Watch Your Head~
Watch your head~!
I'm screwed. Completely, thoroughly screwed.
"Huh...?"
I'd torn the Water Strike scroll to finish him off for good, yet somehow not a single scrap of magic triggered.
Could the scroll have been a fake?
No. Impossible.
There had never once been a counterfeit scroll in the Mock Occupation Battle, and if it really had been fake, the system would have labeled it Water Strike Scroll (Counterfeit) the moment I picked it up.
In short, the scroll couldn't be fake.
So then... why?
— Whoosh!
Just as my head filled with chaos, searing flames erupted from the abandoned asphalt.
"Ghk—hot!"
I stomped down with every scrap of Tao Power I had and leapt high, but I still couldn't completely escape the scorching heat that licked around my ankles.
Groaning at the stinging pain, I kicked off the air with more Tao Power and flung myself clear of the fire's range.
"What the hell was that scroll just now?"
As I landed unsteadily, a volley of flaming arrows came raining down on me.
"Ha. There's a limit to how far a joke can go."
I twisted a few of their trajectories with Tao Power and threw my body out of the way of the rest, but the ankle injury kept me from dodging every last one.
"Kh...! This is seriously hot, you know?"
A flaming arrow punched into my left arm. Wasn't this supposed to be the Matrix? Why did it hurt this much? I barely managed to hold back the tears that tried to well up.
While I was writhing in pain, Marcus strode toward me without so much as a flinch. I'd definitely skewered him with that retaliatory spear of flame, yet there was zero hesitation in his steps.
Of course. The gap in experience between someone who'd been trained to endure pain since childhood and an ordinary modern guy who'd been living a normal life until a few weeks ago was just too massive.
...For a second, the two words give up shimmered right in front of my face.
...Eliminated here? After everything I've done?
No.
Absolutely not.
I refuse to accept it.
A washed-up veteran like me—the me who'd been killing himself for the past month—could never accept getting eliminated this emptily.
There had to be a way. Something that could overturn this losing situation...
Right then, as if it had read my mind, a bright ding! rang out and letters began forming before my eyes.
You have discovered the hidden function of the Trait — Retaliation.
Retaliation — Sword of Romance (Passive): Use of all attack skills other than Retaliation is prohibited.
.......WHAT? Excuse me? This passive was a thing?
Apparently Retaliation had a hidden passive. Sword of Romance. No other attack skills allowed.
What kind of bullshit is this...?
I'd thought it was way too versatile for a hero-grade skill. That should've been the tip-off.
But this was just cruel.
So unless it's a counter, the only thing I'm allowed to do is personally smack people myself?
Getting demoted in an instant from cool counterattack character to counterattack-only freak was making my head spin.
This wasn't just about whether the Mock Occupation Battle was ruined right now. A massive error had just appeared in my entire future potential.
I'm screwed. I can't see a future.
Maybe I should switch to a non-combat class even at this late stage...
You have discovered the hidden passive of the Trait — Retaliation. By satisfying the conditions, a new Trait has been unlocked.
You have acquired the Trait — Hollow Slash (Unique).
Right then, a lifeline dropped into my hands.
A single ray of light pierced the despair that had filled my heart.
A Unique-grade Trait...
The new Trait I'd gained by discovering Retaliation's screwed-up passive: Hollow Slash.
And its grade was none other than Unique.
Unique grade. The rare rank granted only to classes or traits that no one except that specific character could ever obtain.
A representative example was the class Shiina would one day acquire—Savior of the World—which was Unique-grade. No one but Shiina could ever get "Savior of the World."
So Shion had a Unique-grade Trait too, huh.
For a mere early-game villain like Shion to possess a Unique Trait... at this point I had to start wondering whether he really was just a disposable mid-boss.
But those doubts could wait until everything was over.
What I needed to do right now was check the new Trait and get myself out of this crisis.
Please be broken. Please be broken...!
I hastily opened my status window and pulled up the information on Hollow Slash.
With a slash, severs every designated existence within 100 m inside the caster's field of vision, excluding enemies and allies. Renders all enemies and allies within range unable to act.
Consumes all of the caster's mana and forces entry into the Mana Exhaustion state.
