As soon as Tsukuru saw the humanoid shapes of the Dark Elves beginning to form, he immediately decided to equip his full set of Beast Armor. Pixels enveloped his hands down to his forearms, his legs up to his calves, his upper torso, and thetop of his head.
There was a series of four consecutive flashes of light. When they faded, Tsukuru was wearing his Intermediate-Tier Knight Gauntlets, his Intermediate-Tier Cave Spider Chestpiece, his Basic-Tier Bladetusk Boots, and his Basic-Tier Dunespire Hemet.
Tsukuru felt a wave of Beast Energy surge through him, and four overlaying System messages appeared in front of him.
[Intermediate-Tier Knight Gauntlets equipped.
+7 Strength, +5 Armor
Strength: 11 [+11]
Armor: 5]
[Intermediate-Tier Cave Spire Chestpiece equipped.
+4 Strength, +6 Armor
Strength: 11 [+15]
Armor: 11]
[Basic-Tier Bladetusk Boots equipped.
+4 Agility, +2 Armor
Agility: 15 [+4]
Armor: 13]
[Basic-Tier Dunspire Helmet equipped.
+4 Armor
Armor: 17]
"You really needthat much armor?" Reiju asked.
Tsukuru could tell from her tone that she thought that he was overdoing it.
'First of all, this will protect me from the Dark Elves' arrows,' he thought back. Then, his face hardened. 'And second of all, If I have the Beast Gear, there's no reason not to use it,'
Tsukuru and the group of three Dark Elveslooked at one another. Then, Tsukuru charged at them.
The three Dark Elves reached back into the quivers, and withdrew an arrow each. They loaded them into their bows, aimed at Tsukuru, and fired.
The first arrow, which was aimed at Tsukuru's right shoulder, rebounded right off the Cave Spider Chestpiece's shoulder pauldron. It was sentspinning through the air to Tsukuru's right. The second arrow was aimed at Tsukuru's left rib.
A similar event occurred. The bullet rebounded off of the armor, being sent flying in another direction.
However, the third arrow proved to be more of a problem. Seeing that the previous two attempts had failed, the third Dark Elf chose to aim at a spot not protected by armor. Specifically, he left eye.
Tsukuru tilted his head to the right in an attempt to dodge the arrow. However, it still managed to graze his lift cheek.
Tsukuru returned fire by aiming his Scordana Gunblade at the left side of the thired Dark Elf's chest. Right where her heart was.
He pulled the trigger.
A loud gunshot was heard, and the bullet punched a hole right through the Dark Elf's chest, and through the other end.
The Dark Elf's eyes widened, and she coughed up a bit of blood. Then, she fell backwards. After she hit the ground with a thud, she exploded into pixels.
A System message appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[You have killed an Infantry-Rank Pawn-Grade Dark Elf. Video Emperor's Battle Arena-Exclusive Effect: 60 XP received. XP: 725/8000]
Tsukuru then moved his arm to aim at the second Dark Elf. Just like with the first Dark Elf, he aimed right at her heart.
He pulled the trigger, causing another gunshot to ring out.
A moment later, the remaining Dark Elf felt a sharp pain in her chest, before she too fell back to the ground.
On impact, she exploded into pixels.
Another System message appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[You have killed an Infantry-Rank Pawn-Grade Dark Elf. Video Emperor's Battle Arena-Exclusive Effect: 60 XP received. XP: 785/8000]
Finally, Tsukuru fired a shot at the last remaining Dark Elf.
The bullet pierced straight through her chest, and she fell backwards. A moment after she crashed onto the ground, she exploded into pixels.
Another System message appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[You have killed an Infantry-Rank Pawn-Grade Dark Elf. Video Emperor's Battle Arena-Exclusive Effect: 60 XP received. XP: 845/8000]
The arena was silent for a moment. Then, the sound of electronic interference was heard.
Looking over, Tsukuru saw five more groups of pixels beginning to form.
Just like before, the pixels clustered together into humanoid shapes.
Except this time, the group consisted of two Dark Elves, and threeHobgoblins.
There were five consecutive flashes of light as the five enemies manifested.
Seeing them, Tsukuru grit his teeth
'I've only got one shot left,' he thought. 'It's nowhere NEARenough to take out all FIVE enemies. And I doubt they're just going to stand around and let me reload.'
Tsukuru aimed the Scordana Gunblade at the second Dark Elf's chest and fired.
