131 Strength and Technique

131 Strength and Technique
「Master. Thing I wanted to try.」
『Lay it on me. I’m ready for whatever, though I’m a bit nervous because we aren’t really going to get to practice it or anything.』
「Nn. Skills. Air Compression, Magic Thread Weaving… 」
Fran ultimately ended up asking me to set fourteen different skills: Flame Magic, Wind Magic, Atmospheric Circulation Control, Air Compression, Air Jump, Vibration Fang, Anti-Weight, Weight Boost, Elemental Blade, Charge, Parallel Processing, Magic Thread Weaving, Magic Poison Fang, and Coordination.
She got to work the moment I had them set, and raised both arms in front of her with her palms facing forward. She made use of the Atmospheric Circulation Control skill and created herself a pair of cube-shaped blocks of air, each about a meter and a half across. Each was populated by a bunch of thin magic threads.
『Oh, I get it now! Nice thinking!』
The combination allowed her to manipulate the threads in midair and move around in kind of the same manner as Spiderm*n or someone with a Three Dimensional Maneuver Gear.
Fran immediately moved the threads behind her and leaned on them to pull them back. They were elastic, so they quickly sprung back against her and launched her through the air.
At first, I’d thought that her actions resembled those of a pro wrestler, but a bit more observation led me to think of the threads as the spring in a pinball machine.
Fran used Air Compression and covered me in a layer of wind as she leapt into the air and delivered a powerful overhead swing.
「Nn. Works well.」
She nodded with a satisfied look on her face. I didn’t know exactly what she was planning, but it looked like it was going well.
「Time for practical application. Will explain in detail.」
Fran filled me in on her plan. The thing she had in mind was nothing short of interesting, though, under normal circumstances, it would likely be labeled as reckless.
『Alright, let’s do this.』
As per her suggestions, I used Long Jump and teleported us way up into the sky directly atop Rynford’s head.
「Starting now.」
『I’ll support you with everything I got!』
「Nn!」
Fran began compressing the air and generating magic threads the moment she teleported. Unlike our little trial run, however, this time, she was going all out and pouring every last bit of magical energy she could muster into her spells. She soon started free falling, but didn’t seem to mind as she calmly placed the thread she constructed above her head.
She then used Air Jump to leap straight up, and did exactly as she had during the little practice session earlier. This time, however, she didn’t fly launch herself horizontally. Instead, she propelled her body straight down.
And that was just the beginning.
Fran used Air Jump and Wind Magic in tandem to create herself a series of vertical footholds, which she ran straight down in order to raise her speed even further. She readied me for action by raising me above her head and used Atmospheric Circulation Control to minimize the amount of wind resistance generated while also using Weight Boost to bolster my weight to a point well over the fifty kilogram mark.
I’d become incredibly heavy for a weapon, but the combination of Fran’s strength stat and the Anti-weight skill allowed her to continue wielding me without any issue.
We rapidly closed in on Rynford, while using the Espionage skill to to remain undetected.
I molded the shape of my body as she got ready to swing. She’d requested me to take on a form with a backwards arching blade. There were a few other instructions as well, and so, in the end, I ultimately ended up as something that closely resembled a katana, a result that left me shocked. I’d never told her about katanas before, the idea she had was one that she’d formed all on her own.
The only worry I had was that our sword skills wouldn’t end up applying to katanas. We did have a few potentially applicable skills, like Single Edged Sword Arts, but their levels were all fairly low. The fact that Single Edged Sword Arts and Double Edged Sword Arts had been differentiated meant that they likely were mutually exclusive, so I made sure to leave two edges and retain a more longswordy shape in general. [1]
「Oh?」
Rynford finally noticed us after we got within the twenty five meter range, which made sense. It was pretty hard to avoid detection without any cover given our proximity to him.
「You were still alive, girl!?」
Rynford stared at her with bloodshot eyes as he let loose a hate filled scream. A rancid, purple miasma accompanied his words and leaked out of his mouth as he shouted. The smoke-like substance was filled with evil energy; everything that touched it, be it skin or armour, would end up melting away as if dipped in acid. The most annoying part about it was that it had an incredibly large area of effect.
