Previous Chapter l Next Chapter

[Summary of events until now]

Having set their sights on their next destination, the untrodden flying city <<Sky City>>, Souma and his group found a part of the Sky City that had fallen to the surface. With the help of the doll robot that was left there, they successfully managed to teleport to the Sky City. 

Because of an unforeseen accident, they were now exploring with 3 people, but the defense mechanisms of the ancient civilization were no enemies of the heroes that even defeated the Demon Lord. 

However, the one who stood in the way of their breakneck invasion was the guardian of the Sky City, Barnis V! 

Due to the fearsome power of Barnis V, most skills of Souma had been sealed, and ended up being cornered.

But the one who came to their aid in such dire straits was the Bear who was thought to have died in the past battle against the Evil God! 

Souma and the others barely managed to escape from the Sky City thanks to the help of the Bear, but celebrating the reunion with their friends was short-lived. Barnis V caught up to them from the Sky City, and they had fallen into the pits of despair once again.

Within those, Souma was moved by Mitsuki who stepped forward with her life on the line to protect her comrades, and resolved himself to undo the seal of the True Instant Samidare Slash which he still hadn’t mastered yet. 

Souma shook off the pleas to stop from his comrades and faced Barnis V in a one on one with the resolve to die. He miraculously managed to pull off the True Instant Samidare Slash, and finally, Barnis V fell! 

※Nekomimi Neko is your regular hotblooded shounen manga! 

———–

—True Instant Samidare Slash.

That is the ultimate attack that I managed to reach in my Nekomimi Neko game days.

It is an outrageous technique that presents hundreds of slashes onto the enemy in one instant, but in order to explain how this happens, there’s the need to understand the timing of Cancels in attack skills. 

Cancel is to use a skill in the middle of an activated skill, the activated skill will forcefully end, and the next skill will immediately come in. 

However, you can only use Skill Cancel in timings called Cancel Points, and as for where those skills are located, let’s take Slash for example since most offensive skills work in the same fashion.

1. Motion before the attack (Things like brandishing weapon or taking a stance) = Short Cancel Point.
2. Attack Motion: Effect (Hit Calculation).
3. (If it hits) Damage Calculation and Damage Happens = Long Cancel Point.
4. Motion after attack (Things like returning weapon to scabbard or a follow-up).
5. Skill Stun. 

If you Cancel, the skill ends at that very moment, so if you Short Cancel, you will simply end the skill with brandishing the sword with no damage and move to the next skill. 

On the other hand, if you do the Long Cancel, the skill will go until point 3, so in the case the slashing motion hits the enemy, it will go into damage calculation and damage dealt, but the remaining motion and skill stun of 4 and 5 will be skipped and you will move to the next skill.

Now then, that’s how skills normally work, but Midare Sakura had the mindset of ‘it is a hassle to place a hitbox on every single one of the hundreds of slashes!’ from the developers, so the weird thing they did was ‘have the hit calculation and damage calculation of hundreds of slashes happen right before the slash effects’ and by the time the skill ends, the ‘the calculated damage beforehand’ will happen all at once.

1. Motion before attack (Stance) = Short Cancel Point
2. Hit Calculation and Damage Calculation.
3. Attack Motion: Effect (Slashes that last around 18 seconds) = Long Cancel Point.
4. Motion after attack (Returning weapon to scabbard).
5. Skill End: Damage Happens and Skill Stun. 

The point is that hit calculation is being done in point 2, so point 3 where slashing motions are being done have nothing to do with whether the attack hits. 

And so, if there were no enemies nearby when 2 happens, no matter how much the enemy looks like it is being sliced, not a single one is landing which is unbelievably unreasonable. 

You could say it is quite the weird skill with just this.

But…

The Cancel Point -basically, the time when it receives the input for the Cancel- is made in a way so that it has a longer frame of input the longer the skill is. 

Within those, Midare Sakura’s default speed is 20 seconds which is an overwhelmingly long time. It is the longest Cancel Point from the ones I know. 

The Cancel Point being long means you don’t have to measure the timing too much and can manage the Skill Cancel. Midare Sakura is known as a terribly easy to Cancel skill, and I agree with that too. 

