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ShangriLa Frontier Chapter 108 Part 2

Translator: Kurehashi Aiko

Editor: ryunakama

Chapter 108: A Lion Goes All Out Against a Bunny, Phoenix Gets a Pizza Cutter Treatment Part 2

「My, oh my, looks like the cat is out of the bag.」

Well, honestly speaking, I wasn’t even hoping that the same trick would work here more than once. Luckily for me, that thing was only one of the aces that “Fiddler’s Club” was keeping up its sleeve.

Even so, I must say that this jammer plus camouflage technique earned some truly interesting results.

「Not to mention that I can even switch modes from a biped to a quadruped if I see fit.」

The lower half of its body was rotating on a vertical axis, so it was possible to switch its two legs into four, and even equip arms on every single one of them. All thanks to the advanced customization that made it all possible.

「Now then, what are we going to do here?」

First of all, its mobility was abysmal, all because of the tremendously increased weight. That could have been somewhat mitigated by installing a larger booster, but the weight problem would still be there. So it wasn’t even remotely close to the mobility that Kingfisher presented.

Next, the fuel usage. If you don’t know what you’re doing in that department, you’re pretty much done for.

So in order to make it possible to divert energy into the legs switching mechanism, some kind of compromises and smart management was required.

I was planning to equip it with some countermeasures to its fuel problems as well, but since I was working on a tight schedule here, it was something that needed to wait for now.

So instead of a prolonged battle in mind, I decided to do something else entirely: a short skirmish-oriented frame that could use up all the fuel it wanted and finish the battle without having to worry about anything else.

This here Fiddler’s Club was capable of eating through all of its energy reserves in a matter of seconds. But if you manage to get the enemy in range of your armaments, they would not be able to escape from them.

After a brief pause, Phoenix begins to move again. And accelerates. Apparently it was going to force me into battle rather than trying to maintain its distance.

It was a good choice, since Phoenix was equipped with dual melee weapons and gatling guns that would allow it to be prepared for any kind of scenario.

I avoid the gatling gun shots landing onto the ground and then charge forward with minimum effort, using as little boosters as I could.

I had to admit. She had a tremendous advantage over me. Be it in mid-air, on the ground or when it comes to overall experience. So if I was going to best Rust……

「This is a skill that drives you into a “kill or be killed” kind of situation!」

After calmly assessing my situation, I deploy the optical camouflage once more.

Then I activated the jamming sensor, disappearing from Rust’s perception for a few seconds.

I then changed my leg units into a flight mode once more. My plan was to boldly approach the Phoenix and then get rid of my camouflage by myself.

As for the jamming sensor, it could easily be canceled by attacking, so there was no problem there.

But there was always a possibility that after our last battle, Rust would be vigilant for close-ranged attacks, so she could be keeping her melee weapons at the ready.

At least that’s what it looks like from my perspective. It was a pretty bold and somewhat reckless move, but without taking any risk there can be no way of getting a reward.

「Even if I can’t avoid it, I can at least try to intercept it…… Try to get out of range…… And get within my own range……」

“Bookmark” is the main weapon, and a huge shield obstructs the vision of the left hand.

Seeing Fiddler’s Club appearing seemingly out of nowhere, Phoenix had no other choice but to grab its melee weapons and prepare to defend itself.

The distance in between the two was too small to use a long-ranged weapon and too big to effectively use a melee weapon.

Phoenix could easily close the remaining distance in a matter of seconds, but since she wasn’t sure of the full capabilities of Fiddler’s Club, she had to assume that it was a trap.

And knowing that it was the player who had to make a decision, not the frame itself. Approach? Keep your distance? Attack? Or maybe fall back to safety?

However, the enemy could easily respond to every single move she would decide to undertake. That is why…… This wasn’t really a battle. It was the hunt. And it was the Fiddler’s Club in the role of the Predator.

「It’s impossible that he returned to this game only yesterday……!」

It was at this moment that Fiddler’s Club released a capture net that was equipped on one of its legs towards Phoenix, effectively slowing it down for a few seconds.

The blossom made out of reinforced wire  bloomed in mid-air as it encompassed Phoenix, who was unable to do anything to avoid it.

The speed of the net was far greater than that of Phoenix’s boosters, so it didn’t matter if it was to fly up, down, left or right.

It was exactly what Fiddler’s Club wanted. For Phoenix to try to use its staple irregular maneuvering to try to evade the net, even though it was impossible to do. Like that, it knew where Phoenix would be and it could prepare to attack accordingly.

There was also no other way to deactivate the capturing net, other than the frame itself deactivating it of its own volition.

In other words, there was no way for Phoenix to possibly avoid the stake driver that suddenly flew from behind Fiddler’s Club’s shield, piercing one of Phoenix’s wings and drastically decreasing its flying and evasion potential.

「If you were focusing entirely on long-range combat this “King’s Gambit” would not work…… But since you’ve decided to take the battle up close and personal, you’ve sealed up your fate with that.」

It would take three seconds for Fiddler’s Club to shorten the distance. In five seconds, Fiddler’s Club’s “finisher” would destroy its enemy mercilessly.

The “Bookmark” shoots forward, grabbing Phoenix by the neck and tightening so much that Phoenix would be unable to escape. The only thing that Fiddler’s Club needed to do now was to wait for its pilot to issue an appropriate command to finish it all.

「Sorry for that, but the name can be a little bit deceiving…… Even though it’s a “Scissor”, there’s a total of six blades.」

In the next moment, six blades started to run across Phoenix’s body, similar to a way in which a pizza cutter cuts through pizza crust.

It was a type of attack meant for taking down huge, heavy-armored Nephilim, so for someone like Phoenix, it only took about a second for its durability to fall down to zero.

Just like in the previous game, Phoenix exploded in an effective fashion, putting a nasty smile on my lips.

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