Enrique's Triumph
That Enrique kid.
Give him a hint and he nails the core of it.
—From what I can see, it looks like he’s been on the run.
“Not entirely wrong.”
Put nicely, it’s hit-and-run. Put badly, it’s just poking and prodding. A war of attrition is still a valid fighting style, so you can’t really call it cowardly.
—But something feels off.
“You’re wondering why he didn’t just unload everything at once, right?”
—Exactly. In my judgment, an all-out assault should have been the answer.
“Because if you fail to bring them down, you eat the counterattack.”
To maximize the efficiency of Mad Wolf’s Blessing, you need to stack more shock. If you dump all your firepower from the start and still don’t finish the job?
You’ll get wrecked by the bald guy once he’s at peak blessing output.
Think about it the other way around.
The bald guy’s stats being at their highest means the shock has accumulated that much in his body. It also means it’s the perfect chance to finish him for good.
Provided, of course, that you have the firepower to crush a powered-up bald guy with damage.
—And if you lack that firepower?
“You just keep dragging it out. Simple.”
The berserk buff isn’t infinite. All you have to do is avoid clashes as much as possible until the blessing’s effect fades.
Whether you’re trying to overwhelm him with damage or just dodging around, neither is easy.
Enrique chose to go for the damage route.
“Kuhak!”
Slamming the bald guy into the ground proved he’d made the right call.
—His momentum was nothing to scoff at. Well done winning.
“He’s the future Machine Monarch, after all.”
Unique Ability – Mechanic
Strengthening synchronized machines is part of what the Mechanic can do.
The Titan he partially summoned can’t output at full power because it’s a loophole. At best, it’s scraping maybe ten percent of its true capability.
Even so—
“Enrique can boost performance nearly fourfold through synchronization.”
That’s forty percent of the Titan’s output. If he summons both arms at once?
Even I would need God’s Wrath or Void Projection to handle it.
—I’ve never seen him handle two arms before.
“Me neither.”
But if it’s Enrique, maybe he can pull it off.
***
I had my expectations.
One Titan arm wouldn’t have been enough to beat the bald guy once he turned into a walking flamethrower.
As expected, he’s the kind of guy who lives up to what you hope for.
—Does he seem like he has growth potential in your eyes?
“Diamond level. Anything beyond that is pushing it.”
Baldy—wait, David, was it?
I can see why the World Eater never made a name for himself later on. He’s got some talent, but he over-relies on his ability and never bothers to refine it.
“Berserk-type abilities have clear limits.”
Monstrous attack power paired with monotonous attack patterns. His movements show zero interest in compensating for that lack of flexibility.
It’s important to keep polishing what you’re good at. But completely ignoring the idea of fixing your weaknesses is a different story.
“If he’d controlled the chain more precisely after throwing, he could’ve dropped Enrique right away.”
His skill with the chain axe wasn’t bad. But even though he could handle Aura Blades with that much precision, the way he moved the axe after throwing it was pretty clumsy.
“If he were my subordinate, I’d have made him increase the number of axes and drilled throwing practice into him nonstop.”
—Could he not correct it even now?
“He looks stubborn as hell. Think he’d listen to me?”
He hasn’t passed out, so he can probably still hear me. What he does with that is up to him. People with strong egos just can’t bring themselves to swallow their pride.
“Y-Yes! Enrique Deltoro of the Yeokcheon Guild wins!”
“Master!”
“Call a supporter. Hurry!”
The World Eater players scrambled around with shocked expressions. Is this a festival? No, it’s a funeral. The bald guy’s subordinates might get funny ideas, so I leapt straight to the sparring ground in one bound and slipped an arm around Enrique’s shoulder as he slowly descended.
“You okay?”
“No. Not at all.”
“You’re suffering from mana backlash right now, aren’t you?”
“Cough. Is it that obvious?”
“Drop your resistance and stay still.”
I placed a hand on his back and interfered with the mana that had started to twist. Thanks to the Primordial Dragon Heart and its overwhelming mana control, once Enrique stopped resisting, the tangled blue energy unraveled in an instant.
“Can you breathe now?”
“What the—why am I fine all of a sudden?”
“My hands are healing hands, that’s why.”
“Who the hell fixes mana backlash in a few seconds?”
You should try living through the age of destruction sometime.
***
This much is nothing. I can fix it in the blink of an eye.
“Mister. Did I do good?”
“Yeah. You were awesome.”
“Heh, hehe. I got recognized.”
“I told you. I believed you’d win.”
“I pushed myself because you were counting on me.”
“You still won, didn’t you?”
“Summoning two arms… I didn’t think it would work, but when I squeezed out every last drop of mana, somehow it did.”
Truthfully, Enrique had one more option available. The War Golem. The original form of the Titan, a rideable golem he’d obtained from the lower floors of the Tower.
“You little punk. You even had time to hide a card like that.”
“If I broke the War Golem during sparring, I wouldn’t be able to face you afterward.”
Partial destruction could be restored anytime with Hephaestus’s advice, but if the core shattered, it would become nothing more than scrap metal. The current Enrique couldn’t even create a Titan core, let alone a War Golem core, so he’d summoned both Titan arms even if it meant overdoing it.
“Next time, don’t worry about it. Use the War Golem too.”
“B-But still…”
“If you just let it sit around, it’ll turn into scrap anyway. I won’t say anything if you use it, so pull it out whenever you want.”
I lightly patted Enrique’s head again.
Clap! Clap!
“Impressive. Truly impressive.”
William approached, applauding.
“At this rate, you’ve more than earned your keep.”