I myself used Midare Sakura’s Long Cancel as training when I got 3x speed, so if it is just a Cancel, Midare Sakura is the one with the lowest difficulty.

This is where the meat of the topic is. 

Because the Cancel input time of Midare Sakurai is long, ‘if you do Short Cancel soon after the input time’ and ‘if you do the Short Cancel after waiting a long time’ change the results. 

Then, what would happen when you Short Cancel just barely when the input time is at the end? 

1. Motion before attack (Stance) 
2. Hit Calculation and Damage Calculation = Short Cancel Point.

Yeah, uuuh, that Short Cancel point is sticking out where it definitely shouldn’t.

What I imagine here is that the Cancel system was made separately and attached to the game. So bad. 

As for what this changes, you obviously get the damage if you Short Cancel after point 2. 

That’s why, if you Short Cancel just barely before the input time ends, an unbelievable thing will happen where ‘the damage of hundreds of slashes will be dealt even though you don’t swing your sword once’.

It can’t be described with something as cheap as the attack speed being super fast. 

In the perspective of the enemy, it would go like ‘ah, this guy took a stance with his weapon! Is it coming?’ but the next instant, you get hit with the damage of hundreds of slashes even though you haven’t been cut, so they wouldn’t even know what happened. 

Or more like, I was also really surprised when I succeeded on the True Instant Samidare Slash. 

I was increasing the proficiency of Midare Sakura with Short Cancel, but a Stray Slime bouncing around was sliced to pieces all of a sudden, so it would be impossible to not be surprised by that. 

“…That’s how it works, so it wouldn’t be weird at all for you to not see the slashes, Mitsuki! 

No, if you actually saw them, you would have to check your eyes or brain!” (Souma)

Invisible slashes existing must be shocking for Mitsuki.

I told this to Mitsuki to comfort her, but she placed a hand on her forehead, and swayed as if she lost strength.

“A-Are you okay?!” (Souma)

I hurriedly spoke to Mitsuki and she immediately recovered. 

But her complexion was still bad, and her cat ears were drooped as if saying ‘I can’t take this anymore~!’.

But Mitsuki skilfully managed to respond to me. 

“Y-Yeah, I am okay. My head just hurt a bit…when I heard that.” (Mitsuki)

“I see. Sorry, it must have been a bit complicated.” (Souma)

Mitsuki is a battle junkie and charges into battle often, so she is often mistaken for a muscle-head, but she is quick witted and is intelligent. 

Even so, the weird stuff in this world, especially stuff like games and programs, must be hard to follow. 

I checked the others, wondering how they were doing, and Ringo was expressionless as always. 

…No, that’s…hm?

It feels like her eyes are empty… Her expressionless degree seems to be higher than normal, but it is most likely me imagining things. 

Maki is also the same as usual.

She is shrugging her shoulders as if saying ‘well, that’s Souma’.

That’s kind of irritating. 

The one who praised me honestly within all that was Ina, who was all flustered just recently. 

She directed sparkling eyes at me and went ‘U-Uuh, it means you used a smart technique, right?! You are incredible, Souma-san!’ praising me to high heaven.

Yeah, Ina really is a good girl.

I nodded at this and then saw the Bear facing the Bear. 

They were ignoring the atmosphere around and playing rock-paper-scisso—no, they are doing something similar to that, but it would be impossible for them to throw scissors or rock with their hands.

My head was beginning to hurt too, so I looked away to Sazan. She was drenched in tears until not that long ago, but was now holding her mask and writhing. 

Did I touch a nerve or something?

“A technique that twists fate, unleashing slashes before being unleashed. Kuh! So it is the Invisible Sword Dance, huh… Ah, no, Sword Rain is also hard to give up!” (Sazan)

She seems to be having fun.

But I personally can’t give up the name True Instant Samidare Slash.

Actually, this True Instant Samidare Slash is a technique I discovered, so it is a name thought of together with the Instant Samidare Slash. 

Or more like, something like that happening when doing the Cancel of Midare Sakura was nowhere to be found in the Wiki, and the first time I discovered the True Instant Samidare Slash, the Nekomimi Neko community was dying out all around, so I had no choice but to confirm it myself. 

