Ch.9090. Legitimate Self-Defense

From the spectator stands, Ludion appeared completely composed, but Celia could see right through him.

‘Looks like he’s trying to figure out what to do.’

She had known for a while that his abilities were unusual, and that he wasn’t as omnipotent as he seemed… but she had deliberately ignored it. Or rather, she simply hadn’t bothered to care.

During the midterm practical exam, she knew he hadn’t forfeited out of consideration for her, yet she still thanked him anyway, burdening him. That was because… she simply liked everything about him.

At this point, his combat prowess wasn’t particularly important to her anymore. Who could blame her for wanting to believe what she saw?

Perhaps that’s why the text that appeared after their eyes met was enough to make her heart race.

[He has read your expectations.]

[He gains passion from your affection.]

[Favorability limit has been removed.]

It truly made her happy to know that Ludion had read her expectations and gained passion from her affection.

Even though she still didn’t know what he was trying to do, or if she was even helping him at all, the thought that her feelings had reached him made her heart feel like it would burst.

‘How foolish.’

Why had she become someone so easily swayed? She’d learned that the first to fall in love loses, but she never expected such a devastating defeat.

Still, happiness was happiness…

[Accumulated favorability from the limit is now applied.]

[Favorability increases by 7]

[Current favorability: 66/100]

[You have achieved favorability 60!]

She dismissed all the messages that appeared afterward, pushing them away. She knew she could check messages that had already appeared later, so she had no regrets.

The reward given when favorability reached a certain level—that was something she could check later.

Right now, she wanted to watch Ludion, who had been influenced by her.

But… immediately after, new text began to appear.

[Having obtained the highest grade reward, has the role of the favorability system end■■■?]

She was about to dismiss this too, thinking she’d read it later, when she noticed something strange and stopped. The end of the text was broken and unreadable.

What was going on? As she tried to look more closely, different text appeared.

[■■■ ■■■■ ■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■.]

This time, not just part of it but the entire message was broken. As she wondered if she was supposed to read this…

[The■ ■■gin to ta■■ ■■terest ■■ ■■u.]

The broken letters began to return one by one.

And moments later, when all the text became readable, additional messages appeared.

[They begin to take interest in you.]

[The favorability system cheers for you.]

[Good luck.]

…Interest? Cheering?

She became aware of something else. The favorability system seemed almost like a sentient entity, and there were these unknown figures referred to as “they.”

But… she was certain that this “interest” wasn’t positive. She had that intuition.

Suddenly, she noticed Alkine sitting right beside her.

Would she eventually see these messages too?

The thought irritated her so much that… she covered Alkine’s line of sight, which was fixed on Ludion.

“Ugh, Celia. What are you suddenly… Did I do something wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“…It’s nothing.”

“That doesn’t look like nothing.”

She didn’t dislike Alkine. If anything, she was closer to liking her.

She just disliked the fact that Alkine liked Ludion.

Somehow balancing those two feelings… she acknowledged it alone and endured it alone, but…

‘I guess regret is inevitable the more I think about it.’

Having made her choice, the responsibility was hers. It was too late to go back, so all she could do now was accept it. And…

‘I absolutely won’t fall behind.’

Even if it meant burdening him, she would have the courage to act first.

It’s strange for me to say this, but… honestly, Ludion is a man blessed with too much fortune.

So I just hope he can handle it all.

“It’s really nothing. Come on, let’s keep watching.”

“Um… okay…”

She decided to ask Ludion later about the favorability system and this mysterious “interest” from “them.”

Worrying alone would only increase her anxiety, and Ludion might already know about it anyway.

For now, she decided to focus on watching Ludion, who had finally begun to move.

///

[Irregular trait has been updated.]

[New! Irregular Patch Notes 1.1.2]

After reading through everything that appeared, I could make one very weak conjecture.

It seemed like these game developers were planning to use this trait to create another stage-based content.

