Chapter 152: The Limits of Flashing In an Instant Part 2

So I do a quick backstep, put some distance between us and wait for an opportunity to attack. I also forgot to mention that Amdrava’s appearance does not change depending on its ability to fire molten concrete or not. It was certainly uncomfortable to not be able to predict when it was going to attack, but…… It should be alright as long as I keep my distance and stay vigilant. Having that in mind, I close in to strike.

I speed up my advance, and Amdrava responds by raising his right arm and pointing it just like he would a turret ready to fire. I raised my level of alertness for any incoming shots, but since none were coming towards me, I decided to go even faster.

After about five steps Meetias enters a state called “Dash”, where his initial speed is increased even further. Right about now, no other character could hope to match him when it comes to speed alone.

The distance in between us was about five meters now. No bullets appeared thus far. A bluff? Or maybe he’s going to try and attack me at close range?

Three meters, it retracted its right arm…… So a fake after all!? It moved its right arm low and coated it with lava, so does he want to parry me?

Two meters, now we are within each other’s range. That being said, there’s only a couple of attacks that you can perform at this distance, so our options are severely limited.

One meter…… We reach towards one another at the same time……

Even though Meetias was a plain salaryman, his footwork is pretty light and nimble thanks to the martial art of Siegundo he’s been practicing. Therefore all of his techniques meant for close-quarters combat can be pretty deadly, and with the added speed bonus they can even have the potential to one-shot your enemies……That’s not it!

「Kuh, ngh…… Ouaah!?」

Right hand, fake, body slam, evade, left hand, left hand, keep them coming! Keep them coming!

Before I was able to piece together all the information that kept o flashing in front of my eyes, Amdrava twisted its body, creating an opening small enough for Meetias to pass through it without doing any damage.

In the next moment, Amdrava twisted its body further and shot at me with a mass of molten concrete that it fired from its left arm that was up until now concealed by its body! A shot of hot lava came rushing towards me!

I managed to twist my body just about enough to avoid the direct hit, but the heat from that attack was pretty much unbearable and it managed to burn my nose quite a bit!

「How do you even react like that in the position you’re in……!?」

「It’s called evasion! Spontaneous action that lets you avoid almost anything if you only put your mind to it!」

Even during such an unexpected situation, I still retain full control over my body’s actions. And obviously, being able to evade an attack like that was far better than being hit by it directly.

Honestly, I have no exact idea how I managed to dodge that. I only know that Amdrava fired its lava shot directly at the center of my chest, and I avoided it by twisting my body counter-clockwise, just like a speeding bullet.

While trying to stop myself from moving needlessly, I turn around a few more times. During that time the sky and earth mixed with one another into one indistinguishable mass, until I eventually managed to get used to it and forced myself to land on the ground with a mighty stomp. Regaining my sense of balance, I turn around to face my opponent once more.

This time around I gather my energy and unleash a powerful roundhouse kick that makes a move like a hand of a clock, speeding towards Amdrava’s knee. If I’m lucky enough, maybe I’ll even be able to shatter it completely!

「Don’t underestimate me!」

「Shut the fuck up! And go die already!」

It was just your plain and ordinary roundhouse kick, but thanks to the speed of my attack it gained power necessary to do some serious damage upon impact. Maybe not enough to shatter my opponent’s knee completely, but enough to “bend” it in a direction that a knee should never really bend.

There was one more thing to it: since my opponent was a biped, with one busted knee it would be extremely hard for it to be able to maintain its balance, given its huge size. Or even use that leg to move around, for that matter.

For this reason alone only one knee can be destroyed, but I didn’t really expect any kind of counterattack right after a critical hit like that.

But…… even though it could only support its weight with one leg, since it was shaped like a Heavyweight boxer, Amdrava was able to stand. I don’t think my Meetias would be able to do such a thing with such an injury. I guess that sense of balance was another of this character’s strong points.

Now I needed to plan my next move very carefully. Meetias’s combo required to lift his opponent in the air…… Which would be extremely hard to pull off in my current condition. I mean, it can still be done, but every consecutive attack could end up being interrupted or countered……

「Ah, sorry, sorry, let’s stop the battle for now.」

「NaaaAAAHHH!?」

But right now I was like a car, I was unable to stop instantly. And once the animation of an attack started to play out, it couldn’t be stopped by a simple “End of Battle” declaration like that. It was unreasonable. So even though Katsu wanted to stop, my attack was destined to continue until it found its target. I started the attack, and it needed to finish. Which means……

But still, what does it mean that he wanted to end? He doesn’t want to fight with me anymore?

「I’m sorry, how should I put it……? I wanted to get the feeling of fighting against Silvia like that and her Meetias…… But I guess Amdrava can’t win against her after all.」

「Ugoah!?」

「It was an unexpected accident, so can we just laugh it off and forget about it?」

To that, I sent a sincere apology to Katsu. One in the form of a high kick straight to the chin that managed to send him flying.

「…… So?」

「I see? I had a feeling that it was going to be difficult.」

It is a character that has a shield made of barbed wire all over its arms. And since it uses boxing as its fighting style, it could inflict damage to its opponents while attacking or being on the defensive. Because of that, it was difficult for anyone else to land any solid hits of their own. I think it would be a great natural enemy of Meetias.

The pro gamer gave me a smile and a simple explanation. Was that supposed to be an encouragement or what? Listen here, Katsu: if you’re having difficulties with putting your thoughts into words, then why talk? We can always battle it out and solve it that way. Huh? What do you say to that?

「Well, let’s be honest here…… Right now, Silvia Goldberg is a monster that is even faster than you are right now.」

「Really now?」

Could it be that she’s so fast that she could beat our clear time of Gravekeeper Wezaemon, by any chance?