Was it because I’d dodged the first strike too easily?
The swordsman began swinging his blade without pause, and countless sword auras came rushing toward me.
“You won’t settle this by doing nothing but dodging. How long do you intend to keep that up?”
Wow, even unsportsmanlike behavior.
I needed to find a way, fast.
Because if that sword aura hit me, I might die instantly without even getting to scream. But I still
hadn’t found a breakthrough.
“Hey, hey, I can’t hold out much longer, okay? Got any ideas?”
Rustle.
“No, you crazy—get as close as possible? That’s the best you’ve got, you worm-like bastard?!”
Rustle, rustle.
“Hoo. Once this fight is over, you’re going straight into a pot of braised pupa. Brace yourself.”
The conclusion Cocoon had reached was to get as close as possible.
I didn’t know if this was really the best option, but for now, I decided to go along with Cocoon’s demand. It wasn’t like I had
any other methods, and my means of attack were effectively limited to close range anyway.
Ah, and I’d learned something new.
Namely, that I was faster when I ran on all fours.
When I dropped low to the ground and took my stance, he must have sensed something unusual, because he silently
stared at me and readied himself to swing his sword.
Since his swings weren’t landing at all, he must be aiming for one precise strike.
Fine, then. Let’s really go at it.
I kicked off the ground and shot forward to close the distance between us.
The distance to the swordsman began shrinking at a terrifying speed, but the swordsman still kept his stance
and stared straight at me.
The moment I got close enough that a swing of my arm could reach him, Cocoon’s tentacle shot out, and the swordsman
swung his sword in a wide arc as if he’d been waiting for it.
That was close.
The sword aura skimmed past right in front of me.
If I’d had a nose, it probably would have been sliced clean off.
“You seem to have prepared rather carefully, but it appears I blocked it.”
“You missed anyway.”
Before I could even launch a proper attack, the tentacle was cut off.
It didn’t matter. I was now inside the range where every attack method I had could reach him.
The sword and Claw collided, letting out a tremendous clang.
This was enough.
If it had this much strength, then even clashing directly with the sword was enough to block or parry.
“As expected, my eyes were not wrong. To think I could feel this thrilling sensation again.”
“What a shame. Today’ll be the last time you ever get to feel it.”
“That is something we shall confirm from here on!”
I blocked the relentless storm of attacks while waiting for an opening.
Cocoon seemed to have learned his patterns to some extent and continued attacking while aiming for gaps.
But the situation could hardly be called good.
The swordsman had not allowed a single attack from our side to land. If anything had changed,
it was only that I had gained the chance to attack instead of merely dodging.
Cocoon kept pulling out new tentacles in place of the ones that had been cut away and tried to attack, but the swordsman
was blocking them perfectly.
‘Nothing good will come from dragging this out.’
I needed a way to break through this situation.
But no particularly good method came to mind.
Simply cooperating and pressing him wasn’t enough.
I needed an entirely new method.
Something the Wandering Swordsman would never expect. For example, a technique I hadn’t used before.
Or perhaps a technique I couldn’t use because even I didn’t know about it.
‘Every Unknown seemed to have its own unique effect, so don’t you have anything?’
Claw had sensed and defended against the guy I couldn’t see during the Second Gate.
But honestly, calling that its unique effect felt a little lacking.
I wanted to believe that wasn’t all the power it was hiding.
‘But how the hell do I draw out this thing’s power? It doesn’t even seem like the type I can communicate with in the first place. Does it only activate when I’m desperate?’
It wasn’t a good idea to drain my own stamina without even knowing the activation condition. Especially
not when the enemy was the Wandering Swordsman.
“You fought well. It is time to bring this to an end.”
I didn’t want to believe it, but the Wandering Swordsman hadn’t felt like he was fighting seriously. If he had truly
committed himself to the fight, the outcome would probably already have been decided.
The instant the swordsman leaped backward to create distance, he drove the tip of his sword into the ground
and began slashing toward me.
Immediately after, an enormous sword aura, incomparable to the ones from before, came rushing toward me at high speed,
splitting apart everything it touched.
Even an idiot could guess it.
If that sword aura touched me, I’d be done for without being able to do a thing.
‘Seriously, this balance patch is completely fucked. What kind of bastard spams attacks on the level of an ultimate like they’re basic attacks?’
Even so, nothing would change.
It was already screwed anyway, so let’s gamble.
With an attack like this coming right at me, if nothing activated, it would all be over.
I took a deep breath and tried focusing power into Claw.
+++
“It ended more blandly than I expected.”
