“That was close! “

　It's been about three months since I started on this.

　And finally, the “aforementioned pattern” finally appeared.

　As I prepared 《Dragon King Swordsmans.h.i.+p》 to counter the Darkness s.h.i.+ft―― Anko's shadow disappeared.

　This is the 《False Shadow》 state. If you attack during this state, the attack will be completely nullified. And you will surely eat some attack after leaving yourself open. All of Anko's attacks are deadly for the current me. Therefore, I must never attack while she's in False Shadow state.

　The active time of False Shadow is always 3 seconds. Cancelling the 《Dragon King Swordsmans.h.i.+p》 skill I was getting ready to unleash, I took some distance from Anko.

　And as soon as Darkness s.h.i.+ft was over, Anko used Darkness Summon. This skill summons a powerful weapon. And now that I couldn't use 《Dragon King Swordsmans.h.i.+p》 in time, there's no longer a way to stop the summon.

　Getting to this point, there's nothing I can do but to pray. Please, don't be the 『Dark Flame Spear』! !　I thought.

“……Nice.”

　This breaks the first barrier. What was summoned was the 『Shadow Cane』. From here on, Anko will rush using Jojutsu mode until she goes down.

　The question here is, how to take her down. Two critical hits of 《Rook Archery》 on her feet, or one critical and two normal shots, otherwise, it's 4 normal shots.

　――And so, it came. Darkness Magic.

　It's a vicious black fog that will force the HP down to one of whoever it touches. Moreover, it has a considerably wide range. “It's no exaggeration to say that it all depends on luck whether you can avoid it or not”, is what the wiki said…… But the people who wrote in there were all amateurs. You should never believe what the Mobius wiki said. It was all laughable.

“（――What are you doing! ?）“

　I could hear the surprised voice of Angolmois, who was in possession state. While watching the incoming Darkness Magic in front of me, I used 《Rook Archery》 to attack Anko's leg. Critical hit!　Nice development, isn't it?

“（You won't be able to avoid it!）“

　Yeah, it will definitely hit me. If you had the time to shoot it with 《Rook Archery》, you should have used it to avoid―― was probably what he wanted to tell me. From another person's point of view, this might seem like a mistake beginners tend to make.

　But just you wait. I'll turn that preconception upside down. In the first place, trying to purposely avoid an attack with this wide of a range is what's a mistake.

“Transform! “

　With this, the second barrier has been broken through. Transform gives 8 seconds of invincibility.

　The drawback is that my insurance is lost. In addition, the next move is troublesome. But there's no point in going with my hidden card. I must definitely end it here.

　Transform avoidance…… I think not many people had come up with an idea similar to this one for this scenario. Then, why isn't this written in the wiki? Quite easy. Such people don't visit the wiki page. If they were to have the time to teach people that “Transform should be used to avoid the Darkness Wolf's Darkness Magic”, they would rather use that time to try for more Tame attempts.

　That's what that online game was. After it went past a certain point, in an instant, thousands of people turned against one another. Be it their family, the blood of their own blood, it turned into a battlefield where blood was shed. And during that war, everyone tried to gather and monopolize information in order to outsmart their enemies. Everyone was a hated rival in the eyes of others and there were plenty of places to escape to. But once you ran away, it was over. And everything up until then was for that. Therefore, I absolutely couldn't fold in. I spent all that time betting my life on it. Well, it was a never-ending, lonely battle, but that was okay. It was fitting for me. Therefore, I poured my everything into it. And nothing could replace the pleasure of reigning atop of that den of thieves, above everyone who had given up……

　……Six seconds were spent thinking about those unnecessary thoughts, then, as the shadow cane was quickly spinning through the air, I released a 《Rook Archery》 shot aimed at Anko's feet. This one wasn't a critical. I need one more shot to bring her down.

　However, I don't have to worry anymore. There's no problem even if I were to be hit by Darkness Magic since I know that in that moment, I can take her down with one more shot.

　Therefore, I shot 《Rook Archery》 at Anko's foot the moment she was about to cast Darkness Magic. Then, Darkness Magic activated. Obviously, I ate it face on, and, in exchange for my HP becoming 1, I brought her ‘down'.

　Conventionally, this would've been followed by a shadow cane attack. But because she's ‘down', I can retreat safely and slowly recover. And with this, the third barrier has been broken through. I made it alive――

　Well then. When Anko gets up, she always uses Rush after Darkness s.h.i.+ft. I've already gone back to my usual position.

　And thus, the ‘wearing down' battle started again. I wonder how long will this take……?

Thank you for reading.

＜Status Details＞

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

Swordsmans.h.i.+p

s.h.i.+eldmans.h.i.+p

Archery

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

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