alwaysunqualified

  Chapter 35 - Echos of legend (1)

  Once again, I found myself deployed with my unit. We had mustered after a seven-hour wait for our “esteemed commander”, who had led us for nearly a year. Every week, ten days, we were sent out as a clean-up force, following behind the more senior squads.

  When we were in the field, she rarely bothered me, unlike during training sessions where I was a constant target of her harassment. The only early consotion was watching her Affection meter drop, though it eventually pteaued at negative five hundred, slowing as it decreased.

  "All clear, form up!" Her voice carried through the air. Despite the all-clear, my unit remained motionless, mesmerized by the women as they secured the mana pilrs, the same ones from our first mission under her command nearly a year ago.

  This mission was a mixed bag. Her entourage was smaller, and with the lieutenant absent, there were no harsh reprimands, but this left the noble girl struggling to maintain order. The other guys were now forced to handle the sers, giving them a glimpse of the daily abuse I faced. However, it was frustrating to see them shrug off the ser strikes as if they were mere love taps.

  "Come on, idiots, let's form back up," I urged, my attention not captured due to my inability to ogle them from this distance. I had tried a mental fortitude potion, but it proved minimally effective; it seemed only to guard against detrimental effects, and consistent distractions and involuntary reactions to every passing woman didn’t qualify.

  "Ha, oh yeah, um, sure," Elric muttered, half-snapping back to reality, though his gaze lingered on his targets until a ser struck him in the face, snapping him fully alert as he yelped in pain.

  “I said form up,” she called again, as a flurry of sers snapped the rest of the squad back to reality. Observing their easy distractions, I wondered what set them apart from the more seasoned squads, whose men might gnce at the women but never allowed them to interfere with their duties.

  I once asked the lieutenant about it, but all he offered was cryptic advice: "Learn what you want, and things will get easier." That advice made no sense to me, and I wasn’t alone in my confusion; none of the other guys understood it either. All I could do was keep trying, clinging to the hope that it was simply a matter of time and discipline.

  "Ah," the guys all groaned, rubbing their eyes.

  "Ready to go, or do you need a minute for your vision?" I asked, noticing their eyes quickly healing from what would likely have been permanent damage on Earth.

  "No, I'm good, not blind this time. Still worth it—definitely a, what was it, dump truck," Elric said, fshing a grin and pointing towards one of the girls I couldn't see from our position.

  Using considerable effort, I pushed him forward, saving him from another likely follow-up ser if he lingered even a second longer. As we began to move, the others quickly joined us, even before their vision fully returned, relying on their other senses to determine our direction. We were the first to fall back into formation, even though we weren't the closest.

  “Date starto!”

  “Really, I thought we discussed this,” I said, feeling a mix of irritation and disbelief. I had talked to her about saving as many date points as possible to use when we returned to the city. I even agreed to let her do the rolling. Apparently, when she rolled, she accessed her own wheel with effects, invisible to me.

  It wasn't so much the points she used that bothered me; it was more about her breaking a promise. That’s not a good habit to form.

  "Sorry, Father, the gacha button was glowing. I really tried, but I couldn’t stop myself," she said, her tone far from apologetic.

  I was about to lecture her on the importance of keeping her word, but something else she said caught my attention. "Glowing? Has it done that before?"

  “Maybe, I think it did once, but I wasn’t fully aware at the time,” she replied, touching her chin with her index finger—a gesture she seemed to have inherited from her mother.

  I scanned through my menus but found nothing out of the ordinary. Just as I was about to address her broken promise, she interrupted. "Ah, Mother is calling, I have to go," she said, darting away before I could start my lecture.

  I doubted she was actually being called; they can’t communicate when she's here. By running off, she only deyed one lecture while also setting herself up for a second one on lying. Scratch that—add a third on taking responsibility.

  Putting that off until ter, time resumed, and I stood at attention, watching the other men slowly form up. The minutes dragged, the formation just completed, as her personnel were apparently still preparing the spires for transport. Suddenly, my vision shifted from the men in front of me to pitch bck, then to trees zipping by.

  Before I could make sense of it, I was yanked upward. Below me, a rge white snake-like creature tore through the forest, splitting one tree after another in half and toppling those nearby.

  [Observe has triggered, allowing you to observe the battlefield.]

  Time slowed, and my perspective shifted higher, giving me an overview of the chaos below.

