Chapter 83

"Air. Leave it to me."

Upon hearing Kagemitsu's words, Seiki's heart trembled.

"Leave it to me" meant that Kagemitsu would protect Kuren.

(This is like being told, "You defeat the boss"!?)

(And that too, from a top-ranked player!!)

In other words, this meant, "I will focus on the mundane support role, so you go ahead and defeat the boss and shine!"

(To be given such wonderful words!!)

--Is Kagemitsu a god?

Seiki's blood heated up instantly. Joy surged through his entire body.

Defeating a strong rare monster alone.

There was no situation that exuded such a strong presence.

Kagemitsu knew.

He knew how much Seiki craved a strong presence...

--That's why Kagemitsu gave it to him!

--The most eye-catching situation!!

With all his might.

He would traverse this path with all his might!

The path that stretched before him, leading to a presence that would be noticed.

And he would acquire a strong presence!!

"......phew"

Seiki took a deep breath and made up his mind.

To give it his all.

To run with all his might.

To run until he collapsed.

Even though he was about to stake his life,

Seiki smiled.

He held his breath, removed his mask, and blended into the air.

The deer lost sight of Seiki.

In that moment, Seiki took out his skill board and tapped the skills rapidly.

Skill Points: 4 → 0

- Intuition

Detection 5

Weakness Analysis 1 → 5

Instantly, sparks burst forth.

The light that exploded like fireworks converged every 0.1 seconds.

Focus.

Focus!

Gradually, it formed a path, changing moment by moment.

Seiki understood, through his senses, what this path meant.

So he entrusted himself to this path.

--Let's go, let's adventure!

Before the deer could target Kagemitsu and the others,

Seiki put on his mask and ran.

It was different from before.

Seiki moved with a more refined motion.

He fluidly carved through the werewolves blocking his path.

The rare bullets hit the werewolves he had slashed, blowing away even the fragments that obstructed the path.

The path of light suddenly ended.

This route was over here.

His focus was still not enough.

More.

More!

Even though he had failed, Seiki's smile deepened.

Despite being frustrated, laughter escaped from the corners of his mouth.

He focused, condensed, observed,

imagined, anticipated, and experimented.

He analyzed the flow of werewolves, diving deeper.

Then, the light path reappeared.

This time, it was longer.

Seiki didn't rush, but entrusted himself to it.

"Ha... ha...!"

His body felt light.

It didn't feel like his own.

His stiff body warmed up and moved more smoothly.

Even his breathing felt pleasant.

The mismatch between his thoughts and abilities, which had been caused by the sudden skill increase, was now in sync.

Instantly, his speed and power skyrocketed.

Seiki dispatched the werewolves one after another.

However, even though he defeated the monsters, the path kept ending.

The light beams kept breaking.

The flow was disconnected.

He resumed his attacks.

He didn't give up and continued to search for the route.

But no matter which route he took,

the path to the rare monster didn't open.

His momentum was building, but he still couldn't afford to push too hard.

If Seiki forced his way through, the situation would quickly turn against him.

--What should I do?

Seiki furrowed his brow at the blocked path.

While watching Seiki, who kept defeating werewolves but couldn't advance, Kuren bit her lip.

From her position, it was difficult to support Seiki.

No matter how much magic power she poured into her staff, the monsters in between blocked her spells.

If she focused her magic on a single point, it would eventually reach him.

But that would put Kuren at a disadvantage.

Even though Kagemitsu was on the front line, the defense wasn't perfect.

Kuren was barely holding back the waves of monsters by assisting Kagemitsu.

--What can I do?

While casting spells in sync with Kagemitsu's movements, Kuren desperately tried to think.

Kuren's role wasn't just to defeat monsters.

She had learned this through her battle with Shion.

Kuren's role was to control the battlefield from behind.

No matter how many monsters attacked, she had to break the disadvantageous situation with precise long-range attacks.

Additionally, one of the rear guard's roles was to draw attention, making it easier for the front guard to attack.

(That's why Shion was repeatedly swallowed by Lutz and attacked by the slimy eels.)

