Accel World Vol 5 Chapter 2 (1/2)

Chapter 2

Haruyuki’s legs, wrapped in silver armor, landed on a thick moss-covered branch

When he raised his head, what he saas completely different from the rain-covered skyscrapers until just now The sky was dyed a curious lavender color, and all the high-rise buildings had changed into huge gnarled trees A lot of thick ivy also hung between the trees, anda them

Looking down on this netherworld jungle, whose basis was the shi+njuku Governh tree, Haruyuki grumbled

“Uhheh The «Priht in”

A voice then responded froht beside him

“What are you saying, it’s pretty It’s way better than the savage maps like the «Wasteland» or «End of the Century» ones”

The speaker of those words was of course the avatar covered in semi-permeable emerald-colored ar three-cornered hat, her beady eyes shi+ned

“Well, its appearance is pleasant, but still Even if I fly, I can’t see the ground here at all because there’s too much cover…”

“Don’t coround every once in a while”

“Yes, yes”

Haruyuki nodded as he hit the huge bell in her right hall with a tap

The characteristics of the Prie were its extrerown plants here, and its many randoe carnivorous beasts in the forest, and their intervention y

While reviewing the stage’s attributes in his es located at the upper-right corner of his vision with a glance

The ones that had challenged the of the Level 5 «Frost Horn» and Level 4 «Tourmaline Shell» Both were names that Haruyuki kneell They were active ion, «Leonids»

Since Haruyuki was currently Level 5 and Chiyuri was Level 4, there was no numerical difference However, the opponents should have beco it simply, Haruyuki and Chiyuri see up, but the reality was different

In other words, it was like this Burst Linkers were divided in many types based on their disposition, but even if the «types that ignore winning percentages and frantically duel against anyone at any ties and disadvantages and take part in duels they can win for certain» have the sa difference between them that existed in an aspect that wasn’t visible

In other words, it was their accuainst those of a higher level that they couldn’t win against no ainst opponents with a bad attribute for their avatar, those duels gave the Burst Linkers themselves an experience value different froe, and most importantly, a heart that stands firm in a crisis

Of course, the play style of the reckless-types was inefficient compared to the clever-types Their Burst Points were occasionally unsteady and unreliable, and they had to work hard at the tireso in the Unlimited Neutral Field

However, those kinds of people have a higher chance of going «upwards» in the end, is what his master Kuroyukihime had told him Therefore, Haruyuki was also consciously not picky about his opponents when he came out onto the streets to duel, with the intention ofa style in the middle of the reckless-types and clever-types, but—

The two that had challenged them this time, «Frost Horn» in particular, were famous as super Go-For-Broke bastards that considerably exceeded Haruyuki in ter reckless Also, it was probably exactly because they were like that that they had challenged Haruyuki and Chiyuri without hesitation i list

Concluding that the eneovernuide cursor in the center of his vision, Haruyuki decided to go along with the opponents’ style and spoke

“Chiyu, is it fine if we also go down to the ground and do a quick decisive battle?”

His partner then grinned and nodded

“Sure My healing won’t reach if the target’s not in sight anyway, and besides, I’ve also been practicing my close combat recently!”

She waved the bell in her left hand, and it sether behind her

Having been hit on the head by that bell once in the past, Haruyuki involuntarily drew back his head, and then extended his hand out to his partner

“Alright, then let’s charge at them from above!”

“Okay”

Saying that, she grasped his offered right hand tightly, and without hesitation they juround They aimed at a faraway hazy point beneath their eyes within the forest, the point indicated by the guide cursor, and went into a headlong free fall

The cursor only indicated the rough direction of the enemy Therefore, the other team would not i a direct fast approach from above They had to delay their deceleration until the last minute in order to definitely seize that brief chance The air groaned endlessly in their ears, and they approached the ground at a frightful speed Even Haruyuki as used to diving chocked back his breath hard, instinctively wanting to dodge it

However, Chiyuri, diving at the saht next to hi eyes She really was surprisingly a daredevil, no, that description was unsuitable for a girl…

While Haruyuki thought that, a sharp whisper reached his ears

“Found theiant red flower!”

When he frantically strained his eyes, he confirlance that there were indeed a silhouette with a large build and a silhouette with a slender build dashi+ng alongside each other arowth of tall rafflesia-like plants The one on the right was Frost Horn, who had a heavy light blue ar from his forehead and shoulders The one on the left was Tourreen armor

“I’ll take the one on the right, you take the one on the left Let’s hit theth”

He said that quickly, and she responded with a nod

Both of the ene that Haruyuki and Chiyuri were soovernment office tree However, in the next few seconds that would end, as the cursor disappeared when both sides were in close proxio into the offensive

Haruyuki widened his eyes, focused his consciousness, and measured the distance

“Let’s go…Five seconds till deceleration, three, two, one, zero!”

