NOVEL WEB chapter 62
Chapter 62
■□■
Well then—
I ended up pulling an all-nighter to make a normal armor that looks just like CogTwo, but I think I managed to create something fairly satisfactory.
======================
[COG-002L Replica]
Rarity: 6
Quality: High
Durability: 1000/1000
Creator: Yamamoto
Performance: Physical Defense +76
Magic Defense +52
Note: Armor that looks exactly like COG-002L. Perhaps due to secretly mixing in Great Boulder Worm materials, it’s more high-performance than it appears.
======================
Yeah. Creating CogTwo as-is would be impossible in a day due to material constraints.
So, I made something that just looks identical, and when I tried to equip it—
…………
Huh? I can’t take off the original silver armor, how do I…?
Oh, when I bring it close, the new armor is being absorbed into the original armor bit by bit.
By the time it finished absorbing the entire set, my appearance had perfectly switched to the Demon King style.
Hmm, I must say it looks good.
Oh, if I bring up the command and switch equipment, I can instantly change to the silver armor like switching avatar costumes. This might be quite convenient…
Next, I poured all the SP I earned from the EOD battle into my stats, and my final status looks like this!
Name: Yamamoto
Race: Dullahan (Fairy)
Gender: ♀
Age: 0 years old
LV: 36
HP: 3890/3890
MP: 1087/3890
SP: 0
Physical Attack: 513(+124)
Magic Attack: 476(+87)
Physical Defense: 465(+76)
Magic Defense: 441(+52)
Vitality: 389
Agility: 389
Intuition: 389
Spirit: 389
Fate: 389
Unique Skill: [Balance]
Racial Skill: [Carriage Summoning]
Common Skills: [Smithing] Lv9/ [Alchemy] Lv9/ [Compounding] Lv9/ [Appraisal] Lv9/
[Storage] Lv9/ [Fire Magic] Lv9/ [Water Magic] Lv9/ [Wind Magic] Lv9/ [Earth Magic] Lv9/
[Light Magic] Lv9/ [Dark Magic] Lv9/ [Cooking] Lv9/ [Yamamoto Style] Lv9/
[Mining] Lv9/ [Gathering] Lv9/ [Crafting] Lv9/ [Leatherworking] Lv9/ [Woodworking] Lv9/
[Jewelry Crafting] Lv9/ [Sculpting] Lv9/ [Fishing] Lv9/ [Tracking] Lv9/ [Escape] Lv9/
[Magic Steel Refining] Lv9/ [Divine Artifact Creation] Lv9/ [Invisibility] Lv9/ [Concealment] Lv9/
[Magic Manipulation] Lv9/ [Magic Armor] Lv9/ [Status Ailment Resistance] Lv9/
[Thought Acceleration] Lv9/ [Parallel Thinking] Lv9/ [Observation Eye] Lv9/ [Prediction] Lv9
Not too bad, I suppose?
I really wanted all stats over 400, though.
Well, if push comes to shove, I can use [Half-Mad God Descent] that I swiped from Tsuna, which will multiply my close combat stats by 1.5. If my agility and intuition jump to nearly 600, even A-rank adventurers shouldn’t be too scary, right?
…………
Wait, I’m not raising any weird flags, am I?
I hope there’s no development where the opponent suddenly has some ridiculously broken skill. Maybe I should repair CogOne just in case?
But if I use [Divine Artifact Creation] now and spend 1000 MP, I’ll only have 87 left. There’s hardly any left to begin with.
Hmm.
I thought about it, but I’ll pass.
MP is important, surely!
So, still in a weird mood from pulling an all-nighter, I’ll invite Tatsu and head to the arena.
■□■
“No way, that’s impossible.”
When I told Tatsu, who came out of the inn with sleepy eyes, that I was going to impersonate Lily in the semi-finals, he immediately shot me down.
I look at Tatsu with a face that says “Eh, why?”
He might not be able to see it because of the veil, though.
“You’ve got that ‘Eh, why?’ look about you…”
As expected of Tatsu! His insight is high!
“Listen here. Lily’s data as a participant has already been submitted to the Grand Martial Arts Festival system. If a different person tried to participate in that state, wouldn’t the system immediately detect it as cheating and reject you? I thought for sure you were planning to ambush Nabal & Hasan.”
I wouldn’t do such a scary thing as an ambush.
I see. So it’s a system issue.
I hadn’t thought of that.
“But the Grand Martial Arts Festival rules don’t say anything about changing participants midway, right?”
“Of course not! In an event meant to test participants’ skills, you wouldn’t normally consider switching people!”
Is that so…?
“Well, I think it’ll probably work out somehow.”
“Huh? Who’s going to make it work out?”
“Eh? Maybe my Hammurabi’s Code? I feel like it’s saying ‘an eye for an eye’.”
“Wasn’t that about returning exactly what was done to you, not going overboard?”
“Well, anyway, let’s go and see.”
“Were you even listening to me!?”
And so, Tatsu and I head towards the arena together.
We stop by an alley on the way so I can change into Demon King style, but even then, we reach the arena without anyone noticing us.
Yeah, [Invisibility] Level 9 is amazing.
“Only participants can go beyond this point.”
A stone Colosseum so tall you have to look up. At its base, there’s a small, long tunnel-like entrance where the competitors enter and exit.
Tatsu smoothly enters, and I try to follow, but…
▶You cannot proceed further as you are not a participant in the Grand Martial Arts Festival Final Tournament.
That’s what it says.
And it feels like there’s an invisible wall preventing me from moving forward.
I bang on it repeatedly.
“See? I told you so.”
While Tatsu looks a bit smug, I irritatedly try to push through the invisible wall.