At this point, Kuren lacked the experience and strategic knowledge to control the battlefield.

So, she had to rely on the power of the skills Seiki had given her.

Kuren focused on brute force.

Her current magic power was enough to kill a purple werewolf with 1-2 hits.

But she was still being overwhelmed because her attack frequency was too low.

Kuren's attack speed was insufficient.

If she could at least take down multiple monsters at once...

(But how?)

At that moment, a thunderclap echoed in Kuren's mind.

Kuren gasped.

That's right.

I've used it before!

But how do I do it?

While casting lightning, Kuren desperately searched with her senses.

Then, she noticed a path beyond the bypass that had only been connected to her staff before.

A path she had never used on her own.

Or perhaps a path she had only been guided through once.

Kuren immediately took action.

She poured the magic power in her staff into the path at the tip of the staff.

"---!"

The power drained from her core.

But she gritted her teeth and endured.

When the magic power was compressed to a certain level, Kuren raised her staff high.

Instantly.

It burst like a balloon inflated to its limit.

---BOOM!!

Lightning fell from the sky.

A storm of lightning rained down, centered on the deer.

The area attack from Kuren's lightning magic hit the monsters one after another.

The lightning struck the area where Seiki was fighting.

But Kuren wasn't worried.

Because Kuren had always made an effort not to hit Seiki with her attacks.

She had never once involved Seiki in her attacks.

Kuren had absolute confidence that she would never hit Seiki with her magic.

So she trusted herself,

"---Seiki-kun!!"

She encouraged Seiki with her voice.

---

Suddenly, lightning rained down from the sky.

It was Kuren's area attack magic, which could wipe out a wide range of monsters.

One hit could easily take the life of a vulnerable human.

But Seiki didn't flinch at all.

He didn't have a single millimeter of fear that he would be caught in the attack.

This was Kuren's magic.

Seiki had complete faith in the precision of Kuren's magic.

Because Kuren had never once misfired at Seiki.

There was no need to fear.

As Seiki had predicted, Kuren's magic avoided him and struck the werewolves.

It was a momentary event.

The magic incapacitated more than half of the werewolves around him.

The thick wall blocking Seiki's path, created by the werewolves, crumbled.

Good.

Very good!!

Seiki's mask hid a fierce smile.

"---Seiki-kun!!"

Kuren's shout pushed him forward.

Seiki, still smiling, accelerated to top gear.

The deer's hatred was now directed at Kuren due to the lightning attack.

The deer spat out a black-purple mass at Kuren.

Before that,

"---!"

Seiki reached the deer's back.

He quickly ran his dagger along the light path that appeared.

"GYAAAAA!!"

The deer's scream.

The echo.

The blood that spurted.

The smell of iron filled his nose.

"You're my opponent now."

Seiki provoked the deer.

The target of the hatred instantly switched.

The deer quickly counterattacked.

It raised its hind legs.

Instantly.

Seiki immediately dodged.

Even though he was about 30 centimeters away, the wind pressure hit him.

It pushed his body slightly.

If it had hit him, he wouldn't have been able to stand up again.

The power was that threatening.

Compared to the beginning, the deer's movements were much slower.

This was probably due to the repeated lightning strikes from Kuren. The deer's movements were quite stiff.

But even with this speed and wind pressure.

If the lightning hadn't hit even once,

Seiki's spine shuddered at the thought.

This was a level of strength that set him apart from the monsters he had fought before.

Facing an unprecedentedly strong enemy, Seiki's smile deepened even more.

Good.

Very good!

There was a possibility of losing his life.

But instead of being intimidated by the threat, Seiki just laughed.

A formidable enemy stood in his way.

He would overcome it with his own strength.

He would face it head-on, surpassing his limits.

Let's go—let's adventure!

His consciousness focused and condensed, not missing a single movement of his muscles.

Seiki dodged the deer's attacks one after another within its reach.

He dodged the kicks, the body checks, and the horn thrusts.

Each time he dodged, he cut the deer.

