Tsukuru stared up at the Minotaur with a fierce expression.
"Well, you did say that you wanted to fight an 'actual enemy' this time, didn't you?" Reiju asked, a sliver of amusement in her voice.
Tsukuru's eyes tightened.
'Really easy to be smug when you're not the one who has to fight her!' he thought back bitterly.
On the other side of the arena, the Minotaur looked down at Tsukuru with a maniac grin.
Tsukuru grit his teeth, and aimed the gunblade as high as he could.
He fired.
Tsukuru had tried to aim at her heart, to end this fight quickly. However, due to the Minotaur's gargantuan size, the highest he could reach was her ribs.
The shot rang out, and the Minotaur felt a piercing pain in her left rib. But rather than looking annoyed or angry, she looked excited.
"Oh, what's this?" she asked in an amused voice. "It looks like my Liege has a new toy!"
She then held her giant battleaxe out to her side, and charged at him. As she moved, the whole arena began to shake.
Tsukuru ground his teeth even harder.
'Plan B, then,' he thought.
He switched his gunblade over to his left hand, and retrieved another weapon from his System's Equipment Tab.
This time, one of his daggers.
There was a bright flash, and the Intermediate-Tier Black Fang Daggerappeared in his left hand.
A System message appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[Intermediate-Tier Black Fang Dagger equipped.
+4 Strength, +6 Agility
Strength: 11 [+21]
Agility: 15 [+10] ]
Tsukuru looked down at it.
'This weapon allowed me to be able to defeat ERIN,' he thought. 'Let's see if it can do the same to the MINOTAUR.'
Tsukuru began to charge as well. Once he was within 30 feet of the Minotaur, he activated his Video Glitch Skill.
The sound of electronic interference filled the arena.
Tsukuru took on the likeness of a hologram, before then glitching out of existence.
Seeing this, the Minotaur's eyes widened. She came to a sudden stop.
Her hooves kicked up dust like the breaks on a car.
She whipped her head around her, looking left, then right.
A moment later, she heard the sound of electronic interference again.
But this time, from behind her.
As she did, Tsukuru glitched back into existence behind the Minotaur's right leg.
Tsukuru wrenched his right arm back, and then drove the Intermediate-Tier Black Fang Dagger into the Minotaur's right calf.
'It doesn't MATTER that all I can make is a shallow cut!' he thought. 'A shallow cut is all I need!'
The Minotaur felt a piercing pain in her back leg.
But it was hardly even a minor annoyance.
Then her body began to feel weird.
The world around her began to stall to a stand-still. It was as if everything around her was now going in slow motion.
A System message appeared in front of Tsukuru.
[Intermediate-Tier Black Fang Dagger's Passive Skill Venomous Bite is now in effect. Infantry-Rank Elite Pawn-Grade Minotaur has been afflicted with the Stat Bebuff Tachypsychia.]
Tsukuru smirked, seeing the success of the Skill.
The Minotaur attempted to lift her right leg up and bend it back, to perform the bucking kick just like the last time Tsukury had gotten behind her.
However, as she was moving in slow motion, Tsukuru was easily able to move out of the way before he had even begun to execute her kick.
Tsukuru pointed the barrel of the gunblade towards the middle of the Minotaur's back. He then let out three shots in succession.
The sound of three gunshots rang out through the arena, and the Minotaur felt an intense pain in her lower back.
Tsukuru could easily see deep HOLES from where the bullets had pierced her body.
'Looks like making this weapon out of that ultra-dense Glathrium alloy was a blessing in disguise,' he thought. 'It easilyTEARS THROUGH HER TOUGH HIDE!'
Tsukuru saw the Minotaur slowly beginning to turn around.
Tsukuru fired two more shotsinto her navel.
Seeing the two newbullet wounds, Tsukuru's smile widened.
He was about to reload his Gunblade, but something strangehappened.
The Minotaur's whole body began to glow bright red.
Energy exploded from every part of her body.
'What the hell?!' Tsukuru thought.
A moment later, a System message popped up in front of Tsukuru.
[The Infantry-Rank Elite Pawn-Grade Minotaur has activated the Active Skill Warrior's Constitution. Stat Debuff Tachypsychia has been removed. Infantry-Rank King-Grade Minotaur is now immune to the Stat Debuff Tachypsychia.]