It is not like I don’t wonder why such an incredible technique had not even been discovered until then, but that might be understandable. 

Midare Sakura is the 3rd condition to be considered an addict player. Also called the Industrial Waste Conditions. That’s just how difficult it is to obtain and to use. 

It is the last skill of the Otachi, and it is really hard to learn unless you increase the proficiency with the Master Torch. 

Also, you can only get to the entrance of the Hidden Dungeon after you clear the game unlike this world, so in order to learn Midare Sakura with the Master Torch, you need a decent level and defeat the Demon Lord.

And even if you learn Midare Sakura, the stamina consumption being twice that of your initial stamina was a big wall to overcome. 

Stamina doesn’t go up even if you level up, so it wasn’t something you could use easily. 

On top of all that, even if there’s a person who raises the proficiency of such a capricious skill with Short Cancel, they wouldn’t do a Short Cancel just barely at the end of Midare Sakura that’s so forgiving in its timing. 

To add even more to that, even if they did manage to pull the True Instant Samidare Slash while they were raising the proficiency, the chances of noticing that are low. 

I destroyed the walls and ceiling of this narrow corridor in this real world, but objects in the game like walls are indestructible. 

You normally increase your proficiency where there’s no one around, so there’s no target to deal damage even if they did pull off True Instant Samidare Slash. 

I am most likely an irregular case with me being in the middle of the Deus Plains to raise my skills for a change of pace, moreover, there was coincidentally a monster in front of me when I pulled it off. 

And so, True Instant Samidare Slash is an original technique of mine. 

I was thinking about eventually updating this information in the Wiki as my own ultimate technique (probably), but I was thrown to this world while I was postponing this, so I am most likely the only one who knows this technique. 

If I manage to return to my world safely, I should post this in the comments of the Wiki’s Midare Sakura article.

While I silently resolved to do this, Mitsuki, who seemed to have recovered, asked me.

“It is extremely hard to accept this, but I understand how that technique works and its power. 

But then why didn’t you use that outrageous technique until now? 

You would be the last person to have common sense bar you from doing something after all.” (Mitsuki)

I feel like her words are a bit thorny there, but that’s a good question. 

“First, this skill consumes a lot of stamina, so it is not suitable for long battles.” (Souma)

Even if it lowers a bit after increasing its proficiency, its initial cost is 200 which is twice that of the initial max stamina of a player. 

I have doubled my stamina with the Fury of the Seed Death Bug, but if you were to use it normally, your stamina would be drained in one use. 

If you use it when you are surrounded by a lot of enemies, you might be able to reduce their numbers by half if it goes well, but you would get beaten up from the enemies remaining behind you.

“Also, it lowers the durability of the weapon a lot and the area of effect is big, so it would be scary to get someone dragged into it. However, the biggest reason really is because the timing is difficult.” (Souma)

Even just Skill Canceling is already difficult to pull off unless you practice. 

Midare Sakura turning into True Instant Samidare Slash is a mere instant. 

You would have to aim for a frame that’s even shorter than your regular Skill Cancel. 

If you are too fast in your Cancel, the Cancel itself will succeed and you will simply not get the damage of it, but if you are too late on the input, you will be failing on the Cancel itself. 

You would be exposing yourself to your enemies with the damn long slashing motion of Midare Sakura. 

It is honestly suicidal. 

Just when I explained this to her, my head was smacked from behind. 

“…Don’t…be reckless.” (Ringo)

It seems like her expressionless face has returned to the usual one, so she is now in a normal state. 

“W-Well, I could do it in the game in a state where I wasn’t in 3x speed, and I did succeed in this one. 

I will have to make it a certainty with practice from here on.” (Souma)

I washed it off like that and moved to the dead end as if escaping. 

“Ah, Souma! This is shining again.” (Maki)

Maki, who has been ignoring our talk completely until now, showed me the shining transportation device joyfully. 

I nodded and looked back at my comrades.

“Now then, let’s have a city tour as planned.” (Souma)

 

I brought my comrades that were looking around curiously, and headed to the bow side, the bridge portion of the space battleship. 