So what do? I had no idea how we were supposed to go about avoiding it.
「One trick pony.」
I didn’t manage to think up a solution myself, but it was an attack that we’d already seen time and time again. Fran had long predicted it and prepared a countermeasure.
「Burnia」
Burnia, a level two flame spell, allowed its caster to use the power of an explosion in order to provide themselves a burst of speed. It was a bit difficult to use, as the caster would end up getting caught in the explosion radius.
Fran quickly created a barrier of wind that served not one or two, but three functions. It reduced the amount of damage the explosion inflicted upon us, allowed her to increase her velocity even further, and even protected her from the miasma’s effects as she charged straight through it.
Rynford’s eyes bulged as he realized that she managed to break through his smokescreen without taking any damage.
「Damn you, you impudent brat!!」
He rapidly raised both arms and guarded his face against the assault he couldn’t help but label as dangerous.
What an idiot.
He’d fallen for our feint. Fran had directed all her bloodlust at him while gazing straight into his eyes, so he’d assumed that we’d been targeting his head.
But that was far from the truth.
「Haaaahhhhh!」
『Haaaahhhhh!』
Fran’s strike was aimed not as his cranium, but at his torso.
The level five Collaboration skill allowed me to understand her intents without the two of us having to perform any sort of actual communication. I casted Elemental Blade to wreath my body in flame, activated Vibration Fang, and triggered Magic Poison Fang right as we got ready to strike.
And of course, I wasn’t the only one to act. Fran had activated the exact skills, but with Magic Poison Fang substituted out for Weight Boost. She seemed to know that my blade wouldn’t hold out for too long, so she made sure that the six skills we casted remained active for only a fraction of a second.
That, however, was more than enough. Fran drew me from the air she had compressed around me like a sheath and concentrated all her energies into a single godspeed slash. [2]
Her attack wasn’t like my Telekinetic Catapult. It wasn’t something as simple or dull as a display of brute force, but rather, a finely crafted technique that embodied the very meaning of the term “ultimate.” [3]
「Nraaaaghhhhhhhhh!!」
The vicious strike left a deep wound that extended all the way from Rynford’s shoulder down to his midsection. I felt my blade sever his very heart in two.
We weren’t able to immediately check out our handywork in detail, as I was forced to teleport Fran away before she crashed into the ground.
「Thanks Master.」
『Whew, barely made it.』
Fran was calm despite the fact that we would’ve ended up face planting into the earth’s surface if I waited even a second longer. Not to brag, but I could tell she really trusted me.
We turned back towards Rynford shortly afterwards in order to examine the effects of our actions.
「Curse you! Curssseee yyouuuuu!!」
That single strike removed half his life force. He had no choice but to take a knee as blood spilled out of his newly opened wound.
Wait, he’s still not dead!? Holy shit! Why the hell is he still alive after having his heart literally cut in half? Damn stubborn old man, just die already!
I was surprised that we didn’t manage to finish him off, but all was good. Our efforts hadn’t gone to waste.
『We did it Fran.』
「Nn! Ultimate obtained.」
The only problem with our newfound secret technique was that it could only be used under a specific set of circumstances. We wouldn’t use it in any sort of cramped environment, so it probably wasn’t going to be all that useful whenever we went to the dungeon we’d been planning to check out.
Well, that only applied to the attack as a whole though. We could still use parts of it. That pseudo-sword draw technique? Yeah, I could see us using that all the time. Unlike the pain in the ass stuff you’d see in real life back in Japan, the sword draw technique Fran had devised was actually practical. It could be used for more than just a horizontal slash from one’s waist, and the blade would actually accelerate far more quickly than usual when pulled from its sheath. Moveover, the technique had great synergy with the Weight Boost skill when used with a vertical slash.
