Ultimate Skill - Strike-Kill
The battlefield had already descended into pure chaos when I slammed my fist straight into the gaping mouth of the screaming organization thug charging at me.
Crunch.
My gauntleted fist twisted viciously, grinding his teeth to powder. The man couldn’t even scream anymore; he simply wept tears of agony.
“Let him go!!!”
Whoosh!
Of course, one of his comrades couldn’t stand watching his friend get his teeth turned to gravel and swung a blade at me.
“Oh dear, do be careful.”
Slice.
“Huh…? What the…?”
I severed the attacker’s leg from the knee down in one clean cut as he rushed forward.
“Aaaaaaaaagh!!!!”
“…Can’t I lower the sound effects on this?”
The thug who had just lost his leg collapsed, thrashing in pain. I winced and covered my ears against the shrill scream.
“You crazy bitch…”
“Everyone get out of the way! I’ll blow her to hell!”
While the men stood frozen in horror at the sight, another thug stepped forward with a suspicious-looking cannon and took aim.
“Ah… right. There were long-range mobs too.”
“Die, you traitor!”
BOOM!
I didn’t move an inch. I simply watched the incoming projectile in silence.
KABOOOOOM!!
The shell struck me dead-on, erupting in black smoke and flames.
“…Did we get her?”
“Who knows.”
Of course, I stood there completely unharmed, smirking at them. The thug whose teeth I had been pulverizing was now being used as a human meat shield to block the attack.
…What remained of the shield was no longer recognizable as a person.
“Hmm, you really don’t have any blood or tears, do you? Doing such cruel things to your own comrades…”
“It’s because of you, you bitch!!!”
“Ahaha, is that so?”
The man roared in fury at my casual tone.
It was certainly different from the dry, click-by-click game story I remembered. Here, the situation spiraled into complete mayhem depending on my actions.
Redanis’s puppet, Ryushia.
She had suffered under the organization’s cruel experiments and moved like a machine according to their orders until the mid-game. But things were different now.
I would punish these bastards and blow every frustrating plot point to smithereens.
“J-just one more shot…”
The panicked man began reloading the cannon.
“I’m afraid I can’t allow that.”
Flash!
I drew my sword and leaped forward in an instant, brushing past him.
“…Huh?”
Shhhk.
Thud.
“Iaijutsu—Moon Flash.”
He kept that stupid expression right until the end. His cleanly severed head tumbled quietly across the floor.
Moon Flash was technically a basic attack, but it had surprisingly high damage. There were even speedrun strategies that cleared bosses using only draws. Against mere trash mobs, it was more than enough to one-shot them.
“Right then… shall we finish this within two minutes?”
“…!!”
One was already dead. Nine or so remained.
“I’ll get serious now.”
“…Hurk?!”
The moment I glared at the survivors, they began trembling like prey facing a predator.
“Huuu… haaa…”
The smell of blood and gunpowder. None of it should have been fragrant… so why did it smell so sweet?
> Why is the sync rate so high…?
Labi stared at me with a horrified expression, but the euphoric rush enveloping my entire body drowned her out completely.
“Y-you crazy bitch…”
“…Me? I’m perfectly sane, thank you.”
They spat the words at me as I trampled over their comrades’ corpses, fear etched across their faces.
“Why do you call me a crazy woman? Furthermore, all of you are simply trash, are you not? You couldn’t have possibly forgotten what you did to me, could you?”
The words slipped out before I could stop them, my tone sharp as I shot back at the enemy.
“Everyone, get a grip!! The organization’s weapon has gone berserk!!!”
“…I don’t like the sound of that.”
I knew they were simply repeating the lines originally meant for the character Ryushia.
But still… it pissed me off.
These worthless scraps of game data had the nerve to call me a weapon?
> W-wait?! Calm down!!
The moment killing intent flooded Ryushia’s eyes with madness, the fairy screamed in panic.
“Allow me to kill you.”
Bang!!!
She had no time to stop me. I used Moon Step to close the distance in a single bound.