But I still can’t do anything about the transparent wall…
Just as I was starting to think it might be impossible after all—
▶[Balance] has been activated.
Adjusting the balance of the event.
For the duration of this event, Yamamoto can act as Lily within the arena.
Go ahead and do it.
I feel the invisible wall disappear with a whoosh.
I almost stumble, and I must have had a dumbfounded look on my face.
“Just now, it felt like a personal message from [Balance] flowed across the edge of my vision…?”
It’s not my imagination, right?
What could it be? A skill that talks on its own? I’ve never heard of such a skill…
But I’m happy to know that Balance is on my side. …Yeah, I’m happy!
“Huh? What happened?”
“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, treachery for treachery has been approved.”
“What’s that supposed to mean!?”
“Well, from here on I’ll be going as Demon King Lily. That’s how it is, okay?”
“Lily wasn’t that kind of carefree person! She was quite stiff, but still trying her best with all her might! If I had to compare her to something, she was like a hardworking hamster!”
“I wonder why someone like that is called a Demon King?”
“…………”
I feel a gaze that’s 120% saying it’s your fault.
My insight is pretty good too!
“So? Can you win against A-rank adventurers?”
“I plan to use [Appraisal] on stage and then decide what to do.”
“You can’t use [Appraisal] on stage. There was an explanation about that for Grand Martial Arts Festival participants… Well, you weren’t participating, so…”
“Yeah.”
I’ve never heard of such a special rule before!
But I guess that makes sense.
If you could suddenly get all the information about your opponent, you could come up with countermeasures, and it wouldn’t make sense why Misaki was hesitant to use [Death Scream]. I see, [Appraisal] was banned overall. I get it, I get it.
“Well, I guess there’s no choice then. I’ll go with a strategy of provoking the opponent, backing them into a corner, and making them go all out.”
“Why back them into a corner…? Wouldn’t it be better to crush their momentum and blow them away?”
“I’ve got connections who know about hidden weapons. I asked if they knew anything about the sleep magic sword.”
“What kind of connections do you have!?”
Yeah. While I was out getting seawater, I thought I’d ask around, so I went to this chuckling old man.
He didn’t know about the sleep magic sword specifically, but he told me about general methods for breaking curses on cursed magic swords.
“And this person said that usually, the curse on a cursed magic sword can be broken by destroying the sword itself.”
“So that’s why you need to back them into a corner.”
“Yep. If even a graze from it could turn the tables, they’ll have no choice but to use it when cornered, right?”
“You’re planning to use the performance of the opponent’s overwhelmingly powerful weapon against them, forcing them to use it. That’s quite a nasty strategy you’ve come up with.”
Besides, knowing there’s something that can end it all with just a graze makes me uneasy. I’ll make sure to utterly destroy it, avenging CogTwo in the process.
“Oh, we’ve arrived at the waiting rooms. You can use any room you like, but what do you want to do?”
After passing through the narrow tunnel-like space, we come out into a slightly wider corridor with doors lined up on both sides.
Apparently, we can use any of these waiting rooms.
“Sorry, I’m sleepy from pulling an all-nighter, so I’d like to sleep alone for a bit… Can you wake me up when it’s time?”
“Got it. I’ll wake you when it’s time.”
“Yeah, thanks. Well then, good night.”
And so, I enter a random room for a nap.
I slept comfortably until Tatsu woke me up with a friend call.
■□■
So, I started taunting them from before the opening, but…
Both of our opponents are glaring at us with eyes that say they want to kill us.
Ooh, scary!
If their stats are as Tatsu said, I should have two or three times higher stats than them…
But I won’t know how it actually feels until I experience it, so I’m still a bit nervous before the match starts.
Well, I’ll try not to let it show though.
“Tatsu, I’ll handle both of them, so be careful not to get caught up in it.”
“Got it. Well, if it looks dangerous, I might step in.”
Yeah, I think that’s fine.
I’m not the type to say absolutely don’t interfere.
If you’re going to help, I’d be happy to be helped!
“Now, let the match begin!”
The moment I heard the buzzer sound and thought the match had started, the lightly equipped man… Hasan, was it?… approaches me with a weird movement.
Let’s see, he’s swaying his body right and left, looking busy, but… what’s this?
Oh, it’s like a basketball feint!
…………
Uh, what’s the point of this?
I guess he’s trying to make a lot of feints?
“Oh! Amazing! Amazing! Hasan is approaching while splitting into multiple people!”
No, he’s not splitting into multiple people.
He’s just moving around busily.
Ah, he’s finally reached me.
Moving around unnecessarily like that is why it took so long to get here.
Ah, okay, okay.
He’s making an obvious feint of throwing a punch.
So, I’ll deliberately move my gaze that way, pretending to react.
Yep, the real attack is a kick coming from below.
Oh, a blade popped out from the tip of his boot.
Some kind of hidden weapon?
I don’t want to risk it being poisoned, so I’ll quickly dodge the kick while grabbing Hasan’s ankle.
Then I’ll yank Hasan’s body up with one hand, swing him around, and slam him onto the stage with a bang!
A human-shaped bloodstain appeared…
“[Heal Light]”
I’ll heal Hasan, who got wrecked in one hit.
Well, I don’t know whether it’s Nabal or Hasan who has the sleep magic sword. It’d be troublesome if they were to exit without even having a chance to draw it.
So, I toss the battered Hasan aside and… wait expectantly.
If they’re going to aim for a reversal with the sleep magic sword, I’ll leave Hasan in the perfect position to slash at me from behind.
Yeah, but you know what?
“Sorry, could you please come at me seriously?”
Otherwise, I might accidentally defeat you, so I’m really asking you!