Health: 5,080/5,080
STR: 269 VIT: 254 DEX: 141 INT: 95 WIS: 102 LUK: 87 Note: Like you, Eustass Kid possesses the [Resilience] [Perk]. His health is being increased.
'Oh.' My eyes ran over the block of text a second time. 'Well that's bad.'
I was prepared for him to be a tough. I was never in any doubt that he'd be one hard son of a bitch to put down. I predicted correctly that he'd be slower than Killer was, as it just wouldn't make sense otherwise. So at least I have that going for me.
However. I was not quite ready to see a LUK stat twice of my own. Nor a STR that was above even my adrenalin boosted state. I read the final 'Note' again and suppressed a scowl. I guess I can't really call foul on him possessing [Resilience]. This guy's up there with the 'Monster Trio' on the amount of punishment he can-
[Kami-e] activates almost on pure instinct as the trident flies past me. Wire whips his wrist back and a razor thin filament pulls the projectile back to him. At his back, another dozen or so grunts are flooding out of the innards of the ship and are beginning to spread out. Each with rifles and cannons in their grips, ready to reinforce their leaders against the aggressor. Heat dashes froward and puffs his chest up. Orange light can be seen through the stitches of his mouth and not a half second later there's a concentrated stream of fire flying towards me. Fire in the front. Metal construct at my rear. Far too many weapons locking in on my position. 'Maybe staying in the air isn't the best idea.'
A reverse [Geppo] throws me back to ground level and I immediately bring Kugizume up to block Wire's trident. The officer jabs the weapon forward in quick succession but each time I simply parry or dodge. Whatever his DEX is, it's not up to task for challenging mine.
On one particular thrust I slide left and let the weapon pass me by. I swing Kugizume up, intending to decapitate his weapon, when a power much more profound than its predecessor wrenches the Meito from my hands.
I offer the quickest glance back to Eustass and see he's abandoned the idea of using a giant steel snake to do me in and is instead opting for his more traditional twin metal arms. Wire goes for another jab now that I'm unarmed but I simply seize the weapon by it's neck, tear it from his hands and send him sliding away with a kick to the chest.
131 Damage!
The officer crashes into a wall, splintering the wood and forcing a glob of spittle to fly from his mouth. I turn to the surrounding mooks to engage but I'm too late. The bullets are already flying.
-115 HP!
-116 HP!
-28 HP!
Two shots find home in my side while a third clips my arm. I launch the stolen trident at one of the idiots who's looking just a bit too smug from shooting me and am rewarded by watching him get lifted off his feet and impaled into the wall. +350 Exp!
This minor victory is very short lived however as I feel a scythe rake across my back, stripping flesh from my spine. I swing a leg around but Killer is already back-flipping away.
-179 HP!
A shadow above me blocks out the sun and I kick my legs into a [Soru] to avoid getting pancaked by the giant metallic fist.
'Damnit! I can't just react all day! I need to get on the offensive!'
My [Soru] deposits me in front of one of the cannon-wielding mooks. A Lv. 17 named 'Kenrith'. To the mans credit he doesn't flinch in the slightest at my sudden appearance. He depresses the trigger in an attempt to take my head off but by that point I've already bashed his arm away and have delivered a bone-fracturing uppercut to his jaw. His weapon discharges a solid 90 degrees off of his intention and an unfortunate fellow on his right gets blasted overboard...while leaving a leg behind.
+405 Exp!
+260 Exp!
A battle-cry from my right alerts me to the saber coming my way. A simple hop up puts me above the strike and significantly less simple [Geppo] kick into the man's cheek twists his neck at a sickening angle and he collapses to the ground in a series of spastic twitches.
+275 Exp!
Alert! [Adrenalin Rush] has expired! STR (253.3) → (149) 'No! I'm not done yet! Hit me again!'
[Adrenalin Rush] Activated! STR (149 +70%) → (253.3) [Kami-e] slides me beneath the axe of a massive bear of a man. A dirty shot to his groin hunches him over and then with a double-grip on his arm I flip him over and toss his hulking body at a trio of his comrades. The resulting impact doesn't come anywhere close to lethally injuring them but it does knock them straight through the Victoria Punk's railing, into the Blue, and out of the equation.
And apparently for the [Game] that was good enough.
+400 Exp!
+280 Exp!
+305 Exp!
+360 Exp!
The familiar whirring of scythes makes itself known as Killer drops in from above. I slide backwards just in time to watch his blades land and begin tearing into the wooden deck. A massive gray and brown thing appears on my left and I barely have time to bring my arm into a guard before the metal limb smacks me clean off the side of the ship.
- 231 HP!
A wooden railing snaps into pieces from my sudden ejection and stars momentarily take over my vision. 'Holy shit that fucking hurt. That alone did 10% of my health!'
'Well yeah' A separate sarcastic part of my mind spoke up. 'You just got bitch-slapped by a giant wall of weapons. Was it supposed to tickle?'
'Not now brain!' I regain my bearings and use [Geppo] to pull a midair recovery. I launch myself back at the Victoria Punk and begin weaving through the hailstorm of projectiles welcoming my return. Gunfire, cannon fire, actual fire, and lets not forget the giant hand trying to catch me like a child would a fly.
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