“—’Incarnation of Rage’!”
As if triggered by my shout, the King Butcher swayed its thick, massive body and approached me.
The Butcher’s movements were not exactly agile.
However, that was by human standards.
When a being several times larger than a human moves like a human, its speed would naturally be several times greater.
The white giant’s full-force downward swing.
I faced the meat cleaver, which came at me with astonishing speed, by…
(…I can see it!)
I turned my body sideways and dodged by a hair’s breadth.
The massive cleaver brushed past my side, and the wind-cutting sound, enough to make me flinch, roared in my ears. Despite that, my composure remained unshattered.
Was it an illusion brought on by excitement, or had my perception truly increased?
The Butcher’s movements appeared slower than usual.
I felt an elation, a sense of invincibility enveloping me.
(I can do this now!)
Next, the Butcher aimed for me with the kick that had sent me flying earlier.
The giant’s leg, possessing immense mass, approached me like a wall.
(Now’s the time to… slip through!)
But even that attack couldn’t catch me.
I sprang forward, slipping through the gap between the cleaver and its left foot.
“Oof.”
Unable to fully control my speed, I stumbled forward at the last moment, but managed to recover my posture. By then, I had already moved behind the Butcher.
I had accomplished what was impossible even when using various movement skills before, simply by moving without any skills.
Though aware that I was in combat, I couldn’t suppress the overwhelming emotion welling up inside me.
(This is the power Ena gave me! And this is the world where speed is triple!)
“Incarnation of Rage,” which is sometimes called a “balance breaker.”
This is a special skill that only Players can learn, and there is only one way to acquire it.
It is by triggering a proposal event and activating the “Demon Lord’s Curse.”
Even with the significant downside of often causing the game to become unbeatable upon learning it, this skill remains popular.
In reality, its effects are quite potent.
It’s understandable why it’s considered the beacon of hope for “7743 Report.”
First, looking only at the positive effects, “Incarnation of Rage” can undoubtedly be called the best parameter enhancement skill.
While there are various restrictions, such as it not activating if allies are nearby, “tripling all base stats for 30 seconds” is an outstanding performance.
Although the effect has been altered by modifications, if you consider that the original effect of the Power Up magic of the same stat-boosting type was “tripling only Strength for 30 seconds,” you can understand its awesomeness.
This alone is incredibly powerful, but in reality, there’s more.
“All base stats” doesn’t just refer to things related to offense and defense like Strength, Magic Power, Endurance, and Resistance.
In addition, HP, MP, and even stats that don’t increase with level-ups, such as Stamina, Agility, and Luck, are all tripled without exception.
The increase in Agility, in particular, produces astonishing results.
Tripling it means the Player’s Agility temporarily reaches 300.
This surpasses even Mitsuki’s 250, who is the fastest among all characters.
Of course, Mitsuki’s footwork is due to her own genius skill and physical ability, so simply matching her Agility doesn’t mean you can act at the same speed as her.
Still, being able to move at triple your usual speed is a threat, and if you can act at triple speed, your number of attacks naturally triples as well.
The benefit of this can be an overwhelming advantage against enemies.
Therefore,
(—Got it!!)
Easily moving behind the Butcher, I was confident in my victory, though I struggled to control my overly active body.
I swung down “Fire of Sh” at the giant’s right leg, which had yet to detect me.
“Guh!”
However, it was I who groaned from that attack.
My attack was blocked by the Butcher’s thick armor of flesh, and I couldn’t inflict sufficient damage.
(Even this doesn’t work!?)
I was stunned by the unbelievable fact.
Though I hadn’t used Power Up, my Strength still had a triple bonus.
I hadn’t anticipated that it wouldn’t work.
My movements stopped in surprise.
The white giant in front of me moved, exploiting that momentary gap.
A surprise attack as it turned.
I jumped backward to avoid the blow from its left arm, which utilized centrifugal force.
“Ngh, no way!?”
The distance was far greater than I imagined.
