Seeing the two Dark Elves with bows pointed at him, Tsukuru grit his teeth in frustration.
'It's gonna be a pain in the ASS having to constantly be on the lookout for stray arrows while I'm fighting the Hobgoblins.' Tsukuru thought in annoyance.
Suddenly, Tsukuru's eyes widened.
'Unless…' He thought.
In his mind, Tsukuru flashed back to Quinn's description of that "Beast Equipment" cape that one player in Power Fighters had used against him.
Tsukuru smirked.
'That could work.' He thought. 'But…just making a cape is thinking too small…'
As if sensing his intentions, a System Screen appeared in front of him.
[Would you like to create Glathrium-Fiber Hooded Robes using Skill Video Creation?
[Yes] [No]
Notice: Creation Process will deplete your in-game MC by 10 Points.
Current in-game MC: 10/60]
Seeing the message, Tsukuru's eyes widened.
'What?!' Tsukuru thought in surprise. 'I've almost fully depleted my MC already?!'
He grit his teeth in annoyance.
'Fine.' He thought back to the System. 'Just do it. I'll figure something out later.'
Tsukuru glanced to the side.
'It's not like I haven't spent the last week training on how to fight without using my Ability or anything…'
A moment later, a new System message appeared.
[Initializing Creation Process…
Creation Process in progress…
Creation Process complete.
Glathrium-Fiber Hooded Robes have been successfully created.
Remaining in-game MC: 0/60
Now Equipping Glathrium-Fiber Hooded Robes…]
The Dark Elves and the Hobgoblins looked on, eyebrows raised in confusion, as they saw pixels beginning to cover Tsukuru's body.
The pixels clustered together into the form of a set of medieval-style robes with long sleeves and pants. It also included a hooded cape that reached down to his ankles, as well as a face mask that covered his mouth and nose.
There was a flash of light,and hen it faded, Tsukuru was covered head-to-toe in the medieval-style clothes.The clothes were black with a metallic sheen, denoting it as being made of a metallic fiber.
Seeing Tsukuru covered head-to-toe in the black, hooded robes and the somewhat-rusted Knight Gauntlets on his hands gave him the look of a rogue or an assassin in an old, medieval-era video game.
However, the outfit completely clashed with his modern-day sneakers, making them look completely out of place.
As Tsukuru was now completely out of in-game MC, and thus was incapable of creating new weapons, Tsukuru opened up his System's Inventory, to see if there was anything in there he could use.
However, the only "weapons" still in his System's Inventory were those thirty neodymium daggers that he had used to train Amelia with.
However, those really couldn't be used as actual weapons. Neodymium was a fairly brittle metal, and if he used them as actual swords, they would most likely shatter on impact. It'd be like fighting with a blade made out of glass.
Tsukuru glanced around the platform.There were a few scattered Frostnet Arrows around, as well as a few Intermediate-Tier Knight Swords around.
Tsukuru gritted his teeth, and reached over towards the Knight Sword stabbed into the ground to his immediate right.
He gripped his hand around its handle, and lifted it out of the ground, holding it at his side.
As he did, he felt the Beast Energy surge through him, increasing his Strength.
Tsukuru held the sword out to his side, and took a running charge towards the group of five Summons.
As he ran, the two Dark Elves released their grips on their drawstrings, sending their arrows hurtling towards Tsukuru.
However, as soon as the arrowheads made contact with the part of Tsukuru's hood covering his forehead and the part of the robes covering his chest, the arrows simple bounced off, a metallic "clang" being heard.
It was as if the arrowheads had hit a thick, metal wall.
While the Glathrium-Fiber Hooded Robes looked like ordinary clothes, Tsukuru was essentially wearing a whole suit of armor right now.
Seeing this, the one of the Hobgoblins grit her teeth, and dashed forward, her spear out to the side.
As the Hobgoblin reached him, she thrust her hand holding the spear forward, aiming to pierce Tsukuru through the chest.
However, Tsukuru's left hand lashed out, and gripped the spear's shaft just below the spear tip, locking it in place mere inches away from his chest.
The Hobgoblin grit her teeth, as she and Tsukuru were locked in a struggle of strength.
However, while the Hobgoblin was using all of her immense strength to try and overpower Tsukuru's, he simply thought about placing the spear into his System's "Weapons" Tab.
A System screen appeared in front of him.
[Would you like to place the Basic-Tier Hobgoblin Spear in your System's Weapons Tab?
[Yes] [No] ]
Tsukuru thought 'yes'.
Instantly, the Hobgoblin's spear began to break apart into pixels.