Tsukuru put on a sad smile.
"Well," he replied. "That's not fair."
The Minotaur looked down at Tsukuru.
"Nice trick, my Liege," she replied, her smile widening, turning into a downright predatory look.
"Now…" The Minotaur said. "Let's have some fun!"
She raised her arm holding her greataxe high into the air.
Seeing what she was about to do, Tsukuru activated his Video Glitch Skill. The sound of electronic interference filled the area, and Tsukuru's body took on the likeness of a hologram.
He glitched out of existence just as the Minotaur brought her greataxe down.
An echoing BOOM resounded through the arena, and the floor began to shake. A large crater appeared at the point where the greataxe had impacted with the floor.
Tsukuru glitched back into existence a good twenty feet AWAY from the Minotaur.
'Holy shit!' Tsukuru thought.
He couldn't believe that the Minotaur had a Skill like that. It had rendered his Black Fang Dagger essentially useless!
"Heads Up, My Liege!" The Minotaur yelled, with a tone of amusement in her voice.
Looking up, Tsukuru had to immediately duck to the ground.
A moment later, the Minotaur's Greataxe soared overhead like a sawblade.
If he had still been standing, it would have cleaved him in half vertically.
The Greataxe came to a stop at the far end of the arena, burying its blade deep into the concrete floor.
Still on the ground, Tsukuru looked down at the Black Fang Dagger that was still in his hand.
'This is essentially useless now,' he thought, placing it back in his System's Equipment Tab.
Tsukuru slowly got to his feet.
When he did, he saw the Minotaur charging once again.
Tsukuru took a Stick Grenadeout of his System's Equipment Tab, and threw it at the Minotaur.
It created a large explosion on impact, blasting away her clothes and burning her skin, but it only slightly slowed her down.
Her body began to pixelate around the points of impact, regrowing both her burnt skin and her clothes, as the System performed its cosmetic restorations.
The Minotaur began to laugh.
"That actually stung a little!" she replied, her eyes blazing with excitement. "You're just full of tricks, aren't you, my Liege?!"
Tsukuru gritted his teeth.
'Damn it!' Tsukuru thought.
"Yeah?!" he retorted. "Well, let's see how you like this one!"
He held out his hand and activated his Ability.
The sound of electronic interference could be heard, and pixels began to appear in his hand.
The pixels clustered together into the shape of the Flash Grenade that he had used on the Dark Elf all the way back in the tail end of Wave 2.
There was a flash of light, and the flash grenadefully manifested.
Tsukuru squeezed the handle and threw it.
Like before, the cap popped off, and a moment later, a bright flash of light blanketed the arena.
The Minotaur came to a sudden stop. She raised her right arm in front of her face horizontally, guarding her eyes.
Tsukuru looked down to avoid the bright light, and used thissmall opening to reload his gunblade.He pressed the small button on the side of the gun, causing the cylinder to pop out.
Flipping the gun upside-down, he knocked out the empty cartridges.
He then activated his Ability once again.
The sound of electronic interferencefilled the arena, and pixels began to form in his hand.
The pixels clustered together into the shape of another speed loader.
There was a bright flash of light, and the speed loader manifested.
'The first thing I'm doing when I get out of here is making a whole STOCKPILE of these things!' Tsukuru thought, as he placed the speed loader on top of the empty cylinder.
He twisted the knob counter-clockwise, causing the bullets to be released, and for the "wheel" to jerk upwards.
Tsukuru lifted off the speed loader, and threw it over his shoulder.
Just as Tsukuru pressed the cylinder back into place, the bright light faded.
He heard the ground shaking again.
Looking up, he saw the Minotaur resuming her charge
Tsukuru aimed the barrel of the Gunblade at her.
However, as he reached up as high as he could, having the barrel just barelyaimed at her chest, he was internally wondering just how tanky the Minotaur's body actually was.
He had already shot her once in the right rib, and three times in the back. Yet, she didn't even seem winded.
'I could use up this entire cylinder shooting her in the chest, and it might not even do anything!' he thought.
Then, Tsukuru's eyes drifted downwards. To her muscular legs as she was charging.
Immediately, Tsukuru smirked.
"Fight smarter," he replied. "Not harder."