuun..."
When the oath of the avenging blade is formed, wickedness simply meets its end.
Ugh... that took way too long... I pulled off the cool finishing pose and all, but inside, I'm whining up a storm. What the hell is this skill? Am I supposed to do a tongue twister challenge while sprinting?
The skill Revenger's Call — its name already gives it away, but it's a skill only acquirable by those who've taken the job "Avenger." These skills all share a common thread: the target's Karma Value plays a heavy role. The skill Revenger's Analyze allows you to visualize the karma value of anyone you look at while it's active. Revenger's Call, by chanting all of the "oath" displayed in a special window, grants a stat boost proportional to the target's Karma Value. Revenger's Fatality is a weapon-enhancement skill that boosts damage proportional to the target's Karma Value. And on top of that, if you defeat the target while it's in effect, there seems to be some additional effect.
And as for the target in question — the Third Knight Order Commander... Masterstroke Sword? Julian's Karma Value is... 5120. Hard to say if that's high or low, but at the very least, the buff multiplier I've got right now is pretty damn solid. Well, you know, so basically...
Sunraku: "I don't see myself losing."