  I spotted my body being carried through the air by a purple-haired ninja, her sword drawn. Bck, thread-like wires with blue electricity running through them extended from her hand, weaving into the shadows of the trees. They bound the snake below us but inflicted little damage, other than causing smoke to rise from its skin.

  Further back, I saw my squad. They had no time to react as snakeheads burst through the ground, tearing them to shreds and misting the air with blood.

  My friends, whom I had finally made, still had stupid expressions on their faces as they were swallowed whole. Robert, caught by the side of the mouth, was split clean in half.

  Even most of the girls had no time to react. Those who did were flung away, their defenses effortlessly pierced. As I watched them, their faces blurred with those of my family, the snake morphing into bck tentacles.

  [Monster: Hydra Tier: 8 (Mana Boosted)A snake-like creature with many heads. Each severed head regenerates two in its pce. It emits a vapor-like venom that poisons and melts anything it contacts.Highly intelligent, with instincts that surpass its tier.]

  [Mana Boosted: This hydra has consumed a rge source of monster mana, elevating it by one tier and significantly enhancing all its attributes.]

  I hadn't fully processed the information on my screen, yet Miki's warning echoed in my mind: the most dangerous monsters are those that develop intelligence and instinct.

  Watching them crushed, torn apart, and devoured, I was desperate to help. I slotted Angelina’s card, but it only confirmed the grim reality: they were dead.

  My momentary confusion had cost them their lives. Had I immediately slotted Shadow 13’s card, perhaps I could have made a difference. My thoughts were scattered until I saw a familiar chair soaring through the air, untouched by any snake. Inside sat the noble girl, facing forward, unbothered by the chaos behind her as she fled the scene.

  I stared at her in disbelief. This girl had come in, acting superior, posing as our leader, making us wait, never sharing any information. Then, at the first sign of trouble, she fled!

  My disbelief quickly transformed into a furnace of anger. My initial impulse was to attack her, to knock her out of the sky so she could face the consequences of her command, but that thought was fleeting as my anger cleared my mind. I had no time to wallow in self-pity; there was still a chance to save them.

  “Restart the date,” I said, my gaze fixed ahead, hoping this would work as I intended.

  “Date restarto!”

  The world around me shattered like gss, and I found myself once again standing with my squad. My heart pounded in my chest as if a weight had been lifted, yet my anger still drove me forward, the screen still hovering before my eyes.

  With the Hydra's information still visible, I reread the details, especially noting the 'mana boosted' part. I concluded that the mana spires, which the girls had been securing, were likely the cause. Trying to recall, I realized I hadn't seen the craft they were being loaded onto—probably the first target the snakeheads destroyed.

  As time resumed, my wings propelled me straight toward the arrogant noble still perched in her chair, issuing orders. Her face registered shock as I smmed my arm into her, pinning her against the chair.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a sword halfway toward me, intercepted by the purple-haired ninja’s bde. I dismissed both her and the attacker, my fury focused solely on the noblewoman sitting before me, her eyes wide with shock.

  "Order your people to move the spires away quickly!" I yelled at the stunned noble.

  "Wa, who do you think you are—" she began, but I cut her off by shoving her back harder, causing her to wince in pain. There was no time for expnations. Should I move it myself? Tell them to run? I cursed silently, realizing too te that I should have devised a pn while time was frozen—a mistake I couldn't afford to dwell on now.

  What was the point of all my training if I crumbled the first time I was truly tested? My thoughts drifted back to that day, the Breaking, but not to the events themselves—rather, to my mindset at the time.

  ‘This is all just a game.' That perspective had seemed so apt back when my dissonance with this world was at its peak, a notion that had faded more and more as this world began to feel like home.

  Yet here I was, surrounded by screens in a scenario straight out of a game, complete with the boss music’s tempo rising in the background.

  'If this were a game, what would change?' I asked myself. 'I wouldn’t be panicking; I'd be strategizing how to win. After all, games are designed to be beaten.'

  And so was this situation. I had everything I needed. What was the difference? This was just like a game.

  …

  My perspective shifted, and I found myself once again in my pitch-bck room, the only source of light emanating from my computer screen. On it, a silver-haired avatar stood over a bck field. A number was counting down on the screen, though I couldn't quite make it out for some reason.

  When I gripped the mouse, my hand trembled. "Must be pre-game jitters," I muttered as I shook my hands in front of me, taking a deep breath. A smile crossed my face as my nerves settled, ready to begin.

