ShangriLa Frontier ~ Shitty Games Hunter Challenges Godly Game ~

「Today I am going to be absent from school due to sudden illness and catching a nasty cold. I am going to take a short break today in order to recuperate and I should be back to health by tomorrow.」

Seeing Bansai-san saying that with a perfectly straight expression, I couldn’t actually stop a smile that was creeping on my face. So he might pose to be cut above the rest, but in the end he is just a plain and ordinary gamer, just like all the rest of the players in here…… But as far as that person is being concerned, even if he was to skip a class or two there should be no problem with his overall grades. So aside from the fact that the way in which he got himself that cold was quite laughable, everything else seemed to be okay. He might not always act like it, but in the end he was only human.

Hmm, and it’s only an assumption on my end, but could it be that Rei-san already logged out for the day? Oh well, the most important thing here is that there seems to be some Library players in here, so that’s actually a good thing. That, plus the fact that they all seem to be quite lively.

「Say, I have recently managed to acquire a new Extraordinary Skill, so I would like to run some field tests in order to try and verify exactly how it works. Think you could lend me a hand with that?」

「Hey, I like the sound of that. Sure thing. How many people should I gather?」

「About fourteen or so?」

「Ahh, I’m sorry to tell you this, Sanraku-kun, but unfortunately we won’t be able to grant you that request. You see, we have only about five people or so in here at the current moment.」

Oh well, it looks like this wall that was going to be the obvious obstacle in my way was going to be way higher than I would have initially expected…… I mean, I knew that this would not be nearly as easy as the trek through Leviathan, but come on! I know that Behemoth throws various challenges in the Player’s way, but making everything a literal struggle towards victory is a bit much, don’t you think!? Make it simpler! Make it easier! Sometimes it’s really necessary to have bones like that being thrown your way, you know!? Either that, or at least create some loopholes that the Players could easily exploit without having to worry about anything!

And it was precisely because I was worried about the performance of my new skill that I went out of my way to ask “Ivory” to bust out another one of those “combat dolls” so that I could test the skill’s performance against it. And including both Emul and Sigma in my party, I had about eight people worth of buff power to utilize…… Hey! What the hell do you think you’re doing!? Don’t just go on in front of the crowd, Sigma!

「Goodness gracious…… Alright then, let’s just get this whole verification thing started.」

Bansai-san, the Professor, Sigma, Emul, three members of “Library”. With those seven people standing right behind me, I took a step forward to confront the combat doll that was still waiting for me…… Alright then, let’s activate this new skill and see how it fares in actual battle! Come to me! The Extraordinary Skill, “golden Age”!!

「FUHN!!!」

Whoooa! Well, isn’t that actually amazing? When I previously used it on the Crystal Nest Cliffs the only thing it did for me was to make my body shine in a way that made me think: “Oh, cool, I’m all shiny now!” But that seemed to be about it. But what’s this? I feel really powerful now? As if, as if this light was the actual visual representation of my fighting spirit…… But this light was not like the one of a flame, it was more like a crackle of electricity.

「I originally wanted to do this without any other skills, but…… Oh well, let’s just try some bare-handed attacks with skills to reinforce them.」

Huh? Well, well, well, this verification starts to get even more serious than I would have initially expect it to go…… Oh weel, since we are doing this thing for real, I might just get to do this with all due diligence and take my time with making proper attacks. Like…… There! A compact angle right away being switched into a sharp angle!

Hmm, this uppercut should have been quite nice, but for some reason it did not feel all that great. However, the fist that I embedded into the body of my opponent easily managed to blow the distant relative of Sigma away without any issue. After all, this was only a training dummy, so that’s something you’d expect.

「Yes, that’s right…… Sanraku-kun, As far as I am aware of, you are not using any skills or accessories that correct your Strength stat, is that correct?」

「Not really, no.」

「So, the way that in which you define peak firepower potential is through mobility and Agility, I see…… and if this is what seven people’s worth of buffs is like, then one can only speculate how fourteen would actually look like. Next, why don’t you show us how does that skill works in tandem with some other skills?」

「Alright. In that case, let’s see how Hyakushu’s God Arm is going to apply in here.」

And just like that, I activated Hyakushu’s God Arm without any special preparation or skill adjustment…… Because at the current moment being straightforward is the name of the game!

The combat doll was maintaining a guard posture, and I sunk another punch right into its right arm. There was a really stiff feeling in my clenched fist for a moment out there, but then I could see cracks and fissures starting to appear all over the combat dolls’ arm, as if it was being crushed……!

While I was watching the battle doll being blown away in a flashy way, I gaze in a hurry at my arm and see that the skill’s effect was currently being rewritten…… But was the whole skill actually rewritten? Or maybe it was just one aspect of it?

「Trying to crush the guard, and this knockback…… Yup, I knew it. It’s pretty terrible.」

「No, this surely looks menacing enough already, but maybe there is more to this technique than we are able to perceive? Or maybe it’s the other way around? It may look powerful, but it is actually really weak? There is clearly something here that we are unable to perceive.」

「Yeah, I agree with everything that Bansai-san said so far. Without actually being able to see the actual HP gauge or strength meter, we are unable to reach any concrete conclusion. Now then, maybe the guard is being crushed alright, but what about the actual damage? What if it is only applied to the specific body part?」