Chapter 25
Chapter 25
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 25
Chapter Title: Sweeping Valkyrie20
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Valkyrie20 was what you'd call a true arcade generation gamer.
Well, he was right on the tail end of it, but he was definitely old enough to claim the title if he wanted to.
He'd spent ages immersed in Odin's Son, ever since the arcade days.
So long that by now the game titles had even gone through a gender swap, but he didn't sweat the small stuff like that.
The core of this game had always been the same.
And he was one of its captivated prisoners.
He raised his axe overhead and lifted his shield.
Releasing the tension from his rigid body, he focused his mind solely on his eyes and fingers.
Fighting games ultimately boiled down to range wars.
Not just in Odin's Daughter, but in MOBAs, FPS, 2D fighters—everywhere.
But in Odin's Daughter, that truth carried extra weight.
This game had been built from the ground up on hitbox battles.
Put range on one side of the scale, cram everything else on the other—damage, attack speed, animations, resource efficiency—and weigh it all out.
The balance was a mess back in the crude early days... but the developers' philosophy had stayed consistent from day one.
Odin's Son: land a hit to win, dodge to lose.
That'd been true since the pixelated graphics of twenty years ago.
"Hoo..."
He ran through the long sword's patterns in his head.
Then slotted in the ones he'd use into his mental options.
Shield up in front of those choices, adjusting the angle.
Shield's hitbox blocked half the attack paths; his weapon watched the rest.
Psychological warfare had kicked off the moment they clocked each other's weapons.
Patterns preloaded in his brain, fingers primed so responses fired off on sight.
This was Odin's Son fundamentals.
Modern controls or classic—didn't matter. The game's soul never changed.
The freakish knight gripped his long sword two-handed.
The abomination held his weapon at midguard and advanced slowly.
A prank any old-school player had pulled once or twice, but this guy was taking it to extremes.
From spectating, he'd seen the opponent wield offset and parry like second nature.
Honestly, if it turned into a stamina-trading dogfight, he had no confidence in winning.
He could offset too, but not like this monster chowing them down daily.
He'd be the first to hit groggy, no doubt.
-Gulp.
Valkyrie20 swallowed hard. His mind kept crunching the numbers.
Damn, this is tricky.
This was why the long sword earned its rep as the hexagon blade.
From midguard, weak, mid, and strong attacks each played different roles.
Wide coverage.
Basic weapon meant middling damage and efficiency, but true to form, its animations were rock-solid.
Sluggish class, yet the monster wove in tiny afterimages, using them like stamina pots.
Weapon skills were iffy, making special attacks a mixed bag—but in skilled hands, basics alone were terrifying.
Still, his overhead-loaded [Axe: Heirloom of the Young Yotun] was a prime big-hexagon beast.
Opponent's long sword was balanced, sure, but small-hexagon at best.
No surprise burst damage or nasty chains to watch for.
His axe even edged out on base range.
If he forced trades at this favorable distance...
Weapon specs favored him; steer it into a range war, and he might snag a few rounds.
That was the plan as he waited for the approach.
Distance nearly closed, attack imminent—
Suddenly, Purple Rock stopped.
"?"
Right at the effective range he'd preset in his head.
The spot where a dash pawn drop would be a nightmare to counter—one step back.
Personal variance per player, but Valkyrie20's max range was exactly there.
"What the...?"
Just coincidence?
Know me from the old games?
No way a freak like that forgets...?!
"!!"
The halted Purple Rock exploded into a dash.
No acceleration windup—the monster shot forward like an arrow off the string.
Dash cancel pulling extra speed, that cheap trick... not now!
Startled by the burst apart, his prepped axe still whiffed into knife range.
Distractions aside, his hands output the queued response.
Eyes locked on the purple hand.
Confirmed no attack anim, peppered a poke—near-simultaneous.
Too late for offset now.
Not expecting a hit, but a roll proc is profit—
"?!"
The monster dropped low in a flash, unleashing strong attack.
Long sword low strong: drag blade on ground, two-hand upward ripper anti-air?
No—too slow. No offset window.
This was his trade win, he was sure.
"What the hell!!"
If the enemy's twisted torso hadn't just grazed his axe's path.
He swung his aim, yanking shield front-and-center.
Block whatever came.
Parry prepped for the strong attack too.
Long-range game scrapped, dogfight ahead—but one parry success meant minimal loss.
Monster thrust sword into empty air.
...There went the parry setup, chasing chickens.
And the opponent?
Cancelled post-hitlag with afterimage, charged again.
"?!"
Startle-whiff.
Like he knew it was coming, slipped right past.
-Stab!!
Purple Rock circled past the shield, claimed his back—wide open.
Medium armor with shield turned slower than light gear; obvious.
Perfect critical grab.
Cleanest backstab ever.
"Euuucha...!! That was fun!!"
Laughter mixed into his exhale with a stretch.
Satisfaction like devouring a year's worth of 10-wins at once.
Fuller than oil pasta, had him grinning.
Time had passed since the 10-win started.
The users still glued to the private room were all high-tier.
Even they were wowed by the top-shelf back-and-forth. Perfect content fodder.
Chats alone screamed their shock.
Makes sense.
This bro—Valkyrie23 back in the day—was an axe one-trick.
Remember him griping that at his age, coding new weapons was tough.
Still, consistent Valhalla climber.
Pre-decline, they'd crossed paths at meetups; diehard fan.
Valkyrie23 didn't evolve to 24 or 25 'cause parenting nuked his playtime.
Respect.
Version 20 kept patterns simpler than 23, but his physicals felt sharper.
Long-time foe, yet more lively?
Too fun midway; couldn't hold back.
Opponent got read like a book, rhythm crumbled.
A tad awkward, but mischievous fun kept him going.
[Faint Footsteps] rune core backstep build.
Shield hitboxes ruled psych wars—elephant in the room.
Heavy inertia, but everyone chased big shields for a reason.
This backstep build? Rock to that meta's scissors-paper-stone. Ahead of its time.
(Ignore pot-lid uncles from way back. Not reference material. Nah.)
Big shield hitbox meant slow pivots, exposed backs inevitable.
This strat shot me to world ranks.
'Til some psycho dwarf hauled in plank shields.
Anyway—not pure skill gap loss.
Wasn't.
...But that's that, this is this, right?
[Title: Got it. I see your level now.]
— Backside
Bored to death. But potential's there, so keep grinding. 10-loss scrubs: drill afterimage combos. Aim higher. Can't stand teabagging.
