The way a Talker fights
TN Note: Fight scene! Finally, we get to see the MC fight! wkwk
You might notice that Grandfather is used instead of Grandpa in this chapter as the author used Ji-chan previously, which was an informal and familiar way of speech and uses Sofu in this chapter, which is more formal.
Grandfather said to me, to become a Seeker that will never lose. Rather than pushing me to aim for the top, he was more likely concerned about my future.
Simply put, what he meant was, to never fight unless I was absolutely sure to win.
I could take the path of accepting Grandfather"s words and always taking safe measures. However, I wanted to become the strongest Seeker that was just as strong, no, that surpa.s.sed Grandfather. I strongly believed that this was the only way for me to repay my debt to my deceased Grandfather.
So the question was, what was the definition of the strongest. If I won"t lose, no matter who I fought, then I would undoubtedly be the strongest. But something like that is impossible. There is always an issue of compatibility in fights. The strength to be able to handle every type of opponent does not exist.
While all-rounder combat type Jobs exist, they easily become jacks of all trades and masters of none and are far from being the strongest. The Warrior, which was stable in both offense and defense, was the closest to being an ideal Job. But even Grandfather, who had reached the pinnacle EX Rank of this Job, had his limits.
Much less a Talker, which amongst all the combat type Jobs, was the worst in terms of individual fighting abilities. Being the strongest as an individual was absolutely impossible.
If so, what can be done about it? The answer was obvious.
「It"s all good if I create the strongest clan and become the clan master」
A clan is an organization formed by several Seekers. Simply put, it"s a higher tier version of a party.
In the first place, aiming to be the strongest individual is a mistake in and of itself. Human"s greatest strength comes from their solidarity within their groups. In other words, if I want to be the strongest, I just have to gather talented people of all sorts and create the strongest clan.
And as the first step towards that ambition, after I became a Seeker, I began searching for allies as soon as I reached the imperial capital. And quite luckily, I was able to form a party with three talented allies.
The red-haired gentleman, Lloyd the Swordsman. The black-haired muscleman, Walter the Warrior. The long, blonde-haired beauty, Tania the Healer.
The three of them were novices just like me but had graduated from their respective Seeker-training schools. Thus, all three were older than me.
Ability is everything for a Seeker, but as there are only slight differences among novices, many of them emphasize age superiority, so I bitterly ended up being a junior to all three of them. In other words, their underling. Even the role of party leader was held by Lloyd and not me.
Well, it can"t be helped at the start. This is the time to patiently gain experience as a Seeker.
A party isn"t something that stays constant, and I intend to eventually shape it to the form I want. If my allies accept it, then it"s all good. If they don"t accept it, I"ll just have to leave the party and gather new allies.
I don"t hate and do trust my allies, but if you work for a long time as a Seeker, it"s actually rarer to continue with the same members. Being able to let go quickly, and being somewhat dispa.s.sionate, is the kind of att.i.tude necessary to be a Seeker.
In any case, these are the members of 『Blue Beyond』. To fulfil that role, I"m working hard as a Seeker today as well.
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An Abyss will form anywhere, regardless of location, as long as the mana density pa.s.ses a certain point. It doesn"t matters if it"s a human habitat or beautiful flower garden or a clear lake.
However, it is still confined s.p.a.ces like deep forests and caves that tend to be easier for the mana density to rise. Especially in remote places, the management of it inevitably slackens.
This time, the location of the Abyss that our party of four was commissioned to cleanse, was a disused mine where Dwarves used to mine mithril.
The inside of the mine was wide and deep, but luckily the expansion of the Abyss was slow, so only a portion of the mine was affected. The depth of the Abyss was four. It"s a relatively shallow danger level. The kind of Beasts that appear, as well as the strategy to deal with them, are already well-known.
Lesser Vampire, a Vampire type Beast.
Vampire types are basically humanoids, have strong physical and regeneration abilities and are troublesome Beasts that can even use strong magic skills. But because Lesser Vampires are lower tier existences, they cannot use magic skills.
