Shouko bound a flying monster near the party in distress—not with a lure, but by simply wrapping it in the line. She dragged it close and took it out with her fan while it was still immobile.
“I may not be on Kizuna’s level, but I can fight like this too!”
No, err...if I had to say, that’s not really how you fight with a fishing rod? But considering I’m the one hooking monsters in the mouth and yanking them up with Pole Fishing, maybe I shouldn’t be talking...
“Umm, are those rope skills?”
“Yes, that’s right. Even though I’m using a fishing rod, it fulfills the conditions for rope skills.”
Granted, if you were using a fishing line to attack and restrain, I could see why it would count toward rope proficiency. Maybe fishing rods were actually categorized as some kind of hybrid weapon?
I guess smacking things with a lure isn’t all there is to it. But does that mean I’ve been unknowingly raising my projectile proficiency or something?
“Do you want to try it out, Kizuna?”
“U-Umm, well...”
Would I be able to wrap a line around a neck and pop it off like that? Honestly, I wasn’t confident that I could. Shouko had grown a lot when I wasn’t looking.
It wasn’t so long ago that she was just mimicking me, dangling her line.
“Shouko.”
“Yes?”
“Have you ever tried to strike a monster with a lure, hook them, and reel them in?”
“You do it so naturally, Kizuna, but it is a lot harder than it looks.”
Nah, I’d say wrapping them in the line’s a lot harder. Hooking the mouth seems easy by comparison.
With that in mind, I hooked a Dimension Garuda’s mouth and yanked it up with Pole Fishing.
“Drain, I daresay!”
With Yamikage landing the last blow, we’d managed to wipe out the monsters assailing the other party.
“Thanks. You saved us there.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“All right! Is everyone good to go?!”
“Yeah! Let’s do this!”
“Woo-hoo!”
Once they’d finished patching themselves up, the party we’d saved took off running.
There was a lot of give-and-take—if we wanted to clear the event, we’d have to cooperate with one another.
Still...the way Shouko uses her fishing rod is very different from how I use mine. Come to think of it, she was leveling her rope skills back on Cal Mira, so maybe that led her to develop a different fishing rod fighting style.
“Aight! We’ve reached the tower!”
And with this and that, we’d finally gotten to the nearest tower.
Naturally, there were already other players pounding away at it.
“Let’s take it down!”
“Yes!”
On Shouko’s call, we all nodded and began our attack on the massive black structure.
For my part—well, it was an immobile target. I pulled out the Hakugei no Tachi and began charging Blood Flower.
“I don’t know if the event tower counts as a boss or something else, but this weapon’s the most efficient here.”
“Indeed. We’ll go all out as well!”
“Rather, shouldn’t we spread ourselves out some more, I daresay?”
“We’re only getting started. Everyone’s just rushed to the nearest tower. Once we smash this one, we can hit up the others.”
“Yup yup, we need to get it done while sis is tearing up the front lines.”
With that, we started hacking away at the tower. But, as though sensing that their base was in danger, the monsters started to swarm in.
We had Brave Pekkle, Chris, and the other Pekkles acting as shields while the rest of us dodged their attacks and endured, but ignoring them gradually started to become annoying.
“They just keep coming.”
“I daresay, shall we scatter them with an AoE?”
“Guess so. Yamikage, I know you’re not thrilled, but let’s hit them and try to debuff the tower while we’re at it.”
“This is one of those times I don’t mind, I daresay.”
Yamikage started chanting. She already knew what I was getting at.
“Shouko, Tsumugi.”
“Yes, of course! I’ll make it easy for you to aim.”
Shouko used her fishing rod to bind a nearby Dimension Djinn, lifting it up with an almost Pole-Fishing-esque motion and slamming it back down.
“Ggheeeh!”
Oh... That actually does some solid damage. And the restraints are too strong for it to break free. I guess that’s the power of some high-grade line.
“I’ll weaken it as much as I can! Hah!”
Beastification-buffed Tsumugi swung her scythe wide, getting some damage on the other monsters in the area while she was at it.
As for me... I’d finished charging Blood Flower to a decent level.
“Yamikage, we’re doing it again!”
“I know, I daresay!”
I unleashed Blood Flower at the Dimension Djinn Shouko had tied up, triggering a Cooperation Skill with Yamikage.
“Bloody Bomb Splash!”
For the second time today, our Cooperation Skill burst out like a crimson flower and splattered the area in a massive defense-lowering debuff.
“Whoa! The Island Lord Party just gave us some Cooperation Skill support!”
“This’ll be big! Let’s hope it debuffs the tower too.”
“As expected! And with that new Brave Pekkle stirring up the battlefield and gathering up all the monsters, it’s way easier to land hits! These guys are the real deal!”
Taking in the gratitude of the players around us, we watched as the monsters Tsumugi weakened were taken out by Bloody Bomb Splash’s explosion. Then the magic happened—more and more explosions as fallen monsters erupted into bloody blossoms one after the next.
Yep, the skill caused a chain explosion. Unfortunately, the monster had to be taken out by the weak blast for it to work, so the chain didn’t usually spread too far.
Still, bing-bang-boom! The sound of explosions filled the air as the monster population around the tower plummeted. The blood that splashed on the tower began to let off smoke.
“Now’s our chance!”
“Yes, let’s do this!”
“I’ve still got firepower to spare.”
It was time for my ace in the hole—I pulled out the Energy Blade. Or rather, Prototype Variable Energy Blade IV.
“Oh, it’s been a while since I last saw it, Kizuna.”
“It’s getting stronger bit by bit with each wave reward.”