Chapter 54 - Choi Jiwon Is Too Strong (5)

"Fighting her without preparation would be suicide."

Before challenging the city's ruler, Park Cheoljin, Choi Jiwon, and I had gathered at a small inn to discuss our plans.

"For starters, she controls lightning. She also knows footwork that's practically teleportation... We have no chance in a head-on fight."

"Hmm..."

Firefighter Park Cheoljin and Choi Jiwon nodded without any particular suspicion.

Since I hadn't actually fought the city's ruler myself, they might have thought my words carried little weight. Jiwon and Cheoljin didn't really have any reason to believe me.

"This all comes from Michael Jeter, one of America's strongest. You saw the notice in the square, right?"

"I see..."

So I borrowed someone else's authority. I bullshitted them about being friends with Michael Jeter.

Honestly, I'd read his post, so didn't that make us friends already? Or not. Whatever.

"Anyway... We're civilized people from the modern world. We need to use that to win."

At my signal, two men who had been waiting nearby walked hesitantly toward us.

"We want to help! We're prepared to die!"

"We want to get a hit in on that woman!"

The two voiced their resolve with considerable determination, but Jiwon looked a little bewildered.

"Who are these gentlemen...?"

"The man on the left was forced to live as a beggar because of his Bronze token. Originally, he was a hunter and tanner."

"And the other one?"

"He was forced to live as a hunter and tanner because of his Silver token."

Once their token boxes were taken away, the residents regained their true natures. And since the experience they'd gained while under the tokens' influence didn't simply disappear, I'd been able to find two skilled tanners.

They were specialists in working leather. All I had to do was tell them what I wanted, and they'd whip it up for me.

Where had I gotten the leather itself, you ask?

I'd used Gold tokens as bait to win over some Players and buy their leather armor. That left us with plenty of leather for materials.

My first idea: use leather to reduce the damage from electricity.

"We'll cover your entire body in leather armor. What do you think?"

"... That sounds pretty awful."

But Jiwon wasn't keen on it.

"My strength is my fine control over my sword... Wrapping myself in thick armor would just get in the way."

"..."

"I'd rather just have custom gloves thicker than the ones I already have, and some arm guards."

"... All right."

My full-body leather-wrap plan had been rejected... but we decided to make the gloves and arm guards, at least.

"Then how about this?"

But I wasn't done yet.

This time, a middle-aged man approached with dignified steps.

"... A pleasure to meet you. I am Baron Licht."

Not the Baron Licht I'd been meeting so frequently, but the "real" Baron Licht, who had been forced to live as a commoner because of a Silver token.

My second plan: make use of a noble freed from his box's shackles.

The others who had originally been nobles were uncooperative, but Baron Licht was different.

Having experienced life as a commoner, he'd reflected on his formerly dissolute life and expressed a desire to atone. In a way, you could say he'd been enlightened exactly as the city's ruler intended.

"But... how can he help?"

Jiwon tilted her head.

Instead of answering, Baron Licht opened his hand and formed a glowing orb of light above his palm.

"I am a mage. An expert in handling mana."

"... And?"

"Of course, as you climbers are much stronger than I am, I cannot assist directly in combat... But I can offer some indirect assistance. May I touch you for a moment?"

When Baron Licht lightly laid his fingers on Cheoljin's wrist, a strange expression crossed the firefighter's face.

"This is..."

"Can you feel the mana moving inside your body? You climbers possess mana, but you don't seem to know how to use it. You quite literally merely 'have' it."

"Oh..."

"But with me here, I can control that mana for you. Of course, as a mage, I cannot use advanced techniques such as a sword aura... But it will certainly help."

"This... would be useful. It feels like my body's filling with energy."

Cheoljin's expression brightened, but Jiwon's darkened.

"... I don't think we could use that in an actual fight."

She was right. Baron Licht couldn't possibly follow Jiwon around during an intense battle and control her mana for her.

But he answered immediately, as though he'd anticipated her objection.

"I will activate your mana beforehand, before you fight. Simply having mana circulating inside your body improves your physical capabilities and increases your resistance to various things."

"... In that case, all right."

Leaving Baron Licht pleased that he could help, I moved on.

"Lastly... a way to create a single moment's opening."

One moment's opening was all we needed.

Back in the square.

BOOOOM!!!

Only after bouncing about three times like a stone skipping across water did Jiwon barely manage to regain her footing.

'... How is that even possible?'

Flash Step. Kim Junho had explained it to her beforehand, so she knew the concept, but facing it herself was absurd.

The ruler had spent about two seconds setting her stance, then closed a distance of over thirty meters in a single burst and swung her sword. Even the clumsy block Jiwon had managed felt close to a miracle.

And as a bonus, that brief clash of blades had left her arms tingling and numb.

This was the damage after her leather gloves and arm guards had reduced it. Tough as Jiwon's body was, she would never come out unscathed if she took an attack like that head-on.

"...!"

Far away, the city's ruler swept her sword through the air, and magical lightning erupted from its tip at an unbelievable speed.

Having seen the attack earlier, Jiwon reflexively threw herself aside.

BOOOOM!

"Hup!"

Narrowly evading the lightning with her leap, Jiwon started running straight ahead.

She had no means of attacking from a distance. She had to close the gap before she was worn down.

But at the sight of her, the city's ruler twisted her lips into a faint smile and swept her sword again.

Jiwon reflexively flung herself aside to evade the lightning.

"Ah."

Only once she was airborne did she realize she'd been tricked.