Even though it"s form is humanoid, with its four arms, pure white body and only one eye, it has quite a grotesque appearance. It only has a primitive intelligence.
But in return, it has very high breeding abilities, and can even increase its numbers through *parthenogenesis. It"s a terrifying creature which can increase its numbers from just one to several dozens in one month.
(* virgin birth)
If the discovery of the Abyss was late, the cave would be flooded with Lesser Vampires. If that happened, then it would become a matter that could only be dealt with by either a large scale party numbering in the dozens or an alliance of multiple parties.
Even if it can"t use magic skills, it"s still a Vampire type. It possesses the strength to pull apart a cow with its bare hands, and the regenerative abilities capable of fully recovering from all wounds unless it was beheaded. If surrounded by a few of them, even an experienced Seeker would be bitten to death in an instant.
Our party does not have anyone with a Job with skills that can investigate our surroundings. It would be so much more convenient if we had a Scout or Archer that excelled at presence sensing, but as big as the imperial capital was, it was difficult find talented people with whom we could come to terms with.
It"s not like any Scout or Archer will do, if they are weak, they"ll only be a hindrance. Eventually, we"ll become allies with a talented Scout or Archer, but until we find one, it"s not like we can stop our Seeker work.
So we could only explore carefully while relying on Tania"s Light skill. The four of us each kept an eye on our surroundings and one-sidedly killed any Lesser Vampires we found.
Even after we had found the Boss that served as the core of this Abyss, while taking care not to draw its attention, we continued to kill its subordinates. This was to avoid having nuisances getting in the way of the Boss fight as much as possible.
If it were a party with higher battle prowess, they would probably be able to win even if they fought the Boss right away. Once the Boss that serves as the core of the Abyss is killed, its subordinates that have their connection to this world cut off will stop moving immediately, so that is much more efficient.
But unfortunately, we do not have that kind of strength right now.
In the first place, the request originally stated that unless the entire party held B Rank and above Jobs, it would be very tough.
However, we were all C Rank.
The trick to making that impossibility possible, laid in my Job.
With my support buffs as a Talker, not only can the fighting abilities of my party members be raised, stamina and magic recovery can also be sped up. Even if powerful attack skills and healing skills were fired off continuously, my allies won"t become exhausted easily.
In other words, as long as we don"t get surrounded, we could keep on winning. Moreover, as its consumption was suppressed, there was no need to rush into dangerous battles for fear of running out of stamina. This seemingly inefficient extermination strategy was in fact a very rational fighting style for us.
Even if I have the oft laughed at support cla.s.s of Buffer that has the weakest individual fighting ability, with the training from my grandfather who was called a hero, rather than being a burden, my support buff abilities can be useful to the party.
Over the past year since we formed this party, we had steadily built up achievements using this way of fighting. Since we were always aiming at higher ranks, we were sometimes made fun of as greedy rookies.
So while we were all still newbies, we had pulled ahead of our cohort and were already recognized as top cla.s.s Seekers.
But then, that"s only when talking about those with C Ranks. I, who inherited the will of my esteemed Grandfather, must aim higher–
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Fortunately, all the subordinates could be eliminated without the boss noticing. There were 15 of them. As per the results of the advance investigation, they were all not fully matured so our strategy went well.
If this was half a month later, not only would their numbers have increased, but they would have gained the intelligence to fight in groups. Although they can"t use high level tactics, they"ll at least gain the smarts to fight other groups with groups of their own. If it reached that point, then there"ll be no way we could handle it.
The rewards obtained from subjugating Lesser Vampires are pretty good. I"ll make sure to earn lots here.
「An AOE attack centered on the Boss is coming! The two vanguards, dodge backwards!」
Following my instructions, the Swordsman Lloyd and the Warrior Walter, who were in a fierce fight with the Lesser Vampire Boss, each took a big jump backwards.