Mana Exhaustion — Mana recovery speed decreases by 90%. Duration: 1 hour.
"......?"
My eyes went wide at the absurd claim that it would sever every existence—then went even wider once I read the details more carefully.
It cuts every existence... except the enemy?
I double-checked, half-convinced I'd misread it, but unfortunately my language centers were working just fine.
What kind of garbage is this.
Think about it. You swing your sword. You cut everything except the enemy. So what's the result?
It just cuts the entire background, that's what.
It doesn't cut the enemy—it cuts everything except the enemy?
What kind of deranged Trait even exists like this?
Being able to cut everything is meaningless if you can't cut the actual enemy. The Trait might as well not exist.
Is it for stunning?
Using Hollow Slash seemed to apply something similar to the sword aura released when you fire off a Heavy Counter.
But the price was every last drop of mana, plus the "miracle" of watching your recovery rate drop to 10 %.
".....This is complete trash, isn't it?"
"Muttering to yourself all of a sudden. Can't see a path to victory so you've decided to play crazy now?"
...No. That couldn't be right.
Hollow Slash was the Unique-grade Trait I'd received as a sort of reward for realizing the passive that locked me into the path of romance—being unable to use any other attack skills.
A Trait like that couldn't just be an inefficient stun technique.
Maybe I simply hadn't grasped its true usage yet.
Time to get creative. Look at it from a new angle.
Right. For example...
Instead of focusing on the "except the enemy" part, what if I focused on the fact that I could cut "the surrounding objects"?
Spin those gears.
The distance between me and Marcus right now was about thirty meters. And behind him stood a dilapidated building of impressive height, teetering on the edge of collapse.
If I cut that building...
"Looks like you're desperately trying to come up with some escape plan. It's all useless."
Marcus rolled his neck, stretching, and spoke while I was still frantically calculating.
"And you didn't actually think I'd just stand here like an idiot and give you time, did you?"
He raised both arms overhead. Twelve massive Fire Demons began floating in the air around him.
Fire Demon—easily one of the hardest spells a three-star fire mage could use. And he was casting eight of them at once.
"I was buying time as well."
Looking down at me with open mockery, he thrust his arm forward.
"This ends now!!"
Eight Fire Demons packed with scorching heat streaked toward me.
With my injured ankle, dodging was impossible. Even if I used every clone I could manage to counter, there was no way I could shoot down all eight.
Was this just the end, then?
No.
"Unleashing such vicious magic so freely... Looks like I'll be in real trouble if I just let this slide."
In that moment of absolute crisis, the true way to use Hollow Slash flashed through my mind.
Forcing myself to ignore the throbbing pain in my ankle, I rose with a bright smile, rested my hand on the sword still sheathed at my side, and spoke.
"In that case... I suppose I'll put in a little effort of my own."
I lowered my stance.
Held my breath.
Then I fixed both the oncoming fireballs and the building rising behind Marcus into my vision, designated them as targets, and—
"Hup!"
—activated Hollow Slash as I swung my blade.
In that instant every sound in the space where Marcus and I stood was severed, as if sliced clean through.
!........... !......... !....... !...... !..... !.... !...!!!!!!!!
A flash of light flared for the briefest moment—and every single one of Marcus's Fire Demons was cut cleanly in half.
— KABOOOOOM!!
The bisected Fire Demons erupted with a violent roar.
"....!"
At the same time Marcus's entire body gave a violent twitch. He must have fallen into Hollow Slash's incapacitating state.
"Don't worry. At least I don't have a hobby of cutting people in half."
Fighting down the lurching sensation, I grinned and slid my sword back into its sheath.
And right as Marcus was about to start moving again, a thunderous crash began to rumble from behind him.
Marcus spun around.
"Instead..... I prepared a slightly larger gift for you."
— ......!!
The building, its base severed clean through, began tilting toward Marcus at terrifying speed.
"Haha. I do hope you like it."
Marcus simply stared, dumbstruck, at the building crashing down on him—like an ant facing a natural disaster.
— KRRRRRRRAAAAAASH!!!!!
And then that colossal mass of a building completely flattened Marcus.