[The Sun Sets : Beat Jas in a Quick Draw Battle and Clear Floor 6]
For most Academy students, Jas, the Gunman of the Apocalypse was a wall. The powerful bullets that were fired without incantations and the pressure of the instant death attack that approached as ti passed.
To make matters worse, he had a unique gimmick.
Upon entering the floor, you found yourself in a barren wasteland with tumbleweeds rolling by, the sun hanging high in the sky.. Jas used all kinds of attack patterns like gunfire raining down like a storm, throwing lassos, ect.
He also had stalling tactics, like a stampede of buffaloes charging from across the map. If you weren’t in the right spot, you'd get trampled.
passed, the sun would slowly descend below the horizon, and in that mont, a classic western BGM would softly play. That was the cue—an instant death attack would cover the battlefield.
Jas fired mana-infused bullets that would kill on impact.
As they say, you had to pass the ‘DPS check’.
Fighting through the various attack patterns before the instant death attack struck, the only way to defeat him was by separating his head from his body. That was why the majority could not get past Jas. Just because you were desperate wouldn’t make the DPS that you were missing appear out of thin air.
You either needed soone in the tamorphosis stage in your party or enough people to overwhelm him with sheer force.
Floor 6: Gunman of the Apocalypse, Jas // 11 Minutes (MVP : Tara)
Bennett's party made it through with brute force relying on Tara’s DPS.
The six mbers of the climbing party gathered to discuss the next steps. Envers and Luna sat together, while the remaining four huddled closely, with three of them practically stuck together.
The first problem was figuring out the clear condition. The Tower of Trials kindly displayed the clear conditions through system ssages, but⋯⋯.
“What do you think a quick draw is, Bennett?”
-It does an drawing quickly, but it can’t an fighting with Battōjutsu, right?
“Pulling out⋯⋯ Bennett, should we go over there and pull one out quickly?”
-It’ll probably co out faster if two people do it together, Bennett.
"⋯⋯What are you guys talking even about? You know the Academy's rules forbid that sort of thing, right?!"
The subtle and suggestive atmosphere , with Bennett in the middle of it, shocked Selvier to her core. ‘What is this? Did that an these guys have already climbed the stairs of adulthood? Niolle... Just when?!’
However, Bennett was unfazed by the "pink" atmosphere, and brushed it off as if he was used to it, and spoke.
“I think we just need to ask.”
"⋯⋯Who do you plan to ask?"
“Obviously, the Gunman of the Apocalypse, Jas.”
"I simply cannot understand how you ca up with that idea⋯⋯."
The idea of asking the subject of the Challenge Task about the Challenge Task itself . Yet, when frad that way, it was a rather obvious approach.
If the objective of the Challenge Task was to fulfill the desires of the tower’s inhabitants, then those inhabitants must hold the key to what they want.
“Let’s ask him directly.”
“You said it was real, and I⋯⋯ I also believe Floor 8 is real. But there’s still a chance the Tower of Trials is just Illusion Magic.”
“Even if this is all an illusion, the Crazy Wizard, despite his quirks, is a rational person. Let’s assu he set up a puzzle.”
All of his previous challenges—Step into a Door, Ascend into a World, Tentacle Maze—followed clear rules. This ant that the Tower of Trials had to be the sa.
There was an answer sowhere. And if that answer involves a word none of them had ever even heard before, the Crazy Wizard would have made it easier to discover than digging through the library’s ancient texts.
“He might have hidden a letter sowhere on Floor 6.”
-Then should we just head in first? We can think about it after trying it out.
“Sure. Let’s move.”
The party stepped into the Tower of Trials.
===============================================================
In the wasteland stood a man wearing a cowboy hat, a cigar in his mouth, with one leg crossed over the other. From a martial arts perspective, his stance was full of holes, but his real strength ca from his gun.
So what you need to be cautious of was his hand. His posture seed relaxed, but his arm and finger muscles were tense, ready to fire at any mont.
The second his opponent made a move, Jas would react in kind.
Other parties had exploited this brief pause to attack preemptively, and Bennett had done the sa in the past. But this ti was different. Bennett didn’t draw his sword. Instead, he took a few steps closer with his hands bare. Jas’s eyes flickered with interest.
As Jas casually twirled his pistol, Bennett calmly asked.
“What is a quickdraw duel?”
“Ah, a showdown! Are you interested? No, you need to be interested. Been a long ti since I’ve itched for one. Ain’t nothin' holier in the Wild West than a good ol' duel. Takes guts and skill, y'know.”
Jas brightened considerably as he began explaining the rules of a Wild West duel. Two people face each other. The goal is to shoot quickly and with precision. If you miss with the first shot, the goal of the duel is lost.
