Only I Can Pull This Off (2)

The sky was staining itself a sullen, leaden gray.

Of all the things I could have heard just then, that was welcome news. A true monster of the Outside would have demanded Platinum at the very least before anyone could even hope to stand against it.

Guh—guh—guh—!

KWAANG!

The giant crashed into the earth. It was vast enough to match the ringing in my ears, black tentacles squirming across a body that only halfheartedly tried to keep a human shape—and that half-effort made it twice as revolting. The uncanny valley, they called it.

"That thing is genuinely disgusting."

Shrrrrk!

The tentacles along its arms unraveled and shot straight for me. Dozens of them filled the space ahead without leaving a single gap.

Vmmm!

I worked the mana that had already swollen to the size of a soccer ball. A clear, cool current spilled from my slightly parted lips.

A violet barrier unfurled and began to crush everything it enclosed. Even the tentacles screaming in at full speed grew visibly sluggish the moment they crossed into the field.

Guh—guh—?!

Before the thing could make sense of what was happening, I locked both hands around the hammer and swung—fast, and exact.

Crack! Thud! Crunch!

Each blow mashed a tentacle flat and sheared it away. But that was nowhere near the end of it.

According to the records, the thing regenerates without end. Even now the crushed cross-sections were boiling up like liquid, already preparing to grow back. There was only one way to stop that giant: shatter every eye on its body.

"Been a while. Guess I'll have to do some running."

I took the hammer in one hand, planted the other on the ground, and bent a knee into a starting stance. I loosened the flow of mana running from my solar plexus all the way down to my toes.

KWA-GA-GA-GAK—!

I ran up the tentacles. Every kick-off crushed whatever I was standing on. Gravity had already piled weight onto me; I packed mana into that weight and drove each step with everything I had. Every single step of mine— to that thing, it was no different from being beaten with a club!

Gah—gah—gah—gk—!

It regenerated the bursting tentacles at speed and, in the same breath, swung still more of them at me.

"Output boost."

I tightened the barrier's range another notch. The gravity bearing down intensified, and I felt the force settle into the hammer.

"I don't even have a class yet, so I haven't got a decent skill to my name, but—!"

A hammer blow reinforced by gravity—

"—hurts worse than most skills!"

Like a batter swinging for a home run, I took a long grip on the handle and poured mana into my shoulders and arms. A blunt weapon was never meant to be swung on arm strength alone. You used the whole body, twisting through the motion, shifting your center of weight as you went.

KWAAAAANG!

The swing drew a perfect arc. Dozens of tentacles shattered at once and went flying, and I used the opening to leap toward one of the eyes writhing on its torso.

"First—one!"

I struck it dead center. It burst with the sensation of crushed fruit, and bloody tears gushed out.

Geeeeeh—!

The thing shrieked and thrashed.

"Now it finally feels like the hits are landing."

I shook the blood off the hammer. Writhing in pain, it locked every remaining eye on me.

Shalalalalak!

Arms and legs came completely undone, and a tidal wave of tentacles crashed over me. Try to bat all of that aside and my stamina gives out first. I set my body in midair, caught one tentacle at just the right moment, swung up onto it as lightly as if it were a high bar, and moved between the strands like parkour.

Tentacles I could step on and move from. Tentacles I could dodge. Tentacles I had to smash aside with the hammer. I sorted them into those three without pause, and I moved.

Papapapat!

There's a saying, isn't there—that chaos is only order that hasn't found its method yet. No matter how complex an attack looked, no matter how impossible it seemed to slip through, look closely enough and there was always a path. I simply walked that path.

Whoosh!

And I attacked.

Splurch!

I broke out of the tentacle tide and popped another eye. The thing thrashed harder, letting out a shriek even more grotesque and enormous than before.

Guh—guh—gah—!

According to the records, once the second eye broke, its attack pattern changed—from simply swinging tentacles to a form that tracked its target to the end and cut it down.

Kakakak!

The tips turned blade-like, and the thing grew even more vicious to look at.

"Not planning to die easy, huh?"

Neither was I.

"Range expansion."

The barrier widened and trapped more tentacles in gravity at once.

"One by one. Let's take this nice and steady."

Time was on my side anyway.

The giant hunt went on. The more eyes I burst, the more new ways it found to attack, and I closed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in by dismantling each one according to the records Iris had given me.

I had never seen a single boss with patterns this varied. When the ground shook, blades erupted from below. Three new stalks regenerated from the cross-section of a crushed tentacle. Sometimes the main body itself suddenly shifted backward to strike from behind.

"Huuuh...!"