He grasped Chiyuri’s hand tightly, and at the sas on his back to their limit

In order to make the eneround, he hadn’t dared to store up his special technique gauge Therefore, his wings couldn’t produce any propulsion, but instead they could be used as a parachute His ht hold of the air, and caused him to brake intensely

He used that recoil to shi+ft the direction of their bodies He stretched out his left leg, and set up the posture for a dive kick He subtly pulled Chiyuri’s hand as she took the same posture, and adjusted her aiuide cursor disappeared from his vision

At that instant, the ene team also realized that Haruyuki and Chiyuri were in unexpectedly close proxiht the into the ground After they gave a quick look at their surroundings, they abruptly looked up at the sky

But by then it was already too late—

“Oryaaaaaaaa!”

“To————oh!”

Along with those shouts, Haruyuki’s left foot and Chiyuri’s right foot kicked through the rafflesia petals and then accurately plunged into their respective targets at a sharp angle

They had attacked with a ti that wouldn’t allow the enemy to evade unhurt even if they were skilled masters Frost Horn and Tourmaline Shell crossed their arether, and fortified theathered up energy by dropping down froh above struck them hard

As if a special technique had hit the ht effects and impact sounds occurred at the same time and filled the area

“Mugoh…”

“Funeen!”

Labored grunts leaked out from the mouths of Horn and Shell They lowered their waists and resisted being bounced back by the kicks They desperately dug both their legs into the green ground, and carved four deep tracks into it

However, no uard against such heavy attacks

Their defense was torn apart in just a single second, and Horn and Shell were flicked backwards at the saround, and crashed into the trunk of a big tree far away Iht health gauges both decreased by almost 30

With their first attack a success, Haruyuki and Chiyuri landed on the ground with a backwards somersault, as many shouts erupted from further away

Those cheers of things like ‘Ae with a norroups of players looking down at the site of hostilities froh branches As expected of shi+njuku, the mecca of duels, there seemed to be over 20 people here even on a weekday like this

Just as the commotion settled down temporarily, Frost Horn and Tours froh they were a bit unsteady froround and shouted in loud voices one after the other

“Da— platforuys probably couldn’t see anything with that much rain!”[1]

“That’s not the problem, Horn-kun! A date, these two are on a date, Horn-kuuuun!”

“Wh…Wh…at…They’re dueling while on a date…you mean…!?”

“That’s it, Horn-kun! After defeating us, they probably intend to hug and kiss, Horn-kuuu——n!!”

“Un…Unforgivable No way a to accept Burst Linkers like that—!!”

Witnessing this little skit that one couldn’t help but think had been prepared beforehand, the surrounding gallery suddenly got all excited again One-sided cheering like ‘That’s right, that’s right’ and ‘Show the with roars of laughter

Hearing all this while dumbfounded, Haruyuki frantically shook his head back and forth

“T-That’s not…We’re not on anything like a d-date”

“You annoying people should also forirls!”

Chiyuri’s shout there seemed to add fuel to the fire and overwrote Haruyuki’s defense Frost Horn once again staggered on his feet

“N…Now, I’uys seriously…”

Next to him, Tourmaline Shell put both hands on his waist and said ‘Yeah, yeah’ while nodding

“We Leonids have barely any girl Linkers They all sweat and turn away just by hearing about soroup”

“There’s no way you can understand! Since it’s like this, we’ve got no choice but to fill ‘em with holes and make them feel really sore on the way home!!”

“Uwah, that’s really petty, Horn-kuuun!”

“Shut up! I’ll show you! A real o…”

As Haruyuki was once again dumbfounded at this comic skit, Frost Horn suddenly positioned his arh horns that sprouted froht

“«Frosted Circle»!!”

Along with that technique naht spread out with the horns at the center, and shot through Haruyuki and Chiyuri before dispersing behind them

It occurred at a speed and range that couldn’t be avoided, but the light itself was hare even slightly

However, Haruyuki retightened his sense and waited for the phenoht with Frost Horn in the territory battles several times, but this was the first time that he had been directly hit by this special technique If he reht it, it should be a technique that didn’t do direct daed its characteristics

KIN, KIN Along with thin and sharp sounds, the surrounding plants began to be dyed white Particles of glittering light danced through the air It was all «frost» The crystallized moisture adhered to all objects and covered them in ice

While watching as Silver Crow’s shi+ny silver arht up to the tips of his limbs and armor, Haruyuki spoke in a low voice”

“Bell[2], I’ll face Horn Hold back Shell until I finish him”

“Okay”

Iave that short response—

“Uo…raaaah!”

