That's Not How You Use a Spear
"That's not how you use a spear."
"Round 2 of the Mock Siege Battle has begun! Looking at the situation so far, we're seeing a very different flow from Round 1, aren't we?"
"That's right. In Round 1, both sides rushed each other head-on and the situation flipped in an instant — but Round 2 is shaping up to be the exact opposite."
The two teams had already felt the overwhelming gap between themselves and Lily's team, and lost because of it.
If they moved carelessly like before, their castles would crumble in no time. They had no choice but to hold back.
"It seems they've judged that watching how the opponent moves before committing is better than attacking right away like last time."
"The role of the Grand General has become absolutely crucial in this Mock Siege Battle. Where the Grand Generals go will decide victory or defeat."
Each team's Generals were steadily out hunting, scouting, and applying pressure, but the Grand Generals had, in particular, not once left their territory.
The Grand General was an asymmetric asset.
Hunting or patrolling the surroundings was no problem at all.
But if one headed for the enemy's castle, the other teams' Grand Generals were guaranteed to react.
"Oh! The moment I mention it, Lily is heading for the open plains. Is she going after another team?"
"I doubt it, personally. Given her direction and her movements so far, I believe her strategy this round is the same as the other teams' — growth."
"Which would mean..."
"She's going to hunt Raizaka."
Luna nodded as she said it.
Lily had already finished leveling up through a fair amount of hunting.
Besides, Leo had solos-farmed at level 5 just last round.
If Lily beat that Leo, there was no way she couldn't take down Raizaka.
She already had a record of soloing it, after all.
Lily weaved this way and that, evading Raizaka's attacks.
It looked like she was too busy dodging to land a hit — but of course, she wasn't.
If Lily wanted to, she could kill Raizaka in a single stroke.
"Why wouldn't she take it down immediately?"
"Because if word spreads that Lily is taking down Raizaka, it hands the Grand Generals a perfect justification to move. Either ambush Lily mid-hunt, or strike at her team's castle while she's occupied."
And Lily — still dragging things out with those oddly dilatory movements even now — knew that as well as anyone.
"I suspect Lily is waiting. For someone to break this silence and make a move."
And there was only one such person in this entire siege war.
"With a spear?"
I felt a flicker of curiosity, but obediently drew out my spear.
Truthfully, I'd known Chukachip was coming for a long time.
I'd noticed the challenge and the pride aimed my way since long before the tournament, and there were simply too many people hoping to see me and Chukachip clash.
Though they didn't seem to care much about it anymore.
A spear-versus-spear duel had been the talk of the town right around when the Mock Siege Battle kicked off.
That's how much buzz it generated — mails, donations, and whispers flooded in day after day.
My manager once said she'd gotten close to a thousand messages in a single day.
But since then, I'd been giving lectures on mana and steadily showing off all kinds of other abilities — the hammer, magic, and more.
Enough for people to forget the spear duel entirely.
Because the spear is a tool, not the whole of me.
And yet...
"The spear really is the best, isn't it?"
Maybe it was because I learned my technique from a devout spear fanatic, but not once in my life had I ever thought the spear was a bad weapon.
The spear is good.
Long reach, easy transition between offense and defense. Its structure is ideal for channeling force into it, and even if the blade shatters, the shaft alone can still deal plenty of damage.
Though the hammer does feel better in the hand.
"...Twin Spear Art."
Perhaps there was nothing left to say — or perhaps this, too, was part of a plan set in motion long ago — two golden spears began to move.
A surging rush of twin spears, flowing with liquid grace.
I batted them aside with my own.
Screeeech...! Sparks burst where mana struck mana, and the enemy spear-blade slid up the length of my spear, coiling like a serpent.
A bending spear-blade.
I'd seen that ability plenty of times before.
Crack!
"...!"
The blade stopped dead.
"That's not how you use a spear."
If you're going to bend it, bend it properly and strike in one clean motion.
What's the point of coiling like a snake if you're going to move like a fake one?
Was this how that person felt, back then?
I fired off the same technique in return.
Chukachip's eyes went wide — she'd clearly recognized it for what it was — but her mouth was smiling.
Did she figure that if she understood the technique, it'd be easy to block?
Chukachip drew her spear back a fraction and thrust in a single burst.
KWA-GAGAGAGA!!! Exactly seven thrusts, and the surging spears dissolved on the spot.
"Ha! Something like this, I can do too— gahk!"
KWAANG! A second spear-blade came flying in behind it and bit down on Chukachip.
Or rather, on the golden shield circling her body.
The shield absorbed most of the impact, but it couldn't shoulder all of it — she was driven backward and backward until she finally toppled over.