Bennett listened closely, then nodded.
“If possible, I would like to settle the match that way.”
"Ah, yes! That’s the real way to settle things! A man raised in the wasteland oughta go out with so flare. Ya got a gun?"
“If you’re talking about that artifact that makes thunder sounds, no.”
“You talk like a real Injun, partner. Alright, friend. I’ll lend ya mine. Let’s play.”
"⋯⋯⋯⋯!!"
Selvier’s eyes widened, as if she’d been struck by lightning, at the sight of the smooth turn of events. She felt that sohow, they might have been able to win over that stubborn dwarf with words.
“No, there’s no way. That wouldn’t have worked. He was so stubborn⋯⋯."
Selvier erased her lingering attachnts with the sour grape ta. But those three ballista shots hitting their mark was cool as hell. That was enough. It had to be.
Jas lent a pistol to Bennett.
Then, piece by piece, he stripped off his gear—removing steel plates and various artifacts: a protective charm, a shock-absorption field generator, an auto-recovery artifact…⋯⋯.
Bennett also threw off his armor and got ready to duel. As Jas indulged in the fantasy of an old-fashioned showdown, his face lit up with a wide grin. The Crazy Wizard also laughed.
The rest of the group sat on the spectator seat (a suitably tall rock).
Tara grimaced at the sight of Jas' tank equipnt that was still pouring out nonstop. There was almost enough material to build a small tower.
“No wonder I thought that he was stupidly hard.”
-You were getting pretty fed up while fighting him, weren’t you?
“Eung, there was nothing to suck with Thorns of Lant. So all I could do was hit him with all my effort. It’s annoying!”
-Still, you took him down in about 10 minutes. You were cool back then, Tara.
As Tara and Niolle pleasantly chatted and laughed together, Selvier slipped into the conversation.
“Hey⋯⋯ Aren’t you worried?”
-Oh, Selvier. Worried?
“About Bennett. Sure, it’s just the Tower of Trials, but I’d still be nervous⋯⋯ if it were ."
“It’s fine. We’ve got an ace up our sleeve. Selvier, right? Just sit back and relax.”
Niolle, on the other hand, pulled out a strange-looking artifact. A communication device? Selvier raised an eyebrow, wondering what kind of situation it was, but chose to stay quiet for now.
The duel began.
A lone tumbleweed rolled between Bennett and Jas, as the wind kicked up dust around their coats.
If this were an average Academy student, they’d probably die a few tis before they figured out how to use a gun. But Bennet already knew how it worked from his experiences of the other world.
Of course, that didn’t make him an expert.
Compared to Jas, whose speed was near superhuman, there was a huge gap between their skill levels. But that wasn’t a concern.
“Niolle is our secret weapon.”
-You didn’t forget, did you Bennett? 23, 47, 59, faint, 42, 17, fire.
Niolle’s precise commands were transmitted through telepathy. Bennett fired in sync with her instructions. The sound of the gunshots overlapped with a slight delay.
Bang baang──!!
Along with the acrid stench of gunpowder, silence fell.
Bennett slumped to the ground, clutching his side, while Jas collapsed with a hole in the top of his head. Tara ran to Bennett to heal him.
The wound would disappear once they exited the tower, but she planned to use healing as an excuse to get a little touchy with him.
Envers saw the scene and muttered.
"⋯⋯We could have done that too."
“No.”
“We could’ve. If you, like⋯⋯ Niolle, you read Jas’ movents. And if I shoot like Bennett⋯⋯!"
“Idiot.”
Luna traced circles of different sizes with her hands, indicating there was nothing they could do about the difference in stats. The shot just now seed to require no physical ability, but⋯⋯.
-It was not a fair fight. Right?
“Eung.”
-The gun Bennett had was weak, and Jas didn’t even deactivate all his defense chanisms. At first glance, it looked like a fair one-on-one, but⋯⋯ the odds were tilted in Jas’ favor.
“And, physical ability.”
Bennett’s tamorphosis, the Guardian’s Dream, allowed him to summon a sword at will. Just as Jas’ shot hit him, he briefly summoned it, using the blade as makeshift, angled armor.
And.
-I enchanted Jas' magic bullet when it flew upward, making it ricochet back at him. He⋯⋯ shoots magic bullets that are lethal, but only after so ti. I thought that he would use that in this duel too.
“That’s why it hit the top of his head. Not forehead.”
That was the full story behind the duel that ended in the blink of an eye.
Tower of Trials, Floor 6: Cleared
===============================================================
▲ Bennett
▲ Envers
Reviews
All reviews (0)