I jumped out of the radius of 3 meters I had initially set.
As I struggled to brake, my feet hit the ground with unexpected speed.
(My body’s reaction is too sharp!)
This ultimately caused my body’s balance to collapse.
After flailing about in thin air, I ended up awkwardly falling on my rear.
(Calm down!)
I urged myself on.
Fortunately, because I had created too much distance, I had managed to escape the Butcher’s attack range.
I stood up, trying to conserve my strength as much as possible, and regained my posture.
If Agility triples, it becomes that much harder to control one’s body.
This is something other Players who have used “Incarnation of Rage” have also said, and I should have been prepared for it.
Besides, my earlier attack not landing was, in a way, only natural.
My attack was supported by three pillars: the attack power of my customized “Fire of Sh,” Strength greatly enhanced by Power Up to about tenfold, and a powerful Horizontal Slash skill.
When my Horizontal Slash was blocked without Power Up, my current attack had only a triple bonus to Strength and no skill bonus from Horizontal Slash.
I had focused too much on the increase in Strength and completely forgotten about the skill bonus from Horizontal Slash.
If I had cooled my head and thought about it, I would have realized that such an attack couldn’t possibly land.
(It’s okay. It’s still okay.)
I told myself.
I still had options.
I could use Horizontal Slash this time, or combine it with Power Up if that didn’t work.
However, using Power Up during “Incarnation of Rage” is slightly less efficient.
If you use the modified Power Up when your Strength is already tripled, it won’t become tenfold of triple, resulting in 30 times… nor even a cumulative 12 times.
This is due to the characteristics of stat-enhancing skills and magic, or rather, all stat-boosting status effects.
When stats like Power Up or “Incarnation of Rage” increase base stats, it doesn’t actually alter the character’s stat parameters directly.
Stat-boosting statuses are, to put it simply, like status ailments with positive effects.
The relationship can be roughly summarized by the equation: “Character’s base stats × stat-boosting status multiplier + correction from equipment, etc. = actual stat value.”
Power Up and similar skills manipulate the “stat-boosting status multiplier” part, not the base value itself. Therefore, even if it looks like your Strength has increased tenfold by leveling up while under the effect of modified Power Up, the actual increase is no different from usual.
Furthermore, only the highest multiplier currently active is applied to the “stat-boosting status multiplier” slot.
If modified Power Up and “Incarnation of Rage” were active simultaneously, only the multiplier from modified Power Up would take effect.
Well, I should be grateful that I can use Power Up even during “Incarnation of Rage,” rather than wishing for the impossible.
Anyway, I’ve only just started using “Incarnation of Rage.”
There’s still plenty of time…
(…Time?)
At that moment, I realized I had lost track of the time since using “Incarnation of Rage.”
Timing skill durations while fighting is something I normally do without thinking.
However, the excitement of the battle, the unexpected anxiety, and the slight distortion of time perception due to the increased Agility had made the usual impossible.
(How many seconds are left on the duration? How much longer until I…)
That fact made me even more anxious.
This “Incarnation of Rage” has a great, great backlash accompanying its stat enhancement.
If I can’t defeat it within 30 seconds of activation, I will undoubtedly…
“Step!!”
Anxiety propelled me.
As an instinctive choice, I opted for a skill-based movement.
The skill I was so familiar with produced an unprecedented acceleration due to the effect of “Incarnation of Rage.”
However, that deceived the opponent.
I entered the King Butcher’s still unguarded center, canceled my Step there, and followed with a Horizontal Slash…
“…Eh?”
I couldn’t connect.
The Step into Cancel Horizontal Slash, repeated thousands, tens of thousands of times, failed for the first time in months.
—Cancellation miss.
The words flashed in my mind.
Standing frozen due to system rigidity and shock, the monster before me gleefully raised its massive weapon.
“…Ah.”
A foolish sound escaped my lips.
My vision was filled with a reddish-brown, too thick to be called a blade, a weapon of mass destruction.
—There was no way to dodge it.
