The Mechanic's Critical Threshold

The sky lay shrouded beneath a thick pall of acrid smoke.

The air hung heavy with the sharp bite ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of sulfur.

The very ground evoked the barren slopes of a volcano.

This was the S-rank gate—Giant’s Mountain.

At the now-cleared entrance, preparations for an impromptu sparring match were well underway.

“Are all defensive magic barriers deployed?”

“Yes. The shockwave won’t propagate beyond a hundred-meter radius.”

“It should hold unless it takes a direct hit from an aura blade.”

Players from both Goldmoon and World Eater worked in tandem to prepare the arena.

‘If it’s our guild master, a draw should be possible.’

‘Those Goldmoon bastards. Time to knock the arrogance out of them.’

The World Eater guild members hoped for a stalemate against Jinho.

‘He’s the savior of Paris, not just anyone.’

‘They say the entire Golden Circle couldn’t beat him.’

‘Mr. Yu is obviously going to win.’

The Goldmoon players, by contrast, expected Jinho’s overwhelming victory.

Two groups, each lost in their own dream.

Enrique, standing at the designated spot, swallowed hard. His hands would not stop trembling. He clenched them tighter, forcing down any visible anxiety.

‘Uncle believes in me.’

The bald man glared with wide, murderous eyes. Enrique could not even recall if his name was David or something like Dayband.

That level of killing intent?

It was far less terrifying than the time Jinho had struck him during training. This was the same man who could shatter a Titan’s aura-clad arm with his bare hands. Next to that, wearing skulls as accessories was practically adorable.

“Fighting!! Enrique!”

“Give it your all, young hero.”

“You can do this, Enrique.”

“I wanted to fight him myself. What a shame.”

Strange remarks mixed in with the cheers, yet every single voice lent Enrique strength.

Finally, he looked at Jinho.

“If you lose to that guy, it’s five training sessions.”

Wow. The man who arranged the fight had no shame at all.

‘If I actually win this spar, I’m definitely saying something back.’

Even so, a strange sense of calm brought the faintest smile to his lips.

“You’re smiling?”

“I can’t exactly cry instead, Uncle.”

“If a crying face is what you want, I’ll make one for you.”

Thick veins bulged across the bald man’s scalp.

Nyx glanced at the two men waiting and asked quietly.

–Why did you choose Enrique of all people?

“Was it that obvious?”

–You usually prefer to step forward yourself.

“Brother Youngsoo said it looks like Enrique isn’t using his full power.”

Back when Jinho had climbed the tower alone, Kim Youngsoo—after commanding the guild members, harvesting resources, and ascending—had made the observation.

Lee Jiyoung, Ping Lei, and Kim Youngsoo had all reached High Ranker in their previous lives, yet the Machine Monarch Enrique was a player who had stood at the absolute pinnacle of humanity.

To awaken that potential, he needed a trigger.

“He probably needs at least one catalyst,” Jinho said, rubbing his chin.

Judging from his pre-regression memories and Youngsoo’s comment, Enrique required a powerful motive.

“Preparations are complete.”

“Mr. Yu, please give the signal.”

To David’s voice, thick with murderous intent, Jinho replied in a bored drawl.

“Begin.”

The tone was as casual as asking a street vendor for one fish-shaped pastry. To Enrique, stretched taut with tension, it landed like a thunderclap.

The mana core, crafted from processed pink diamond, pulsed. The red core at the armor’s center synchronized with Enrique and erupted with several times its normal output.

Whiiiiing!

A torrent of mana surged through every circuit of the magic armor. The volume far exceeded safe limits. Under normal circumstances it would have shorted instantly, yet Synchronization controlled it perfectly.

Enrique’s combat sense was lower than his companions’. Skills like Auto Aim compensated for that, locking onto the opponent’s hostility or mana signatures.

He spread both hands. Mana poured into the Vulcanus Beam Cannons mounted in his palms.

Ziiiiing!

A condensed beam of light lanced forward at supersonic speed and struck David squarely in the chest. The giant figure skidded backward more than ten meters, the skulls at his waist clattering loudly.

“Did I get him?” Ping Lei shouted.

Enrique frowned. No way. He finally understood why Jinho had warned him against saying such things. Get him? Hardly.

“Krrrrrrrr! Is that your best?!”

David’s half-naked body flushed a vivid, bloody crimson. Muscles swelled grotesquely, veins standing out like cords. Within his murderous eyes, a single thread of cold reason glittered like forged ice.

“He carries the blessing of Hrolf Kraki.”

–A mortal who accomplished a great feat, it seems.

“The king of Denmark. A legendary figure who fought on the front lines and claimed victory after victory.”

Jinho’s words sank neatly into Enrique’s ears. Though spoken to Nyx, they were clearly hints for the one actually fighting.

From his appearance and the nature of the constellation’s blessing, the enemy was a berserker who feared no injury and charged without hesitation.

“The more damage he accumulates, the higher his stats rise. The moment he reaches the critical point is the most dangerous.”

–In other words, he will unleash every ounce of his power.

Jinho and Nyx continued their relaxed conversation. Enrique swallowed a laugh. Thank you, Uncle.

A berserker excelled in close quarters. The key was denying him any distance.

As Enrique formulated his response, David’s right arm moved.

His body turned translucent. Enrique’s expression twisted with shock. The skill activated automatically when an unrecognized crisis approached. They were dozens of meters apart—why now?

