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ShangriLa Frontier Chapter 158 Part 1

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Translator: Kurehashi Aiko

Editor: ryunakama

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Chapter 158: The Real Meaning of a Reward Part 1

I got stuck. I was good with focusing aggro on myself, but my opponent was someone with huge amount of skill and good memory too boot.

「If it was an event battle, it might have been a little easier…… But what a shame, it’s just a regular battle.」

If it was an event, there would be ways to steer the action on the right tracks. But here it’s a do or die situation, with no compensation or assist at all…… Which was making this ordeal significantly harder.

In other words, I must be absolutely sure that the angle at which the monster shoots its laser at the tower is perfect, since there will be no system assist and even the slightest mistake can spell my doom.

「Let’s see, I guess I need to be slightly more up and…… a little bit to the left? Yeah, that sounds about right.」

Everything now is based solely on my own intuition and unconfirmed visual information. And depending on the “whale’s” behavior I would need to constantly adjust my position in order for it to be just right.

Also, it might be because of the limitations of the game’s engine, or simply the architectural choice, but I couldn’t help it but to notice that there were a lot of buildings with a similar shape being scattered throughout the city. But thanks to that I could easily get on the level of the whale and adjust my position.

Basically, it was like trying to aim with a primitive weapon, like a bow. You could only assume the correct position and pray that everything goes as planned from there on out. Or in other terms, it was leaving your faith to the RNG not once, but two times in a row.

「At least its speed is manageable…… I don’t know what I would do if it was faster……」

It is said that nowadays there is nothing that VR technology cannot reproduce. So it was technically possible to create monsters and enemies that would be able to move and act faster than sound or maybe even light, but the problem is, how would players could possibly hope to counter such opponents? That is why the monsters speed would usually be adjusted, at least to a level at which they wouldn’t be impossible to beat. Which means that for me it is perfectly doable.

「Come on…… Come on…… Come on……!」

I force myself not to blink in order to not miss anything, even though in VR there is no technical need for blinking. I needed to see the exact moment the Reaperorca was about to fire its laser. Everything else depends on that action alone.

If I were to compare that to something, would it be more of samurai duel or maybe a quick draw match between two gunslingers? For the current moment we could only stare each other down, anticipating what the other one was going to do and react accordingly.

It should fire in about ten seconds. But whether I act in eleven or nine seconds…… Everything depends on me not making a small, but grievous mistake like that.

I can see the flames of the Reaperorca burning brightly as it got closer. I can also see lightning gathering in its crystal wings and travelling through it body towards its forehead, amassing in the shape of a small orb.

I’ve come this far, so right now I had no other choice but to entrust myself to Lady Luck and see where this was going to take me. Everything was set, everything was good, but the chances for me dying were still around eighty percent. So, before that happens……!!

「Transfer: INVENTORY Entrance!」

The beam of light approaches me at a fast pace. It was so hot and so fast that it was warping the space around itself and burning away the seawater, although just for a short moment.

Just as the beam of light approaches me and grazes my skin, I manage to disappear from this world, albeit not without sweating buckets and having a feeling that I would be eradicated in a matter of seconds.

「……!!」

After a brief moment that felt like forever in my mind, I can still feel that I’m in once piece. The laser that was approaching me fast was nowhere to be found, and instead I was lying on the cold metal floor, on my back after being thrown in here with huge momentum. I wait a moment and then release all the air that was pent up in my lungs as I held my breath in anticipation.

「T, too soon for festivities…… “Transfer: INVENTORY Exit”! …… Whoa, what the fuck!? That was close!」

That laser turned out to not be a type that dissipates after being fired, but it would linger for a few more seconds before eventually retracting back to the point of its origin.

So if I screwed up just a little bit, I wouldn’t be able to kill the Reaperorca and sentence Alva to death as a result.

「Kukuku…… Achievement unlocked! And what an achievement that is! It’s just great, Alva!」

「Oh shit, you just disappeared and reappeared in a matter of seconds, and the next thing I know is that Reaperorca writhes in agony on the ground. I don’t get it!」

「Fuahahahahaha! Look at it! Listen to it! Laugh at it! And know that all you see and hear is true!」

Instead of reappearing on the ground, I materialized on one of the walls. And since humans can’t normally stick to walls, I fall to the ground, but because I was so excited I didn’t really felt that much and I even forgot to scream like mad.

Thankfully, Alva was there to catch me, otherwise I would have been dead for sure from the fall damage. But now I could witness and hear the result of my labor!

「I see that the angle was slightly off, but other than that it was clean, direct hit!」

The fire burning atop of its body was no longer to be seen. Its crystal wings were now shattered. After being hit by its own laser, its innards spilled out like a water from the inside of a balloon, splattering red polygons everywhere.

The roar it let out was astounding as well, being unlike anything I have ever heard before. It was gradually sinking lower and lower, and seemed to have totally forgotten about the fact that we were still here.

「Magnificent! Now, to finish the fucker off!」

「Are you serious!?」

「Well, duh! We cannot afford to let that guy try another laser stunt like that, or to try to bring us both down with that electrical discharge of his. And if we want to finish it off, now’s our best chance while it is still in pain.」

「R, Right! Understood!」

Right now was our best chance. When it was so weak and confused that it could barely keep itself afloat. It was like a flickering flame of the candle, about to be snuffed out at any moment.

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