Chapter 157
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 157
Chapter Title: 15th Floor - Lv. 1567 Future Emperor (1)
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From the moment of their first clash, the Girl realized she was screwed.
She had no idea about their relative skills, but there was an extreme difference in their weapons, at any rate.
She knew what a sword breaker was—a dagger designed with jagged grooves like a saw to catch and hold an opponent's weapon.
Of course, actually breaking a real weapon was impossible unless you were a superhuman from the Jeong Family.
But what if it was a chainsaw? Especially one that reeked of extraordinary power at a glance, its material unlike anything ordinary?
She pulled back, eyeing the blade.
The twin swords once wielded by an ancient fairy's hero unit on the 10th floor looked visibly damaged even from afar.
They should have had plenty of durability left, but they felt like they were being literally shredded.
Whoa, she never imagined a crisis like this.
The Emperor smirked and raised his two chainsaws.
Then he charged in, completely recklessly.
There were plenty of openings, it seemed.
Could she finish it in one blow without clashing weapons?
She layered [Dash] with [Impact Enhancement] and thrust in her best possible strike.
She raced forward so fast that only exceptional dynamic vision would catch more than a blur.
Taking advantage of the ship's interior, she rebounded off the walls, stepped off the ceiling, and plunged down vertically.
The Emperor didn't take it easily, but he managed to react.
And that alone was enough.
The moment they collided, a chilling screech rang out along with sparks.
She tried to press down with all her strength, but it was useless.
The Emperor, heir to the blood of the greatest warrior in orc history, matched her power for power—at least in raw strength, if not agility.
The other chainsaw came flying in.
She had to draw a second sword and use dual-wielding for the first time in ages.
But her weapons had serious durability issues too.
In the end, she had no choice but to retreat.
The Emperor couldn't keep up with her speed, so he just watched.
"Hmm, skill really is a wonderful thing. If this were even further in the ancient past, I might have struggled against a warrior like you."
The Girl smacked her lips.
Clashing weapons was always a loss for her.
What an absurd matchup.
From the Hunter's perspective, this situation was a bolt from the blue.
The Girl had taken the lead because of his confidence that she wouldn't lose in a one-on-one duel.
As sub-leader in the leader's absence, the Hunter had approved of that judgment.
That hyper crack should always operate as a separate unit.
So the rest of the party coordinated with the goblins to respond.
The youngest stared worriedly at her truly battered shield before picking it up.
A barrage of gunfire poured in.
But it wasn't the aimed shots of humans taking steady positions.
The elite orc soldiers riding the assault line charged with shields in one hand and guns in the other.
In the narrow corridors of the ship, it was a perfectly valid strategy.
The goblins had no heavy weapons right now.
Even if they did, they couldn't use them.
Naturally, the curtain of fire was breached somehow, transitioning into close-quarters combat.
The little mage's lightning dramatically halted some orcs.
But she wasn't skilled enough to spam spells like that.
She couldn't reverse the flow.
By the time the youngest grabbed some blunt weapon and tangled with the charging orcs, the Hunter had to grimace hard.
If only the space were a bit wider.
The old man was about to jump into the fray with his two favorite weapons.
"Old man!"
"What is it!"
"Can you widen the space a bit?"
Magic combat and gunfights had some similarities.
The orc shaman quickly caught on to his intent.
Shamanism took time but packed power.
With the youngest holding the front line and goblin-orc melee breaking out all along the corridors, the seasoned shaman carefully calibrated his spell's power.
A precisely restrained shock enveloped the ship's interior, and after a slight tremor, a small open field materialized.
The goblins on the opposite side panicked at first but cheered as magical support kicked in.
The old man made aggressive use of Mjolnir.
The lightning-infused weapon wielded monstrous power in melee even in this era.
With the old man blocking one flank as a shaman warrior, the tide turned somewhat in their favor.
The Hunter opened fire too.
But the enemy elites didn't give easy shooting angles. Their movements betrayed experience in shipboard melee.
He could see why goblins, who trained reluctantly in close combat and had size complexes, wailed about it.
The little mage and kid providing occasional magic support between shots were more helpful than the snipers.
The Hunter's thoughts turned to the Girl.
These enemies were no pushovers.
Their leader would be even stronger.
His mind cooled rationally.
From family man missing his loved ones to Exile—his thought patterns shifted.
He knew this feeling well.
Strongest fighter absent for the boss fight.
Unreasonable assaults pouring in meanwhile.
This wasn't some cosmic war from a sci-fi era he didn't understand.
It was the Labyrinth's trial for an Exile.
That made it familiar enough.
On instinct, the Hunter sensed something ominous.
He shouted to the youngest.
"Clear a path! Which way did that kid go?"
