Self-Aware-less Growth
『Hmph! Gah! Daau!!』
"Wai! a! Uoou!?"
An intense clash unfolded mid air.
The ogre should be attacking me while using Air Step which should limit its movement, yet its masterful barrage of kicks said otherwise.
You planning to open a dojo or what!? I don't think there's many humans who can unleash such a furious barrage of attacks out there.
The only reason I could barely handle its masterful offense is thanks to Energy Control powering up my STR and no-motion Mana Pile Bunkers shot from every part of my body repelling the attacks.
The ogre's face gradually warped every time what supposed to be a clean hit got repulsed by the invisible pile bunkers.
I'm actually surprised at myself for being a good match to this ogre despite the huge gap in our Attributes. Really drives home the importance of Energy Control.
But, my energy and mana will eventually run out if this keeps up. Gotta start thinking my escape plan if I can't kill this ogre before that happens.
But, its attacks are way fast and way strong, I'm barely scraping by just to defend against them. It's got a stupidly high DEF too so half-baked attacks won't do any good.
Menu-san, I'm kinda starting to suspect that maybe just maybe, you've made a miscalculation for once.
『Urururuaaaaaaaaa!!!』
I got through its barrage of punches somehow, but things will only go downhill at this rate.
I've no choice, I'll use up all my energy and explosively raise my Attributes to max for a moment--
GRAB Ogre's hand grabbed on something.
It's not my body. The ogre gripped the invisible pile bunker made of mana.
Then it swung the pile bunker along with me toward the ground.
"Owawawa!!"
Hey watch it! I'd have crashed if I didn't immediately activate Mana Flight there.
Those magic beasts I dropped down were this scared huh. Kinda feeling guilty.
『Gwadaa!!』
Eh?
When did this ogre get so close, ah, it combined Air Step and Ground Shrink to--
THUD I felt an impact on my abdomen.
A punch made a clean hit, my HP got reduced by a ton, 20% remaining.
Crap, another hit and my HP buffer will be gone, the damage will get through me, I'd die at worst...!
The ogre went and grabbed both my arms. My real arms, not mana piles this time.
I can see the ogre's head shining. And I don't mean that it's got a bald head reflecting light or anything, it's probably a Skill Ability.
<<Martial Arts Lv3 Ability [Iron Headbutt]: consume mana and energy to double the base Attack of a headbutt strike. This specimen's ATK will reach 2360 number with the use of this ability.>>
Are you dumb?! 2360 ATK, what the hell!? Don't matter if I got HP left or not, I'd die eating that!
What do! Forget just my head, it's gonna go down low, making for a show of dirty red fireworks.
<<Apply Energy Control to momentarily raises your head and neck region's Strength.>>
Don't think it's gonna do me any good even if I use up all my remaining energy though. I'd be lucky if it got to 1700.
Too bad! My adventure ends here--
<<It is possible to counter the attack by consuming all remaining Energy and utilizing Menu Function to convert all remaining Mana into Energy, which can then be used to further increase Strength.>>
....
Never thought of that.
Ah, incoming headbutt. Now then, it's sink or swim, let's see who got the blockiest head here.
『Giii!!』
"Iiiiiiy!!"
SPLAT an unpleasant sound of a head sinking into a head echoed.
"I'm back."
"Good work out there, Hikaru."
"Welcome back!"
I finally felt at home once I joined the two at the Adventurer Guild.
I converted all of my mana into energy for the headbutt contest, so I lost ability to maintain Mana Flight and started crashing back then.
Fortunately, my level went up and my MP got restored to max so it didn't end with me meeting the ground, but I gotta be careful next time.
It ended kinda uneventfully with just one hit, I wonder just how strong was my head during that one moment in time.
Maybe it's over 3000? No way right.
"Oh my, your leader is finally back I see. Good work."
"Thank you. Can you check my Kill Log."
I asked the receptionist who called me, 'That one in the report' when we first met, Froinasha-san, aka Froina-san.
I culled mostly Lv40 beasts and even one Lv57 ogre, should make a lot.
"Oof... I had an inkling when I saw those two's Kill Log. It's tremendous."
"Well, I just dropped down those magic beasts from high up. Even strong-ish beasts posed no problem with that strategy."
"...Err, you see, it's possible to confirm how a magic beast is defeated once you reach a certain level of Appraisal Skill, so um, what is this about killing an ogre with a headbutt?"
Busted. Wish she'd drop the topic.
<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka .com >
"Uh well, my head is apparently pretty sturdy, physically speaking, so we both had a headbutt contest and then, splat."
"Ogre's headbutt is infamous for boasting enough power to crush mithril plates, it's an attack you absolutely must avoid... You truly are an irregular."
Her face twitched as she twirled her green hair and muttered that.
...Okay okay, I just wanna get my reward and go back.
"120,000 en for four Grand Rats, 70,000 en for two Grand Snakes, and 120,000 en for three Hellwing Monoeye, as well as 130,000 en for one Ogre. That will be 440,000 en in total."
Whoa! 440,000!? Ain't no way!?
No wait, even lower B-ranked beasts like High Cave Bear is worth 20,000 en wasn't it? That means that much is apt. A fortunate miscalculation.
"I don't believe there's a lot of people capable of soloing so many upper B-ranked magic beasts and one A-ranked one. And you're not using a weapon at that, just how..."
"Thank you. Oh that's because I can't find any weapon I can properly wield. I'm just barely getting by by making use of the tools on my disposal."
"There's no records of tool usage though..."
Don't you worry your pretty little head!
A win is a win!
...Heck, I really need one, a weapon.
I can fight just fine without Skills, but using up all my Mana and Energy every time I faced off a slightly stronger foe is a bit...
Blast it, Skill Skill Skill! Is there really no weapon I can use without one!?
Looking from another perspective, you can say weapons that need a Skill to wield are not a good match for me.
Like say, [Guns]. They don't exist in this world, hence there's no Skill that corresponds to them. That despite the existence of spells named Stone Bullets and Flame Rifle. Weird.
I have no clue about the inner working of a gun even if I want to custom order one though. I know they've got some delicate parts like Rifle Ring and such.
I want a weapon I swing around with my hands and actually increase my firepower, but I can't even imagine what something like that is gonna be like.
...Might as well give it up and keep fighting bare handed.
We left the guild and made our way to our inn.
It's already dark out, I gotta make dinner.
"Fuffuffu, we cashed out lots and lots!"
"I suppose that makes up a big percentage of our equipment's expenses already."
"Yup... Once we've earned a bit more, I wanna ask Gen-san to make a weapon, anything, for me."
The sounds of clashing metal keep resounding even during the night.
It's not as noisy as midday, yet I guess this town is simply never asleep.
Well, it's probably about as you should expect from an industrial town, gotta bear with it--
BOOOM!! An explosive sound echoed throughout the town.
...Okay, maybe not this sound. Heck, was there an accident?
Looking in the direction of the noise, I saw a workshop with a big hole opened on its roof and billowing smoke.
Was it an explosion? Is that a workshop dabbling in dynamites or something? ...Huh, something is falling our way.
"Hogwua!?"
"Uooo!?"
"H-Hikaru!"
"Uwaa!? W-who!?"
...My body cushioned something, no, someone as they crash landed.
Did they get blown away from that explosion? I mean, get off me will you. You're heavy.
"Fu, fufufu. What a blunder, to think I misread the kickback, ah, not good, I'm going to die..."
Judging from the voice, seems to be a young man? He's groaning something on top of me.
I turned him aside. The young man is charred black with smoke coming off his whole body, lying there dying.
...For now, let's heal him with Life Force Control. We can hear him out afterward.
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