Beyond M-Eclipse: Easy Mode LIVE

———Lerim———

“...So. It seems like we just killed two birds with one stone then.” I said as the atmosphere in the room turned grim.

Both of us stared at each other in silence. What he just said just now is quite an important detail that I have apparently missed out on during my absence.

His expression clearly tells just how dire the situation actually is. The others either don’t quite realize the danger or are hiding it well to not stress me out. Quite the gesture, but I don’t really need it.

“...Let’s just get this done quickly. That woman’s voice must’ve been grating at this point, right?” I want to get rid of that guy anyway. He’s clearly way too much of a problem to keep alive at this point. “So. His target is me, right?”

“So I’ve heard. He arrived through the roof like a lunatic and started fighting everyone there, demanding your presence.” He repeated this fact. “It’s a miracle no one died considering his erratic behavior… But will you be fine alone?”

“What? You got that little faith in me now? Last I checked, he wasn’t really a match for me anyway.” If I wasn’t trying to make sure he’s alive by the end of the encounter, then I would’ve trounced him without a sweat. “Whatever upgrade he got won’t deter me. Do you even have any clue about his whereabouts or do I have to roam around aimlessly.”

…He doesn’t say anything. I guess I just have to start searching. Hopefully he’s not actually hiding. I certainly don’t want this to drag on for even a day longer. This ends today, that’s all there is to it.

“I guess that’s all there is to it. I’ll be taking my leave then.” I said before leaving the room and quickly made my way out of the building. Let’s see how long it’ll actually take.

———Kenni———

Haven’t been in a big city since… Well. Two weeks? Since whatever the hell I did during that visit. It’s still being talked about which is pretty damn cool.

I probably won’t do anything like that for a while. Too much of a good thing is bad and all that. It’d be lame if people start getting desensitized to that kind of performance so soon.

Anyway, since I’m in a big city and I have a ton of cash on hand… Let’s go to an expensive restaurant. Let me take a look at all the recommendations here… Oh. Here’s a neat one. Looks like they got some new spicy menu as well, but shouldn’t I at least try the iconic menu first before going for newer wilder stuff?

…Oh who am I kidding. I can come back here whenever I want anyway. Let’s try the new trendy stuff first just in case. It’s hard to resist spicy options that look like it might kill me. If I have trouble with it I can just shell out money to get a bunch of drinks or something. I have more than enough money on me to make up for that.

Now then. Time to take my time to leisurely stroll there and hope something bad happens so I have a better time during my visit. I would love a bit of chaos here during lunch time. Hopefully before I get to my destination, fighting on a full stomach when the speed of fights nowadays is more than tripled is…

Ah! I almost forgot. I should probably do a dungeon run here as well. Swindling everyone out of loot and dipping out. Can’t forget about that.

…Should I do that now or later, I wonder. I’d imagine most people are on lunch break right now. Perhaps now is the best time to do that and piss everyone off.

Yep. Let’s do that. I wanna see how mad they’re gonna be even if the respawn rate isn’t actually two or three times per day. It’s more like every two hours assuming there ain’t a lot of people crammed into the dungeon.

Now where is the local dungeon here… Oh. It’s not that far from the restaurant I’m going to. That’s convenient. Just gonna sell the loot and spend all the money on the food.

About the city itself, it actually looks kinda busy unlike most places I’ve been to, and this is on the weekend. Guess things must be pretty stable around here for people to be walking about in droves. Maybe I won’t get involved in any hijinks today. That’s quite a shame.

“Hm?” As I made my way towards the dungeon entrance, I saw someone.

Pink hair, cat ears, skimpy black clothing… Where have I seen that before?

Interesting… I didn’t even realize one of the participants in those exhibition matches live here. That’s quite a find… Or maybe I’m just slow on the uptake since I never bothered searching for her on the internet. It could literally just be that.

In any case. It seems that we’re both going in the same direction, which means she’s probably aiming for a dungeon run of her own.

That’ll throw a wrench into my schedule, but it’s nothing I can’t work around. I want to see more of how she fights anyway without the constraint of fighting another human being.

She went in first and I went in second, flashing my adventurer class to the two people guarding the entrance from anyone unqualified. I can’t imagine doing that being fun in the slightest. Just standing there doing basically nothing. Just completely unfun.

“So are you going to announce your presence at all?” She said as both of us arrived at the first floor.

*Swing* *Slash* *Slice*

She quickly got rid of the monsters on this floor before turning around to confront me.

“So. What’s your business? Who even are you anyway? I know for a fact that you’re not a local here. Someone with your characteristic would’ve been quite a talk. Winged-humans are small in number, after all.” She said, clearly not starting off with a favorable impression of me even without me saying even a single thing. I feel like nowadays people are way too paranoid and take things way too seriously. Back in the day they just thought of me as the class clown, though I like the title jester a bit more. It’s more fancy and dignified, you know?

“Me? I’m just someone who came to this city for the first time. I wanna see what the dungeon here is like. Is that too much to ask?” I said with a smirk as I spouted nonsense.