Brow furrowed, I looked down at her.
"What are you supposed to do if you can't even understand your own technique?"
"...There was only one spear."
"It's a technique designed for twin spears. Obviously it fires twice."
Twice, naturally. If anything, more than twice would be the norm.
How did she look at a twin-spear technique and conclude that a single spear meant a single strike?
"Haa..."
Now this was just disappointing.
She'd challenged me with the spear, so the least she owed me was to show me the spear done right.
Honestly, I'd met so many talented people lately that I'd let my expectations for Chukachip climb a fair distance.
But if this was all she had...
Grrk. Perhaps my words stung, because Chukachip ground her teeth.
"You... you're dead."
Shff.
A golden chalice scattered its light above Chukachip's head.
In an instant, the authority I'd been watching since a moment ago traveled down through her body and slowly passed into her spear.
Shwik.
It cut without a single tell.
Before I knew it, the spear had been thrown, and blood was running down my cheek.
Before I could even swipe a hand across it to check, the spear carved me once more and wheeled back to her side.
I understood, then.
So that's Mythic-grade equipment.
A weapon bearing a unique ability on par with Sure-Hit. A spear.
Though calling it simply "Sure-Hit" didn't quite fit.
The Sure-Hit I'd seen over the years — the ones I'd been struck by — never carried this much force.
The ability itself resembled those of the Celestials and the Demonkin, but the raw power behind it was the difference between an ant and a Dragon Lord.
The spear's authority, however, was about ogre-grade.
Not enough to land a valid hit — but enough to draw blood.
Only a flesh wound, yes. But to scratch a Celestial — a Celestial in its true body, no less — meant stepping outside the framework of one's species entirely.
Proof of it: my cheek wasn't regenerating on its own even now.
Chukachip looked at my unhealing wound, and whether it was confidence blooming or not, a sharp grin spread across her face.
"Well? That should have you a little tense."
"Then I'll take you seriously."
"Uh... what?"
The spear comes back.
Gripping the spear — imbued with the Shadow Spirit, yet carrying no function, no ability, beyond sheer hardness — I began to order my strength.
There was something I wanted to verify.
Kiiiiiing...
KWA-GAGAGAGAGA!!!
"Ugh! This is—"
Chukachip clenched her teeth and gulped down air after somehow slipping past the devastating strikes that were tearing the ground apart in front of her.
No — could she even call that dodging?
Crzzk.
Her Mythic-grade Golden Shield let out a pained scream.
Her countless hidden pieces draped across her body were failing to do their jobs, leaving her pouring everything she had into evasion alone.
If not for the legendary hidden piece, Seed of Overflowing Life, her stamina would have burned out long ago and she'd have retired on the spot.
Pfububok!
The blessing of Sure-Strike, backed by the chalice, grazed past Lily's arm.
She'd actually been aiming for the heart — but the arm waiting behind Lily's back came around at a speed the eye couldn't follow and blocked it.
Kiiiiiing...
Lily's spear began to spin.
How many was it this time?
Twelve transfers last time, so twenty-four now?
Her head swam.
She couldn't understand why the count had doubled to twelve, but one thing was certain: if all twenty-four directions tore through space at once, there would be nowhere to run.
From everything she'd seen of Lily, it probably wasn't impossible.
If anything, the odds would be brimming over.
"...Haa."
Why hadn't anything changed?
By all rights, the situation should have been in her favor this time too.
'Hana. You've got real talent. But it doesn't have to be boxing that you win at.'
"...Don't make me laugh."
Do they have any idea how wretched that is?
Challenging hundreds of times, and losing every single one — do they know what that feels like?
What was even more wretched was that even after all those defeats, some part of her still believed that this time, she'd win.
"You've taken quite a few wounds, I see."
Because her opponent was not invincible after all.
"......."
If she wanted to settle this, it had to be now.
She focused her strength.
She focused her mind.
Everything she had built. Everything she had scraped together at terrible cost. She poured it all into a single point.
She copied the figure she had witnessed that day.
Not enough. Still so far from enough.
Grrk.
That couldn't be true.
Brrrrrt...!
"I'm going to... WIN!!"
In that instant, something that had made up Chukachip shattered.
Whether it was a simple internal injury, or the wall that had been barring her way, she couldn't know. But one thing she did know.
Her power had slipped beyond the bounds of reason.
A vast, distant force rang out an alarm inside her.
If you release this, it will affect not only DeoEn — but reality itself.
But it didn't matter.
Losing is worse than dying.
If she was going to die either way — shot down by an attack, or burned out by her own — she would rather let it fly.
And the spear—
—let loose its roar.