Chapitre 34: Fight Fire with Fire
The place that Zane teleported into was something akin to a bathroom.
It took him a second to readjust, since shifting through reality was not exactly a feeling one could get used to that quickly. Incidentally, before reaching Tier III on the skill, he actually couldn't teleport through objects or hard surfaces—and luckily, he never tried. Otherwise, he would look like a fool. The original description of the skill never mentioned this, but after reaching Tier III, the information prompt about the newly-unlocked powers of the skill let Zane discover this.
And now… his skill had reached Tier IV. There were no notable changes to the skill's capabilities, other than increased range. Zane could now teleport across an entire city's worth of distance if he wanted to, but the trade-off was about a full minute of uninterrupted cast time.
In other words, it wasn't very practical for use in battle, but could potentially save some travel time as long as he didn't do it under broad daylight. After all, there was still a shadow trailing after him, though he did not know their identity. He did not want to reveal too many of his abilities lest the need for a fight come in the near future.
Back to the matter at hand, the stall Zane was in was quite cramped and dark. Someone with claustrophobia would most likely freak out in a situation like this, the feeling of loneliness overtaking them. But Zane was not alone—he knew he had his Servants hiding in his shadow, and could call upon them at any time.
On the contrary, he was relaxed here. The room was quiet, making it the perfect spot to think. It would most likely be a while before the Wanderers could reach him here—that is, if they could even find him in the first place. There were no visible sources of water around apart from the toilet, which had its lid closed. All the faucets in the sinks were shut tight as well, so there shouldn't be any way a Wanderer could know he was hiding in here. After all, from their perspective, he simply vanished into thin air. They had no way of telling which direction he went, or if he simply turned invisible.
'Now then… what a troublesome situation this is.'
Sinking into thought, Zane sat down on the toilet seat, and pondered. These 'Loch Wanderer' Grunt-type monsters were clearly not like anything he had ever seen before. They had no visible weaknesses, and possessed strong coordination, intelligence, and physical capabilities as well. No matter how one looked at it, they did not seem to be the type to belong in a mere D-rank Dungeon, even if it is a Secret one.
Unless… they had some hidden, vital flaw that once found out, would make slaughtering them as easy as a cakewalk?
That was the only explanation. There had to be a weakpoint somewhere—Zane just failed to see it. Clearing his mind, he started his analysis from the beginning. To find another's weakness, one must first accept their strengths.
For Zane, that was easy. He'd just listed them all out in his head. But what about the exact power these Wanderers used? On the surface, it seemed like water—they were made of transparent liquid, and they could manipulate their bodies freely to both defend and attack, even to the point of straight up eating Zane's fire.
But… all that was limited to the materialistic plane. There had to be some way to damage them… they couldn't be completely invulnerable, could they?
And that's when it hit him.
'If I can't cut them… what if I cut the space they are in?'
What if, instead of 'water', they actually manipulated the power of space, to an extent? That would explain a lot—including how his [Soul Detect] skill didn't pick up on the presence of any enemies earlier in that room where his Servant had been killed—at least, not until the Wanderer actually attacked. After all, if they existed in an alternate, overlaying plane of existence until they struck, no wonder Zane couldn't feel their presences.
If that was the case, to defeat them, normal, basic attacks certainly wouldn't do it. But what about the [Abyssal Dagger Art]?
According to the skill's description, the technique was drawn from the Abyss, the void, and utilized spatial magic to amplify the wielder's attacks. Of the five different moves, the first was [Blade's Reach]—a skill that allowed Zane to cut targets well beyond his melee range by erasing the space between his strike and the enemy. If he used that against these creatures, which seemed to be utilizing the power of space…
Zane made his decision. '… It's worth a try, if nothing else.'
Just at that moment, his [Soul Detect] skill suddenly picked up on a hostile presence behind him, and his eyes widened in shock.
'Dahrka!'
With no time to even turn around, Zane had no choice but to call upon his Servant. Immediately, a hooded shadow with glowing white eyes rose from the ground, and blocked the sharp strike that came jutting out of the toilet seat.
"Tch… you managed to find me this quickly…?!" Zane narrowed his gaze in annoyance. "Well, no matter. You'll be the perfect test subject!"
With perfect coordination, Dahrka parried the creature's blow and retreated back into Zane's shadow, just as Zane cut the air diagonally with his daggers, unleashing the first move of the [Abyssal Dagger Technique]. Immediately, the sharp water spear jutting out of the toilet was suddenly erased, and a split second later, the toilet burst open with a geyser's worth of water splashing everywhere.
Quickly, Zane teleported out of the stall to avoid getting wet, and waited, breath held. And before his eyes, the words he was waiting for appeared.
[Loch Wanderer (Lv. 18) — Defeated!]
[+180 XP]
"Ha… so it worked."
Against normal monsters and people living in the materialistic world—the human, real world—the 'erased space' of the first technique would not do anything, since that had to do with the 'spatial world'—the world of woven webs beneath earth's, the void. But to these creatures, who originated from that dimension and abused the thin layer of fabric that set the two worlds apart? Zane's skill could erase them from existence completely.
From behind him, the sound of a single water drop splashed against the sink basin. But of course, that was no normal drop of water. Zane knew what it was—and this time, he did not run away. Instead, he smiled, and held his daggers tight.
"Alright… playtime's over."
After all, he had discovered the Wanderers' fatal weakness—what reason was there to run?
The tides of this battle were about to turn.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone