———-

　――Behind a series of bookshelves, on top of a fallen pile of decaying wood and paper, there she was.

 

 

“（That is……!）“

 

　Despite being in a state of possession, I could clearly hear Angolmois. I wonder why he was surprised, even some horror was transmitted to me.

 

　Not too big, not too small, a completely black wolf. That was her appearance. The exact same figure as the one that remained in my memories.

 

That beautiful fur swaying like a flack flame. Those black eyes as if I was staring into the abyss. Those eyes that I can’t tell where they’re looking or what they are thinking. Claws and fangs not too long, but not too short either. At a simple glance, it’s just a black wolf.

 

“（Without a doubt, the current you can’t win against this opponent!　My Second, leave this place!）“

 

　Angolmois said such a thing. Indeed, a magnificent observation. As one would expect from the Spirit King, truly a proper evaluation. It’s true that with my current status, I’m not an opponent for this monstrous Darkness Wolf. It’s almost like comparing a child to an adult.

 

 

　……It’s just that, this is just a game, right?

 

“（Just shut up and watch.）“

 

　I set up the Great Bonfire about 15 centimeters above the pile of fallen books, 2 meters to the left from the fourth bookshelf from the entrance.  Then, while keeping my eyes on the Darkness Wolf, I ran sideways.

 

　The Darkness Wolf was currently in her “Wolf-form”. For this form, the first attack is always a “Rush”.

 

　I greeted the rushing Darkness Wolf with a Rook Lightning shot. Firing like a laser, the red and blue lightning streaks twisted and turned as they left a tail-like trail, attacking the Darkness Wolf. Since physical attacks don’t work at all when she is in wolf-form, you should attack by 《Combine》 using 【Magic Archery】 or 【Magic Swordsmanship】. By the way, I naturally aimed at the feet. That is to accumulate damage to get her into a “down” state.

 

　Thus, the behavior following the rush breaks into 4 different patterns. This time, since the front left leg was pressed down hard, it seems it will be Body Slam. That being the case, avoiding it is the best choice. At the last moment of the rush, I jumped to the side.

 

　When the Body Slam or Claw attack fails, the Darkness Wolf will certainly follow with Darkness Transfer→Darkness Shift→Darkness Summon.

 

　I watched as it moved, during Darkness Transfer, to a small mountain of books located one bookshelf away, then I also positioned myself facing the Darkness Wolf.

 

　Just like the pattern, Darkness Shift also happened. After casually jumping on the spot, the Darkness Wolf’s body got wrapped completely in black flames, and the figure changed into its human-like form.

 

———–

　――Long jet-black hair and wolf ears. Her eyes were gently closed, and on her face I could see a mole above her slightly smiling lips. Those bewitching limbs couldn’t be concealed behind the coat of darkness that covered her body, and her height sort of balanced her voluptuous proportions.

 

　To be able to see this figure again after all this time. She, my “Anko”, had the exact same figure in this world.

 

　……Oops, this isn’t the time to immerse myself in my emotions.

 

　After using Darkness Shift to change into human-form, next is sure to be Darkness Summon.

 

　I looked at her shadow, while at the same time, preparing to use 《Dragon King Swordsmanship》. Good, there is a shadow. She’s not in 《False Shadow》 state.

 

“Fuu……! “

 

　I calculated the moment to match the activation of Darkness Summon after Anko finished her Darkness Shift, and by moving up three steps, I unleashed the 《Dragon King Swordsmanship》. At moments like this, it’s quite late to start preparing after the transformation has ended. As for the timing, you should start preparing 《Dragon King Swordsmanship》 in the 0.2 seconds while the black flame of the transformation is settling and the moment she lands, and if you take three steps afterwards, you can activate it immediately. By the way, you can’t move while 《Dragon King Swordsmanship》 is being prepared. For Grade 6, the preparation time is about 4 seconds. It is a very risky skill.

 

“――! “

 

　The shockwave, along with the flashy effect, was released forwards and Anko was directly hit, causing her to become stunned. 《Dragon King Swordsmanship》 is a very powerful skill, however, it has a long preparation time, making it somewhat dangerous to use. And one of the reasons for that high power is the stun effect. That’s right, if it’s applied it becomes quite strong. But only if it’s applied.

 

　Well then, this part is where criticals are important. During this period when Anko is stunned, you can shoot two 《Rook Archery》 shots. If both hits are critical it goes into ‘down’ state, but if only one shot is critical, or if none at all are, she will continue to stand. If that happens, then one or two more shots of 《Rook Archery》 are needed to down her. Between the former and the latter, there’s a world of difference in safety.

 

“Hmm…… mmm…… Nice!”

 

　Alright, this time both of them were critical hits.

 

　Then, what happens when you bring her down after Darkness Summon? That is, Darkness Shift and a Rush again. In other words, we’re back at square one as far as strategy is concerned.

 

　Since Anko transformed into a human but wasn’t able to do anything, she will once again use Darkness Shift to transform into the Darkness Wolf form and use Rush again.

 

　During that transformation period, I took enough distance from her and moved back to the fourth bookshelf from the entrance,while opening with a Rook Lightning attack again. So, what will you bring out next?

 

　Ohh, she lowered her head. Then it’s a “Bite route” rush. Placing the Mithril Longbow in my inventory, I focused on avoiding using my full speed.

 

　After Bite comes a Darkness Howl. Avoiding that is easy since it has a preparation time of two seconds. Incidentally, 99% of the time, if you just avoid the Bite at the last second, you can’t escape the howl.