A blood-red axe cleaved through the space where he had stood an instant earlier.

Whiiiiing!

Aura blades are rotating across the axe’s surface. Tiny saw-like edges spun hundreds of times per second, emitting a chilling shriek. Had he taken the blow unprepared, not even the magic armor could have saved him.

“You have many tricks, little one!”

The chain attached to the axe handle rattled as it flew back to its master. Only then did Enrique’s faded form regain its color.

“You don’t use that often, do you? That technique.”

Enrique kept his mouth shut. If he opened it, a scream might slip out. The cooldown on Subspace Material Transmission was ten minutes. One moment of carelessness had cost him a life-saving skill in exchange for a single jab.

Shockwaves capable of repelling both tangible and intangible forces swept across the ground. David, feet planted firmly, endured and moved his arm once more.

I can block this.

He summoned defensive items directly ahead with Call Mechanic. Even aura-clad weapons could be stalled for a moment. Or so he thought—until David’s hand twitched. The chain behind the axe handle shifted, altering its trajectory.

With a sickening crunch, every wave cannon summoned behind Enrique shattered. The attack even targeted his back simultaneously.

The brief window created by the cannons’ destruction allowed him to reposition using the defensive items he had summoned earlier. He had lost several armaments in an instant. He had escaped the crisis, but the cost was steep.

It’s not over yet.

He had wasted a precious skill and turned multiple weapons into scrap, yet Enrique had also gained vital information: the enemy’s arsenal and its range. Once recognized, he simply needed to remain cautious. Since the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠axe had to be retrieved after every throw, consecutive ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠long-range attacks were impossible.

Brother Youngsoo isn’t here to give orders. It’s just me now.

Enrique’s previous combat style—simply pouring out firepower on command—began to change, little by little.

When David first heard Jinho’s proposal, he had cheered inwardly.

Yu Jinho—the man who had slain five dragonkin in succession during his Diamond promotion match. No one disputed that he was the strongest in the world. Many burned with competitive spirit, yet none could confidently claim they would triumph against five adult dragons in a row.

I thought even forcing a draw would be a win.

But this? Jinho had offered to spar if David defeated one of the guild members. Teaching an ill-mannered brat a lesson was trivial. Moreover, if he faced Jinho after exhausting his stamina, even defeat would give him an excuse. It was no loss either way.

It will raise the guild’s name and keep Goldmoon in check.

Yet separate from that favorable situation, rage still boiled inside him. To pit him against a rookie who had only just completed his Diamond promotion—

I’ll crush him thoroughly.

The Mad Wolf Hrolf Kraki’s blessing accumulated impact within the body to amplify one’s specs. It was no ordinary berserk state; it preserved a sliver of reason while allowing power beyond all limits. The longer the battle of attrition lasted, the more certain David became that victory would be his.

Whether aware of that confidence or not, Enrique maintained distance after their first clash and continued sporadic long-range bombardment.

“Bald uncle, doesn’t it hurt?”

Thanks to the blessing, most pain was ignored, yet accumulating impacts gradually dulled his movements.

Boom! Bang!

Beams rained down like a storm. Using Call Mechanic and Synchronization, Enrique attacked from every angle. David stoically shattered the summoned weapons and charged the main body. Just as Jinho had pointed out earlier, the number of deployable armaments dwindled rapidly.

Yet the fewer options remained, the calmer Enrique’s eyes became.

The axe carried cutting power that could even rend aura blades. It flew toward the opponent’s skull while Enrique sidestepped. David, leaving a red afterimage, kicked off the ground. A crimson projectile fired diagonally. From the front came the thrown axe; from the side came David’s brutal physical assault. It looked like a perfectly coordinated pincer attack.

A transparent shield materialized a split second ahead of the axe’s path—an defensive item Enrique had created after gaining inspiration from Lee Jiyoung’s vibration barrier. The moment the axe touched it, the mirror blocks detonated in a chain reaction. Items designed from the start for overlapping and explosive release harmlessly diverted the chain axe’s aura blade into shockwaves.

A counterattack system that followed automatic targeting. While exchanging blows with David, the armor analyzed in real time, feeding data back into the magic armor to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠forcibly elevate Enrique’s reaction speed.

Clank—

Enrique overlapped both arms and summoned additional weapons behind his back.

“Eat this!”

A beam fired at maximum output shoved the crimson projectile aside. David, momentum exceeded, slammed into the ground and skidded backward dozens of meters.

“Krrrrrgh! Is this the end? Is it?!”

His body grew even redder, radiating an aura as though it might explode at any moment. Everyone present could tell the “critical point” Jinho had warned about was imminent.

“Kid. You might actually die, so be careful.”

All accumulated impact was released at once. A blood-colored current surged into the air. David’s gaze locked onto Enrique, who hovered in the sky. There was no dodging it. The only choice was to meet it head-on.

Thanks to Jinho’s prior warning, Enrique had already resolved to use the final measure he had prepared.

“Kuhk!”

Although synchronization was complete, the Titan’s enormous mass made summoning two parts at once a first for him.

This is the only way!

Tricks would not work on this enemy. His compatibility with Enrique—who could deploy countless weapons and respond from every direction—was terrible. Therefore, he would crush him with maximum firepower.

The instant the crimson comet rising from the earth collided with the giant’s arms descending from the heavens—

“Just as I thought.”

Jinho’s lips curled into a smirk.