(This is…!)
My weakened hand gripped the Koganezakura.
It trembled, and the strength I could muster was barely enough to hold it, more like enveloping it.
But that was fine.
The mere fact that I was holding it was enough.
I couldn’t even speak, let alone form words.
But that didn’t matter either.
The words themselves were enough, even if no one heard them.
So, with my hand still on the Koganezakura, I issued a silent ‘Order’ in my mind.
“Bloody Stab.”
Immediately, an inexplicable force surged through my near-death body.
My hands, which I thought could no longer move, moved with lightning speed, unleashing a divine stab into the air.
However, there was no target to pierce.
The stab naturally missed, and the skill ended without hitting anything.
…Or so it seemed.
But a change was undeniably occurring.
It was happening to my body.
“O-Oooooh!!”
My wounds were healing.
Strength flowed into me.
My stamina was recovering to its pre-battle state, or perhaps even exceeding it.
Just a second after unleashing the skill.
My legs, which should have been unable to move, once again touched the ground.
“Ringo!!”
But as I rose, I saw Ringo, blown away by a sideways blow from the Butcher, with no way to defend herself.
As I ran towards her falling point, I felt the blood drain from my face.
Ringo wasn’t wearing any armor.
If she had taken the full force of the Butcher’s attack…
(…No!)
I saw a shattered Heat Knife in Ringo’s hand as she was blown away.
She had barely managed to block the Butcher’s attack with the knife.
The Game had a system where weapons other than shields could reduce damage when struck.
I believed Ringo was safe.
(Hurry!)
I chained Step, High Step, and Shukuchi’s short cancels, racing towards her at top speed.
Catching her still in mid-air, I leaped up one last time.
“Shadow Snatch!”
I activated Shadow Snatch, a Ninjato skill with the Wind attribute.
Ebony claws ensnared Ringo as she flew, simultaneously killing her momentum and healing her wounds.
Ringo’s body, its momentum lost, began to fall.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t catch her in my arms like a manga hero.
If I stopped the skill combo here, Ringo would hit the ground, and I’d be frozen by the skill’s recovery.
“Ngh, Shukuchi!”
My Stamina was already nearing its limit, but I linked Shukuchi, pushing myself despite the strain.
Using Shukuchi, I snatched her, more like body-checked her, and created distance from the Butcher.
“Guh!”
We both tumbled to the ground.
But this allowed me to cancel the skill’s recovery, and I quickly got up, checking on Ringo who was now beneath me.
“Are you okay?”
When I asked, Ringo reacted intensely to my voice.
With a swiftness I had never seen before, she turned to me.
“So…ma?”
Ringo’s eyes widened in disbelief as she looked up at me.
Judging by her reaction, she seemed physically fine.
“I’m sorry for making you do that.
But, it’s okay now.”
I wanted to explain, but there was no time.
Even with the distance, this area was still not safe.
I consciously averted my gaze from Ringo and quickly stood up.
“…Soma.”
Ringo’s worried voice called out from behind me, but I answered without looking back.
“It’s okay, you can leave the rest to me.”
All the conditions were met.
My stamina was full.
My concentration was heightened, and I had a new weapon.
So,
“I’ll defeat him.”
I took a step towards the Butcher, signifying my resolve.
Facing the King Butcher head-on, I was once again certain.
(…Wounded, aren’t you.)
There were two types of bosses in Nekoneko: those who weakened when damaged, and those who unleashed their hidden power to kill Players.
Fortunately, the Butcher was the former.
His movements were clearly less agile than at the start of the battle.
My desperate attack hadn’t been in vain.
However, that alone didn’t give me an absolute advantage.
Bosses that weakened when near death usually had high regeneration abilities, and the Butcher was no exception.
I needed to end this quickly while I had this advantage.
(But with this Koganezakura…)
I could fight in a way I couldn’t with the Shiranui, with more power than a Wakizashi.
Ninjato skills often required getting extremely close to the opponent, but against the currently slowed Butcher, it was possible.
(And also…)
I still had another trump card.