The youngest faithfully carried out the order.
She shoved back the orcs swinging weapons, shield and all.
The frontmost one couldn't withstand her brute strength and toppled.
"Good! Keep pushing!"
The kid scampered over and pointed where her mom had gone.
Mana detection spread, pinpointing the exact location.
"She's in a one-on-one standoff with something, but other troops are heading that way too!"
The Girl, still in her first run, was the age she appeared.
He couldn't leave everything to a girl young enough to be his daughter in her midlife.
The kid nodded too.
"I'm older than Mom, actually."
Even in this dire moment, the Hunter couldn't suppress a chuckle.
"No, that's... not quite the same thing, kid."
Say what you will, the Emperor couldn't perfectly track the Girl's movements.
She did her utmost to harass him without clashing weapons.
Erratic [Dash] motions and [Heavy Strike] to break his stance.
Twisting her body with every skill at her disposal.
The Emperor focused on defense, but his demeanor stayed relaxed.
Avoiding weapons entirely was impossible.
Especially since her weapons had shorter reach and he was taller.
After luring him into expecting that, she activated [Trajectory Replay].
Twisting her right sword in a big motion to thrust while deflecting the crossing chainsaws with her left hand alone.
Of course, she couldn't deflect them properly.
Finally, her left sword shattered.
The exploding fragments triggered a critical hit, staggering the Emperor.
Perfect.
The thrust missed, but the replayed second thrust connected.
Or so she thought.
Ping—a translucent barrier appeared.
The replayed sword strike was blocked.
The Emperor's mouth twisted into a sneer.
Sharp fangs gleamed.
For a split second, the Girl panicked, then accepted that he had skills too.
Her quick thinking barely saved her life.
She blocked the Emperor's incoming [Dash] attack, but her right sword shattered too.
This time, the critical didn't push back his massive charge.
She carried backups.
In one breath, she switched weapons, and a beam lanced out.
Light dagger from the dwarf armory.
But beam weapons had weaker physical stopping power.
Regardless of durability, the chainsaw blade sliced through the magical plasma aggregate in an instant and bore down on her.
Dodging it required acrobatics even she wasn't sure she could repeat.
The chainsaw that cleaved empty air tore into the ship's wall.
Whatever that saw was made of, it showed no signs of malfunction or dulling.
Filthy weapon advantage.
The Girl gritted her teeth, weighing her options.
Continuing the fight was tough. But if not her, who would face this guy?
Complicated thoughts flashed by.
She'd learned to wield Mjolnir, but should she use it?
She'd have to borrow it from the old man.
For now, the Girl decided to fall back.
And orc assault troops appeared from the opposite corridor.
Apparently, goblins had lost a local skirmish.
The Girl licked her lips.
They weren't dry, but she wanted to anyway.
What happens to a gas giant if it loses its entire gaseous surface in an instant?
Even normally, the interior of a gas planet is hellish for living creatures.
The slowly collapsing interior of this one was even more infernal.
And that environmental damage was some mix of physical and magical forces.
On reflection, it made sense. Physical phenomena, sure, but also natural elemental events.
The Incarnation of War and I moved into the boiling core of the gas planet.
Space travel difficulties from gravity were something stats and experience could bulldoze.
I'd cleared empty space in advance.
The God of War faltered for a brief moment at the sudden environmental shift, then responded by swinging his hammer.
I did my best to get away.
No thanks, I'm not fighting. You can tank this with divinity and your body, but I've got magic.
Mobility made all the difference between those who could use magic and those who couldn't.
The Incarnation grasped the situation and poured out divinity to unleash his authority.
Every combat buff imaginable rained down, bloating the Incarnation's presence.
His blazing divinity shoved back the planet's collapsing, still-liquid innards.
Wrapped in a mana shield, I began interfering with the Incarnation trying to escape the planet.
The Incarnation unleashed another space-shaking attack.
Not enough to hit if I wasn't touching it.
I parried spear thrusts or dodged with spatial jumps.
I never strayed too far.
The environment made sensing each other hard, but his overwhelming divine presence kept our positions clear.
Finally, the Incarnation's patience snapped, and he slammed his hammer with full force.
Space and the planet cracked together.
Without similar counters, it ignored all physics—a cowardly attribute attack.
The nearby planetary core took massive damage and let out a death cry.
I laughed.
I swiftly banished myself to the abyss, having prepped spatial jump magic for a long-distance escape.
The Goddess clicked her tongue.
「Looks like that guy's better at this than me.」
'War and savage gods are all the same wherever you go.'
「True enough. Let's see how much gas that magicless fool has left after escaping a collapsing planetary core.」
'I'll keep harassing him from outside. I can still call Sylph yet.'