CHAPTER FORTY FIVE

When fighting Vile, Jason had thrown his typical player classification system out the window.

His current opponent had none of the weaknesses that haunted average players.

As a high-ranking player employed by the Overdrive Corporation, Jason would consider Vile a Whale. Although she wasn't putting money into the game, her status as a Fortress Master meant that she could get any item she wanted.

However, it didn't make any sense to consider Vile a Custom Whale, someone who spent all their time, effort, and money on a single machine. Her skills weren't reliant on her Mech.

The Devoted Monk was just her most recent project, and she was piloting it perfectly.

However, Jason's inquisitive and probing nature had allowed him to uncover a weakness - her lack of familiarity with the Red Minerva frame.

Now, he had the vaunted Fortress Master lying flat beneath his feet.

Jason's best option was obvious - the Titan's Macuahuitl.

Earlier, Jason had avoided using the item out of respect for Vile's skill and movement abilities. Now, he'd knocked her off her feet, meaning that she couldn't dodge in time.

The Blazing Avarice weapons system did not list its items ahead of time.

As a result, the Red Minerva had just as much secrecy as any Grunt. Vile couldn't predict Jason's upcoming items until he summoned them.

Jason stared at his fallen foe.

She raised her left hand to try and defend herself, but it'd do nothing against the Titan's Macuahuitl.

Cornered players often sacrificed a limb to try and escape. However, Jason planned on completely obliterating his opponent with an enormous pillar of flame.

Sticking out her hand might have stalled a lighter item like the Valorous Ji, but it'd do nothing against his gigantic Aztec club.

The sheer mass of the item would blast cleanly through her entire machine.

Jason clapped his partner's hands together.

Clunk.

The strange noise resonated through the Ring, and nothing happened.

Huh?

Jason blinked in surprise as Vile scrambled back to her feet.

Why hadn't his flaming club come out?

Was there some kind of limit to the Blazing Avarice?

Jason hadn't encountered such a thing before, but he'd been switching through items pretty rapidly...

Unfortunately, Jason had no time to ponder.

For whatever reason, Vile had clearly anticipated that he would run out of power.

She was not surprised at all by her sudden reprieve.

In fact, the Fortress Master stepped forward, contorting her Mech's body in preparation for a roundhouse kick.

Once again, Jason brought his heavy tail around, swinging it in a wide arc. This time, he wasn't trying to trip Vile. Instead, he made a wild swing for her head.

If the Blazing Avarice had failed him, he needed to use another weapon. Although he wasn't used to it, his cave dragon tail would be as good as anything.

This time, Vile had anticipated his move. She was too good to fall for the same weapon twice.

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However, Jason's high swipe briefly stalled his opponent's motion, forcing her to pause for a brief moment before completing her attack.

The brief delay gave Jason the time to fall back.

As he did...

Thunk.

Something fell onto the floor.

Jason glanced down.

The skilled pilot was hyperaware of tiny in-game cues. That was one of the reasons why he was so excited to add the Watchdog's hearing and smelling abilities to his machine.

He knew that the smallest hint meant the difference between victory and defeat.

But in this case, the object lying on the floor didn't give Jason a hint on how to proceed.

Instead, it explained his previous failure.

One of the Devoted Monk's gloves was lying on the floor, palm facing the ground.

Jason's eyes widened as he suddenly realized why his attempt to use the Blazing Avarice had failed.

Vile had kept him from meeting the activation condition of clapping his hands together.

The cunning Fortress Master had figured out the Blazing Avarice's operation process. She understood that Jason needed to clasp his partner's hands together to summon items.

Initially, Jason had thought that the Devoted Monk's outstretched arm was nothing more than a last valiant gesture.

Instead, it was Vile's plan to free herself and turn the fight around.

She'd temporarily nullified Jason's greatest weapon by ejecting her Mech's glove so that it landed between the two projectors.

When Jason fled, he'd spread his hands apart to flee from Vile's follow-up attack. As a result, the glove had fallen out from between his partner's palms, and he'd discovered his opponent's trick.