A horrible grinding sound echoed in my skull, and my consciousness faded.
It was probably only for a few moments that I was unconscious.
“Ah, cuz…”
I woke up with an intense headache.
I groggily sat up and…
“—!?”
Seeing the giant white leg filling my vision, I immediately took evasive action.
(Step!!)
The ingrained habit of my body made me choose to evade with Step before I could fully regain my senses.
Though my posture was broken, the skill barely activated, and my body leaped sideways.
Again, the unaccustomed acceleration.
But thanks to it, I escaped the Butcher’s stomp.
I landed quickly, my senses bewildered by the speed I barely experienced, and tried to cancel my Step with a Horizontal Slash.
(Again!?)
The timing was off.
I failed.
Another period of rigidity.
The meat cleaver swung horizontally.
“…Guh, ugh!”
It hit my torso.
I couldn’t breathe.
I was sent flying.
(This… )
But this time, I didn’t lose consciousness.
Even as I was sent flying, I thought.
(This is the “Acceleration Wall.”)
“Incarnation of Rage” greatly increases the user’s Agility.
This is a great advantage, but it is also a significant disadvantage that troubles experienced “Nekoneko” Players.
Excessively high Agility brings about not only great benefits but also unavoidable hindrances.
This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as the “Acceleration Wall.”
The increase in Agility accelerates and shortens almost all actions.
This also accelerates skills, and at the same time, significantly shifts the feel of using those skills, especially the location of their cancel points.
If Agility triples, skills become three times faster, and consequently, the cancel points arrive three times sooner and are shortened to one-third of their length.
Even “Nekoneko” players who have learned the timing of cancellations through feel and ingrained it in their bodies, or rather, precisely such players, cannot keep up with this change.
On the other hand, there are things that Agility increases cannot shorten.
While increased Agility accelerates most “actions,” it does not include non-active actions such as “stuns,” “knockbacks,” or “post-skill rigor.”
If you fail to cancel a skill, you will provide the enemy with the same duration of rigor or gap as usual, even in a state of increased Agility.
Therefore, it is said that the better “Nekoneko” players are, the more they dislike changes in speed.
If they can connect skills properly, they can achieve movement speeds close to triple.
The choice to prioritize a situation where skill cancellations can be performed freely over triple speed is undoubtedly correct.
Alternatively, there’s Mitsuki’s way of fighting.
If skill usage in a high Agility state would only result in killing the speed due to post-skill rigor, abstaining from using skills is also effective. That choice is probably correct as well.
(Still!!)
I chose this path because I believe that is not enough.
I used this skill because I believe that ordinary methods would never suffice.
The highly refined skill cancellation techniques are ingrained in me to almost the level of physical sensation.
However, if the speed changes, all of that will become useless, or rather, it will become a shackle when using skills.
The time I’ve spent in the game, the effort I’ve cultivated, will become meaningless.
(Even so!!)
Agility values are negatively affected by the weight of equipped items.
For example, by holding something heavy like a meat cleaver for adjustment, it would be possible to virtually revert Agility to 1x immediately.
However, I will not make that choice.
To get used to this speed as quickly as possible, I have resolved not to use skills in any state other than triple speed until the moment I defeat the Demon Lord.
Of course, I am aware of the significant risk of failure.
The substantial drop in combat power during that time is unavoidable, and if I only partially get used to triple speed, my sense of timing might be thrown off, and I might not even be able to use skills at 1x properly.
But no matter how difficult the choice, this speed is absolutely necessary for my goal.
All to defeat the Demon Lord.
To ensure no one, no comrades, no one else, makes a sacrifice!
To keep Ena’s smile from clouding over!!
(—I have decided to make this speed my own!!)
My head throbbed, and my injured chest burned with pain.
My body was already battered and bruised, and I likely had only a little time left within the limit.
Even so, I firmly planted my two feet on the ground and raised “Fire of Sh” at the approaching white giant.
The rest will be tomorrow.