 

　After rushing across, Anko used Darkness Howl then returned to the book’s mound using Darkness Transfer. Following Darkness Howl comes a Rush or Darkness Shift. This time it seems to be Shift.

 

　I already moved to the previous bookshelf. I then prepared 《Dragon King Swordsmanship》 with the timing just like before, and after carefully checking for 《False Shadow》 after transforming, I moved forward three steps. In the case of the Biting route, Anko will use Darkness Magic here, but it’s possible to crush her without allowing her to move unless she’s in 《False Shadow》 state.

 

　And so, she was stunned. Then damaged by 《Rook Archery》. Unfortunately, only one was a critical.

 

　Immediately after the stun wore off, Anko moved using Darkness Transfer, then she activated Darkness Summon. Well then, which one will it be……?  This time it was 『Shadow Cane』. Good, good.

 

　As a result of the Darkness Summon, she entered Jojutsu mode. However, that doesn’t really matter. Since the damage has accumulated from the previous two shots, she will go “down” with one more 《Rook Archery》 shot at her feet. I took her down while she was preparing to begin her Jojutsu mode assault with that 《Rook Archery》 shot.

 

　While dealing some extra damage with the combination of 《Knight Archery》 and 《Silver Archery》, I moved back to the bookshelf from before and started running sideways again.

 

　What’s next after going down from Darkness Summon?　That’s right, Darkness Shift into wolf form and Rush again.

 

　While I prepared to release a Rook Lightning shot, this was all that occupied my mind.

 

　Ahh…… how fun.

 

 

=====

 

Thank you for reading.

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Cheat sheet

Stats details

＜Status Details＞

• HP　Hit Points
• MP　Magic Points
• SP　Stamina Points
• STR　Short range attack skill power, strength, physical power.
• DEX　Long range attack skill power, dexterity, hit rate.
• AGI　Quickness, avoidance rate.
• INT　Attack Magic skill power.
• LUK　Good luck, critical rate.
• VIT　Simple defense.
• MGR　Magic defense.

Types of combat skills

Named after shogi pieces (The word in bold is the one being used in this translation). From easier to acquire to harder.

1. Pawn/Soldier (Fuhyou)
2. Lance(Kyousha)
3. Knight (Keima)
4. Silver General (Ginshou)
5. Gold General (Kinshou)
6. Bishop (Kakugyou)
7. Rook (Hisha)
8. Promoted Bishop/Dragon Horse(Ryuuma)
9. Promoted Rook/Dragon King (Ryuuou).

List of Swordsmanship skills

Swordsmanship

1. 《Soldier Swordsmanship》　                  Normal attack.
2. 《Lance Swordsmanship》　                    Piercing attack.
3. 《Knight Swordsmanship》　                   Precision attack.
4. 《Silver Swordsmanship》　                     Strong single-target attack.
5. 《Gold Swordsmanship》                           Small-range attack to all directions.
6. 《Bishop Swordsmanship》                       ???
7. 《Rook Swordsmanship》　                      ???
8. 《Dragon Horse Swordsmanship》　    ???
9. 《Dragon King Swordsmanship》　       ???

List of Shieldmanship skills

Shieldmanship

1. 《Soldier Shieldmanship》　                  Normal defense.
2. 《Lance Shieldmanship》　                    Piercing deflection.
3. 《Knight Shieldmanship》　                   Defense + knockback.
4. 《Silver Shieldmanship》　                     ???
5. 《Gold Shieldmanship》                           Ranged guided defense + knockback.
6. 《Bishop Shieldmanship》                       Reinforced defense (Temporarily boosts VIT and MGR)
7. 《Rook Shieldmanship》　                      ???
8. 《Dragon Horse Shieldmanship》　    ???
9. 《Dragon King Shieldmanship》　       ???

List of Archery skills

Archery

1. 《Soldier Archery》　                  Normal range attack.
2. 《Lance Archery》　                    Piercing range attack.
3. 《Knight Archery》　                   Precise sniping range attack.
4. 《Silver Archery》　                     Strong single-target range attack.
5. 《Gold Archery》                           Weaker range attack with added knockback.
6. 《Bishop Archery》                       Strong piercing range attack.
7. 《Rook Archery》　                      Very strong single-target range attack with scaling % damage.
8. 《Dragon Horse Archery》　    Powerful piercing range attack.
9. 《Dragon King Archery》　       Powerful on-impact range attack.

Types of Magic skills

They use the “Form” or “step” system of martial arts. From lower to higher.

1. First Form　      　      Regular attack
2. Second Form　      　 Extended range attack
3. Third Form　      　    Strong single target attack
4. Fourth Form　      　  Strong extended range attack
5. Fifth Form　      　      Extremely powerful extended range attack

• Their cast time becomes longer in this order First→Third→Second→Fourth→Fifth.

Ranking of the skills

From lower to higher, then it changes to the “Dan” system of martial arts, which means Grade.

1. 16th class
2. 15th class
3. 14th class
4. 13th class
5. 12h class
6. 11th class
7. 10th class
8. 9th class
9. 8th class
10. 7th class
11. 6th class
12. 5th class
13. 4th class
14. 3rd class
15. 2nd class
16. 1st class
17. Grade 1
18. Grade 2
19. Grade 3
20. Grade 4
21. Grade 5
22. Grade 6
23. Grade 7
24. Grade 8
25. Grade 9
26. Title

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 ToC    

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