"……."
Pfft, now seeing myself from a third person’s perspective, I can’t help calling myself a crafty bastard.
Visions of past confrontations filled his mind. However, the visions were of his parallel selves, and the moment shown was when Darius had to deal with the [Prince] bandit leader at the tallest tower.
Seeing how his other selves dealt with them by using the Demonic Wielders as well, he couldn't help laughing, as he found this coincidence truly amusing.
He chuckled to himself, then shook his head, getting up from the couch inside the laboratory and starting to work on his second glove.
.
Two days later, at around 8 p.m., Darius walks through the Blue Spark’s base from the Eastern City after he recived a request from Lily.
He was dressed in another pair of clothes since the last one was destroyed again: classic military boots, pants, and a gray t-shirt with a black hoodie over it. He also had his trusty backpack that had better days, while his overly grown hair was tied in the back with a top knot so he could have his sight clear, while at the same time keeping the back of his head covered by the long hair, making for a stylish hairstyle.
"May we help you, sir?"
Two soldiers that guarded the main entrance stopped Darius at the entrance, but before he could say anything, a feminine voice resounded from behind the two, attracting everyone’s attention.
"He’s with me. Hello Daniel."
Wearing formal clothes with office pants, Lily walked towards the three, and after nodding at the guards, they retreated and left Darius to continue on forward.
As she walked him inside the main base, she glanced at him with some curiosity every now and then. Seeing how he wasn’t bothering to ask her why she did so, she simply got to the point,
"Is it just me, or do you look younger?"
"I just got 2 days of rest."
"And your hair grew longer because of that too?"
"Hair grows whenever it gets the chance. Nothing I can control."
"At this point, you’re not even trying."
Hearing his ridiculous lies, Lily rolled her eyes and decided to just not ask anymore. As long as he was doing fine, she didn’t need to worry about anything.
In the end, she just changed the subject, and as she used a card to open the entrance to the main building of the base, she commented with a smile.
"Lola and I were greatly surprised by the data you brought last time. Not only were there detailed explanations of the infernal dogs that completed the misses we had, but there was also great information about a field boss we had no information about. What’s crazier is how you survived all of that when it looked like you were about to die every second. Why did you omit the end? I know you killed the monster at the end since you got its corpse, but why not film that as well?"
"Why would I show you all of my cards?"
"Do you not trust us?"
"Do you trust me?"
"Yes."
"Then it’s fine if I request background information about you and Lola, yes?"
"Tsk, you’re really stubborn."
"You truly enjoy being a fox, you nosy woman."
She chuckled, amused at his irritated glare, and then, after arriving inside a room filled with human-sized capsules, she showed him a door. That was the men’s changing room, and he also had prepared a costume that’s used for the VR capsules.
After about 5 minutes, he comes out in a mulled full-body costume that fully reveals all his muscles and curves, covering his whole body up to his neck.
"I hate this…"
He always hated mulled clothes, and for sure this one was the worst he had on so far, incomparable to even the scuba diving costume. Thanfully, around his groin area, there was added a plastic shell for both protection and to hide the releaving organs. Or, better said, to not have his junk shown just like that through the mulled costume.
"Don’t say that. I love it."
On the other hand, Lily gazed at him with a dangerous glint in her eyes while commenting amusedly, unconsciously biting the nail on her little finger.
"Why are you in this thing as well?"
Turning her way, he froze in place for a moment after seeing her sensual and curvy body, covered only by the mulled costume that made it even more dangerous.
"How is it~? Do I look good~?"
She turned her back to Darius, only for him to involuntarily massage his forehead. Her round and plump cheeks made for any sane man to just salivate, and Darius was no exception. He tried to appear irritated while his eyes were glued to her body as if hypnotised.
"Good? I’d say dangerous. Stop screwing around and just show me how to get inside one of those things… Tsk, why didn’t I see that coming…"
"You'd sound more convincing if you looked me in the eyes, you know?"
"Haah, fuck..."
He turned around with a long sigh and went towards one of the capsules, thinking that if he were to look for just a second longer, she would be able to notice something changing on his lower part. And the last thing he wanted was to raise her ego by showing how effective her body was on him.