The ‘Ring of Enhanced Light Attribute Attack I’.
At Ramur’s accessory shop, which Ena and I visited.
I bought one ring for each attribute, and seven ‘Rings of Enhanced Light Attribute Attack I’.
Each Ring of Enhanced Attribute Attack I reduced the power of the opposite attribute by 70%.
So what happened if I equipped two of them?
In this Game, attribute enhancement and weakening effects simply added up.
So, -70 added to -70 equals -140.
The base attribute attack power was 100%, so 100 minus 140 equals -40.
And the power of an attribute attack was determined by the base attack power x the attribute modifier.
This meant…
If you equipped two or more of these rings, using a dark attribute attack would actually heal the enemy.
This was the reason I, who had been on the verge of death, had instantly recovered.I had recovered so quickly.
Many Ninjato skills were assassination or stealth-based, and due to their dark image, they often had the dark attribute by default.
For example, one was the multi-hit dark attribute skill I just used, ‘Shadow Snatch’.
The second was the bugged skill known as ‘suicidal stab’, ‘Bloody Stab’.
By now, you should be able to imagine it.
Bloody Stab was a dark attribute skill, and also a bugged skill that damaged the user.
When used with two ‘Rings of Enhanced Light Attribute Attack I’, it restored HP by 40% of the attack power.
Even 40% was significant.
Physical attackers often couldn’t achieve sufficient healing, even with healing magic.
In that respect, despite using up all ring slots, Bloody Stab was an excellent healing skill, being almost free with no MP cost and based on physical power.
…This was from the Game era.
In this world, the situation was different.
While the Game only allowed up to two rings, this world allowed up to ten.
And I was currently wearing all seven ‘Light Attribute Enhancement Rings I’ that I had bought from the shop.
The negative dark attribute value was 70% x 7 = 490%.
Subtracting that from the base 100% resulted in a value of -390%.
This meant Bloody Stab’s self-healing power was nearly four times its original attack power.
It made sense that my HP had been fully restored in an instant.
And these two weren’t the only dark attribute attack skills.
The King Butcher facing me shifted.
That was the signal for the start of the second battle between us.
“Step!”
At that moment, I used a skill to close in on the Butcher.
I didn’t intend to waste time.
The injured Butcher’s movements were clearly slower than at the start of the fight.
I would go head-on and finish him in one blow.
(Here it comes!)
The Butcher’s Meat Cleaver awaited me, ready to counter my resolve.
Wary of my approach, he brandished the massive iron cleaver.
“High Step!”
But I had no intention of falling for that.
I canceled Step with High Step.
With speed exceeding the Butcher’s expectations, I closed in on his massive body!
But the Butcher reacted to my movement.
He immediately swung the cleaver he held towards me.
A direct hit!
However,
(Still too slow!)
I shifted into an even higher gear!
“Shukuchi!”
My fastest movement technique.
The injured giant couldn’t possibly keep up with this speed, unlike the Butcher at the start of the battle!
I plunged into his guard.
Something massive grazed my back, but it was meaningless if it didn’t hit.
(Now!)
At the same time, the Butcher’s empty left hand flew out to grab me as I entered his guard.
But by then, I had already…
“Jump!”
I had canceled Shukuchi and activated Jump, leaping high into the air.
The Butcher’s left hand, having lost its target, slashed through the air.
And…
As I soared through the air, I faced the Butcher’s face, now leaning forward from my attack.
His vital spot, his weak point, his face, was within my striking range!
(This is the end!)
Watching the Butcher’s face contort in surprise, I unleashed my final skill!
Of course, it was the third dark attribute skill of the Ninjato.
“Assassin Rage!!”
The 13th skill of the Ninjato, ‘Assassin Rage’.
Although it was supposed to be a high-power skill due to being the 13th skill, it inexplicably had a negative damage multiplier, making it known as a “trap skill” that healed the opponent every time it was used.
But what happened when this was used with a dark attribute attack power of -390%?
Minus multiplied by minus becomes plus.
And if that was an unbelievably large negative value of -390%?
The answer was obvious.