Even though he was attacking its weak points, the attacks were shallow.

The opponent was that tough.

"Ha... ha..."

While attacking and dodging, Seiki laughed.

His body traced the images in an instant.

His body reacted faster than his thoughts.

He moved as he had imagined.

More, more!!

Seiki danced.

To keep the burning emotion from fading.

To keep his momentum from slowing down.

When Seiki made a mistake, the deer immediately sent a strong presence.

--It was Kagemitsu's taunt.

Moving the hatred without overdoing it.

Kagemitsu's enlightenment ability was used at the perfect timing.

He was truly a high-level adventurer.

The deer, with its hatred shifted by a fraction of a second, failed all its attacks on Seiki.

Seiki, with Kagemitsu's support, thoroughly imprinted the movements in his mind to avoid repeating the same mistakes.

"Ha ha ha!!"

The excitement that had no outlet other than battle overflowed as laughter.

Everything was exceeding Seiki's expectations.

In this terrifyingly high-level battlefield, Seiki was moving beyond his imagination.

This feeling, he would never lose.

He would never give the flow back to the opponent.

Gripping his dagger tightly, Seiki charged at the deer.

Observe, imagine, anticipate, and experiment.

Capture every muscle fiber and predict.

Adrenaline heated his body.

His heart pounded fiercely in his chest.

Slash, stab, kick, spin.

Dodge, feint, counter.

His body, which had surpassed its limits, continued to stretch beyond his thought speed.

It was a dynamic movement built on unstable control, like sprinting up a hill.

His thoughts and reflexes synchronized, moving his tangled body with perfect accuracy.

Seiki was completely absorbed in the seemingly infinite world that opened up beyond his limits.

The deer spat out a mass from its mouth.

The target was Seiki's face.

Esta jumped up to defend.

Stopping just in front of Seiki's face.

This was probably the intended target.

The deer didn't miss the blind spot that appeared in front of Seiki's eyes.

The deer's lips twisted into a smile.

Seiki's detection caught every detail of the deer's smile.

Seeing the deer's smile, Seiki also smiled.

(Sorry.)

Even with his eyes closed, he could grasp all the deer's movements.

Seiki, with his highly advanced detection, had already completed all his predictions.

He slightly shifted his body to dodge the attack.

The deer's leg kicked in the opposite direction.

Seizing the opportunity, Seiki moved in front of the deer.

--If you hit me, I'll hit back.

"Rara!"

With Seiki's voice, Rara fired.

Rara, as Seiki wished, shot the deer in the face.

But Seiki's prediction was far off.

"---AAAAA!!"

The deer screamed, blood gushing from its eyes.

Seiki had predicted that Rara's shot would hit the deer's face with a stone.

But his prediction was way off.

The bullet Rara fired was not a potato stone, but the small spear Seiki had given her, the one that dropped when he defeated the 9th floor boss.

It hit the deer's eyeball.

Behind him, Rara proudly wrapped a vine around Seiki's shoulder, apparently wanting praise.

"Ha ha ha!"

Completely unexpected.

That's why it was so interesting!!

Well done!

Seiki touched the vine and launched a full attack.

This was a chance Rara had created for him.

He would not let this opportunity slip away!

Slash, tear, stab, kick.

Defend, dodge, counter.

The deer, now severely injured, lost its calm.

Hatred built up inside it, making it stronger.

The deer's attacks were fatal if they hit.

Seiki couldn't afford to be careless. He increased his focus even more.

Observe.

Dodge all the opponent's attacks.

Don't miss a single sign.

Don't forgive a reversal.

Outdo the opponent's violence with the power of your skills!

Rara kicked away the werewolves attacking from behind,

and Seiki kicked the neck of a werewolf that emerged from the ground, shattering its bones.

The boss continued to summon werewolves with a "Gigi" sound.

But Seiki wouldn't allow the werewolves to interfere in this battle.

He dodged the boss's attacks one after another,

and inflicted wounds on the boss's body one after another.

Suddenly, an unusually strong light appeared on the boss's neck.

It was