"Yeah… Get inside the capsule…"
Although she tried to play it cool, she couldn’t say that she didn’t suffer any damage after seeing Darius either. Just like the front, his back was just as muscular, with his broad shoulders and burly legs making her gulp drily.
If anything, both their faces had a light shade of red visible, but neither had the luxury of showing their shyness or desires.
After she opened the capsule, she invited Darius inside and showed him how to put on his VR headset and how to operate it.
After finally getting inside the VR, Darius woke up in the middle of the destroyed Eastern City. Dark clouds and ashes completely covered the sky, which was flashing with purple lightning. The buildings were ruined or completely demolished, the cars either broken down or squashed, none being still whole, and the roads filled with cracks or craters, with concrete pillars sticking out here and there. And lastly, everything was a shade more purple from the miasma that infested the air.
After seeing the familiar surroundings, Darius instinctively reached out to cover his nose, only to let his hand down since this was only a VR world, the miasma only making the surroundings more similar to the real world.
[Oho~, you became aware of the virtual miasma quite quickly. Normally, others would panic and hold their breath until I appear to calm them down. Not half-bad for a starter]
A feminine voice resounded from above, and after looking up, he was able to see a drone flying above him, a tinny camera turning his way from below the drone.
"Ms. Lola, I suppose."
[That’s me. Are you surprised that you get to talk with me?]
"Why would I be surprised to talk to a drone?"
Damn, she’s as arrogant as I remember.
As the two communicated, another person landed from the sky, dust rising up as the ground cracked. Through the dusty cloud, Lily appeared while dressed in a combat armored costume.
"Hello~, I see you two have already met. Hm? Lola, you didn’t tell Daniel how to change yet?"
"Change?"
Darius looked at himself and saw that he was still wearing the mulled costume.
[Oh, I didn’t quite get to introduce myself yet. So I didn’t get the chance to-… huh?]
Her voice resounded with surprise after seeing Darius’s body suddenly get covered with pixels that turned into a different color and form, changing his clothes into military boots, camo pants, a gray t-shirt, with his hair tied up, and with combat fingerless gloves on his hands.
"This is better…"
He grumped as if to himself.
He already knew how to change his clothes since he already had such experiences from his past life, but after he was asked how he knew, he just shrugged his shoulders and said, "I just thought of my clothes, and I suddenly changed. It’s no big deal."
[… Since this was dealt with, shall we start with measuring your combat abilities?]
With a neutral voice, Lola got straight to the point, but Lily was rather taken aback, stopping her from summoning monsters.
"Wait a moment. Are you not going to explain to him how to arm up?"
[Oh? Would that be needed? I supposed he would know that since he already knows how to change clothes-]
And just as she commended somewhat sarcastically, in Darius’ hands, a D-eagle 50 AE (the biggest gun yet to appear with a bullet larger than most rifles), together with a plasma knife, some dopamines, and also energy pills appeared, placing the dopamines and pills on the vest he just created at the chest pocket. On his waist, a belt filled with magazines for the gun, grenades, and a miasma radar appeared as well. He was already taking one of the magazines and loading it in a smooth move.
-click!-
After finishing preparing and spinning the newly appeared knife once in his other hand, he was ready for combat, now swiftly placing the gun and knife back on his belt in one quick move.
The reason he had it so easily after such a long time of not using the VR is because the gloves he’s using have integrated the same type of mental-wave detection devices, materializing the thoughts after reading them.
"… What?"
Darius turned to Lily and Lola, who stared in silence at him. With a wry smile, Lily asked, unsure,
"Are you sure this is your first time in VR?"
"Because it’s a completely immersed VR, I concluded that I could summon all I needed simply by thinking about it. Otherwise, the Miss admin here would’ve already given me my stuff, am I right? Security Chef Lola."
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[… Do you perhaps have anything against me?]
Seeing his seemingly mocking gaze, Lola’s voice resounded just as neutral as before, making Darius chuckle amused at her wording.
