Chapter 52: Attack Intent
Chapter 52: Attack Intent
In the control room, the large screen flickered as if there was a power surge, but then the video feed stabilized.
"Even though Kuruma's Kiryoku is at the lowest rank, it is still untouchable at the current moment. Now, how will they handle this?"
Ron said with his arms crossed. He was very much looking forward to this.
"Most of the groups I have overseen are usually waiting for Kuruma to exhaust itself, as using Kiryoku is exhausting." Dakota said.
Muriel stepped closer to the large screen and looked at it with her round eyes. She was nervously holding her clipboard tightly against her chest.
'You realized the weakness of Kraft and Magick fairly quickly, but how about this?' Ron thought to himself while looking at Adam's figure on the screen, who was currently standing by the side.
...
Kuruma weaved past yet another attack and then punched one of the players across the face. The punch was powerful and sent the player flying through the air, landing in a crumpled heap on the ground.
It still wasn't enough to kill the player. However, it wasn't too far.
That punch surprised other players, who were not expecting Kuruma's physical strength to be this scary.
At that moment, Kuruma rushed in and delivered a swift kick to the player's head, knocking them out cold. It then swept their legs out from under another player, causing them to fall to the ground with a loud thud.
Instantly, something tickled at the back of Kuruma's head, and it instantly took a step backwards, avoiding an arrow that whizzed past its head. It saw a pale-faced archer hiding behind other players.
It growled loudly, but then a few other players rushed in-they were Seth, Niko, Donald, and Hannibal. They cut, slashed, stabbed, and hacked.
However, Kuruma evaded each one, moving across the ground with grace. It didn't look like its feet had even left the ground. It simply looked like it was skating across ice.
Then, Kuruma formed a brick-sized fist with its right hand and slugged Hannibal in the face. It sent him flying to the far corner of the room.
Following that, Kuruma low-kicked across Seth's, Niko's, and Donald's legs, knocking them down to the ground. Then, Kuruma rushed in and threw a powerful punch, but before it could reach the target, it felt a strange tingling sensation at the back of the head.
Kuruma's choices were either to kill those three players or escape.
In that split second, Kuruma made its decision and quickly jumped backwards. It had, after all, only one percent of health left. Even with its lack of intelligence, Kuruma knew how to value its life.
"Aa-rgh..." Donald stood back up, feeling an ache in his legs, and then turned to see who saved them—it was none other than Adam, holding his shield in front of him.
Adam tried to ram with his shield straight into Kuruma, but as he expected, it decided to dodge.
...
"He finally made his move." Ron said while his lips moved into a smile. "Now, what will he do?"
Dakota bit her nails in anticipation. For the whole time, she was waiting for Adam to make his move. She was very curious about how he would decide to deal with this.
"Maybe he will try to use his speed?" Ron said to Dakota: "It might not work, but it's definitely worth a shot."
"Maybe..." Dakota said, her eyes fixed on Adam. "It is possible to overwhelm someone's Kiryoku with the use of speed. Still, whose is superior, Adam's speed or Kuruma's Kiryoku?"
'Adam doesn't feel like a person who will try to brute force something.' Muriel thought to herself and then smiled. 'Maybe he has something else in store?'
...
A silence had fallen over the room.
The players were sweating in nervousness while staring at Kuruma. They didn't care about getting the kill anymore; they just wanted the creature to die.
They were so close to clearing the third floor, but now, in the last percentage, Kuruma had to become even stronger. They couldn't even touch it!
"Did you guys notice it?" Adam suddenly straightened his back, dropped his guard, and put his shield and sword to his sides. His body was completely unguarded.
The players looked at him with quizzical looks.
"What do you mean?" Ramon asked from the side.
During the whole fight, Ramon took a passive stance. Whenever Adam gave an order, he attacked the boss and dealt a considerable amount of damage to Kuruma-he would definitely get a lot of points.
However, this experience made him wonder about his place at the party and about his future. Currently, he was Damage Dealer, but he wasn't sure whether that's all he wanted to be.
'What's Adam's role exactly?' Ramon wondered. 'He is controlling the battlefield like a king. I want that as well...'
All the players were waiting to hear Adam's words.
"When you are attacking Kuruma, it knows exactly from where and when the attack will land. It then dodges."
"We already know that." Donald said with a frown. "It was quite obvious, now?"
"Yeah, but is there something else to that?" Adam smiled. "This must be Kiryoku. One of the Three Powers. However, how does Kuruma know where the attack is coming from? Can it see into the future? I doubt it."
"It is because Kiryoku is allowing it to detect the attacks, I guess." Donald said with a frown.
"Yes, but how does it detect the attacks?" Adam shot up a question. "Is it detecting attacks, or the people attacking?"
Donald frowned and felt like the answer to the question was within the tip of his tongue. However, he couldn't find the answer.
"I think it is detecting a person's attacking intent." Adam said with a smile. "It is like you are shouting your attack right next to Kuruma, where it will land, and when. It gives Kuruma
more than enough time to dodge out of the way."
"So, how can that be defeated?" Donald asked with a frown. "We shouldn't have any attacking
intent?"
"Exactly!" Adam grinned widely. "Watch and learn."
...
In the control room.
"He learned it so quickly?!" Ron shot to his feet and screamed in shock. "How?!"
"What in the world..." Dakota whispered in shock. "Still, how can he stop his own attacking intent? It usually takes years to learn to control it like that."
Ron's lips twitched into a large grin. A silver armor suddenly appeared around his body and hugged his muscular frame tightly. On his back, a shield with a crescent serpent symbol appeared, and on his hand, a large sword manifested.
'I want to fight...'
-
Adam approached Kuruma with slow and steady steps. All the players watched with nervous
heartbeats.
Kuruma held its ground and formed a large fist with its right hand. It was ready to crush the annoying human in front of it with a single blow.
This human was the cause and reason for all of its pain so far.
At that moment, while walking towards Kuruma, Adam closed his eyes and entered the depths
of his mind.
His mind was vast, like an endless ocean. It was currently raging, with tall waves crashing against each other. It was like this because of Adam's attacking intention and desire to fight.
Snap.
But then, Adam snapped his fingers, and the ocean calmed down. It didn't have a single ripple. Not a single wave. It was so eternally calm that it almost seemed unnatural.
And just like that, Adam's attacking intent completely vanished.