Chapter 67: Momentary Thoughts Part 14 part 1

The first impression that both Katsu and I had about “KIRIN” was that it was “A truck on four legs”, but upon closer inspection it wasn’t like that at all. It was more like this thing was “A quadrupedal tank” (Note: Mr. Kojima!?).

Its color scheme was the same as the Gravekeeper’s, and you could see threads of artificial mechanical muscles covering its whole body, making it resemble the real horse. Additionally it was twice as big as us, and was covered in thick armor.

I used to ride cavalry horses in some of the games that I have played in the past, but the sheer size and shape of this thing was so intimidating that but a single question would instantly popped up in my mind: who in their right mind would want to ride a thing like that?

「This thing is supposed to run around the arena and shoot lasers and missiles at us, right?」

「I think we are about to experience how it feels to be a human bowling pin in a moment. Certainly a unique experience, but quite the unwelcome one.」

As the huge machine starts moving, Katsu tries to crack a joke like that, and I could hardly disagree with him on that one…… Now we must keep a close eye on that thing.

「Sanraku, quit daydreaming! I can’t be the only person who does the healing around here! There, watch out!」

Katsu went towards the horse’s hind legs. I don’t know what his plan was, but even though this game had Sci-Fi elements, the attention to details was really huge, so apparently there must have been some sort of system on that horse that would make it possible for the rider to mount it. And Katsu’s expectations were right, right around its hind legs there was something that resembled a ladder that would make it possible to climb on top of this thing.

And since my stats were reduced to the level fifty, it basically meant that Katsu was roughly the same as me when it comes to stats, so he managed to swiftly climb on top of the horse before I even realized it.

「Does he have experience in mounting horses like that……!? No, that’s ––! A skill! Climbing skill “Snake”!」

The skill that Katsu used in order to climb the horse was unique to the monk class. It was the skill that allowed to descend or ascend great heights with the help of items such as ropes or chains, really handy while spelunking or any kind of archeological work.

Moving skillfully up the horse’s leg just like a snake, Katsu managed to arrive on top of it and install himself in a place that looked just like a mechanical saddle.

「I didn’t think you could use a side-class skills in such a crafty way! I’ll show you my skills at rodeo! I wasn’t ranked third in Japan when it comes to games like Cavalry Crisis just for show, you know!」

There was no roar of the crowd. No gong or cheering. But still, Katsu’s crazy rodeo was about to begin.

Scales of Consideration.

It is a unique item owned by the Golden Scales Trading Company, a trading company run solely by the NPCs.

As a player of level ninety nine, Pancilgton has seen his share of rare and unique items, but as far as he could tell, this item was closest to being called “broken” or “game-breaking”.

「Oi, oi, don’t you think that thirty million for an item is tad a little bit much?」

On the left scale there were all of the mani that Pencilgton managed to hoard throughout his playing of the game, both in property and items, which roughly estimated about thirty million mani. It was a sum so large that the scale was literally touching the ground.

「I would like the rate to be about 100, 000 mani , so please balance it…… balance the monetary value with this unjust power!」

The biggest trouble with this unique item was that it was simply too loyal to its setting. In order to use its effect properly in combat, you really had to nail the monetary and power value just about right. But if used correctly, it could be their trump card on this unjust battlefield.

The unique item “Scales of Consideration”.

The symbol of the Golden Scales Trading Company, run by the NPCs.

Left scale…… it was the “dedication plate” where you put one thing, and depending on it’s value you could receive various benefits or effect onto whatever you decided to put on the right scale…… the “Grace Scale”.

For example, if you were to place an item on the left scale, you would receive the amount of gold coins that the said item was worth. And although there were some limitations to this system, there was a possibility that the amount of grace could sometimes be even greater than the dedication that you presented.

「My every single property, plus additional skill points. About three hundred points in total. Take that!」

Two windows were displayed in front of Pencilgton. In one window you had the amount of skill points that would be subtracted from the melee and fighting stats, and on the right there was the amount that would be converted into stats that a physical warrior would have little to no use of.

「Uooohhh!?」

Suddenly, the Gavekeeper took a stance for an attack. I was about to dodge it, but nothing happened. He just stood there, making some kind of noise. It threw me off initially, but I quickly realized what was going on here.

「He’s preparing for something really big!」

I was getting better and better at dodging his attacks the more time passed. I was also becoming less and less tense, and I was no longer short of breath after every single dodge out there.

「Secret Technique –– Slashing Style: Rotating Slash.」

I perform a series of short dashes and jumps to get out of the range of the special technique. As soon as the attack stopped, I activated Drill Piercer with my right hand and threw it forward, aiming either for his torso or face.

「Aim for a single point!」

My attack ended up crushing right into the hand of Gravekeeper, the very same in which he was holding his sword….. or to be more exact, into his finger. The rotation of my skill was becoming faster and faster, applying pressure to that single point and allowing for multiple hits at once.

Surely, the Gravekeeper’s armor was hard and attacking it with any normal weapon would only cause its durability to deplete in an astonishingly fast pace. However, since time immemorial the places that weren’t protected by armor were the weak points of any monster that was heavily armored like that.

That attack sure ought to do some sort of damage to the Gravekeeper, however, its effect ended before it was able to inflict some crippling damage or maybe even cutting his finger off completely.

More, just a little bit more and I was sure that I would be able to force the sword out of his hand completely. What to do now? There was only one real thing I could do. I threw my left hand out and took a stance to activate Infight. The dagger was also glowing in a golden light of Luck with which it was boosted, and since my Luck was seventy six, which was rather high, when it hit the Gravekeeper’s hand again it made a loud, nasty noise instead of the regular hit sound effect, as if the Gravekeeper’s flesh was penetrated deeply.

「Hand of Fortune!」

His hand critically struck, the Gravekeeper lets go of his sword and it flies away from his body. Faster than the boss could react, I take back my fallen dagger and put it in my inventory, and then secure his sword so that he wouldn’t even think of reclaiming it.

「Hahaha! In your face you rice-eating bastard! A samurai without its sword is like a picture without sauce! Completely meaningless and useless!」

Not that I didn’t expect that to happen, but I was unable to put the Gravekeeper’s sword into my inventory. Not to mention that it wasn’t a normal sword but rather a greatsword, and judging from the way it was burdening my arms my STR stat was not quite high enough to properly wield it.

But that’s not why I took away his sword. Not for the loot. It was because of that, for now his Iai-style attacks and thunder clouds would be sealed away. Now, I wonder what is this guy going to do without his precious sword? Punch us to death?

「Maelstrom.」

「Waaaaaahhhhhh!?」