That instant, tentacles flew out from the back of the boss, and stabbed repeatedly at the surrounding area with their sharp tips.
The two of them were grazed by the attack and the sound of gla.s.s shattering could be heard. It was the sound of the Barrier skill, that Tania the Healer had cast in advance, breaking.
The attack power of the Boss was so strong that the Barrier could be destroyed from just a graze. If the two vanguards had been slower to evade, or if there was no Barrier, they would have received critical damage and be turned into mincemeat.
But we stayed patient. Something of this degree was within our expectations.
「Tania, recast the Barrier for both of them! Lloyd and Walter resume the attack! 」
「Got it!」「Understood!」「Leave it to me!」
From the start, the battle had been moving according to my instructions. The party leader may be Lloyd, but I am the one who issues instructions as our command tower.
The reason is not only because it is easier for a rear guard to grasp the progress of the battle. It is due to the fact that all my instructions have a buff effect.
Talk Skill: Tactician
A skill that raises the result and effect of all actions by 25 percent by giving instructions to party members. In other words, the three of them are currently in a state where all their abilities have been increased by 25 percent.
This rise is based on statistical data and is mostly accurate.
Also, that is not the only support buff granted.
Talk Skill: Battle Voice
A skill that increase the physical strength and magic power of party members by 25 percent and further increases their recovery speed. With this skill granted at the start of the battle, the three of them become able to fight at full power for a long period of time.
The battle was progressing advantageously for us. Lloyd"s longsword and Walter"s battle axe were gradually beginning to corner the Boss. With its trump card, the tentacle attack avoided, the Boss was only delaying its inevitable death. Even though it was a Beast without much intelligence, it was getting anxious.
However, things will go wrong in any given situation, given the chance.
「You"re kidding, an ambush!?」
Tania was the first person to notice their presence. When I heard her scream and followed her gaze, I saw three Lesser Vampires amongst the stalact.i.tes on the ceiling.
Seems like they had hid in a place where we could not have checked.
The current flow of the battle was advantageous to us, but if these ambushers support the boss, the flow will lean their way. Tania"s screams had reached the two vanguards, and their faces grew tense with nervousness. I instantly decided whether to continue fighting or escape.
「Don"t lose your cool! Continue fighting!」
Again, I wasn"t simply issuing instructions.
Talk Skill: Peer Support
A skill that normalizes the subject"s mental state and reinvigorates them was attached to the instructions. As a result, fear disappeared from the three of them and their fighting spirit was rekindled.
Of course, I wasn"t mindlessly forcing them to fight. We had a chance of winning.
Amongst the combat type Jobs, rearguards typically have a higher modifier to their intelligence. Moreover, the Talker Job has an intelligence modifier that exceeds even top cla.s.s rearguards.
By utilizing this processing capability, not only can the battle progress be a.n.a.lyzed precisely, it is also possible to make predictions about the near future with an accuracy that borders on precognition.
「… about 18 seconds」
I muttered, as I went through the plan in my head.
We won"t be defeated. Victory is a.s.sured. And the time needed to reach it, is 18 seconds.
I pressed the stopwatch"s b.u.t.ton, raised my voice and began to give new instructions to my party members.
「I"ll take care of the small fry! The three of you concentrate on the Boss! Tania will continue to refresh their Barriers! Lloyd and Walter will focus on maintaining hate and dodging while preparing to activate your strongest attack skills!」
Tactician granted.
And then, one more–
Talk Skill: Marking
A skill that raises the party members" hit and dodge rate against the designated target by 50 percent. In return, their hit and dodge rate are halved against all other enemies but I"ll pull the hate from the ambushers so that they won"t reach my allies.
I turned towards the ambushers that were jumping from the ceiling.
「Stop!!!」
With that shout, the ambushers missed their landing and fell to the ground.
Talk Skill: Stun Howl
A skill to stop the enemy"s movement. I can"t use it on higher rank enemies like a Boss as it will be resisted, but it was successful in stopping the movement of the ambushers.