The sound of the gunshot rang out through the arena, and the Dark Elf felt a sharp pain in her chest.
A second later, she fell backwards onto the ground, and exploded into pixels.
'No point in wasting my last bullet,' he thought with a smirk.
A System message appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[You have killed an Infantry-Rank Pawn-Grade Dark Elf. Video Emperor's Battle Arena-Exclusive Effect: 60 XP received. XP: 905/8000]
His gunblade now out of bullets, he thought about putting the Scordana Gunblade back into his System's Equipment Tab.
The gun took on the likeness of a light-blue hologram and broke down into pixels.
He felt the Beast Energy of the weapon leave his body, and a System message appeared.
[Intermediate-Tier Scordana Gunblade removed.
-4 Strength
Strength: 11 [+11] ]
Then, a new set of pixels appeared in his hand. The pixels clustered together into the shape of a sword. Specifically, a rapier blade. The glowing light of the pixels died down, revealing the Intermediate-Tier Paleneedle Rapier.
Tsukuru felt a rush of Beast Energy surge through him, and a System message appeared in front of him.
[Intermediate-Tier Paleneedle Rapier equipped.
+5 Strength, +4 Agility
Strength: 11 [+16]
Agility: 15 [+8] ]
Tsukuru smirked.
'My Intermediate-Tier Knight Sword might give a higher Strength Boost, but this rapier makes up for it by giving me an Agility Boost!' Tsukuru thought.
Figuring that he would take care of the less problematic enemies first, Tsukuru dashed towards the three Hobgoblins.
As he ran, he crossed his right arm across his chest over to his left. Once he had reached the nearest Hobgoblin, he slashed the Hobgoblin's chest.
A System message appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[Intermediate-Tier Paleneedle Rapier's Passive Skill Leech Drain has been activated. +2 HP. HP is currently full. No HP recovered.
Skill Leech Drain is now in cool-down. Time remaining: 10 seconds. ]
'Yeah, I know!' Tsukuru thought in annoyance. 'Stupid Virtual-Reality 'it's not your REAL BODY' bullshit!'
The Hobgoblin let out a grunt of pain, and clutched her bleeding chest.
Her face hardened into a look of annoyance, and she thrust her spear forward.
However, given Tsukuru's now 23 points in Agility, he was easily able to duck down, avoiding the thrust. A gust of wind shot out from the spearhead.
Tsukuru wrenched his arm back, and pushed it forward with all his might, performing a thrust of his own. The Paleneedle Rapier pierced into the Hobgoblin's right rib like a needle.
"Gah!" she screamed in pain, as she involuntarily staggered downwards.
Tsukuru then leaped upwards, and wrenched his arm back. He thrust the Paleneedle Rapierforward once again. This time, into the Hobgoblin's skull.
The Hobgoblin's eyes widened as the blade pierced her cranium, and the force of the thrust caused her to fall backwards.
She hit the ground with a thud, and exploded into pixels.
A System message then appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[You have killed an Infantry-Rank Pawn-Grade Hobgoblin. Video Emperor's Battle Arena-Exclusive Effect: 60 XP received. XP: 905/8000]
As they saw their fellow comrade die, the remaining two Hobgoblins lunged at Tsukuru,
Tsukuru threw the Paleneedle Rapier towards the Hobgoblin on the right like a spear.
The Hobgoblin smirked, and tilted her head to the side, causing it to whiz right past her.
"How're you gonna fight now without your weapon?!" she taunted.
Tsukuru merely activated his Video Stasis Skill on the rapier. It froze in air behind the Hobgoblin.
Tsukuru then rotated his hand, causing the blade to rotate as well. A moment later, it's blade was facing the Hobgoblin's back.
Tsukuru then wrenched his arm back, causing the Paleneedle Rapier to fly through the air like a heat-seeking missile.
The blade pierced through the back of the Hobgoblin's neck, coming out of the front.
The Hobgoblin gurgled, as she choked on her own blood.
Due to her coming to a sudden stop, due to her sudden death, she fell forward due to momentum.
As she fell, the force of the fall pushed the blade back out of her neck from the front.
She then exploded into pixels, quickly followed by another System message appearing in front of Tsukuru.
[You have killed an Infantry-Rank Pawn-Grade Hobgoblin. Video Emperor's Battle Arena-Exclusive Effect: 60 XP received. XP: 965/8000]