It looked like Magic Poison Fang was doing its job too. Rynford’s state now claimed him to be envenomed. That said though. he had Resistance to Abnormal Status Conditions and Regeneration so he wasn’t actually taking all that much damage. That said, the fact that we’d more or less nullified the effects of Regeneration meant that he was now far more vulnerable to all the other combatants’ attacks. In other words, he was pretty much screwed.
「Don’t let the opportunity Fran’s given us go to waste!」
「Mmph.」
「Great job, Miss Fran!」
「Orders acknowledged!」
「I’ll show you what it means to have a Dwarf’s strength!」
「Hahahaha! These guys’ve all got some fight in em, but that’ll have to wait. Right now, it’s your turn, you old shit!」
「Do your best everyone!」
The all star team followed Amanda’s orders and focus fired Rynford. We wanted to join them, but that little trump card of ours had caused my durability to plummet. I wasn’t able to heal up enough in time to join them even with Instant Regeneration. Fran was pretty much completely out of mana too, unfortunately.
Rynford’s left arm was mauled by a spear as the rest of his body was pierced by countless magic swords and struck over and over again by an unrelenting whip. He was then lifted off the ground by one of Colbert’s uppercuts, only to have his right leg smashed back down and pulverized by the Guildmaster’s hammer.
「Gugagagagagaaaahhhh! Y-You sons of bitchesss!!!」
「The finishing blow is mine!」
「Damned traitor…!」
Zerrosreed’s assault had ended up removing his other leg and caused him to crumple onto the ground. Turned out the Beserker really had been going for the finisher. Bastard was trying to use his Cannibalism skill to make himself even stronger.
But luckily, it turned out that the battle had still yet to end.
「Hoooowlll!」
Urushi imitated Fran’s actions and dashed straight down from somewhere way up high. He drove his fangs into Rynford’s neck and gave it a good tear before plummeting back into the shadows the moment he was about to faceplant.
Damn boy! You totally just stole the spotlight right there!
「Graaaaggh… Why… Not like this…」
And leaving only those four words, Rynford breathed his last.
「Oh god fucking damn it! Stupid god damn dog got in my way again!!」
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[1] This is a minor technicality with the Japanese language that normally isn’t enforced. 刀 (pronounced katana or tou) refers to swords with one edge, whereas 剣 (pronounced tsurugi or ken) refers to swords with two edges. Note that these meanings are actually relatively vague and the latter in particular is often broken and just used for swords in general, hence why it was translated as just Sword Arts up until this point. Now that the author has made the distinction, it will be translated as Double Edged Sword Arts going forward. Note that this may still be incorrect, and it could actually just be Sword Arts with certain types of swords having their own categories. Also note that 刀 (single edged sword) is often used to refer to the Japanese Katana in particular. Context clues in this case make it seem like it’s for single edged swords in general, but in other cases, it could just mean Katana Arts. Another note is that I forgot I was going to translate the “(Weapon) Arts” one as “Way of the (Weapon).” Since it completely slipped my mind for the past month or so, I’m going to hold off on it and keep “(Weapon) Arts” for consistency’s sake for the time being. I’ll change it sometime down the line if the author continues to fiddle with minor connotations. I also only now realized that I forgot to mention that the “Arts” part of “(Weapon) Arts” alludes to the “Arts” in “Martial Arts.”
[2] The sword drawing technique referenced here and later in the chapter is “Battoujutsu.” You might recognize it if you were a Rurouni Kenshin fan, but it’s basically a technique in which one uses a sheath to draw and swing their blade with ridiculous power, accuracy and speed. As mentioned by Swordbro, it isn’t something that’s really what you’d consider practical in real life.
[3] The word used here is “必殺,” pronounced “hissatsu.” There is no English term that shares the same connotation, so I used the closest game related one I could think of. By ultimate, I mean ultimates in any sort of hero based game. Examples of these include League of Legends, DOTA, and Overwatch. Ultimates are ridiculously powerful, signature techniques that serve to define the character they belong to. The Japanese term used here tends to allude to being a finishing move/insta kill. A popular example would be the Giga Drill Breaker.