“…What’s going on? Just what kind of weapon did this guy use?”
But the crimson spear wasn’t aware of any such weapon.
Mumei (Nameless) was at the forefront of information gathering and technology, and yet, despite being one of its key members, the spear didn’t know of a weapon that could wreak so much destruction from a distance and be invisible at the same time.
Instinctively, the spear realized that he had to get rid of this black mist or at least get some information out of him.
He knew instinctively that this black mist could become a threat to them, so he switched from the normal mode of the system to the battle mode, and wielded a spear in each hand.
He also activated the Bit Mode of the four spears on his back and released them.
Due to some circumstances, he didn’t know the names of all six spears, but he knew that they each differed in type and ability.
He was known as ‘spear’, but it wasn’t as if he had actually received a second name that he was called that, though he did pride himself as being one of the best long-spear-users in either world.
They had no time, so he decided to use his full strength and end everything in one blow. He focused his attention and senses onto the black mist.
But the more he looked, the more he didn’t know how to approach him.
He could see the black mist, but this foe was surprisingly difficult. If he moved his limbs, the spear should more or less be able to guess what he’s about to do, but since he appears as nothing more than a lump of black to the visual sensors, he couldn’t read him at all.
“!?”
The black mist used that moment of hesitation to jump sideways.
It was disgusting seeing a lump of gas move like a human being, and it was even more disgusting seeing it enter the bookstore to lift up an oblong bookshelf.
It was also disconcerting how much that black mist seemed like it shouldn’t weigh much and yet here it was lifting up a heavy object.
Perhaps it was because of that that the spear failed to react in time when the bookshelf was thrown at him as if it were a bullet.
But that too lasted only for a moment. After a short while, the spear responded by cutting down the bookshelf and its contents with a single stroke of his left spear.
Before the tip of a spear where photon energy has been gathered, wooden-made objects may as well be sheets of paper. It didn’t matter how heavy the object was.
In the first place, was there even any point in throwing something like that at him?
The black mist had even thrown a second one and hid it directly behind the first bookshelf, but the spear just ignored the second bookshelf and kept his eyes on the black mist, allowing the bookshelf to crash into his barrier.
Due to the friction with the energy, most of the part that hit was eroded.
“…Go.”
‘Isn’t this common sense?’ the spear thought to himself as he moved two of his four spears (bits).
The reason he moved them was because he noticed the black mist kicking himself off the ground.
There was a time lag, so the spear moved his spears by thought and had the first one suppress the black mist, while the second one was to fly straight at him.
In the crimson spear’s mind, the first spear would go straight for the black mist, and then while he was blocking or dodging it, the second one would take him down, but—
“Huh!?
—the cone-shaped first spear just went through the black mist like it was sucked in.
For a moment, the spear wondered if the black mist even had a body in the first place, but he immediately abandoned the thought.
After all, since he couldn’t really see through the black mist, even if the person manning it had dodged by a hair’s breadth it would still look as if the spear had gone through him.
He was too naive. The black mist’s unknown image obfuscation system was a lot more troublesome than he’d expected.
“Tsk, sweep!”
After the first one kept going as if the black mist was truly nothing but mist, the crimson spear swept with the second spear.
This mostly meant to suppress the black mist, but it was also a test to see just how hard it was to see through this black mist.
As expected, the black mist just kept advancing, but it was likely that he dodged the sweeping spear by stooping.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to confirm just from the visual feed since he was able to dodge.
The spear knew that the black mist was able to dodge, but reading him was difficult.
Since that’s the case, the spear decided to step toward the black mist himself and swing the two spears in his hands.
He swept with his right spear to force the black mist to dodge and limit his movements, then thrust with his left.
Even if he missed again, since he’s holding these two spears, he should be able to tell if he was able to make a hit or not.
Unfortunately, even that didn’t go as planned, as the black mist didn’t dodge the sweeping motion of his right spear.
“Tch, just what kind of equipment do you have on you!?”
If you don’t dodge, you’ll get hit. That should have been obvious to anyone, but even after the right spear made contact and wasn’t moving, the spear didn’t feel that sensation he was expecting. There was feedback. Yes. But that feeling of his blade burying into something was completely missing.
Was that because this black mist was able to block his blow or simply because of his great resistance?
The spear didn’t know, but regardless, he continued as he’d originally planned and thrust out with the three-pronged spear in his left. Unfortunately, the black mist was faster.
It was almost as if the black mist had slid along the handle of the spear in his right hand and appeared right at his chest.
This was a fatal distance to any long spear user. Of course, the crimson spear knew that.
That’s why he immediately braced himself and ordered the remaining bits to point at the enemy’s back.
When the black mist’s attack comes, the bits will strike him from behind.
“—G-GAH, A-AH!?”
But whatever resolve he mustered was pitifully blown away along with his body.
What was it that directly hit his chest? Was it an arm? A leg? A weapon?
The spear didn’t even know as something penetrated his barrier and sent him flying into the air.
For a moment, he found himself choking as he bounced and tumbled off the floor a few times, before finally stopping 20 meters away from where he originally was.
As the crimson spear stood back up, he glanced at the wound on his chest. The wound he incurred was similar to the invisible shockwave from earlier,
but unlike before where his armor had only been lightly scraped, this time a deep dent had been left.
It was the same kind of attack, but the difference in power was like night and day.
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