Five reverse-edged swords were swung up simultaneously. There was no escaping them.
So, after watching them, I swallowed hard and said,
“——That’s impossible.”
“What?”
Reacting to my words, Asahi’s reverse-edged swords paused for just a brief moment.
And that moment was enough.
Finally, the ‘end’ had arrived.
The furious slashes from moments before stopped.
“…Hmph!”
As Asahi raised an eyebrow, I stared straight at the reverse-edged swords before me. I brandished my own sword dramatically, as if shaking off blood.
“Because that sword, it doesn’t have a spine, does it?”
The instant I said that, the blades of the reverse-edged swords Asahi held shattered.
“Wha—?!”
For the first time, Asahi showed surprise, exclaiming in shock.
“A-Asahi-sama!”
A disciple beside him offered his own reverse-edged sword.
But that blade, too, had shattered perfectly just past the guard.
“Grrr! Did you do something?! If that’s the case, then you lot…”
Asahi turned back, looking at the disciples waiting outside the range of the slashes, but…
“S-Sorry, Asahi-sama…”
“Suddenly, in my hands…”
Their reverse-edged swords were also missing their blades, cleanly gone.
Well, it was only to be expected.
Weapons have HP too.
When a sword takes damage exceeding its HP, the blade breaks and it becomes unusable. This is common to all swords.
But seeing the scene, Asahi’s expression changed.
“What in the world did you do?! Their weapons should not have been hit by any attacks!”
Asahi’s previous composure vanished, and he raised his voice. I shrugged.
“I just used a skill.”
These words were not a lie.
I had, in fact, simply used ‘Setsuna Samidare’, which is the skill ‘Midarezakura’.
However, this explanation did not satisfy the enraged dojo master.
“Nonsense! Impossible! If only we who charged forward were damaged, or at least if only those who stayed back suffered damage, I could understand. But what is this? Why, at this precise moment, are our swords, located in completely different places, all breaking simultaneously!!”
…Well, from their perspective, it was certainly inexplicable, perhaps even absurd.
It was simply that the skill used was not ordinary. I had no obligation to explain the technique, and to people who conceptualize weapons being damaged only upon impact, a detailed explanation would likely be incomprehensible.
Even as a Player, I was surprised by it.
Yes, the ‘trick’ of ‘Midarezakura’ was not singular. ‘Midarezakura’, which appeared to be a meticulously crafted skill, had a shortcut element that surpassed any other skill.
This was the reason why the reverse-edged swords of the five people standing behind, who hadn’t been hit by the slashes, were broken. It was also why Asahi and the others, who had charged directly into the slashes, received no damage even after the ‘Midarezakura’ motion ended. And it was why I had paid attention to the initial positions of Asahi and the others.
To state the conclusion directly: whether the attacks from ‘Midarezakura’ hit or not has absolutely no relation to the intermediate slashes. In reality, all outcomes were determined immediately after the skill was activated, before any effects even appeared.
This shortcut was discovered by ‘Nekoneko’ Players when a party member entered the area of the slashes during the activation of ‘Midarezakura’ in the game. There was no party system in this game, and no lenient specification where allies were immune to attacks. If the slash effects had hit detection, allies should have taken heavy damage at the end of the skill.
However, they took no damage. Even though they were within the area of effect at the end of ‘Midarezakura’, the ally remained unharmed. This puzzled the ‘Nekoneko’ Players as well.
But experimentation and verification were the specialty of the ‘Nekoneko’ Players. They conducted numerous tests and finally reached a conclusion.
“Could it be that this skill calculates how many hits will land all at once at the beginning of the skill?”
From here on, it is largely speculative, but a detailed explanation would go something like this.
Normally, such things would be synchronized. However, in this game, the skill’s visuals and effects, meaning the skill’s effects and the attack’s hit detection, were created separately. It was like creating an explosion effect first and then placing the skill’s hit detection at that location later.
This is why skills like ‘Utsuro naru Wide Slash’ have discrepancies between their effects and their areas of effect. But this creation method has another problem. If one creates an effect that generates countless hits first, it becomes extremely troublesome to set up the corresponding hit detections.
Furthermore, skills like ‘Midarezakura’, which appeared in promotional videos, are said to have had only their effects created first for the PV, with the skill effects being added later. The hundreds of slash effects seen in the PV for ‘Midarezakura’ were indeed impressive. However, setting up hundreds of hit detections to match the locations and timings of these slashes would be an unimaginably arduous task.
But the ‘Nekoneko’ staff, aside from their obsession with cat ears, would hardly undertake such diligent work. Instead, the ‘Nekoneko’ development team resorted to a truly incredible and brazen cheat. They calculated how many slashes would hit from the enemy’s position at the immediate start of the skill, and made that the final damage.
