Episode 20: So Easy It's Almost Hollow (4)

"Are you truly a Supporter?"

"Indeed I am!"

The Korean Zhang Fei pounded his own chest.

From the look of him to the way he carried himself, he was the very image of a Warrior whose hobby was taking heads on the front line and collecting them—and he was a Supporter. It felt like watching an elephant declare itself a bird, spin its trunk like a helicopter, and lift straight off into the sky.

"This humble one's name is Cho Ikdeok! I place myself in your care!"

Even the name. Ikdeok—Zhang Fei's own courtesy name. With a name like that, refusing to be a Warrior ought to be a crime.

"Um... you really are a Supporter, right? You just don't look like one at all."

The mage asked it with her head tipped slightly to one side. She looked every bit as thrown as I felt.

"Mm. I am often burdened with that misunderstanding. But worry not! Though I may appear thus, I have heard many a time that I am a rather capable Supporter!"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"I really can't help worry—"

"Kah-hah!"

Snake Eyes burst out laughing, clutching his stomach.

"What's so funny?"

"Ah—! Nothing, nothing, Brother Jaeha. It's just, this is such an important placement match, and the teammates you drew are pretty entertaining folks..."

He laughed for a good long while, wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, and set a hand on my shoulder.

"Way this is going, my role's looking pretty heavy, don't you think? We basically don't have a Supporter, and I'm the only Bronze here. Practically speaking, the two of us are the whole fighting force, aren't we?"

"Wh-what did you just say?!"

"What are you talking about? We're players too, you know!"

At the naked provocation, the mage and the archer bristled. Cho Ikdeok, who by all rights had been insulted the worst, was unexpectedly calm. I'd half expected him to be the first one grabbing a collar.

"Now, now~ Look at it objectively. This is a Bronze-level game. There's no way the likes of you can do anything~."

Snake Eyes lifted both hands up by his shoulders, his voice dripping with mockery.

"You'd have to be on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Brother Jaeha's level before you were even a scrap of help, don't you think?"

"......"

"A clear's out of the question with this lineup anyway~ If we want a decent rank, we've at least got to put up some kind of record. Who knows? Somebody headed for low Stones might land in high Stones, and somebody headed for high Stones might squeeze out an Iron."

There is a vast gap between Stones and Iron. Being able to skip the promotion trial that sits between them is enormous all by itself. That is why a placement match is a precious game—you cannot afford to throw away even a single one.

"You don't want to just toss it away for nothing either, right?"

"Ugh... nngh..."

"Hmm......"

"So! Show me a little sincerity, and I'll specially play my heart out for you!"

...What did that bastard just say?

"Excuse me?"

"Come on, people who know the game, why are you acting like this~ I'm saying give me Credits. About five thousand each ought to be fair, yeah?"

"You want us to pay you Credits?!"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Don't feel like it? Then forget it~ I don't care one bit if a ranked match goes to waste."

Snake Eyes smiled, thin and sour, and dropped into a seat.

Troll-Poor. A portmanteau of troll and poor—the name for a rotten player who refuses to play properly unless you hand over Credits. Do it often enough and the Channel itself hands down a penalty, and in the worst case you can be banned from connecting entirely, so most of them keep it to a match or two, like pocket money on the side.

"If you want to throw it away like this, be my guest. Keh heh heh!"

Snake Eyes grinned, greasy and pleased with himself. As if he were the one holding every card, he curled his eyes up into a mean little squint and looked us over one by one.

"If... if we really give you the Credits, you'll actually try...?"

Hesitation stirred across the mage's face. Snake Eyes reacted at once, a fisherman watching the fish take the bait.

"Of course~ Long as the payment comes through, I'll take responsibility and get you at least a draw—"

"Stop."

I cut him off mid-sentence. Any more of it and my ears were going to need washing.

"Don't pay him. Guys like that aren't even that good. Odds are he snatches the money and runs."

"But still...!"

"We'll be fine without a guy like that anyway."

And the one small mercy was this: the map wasn't just any map. It was Valkyrie Gorge.

"If it's this place, the four of us can clear it just fine."

"You people? Pfft!"

Open mockery.

"Brother Jaeha. I'll grant you're somewhat decent... but aren't you getting a little too full of yourself? End of the day, you're still unranked."

"......"

"The underground prison, you cleared that by making your teammates do all the work. All you really did was shout orders from the back, didn't you? So quit strutting around and—"

"Hey."

He'd been running his mouth for a while now. And I have never been fond of bastards who are all talk and nothing else.

"Shut up for a second."

"...You're telling me to shut up?"

"We don't have a single Credit to give you. If you're not going to play, go flop on your ass in the back."

"Ha! Fine... let's see this amazing skill of yours. But don't you worry. My wallet's open whenever you need it."

Snake Eyes spat on the ground—ptui!—and plopped down beside the statue. If there was any mercy in that, it was that players cannot destroy the Statue of the Goddess.

"Um... are you sure this is all right? It's a Bronze-level game..."

"It won't be easy, obviously. But it's not impossible. So please, just listen to me."

I hooked one corner of my mouth up and grinned.

"I'll take responsibility and clear it for you."

"Hrggh...! A chivalrous heart that will not bend to injustice! This humble one is moved!"

Cho Ikdeok roared, whirling his crescent halberd—of all things—through the air.

"From this moment, I shall heed every word my elder brother speaks!"

"Don't call me your elder brother. I'm still only twenty-four."

"Then this humble one is the younger, and rightly so. This humble one is twenty-one!"

...Seriously?

