Author: Starving Wind | Original Source: Joara | Word Count: 3511 characters |
Translator: Anonymouss | English Source: Re:Library | Word Count: 2369 words |
Editor(s): Silva |
Though it would be great if I blew them away with a single skill, I was so high up, I might not be able to brace myself in time and die from the impact of the fall. Even if Blue Sky was a fantasy game, the concept of gravity and free-falling still applied to the game after all.
As I drew closer to the enemies, I looked for a way to dissipate the impact that my feet would receive when I landed. Then I found a victim to lay it on.
Crunch.
Together with my weight as well as the impact of the terminal velocity, it had enough power to easily one-shot kill the poor Shining guild member that was standing right below me, breaking his neck and killing him instantly.
After dissipating the impact I would have received by using a person as a support, I charged straight into the enemy forces as I swung my Excalibur around.
“Aaargh!”
“Where is she? S… Stop her!”
The enemies crowded around with no semblance of a proper defense formation, meaning that they weren’t able to deploy an effective response to my sudden attack.
Many died simply from a single strike from my Excalibur, and those that didn’t receive massive damage tried to back away from me but…
It was obviously not an easy task to find a place to back away into when there were too many people around you.
“Damn it…”
Those that were able to dodge my single strike weren’t lucky enough to be able to dodge the 2nd strike afterwards. After claiming enough space for myself with just two, three sword strikes to clear the area, I activated the linked skill [Sword Storm].
The enemies that were frozen with terror were met with a whirlwind of powerful force coming their way.
“Aaargh!”
Yet another scream rang out. The game’s gore mod must have had an upgrade or something, as the fresh blood from the enemies that splattered on my face felt warm.
I guess the good thing was that it wasn’t my Excalibur that was actually touching them directly, so it wasn’t caked in blood. The blood that landed on my white armor didn’t even settle before smoothly slipping away.
“If you kill her, you’ll become a lord of the land! You’ll be fabulously rich!”
“I have to get her!”
“We’d be able to win if we use our numbers against her.”
Though they would usually run away from the sight of such a powerful enemy like me, they became blind with the hopes of earning enormous amounts of wealth and jumped at me like a moth to a flame.
“Goodness…”
I felt a bitter taste in my mouth seeing all the enemy forces who were just pushing themselves feverishly towards me instead of giving me more space like I presumed they would. They certainly were fitting of their title of being the best soldiers of a giant guild. Even when they were blind with greed, they were still advancing towards me with some semblance of a formation.
For this situation to continue, it would be fatal for a two-handed sword user like me who has taken a long time between swings.
“But it’s still no different than them jumping at me blindly.”
If they thought that they would be able to take me down because of that specific weakness that two-handed sword users had, then it was their own fault. Because I’m not just the average user who can’t do anything when their weapon is not available in time to block or retaliate quick enough.
“Hehehe! Die!!!”
One of the enemy soldiers who watched as I cut down one of his allies used the moment of weakness to strike me from behind. Sorry, but my legs aren’t just for show.
Wham!
“Aaargh!”
With a heavy sound of something cracking, I kicked the vital point of the enemy sneaking up to me as he screamed aloud in pain. As a man like him, I felt sorry for directly attacking the most sensitive area of his body, but we were on a battlefield after all.
“Kgh…”
After pulling my Excalibur back into my grip, I swung it directly down on his neck to relieve him of his pains.
‘Sorry.’
While giving him an apology in my mind, I was once again busy dodging weapon strikes from all sides. As it was definitely a wide-open area, there were too many things for me to worry about.
[You’ve successfully resisted the enemy’s debuff.]Numerous worrying system message sounds had been ringing in my ears for a few moments now as it went crazy notifying me of every magic being cast on me. I was sure that the enemy mages must be casting various curse element magic as well as debuffs.
Though my magic resistance was already insanely high, the difference between me and the enemy’s levels was so much that for them to be able to successfully apply a debuff on me would be like trying to hit the jackpot on the lottery. But it may be a different story if there was a mage among them that was high enough level to be on par with Katalina or at least Wine.
In any case, if I had a debuff on me things would definitely be much harder for me. But thankfully I wasn’t that far from the six stranded guild members that I was aiming for.
I should thank the goddess of luck for the fact that they had at least one healer among them. I activated my passive skill [Force Blade] to increase my damage output.
A shining aura that beamed in a bright white color covered my Excalibur, expanding the length of my sword. Though I will be able to enjoy more reach with each of my attacks as well as a huge amount of additional damage, it would use up much of my mana so this form won’t be able to last too long.
“Is that Aura Blade? It looks a bit different though?”
“Your enemy is Artoria. As if it’s Aura Blade she’s using, it’s probably Force Blade instead.”
“I’m sure it must be really powerful…!”
Their little chatter didn’t last long, as my attacks started up again. In that short amount of time they described the Aura Blade and how it should look like, powerful enemy forces who were at least at Master tier in class proficiency surrounded me. But that was all they did.
The moment my Force Blade met with their Aura Blade, their sword along with their aura crumbled into pieces and using that as a chance, I used my elbow and hands to knock them down so they would be incapacitated.
Though my bare-handed attacks weren’t powerful enough to fatally kill them, it was powerful enough to knock them out which indicated just how dominating in terms of power I was.