"I have no reason to hate you, just like how I have no reason to like you. I’m just answering back the same way I’m being addressed."
[You talk like I’ve insulted you.]
"You’re thinking too much."
Darius simply waved his hand, no longer interested in the subject, and Lily couldn’t help feeling some weird tension between the two.
Barely know each other yet are already fighting…
Sighing once, she decided to just get straight to the point, asking Darius how he was feeling and if he was confident in moving the same way as in reality.
After moving his arms and legs some more and checking his reflexes by slashing his knife right from his sheath and shooting one bullet right after drawing it from his belt, he nodded once with the same indifferent gaze in his eyes.
"No problem here. There’s no lag between my thoughts and moves compared to my real body, and there are no advantages either. I’m perfectly immersed."
Both Lola and Lily were surprised at first by Darius’ smooth and quick techniques, but after hearing his comment, Lola answered back with a matter-of-fact voice.
[Obviously. Now, please follow me towards the data gathering. Oh, and you won’t need these for now.]
All of Darius' weapons abruptly vanished once more, and Lola, with Lily who had a tablet in her hand, flew away in the direction of a road that continued between buildings.
"Let’s go, Daniel. It’s time to see what you’re capable of."
"Hmm... I'd like to see how this system will measure my abilities."
After following the drone, they appeared in a free area between more buildings where white faceless mannequins stood tall. After entering the area, all the mannequins turned their heads towards them. Or better said, towards Darius.
[Now, Mr. Daniel. This area is purely to test out your physical strength, speed, reflexes, and overall combat might. Proceed.]
"A nice warm-up, I see."
The drone flew in the sky while Lily was outside the area, with the tablet in her hand, observing Darius’ every detail, from his breathing to his heartbeat to his brainwaves to even the level of his body’s radiation and mana flow. She was able to literally tell what he was feeling at any given moment, making for the most perfect combat examination.
-RATTLE RATTLE!-
Seven dolls rushed towards him with the speed of a normal, trained soldier. They all surrounded him, but only one of them rushed forward, as if to test the waters.
-WOSH!-
A strong blow to the head was thrown by the doll, but as if annoyed, Darius simply dodged it, and with all his strength, he completely shattered the doll’s head, causing its legs to be thrown up while it fell on its back with a loud thud, the face being completely smashed in.
"W-wow…"
After looking at the tablet, Lily was able to tell that Darius was irritated by that one act, feeling as if he was underestimated by simple dolls.
"Just come at me all at once. I have no time to waste on toys."
The dolls then rushed all at once, and Darius also rushed right towards the one in the front.
"Damn slow."
In a flash, Darius appeared in front of the doll that wanted to punch him in the face, only to miss after he dove and was tackled down, then had its head smashed by his foot.
[I made the dolls behave and fight like regular soldiers. Is that really the way you fight against humans?]
Seeing how Darius made the knee of another doll bend unnaturally by kicking it strongly and then punching it in the neck, Lola couldn’t help but comment, rather taken aback since this was the first time seeing such a brutal fighting style.
"I see you, Blue Sparks, have no idea how elites are trained to fight. Take this chance to find out, will you?"
Remembering the many broken bones he had to suffer from hand-to-hand combat training, a sense of relief washed over him every time he got to smash a doll’s limbs or head, feeling like all that pain paid off so he could inflict it on others.
Two more dolls appeared from his sides, one kicking low and the other kicking to his liver. Getting closer to the one with the higher kick, Darius blocked the knee of the doll, grabbed it with one hand while strongly punching the head with the other. He tripped the grabbed doll, then used its shin to block another kick from the other doll to his head. He swiftly twisted the ankle of the doll and pushed the other doll away with a side-kick to the chest. Using the momentum of the impact, Darius retreated his kicked foot and strongly stepped on the downed doll’s head, smashing it to bits.
In about enough time to blink, a third doll rushed at him with the intent to sucker-punch him in the head from behind, but after perceiving it with the corner of his eye, he ducked again and kicked the doll’s kneecap, bending it inwards and making it limp in one leg. The one that got kicked away got back up and tried to tackle Darius, but he easily used all that momentum to grab the doll and throw it on top of the limp one, going towards them and crushing the head of one with his foot and denting the sternum of the other by falling on it with his knee in front.