The mobs have stopped moving, and the only threat which was Barnis V is dead, so there’s no danger.

…That sounds like a flag for a dangerous enemy to appear, but nothing really happened on our way to the bridge. 

Once we arrived at the bridge, I operated the panel, and the first thing I did was turn off the batteries outside. 

I can turn on and off the defense mechanisms from this bridge, but I unfortunately can only do that. I can’t do something like moving the mobs and batteries as if they were my own allies. 

Well, it would be weird for Nekomimi Neko to put effort in giving such an advantageous thing to the player, so this is pretty in-character.

“U-Uhm! And so, what are you going to do here, Souma-san? 

You already got the Pegasus Boots which were the objective, right?” (Ina)

Ina asked while tilting her head. 

“Yeah, but if my objective was only the Pegasus Boots, I wouldn’t have come here with such a big group. In the first place, the moment I got the boots, I could have just jumped off from the tower side without going to where Barnis V was.” (Souma)

There’s 2 reasons why I came to this Sky City. 

First one being the Pegasus Boots, and the other one is…

“H-Hey, isn’t the ground shaking a bit?” (Sazan)

I grinned at the flustered Sazan. 

“That’s not all. Check the monitor.” (Souma)

Everyone looked at the monitor of the bridge that’s showing the scenery outside. 

“The scenery…is moving? …Could it be…” (Mitsuki)

Mitsuki’s cat ears jumped and I nodded. 

“Yeah! Right now this Sky City is receiving my orders and moving!” (Souma)

That’s right, this is the one other reason why we came to the Sky City. 

We can’t go to space, but when you clear this Sky City, you can use this as a ‘ride you can freely fly with’ which is a development you can find normally in the second half of games.

“Alright. The test drive is over. Looks like we can head to our destination with this.” (Souma)

I increased the speed. 

With this guy that can go over the ocean, we can go to places we couldn’t until now.

“S-Souma! Where are we going?!” (Sazan)

“Didn’t I tell you, Sazan? That I would help you after we go to the Sky City.” (Souma)

After smiling at Sazan, I pushed the button of the panel once again.

“—Sky City, onwards! To the home of Sazan, the South Solitary Island!” (Souma)

• Chapter 216: Intertwining Fingers and Misaligned Feelings

“—It is finally time.” 

“…Yeah.” 

At the bow of the Sky City. 

I was standing on the bow together with Sazan who had taken off her mask.

“Sorry for making you tag along with me all the way here.” (Sazan)

She said with a fickle voice unlike her usual self. 

When we arrived above the solitary island, Sazan said she wanted to go out to the deck and I followed after her, understanding her intentions. 

“The subjugation of the Evil God Fragment is my…no, my lineage’s deepest desire. 

When I thought about that, I suddenly got scared…” (Sazan)

“I told you I would lend you my strength.” (Souma)

I responded to her as if cutting her off. She smiled with a ‘thank you’ and then looked down at her home with a sad expression.

“The light of the demonic seal circle, even though I hated it that much in the past, it all somehow feels nostalgic.” (Sazan)

Her trembling hand was stretching towards a light that only she could see… I gently intertwined my hand on it. 

“S-S-S-Souma?!” (Sazan)

“I told you I would lend you my strength.” (Souma)

When I said that once again, she turned bright red and looked down. 

I deliberately speak in a light tone in order to undo her tension.

“Come on, take deep breaths.” (Souma)

“…O-Okay.” (Sazan)

“Stretch out your right hand.” (Souma)

“…Okay.” (Sazan)

“Undo the seal of the Evil God~.” (Souma)

“Okay… Eh?” (Sazan)

And then…

The Evil God Fragment that had its seal undone at the edge of the deck dropped down, hit the demonic seal circle, and splattered. 

I smacked the shoulder of Sazan as she watched the disappearing corpse, dumbstruck, and told her ‘well done!’. 

She began crying just like that, most likely overwhelmed by happiness.

—

Author: Wish fulfilled! 

Souma: “Man, it feels good to do something good!!” 

Previous Chapter l Next Chapter