Level up with swords (24)
‘This!’
It was an unexpected attack.
The speed itself is usually at the level of a sling, but their number and spacing are dangerous. There were nine stones fired from close range. It was impossible to avoid or block it all.
Then, set priorities.
Leon’s eyes shook at a rapid pace. Read the rock’s trajectory and divide the risk by its impact point.
‘There are three that hit critical points.’
Three shots flying towards the philtrum, uvula, and ventricle.
I don’t know if he was aiming for it or not, but since it is an attack aimed at the midline, it is difficult to avoid.
In that case, I have no choice but to stop it.
Leon raised his sword and it whipped around like a gale.
Kaga River!
Three stones are thrown out with one slash.
Offense is the best defense.
It’s an old-fashioned statement, but it’s not wrong. There were many cases where attacks that could not be blocked or avoided on the spot could be blocked or avoided by taking a step forward.
Leon clenched his molars almost at the same time.
Puff puff!
Of the remaining six shots, half were dodged, but three remained stuck in the body. Two shots in the abdomen and one shot in the left shoulder.
The pain spreads along with the heavy impact.
I’m out of breath, but I can’t stop. There is no guarantee that the rock slime’s attack will end in one turn. He had to retreat at least to a distance where he could avoid the slings.
“――Seup.”
Leon quickly took a step back and took a deep breath.
The damage is not significant. The area where I was hit throbbed a bit, but it wasn’t enough to damage my bones or internal organs.
‘I was too complacent.’
If Rock Slime was just a monster with high defense, there would be no reason for it to be avoided so much. Even if the core is protected with a piece of stone, its weight slows down its movement. So wouldn’t it be necessary to lose weight by expelling stone fragments from time to time?
I didn’t know that the discharge could be used as a means of attack.
Leon stopped about 10 meters away. At this distance, he could easily dodge even if a rock was fired at him, and he could observe the rock slime’s behavior in detail.
“… “They don’t shoot at this distance.”
The rock slimes were still aware of his presence, but there was no sign of them firing stones. This may be to determine the effective range or to prevent unnecessary consumption.
To them, a piece of stone is both an arrow and a shield. Throwing it away at random was an act of suicide.
It would be possible to attack by consuming stones like that.
The slings are quite painful, but blocking them with a shield is enough. You can easily kill it by waiting until the stone fragments run out.
‘The soldiers probably took him down that way.’
Block it with a shield, and when the core is revealed, stab it with a spear.
It is an incredibly safe method.
However, while Leon recognized the power of that strategy, he had no intention of following it or doing it. You can’t make progress by fighting like that. That was the reason why he did not bring any weapons other than a sword.
Leon, who was examining the rock slime, took another step forward. He wanted to understand the enemy’s range.
‘9 meters, 8 meters, 7 meters… .’
When the gap, which had been narrowing little by little, reached 5 meters, the surface of the rock slimes began to rumble again. The task was to create an ejection port to shoot out stone fragments.
When Leon saw the change and stepped back, the rock slimes stopped mutating and returned to their original state.
5 meters.
That was the interval when the slingshots began to be fired.
‘There is a slight time lag between creating the ejection port and shooting the stones. If we penetrate that gap, we might be able to attack once or twice.’
His judgment was correct.
However, unless you can break through the rock slime’s defense, it is meaningless to attack first. I had to avoid and cut down the debris moving around inside the slime.
After thinking that far, Leon suddenly realized something.
‘No, do I really have to cut it?’
To break through irregularly arranged obstacles, it was easier to stab rather than cut.
With <Answer>, you see the moment the stones in the slime disperse, and then pierce the empty space with the holy sword. The remaining problem was that the space was unstable because the stone pieces were constantly moving, but Leon soon came up with a breakthrough.
“A crisis is an opportunity, isn’t it?” .”
[okay.]
El Cid responded to his mumbling.
[The moment the rock slime creates an ejection port to fire the stone, the flow of slime stops for that moment. With your skills now, you won’t be able to accurately destroy the core until then.]
Leon was about to nod at the advice, but soon realized why El Cid had told him to choose this request.
“Did you think about everything until you made your choice?”
[Sounds obvious.]
Rock slime is a difficult enemy for him now.
An enemy that is difficult to defeat unless you use all your abilities, and requires you to experience your own limitations.
You have to see through the trajectory of the slingshot and the inside of the slime with <Eyeop>, and you have to use the unstable ground to avoid projectiles at close range with <Bobeop>. If either of them had any shortcomings, it was an opponent they could not safely defeat.
‘I’ll give it a try.’
Leon took a deep breath.
and… … .
Pot.
It glided across the ground, instantly erasing a 5-meter gap and attacking the rock slimes.
At the same time, the three slimes gurgled.
Holes are formed in the smooth surface, and fragments floating around the body are aimed at the enemy. Just before launch. In that one second or so gap, the holy sword’s thrust flew in.
Fujik!
The blade that pierced the rock slime’s body is buried.
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The holy sword, which split the sticky slime and penetrated through the gaps between the stone fragments, eventually reached the core.
The moment the tip of the sword touches the core.
Push profit…
The bead-sized core crumbled, and the rock slime melted. It seems like the mucus has turned into water and is flowing. The fragments it contained fell to the ground.
Leon’s stab went in successfully.
However, without even having time to rejoice at the result, he turned to the other two.
Pew pew pew pew!
This time it’s seven shots.
Unlike the first time, I was expecting it, so I reacted quickly. Leon took a half step to his side and swung his holy sword.
Not with a blade, but with the body of the sword, as if swinging a blunt weapon.
Ta-da-dan!