“…!!”
“Moon Triad Strike.”
Slash!
Splat!!
Crunch.
Three blades struck the man’s body at once.
His throat.
His heart.
His waist.
It wasn’t swordsmanship—it was closer to butchery. One of the basic techniques from Ryushia’s Moon Sword style.
Slaaaaaash!!!
“Kuaaaaagh… M-Mom…”
Thud.
The man in the torn black suit collapsed like garbage, scattering blood and organs across the floor.
“Haha… a blue-grade token, huh? Not bad at all.”
I pulled the medal half-buried in the corpse and smiled quietly.
“Labi, I’m going to breakthrough now, so please open my status window.”
5★ Ryushia — Moonlight Attribute
Lv.20
HP: 2200
ATK: 174
Crit Rate: 10%
Crit DMG: 65%
.
.
.
This character can breakthrough.
Proceed with breakthrough?
Y / N
Required Materials: 5000 Gold, 5 Redanis's Tokens
Breakthrough.
KWAAAAAAAAANG!!!!
The moment I called it in my mind, a violent current surged through my consciousness. The pathways carrying my magic widened and strengthened. Far purer power than before began circulating through my veins.
I could handle leveling up later.
“Ahahahahaha! This feels amazing…!!”
“…Ugh.”
The thugs broke into cold sweat and hesitated, overwhelmed by the new power radiating from me. It was clearly the perfect opening while I was mid-breakthrough, but they didn’t dare approach, unsure what horror awaited them if they did.
“U-Uwooooooooooh!!!”
Still, one brave man wielding a greatsword shook off his fear with a roar and charged.
“You’re being noisy.”
Shing.
I drew my blade slowly, without haste. The movement was deliberate, yet the slash that followed was razor-sharp.
“N-no way, my greatsword…?”
Clang.
The iron lump, thick as Ryushia’s waist, was sliced apart like paper.
Slaaaaaaaaash!!!
“Guhhhk…?!”
Like a reaper arriving without sound or warning, a massive wound opened across his chest, pouring out hot blood.
“I believe I told you to be quiet.”
“…Eh?”
Grab.
The black-haired girl with the cold murmur seized his head in an instant…
Crunch.
And crushed it effortlessly.
“Y-you insane monster bitch…”
“So this was the power of the test subject?”
They were overwhelmed by a level of raw strength that could never have come from a woman’s body.
Thump.
Yet another headless corpse hit the ground. Deep crimson soaked into the earth.
“…I’ll handle her.”
After that, the middle-aged man radiating the strongest aura among them stepped forward alone.
Sunglasses and a face covered in scars. He was undoubtedly a heavyweight. The man gave me a twisted smile and spoke.
“A dog that dares bare its fangs at its master deserves death.”
“I am a person, actually…”
“Hah! You’re nothing but a convenient tool. Heh heh… I still remember how you screamed as a child.”
“…Pardon?”
“Don’t tell me you forgot? I was right there. When we split open your spine and injected the drugs into your brain, those screams were truly adorable…”
His mocking words pierced my ears and my head began to burn.
…Kill him.
I’m going to kill him.
My instincts screamed at me to end this bastard right now.
> B-be careful! That guy’s a level 40 executive!
The ones I had killed so far were at most level 30. A level 40 opponent would definitely inflict a hefty damage penalty.
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll end it with my ultimate.”
But with this technique, I could trigger a critical hit and finish him in one strike.
“Haaaaaaaaaah!!!!”
“Huuu…”
The man charged with a ferocious battle cry.
Yet at that moment, I erased everything from my mind and gripped only my sword.
Both feet planted firmly on the ground.
Eyes closed, I looked inward rather than outward.
My hands held not strength, but pure killing intent.
Nothing else was needed.
“Die! Secret Art—Black Current Slash!!”
“Strike-Kill.”
Whooooooosh!!!
Compared to the opponent’s flashy strike, my movement was simple—I simply stood in place and drew my blade.
There was no power behind it. The speed was slow.