Specifically, just before unleashing the first slash, a hit detection was performed on the entire area of effect for the ‘Rain of Slashes’. It was determined things like, “This Monster is in front, so about 500 hits should land,” or “This one is at the edge, so 200 hits will do.” The damage to be dealt was decided even before any attack was made, and that damage would be applied at the end of the skill. This incredibly haphazard processing was discovered.
Of course, enemies move during the slashes. It is almost impossible for the exact predicted number of slashes to land. However, perhaps they assumed no one would use such a skill, or believed that since the damage was applied at the end, no one would notice such processing. The word “sloppy” feels too mild, but this is ‘Nekoneko’ quality.
However, knowing this increased the skill’s utility slightly. Everything usable is utilized by ‘Nekoneko’ Players. In essence, if you are within the area of effect when the slashes begin, you receive all hits; if you are not within the range at that time, all hits miss. This can be used to achieve interesting results.
For example, this can be effectively utilized against stray ‘Nor’ type monsters that flee the moment they see you. If you skillfully use ‘Midarezakura’ when they enter the area of effect, even if the stray ‘Nor’ flees hundreds of meters afterward, they will die instantly upon the skill’s motion ending, having been hit by hundreds of attacks – a truly unreasonable skill. Due to the sloppiness of its hit detection, this skill newly established its status as a ‘continuous attack skill that can land almost all hits on even the fastest opponents, as long as the skill is not interrupted midway.’
At this point, the alternate name for this skill finally began to bear its literal meaning. A swift skill that determines the effect of the ‘Rain of Slashes,’ which lasts for a long time like ‘samidare,’ in a mere ‘Setsuna’.
—That is this skill, ‘Setsuna Samidare’.
What I did this time was also an application of that, in a sense. I didn’t want to kill anyone, even though they attacked me. And due to a certain trap-like setting, killing people from the Hisame Dojo would lead to severe consequences. The only solution was to destroy their weapons, but destroying the weapons of ten people fanned out in a wide arc was a monumental task.
Casual attacks would likely not be enough to break their weapons, and ordinary attacks might be dodged. Furthermore, using wide-ranging attacks or uncontrollable continuous attacks could inadvertently injure the wielders along with their weapons. This is where ‘Midarezakura’ came in.
With this skill, I knew the area of effect perfectly, and its power was more than sufficient. Moreover, since the damage judgment itself was made for a fleeting moment before the slashes, the risk of being dodged was practically non-existent. The only lingering concern was whether I would be attacked until the skill’s end. I reasoned that no one would be foolish enough to charge into the rain of slashes and decided to proceed.
Looking at the outcome, it seems we have managed to overcome the immediate crisis. However, not everything went according to my plan.
(That was incredibly dangerous…!!)
Although I maintained a calm exterior for Asahi and the others, my heart was still pounding. After all, Asahi charging through the rain of slashes was truly unexpected. I was saved because they acted cautiously, surrounding me, chatting, or being distracted by my words. If Asahi had just come straight at me and attacked without question, I might have been killed easily.
While being attacked wasn’t a certainty, I was too careless. If I could have canceled ‘Midarezakura’ with a step, it wouldn’t have been this close. I regret not using a skill beforehand to reduce the required stamina or somehow increasing my maximum stamina a bit more.
However, whether it be Mitsuki or Asahi, those who are called masters are truly monsters. Asahi had said earlier, “Just before the attack began, I felt a terrifying killing intent, but that was all. I feel no pressure from your sword now.”
The moment I shouted ‘Setsuna Samidare,’ which was immediately before the attack began, the hit detection and damage calculation for ‘Midarezakura’ were performed. In a sense, I only attacked at that instant, and Asahi had accurately perceived it. Well, that’s how fearsome this skill is – even knowing it, one cannot avoid it.
“…Soma-kun.”
As I was reflecting on the events, Asahi called out to me in a sharp tone. He took out a letter from his inner pocket, replacing his broken reverse-edged sword, and began to speak.
“This is what Mitsuki wrote in her letter. ‘Soma’s sword, the one I admired as my only true friend, is strange yet profound. Seemingly real, yet hollow; seemingly hollow, yet real. A strange sword user who wields such elusive and mysterious techniques.'”
‘What is that girl writing?’ I grumbled mentally at Mitsuki, but I couldn’t voice it to my father. Asahi, glaring at me, pressed on.
“Soma-kun. Who exactly are you? How did you learn that sword technique? Who taught you that fighting style?”
His expression was as serious as during the battle, perhaps even more so. But I found myself at a loss. What I learned was how to play a game, not actual combat techniques.
“My fighting style is self-taught; I have no school. However, if I must give my fighting style a name—”
But if you demand an answer, there is one word I can give. I looked directly at Asahi and the others, puffed out my chest, and declared:
“—This is the ‘Nekoneko’ style!!”
