Chapter 210: Reaching the Heavens Part 16 Part 1
Chapter 210: Reaching the Heavens Part 16 Part 1
When it comes to my, Sanraku’s, skill build, I prioritize mobility, agility and simple hit and run battle tactics.
Whether it is dodging arrows, evading spears and javelins, jumping off cliffs and running into dead ends, there is no obstacle that I cannot overcome.
If there is no road to follow, I shall run alongside the wall. If there are no walls, I shall run or jump through the sky. I am confident in my abilities and thanks to that, with the right combination of skills activated all at once I am sure I would even be able to run on the ceiling without much of a problem.
An oversized mass of a weapon is being swung down, being thrusted into the ground. The features of the current form of Kutanid…… I must understand how it works during the duration of this fight no matter what. Certainly, copying the profiles and playstyles of the party members with the help of magic jewels is annoying and very powerful and dangerous, but so far no party member died as a result of it.
We can employ certain characters into the vanguard, such as Rei, Akitsu Akane or myself to deal with the incoming Kutanid attacks, but above all else we must figure out what exactly its weakness is during this phase.
「Its movements are too monotonous……!」
A blade this big relies on its mass for attacking, not sharpness. It means more or less that the damage it inflicts counts as crushing, not slashing. No matter what, a blade of that type will never be able to cut through flesh, no matter how hard it tries to do so.
I activate three skills: Demonic Possession, Gravity Zero and Trial Traverse. Then I jump on top of the great sword and start running up on it, using it like a makeshift tightrope.
Halfway through the sword I activate the “Utsurou Mikogami” skill, leaving my shadow version halfway through the sword to gather aggro, while my real body continues its ascend.
Being able to copy the playstyle of your opponent. That surely is one heck of a powerful and annoying ability to have. However, here there is no real application to that imitation. And even if Kutanid can imitate how to move and how to attack in certain ways, it does not do it with its own thoughts behind it. It is all like a command based game. Every move is pre-set, and there is a patter to be exploited to everything it does.
In theory, it is not impossible to learn the patters of every eight of Kutanid’s current “modes”, but it would be extremely difficult of a thing to do. Long story short, rather than trying to memorize it all, it would be best to just get used to it.
「This is the third time already, get a hint already, Kutanid!」
I then activated the skill Flip Float and the world momentarily turned upside down for me. Using the foothold in mid-air I jumped over Kutanid’s head and readied myself to make another jump, this time around going from the mid-air towards the ground. The speed and the now properly working gravity would only add up to my attack power in a moment, which was going to be performed by the two Scorpion Gauntlets that were on the ready. Their skills about ready to be used.
Two skills of the Scorpion Gauntlets: Lete Vanisher and Agar Tram. I throw the Lucky Hand into the mix as well, which uses the Luck stat for a chance of additional damage if the attack manages to connect to the enemy’s head. And as luck would have it, I managed to hit Kutanid right in between the eyes with a crystal pillar.
Vu, Vuuuuuuooooooooo……!!!
Kutanid makes a loud roar that was actually hard to distinguish. Then it bends its body while dropping on its knees and holding onto its face. I landed on Kutanid’s back and slid down towards the ground. Then I passed Rei and nodded at her, right after that dodging to the side. A moment after that, a pillar of pure-white light struck Kutanid right in the middle of the back.
「Catastrophe……!」
Rei’s…… No, strictly speaking, that “Maximum Firepower” is not something that belongs to Rei exclusively, but it is something that is the result of the combined powers of her current equipment: “Two-Faced Armor” and “Sword of Gods and Demons - Antimony”. The two combined create the bane of Unique Monsters, an attack that is easily an equivalent of ten normal powerful abilities…… “Armageddon”.
I have notified all the party members to temporarly step back and go to the rear guard thanks to Emul, who got down from my head and was currently working as a messenger. Right now he was with the rest of the party, but it is not impossible that I will need his messenger abilities some more later on.
Being struck by both my attack and Rei’s Maximum Firepower, there was no way for Kutanid to emerge out of that as if nothing have happened, and it fell to the ground after stumbling for a short moment. To be perfectly honest the scene of dwarf-sized humans managing to fell down a giant looked really grotesque in my eyes, but that’s just how things are in video games: if you want to achieve the best result possible, it is sometimes necessary to sacrifice the looks in favor of efficiency.
「…… I have run out of arrows.」
「What did you just say!?」
「Rust said that she has run out of arrows!」
The logical conclusion here would be that Rust shall now switch into her magic bow for the offensive, but that way it won’t be long before she is going to run out of MP to use.
「I’m sorry! My ninja tools are about to all run out as well!」
「My magic power is also approaching its limits!」
「M-My MP is running low in a second as well……」