Chapter 1492 December 15th: Heating Up the Edge

「Why, you stupid shit!!!」

It was the roundhouse kick of Survival who moved in while letting out a roar-like scream that flew off the approaching restarting feather missile.

Even though it is a temporary movement, there is a difference between heaven and earth in the end that you can reach by just standing up and waiting for the blades flying towards you, and by betting on a single hope and shooting them down or kicking them to the side.

Survival’s kick miraculously exploded into the “face” of the feather missile, and the murder spinning guillotine edge smashed through the ground with forced orbital changes due to external interference and diverted from our immediate vicinity.

「Thanks! You saved my ass!」

「Don’t just stand there and do nothing! Tomahawk is still here, and it looks pretty much unfazed!」

Kuh, that being said, we were still unable to get rid of our own rigidity for some reason. Why is it that Yashiro Bird and I continued to be rigid even though Survival and Urdim-san are moving as normal for some reason? Are there any conditions for that status to be lifted?

「…… My stun seemed to have come off!」

「Hey, I can move again.」

「What the —!?」

No way!? Even Deepslaughter is able to move freely before I am going to be able to do that!? Could it be that this effect is stronger on specific targets, and weaker on everyone else who just happened to be there? No seriously, what are the conditions here!?

「Maybe the stun effect of another frame overlaps with the normal stun.」

「What?」

Is it really a separate frame for a stun? Did Karoshis feel the need for explanation in the wake of my suspicious look (probably now equipped with all the many eyes floating in the flames because of the mask) that eventually recovered from most of the stun? He then proceeded to explain about the Tomahawk’s high frequency stun.

「Usually Stun is a status which is also a judgment against Vitality stat in the acoustic system. The higher one’s Vitality, the shorter the time it takes to resolve the stun effect. But there is another type of Stun…… Mainly the one affecting the Stamina.」

「The Stamina?」

「It can be said that it is the weaker form of a Stun. There is a type of Stun that momentarily and forcibly reduces the Stamina gauge to zero and makes one immobile as a result, until it recovers to full gauge once again.」

Okay, I see. So then what?

「Maybe…… I think it’s a combination of the Stun that refers to Vitality and the Stun that leaves you in a weakened state until the Stamina bar is fully recovered. But isn’t Vitality and Stamina breaking attack a little bit hard to believe?」

「I guess so.」

Hmm, I see? In other words, because my armor is paper-thin, it will almost certainly fail to counter the Vitality check, and since my Stamina bar is quite long, it will take time for it to refill and my Stun to be lifted.

「You fucker! I’m not going to forgive you for that! I’m going to keep shaving your ass until it becomes shiny smooth!」

「The file will break like that, Sanraku.」

「Yes, if I do it with the help of Aradval, that is!」

「Isn’t Aradval a sword?」

「No, it’s technically a spear.」

「Huh?」

It’s a spear, but it’s also a sword! And I use it as a bat against Deepslaughter-type of opponents sometimes as well! And now it will be used as a file!

But back to the subject at hand, the technique that Tomahawk showed is truly a troublesome one. After locking us in place, it uses a strong homing feather missile to accurately kill us, it prey…… It’s no exaggeration to say that it’s an instant death combo. This time, I was saved because Survival won the luck game at the last possible minute, but…… If we continue to be subjected to that thing, we need to come up with some countermeasures.

「I wonder if mere earplugs could do the trick here?」

「I think it’s impossible. Isn’t it the type of a shriek that makes your entire body tremble?」

「So in the end a file is our only way, huh……?」

「No, shouldn’t we prioritize the destruction of those feathers?」

That’s a reasonable argument. But the flesh of Tomahawk is ridiculously hard, I can take some advantage of that because of Aradval, but still……

「I don’t think it’s necessary to destroy it, I have a plan, you see.」

「…… Really now?」

「Huh? Did you manage to think of something?」

「No, it just that……」

This person is just too convenient of a character, isn’t he? Isn’t it a level of lubricating oil or something like that, but applied to a red-hot knife? Or is it just that Karoshis is a really poor judge of character?

And the thing that the freshly convenient buddy of mine, Karoshis, took out of his inventory, was…… seedlings?

「It’s an item called Mistilteinn, a Cage of Protection…… Ah, I won’t have nearly enough time to explain things properly. Simply put, it’s a barrier item, but here it will protect the blade-wings and prevents them from being hit by slashes.」

「Okay then, should we buy you some time?」

「Well, that’s right…… It takes five minutes to install one of those things. There are about ten steps that must be fulfilled.」

Five minutes…… It’s a long time. In terms of the real world, it’s enough time to make cup noodles and finish the meal. However, its effectiveness seems to be powerful, and at least it seems to completely block ordinary physical attacks.

「However, this is extremely difficult to obtain, and I have only three of those.」

「And we have seven missiles here. But it should be fine. However, it will be fifteen minutes total……」

There is also no guarantee that Tomahawk will not fire a reboot slash for fifteen minutes. Rather, since it is more likely that the enemy who is acting suspiciously will be given priority in flying, the difficulty of execution is really high. Also, Yashiro Bird made a really difficult expression just now.

“For the time being, let’s just stop with a full attack and prioritize buying time for Karoshis……」

「No, I’ll do it even if it means I’ll be stuck for those five minutes.」

While joining the meeting, Yashiro Bird’s affirmation while he was shooting the grenade launcher in support of Urdim-san who is holding down the front line alongside Survival, the eyes of three people including me are turned to the cyber cowboy with a really stupid expression.

「I just missed it because of my first look, but maybe I can save time for about five minutes or so.」

「And how do you wish to accomplish that……?」

「This thing right here.」

……… What is this? A small lunch box? No, is it a magazine of some sorts?

「If we can hit it with this, we can most probably stop it.」

「Alright, I see. Then, should I focus on supporting you?」

Whatever the magazine it is, it there are more things that can be done with it than we would normally think. And if so, it was only natural to ask for support…… And Yashiro Bird smiled with a fearless smile and said the following:

「No, there’s no need to do that. Just make sure that the Blade Dragon does not notice me. No matter how violent the opponent is, we cannot allow it to remove this thing from the fight.」

It was a declaration coming from a man who once invaded a large number of servers on an isolated island with all kinds of shooting means, from sniper rifles to two-handed pistols. So if that was what he was saying, you knew it to be true.