“Your behavior is unconvincing. Do I know you?” She said, clearly not fooled by the admittedly somewhat lacking performance. I think she already made up her mind on me anyway. Too late to try to swindle her.

“Most likely not, but I have seen you before.” I said with a smile as I took a step forward. She doesn’t react to it, but she is already on-guard without me even doing anything. Perhaps she ran into a fair share of troubles beforehand so she’s in an extra bad mood today, but that’s not really something I am that curious about. “Remember that exhibition match? I was there to watch it as a student.”

“That place?” She muttered, looking quite surprised. “...I see. Those wings of yours aren’t for show.”

“Certainly not. I take quite a pride in them.” It’s very helpful, even if it does cause some inconvenience on some rare occasion. “But I’m sure you aren’t here to actually talk about that, considering your tone.”

“Naturally. So why are you here now?” She doesn’t bother with the pleasantries the moment I made it clear that it won’t get her anywhere.

“Hey. I wasn’t kidding about coming here to sightsee a bit. I didn’t even realize you are from this area until I noticed your very recognizable fit.” Even in this crazier time it’s hard to find someone wearing something like that regularly. “How about I join you for a dungeon run? No need to worry about me stealing loot. I might not look like it, but I’m pretty well-off.”

“Hard to tell, but if that’ll mean you won’t suddenly jump me, then I can live with it.” She said. Come on now. I know a dungeon seems like a great place to jump someone, but it’s not like there ain’t at least two people standing guard activity as eye witnesses. It’s not exactly as good as it looks.

Not that Emmie cared about such a thing. She’ll do it if it means she’ll have a good fight at the end of the day.

———Lerim———

“In the exact same place as last time. You’re seriously asking for nothing but trouble.” I used to not believe in fate and its twisted sense of humor, but looking at everything that has happened, I can’t say I’m confident in this guy’s chance. “No matter. This is your last chance. Your sister, Ales Metts, has asked for your safe return.”

“I don’t care what she has to say!” The feral man as he holds all four swords in his hands up high. The four long lanky metal arms attached to his body alongside the patches of cybernetics that help support his body from the weight of it all. “This is about you and me! Right here and now! A fight to the death!”

His words seem less coherent than it has ever been, which considering the modification done to his body, that tracks.

I wasn’t really sure what to think of it when I heard about prosthetics, but this is some sci-fi shit I wouldn’t expect to see in at least ten years. I didn’t even realize where’s that far ahead in technology, but then again there was already some hints that a lot of advanced techs were hidden from the general public.

Seems like I get to test myself against it now. How well does magic and technology mesh?

“Then perish.” I said before I started to move.

*Dash* *Clash* *Swing* *Block* *Swing* *Evade* *Dash* *Clash*

About thirty seconds in and I already see a bit of issue if I’m simply relying on swordplay alone. Four arms really is two too many. The amount of actions he can do in one instance would easily overwhelm anyone within the same ballpark of power as him.

“What’s wrong!? Hit me with all you got!” He screamed loudly as he ran at me, moving at a speed that’s hard to believe considering the heavy metal limbs. Those in itself are like a blunt weapon that could crush bones even without adorning them with weapons to wield. He doesn’t seem to be slowed down by them at all thanks to the 

Fighting this guy in close quarters is quite a risk. The output of those attacks are swift and much heavier than it has ever been.

*Swing* *Block* *Swing* *Leap*

He ran towards me and swung his swords multiple times over, making me block and jumped away as I thought about a few things.

I don’t really know if there’s some sort of limit to those machinery, but it seems to work seamlessly enough that one might not expect it to be prosthetics and simply a weird aesthetic choice… If you ignore that he has four arms. That ain’t normal.

I can admit this much though, in terms of the clash of weapons, he has me beat. The advantage that came with multiple durable limbs with long reach is hard to beat with just two arms and a large sword. Our physical output is about equal at the moment, but the range and quantity will put me at a disadvantage.

If I forgot about magic, that is.

*Dash* *Shine* *Bang* *Bang*

“Gurk!” He recoiled back the moment he was hit with multiple weak energy bullets hitting him right on his torso and arms, stopping his momentum.

*Dash* *Strike* *Kick*

Using the short window of opportunity, I ran in and struck him in the chest with my free left arm, then kicked him back to create some distance.

“Cheap tricks!” He yelled out as his face contorted with anger. I guess I never used those tactics against him until now. There was never a need to use alternative methods when I outmatched him with just swordplay alone.

His body seems to be heating up as his power seems to spike due to rage. Looks like he’s about to get more erratic…!

*SLASH* *Split* *Thud*

I noticed it a second too late.

His body was cut in half and collapsed to the cold hard ground of the dungeon. He clearly didn’t recognize what had happened as his expression remained frozen in madness instead of shock or despair.

The giant red scythe cleaves through his body like it’s simply a paper mache statue, revealing the person who killed him in a single strike.

“What a farce. It seems that leaving him alive was a mercy I should’ve never even considered.” The girl with flowing light blue hair said with the giant scythe in hand.