Pulling open my black long coat and drawing the Silver Flame(Magic gun) from the holster equipped on my belt, I aimed it at the ambushers.
Silver Flame, a gun that fires magic bullets – bullets charged with Magic skills.
It was made out of mithril, which has a high magical conductivity. The grip was made from a Garm"s fang, a Beast from a depth nine Abyss. In addition, incantations that amplify the power of magic bullets were also engraved using Garm"s blood onto the rifling inside the barrel.
It is a 38 caliber eight-shot rotary revolver.
It is the only weapon I can rely on when fighting Beasts as I lack any other means of attack. I affectionately named it Silver-chan, as it was my indispensable partner.
However, because each bullet is so expensive, I can"t get trigger happy and shoot as much as I want. I have two Ice bullets remaining. I shot one at the ambushers.
The Ice bullet hit the ground and froze the surroundings immediately. Although it wasn"t cold enough to cause instant death, it was able to freeze the limbs and seal the movement of two of them. The remaining ambusher that had recovered quicker from the stun, jumped over the ice to avoid it and rushed towards me.
Being wary of Silver Flame, it advanced in a zig-zag manner, keeping me from drawing a bead on it. As I don"t have any shooting modifier skills, it is very difficult for me to accurately hit fast moving enemies.
Even if I were to use Stun Howl again, it won"t work as the ambusher has already gained a resistance against it. In order to stun it again, at least ten minutes must have pa.s.sed after the first stun. In other words, I can"t use it again in this battle.
15 seconds have pa.s.sed so far. Four more seconds till the ambusher"s claws reach me.
All according to my calculations.
Without hesitation, I pointed the muzzle of Silver Flame toward the boss behind me and projected my voice as loud as I could.
「Now! Lloyd and Walter, activate your attack skills against the Boss!」
I squeezed the trigger the same time I issued the instructions. Of course, there"s no way I"ll hit the Boss, given that I was shooting backwards. But when I ignored the ambusher coming towards me and attacked it instead, the Boss flinched.
Without knowing that that momentary lapse would be fatal.
The Ice bullet flew by the Boss and hit the wall, freezing the surroundings. As the Boss" eyes were drawn towards that, the two vanguards jumped in.
「Aura Blade!」「Deadly Drive!」
The Boss tried to counterattack with its claws, but it was a futile resistance.
Talk Skill: a.s.sault Command
During the 10 seconds this buff is in effect, the power of all attack type skills are increased tenfold. I granted the buff when I issued my previous instructions.
a.s.sault Command is the most powerful skill amongst my Talk skills. However, the rebound is huge, because the cost of the attack skill is also greatly increased, the person granted the buff becomes temporarily unable to move after the attack is over.
That"s why you need to know when is the best time to use that skill. And that momentary lapse I caused was the best timing for it.
The head of the Boss flew through the air as it was severed by the two amazing blades of my allies. The ambusher"s claws stopped right in front of my eyes as it collapsed to the ground.
I checked the display as I stopped my stopwatch.
「…exactly 18 seconds. Target enemy confirmed downed」
For a party"s control tower like me, it is essential to be able to a.s.semble an appropriate strategy within seconds. If proper judgment is delayed even for a moment, it could lead to the party"s annihilation. That"s why it is important to time it, so that you can check if there are any errors in your calculations.
I smiled a little at the fact that I was able to command a perfect battle this time.
「Battle, end. –Good work, everyone」
TN Afterword:
As I was going through the battle scene, I was so extremely tempted to put:
All according to Keisan (TN note: Keisan means calculations)
I know it"s an old meme but I love it. But it was kinda the climax of the battle and I really didn"t want to break the immersion of the reader so I refrained from doing so. (●´ω｀●)
I did pay homage to it elsewhere in the chapter though, did you guys catch it?
After your first look at the “battle system” of this novel, what did you guys think? Was it a little chunni? Let me know in the comments. (ᵔᴥᵔ)