Seeing the item was embarrassing.

Vile had snatched victory away from Jason with a completely basic maneuver.

It was another reminder that he was up against a superior opponent.

Throughout the battle, Vile had maintained a distinct advantage. She'd countered every single one of Jason's best moves.

It was obviously discouraging, but Jason didn't lose hope.

Discovering why he'd temporarily lost access to the Blazing Avarice was an enormous boon. If the powerful weapons system had been disabled for unknown reasons, Jason wouldn't be able to rely on it for the rest of the fight.

Now that he knew what had happened, he could go back to his initial plan. He could try and counter Vile with the Pendulum Shield.

Unfortunately, he never had the time to clap his hands together.

Staring at the discarded hand had been an unforgivable mistake. Jason had wasted his time gawking when he should have continued running away.

The Devoted Monk's glowing blue leg smashed into the Red Minerva's left shoulder. The loud crunch resonated through the Ring, and the Red Minerva buckled before falling onto a knee.

Jason swore.

His partner's arm had completely caved in.

Vile had instantly punished his embarrassing mistake. However, there was no time to continue beating himself up. The battle wasn't over until it was over.

Right now, his main priority was escaping.

If only he could somehow flee, he could re-strategize and develop another plan of attack.

With his arm broken, he couldn't reliably use the Blazing Avarice anymore. However, he could still shift into the Red Lamia form and attack with the Pestilent Snipe.

Unfortunately, he couldn't use his four-legged mode with a broken arm.

Perhaps he could dig away...

He'd succeeded in fleeing with just a single hand before.

As Jason leaped towards the floor, he let out a curse of surprise.

The crippling injury was just too much. Even though Jason carefully led with his uninjured hand, the sheer shockwave of his opponent's full-powered kick had slowed his machine's movements.

His partner buckled for the briefest of moments as she clawed towards the floor.

Shit...

Jason had tried emulating Vile's tactic of moving as soon as his machine recovered from being stunned.

However, he'd been just a little bit too aggressive. He should have fallen back and waited for a beat longer before trying to dig at the floor.

He'd lost control of his Mech for only a tiny amount of time, but in a battle against a master, the slightest hesitation was enough to seal his defeat.

Vile was onto him.

Her first move was a brutal frontal kick. The Devoted Monk's foot glowed bright blue.

Moments later, the Red Minerva's second arm had also shattered to pieces. She couldn't dig anymore. When faced with a temporarily stunned opponent, Vile's first move was to viciously cut off any chance of escape.

Next, Vile drew the pitch-black staff from her back, slamming it towards him like it were a whip.

WHAM!

She put her machine's whole body behind the attack.

She even kicked off the ground before falling forwards to add even more force. Although the move was utterly reckless, the expert Fortress Master knew a game-winning chance when she saw one.

The black staff darted forward faster than Jason's eyes could follow.

One moment, the three-part staff was dangling in the Devoted Monk's hands. The next, it'd become a malevolent black blur.

There had to be some kind of trick behind the item's absurd acceleration, but Jason didn't see what it was.

There was a meaty thud as the staff blasted a gigantic hole in the Red Minerva's chest.

Bright red warning notifications flared across Jason's screen.

CRITICAL DAMAGE!!

CRITICAL DAMAGE!!

CRITICAL DAMAGE!!

Jason pulled up the notification.

To his shock, the strange staff had inflicted over a dozen tons of force with just a single blow. From the looks of it, the weapon's weight was far greater than its appearance suggested.

The overwhelmingly heavy attack had obliterated the Red Minerva's frail outer chest, exposing the dragon's beating heart. Bright red blood sprayed through the air, gushing out of the oddly circular impact point.

Jason never managed to get back to his feet.

The Devoted Monk unleashed deadly attack after deadly attack.

The black staff fell over and over again as the machine stared down at Jason's defeated partner with ice blue and emotionless mechanical eyes.

The thrashing continued until the notification appeared on his screen.

YOU HAVE LOST