-POW!-
At that moment, a hit to the back of his head made Darius freeze for a moment, the veins on his neck now bulging from the rage he felt. It was actually the first time he got hit by the dolls, and this alone made him furious.
He slowly got up and looked behind at the last doll that had its guard up, not daring to go in as if already afraid of the repercussions of his action, even though it was just an AI-created robot.
"Fight like soldiers... You blue sparks really love sucker-punching, don’t you?"
With slow but firm steps, Darius walked towards the doll that had its guard up, his arms around his body just like when normally walking.
"…"
Darius said no word while the doll didn’t dare take a step forward, even though it got the command to advance.
[Hm… This is weird? It’s a training doll. It doesn’t have the fear system integrated.]
Even Lola was confused by the doll’s passiveness, and Darius was already almost inside its punching range.
-FWOSH!-
The doll shot a quick jab, but Darius easily dodged by tilting his head. With his right hand, he grabbed the doll by the neck and lifted it up. It was created in a way to weigh about as much as a trained soldier, which was about 90kg.
"Here, calculate a fully charged punch from me."
He dropped the doll, and at the same time as the doll regained its footing, Darius lowered his position and quickly calmed his muscles. The next moment, his legs, his waist, his core, his chest, shoulder, then arm, and finally his wrist—in this order, his muscles fully tensed up and turned in less than a quarter of a second, throwing the most devastating punch Darius could ever throw.
-POW!-
A sound like thunder resounded as the chest of the doll completely shattered and flew outside the training area that was about 5 meters away, rolling on the ground until he loudly struck a building that also cracked the back of its head.
[… Are you sure you’re human?]
"…Yeah."
He looked at his bloody punch that quickly got restored by the system, and in his mind, Darius himself also asked himself that.
He was already able to break rocks and punch through brick walls with his fists alone, but even when boxing with the sandbag at the gym and even after throwing his best punches, he was still never able to send that bag flying so much like he did just now. He punched holes through it but did not blow it away with the force of a grenade.
I guess bathing in mana and having my cells reconstructed, then having my meridians unclogged, helped my combat-might raise more than I thought.
He then looked up at the drone and raised his shoulders with a grin.
"Now? What’s next?"
[… Since you already gave a sample of your greatest shot, let’s get to fighting against a greater enemy.]
Lola herself set the difficulty of the first test based on Darius’ body examination made by the system the moment he logged on to the VR. Before, whenever Lola saw the first-hand data, she was able to give out the right difficulty where, be they humans, mages, or even Spirit Wielders, they were barely able to finish it. If anything, this was the first time her calculations were wrong, and by such a high margin at that. She was not expecting Darius to easily take down seven able and well-trained soldiers of the Blue Spark Army (ASA) so easily while empty-handed, and this wounded her pride quite severely.
After taking into consideration the new data she received, Lola summoned for Darius a high-ranked golem-type monster.
It was about 3 meters tall, fully made out of concrete, with a teethed, great sword-like weapon that was made out of iron bars and concrete, the broken stones on the edge working as razor teeth for tearing. The golem had its right arm combined with the great swod, while the left one was thinner and visibly weaker, used only for stabilizing the weapon as it wielded it double-handed.
"A high-ranked? And a golem, no less… Lola, isn’t that too much for an empty-handed human?"
Lily frowned, disturbed, even thinking that this was too much and expecting Lola to lower the difficulty.
Although the golem was of high rank, it was especially slow. What gave it a high rank was its ridiculous offensive power and defensive abilities.
[Hmm, then how about I give you this?]
Right after, in Darius’ hands appeared protective gloves that no normal knife could cut, while also being extremely durable and shock-absorbant. Seeing the gloves, Lily frowned even more irritated.
"Lola."
[Lily, based on his data, he should be able to defeat this golem, even though he might suffer some damage. However, if Mr. Daniel doesn’t feel confident enough to fight against this monster, then I can lower the difficulty.]