So Ludion wasn’t just a discarded extra character data? Though I always thought he was too well-developed to be just an extra… finding out he was actually an important character gave me mixed feelings.

Well… he never appeared in the original work, so he’s still an extra in my mind. Respecting the original is important, right?

Anyway, I only made a simple guess and didn’t gain much information.

At most, I learned that the Irregular trait was meant for testing some content, and unlike the main game which progressed through story, this would progress through stages.

That was about it. Since it was never actually released, there wasn’t much to dig into.

Right now, rather than that… I should try out the effects I just gained.

[Delay Removal]

[For smoother gameplay, pre and post-motion delays of certain actions have been removed.]

‘Removal of pre and post delays…’

The first thing that came to mind was the Dash Cancel I’d been using.

It was an acceleration method using evasion, and I called it Dash Cancel because I mixed dashes with evasion due to the pre and post delays.

But… what if the evasion’s pre and post delays were gone?

With casual curiosity, I tried using it about three times in succession, moving away from the twins.

“Whoa, what the hell?”

The pre and post delays were definitely gone.

Just considering the evasion speed alone, I wouldn’t have to worry about lacking speed anymore.

Plus, why is the evasion distance like this? The speed seems faster too?

Until now, I felt like I was jumping as far as I could kick, but now I’d reached a completely different level. It was like teleportation.

I’d always felt a strange sensation since evasion and parrying basically ignored the laws of physics, but compared to what I just felt, those were normal.

Anyway, thanks to the improved performance, I ended up moving farther than expected and had to awkwardly walk back to my original position.

I could hear murmuring as people tried to guess what I just did, but really, that was nothing.

[Evasion (Additional Effect)]

[Some special effects related to evasion have been added as default settings.]

It was just a mishap because I hadn’t anticipated the additional effects.

By the way, I was surprised that these were the additional effects.

Functions that increased evasion distance and speed did exist.

But they were temporary, only usable briefly in specific content, not added as basic functions like this.

Was that content actually a test for this function? A function test disguised as content?

I couldn’t know for sure, but one thing was certain.

‘This is insane.’

A skill that was already overpowered had evolved to be even more broken.

Right now it feels a bit hard to control, but once I get used to it, it will perform incomparably better than before.

But that wasn’t all. The additional effects for parrying and the changed effects for attacks were still left.

For parrying… since the twins don’t seem inclined to attack first right now, I’ll skip it. Let’s move straight to the main dish—attacks.

[Attack (Effect Change)]

[Originally based on stage progression… the calculation formula applied to attacks has been changed…]

I roughly understood what it meant, but I still couldn’t tell exactly how it would work.

If my guess was right, it wouldn’t be an overtly broken skill.

‘Only on the surface, that is.’

In games where combat is the main focus, stage-based content often emphasizes control.

They design it so you can’t just overpower it with stats; you need to understand and master all patterns to clear it.

Looking at just the combat itself, it’s close to what people call “Souls-like” games.

Even with the most ragged equipment and weak stats, you can still inflict minimal damage on the body of the most terrible monster… and eventually defeat it.

If I’ve gained that kind of ability, I have nothing to fear anymore.

It’s essentially solved my previous concern about “lack of attack means.”

Of course, if as I suspect it only inflicts “minimal damage,” I might spend all day trying to defeat an enemy alone… but at least I now have a method, right?

What’s lacking can be filled. It’s a hundred times better than before when I had nothing.

‘Now I can live a little more at ease.’

There are many events to come.

I’d been feeling self-loathing, though I tried to hide it, about having to rely on Celia or Alkine’s combat abilities each time, but now my worries have been eased in this way.

Thanks to this, I now have an idea of how to respond to the twins’ defensive stance.

To turn the tables like this from disadvantage to advantage.

It feels a bit underhanded… but if I correctly broke through their strategy with my correct guess, isn’t that fair self-defense?

With these idle thoughts, I charged toward the twins who were still maintaining their defensive posture.

This match was half practical, half experimental.

The outcome was as good as decided.