The city's ruler had merely gone through the motions of swinging her sword without releasing any lightning—waiting until her opponent had already leaped and become a tempting target with no way to dodge.

CRACKLE!

"Guh...!"

This time, the lightning struck Jiwon directly, sending her tumbling gracelessly across the stone pavement.

"..."

She barely managed to get up, but her complexion was far worse than before. Even her legs were trembling.

Unity of Body and Sword made Jiwon far more durable than other people, but this lightning wasn't something she could endure.

"Why not give up?"

The city's ruler, meanwhile, was entirely at ease. She even seemed to be holding back.

Simply starting to use mana had made this much difference. The woman before Jiwon, who had seemed manageable, was beginning to look like a monster.

"..."

The longer this fight dragged on, the more certain her defeat would become.

Slowly settling into her stance, Jiwon signaled with her eyes to Cheoljin and Junho, who were watching from afar.

Now was the time to make their decisive move.

After confirming that Cheoljin and Junho each had a sword ready, Jiwon charged with a shout.

"Hup!"

She saw the city's ruler shake her head, sweep her sword, and send lightning flying.

But instead of diving aside to evade it, Jiwon picked up speed.

"...?"

The city's ruler had only a moment to wonder.

WHOOSH!

A perfectly timed flying sword diverted the lightning.

"What?!"

The city's ruler was taken aback.

As someone who used lightning, she must have known that metal could attract it, but she wouldn't have expected them to exploit that so actively.

Of course, since the sword wasn't grounded, lightning scattered in every direction...

But avoiding a direct hit was enough for Jiwon.

The master swordswoman charged in, closing the distance at superhuman speed.

The city's ruler furrowed her brow.

It was too late to activate Flash Step. And another sword flying in from the right made her wary of blocking the attack with her own blade.

Had they thrown two swords with a delay between them?

The situation was complicated, but she made her decision quickly.

The city's ruler stepped back, moving out of the path of the sword approaching from her right.

CRACKLE!

At the same time, she released electricity from her body and kept the approaching Jiwon at bay with her sword.

It was a textbook response, but...

"?!"

Her mistake was never imagining that Jiwon would catch the flying sword in her left hand and immediately throw it.

Judging it too late to dodge, the city's ruler swung her own sword to knock the incoming weapon aside.

And so, despite the overwhelming gap in power, a single moment's opening appeared.

The opening Jiwon had been aiming for all along.

'Now, Whoosh.'

Her body trembled, and every part of her hurt.

But she gritted her teeth and concentrated. Perhaps thanks to the mana flowing through her body, her mind, at least, was clear.

Big. Strong. Fast. Light.

These were the principles emphasized when practicing consecutive strikes in kendo.

Big: swing with large movements.

Jiwon's sword swept through a great arc and crashed down toward the city's ruler. Hastily blocking from her unsteady stance, the ruler's knees bent slightly.

Strong: put power into the blade.

Without delay, Jiwon swung hard horizontally. The ruler's clumsy block cost her what remained of her balance.

"Damn...!"

The city's ruler gritted her teeth. Electricity continued pouring from her body, but Jiwon endured it through sheer willpower and kept attacking.

The ruler had refrained from using powerful techniques because they were so close that she could hurt herself as well.

But now that things had come to this, she had no choice but to accept the damage and subdue her opponent in one blow.

Just as she gathered her mana to unleash a powerful burst of lightning...

Fast: movements must be large and swift.

Jiwon didn't miss the opening as the ruler's focus on her mana distracted her.

CLACK-CLACK!

In a single breath, she slashed the wrist and torso together. A sword wasn't particularly effective against armor, but with strength like Jiwon's, that was another story.

"Guh...!"

The ruler's tight grip on her sword weakened, and her armor buckled. The impact to her ribs disrupted the mana she'd been gathering.

It had been only a moment's opening, but Jiwon had succeeded in tearing it wider.

There was no way to evade it. Her stance had collapsed, her sword hand had lost its strength, and the mana she'd been gathering was in disarray.

Light: movements must be light, fluid, and, above all, precise.

"It's over."

And just as Jiwon's sword thrust in, aimed precisely at the city's ruler's waist...

KRA-BOOOOM!!!

A bolt of lightning plunged out of the air onto the city's ruler, and Jiwon was hurled away like a puppet with its strings cut.

From that moment on, the atmosphere in the square changed.

"... I never meant to go this far."

The city's ruler's eyes shone with a piercing blue light.

The stone pavement crumbled to powder and slowly rose into the air. The space around her vibrated violently.

"Wait! Just a moment! Calm down!"

The angel's appalled voice came from somewhere, but the city's ruler didn't look inclined to stop.

"This isn't my fault. You brought all of this on yourselves."

Streams of blue lightning branched out from her armor. The sword in her hand glowed blue, radiating a deadly menace.

This was different.

The pressure was nothing like before.

That wasn't an enemy anyone could stand against. A natural disaster wasn't something you fought and defeated. You endured it and adapted.

We couldn't beat that.

"... Fuck."

I knew about this phenomenon in theory. I simply hadn't dreamed I'd see it with my own eyes in real life.

I should have considered that this might happen...

The skin all over my body prickled, my scalp tingled, and my hair slowly began to rise.

"... Cough, cough."

Jiwon lay on the ground, struggling for breath.

"Uh, uh..."

"What the...?"

With the horrified Players behind her, the natural disaster in human form declared:

"I won't kill you. Any of you."

The city's ruler had activated Lightning Heart.

Author's Comment (Afterword)

It's magical lightning... so it's relatively slow...

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