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Chapter 410

(TL note: Previous chapter fully updated, take a look, sorry for the inconvenience, they turned out way longer than I expected)

Day 96 – Daytime, Dungeon, 91F

Seems like everything up to the 90th floor was designated for my training, and from the 90th floor onward, it’s back to the usual free-for-all. Could someone tell me that beforehand next time? You guys are way too fast at taking a head start?

The third bat encounter today, the 『Ignition Bat Lv91』 is the kind that explodes, or maybe just catches fire, on contact. I was all ready to intercept them with my twelve shoulder-shield funnels… but before I could even say the thing, the chain reaction from the explosions wiped out the endless swarm of bats crowding the floor. Sadly, my twelve shoulder funnels now sway aimlessly in the air like they’re mourning… I really wanted to say that line…

(Jiggle-jiggle~)

Well, Slime-san seems full and happy, so I guess it’s fine? Sending a vibration wave with Vibration Magic into the air, causes the bats to freeze up for a moment. If I already locked space with 『Holding』 some of them even fall to the ground. Vibration Magic, honed night after night to the limit, is surprisingly effective, though it’s not very noticeable here. But it’s very noticeable at night, with all the screaming and intense action, Vibration-san gets standing ovations every night for its vibrating performance.

Yesterday I received healing and slept well, so I’m in great shape. No pain, totally healthy. My stamina, energy, and MP are all totally drained, but otherwise I’m in near-perfect condition, and yet I have no opportunity to do anything. I want to test out these buffed stats and control, but it feels like I’m being blocked. I need to finish this tuning as quickly as possible. Either way, sooner or later I have to test my limits, so I don’t get why I’m not allowed to now?

Since there’s no helping it, I held back to warm-up levels, at around 99% power, and joined the battle. If I go full force in a group battle and lose control, it’ll endanger allies and I’ll get scolded for being a nuisance. So I’m easing into it carefully. I can probably master it just by staying consistent over time, but that’s so roundabout and slow. Real combat at the limit would let me gather massive amounts of live data in an instant, but instead I’m stuck doing painstaking trial-and-error, stacking it piece by piece. At this rate, my skill level will increase and I’ll get new equipment before I even finish tuning?

Still, they’re worried about me. It’d feel wrong to take this freshly healed body and stress it to the point of internal bleeding again. I mean, it’s no biggie? Just some bruises lingering until regeneration clears them, but they do look bad and make everyone uncomfortable.

I was issued just three『Lizard Warriors Lv92』. They are armed with round buckler-type shields and longswords, wearing cuirass breastplates, very profitable-looking fully geared lizardmen. Their sword attacks were rough but sharp and strong, and their shield handling was accurate. They made excellent use of their level 90+ stats, these lizards are really worthy of their warrior titles.

Even where their cuirasses didn’t cover, they had dense, rigid scales coating their muscular bodies. Occasionally, they would use their long, thick tails like whips to sweep at my feet. Still, even with a SpE in the upper 800s giving them amazing burst speed, they were slow. No matter how fast you move, if you don’t have the technique, it doesn’t matter. Their movements, though fast, had only linear speed, and were fatally lacking in finesse.

No matter how quick the action is, lacking the technique made their wind-up motions easy to read and movements linear and simple, and with so many wasteful movements it made their speed pointless, preventing them from making full use of their destructive power. They were just flailing around relying on stats.

And it wasn’t just their motion that was monotone, their rhythm was too. That simple, repetitive beat in both their attacks and movements made them ridiculously easy to read and match. Just sitting ducks, that I could strike at any point. Well, they are lizards, but still?

An attack with a predictable timing is not a threat. No matter how much feinting or trickery they use, if their rhythm gets read, their timing becomes easy to match. Combine that with their simplistic movement and lack of technique, and their incredible physical stats end up utterly useless.

While crossing blades with all three Lizard Warriors simultaneously, I adjust my own movements, watching how things play out. Or rather, at this level, it doesn’t even cause any strain. I simply dodge, deflect and slip past the attacks that are fast, but telegraphed. Then, they start to crumble, unable to respond to my ever-shifting tempo. Their strikes lose momentum, just lazy, arm-only swings. That’s quite enough, they seem to be done too.

「Secret Sword Art – Lizard Reversal! …Though the lizards don’t actually get reversed, it’s more like the sword arc does. Or maybe it’s like it goes out and then curves back? Sort of?」

Taking a step forward I make a wide swing, avoiding my precious pocket-money-grade cuirasses, and lopped off the heads of two Lizard Warriors. Adjusting the blade’s vector, from shoulder, to elbow, to wrist, I guided the slash of my 『Staff of the World Tree』 into a sweeping ∞ curve, redirecting the arc to take off the last one’s raised arm and his head in one clean motion.