038. Claire of the Iron Wall (2)
Claire looks around curiously.
“I’ve heard that there is an underground canal, but it’s like this~. Why does Ariel know about this place?”
“Because your epaulettes were found here.”
“Oh, really? Did I drop it in the sewer?”
I nodded.
“Ah, that’s right~. I’ve searched here and there for some reason, but it’s nowhere to be found. So, did Ariel’s absence this time to attack the underground water?”
“What is it?”
“Aha! There’s no way you attacked a place like this alone… Did you have a party with Miss Marie Ruhelif?”
From noble mtl dot com
I only taught you a little bit, but you even notice everything.
She has a good brain when it comes to bullying others.
That’s why it’s vicious.
“But how did you seduce Miss Marie Ruhelif? Did you catch Miss Marie Ruhelif’s weakness? Like me?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“That’s right.”
Claire draws her sword as if she is not interested.
Claire’s equipment is surprisingly simple.
He hardly wears anything that could be called armor. Just like the one I’m wearing right now, it’s light leather armor with an emphasis on mobility.
The weapons are also relatively ordinary. Only one sword.
It’s not even a specially made sword. It is a ready-made sword that you would have bought at a store.
It was that kind of outfit.
What that means is that Claire is not an adventurer who is heavily influenced by equipment.
A nobleman who joined the Student Knights even though he did not receive any equipment changes.
That’s why it’s strong.
“Ariel, you might be surprised. I’m pretty strong, right?”
Claire says so.
“It’s not too surprising. I’ve already faced you twice.”
“Twice? Oh, that’s twice including the exchange of the ball~. Really, it just makes me laugh.”
Saying that, Claire wasn’t laughing very much.
It’s like meeting Claire for the first time.
Strange words. I’ve had many conversations with Claire, but it’s the first time I’ve seen her face to face.
That’s probably because Claire threw off her mask.
“Ariel, this world is so boring.”
Claire says.
Somehow, the face looks like it’s worn out with fatigue.
“Stimulation is always lacking. Even if I spend every day without stimulation, is that really meaningful? How is it different from just breathing?”
“If you don’t like that, keep a constructive hobby.”
“It’s a constructive hobby… All kinds of things come into my hands. What should I do?”
I can’t answer that question.
Since I was born into a noble family, I can get pretty much anything. That’s why Claire got what she wanted without any effort.
You don’t have to make any effort.
Plus, being the youngest, he wasn’t even allowed to try.
So it was distorted.
“As expected, I want something that I can’t get my hands on. I want an experience that can only be had once. To get that, isn’t it inevitable to be a little extreme?”
A self-deprecating laugh.
And it’s a smile that even madness is mixed with.
“Ariel, be mine. Dance for me forever.”
“Who wants to dance with you?”
I took a fighting stance.
Claire also extends his hand.
“Let’s finish this.”
I say.
But Claire shakes her head.
“Let’s finish it? No. I’m sorry, but I won’t.”
─Now is the beginning of me and Ariel.
Claire said so.
With those words, walls rise from everywhere. One of Claire’s main skills is .
That wall was created to block me and Claire.
Because the wall was blinding me, I missed Claire’s location at this moment.
But Claire will know where I am. Because Claire had a detection skill.
Claire’s basic attack pattern is to block the sight with And surprise.
Whether it comes from the left, the right, or from above is slightly different each time. The only thing that is certain is that there will be a surprise attack next time.
‘But it will take time to surprise them.’
Since there is a wall between them, Claire cannot attack from a distance either. As for Claire, if he wants to attack me, he has no choice but to bypass the wall.
In other words, I have time until Claire arrives.
I set off a smoke grenade.
– Cough Cough.
Claire’s coughing voice was heard from nearby. It was a story that Claire was getting closer than expected.
Once Claire’s eyes are covered, he won’t be able to attack right away.
I detonated the next item.
—–
[Poison Cloud]
Crafting Rating: 8
Quality: very good
Effect: Normal
Duration: High
: A potion that creates a large amount of poison gas. It can only be crafted with the Skill.
—–
Green smoke spreads out in the white smoke.
It has a scent similar to almonds, but it’s not that sweet. An ominous feeling that anyone can feel.
Mixed with a sense of crisis, you can’t help but know that it’s dangerous if you inhale it.
At that moment, there was someone swinging a sword.
I knew it because I was watching it.
I easily dodge the attack and widen the distance as much as possible.
“Oh, Ariel. You’ve changed a bit since I couldn’t see you.”
Claire looked at my face and said.
I was wearing a gas mask.
At the same time as he exploded the smoke grenade, he covered himself. When I was Kim Il-hwan, being trained in CBRN was surprisingly helpful.
“You see, Claire. Time is on my side.”
I know Claire’s skills. Claire doesn’t have the ability to purify poison.
Not only. I also know Claire’s fighting style.
Claire is a solid style that shakes the opponent with overwhelming defensive ability and slowly gains an advantage while consuming the opponent.
In other words, it is a style that takes time to win Claire’s victory.
Therefore, the combo of the poison gas and the limited indoor space of the underground waterway works against Claire.
“Clumsy Ariel. Did you think you could beat me with just that level of trickery?”
Claire laughs.
He looks a bit angry.
“Aren’t you underestimating me too much? When Ariel challenged me to a match, I thought I would have prepared something bigger….It’s not fun this way.”