“Damn… Can you really believe she can knock them down with just her bare hands?”
One of the enemies complained out loud, but why would I bother answering him? They would be able to do this as well once their strength level reaches over 900.
Ah, of course, this was presuming that the enemy was in a state where they couldn’t fight back.
“She’s Artoria after all.”
“This is really f̲u̲c̲k̲e̲d̲ up.”
That was the last conversation that they had. It didn’t take me more than 30 seconds to take down 8 different powerful enemy soldiers who were at master level proficiency.
In the meantime, arrows aimed at my heart and abdomen would fly towards me, but due to the high defense of the armor as well as dodging them from time to time when needed meant that it didn’t damage me enough to matter much.
Of course, it didn’t mean that I didn’t receive any damage at all, it was just that the number of damage I received was so minuscule in comparison to the enormous amount of HP I had.
Now all I needed to do was move in just a little further, and at that moment, a shiver went down my spine which felt like a warning instinct. That I was in danger.
Without even needing to think, I lowered my head.
Woosh.
The sound of a sharp object cutting through the air rang out as it sailed past my head. Was it a dagger?
With no time to even consider it any longer, a 2nd and 3rd attack followed suit. Daggers were aimed at my exposed neck and side of the abdomen. I had a hunch that these were from an assassin.
High level assassins who were sure to be at least within the top 300 of the ranked players on the server. And it wasn’t just one person either. I blocked the additional daggers swinging towards me that were aimed at other various spots on my body with both my hands, as the assassins were too close for me to swing my Excalibur around.
Though my sword had fallen onto the ground and no longer in possession by anyone, no one could grab it until I actually died. However, on the other hand, that meant that if I were to die, it was 100% likely that it would be dropped from me. Was it just my imagination that I saw a glint of light in the assassin’s eyes?
However, even though they were attempting to stab at me with daggers in both their hands, each of their attempts was blocked by my hands meaning that they weren’t able to make any progress.
“Heh.”
Even so, they laughed at me. Though it wasn’t like there was one more assassin coming in to attack me as well, both my hands were preoccupied and I had even dropped my weapon on the ground so they must have thought that they were carrying out their role properly.
Crunch.
However, there was one thing that I had that they didn’t think of. ‘Pankration’, the barehanded fighting method that I had used previously. Though I can only use it for 5 minutes a day, in this situation I only needed a few seconds.
“No way!”
One of the assassins screamed in horror as he witnessed his companion’s neck breaking from the blow of my elbow, but soon he was silenced as well.
Crack.
Now that I had one hand free, I was able to twist the neck of the other with even more ease.
‘Barehanded fighting is way too dangerous, it really feels like I’m murdering someone.’
I was horrified by the violent sensation that traveled down my hands. Though it may look more violent in watching someone die from a sword slice from the perspective of watching a recording, the true sensation that you felt right in your hands was truly the worst.
I was even able to understand the reason why the number of 1st-degree murders in real life had decreased after Blue Sky came out.
“Am I a psychopath as well then?”
Since I wasn’t feeling much repulsion from that violent sensation after all. Sometimes I was scared of myself. However, I did my best to think that this was just a game and ignore that thought.
The situation was still too terrible for me to have such trivial thoughts. Picking up the Excalibur that had fallen to the ground, I continued my slaughter of enemies.
[Light of Blessing]A beam of light came down from the sky, surrounding my body and granting me new strength.
“A buff?”
Looking around, I saw that the allied healer among the stranded group had seen me and cast a buff on me.
As most enemies were being taken down by a single blow from my sword, the buff the healer gave wasn’t really effective but from a mental perspective, I felt as if my fatigue were being taken away from me.
Though it was a simple buff spell that increased my attack and defense by a slight amount, I was able to continue massacring the enemies with even lighter steps and most enemies ended up as additional numbers to my kill counter without being able to lay a single scratch on my armor.
“She’s way too good with the control of her character.”
“Such godlike controls… Who said that top-ranked players were lazy with how they control their characters? That’s a lie!”
“This is why rumors are not to be trusted!”
I had trained myself as a hardcore solo player this whole time, as well as having a dominating difference in levels and equipment power against them. I was clearly different in terms of skill in controlling my character than other high-ranked players who did nothing but drink potions and get support from healers in a hunting zone where they are safe from other high level enemies.
Even now that I was in a huge close-up dogfight with numerous enemies, I was making sure that I was cutting down enemies with basic attacks and using appropriate skills whenever I had the chance instead of recklessly using the best skills I had to win no matter what.
Considering that there was not a single proper strike on my body by the enemy even though I had cut down several hundred now, that meant that they were getting tired of trying to fight against me.
‘Better for me anyways.’
In any case, there were still numerous enemies and still no hint of Lucas in the surrounding area. I’m sure he must be getting a lot of pressure to attack me directly from all the people around him. What could he be thinking right now? Well, I guess it didn’t really matter, since all I needed to do was just destroy him completely if he ever appeared. Just like how I was crushing the enemies right now.
“It’s an honor to die from the hands of a beauty like y…”
A high ranking player who was trying to goad me was destroyed by my weapon. And yet the words coming out of his mouth… I shook my head from side to side and sliced his head off right away.
“Tsk…”
There really are a lot of weird people in this world.