Endzone: Simulated Apocalypse

With Cyanide's height, reaching the vent gate was no problem. Unfortunately, due to the lack of tools, he was forced to simply bash the gate straight in. It was crude and didn't fit his careful way of doing things, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

After opening it, he stepped away and gestured towards the open vent.

"Ladies first."

"Wow… since when were you so polite?" Kirika smirked wryly, folding her arms. "I bet you just want me to tank any traps that might be in there, huh?"

"If you know, then get in."

"Hmph… I can't reach," Kirika snorted, looking away defiantly. "If you want me to go first, you'll have to- K-Kyah~!"

Without any warning, Cyanide picked up Kirika with ease and lifted her overhead, then practically tossed her into the vent. Thankfully, due to the alarm and shut doors, the mutants outside didn't hear her scream.

Cyanide climbed in after her, and Kirika hurriedly pressed down on her skirt and blushed.

"… I-If you look, I'll kill you, got it?"

"You can't."

"J-Just don't look, okay?!"

"Relax. I'm not interested in you."

"Ouch," Luna whispered before quickly disappearing again.

"Grrr…" Kirika gritted her teeth in anger, but now was not the time. Slowly, she crawled forward in the vents. It wasn't dusty at all, and was actually quite clean—almost brand new, just like the rest of this place. She was careful not to make any excessive noise, so she moved slowly, but at the same time she was afraid of Cyanide telling her to go faster.

He didn't, though. If anything, he could appreciate Kirika's carefulness. There was no need to rush here.

Soon, under the navigation of Luna, they arrived at the vent gate inside the central control room. Inside, just like Luna had said, was a strong-looking mutant sitting on a throne, tapping its metal finger against the armrest and surveying the different cameras as it searched for any sign of Cyanide and Kirika, the intruders. It too wore a purple vortex mask just like all the other mutants in this place, but the aura it was extruding was far more powerful than any other.

Cyanide and Kirika switched places after some struggle in the narrow vent, and the former ran a quick [Inspect] on the mutant.

[Name: Haunted Security Captain (Stage Two)]

[Level: 35]

[HP: 3000/3000]

[Category: ???]

"3,000 HP, huh…" He muttered under his breath. "Kiri. How much damage does that combo of yours do?"

"Huh? Well, it depends on their defense stat, but… to those mutants back there, I did over two thousand hitpoints in total."

"Then it's safe to assume you can do at least a thousand to this one," Cyanide said, then turned back to the mutant in the room, still oblivious it was being watched. "That leaves two thousand HP left…"

"Remember, Cyanide, status ailments," Luna said helpfully. "If you inflict it with Shock, that will reduce its defense to zero."

"Huh… but even so, is that enough?" Kirika asked in worry. "If it recovers before we can finish it off, it'll call reinforcements, and we'll be done for."

"That's where Technical damage come in," Luna replied with a wry grin.

"Technical…?" Cyanide arched an eyebrow in curiosity.

"Yes. Technical damage applies when an attack of a different affinity strikes a target inflicted with a status ailment. Sometimes, a different effect may even be triggered depending on the two affinities, but regardless, you can think of Technical damage as a 'critical hit' of sorts."

"Wind on Shock doesn't trigger any effects?" Kirika asked.

"Unfortunately not. Shock's special effect is triggered by an Ice attack, leading to something called Stunlock. Your Wind attacks will only trigger the special effect of Burn, which is Ignite. I'll explain all of this more later, but regardless, even without the special effect, the increased damage will still be there as long as the two of you execute this properly. From my calculations, I deduce you should be able to one-shot that mutant."

"One-shot… Technical damage is that powerful?" Kirika murmured in surprise, and Luna nodded.

"Go on, give it a try."

"… Alright. Here's the plan," Cyanide said after listening to her explanation. "I'll shoot a laser from my gun that is guaranteed to Shock it. Then, you go in and do that combo of yours with your sword. If needed, I'll finish it off. Is that clear?"

Kirika nodded, and Cyanide turned his head back to the vent gate.

"… Good. In that case…"

He slowly pulled his gun out of its holster and aimed it at the mutant's head. Then, he unleashed a bullet—a normal one, penetrating the gate and blasting it open with ease.

And the second the gate was out of the way, he activated the Lightning Affinity Weapon Art, [Shock Ray]. The mutant had no time to react before a yellow surge of energy shot towards it in the form of a laser beam.

The instant the ray impacted the mutant, it spasmed a bit, unable to do a thing, and fell forward onto the floor, Shocked. Now, it was Kirika's time to shine.

Due to the level of the mutant compared to Cyanide's moderate INT stat, there wasn't any time to waste. Kirika instantly leaped out of the vent, and cut upwards with her blade—Aerial Strike. The Shocked mutant was swept upwards, still in a limp state, and Kirika followed with Spinning Gale.

Cyanide watched in surprise as the HP of the mutant was reduced to a mere 1.5k, and now, it was time for the final and most powerful attack—Excelion Skewer.

Kirika's katana created a tornado powerful enough to slice the mutant into bits, dispersing into shards of light and disappearing into EXP. At last landing on the ground, Kirika grinned as she leveled up to Level 26.

"Wow… I feel so powerful right now."

"Hmph. Don't get cocky," Cyanide muttered as he dropped down beside her, and adjusted his cloak.

"I know, I know," Kirika said, rolling her eyes. "Oh yeah, the mutant dropped this."

Saying that, she handed Cyanide an item retrieved from her inventory: a Level Three Security Pass.