And then, Claire rushes in.
I know. He never thought that poison gas alone would be enough to take him down.
There would be no point in knocking it down like this in the first place.
If you win thoroughly, you’ll be able to keep Claire’s mouth shut.
“I’ll take you down soon.”
“If you can, try it.”
He threw a throwing knife with paralysis poison in his left hand and a bomb with his right hand.
Even so, Claire had no intention of slowing down her running speed.
He stretches out his left hand and fires a To detonate bombs in the air, while swinging his sword with his right hand to deflect flying throwing knives.
Nevertheless, there is still quite a distance between me and Claire.
I stepped back and threw the items.
“.”
A shield forms in Claire’s left hand.
But that wasn’t all. The shield glowed, and magical bullets were deployed and fired from within.
The bullets knock the items I threw out of the air one by one.
All my throwing attacks are blocked,
Claire, who has narrowed the distance, swings her sword to cut me down.
But at that moment, an explosion occurs.
A sudden explosion under the ground.
It exploded right under Claire’s feet, leaving Claire’s body floating in an instant.
In the meantime, I open the distance again, and Claire steps back and adjusts her posture.
“You laid the mines? Ariel, you’ve prepared a lot.”
Magical Engineering Mine.
Since the bomb itself is enchanted with transparency, it cannot be seen without a special detection skill.
‘The damage isn’t that high, but I’m not going to try to approach it easily with this.’
Ariel has close combat abilities for a wizard character, but it is not comparable to Claire. When she goes to melee, she loses to Claire.
So keeping your distance is the key to this fight.
My victory if I keep my distance and take the time.
Conversely, if you close the distance even once before taking poison damage, Claire wins.
“How should I cook?”
Claire confronted me with a joyful voice. It seems that they are planning to respond after seeing how I come out.
Facing Claire like that, I think of the original work.
Claire has a ‘triple defense’ system.
The first defense system, .
It is a strategic defensive tactic in which Claire not only builds a wall to slow down Lucius’ advance, but also uses the wall as cover to launch a surprise attack.
The second defense system, the .
A shield with auto-intercept ability, blocking most of the long-range projectile attacks. Even if you drive into close combat, the shield will continue to fire bullets and add additional damage.
The third defense system.
A passive skill that activates automatic defense when Claire takes damage. It is a powerful defensive ability that even has conditional CC immunity.
You have to break through this triple defense system to defeat Claire.
You can destroy it by giving damage that is strong enough to exceed the triple defense system,
Or draw Claire’s mana so that the triple defense system cannot be maintained.
‘Neither way is easy.’
Is the method that I can inflict the most damage with Mountain Eater and ?
Among them, Mountain Eater will be intercepted by , And Cannot be used easily because it takes time to activate.
Consuming mana isn’t easy either.
In the first place, Claire is aiming for a short-term battle because of the poison gas, so she will try to settle it before her mana runs out.
Then, in the end, there is only one way left.
There is no choice but to bypass the defense system and attack.
“.”
I threw the Mountain Eater.
When Claire sees me throwing the bomb, she immediately raises her
.
However, the automatic interception system of Does not work.
Flying upwards, Caused a huge explosion and brought down the ceiling.
“Hey, are you using your head?”
Claire immediately rushes forward with her
.
It was intended to break through and avoid the falling objects, and then close the distance with me to attack.
Of course, I already read that thought.
I throw the Mountain Eater again.
At Claire’s feet.
“Oh?”
Claire opened his eyes wide as if in admiration, reflexively dodging to the side.
The automatic interception range of Is narrower than expected. It only intercepts projectiles flying from the direction the shield is facing.
Attack away from the radius of the shield ── For example, I know that the attack that is thrown to the floor is not intercepted.
In the end, Claire failed to break through.
Without a chance to dodge, Claire disappeared under the debris on the ceiling.
Erea was just a little concerned about what happened after that.
From noble mtl dot com
“Ah, those two students who were said to be missing? Fortunately, they came in well.”
“I see.”
The top floor of the dormitory, which is said to only be used by seniors. It was a coincidence that Era met Lapiska there, but it was a relatively frequent occurrence.
Er A found Lapis Car and was casually asking her about Ariel.
“It’s amazing. Junior Erea is interested in someone else.”
“Why did those two camp in the dungeon instead of reporting to the dormitory?”
“Did you hear that they camped in the dungeon? I guess they didn’t know the dorm rules because they were freshmen.”
“…….”
Is that really true?
No matter how you think about it, it was strange. The underground waterway is a dungeon that you can go to in no time, and it is a dungeon with warp points in between.
So there’s no need to camp in the canal.
It would have been fine if I had attacked the underground waterway, went back to the dormitory to sleep, and returned to the warp point I saved in the middle to finish the attack.
Why did those two focus on raiding the dungeon instead of returning to the dormitory?
I couldn’t understand that fact.
If you can’t understand….
“So, where is Erua junior going at this time?”
“Let’s go camping in the dungeon.”
“Camping? At this time?”
“Yes, in the culvert.”
“In the underground waterway…?”
Lapiska is looking at it with an incomprehensible expression.
Erra couldn’t understand Ariel either.
So she decided to copy Ariel’s behavior.
“Then let’s go.”
So Erea headed for the underground water canal.
She never imagined that she and she would see the boy there.