  …

  "Wa," the girl in front of me excimed as I released her, dismissed her, and turned around, allowing my mind to sift through the barrage of information and formute a pn. The ninja girl also disengaged, positioning herself between me and the girl who had attempted to ssh me earlier. Looking around, I saw many confused men unsure of what to do, their eyes fixed on us.

  "Yuno!" I called, and she appeared, her hand touching the ground as a rge, circur rune materialized, engulfing the area. In the next second, the squad and the girls were gone, leaving only me, Yuno, the ninjas, the noble, and the spires, which were mostly secured in the vehicle.

  "Do you..." the noble began, but I ignored her.

  "Good job, Yuno," I said as she approached. My hand patted her head appreciatively as I took in her appearance. She wore a bck dress that starkly contrasted her pale skin and white hair. Potions for quick retrieval were attached to her side, and a pair of hatchets along with knives were strapped at her hips. She was fully prepared for combat.

  [Name: Yuno Ekker Level: 29 Affection: 8001 Affiliation: Twin SisterHaving yandere thoughts. [Very yandere]]

  As I reviewed my resources, I realized I still had all of Angelina’s card uses avaible. Since I slotted it before the reset, it seems it hadn't consumed any uses. After taking a physical fortitude pill and a special anti-poison pill crafted by Miki, I felt their effects enhance—Yuno was doing something to boost them further, a new technique she must be mastering.

  “Do you realize what you’ve done? I will—” the noble began, but stopped as Yuno moved behind me, fetching two potions to drink. I reactivated Angelina's card and set sakuras as my secondary. Then, I donned my armor, wrapping both of us in protective barriers.

  [Name: Masodere Armor Level: 72 Skills: Reinforce 3, Repair 2, Pain's Reinforcement 1, Attraction 1]

  [Reinforce: Use Love Points to strengthen armor.]

  [Repair: Use Love Points to mend armor.]

  [Pain's Reinforcement: The greater the damage to the armor, the harder the remaining pieces are to bypass.]

  [Attraction: Draw attacks toward your armor.]

  “What? But my sister—" the noble was finally silenced as she was swiftly propelled away, allowing the ninja girl to sheathe her sword and step in front of me.

  “You will stay and fight?” she asked, locking eyes with me.

  “Yes,” I replied, my gaze fixed on her, my mind still racing as I considered and discarded potential strategies. I recognized this hydra; it looked exactly like a rger version of one I had encountered years ago. I had repyed that video countless times when I was bored, watching the girl outmaneuver the hydra, slicing off its heads until it could no longer regenerate. That gave me a solid understanding of what I was up against.

  "I see," she said as she turned away from me, her bde half-drawn, eyes closed, and posture low, feet wide apart as if ready to spring into action. Her left hand stretched out in front of her, tiny wires zily hanging from her fingertips.

  Just as the beat dropped in the boss music, a head ripped through the ground. Time twisted as I swapped Sakura's card for Lucy's, and Miss Fortune struck the second its head emerged, devouring the mana spires.

  My angel transformation elevated all my lower-tiered Blessings to at least tier five, making even my weaker cards viable. Combined with Miss Fortune's ability to bypass tiers, its effect was immediate.

  [Hydra has gone mana berserk. Its intelligence and instincts have been suppressed, while its strength and speed have increased.]

  ‘It would have been better if it had simply exploded, but this works.’ I repced Lucy's card with Lamya the Librarian and began slinging curses, even as my perspective shifted, forcing me to reorient and track the hydra.

  A rge head was forced aside by a stab from the ninja as wires slung out behind her, pulling two more snake heads off their collision course with me. If I had been just us two, I might have been eaten.

  I continued to hurl curses even as we ascended into the sky. Yuno overid our vision, aiding me in reorienting. Below, I saw hydra heads tearing through the forest, chasing the ninja and spewing poison that melted trees, leaving caustic pools on the ground and filling the air with vapors. She showed no concern as she somersaulted over them, ensuring they kept their focus on her.

  Once I felt that no more curses would take effect, I switched to Spectra’s card, which confirmed there was nothing I could do from the soul angle.

  Finally ready to unch my offense, I felt my perception accelerate, a sensation that intensified as I activated Sk?gul's card. Lightning surged through me and out of my wings, illuminating the sky with fshes. I extended my hands forward, directing lightning down upon the writhing mass of snakes emerging from the ground, but it merely ricocheted off them, leaving only scorch marks. Observing the ninja's struggles to cleanly slice through them while on the move, I decided to alter my tactics.