Only the traces left by the sword aura remained; the scrap-metal doll was nowhere to be seen.
Perhaps judging that it could not win, it seemed to have met its end.
“Now, my business on this island is finished.”
Just as he was about to sheathe his sword and turn away,
the Wandering Swordsman sensed something strange.
Then he began walking in the direction the sword aura had traveled.
At the end of it, a frame that appeared to be the remains of the scrap-metal doll came into view.
At a glance, it had lost all power, and it was so hideously
damaged that it would not have been strange to call it dead, but the swordsman slowly began checking its condition.
“It does seem certain that it died.”
But soon, he had no choice but to revise that thought.
First, the cocoon that had been attached to the scrap-metal doll’s abdomen had vanished without a trace.
As if it had been forcibly moved elsewhere.
And the other thing was that Claw, the weapon attached to its left hand, had disappeared. A weapon that had the power
to block the swordsman’s blade could not possibly have been destroyed after being swept up in sword aura like this.
“Did it evade intentionally, or miraculously?”
The Wandering Swordsman quickly realized.
The fight was not over yet.
+++
Wow.
Did it work because the crisis had come right up to my nose?
Or had I simply not known how to use it?
Either way, I could now use a new ability, and I’d escaped danger,
so wasn’t this enough?
This was probably an ability close to some kind of molting.
Right before I was hit by the sword aura, Claw began emitting a bluish light, and my body was semi-forcibly
lifted into the air. To be precise, I should say I escaped from the body that had originally been mine.
Should I call it astral projection rather than molting? With the creation of a new body included.
Oh shit. I cursed the other guy for being completely broken, but this side had an ability that was no joke either.
No, was this my fault?
It was the fault of the side that didn’t tell me about this sooner.
Yes, exactly.
From the looks of it, while I was separated like this, I didn’t seem to be visible to the enemy.
It came with stealth, the ability to move quickly to wherever I wanted, and it seemed I could maintain this state for quite
a long time.
And that included revealing myself whenever I wanted.
‘He looks like he’s starting to get suspicious too, so should I go down?’
I slowly revealed myself behind the Wandering Swordsman’s back.
As my translucent body almost fully appeared, the Wandering Swordsman seemed to notice and slowly turned around.
“What trick did you use? I have never seen such an ability before.”
“Maybe you should’ve swung that sword a little less and studied some scholarship.”
The swordsman grinned, then drew his sword and brought it down toward me.
Naturally, there was no way Claw would let that attack pass through.
“Only for a moment, but I underestimated you. For that, I apologize.”
“It’s fine. The fact that you’re apologizing puts you in the top one percent of Unknowns I’ve met.”
“Heh, is that so?”
After exchanging smiles, the violent sound of weapons crossing immediately rang out.
+++
“Director, will it be all right?”
“Do you think it will? We’ve only kept it from getting worse.”
Was it because of the aftereffects of the fight between the two entities?
From time to time, vibrations strong enough to shake the facility rang out several times, and despite the considerable distance,
they could hear the sounds of the two engaged in battle.
“Is it really okay for us to just stay here like this?”
“What, are you an Unknown too? Wait quietly. Even if we get close, we’ll just get caught up in the fight, and even if the swordsman wins, he’ll probably leave this place without much interest.”
“True. It did seem like his purpose was to fight strong opponents.”
“Well, there is one thing bothering me.”
“What is it?”
“In the one-in-a-million chance that the scrap-metal doll actually wins.”
“Come on, even if it’s the scrap-metal doll, beating the Wandering Swordsman is…”
“Why wouldn’t it be able to win?”
“That’s…”
The Wandering Swordsman was certainly one of the more troublesome and powerful Unknown entities.
But the scrap-metal doll was not something one could consider easy either.
Though its record was short, it had hunted that troublesome Iron Insect and the Second Gate without much effort,
after all.
No matter which of the two won, it wouldn’t be difficult to accept.
“How long do you think this fight will take?”
“If it ends within today, I’d be really damn thrilled.”
“Will it end that quickly?”
“You little shit, that sounds like you’re telling me I’m not allowed to imagine happy things.”
“That wasn’t particularly what I meant.”
Hugmon was nestled in the adjutant’s arms.
Apparently, it had tried to escape from the squad members’ hands and follow in the direction of the scrap-metal doll.
If someone asked whether the two were that close, I wouldn’t know how to answer.
However, it was true that they had been spending more time together lately.
Since Hugmon’s combat power had yet to be confirmed, sending it over there would only end badly. For now, keeping it here was the safest and best method.
“You can do it, can’t you? Please, just hurry up and come back.”