The longer the fight dragged on, the more cuts, large and small, accumulated across my body. Without the buff Iris had laid on me, it might have started to get heavy. But I was someone who had fought battles harder than this more times than I could count.

No ground movement. No sign of the main body shifting. Five tentacles on the flank. Thirteen to the rear, twenty to the front. The instant a new pattern appeared, I carved it into my body like a routine, so I could move without having to think about reacting.

Kwa! Gwa! Gwang!

I smashed every tentacle in front of me and ran, shaking off the ones tracking me. Thanks to the gravity field, those were comparatively easy to deal with.

Sssst!

The main body's last remaining eye rotated in a slow circle. That was the precursor to a rear shift. I immediately twisted, drove the hammer down into the tracking tentacles, and launched myself into the air.

"Three... two... one... now!"

The giant's main body shifted to the exact place I had calculated, at the exact moment I had calculated. I released Gravity World and hurled a piece of debris I had scooped off the ground before I jumped. The instant it came into view—!

Kang!

I swung clean through and sent the debris flying. The fragment ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠shot in a straight line and burst the last remaining eye.

Keeeee—!

Having lost every eye, it convulsed, bleeding from its entire body.

The chat was already raising a toast. They were a long way ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from popping the champagne.

"It's not over yet."

According to the records, during the second descent the kingdom had also succeeded in bursting every one of its eyes. That was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠why every pattern had been documented in the first place. The real problem came after every eye had been struck.

Grrrrgle!

The final pattern. Every tentacle moved in a grotesque unison and packed tightly into one mass. Like a creature spinning a cocoon in order to evolve, they tangled into a chaotic knot and took the shape of an enormous egg. Then the tentacles sloughed off in clumps, and a new life-form emerged from within: a giant reminiscent of a cyclops, with a single yellow eye as large as a full moon.

"Kerrrrrr!"

Its mouth split wide and it vomited out a monstrous wail. That was the final form of the monster known as the Calamity Giant.

"At least that looks better. Congrats on the successful plastic surgery?"

The giant slowly turned its head toward me. A massive hand swung in a huge arc and slammed my way. Debris scattered across the ground jumped with the shock.

That power...! It felt as if the thing had balled up every scrap of strength the tentacles had possessed and was unleashing it all at once.

KWA-GWANG! Bang! Bang!

The giant didn't let up, throwing fists and legs without pause. The pattern itself had grown far simpler, but the pressure was beyond imagination. Even a fist merely grazing the air nearby felt like a typhoon grabbing hold of my body—force that would sweep me away if I failed to hold my center.

"Keeeeee!"

Having driven me into a corner, it threw a punch from an angle I couldn't dodge.

"Maximum output!"

I compressed the barrier to its limit, spiked the gravity, and swung the hammer with everything I had.

KUUUUNG!

Fist and hammer collided, and an explosion went off as if a bomb had detonated. The recoil felt like it was tearing both shoulders apart.

"The next attack—!"

I tried to move into a counter, but its kick hit me first. A heavy impact burst open inside my body.

Thud!

I was fired like a shell and slammed into the debris. A raw, metallic taste brushed my lips.

"Khk...! Kk! Kahahaha!"

Objectively, I was being pushed back. What came out of me, though, wasn't anxiety. It was laughter.

Somehow, it was fun. I had never imagined meeting an enemy at this stage that could corner me this badly—and meeting it in a story scenario, of all places, was even harder to picture. Even after regressing, the play wasn't predictable. For someone who played to enjoy himself, how satisfying was that?

If I want to run for Challenger again, is this the level I'm supposed to overcome?

Then I'd show them.

I brushed the debris off and stood.

Thud! Thud!

Ahead of me, the one-eyed giant strode closer. Glowing eye, overwhelming presence—watching it approach was like watching a monster out of myth. Fight like that, and of course the whole surrounding country gets smashed flat into a plain.

"What I'm short on right now... is power."

I needed an attack stronger than what I had. Power enough to overwhelm that thing's overwhelming physique.

"Gravity World."

The violet barrier unfurled once more.

"Maximum output."

I rapidly narrowed the barrier's range and drove the gravity harder. This still isn't enough. Narrow it. Narrow it. Narrow it further—down to a range that could barely fit one person. Down to a range that couldn't even hold one person whole.

Time to put mana control honed to its absolute peak to work. I focused and moved the barrier, shrinking it to a scale that fit only my body and my weapon. Not stepping into the field. Wearing the field over my entire body.

Yes. The way a knight dons armor before riding into battle, I compressed the range to the extreme and put the gravity barrier on.

KWAAAAANG!

The ground beneath my feet sank. Violet armor of gravity wrapped my whole body.

At last, the preparations to sound the drum of victory were complete.