Chapter 180: Struggling Evil Part 1

Cursed Prison: Extra Custom. In order to make this work I needed to go on some compromises, for example discarding the five motorbikes in favor of jet engine and some heavy armor and armaments. A bit unorthodox, but you know what they say about desperate times.

「Well, I don’t like the lesser mobility, but we’ll have to make do for now.」

Although I called it Extra Custom, in comparison to my Meteor friend I looked rather poor and miserable, like a block of solid concrete.

And for the time being, I also took care of procuring some rocket launchers and missiles that I placed at random over my body. That should allow me to be at least somewhat flexible when it comes to problem solving.

「Well then…… I’d say that our physical ratio is about 2:5……」

Looking at the numbers alone they were not all that different from the third round, but at the same time the damage potential did not increased. So the possibility of me turning this thing around was really small.

「For the time being I tried to remain hidden…… But I guess it was only a matter of time before I would be found out……」

My gauge was already accumulated, so hers must be roughly about the same by now. Now, the question was which one of us would dare to use it Ultimate Move first? I would like to avoid that as much as possible, since I would be losing strength rapidly when that happens.

「Will you try to move and obtain the Cube……? No, no, right about now that’s not an option. That would be terribly anticlimactic.」

「Nice idea, I don’t dislike that Fighting Spirit of yours!」

「It’s called Vorpal Soul…… not that it matters in here.」

Presently, I was sitting on a chair inside of the cafeteria located on the tenth floor of one of the office buildings, enjoying my coffee break. Then, completely out of nowhere I was handed a plastic cup with a freshly brewed coffee inside.

「Yah!」

「Osha, ORA!」

「Do you realize just how dangerous it is to spill hot coffee onto someone, woman!?」

「But still, your reaction time is pretty good!」

God fucking damn it, what is this, some cheap horror flick!? And how did she manage to find me so fast!? Is she an Esper or what!?

A slight digression here, but there are usually two types of people in the world. During a zombie apocalypse, when a zombie lounges in to attack you, some people will remain still and stiff, and others will move out of the way on reflex.

On a side note, I’m the type that would kick the zombie away while grabbing my trusty shotgun. Call it a force of habit from all the games that I have played thus far, but I was pretty confident with my survival instincts and fighting reflexes. No unexpected surprise like that would be able to catch me off my guard.

「No, allow me to educate you properly!」

「Sorry, but ever since I was a child I was told that I was a slow learner!」

In addition to that, repeated deaths and rebirths allowed me to develop a certain proficiency in skills that most players would find unable to perform under any normal circumstances. If I train those abilities, perhaps one day I’ll be able to dodge bullets fired at me at point blank range.

As expected, I wasn’t able to climb to that high level yet, at best I can try to predict the hit point of the missile from its general trajectory.

The coffee is splashed, and the jet-black liquid shoots through the air from the L-sized cup while retaining most of its shape……

「Reactive Prison Break!!」

It’s not a new kind of Ultimate Move. It’s just that in order to minimize the damage I can take, I need to treat even the most simple and weak pellets flying towards me like missiles being shot from rocket launchers.

There’s also a twist to my current armor. It reacts to external trauma and explodes on impact. That is why even though Meetias took a step back after trying to spill coffee on me, shrapnels of the part of my armor fly near him in a sudden surprise attack.

「Ooouuupsie! I think that my hand just slipped and…… Iiiiiiihhhhhh!!!」

「Oh sh*t, I’m sorry. You see. My armor just happened to slip as well. The thing is, it does so without me even deciding anything!」

I reached my hand beyond the flying coffee, trying to grab Meetias by the face. I was used to reaching across deep chasms, molten lava pits or poisonous swamps, but crossing the field of hot coffee was a first for me.

Because it is a fighting game, and a first one such as that, I must not be fooled by a photorealistic graphics! There was no way that hot coffee would be able to kill me. Or else: that chance was so slim that it was bordering on downright impossible.

「Since you’re going to play this game on a regular basis, let me give you a certain piece of advice, Ms. Champion.」

「J, Japanese Sleeper Hold!?」

I wonder if that’s some kind of pro-wrestling move? Oh well, it doesn’t really matter.

「I don’t know if it’s according to specification… or if it’s just a bug…… I don’t have a clue, but I’m gonna exploit the living fuck out of it!」

With my left arm still on Hero’s neck, I put my right arm on the Hero’s thigh.

「There is no such thing as fall damage in this game, so it would probably be okay to jump from the stratosphere without a parachute……」

But I have my doubts about that. Certainly, fall damage may be equal to zero, but would the same be true to throwing damage?

If it was from natural causes, then fine, let it be zero. But if the origin of the throw was other player? That was something worth investigating.

That is why I’ve ran a trial run to see if my theory was correct or not, at the expense of couple dozens of innocent NPCs plus Katsu’s-controlled characters. Based on that, I’ve managed to devise a new secret technique.

The window glass exploded and Prison Break together with Meetias jumped out of the building from the height of the tenth floor.

「Normally, the fall damage would always amount to zero! However, while I was always okay doing most crazy of stunts out there, the NPCs that I took along for the ride…… They weren’t as fine as I was! They’ve received damage, and quite a lot of it!」

Conclusion: even if the calculation for the player in case of fall damage is equal to zero, it is not for others in your grasp.

「For example, something like that! From this altitude…… A Pro-Wrestling move…… without holding back……!!」

「Eh, wait, it cannot be!!」

She tried to break free, but it was no use at this point. Prison Break’s stats right about now were on par with hers, and I wasn’t going to let her escape so easily!

「SUPER EXTRA ULTIMATE MOVE!!」

I take two steps back to adjust my position and gain some additional height. Now, let’s see if it’s going to be like an eye drop from a second floor or even greater!

The physics aspect is working for sure. A simple fall won’t cause damage at all, but it will certainly accumulate energy. A whole lot of it. And that’s something that cannot be brushed aside so casually.

Now, I’ll show you tons of damage at the expense of no gauge being used!

「IMPACT CONVERSION!!」

As the merciless clutches of gravity entangle both of us, Meetias starts to fall down, as such is the fate of all those without wings of their own. Little did he know that he was on his way down straight to hell.

Our bodies intertwined together, we were approaching the earth at an alarmingly fast pace. There was no way that after jumping off the building from such height we would end up without any kind of damage to ourselves. The earth is not so merciful as to allow something like that to happen.

Clash.

The ground shatters, and the asphalt gets covered in a web of deep cracks that form from the place where feet slammed into the ground. Also, there was an overwhelming feeling of numbness going through Meetias’s body right about now, making him unable to move or act in any way.

「………」

「………」

Falling limiting my body and ascending limiting Meetias’s movements. Out of the two of us, it was Meetias who managed to recover first.