That was precisely why the slash approached like death itself—silent and inevitable.
Slice.
“…What… the…?”
Our blades crossed. By the time he realized it, I was already behind him.
I had passed him so quickly he never even noticed.
…Even though I had clearly been in front of him.
“Farewell, Mr. Trash.”
“…Huh?”
Click.
I sheathed my sword and uttered one short phrase.
Slaaaaaaaaash!!!
“Kheheeeek?!”
Countless bloody lines carved across his body. He let out an undignified death cry.
His sword, his limbs—everything was brutally severed. Even his face was pulverized beyond recognition. A pitiful end fitting for a third-rate villain.
“Huu, I’ll be taking this.”
Amid the scattering blood, I picked up another token and smiled leisurely.
.
.
.
“Haa… ugh… I’m going to die…”
After escaping the mountain of corpses, I was so exhausted that I handed the reins to Labi midway through the carriage ride.
> I told you not to start brawling right away.
The tiny fairy gripped the reins with both hands, puffing her cheeks as she gave me a look that said I was hopeless.
I was tired. My whole body felt limp from the fatigue of that first battle. Still, the thought of having given those who tormented this body a proper lesson filled me with satisfaction.
> You nearly ran out of mana and almost hit your physical limit, you know?
“Ah, that’s because I hadn’t properly warmed up yet.”
Ryushia consumed mana on every skill except basic attacks. In a multi-enemy fight like that, efficiency had been terrible.
“Still… I gathered quite a few materials. I should strengthen my skills and level up. The last damage check was way too close.”
> Sigh… fine. I’ll open your status.
When I muttered those words so casually, Labi shook her head as if she had a lot to say and waved her hand in the air.
Redanis Soldier’s Manual
+1000 Experience
Quantity Held: 22
“Mmm… use them all!”
I consumed the experience items taken from the enemies. The gauge shot upward sharply, and the number soon pointed at 40.
5★ Ryushia — Moonlight Attribute
Lv.40
HP: 4400
ATK: 348
Crit Rate: 10%
Crit DMG: 65% ...
“Good. This should be the minimum required specs. Let’s see, skills…”
I used the remaining tokens from the breakthrough to strengthen my skills.
I left Moon Step, the mobility skill, alone for now. I learned the passive Moon Spirit and raised my unique skill to level 2.
Both were Ryushia’s bread-and-butter abilities, so they took priority.
The next upgrades would be artifact setup and memory fragments obtained from character duplicates, but the former felt too early and the latter required the gacha system, which still hadn’t opened. That would only be possible after meeting the protagonist.
Her signature weapon was even further off. For now, simply leveling up and strengthening skills would be plenty.
Vroooooooom!!!
After finishing the appropriate power-up, I sat inside the spacious carriage and gazed at the blood-soaked spoils in my hands.
“…I wonder what kind of person they’ll be.”
I hoped the newbie I was about to meet would be a good person.
.
.
.
“Ahh!! Look at this! It’s a golden safe! I got 160 diamonds!”
“Hey! We need to keep moving!”
“Aww, how can I ignore a mine? I’ll mark it here. That way I can max out exploration at 100% later.”
All sorts of objects caught my eye along the way, so I collected everything I could.
Hehehe…
“Lady Labi? You need to stay standing right there!”
> Sigh… got it.
I placed the tiny fairy on a square red switch. Then, following a specific pattern…!
Bang!
A silver safe popped into existence.
“Hehe! I’ve already cleared three puzzles that lonely losers without friends can’t solve!”
> …Congratulations.
In truth, I had never solved these puzzles either, which was why my own exploration had been stuck at 99%.
It was too embarrassing to ask strangers for help.
And I definitely didn’t have the courage to post on the community forums: “Um…? Can someone help me with Friendship Park?”
> Pfft.
“…Don’t laugh.”
The fairy Labi looked at my wrinkled, pathetic state and burst into giggles as if she had discovered my weakness.
This emergency ration that’s practically begging to be beaten up… I swear…