“From now on, the World Eater won’t even dare look in the direction of Gold Moon’s headquarters.”
“Keh keh keh.”
William laughed heartily, then lowered himself to match Enrique’s eye level.
“You. Any interest in transferring to Gold Moon?”
“Get lost, Representative Rockefeller.”
Where does he get off trying to outbid someone I already claimed?
While the World Eater guild members were hauling the bald guy, who’d undergone a race change into a bloody mess, away—
“What’s going on? Why’s it so crowded?”
A welcome voice rang clearly in my ears. Ellen Taylor. The symbol of Gold Moon and America’s top player strode over confidently.
* * *
“Mr. Yu! It’s been a while.”
Ellen waved cheerfully the moment she saw me. I responded by lightly clenching my fist and extending it forward.
Thud—
Our fists bumped in the air.
“How’ve you been?”
“As you can see, I’m living the happy life of struggling inside gates.”
“Your guild master must be a real tyrant. Doesn’t even guarantee decent working conditions.”
“Right? He works people to the bone. Can’t you see how dark my circles have gotten?”
Ellen dramatically pointed under her eyes.
“At this rate we’ll have to rename the team from Golden Circle to Dark Circle.”
***
“Hmph, hmph, hmph.”
“Ah. Master. You were here?”
Ellen’s expression didn’t change in the slightest. William waved his hands dismissively.
“If you need a vacation, just say the word anytime.”
“See? Our master is such a nice person.”
William looked like he was barely holding something back, in direct contrast to Ellen’s beaming smile.
“Since we’re on the topic, should I take a half-day off today?”
“If that’s what you want, I’ll approve it.”
“With David in that state, the raid’s basically over. Well, unless someone helps out.”
Why is she looking at me?
“I didn’t expect that friend to be helpful.”
“Honestly, he’s not. There’s a section we can’t break through with just our team’s strength.”
“Good timing. So Mr. Yu came to lend a hand with the raid.”
What a blabbermouth.
“You’re serious?”
“Ellen helped out a lot too. This much is nothing.”
“Oh. You’ve got a sense of loyalty, Mr. Yu.”
After a light reunion, we discussed the current progress of the gate raid in detail.
“The main monsters are flame giants.”
“Pretty tough ones showing up.”
“We could handle the flame giants, but the terrain’s the real problem.”
Past the mountainside, the terrain becomes steep like a cliff. Flame giants raining fire from above. Getting hit one-sidedly makes breaking through incredibly difficult.
“Wouldn’t your breakthrough power be enough?”
“I could climb up alone, but clearing it might be tough.”
Ellen clicked her tongue, adding that she might be able to manage if she pushed herself. That bald guy was also good at breaking through, so if they combined forces, they probably could have cleared it. The problem was that the two guilds weren’t exactly on friendly terms and couldn’t trust each other.
“Since we’ve come all the way to the gate, how about finishing it today?”
“The benevolent representative’s half-day offer is tempting.”
“Hmph, hmph.”
“Keeping our distinguished guest waiting too long wouldn’t be proper either, so let’s wrap it up today.”
Ellen grinned.
* * *
The mountainside covered in volcanic ash.
For a quick clear, we left our respective parties waiting outside the gate and entered with just the two of us.
“What a shame. I really wanted to see that guy get beaten up.”
“He’s no match for you anyway.”
“He knew that and just kept testing the waters.”
Ellen and the bald guy’s fighting styles were quite similar. Both excelled at close-quarters combat, freely wielded power beyond their limits, and fought like berserkers without looking back. If there was one unfortunate point for the bald guy—
“It means you’re his perfect superior counterpart.”
***
“You’ve gotten a lot better at flattery while I wasn’t looking, Mr. Yu.”
“I’m just stating facts.”
Rockefeller’s the same. When I compliment him, he just accepts it as is. I’m always on the side of truth, yet somehow that’s too much.
“By the way, did you form a contract with a Constellation?”
Ellen casually dropped a bombshell in her usual calm tone. Announcing she’d gained a patron Constellation like she was just changing lipstick color. Even buying ice cream at the convenience store in front of her house wouldn’t sound that nonchalant. Still, since she brought it up first, it would be polite to ask.
“I thought you deliberately avoided getting a patron.”
“Not deliberately. I just spent some time thinking about which Constellation would suit me.”
Ellen’s talent was at a level even the god-kings would covet. Even as an early player, she’d quickly understood her own value and delayed forming a patron contract as much as possible. She hadn’t taken one even during the Diamond promotion match, so she must have finally made up her mind.
“It’s Heracles, isn’t it?”
“Huh?”
Ellen’s eyes widened. My reflection appeared over her ocean-blue pupils.
“Did Master spoil it for you?”
“When I thought about which Constellation would suit you best, Heracles was the only one that came to mind.”
It was a lie. I could answer because I already knew who Ellen had chosen as her patron in the previous timeline.
“How many times have we crossed fists?”
“Quite a few, right?”
“A Constellation that can draw out the power you possess. It wasn’t hard to guess.”
“You were that interested in me, Mr. Yu?”
“We’re friends.”
Both in the past life and this one. We’d stood shoulder to shoulder to stop Rene Davis’s rampage. Comrades and friends.
“You say things that make people’s hearts race so casually.”
Ellen suddenly turned her head away. Maybe she thought I was going to suggest a spar. She probably assumed she’d been provoked by the mention of contracting with Heracles.
“Uwooooh!”
A wave of crimson flames dyed the mountainside red. The moment I saw the red giant leaping out with a roar—
“That one’s mine. Don’t touch it.”
Ellen’s face flushed bright red as she charged forward at the speed of light.