You were still wearing a school uniform two years ago?

No, that's not the point...

The game was about to start. If only to shove it in the face of that bastard grinning like an idiot back there, I was going to clear this match perfectly.

"From here on, listen carefully to what I say."

Today.

We go beyond Bronze.

Defense maps, of course, come in more than one kind. The maps that appear differ by rank, and plenty of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠them carry some special gimmick. Among them, Valkyrie Gorge is simple in just about every respect.

A defense usually means monsters charging in from every direction, and you have to stop all of them. Here, there is exactly one passage.

The passage dead ahead.

Hold that, and the problem is solved. Said the other way around, every monster that ought to have been split across several approaches comes pouring down on you all at once.

People usually describe Valkyrie Gorge like this.

An attrition map.

A place where you need no strategy at all—just plant yourself in front and block whatever comes. Well, that isn't entirely wrong. I won't deny that it's the orthodox approach.

But if your team's firepower comes up short, are you simply supposed to give up?

Of course not.

There is a clear prepared for exactly the moment when firepower runs thin. It is future knowledge, and it also isn't.

Because this is a method I found myself.

A strategy I leaned on back in my Bronze days, whenever Valkyrie Gorge came up. Right now everyone was only at placement-test level, and with one man sitting out it would be harder still.

"Whatever we're short on, I'll have to make up myself."

I took my place in front of the gorge's passage. Every strategy I could pass on, I had already passed on. All that remained was for me to play even better, so each of them could carry their role through to the end.

The moment the message rose in the empty air, I took a candy from my pocket and popped it into my mouth.

Crack!

The candy shattered with a bright, cheerful sound. Sugar crumbled, and sweetness spread through my mouth like mana. Heat climbed through my body, as if it were already bracing for a fight.

Kurururu...!

The ground under my feet trembled, faint at first. From far off, a tide of many colors began to show itself.

"Kieeeek!"

"Kerk! Keeeee!"

Orcs, goblins, ogres. A legion made of countless monsters was coming on, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Well then..."

I drove the mana in my body out in a fierce surge.

"Shall we?"

Kwaaang!

I kicked off the ground and leapt straight at the front of the monster legion. At the same time, my skill activated.

A violet barrier took shape, and a gravity zone formed within it. Normally I would have stopped there.

"Right now, I'm the only Warrior we've got!"

A field this size couldn't cover them all. So—bigger. Wider.

Not like during the Constitution Awakening training!

I spread the barrier wide!

Fwaaaaaah!

The barrier's outer edge pushed outward, and the gravity zone swelled with it. Ordinarily, no one could handle a single skill this fluidly.

But with mana control that's reached the very top...!

I could.

"Kiek?!"

"Krrk...!"

The monsters that set foot in the gravity zone turned sluggish. Living things are adapted to their own weight. Make them even a little heavier, and they feel the strain; their movements turn clumsy. I aimed for that gap.

"Hhh—!"

I swung the hammer.

Kwajik!

One blow shattered the bodies of the monsters in front of me. But I couldn't end it there. The number I had to hold was in the thousands, at the very least.

Don't rest. Fight!

I brought the hammer down and swung it again and again, crushing everything around me. Now and then an attack slipped through a blind spot, but I didn't bother dodging. I attacked anyway.

Petty hits? Trust the buff and eat them!

Thanks to the buff the statue had bestowed, I could make up, to some degree, for having no healer. The one small regret—

Kwang!

The force was a little lacking.

"Chweek!"

"Tch."

A High Orc that had somehow blocked my hammer laughed as if the whole thing were pathetic. Among the monsters you could meet at Bronze, it sat near the very top.

"Chweeeek!"

It thrust a muscular arm at me and attacked. I slipped out half a beat early, then seized the hammer's haft in one hand.

I spread the gravity field too wide. The power's coming out weaker than I thought.

Narrow it, and the range shrinks, but the gravity climbs. Spread it, and the range widens, but the gravity falls. Right now it was far below normal—by feel, the gravity was about thirty percent weaker.

"Kerrrrk!"

"Kieeek!"

The moment I showed an opening, the monsters rushed in as if this were their chance. The High Orc led them, lunging with the momentum to beat me into the ground.

"...I'm suddenly remembering a comic I read a long time ago."

I gathered my mana tight into both arms, my shoulders, and my legs.

Kwuaaak!

I clamped down on the hammer's haft.

"Just because I've grown weaker."

And matching the instant they closed in—

"Doesn't mean the likes of you have grown any stronger!"

I stamped down on them in a frenzy, over and over. If one blow wasn't enough, then ten. If ten weren't enough, then a hundred. A technique that turned the flow of mana and the motion of muscle into a repeated action, driving the force higher and higher with every strike.

After Cannonball, it was a technique I used often.

Kwawang! Kang! Kwa-aang! Kwaaaaang!

The longer the hammering went on, the more speed and power it gathered, laying waste to everything around me. Shockwaves born where gravity and mana tangled blasted the lesser monsters back and broke them apart.

"Chweeeek?! Chwek!"

"How about that?"

Even the head of the High Orc as it faltered—

"That smile starting to fade?"

Kwajik! Kwaduk! Kwaaang!

Dozens of hammer blows smashed it into pulp. When the repeated motion finally stopped, every monster in the area had been annihilated.

Of course, that wasn't the end. Monsters were still flooding in through that narrow passage—and this lot was a cut tougher, a cut more stubborn.

"Fine. Come as many as you want."

My side hadn't even finished warming up.

The clear of Valkyrie Gorge was only just beginning.