  Using 'Connections Run Deep,' I visualized the vast underground network of snakes, all converging at a central point. A pn quickly took shape in my mind.

  Yuno instantly reyed my intentions, and the ninja leapt upward toward us, her wires wrapping around one of the pursuing snakes. Yuno then dove before me, driving a windstorm into the hydra's mouth. I followed, fpping my wings to propel myself deep inside, where its acid-like poison rapidly eroded my barriers once the wind stopped.

  I released lightning strikes to prevent its muscles from crushing me as I used runes to propel myself rapidly forward until I reached its connection point—a vast, stomach-like chamber filled with a ke of poison that instantly dissolved my barriers, and started to melt my skin and armor.

  I unleashed a concentrated current of lightning into the hydra. From Yuno's perspective outside, I could see the creature convulsing, smming its heads wildly above.

  Reaching my limit, I swapped out Sk?gul for my mother's card and used 'Quick Clean,' neutralizing the poison. With a moment to breathe, I quickly navigated through my shop, searching for items effective against hydras. I purchased all the items on the first page, dropping them inside the hydra.

  Outside, the hydra continued its rampage, and inside, the poison was quickly reciming the area, with puddles already refilling the ke.

  I activated Chossach and Tabitha cards, creating a clone of myself. My clone used 'Charm Her Pants Off,' and I noted that my usage was also depleted—not the outcome I had hoped for, but it worked. The clone ascended rapidly, beginning to condense a mini-sun while gathering the scattered items around him.

  From the second perspective I shared with Yuno, I saw a dagger spinning in front of her. I traded out the pnt dy's card for Stiletto, then switched pces with the dagger, appearing next to Yuno high in the air. As I slotted in Shadow 13 and 404, their shadow Blessings overpped, creating a synergy that, while not as strong, elevated my abilities to near their level.

  Yuno released a bck mist that enveloped the sky, casting shadows below. I slowed time and drew my sword.

  [Name: Kuudere Sword Level: 61 Skills: Sharpen, Lengthen Bde]

  [Lengthen Bde: Allows the bde to extend, consuming love points every second.]

  I fed it love points, extending the bde longer than I was tall.

  The mist didn't cover the entire area, but it shrouded ninety percent of the heads. Gncing back, I saw Yuno, exhausted and barely maintaining her flight, her potions depleted.

  I sink into the shadows pulling Yuno in with me before gently ying her exhausted body down on the ground. “404, protect Yuno!”

  Feeling her secured in the shadows, I smiled and submerged into the darkness again. My sword hovered just outside as I leaped through, slicing cleanly through a hydra's head. Each subsequent jump severed another head, but as quickly as I cut them off, more began to regenerate, forcing me to double back and retrace my steps.

  Heads thudded to the ground one after another, causing the earth to tremble and the air to fill with loud crashes. Each regeneration drained its magic and, more critically, slowed its functions.

  The relentless game of whack-a-mole ceased as a fming pnt tore through the space where a head should have regenerated. Knowing it was time, I re-engaged my angel transformation while slotting Grace, the princess's card.

  I activated 'Grace Subject' and 'Rally' on the pnts growing from inside its body, followed by 'Award Winning Smiles' to enhance their effect. The pnts burst through its body in a powerful, fming explosion, showering the poisoned and crushed forest with fming snake debris.

  [+400,000,000 exp points have been added to the shop.]

  [+2500 Goddess points.]

  Floating in the air, I felt my contract activate, preventing me from taking further action now that the danger had subsided. Off in the distance, I saw the noble slowly returning with the men and women Yuno had teleported away earlier.

  Watching her still looking smug as she issued orders, I mused ‘I should have thrown her at the hydra.’

  [Name: Ava IronfistLevel: 44Affection: 500House: Ironfist [23rd Daughter (2nd Youngest)]

  [Date end]

  [Achievement Unlocked: Heartflipper - Transform animosity into adoration (or the reverse) with a single deed. -Make emotional barriers easier to bypass.]

  [Achievement unlocked: Chain of Command. - Chain together a sequence of 10 or more cards to achieve a powerful outcome. - Each card in the chain receives an incremental power boost.]

  [Achievement unlocked: Redo of date - Save a date by restarting it. - Receive an alert just before the date is doomed to fail.]