On the other side of the veil of frost, a deep war cry was let out, and a huge silhouette charged straight at Haruyuki

It was Frost Horn There was frost adhering to his light-blue armor just like Haruyuki’s It seemed that the horns on his forehead and shoulder in particular were covered in a film of especially thick ice

He thrusted with the big horn on his right shoulder, and attacked Haruyuki with a violent shoulder tackle Dropping his waist and opening his eyes wide, Haruyukito evade and counterattack

“……Kuoh!”

With that shout, Haruyuki ju attack

However, his body wasfrost, and his starting razed hih his left shoulder He held his ground while gritting his teeth, and then let out a right punch at Horn’s side as he tried to pass him by

But his tiht Since it was heavily wrapped in frost, Haruyuki’s short punch would have induced e than usual if it hit itsHorn’s body

This was the main effect of the special technique «Frosted Circle» It increased the total weight of duel avatars within its effect range, and inhibited speedy small techniques and consecutive-hit techniques Conversely, it also increased the power of big one-shot techniques Moreover, since long-range vision got extre fro was also canceled because of the cold

In other words, it forced ale sumo-like close co ability in various ways Even if oneaas not easy since the frost was continually generated over a wide range with Horn as the center

While glaring at the silhouette of Horn as he turned around further away and went into a charging position to use his horns again, Haruyuki murmured within his mind

—Fine then, I’ll play it your way

While hardening his fists and his resolve, he glanced over at the two other people confronting each other further away

His partner Lime Bell’s body was similarly frozen white all over Her left hand’s bell was especially covered in icicles, and seemed quite heavy

However—

Her opponent, Tourmaline Shell, wasn’t covered in even a speck of frost anywhere on his body The smooth and curved armor that covered his slender body was no different at all froreen No, it was actually wet The ice that tried to cover him was melted the instant it touched him, and dripped down

This was the reason Tourether

His toured with an electric current that generates heat when anything impacted it There were not many «electric-type» and «heat-type» avatars that could produce heat continuously like this Shell was one of the few avatars that was completely immune to Horn’s special technique

PACHI, PACHI Positioning both his electricity-crawling arms as if to do a sword strike with them, Tourmaline Shell approached Lie attacks with Chinese martial arts-like paluard using her large bell in place of a shi+eld

Being a green type of a very high color saturation, Lih that it was comparable to that of a metal color Since both her arms were furthermore covered thickly in frost, Shell’s «electric heat pal as she concentrated on guarding, she should be able to mostly preserve her HP

However—that was also surely within the expectations of the ene team

Horn and Shell of course knew that Lime Bell was an incredibly rare «healer» In this battle, where the total combined levels of each teah probability of the ability even once

Therefore, they were using the strategy where Shell, who could freely e of «Frosted Circle», was restraining Bell with small consecutive attacks, while Horn finished off Crow Although their first attack fro to the eneround

In order to overcome this situation, Haruyuki had no choice but to take down Horn without any support

…But, we understood that froround!

Bringing the last of his hts to an end with that inner shout, Haruyuki focused his consciousness on the silhouette of Frost Horn rushi+ng towards him

He had felt the weight of the frost adhering to hile between thee with a last-second movement next time and land a counter without fail

Horn stuck out his left shoulder this ti ram Haruyuki withstood his fear and deliberately dreards the attack

—Here!

He kicked off the ground to step out of the ith a tihtly faster than earlier, and at that instant

The top of the sharp horn directly hit Haruyuki’s left shoulder

“Uah!”

Involuntarily letting out a shout from the intense impact, Haruyuki was helplessly bloay He crashed into the ground while spinning, and without stopping he rebounded back high in the air Since he would get additional daed to make himself land on his feet to avoid that at least

Even so, though, Haruyuki’s health gauge had decreased about 20 fro into his left shoulder’s ar sparks A sharp pain that was characteristic of receiving large dah his nerves, but Haruyuki felt more surprise than pain

The ti should have been perfect So then why had he been completely hit by the horn attack that should have been slower than a bullet?

The ansas giving froht a little further away

“Uhahahaha! Are you surprised, bird-ht not know since you always look down froer while within «Frosted Circle»! They rise strongly and sturdily!”

“…W-What did you say…”