This sounded as if she were mocking him, and Lily obviously knew what Darius’ answer would be after the small provocation.
"It’s fine. I can deal with this bastard easily."
"Daniel… Better think this through. Why harm yourself just to protect your pride?"
Lily tried to calm him down since she didn’t want to see him pummeled even in a VR, but Darius’ calm gaze made her not say anymore, surprised by his confidence.
"Well… do as you wish."
She shrugged her shoulders and just shook her head with a smile.
I almost forgot that I’m talking with a guy who jumped off the tallest building in the Eastern City just to fight a hydra-type monster and still survive.
-WOOONG!-
The golem strongly shook the ground with its step and let out a golem-specific roar with a low frequency that seemed to shake the very soul of the listener.
-WOSH!-
With a strong step, the golem leaped up in the sky and raised its great sword made of concrete above its head to slam it on Darius. Seeing that, Darius simply side-stepped, letting the great sword completely shatter the ground right beside him and raise huge clouds of dust and debris.
The shockwave made him feel like someone punched him in the stomach, but he resisted the dizziness while also protecting his face with one hand from all the flying stones and dust, while with the other one he strongly punched the arm that was used to stabilize the sword.
-POW!-
Debris flew from the thin arm made of stone, but it still stood strong, making the golem slash again horizontally to cut him in half. Although the golem moved fast for a human, it was still slow for Darius as it made large moves. Darius simply jumped over the slash with a side-flip and kicked at the weaker arm once again after landing, damaging it further.
-WOONG!-
The golem got annoyed, and right after it slashed, it charged forward towards Darius, who barely stabilized himself after kicking.
Already aware of his vulnerable position in front of the golem, Darius simply got down and rolled away to not be trampled by the golem. Just as it passed him, the golem turned around, and a sharp sound made Darius quickly turn and dash to the side, a burning ray of gray-purple light barely passing him by, slightly burning his pants as he almost had his leg cut.
He rushed towards the golem before it could shoot another beam, and the golem answered by slashing towards him once again. However, this time again, Darius simply dove, and with all his might, he struck him again. This time, he shattered the damaged arm, greatly lowering the golem’s accuracy and speed in wielding the sword.
With its other stronger arm, the golem slashed at Darius, irritated after having its weaker arm smashed. But because he now used only one arm, its accuracy and stability were lowered, and Darius easily dodged the slash by simply stepping closer to the golem’s side.
"When their reach is large, just stay close."
After getting behind the golem, Darius kicked the golem in the back of one leg, making it fall on one knee, then stepped on its back and, with all his weight, jumped over it, landed atop its head, and completely ripped it off by using his whole body’s weight and kicking strength.
Now, even without a head, a golem was still able to easily move, but for some reasons, it used the head just like other living beings to perceive the outside world, probably as some antenna or artificial organ. Now without its antenna and without a mouth to work as the barrel of its plasma cannon, the golem was moving rather chaotically, desperately trying to keep Darius away from it as it slashed around chaotically.
Normally, because of its chaotic strikes that had no form or reason, anyone else would feel rather threatened approaching the golem, with the exception of Darius, who saw each move as just a waste of energy while only exposing weaknesses.
Because of the golem’s large moves, the joint areas on the waist and the core area were showing more and more, and the protective plates that were created there were especially weak when the golem was making a large move.
-WOONG!-
Now!
Just at that moment, the golem slashed downwards and slammed the ground hand, exposing its back and showing to Darius iron plates that protected the core’s joints that let it move the upper body sideways.
-POW!-
With a strong punch, the iron plating dented severely and gave the golem a hard time to straighten up as the joints no longer connected together, but it was yet to completely break.
-WOONG!-
Unable to straighten up its back or turn its waist, the golem let out another irritated sound and slashed to the back, this time even slower.
-BZZT!-
Suddenly, the golem’s whole body darkened as if a shadow had been cast over it, while here and there, little purple sparks of energy flashed here and there on its irregular body.
[Iron Skin]… A typical and troublesome skill of golems.