Chapter 209: Reaching the Heavens Part 15 Part 2

「Oi, wait just a moment here, isn’t that just cowardly!?」

The blue jewel then lights up. There are other jewels with blue light out there, but the ultramarine one was the one that was shining right above my head. However, the light it was shining with was not nearly enough to be able to fill my entire field of vision, unlike the chalice light. Still, there was some major difference there.

With the passage of time, the light was not spreading more, but instead it was shrinking and concentrating on a single point on the field…… that point is Kutanid’s back, and when its giant body absorbs all the light, a change seemed to have occurred within it.

「Is that perhaps……」

「Sanraku, out of everyone present here, you are the only one who is proficient with dual wielding short blades, right……?」

Blue light starts to overflow from both of Kutanid’s hands. Then it shapes into a pair of short swords, which were equivalent of human long sword. But it seems that Kutanid was able to manipulate them just like the short swords without much of a problem. Also, the stance that Kutanid assumed right now seemed to be very familiar to me for some reason.

It was the same stance that I would always assume to battle. The stance that I created based on all the historical drama and Hollywood blockbusters that I have watched, and of course all the video games that I have played over the years. “My” stance.

「In other words, does that mean……」

「The thing that this light was analyzing…… was our own playstyles……?」

It was almost at the same moment that Akitsu Akane shouted the answer out loud (which was most probably the right answer by the looks of it) that Kutanid swung its swords and attacked him.

「Sanraku-san!」

「Uwoooh, kuh…… Ooohhh!」

The right sword comes crushing down, and the left one is being thrusted forward towards the place where I was standing just a moment ago. This form of Kutanid is five meters tall, or maybe four meters tall at best. It is much smaller than the previous ones, but because it has a humanoid shape, the laws of physics that are governing its actions are much closer to that of normal human beings.

I manage to avoid that attack just barely, by twisting my body and striking the side of the incoming sword and blowing it to the side. Then, when Kutanid’s arm was coming back into a neutral position, I was going to step back to put some distance between us and avoid any further attacks.

「Sanraku!」

「Switch……!」

「Thanks, I’m counting on you……」

When I was starting to feel exhausted by avoiding, Alva and Rei both stepped in to take my place and allowing me to catch my breath. Looking around, Mold was in the middle of buffing up Rust, and both Akitsu Akane and Sickle were running through the field of the debris around the arena, trying to get behind Kutanid’s back.

Just then, a light blue jewel shined on Kutanid’s back. The twin swords in its hands vanished into thin air as if they were never there in the first place. What appeared in their stead was a single, single-edged sword that looked gigantic, even though Kutanid’s body was so massive to begin with.

「T-this time it’s me!?」

「Surviving a hit from something like that would be impossible……!」

The two of them crouch in a hurry, and a second after they do that, the huge odachi swings right through the place where Alva and Rei’s necks were. Kutanid then wanted to slash at them again, but its attack was interrupted by the blue magic arrow that managed to hit it in its head, thus causing the attack to miss its mark.

「…… Did it missed!?」

「No…… It’s because the object of its aggro has changed.」

What the hell is this odachi? Could it be that Kutanid abandoned its pride as a gimmick-oriented boss and was now only going to use attacks that would result in an insta kill? The marks that the blade has left in the ground were only the testament of the blade’s destructive power. There is no doubt about: one blow from a blade like that would probably be more than enough to get you killed on the spot.

「DAH!」

However, it seems that we have someone on our team that does not know how certain skills or abilities can cause the boss’s aggro to shift on the spot. That someone is Akitsu Akane, who who right now tried to deliver a mighty flying kick right to Kutanid’s knee. But is that action could really hope to deal some damage to a Unique Monster in the first place?

「Vueeh.」

「………」

WOOOSH! A red arrow pierces the air as it flies towards Akitsu Akane, but since he manages to avoid it, it missed its mark and flew over our head and right next to Rust’s face. It only stopped when it hit the spectators seats at the other edge of the arena, and when it did it managed to cause a miniature explosion that sent forth a shockwave.

「Ah, in other words this boss imitates the favorite equipment and play style of everyone gathered in here……」

If it is indeed so, then this whole situation is really, really bad.

I mean, if it’s all true, then right about now Kutanid has eight distinct playstlyes at its disposal, some of which allows him to make some really acrobatic and crazy moves, even though they are suited for humans, not meaty giants. Those players would be Akitsu Akane and I. Now, if you were to slam Rei’s moves set, the one of a heavy armored knight onto a mountain of meat and muscles like that……

The red light shines brightly. It forms the shape of a huge sword. Judging from that, it can be said that Kutanid’s power of Analysis copies not the most recent equipment and skill set of the player characters, but the ones that we have been all carrying around for the longest time, the things that we are the most comfortable with.

「Tsk…… Everyone, avoid it! We must wait it out until it becomes a type that is easier to kill!」

「And when will that be, specifically!?」

「I don’t know, but preferably someone who is so trashy with physical skills and physical attributes! Someone like Mold and his naïve and stupid playstyle!」

「I know, that’s right! But that’s also so horrible!」

Now it’s just a matter of surviving the monster of both STR and VIT that Kutanid has become!