Stones splash with a cheerful sound. As the pieces of stone that had been hit so hard bounced somewhere in the underpass, Leon immediately returned to his upright position and aimed for the next target.
The rock slimes immediately wriggled.
It seemed like they had no learning ability.
Leon charged again, aiming for good timing, but missed the second time. But don’t panic and defend yourself. The sword did not miss the third and fourth times.
Pushy… .
As the last rock slime melted, Leon, who had finally lost his concentration, lowered his sword.
“after… .”
I only killed three, but I was exhausted.
Physical exhaustion is not a big deal, but it is a matter of mental strength. I’m so focused that my head hurts.
There are a lot of things to look at with <methods>, and the ground is soft and slippery, so if your <methods> are off, you will miss the timing to attack. It was tens of seconds more tiring than hunting ratmen for hours.
[What do you think, will the training go well?]
“Demon sword.”
[Why again!]
Leaving the screaming El Cid behind, Leon picked up several pieces of debris that had fallen on the ground. A stone imbued with slime magic. Things adjacent to the nucleus will serve as subjugation evidence.
<Rock Slime Conquest> begins now.
Leon cleaned up the debris and walked deeper, following the shadow of the lantern.
Encountering the second group was quick.
[There are five of them, so it must be a bit difficult.]
It was just as El Cid said.
Leon stuck his tongue out at the situation, then immediately raised his holy sword. If you can kill one by surprise, the actual number is four. That was a number worth trying.
The underpass was already a straight road.
There is no place to retreat or detour, much less retreat to something like rock slime before the hero’s name cries out.
‘good.’
Concentrate your consciousness.
The feel of the ground beyond your shoes. You have to completely erase that repulsion to fool the rock slimes. They sense their surroundings through vibration, so all you have to do is minimize ‘sound’ and ‘shock’.
<Bobeop> was quite possible.
Puik!
The rock slime that was stabbed by the holy sword melts.
The surprise blow had penetrated the core precisely. The slimes, aware of the enemy’s presence, wriggled in the commotion.
Leon took two steps back and counted the ejection ports.
Fourteen.
The gap between two steps is about 4 meters. My body tensed and I broke into a cold sweat, wondering if I could handle 14 fragments. Infuse strength to the point where blood vessels appear in the eyeballs.
It was right after that.
Pew pew pew pew!
Fourteen rocks flew towards him.
There is no hole in sight at all.
While suppressing his urge to become impatient, Leon moved his eyes flashily. There are four that hit critical points. Even if you leave it alone, there are five things that go astray. The trajectories of the remaining five shots are ambiguous.
Even though the number of fragments increased, he was able to quickly come up with the optimal route, perhaps because he had experienced it before.
‘Go forward half a step diagonally, and turn your upper body… … .’
Move while thinking.
It will be too late if you organize your thoughts and move.
As Leon’s body moves half a step diagonally, more than half of the fragments end up flying into the air. Now, if you turn your upper body and strike once, you will end up with two hits in the abdomen.
The torso protected by leather armor was not an area that could be damaged by just one or two slingshots.
Defense success.
The moment he is so sure,
Grumbling.
My left foot, which had taken a half step, slipped.
It was a fatal mistake.
Because I was concentrating on the movement of my upper body, the precision of my <stepping method> fell. The firmly established posture collapses, the center of gravity leans forward, and the person falls into a three-foot trajectory.
‘Damn it!’
Two feet sticking into the body is probably good.
The problem was that one of the three was aiming between the eyes. If he loses consciousness, he will be given a title like ‘the hero who was defeated by rock slime’ for 10,000 years.
A near-crisis situation.
No matter how much he thought about it, no breakthrough came to mind, so Leon’s body subconsciously searched for an answer.
“-Huh?!”
Raise the left knee that slipped.
Therefore, it became a movement similar to the lunge, a step used only when making a large advance in swordsmanship. When the lost balance was corrected, the upper body moved properly.
Desperately twist your head to avoid the stone. When the stone missed him by just a few hairs, Leon was relieved.
Sigh!
Without realizing it, I broke the rock slime’s core.
‘Well, what happened?’
Two stones landed in my body later, but the impact was nothing special. Leon reflexively took a few steps back and reflected on what movements he had made.
I even knew that he had dodged a stone that flew between his eyes using a modified lunge posture. But after that, the counterattack that was perfectly connected to the evasive movement was not what he intended.
Even if I had to try it again, I wouldn’t be able to do it like I just did.
[I didn’t think I did it knowingly… . Well, that’s it. Even if I caught the mouse by walking backwards, I still managed to catch it.]
“What are you talking about out of the blue?”
Then El Cid spoke in an awkward tone.
[What I did a little while ago was level 2 of <Bobeop>.]
“… what?”
[Standing balance on flat ground and reducing sound and vibration are just the basics. If the ground is soft, even the softness must be available. The essence of <Bobeop> is to use the environment as your strength, whether it is an ice plate or a heated iron plate.]
Leon realized those words.
Left foot accidentally slips. The improvisation that came from that mistake led to better results than he thought was best.
<Rodrick’s Step>, level 2.
It is an application that can change even an unfavorable environment to an advantage. After gaining enlightenment, Leon’s center of gravity changed. I abandoned the posture of maintaining my strength upright and stood with my feet wide apart so that I could flexibly lean in any direction.
‘It’s more comfortable this way.’
If the environment changes, your posture must also change.
The posture and movements he had insisted on until now ultimately worked well only on flat ground. If the ceiling was low and the ground was damp, there were different footwork appropriate for it.
Leon’s eyes shined in a low posture like a beast.
This time it was going to be a little different.