This skill, even sarcastically called “Katsujinken” (life-saving sword), transformed into the strongest killing sword, no, the ultimate finishing sword, capable of defeating not just people, but giants!
“This is the end!!”
The dark blade unleashed with a cry invaded the white giant.
Black and white, irreconcilable elements, clashed and it was an equilibrium for a mere instant.
The blow clad in darkness distorted the white, ugly face unnaturally, and…
“Gugyaaa, ah–!”
…shattered.
“Ngh!”
My body, propelled by the skill’s effect after defeating the Butcher, moved forward.
I passed through the giant’s back and tumbled to the ground without being able to properly brace myself.
(Did… I do it?)
I should have defeated him for good, but there was no fanfares announcing the boss’s defeat, no final death throes from the giant, as often happened in Games.
But as I landed and frantically looked back, the giant’s body was slowly turning into particles of light and dissolving into the air.
“It’s… over, right?”
I whispered, unable to believe the sudden end.
Looking at the spot where the giant’s massive body had been, only its drop items remained.
The unique weapon for which the Butcher was hunted, the greatsword “Meat Cleaver,” and a consumable item that slightly increased Strength, the “Power Seed.”
These were all that lay where the Butcher had vanished.
But we had no time to stand around in awe.
“Shoot! Time!”
I checked my watch.
According to my watch, which had survived the recent exchange unscathed, it was 3:59.
“Ringo! That rock!”
As I said this, I tossed the Koganezakura to her. Ringo immediately unleashed a lightning strike at the large rock from which the Butcher had emerged.
Ringo, a capable ally, skillfully broke down the upper part of the rock and was aiming for its collapse…
“This is bad! The pop point…”
Time passed mercilessly.
The second hand of the clock pointed straight up, and the light in the rock’s pop point began to shine—
“…Done.”
—but that light was crushed by the torrent of rocks from above.
I waited tensely for a while, but there was no sign of a Monster emerging from the rocks.
It seemed this was truly the end.
“Haaah…”
I let out a hearty sigh and slumped to the ground.
This time, it was genuinely dangerous.
My previous crises had all had some room for maneuver, or some amusing element, but this danger was real.
Surviving this was purely a matter of luck.
No, of course, luck wasn’t the only factor.
“Thank you for saving me today, Ringo.”
I offered my heartfelt gratitude to Ringo as she approached.
From crushing the last pop point to everything else, there were many moments today where I couldn’t have managed without her.
I expressed my gratitude once more.
“…Mm.”
However, Ringo’s “fever time” seemed to have passed with the crisis.
Whether she heard my words or not was hard to tell; she merely moved her head up and down, barely perceptibly.
Her expression had returned to that blank look, which could be seen as mysterious but was likely just vacant.
“…What is that?”
At Ringo’s words, I shifted my gaze to my chest.
Peeking out from a gap in my ruined starting leather armor was something white.
It wasn’t my ribs exposed by the Butcher’s attack, of course—
“Ah, ah.
Right. I see. So that’s it. Hah, hahahahaha!!”
As soon as I realized what it was, a fit of laughter overtook me.
“…?”
Ringo tilted her head slightly at my sudden outburst of laughter, but my laughter wouldn’t subside.
It was probably the backlash of my tension finally easing.
Since Ringo wasn’t saying anything, I continued to laugh uncontrollably for a while.
(Ah, yeah, truly. This is what makes the Game world so interesting.)
Right after unleashing that fire counter.
During the skill’s recovery period, I had taken a direct hit from the Butcher.
Yet, how had I, with my low level and stats, managed to survive?
The answer lay there.
(Even such trivial trickery can be surprisingly useful, can’t it?)
The thin, white object peeking out of my leather armor, which had saved my life, was a safeguard I had placed inside my armor as a precaution since my first visit to the armor shop.
It was a quest item, deemed too valuable due to its high loss rate, and had been granted the indestructible attribute.
—It was the “Mysterious Piece of Paper” I had received from Old Man Chu.
From next time onward, things will return to normal.
Please continue to enjoy the usual Nekoneko and Soma.
