Chapter 178: Furious Tiger of Forbidden Star: Overheat
Chapter 178: Furious Tiger of Forbidden Star: Overheat
My body was so light right now. After wearing a heavy full-body armor throughout three rounds, the difference in weight right now was so astonishing that it was actually scary.
「So fast……!」
「What’s this, the Undefeated Queen suddenly is afraid of being struck down from her high throne?」
「Still Undefeated!」
She beat me in the first round, and even though I managed to win in the second round it was still annoying as hell. So right now, in this third round, the stakes are at their highest!
Meetias backs away for about two meters, and Prison Break makes a huge step that manages to overtake him, landing one meter behind his back. I used that advantage to do a kick right in the middle of Meetias’s back.
Although Meetias managed to guard against that, the difference in power was as clear as day. He didn’t get blown away but swayed heavily on his legs.
「I’m surprised…… It’s like your whole battle style has changed!」
「Unfortunately such battle style leaves a kind of bad aftertaste in my mouth!」
It was a best solution here. Even if it means to go from a magician to gorilla…… Even if it means I’ll have to become half-naked once more, I’ll definitely emerge victorious here!
Meetias used the mid-air jump in order to reposition himself, but in my current form I could overtake him in this as well, because I could do a double mid-air jump. So I catch up to him, overtake him and strike another kick to his back.
「What’s wrong, what’s wrong!? Scared of me so you want to wait through the time limit!?」
「Fufufu…… It only starts here!」
Seriously, how is she so fast……!? Right, let’s burn through the remaining caffeine reserves! Just like a nitro boost!
He can’t use Ultimate Move or any special techniques, so I should be able to send him on the ropes if I keep on attacking continuously. So I focus like I never have before, and I continue to assault Meetias without leaving him much place to move or evade.
Ten seconds passed already, and with the remaining twenty still on the clock, Meetias started to move.
「Shall we wrap this thing up?」
「Yeah, let’s do just that!」
There are no people around, only some abandoned cars and signs that were suggesting that there was a human activity not too long before here. I see, so this is what the stage of a final battle looks like.
Good thing that right about now Prison Break was equal to Meetias in terms of performance and mobility. Thanks to that we could go all out and finish this based on pure skill.
「………!!!」
Meetias runs up the car and jumps off the crooked sign, gaining speed. I could only try to avoid it and adjust my positioning once Meetias lands after the fail attempt at kicking me. I then did a swipe kick to throw Meetias off balance and force him to land on his back on the ground.
「I’m not finished yet!」
Meetias managed to reposition himself from laying on his back to a push-up like position thanks to twisting his body in a way that no normal human being would be able to do. Then he threw a kick towards my face, as if he was trying to kick a soccer ball with all of his might.
If that manages to reach me, I’ll certainly die. So I can only try to avoid it by twisting my neck and whole body. I managed to avoid the direct hit, but part of Meetias’s sole still managed to graze me, which led to losing some of the HP. But at the same time Meetias was not invincible during that time. I managed to grab him by the ankle and swing him around, just like you’d do with an Olympic hammer or a bat.
I was able to swing faster than Meetias was able to respond to it…… But I chose to not slam him into the ground on the spot. However, Meetias probably managed what I was aiming for, and used a brief moment when I was swinging a little less violently to twist his body again and regain a position in which he would be able to protect himself.
「Ten seconds left!」
Everything will be decided here and now!
I can already feel that the reserves of caffeine in my body starts to deplete rapidly, and my fast thinking starts to get duller and duller as a result. But once I let go of his ankle, my body is already on the move. I closed the distance and unleashed a flurry of fist attacks at Meetias, who rose his guard and tried to endure the series of attacks like that. …… Don’t underestimate the Iai-Fist style!
「The gap of twelve frames is pretty big space to work with!」
The world and characters are all constructs of data, but its human beings that control them. So there is no way to always be able to arrive at optimal solutions, to not get influenced by the outside factors and avoid failure from time to time. And that moment of hesitation in acting is the essence of Iai-Fist style, that capitalizes on the humanity of the people controlling the characters. The ultimate weapon that takes even the non-human aspects of the game and brings them down to human factors that can be exploited!
The moment her guard wavers as a result of being hit so many times, the moment where a slight gap in her defenses forms, that is where my right arm shoots through the air and glows brightly.
「Right there!」
「Gahyuh!?」
It was not a fist, it was not a kick. It’s a spear-like attack made out of all five fingers put together. I managed to pierce my “spear” right through the throat of the google-eyed Hero, and the fact that a brutal attack like that was a critical hit made his whole body stiff just for a moment. Good thing that instincts of living beings still applied in here.
「EEEEEEAAAAAATTTTTT TTTTTTHHHHHHIIIIIISSSSSS!!!!!!!!!」
I reach out with my right arm and force my whole body to twist and rotate. I use only my left leg as the point of support for my body and as I continue to spin I raise my left leg in a kick position, ready to release that kick which contained the energy accumulated from my whole body.
Confident about my victory, I focus everything I have into that one last attack. At the same time everything else disappears from my mind: Katsu, the Exhibition Match, the strategy…… it was all gone.
But still, right here and right now…… It’s just like that. Even though my HP was left at less than ten percent as a result of the onslaught of attacks just now, I was still willing to give it my all despite the fact that I was at the death’s door…… Because right in front of me, Silvia Goldberg was still a Pro Gamer.
「DON’T UNDERESTIMATE MMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!」
Meetias forcibly breaks the chain that was binding his body, and uses its remains to swing and gain momentum. He lets out a mighty roar and gets ready to kick. Normal kick would not be powerful enough. Spinning kick would take way too long. That is why the very last attack of Meetias would be a high kick which would have enough penetration to do some major damage.
Three seconds, two seconds, one second…… Zero.
「Uguoh!」
「Guhuah!?」
The impact of Meetias’s kick connecting with my chest shakes my body to its very core, making me feel as though my heart was about to burst and my ribs were about to shatter. At the same time, I am pretty much sure that my blow managed to penetrate his armor and damage his internal organs. We keep silent while the system takes its sweet time to calculate the damage that has been done. …… Those few seconds felt like few ours, and then the results were finally in.
「Guh……」
The sensation of my body becoming limp and devoid of strength, as well as my vision blacking out was the sign that my HP have reached zero.
(Is she really some sort of a monster that managed to make a comeback even from something like that……?)
So, does that mean that amateurs can never hope to beat Pro Gamers, even if they are going all out?
The last thing I have seen before my vision faded to black……
「Ah……」
It was the figure of a body that fell to the ground, completely motionless.
DOUBLE K.O!!!
…… And now what?