A moment later, it vanished completely.
A new System message appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[Basic-Tier Hobgoblin Spear has been placed in your Weapons Tab.
Item will be automatically deleted when you leave the Battle Arena.]
Seeing this, Tsukuru grit his teeth in annoyance.
'It seems that because I don't have access to the Hobgoblin Summon Race yet, I can't use their Beast Gear outside of this Battle Arena.' Tsukuru thought in irritation.
With the spear now gone, the Hobgoblin's momentum caused her to begin to fall forward.
"Agh!" The Hobgoblin screamed, wide-eyed, as she began to fall.
Tsukuru used this opportunity to thrust his right hand forward, driving the Intermediate-Tier Knight Sword into the Hobgoblin's chest.
Her eyes widened, and she slumped forward, dead.
A moment later, she exploded into pixels.
A System message appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[You have killed a Hobgoblin. 60 XP received. XP: 632/1600.]
Seeing Tsukuru easily dispatch with one of them, the two remaining Hobgoblins and the two Dark Elves exchanged looks.
Despite the fact that Tsukuru was now no longer using his Skills for some strange reason, he seemed to be just as capable fighting hand-to-hand.
As Tsukuru began charging towards the pair of Dark Elves, him apparently viewing them as an easier target, the Dark Elf on the left grit her teeth in annoyance.
She reached into her quiver, and pulled out a rather strange-looking arrow, and loaded it into her bow.
Rather than looking like a standard, iron arrow, this one looked as though it was carved out of the wood of a white, birch tree, with vines wrapping around the length of the arrow.
The arrow also had an arrowhead that was glowing green.
"Let's see how you handle this arrow, my liege!" She hissed through gritted teeth, as she released the arrow.
The arrow flew through the air towards Tsukuru.
On impact, rather than the arrow bouncing off, vines of thick bramble with razor-sharp thorns exploded out of the arrowhead, growing as if the arrowhead had been a seed.
Instantly, the thorns began wrapping tightly around Tsukuru's body, him feeling as if he was being tied in rope.
Tsukuru let out a grunt of pain, as he felt his arms behind tied to his sides.
"What…the hell?!" Tsukuru muttered through grit teeth, as he desperately tried to struggle free.
Seeing this, the two remaining Hobgoblins dashed forward.
As they wound back their fists, Tsukuru bended his body at his waist, bending his whole upper body down like a flat board, causing the Hobgoblins to hit nothing but air.
The two Hobgoblins grit their teeth in annoyance.
They oriented their arms downwards, and pulled their fists back.
They slammed their fists down into Tsukuru's back.
There was a metallic "clang" as the fists of the two Hobgoblins connected with Tsukuru's back.
Tsukuru grit his teeth, as he felt an intense pain, though not nearly as much as he had felt when that Hobgoblin had punched him in the gut before.
The Glathrium-Fiber robes were essentially armor, and while armor was really good at deflecting slashing and piercing damage, it didn't block physical damage very well.
This is because the metal didn't absorb the kinetic force of the attack, leading it to being transferred through the metal and into the body.
It was the same reason why blunt weapons like hammers were so good against platemail in the medieval ages.
Above him, the Hobgoblins grit their teeth in slight pain. It felt as if they had just punched a thick, metal wall.
They darted back, and shook their fists to the side, trying to "shake off" the slight pain.
"The hell is that thing made of?!" One of the Hobgoblins muttered through grit teeth.
Tsukuru meanwhile, straightened his back so he was standing straight again, and he continued to struggle.
Eventually, he managed to twist the Intermediate-Tier Knight Sword underneath the thick bramble covering his chest. He strained with all his might to push the blade forward and away from him.
The effect was exactly as Tsukuru had hoped. The Intermediate-Tier blade sliced right through the bramble, freeing him.
Tsukuru looked up at the two Dark Elves.
"Nice trick." He replied, his eye twitching in annoyance. "Anything else?"
As if feeling personally challenged, the same Dark Elf who had fired the shot that had ensnared Tsukuru reached into her quiver, and pulled out another strange arrow, loading it into her quiver. This one was a pitch-black arrow whose tip was surrounded in a dark mist, almost like living shadow.
The Dark Elf aimed the arrow not at Tsukuru himself, but at the concrete ground right in front of him.
The Dark Elf released the arrow.
On impact, the arrow released a dense cloud of black fog that covered a whole 30-foot radius centered on the arrow's location.
To Tsukuru, it looked as if he was trapped in a room at the dead of night with the lights turned off.
Instantly, the two Hobgoblins rushed forward into the darkness.