Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 185: Launch a perfect counterattack?

Olvera was undoubtedly a gaming genius, and Alice was even more certain of this because she had learned the operating techniques of the Holy Lock - Pendulum of Fate without any instruction, and at the same time, she had also understood its combat mechanism.

The chains wrapped around the arms are somewhat like an extension of the body, connecting the holder's five senses with the web woven by the chains. Any actions of the enemy in the web, including information such as movement, dodging and attacking, will be transmitted through the chains and updated in the holder's mind, helping him to construct a three-dimensional figure covering the entire battlefield, thereby accurately locating the enemy's direction.

No matter how covert the action is, it is impossible to completely eliminate traces, just as birds flying across the sky leave feathers and fish swimming across the water leave ripples. The purpose of the Holy Lock is to help the holder capture these fleeting traces, find the most appropriate time, and then "see through" them.

After successfully "seeing through" the enemy's attack, you will enter the CT time. The so-called CT time, in Alice's words, is "Counter Time", which means counterattack time. It will give the holder twice the dynamic vision, so that even when facing close attacks, he will have ample reaction time. It looks like time has been artificially slowed down.

Successfully dodge the enemy's attack or successfully counterattack during the CT time, and you can accumulate CTP points, which is "Counter Train Points". When the CTP slot is full, you can release a more accurate and gorgeous "flash counterattack" during the CT time, causing quite terrible damage to the enemy.

As for this "flash counterattack", Olvera had never tried it before, so she could only understand it through Saint Shalia's explanation. Fortunately, after the free verbal guidance of a golden-haired maid, the shepherdess finally learned how to explain the most complicated mechanism in the simplest language.

"Depending on the speed of reaction time, flash counterattack can be divided into three levels."

She spoke in a soft voice, while Olvera blasted fireball magic at the mushroom turret in the corner, blowing the shadow beasts that had been peaceful to the ground. She nodded seriously amid the noisy explosions and shrill howls to show that she was listening.

"If you use a flash to counterattack right after the enemy makes an attack, you can cause one-tenth of the damage to the enemy. This is called a normal flash. If you use a flash to counterattack while the enemy is attacking, you can not only cause half of the damage to the enemy, but also make the enemy fall into a dizzy state for three seconds. This is called a precise flash."

"That's right." Saint Xia Liya also said to Olvera: "If you want to release a flash counterattack at the moment when the enemy is about to attack you, your reaction time may not exceed 0.1 seconds. If it is a little faster or slower, it will cause the release to fail, and you can only passively withstand the enemy's attack. This kind of flash is too dangerous for you. I don't want you to use it, Olvera."

Her words once again revealed the undisguised concern and comfort, and she called her by her name very naturally, without any honorifics that showed a sense of alienation. This made the princess a little unsure of how to respond, and after opening her mouth, she hummed in a low voice: "I understand... Thank you."

Both are descendants of the goddess and the young queen who holds the law. On one side is the shepherdess who longs to regain her past memories and tries hard to be a "good sister", and on the other side is the princess who has been closed in the castle for many years and has not yet fully given her heart to strangers... The relationship and emotions between them are really too complicated, Lingge thought, and did not rashly speak up to participate.

"what……"

"The last one." Saint Shallia paused for a moment, and after the princess had dealt with all the nearby enemies, she continued, "It is to release a flash of counterattack at the moment when the enemy is about to attack you. If the release is successful, the true power of the Holy Lock can be exerted to directly destroy the enemy. This kind of flash is called... Perfect Flash."

"Directly eliminate?" Alice was shocked: "Instant kill? That's too strong, but the conditions are a bit harsh."

Half the damage and three seconds of control effect are indeed very powerful. Aoweila dodged the attack of the shadow beast and cut off the opponent's body with a sword. Then she asked, "What about the last one?"

Only Alice seemed not to notice the special atmosphere between the two sides. She said excitedly, "I think so too. We don't need a perfect flash, a precise flash is enough. Olvera, let's find two elite monsters to practice! If we practice this well, it will be a powerful weapon to defeat the BOSS!"

"Ah? Oh, okay." Olvera came back to her senses and nodded in agreement.

...There seemed to be no new elite monsters in the third floor corridor, only the previous Shadow of Harvest and Shadow of Cruelty appeared again. Alice said that this was "reasonable use of materials", while Linger said that she was "just a lazy dog". Although she was emotionally more inclined to Alice, for some reason, Ovella always felt that Linger's words were the truth.

Although the princess is very familiar with the attack routines of these two elite monsters, it does not mean that the battle will be much easier, because these recurring elite monsters actually gather in groups and like to show off their power and domineering momentum with their younger brothers.

There are often two huge elite monsters guarding the forks or corners of the corridor, blocking the way, with various other shadow beasts wandering around: lurking attack-type shadow beasts, noisy giant-type shadow beasts, patrolling-type shadow beasts that use numbers to bully the few... Except for the assassination-type shadow beasts that like to be alone, any other kind of shadow beast can be found around these elite monsters.

As soon as you get close, it's like lighting a barrel of explosives. You will face attacks from all directions in an instant. If there happens to be a mushroom turret at the back, you will experience the baptism of heavy artillery fire: corrosive acid mist fills the corridor, and the gray-white mycelium balls explode before they hit the ground. Once the mycelium floating in the sky touches the entity, it will begin to grow wildly, gnawing on flesh and blood, and even not sparing their own companions, stimulating them to become more ferocious and launch more crazy attacks... In such a chaotic battle, even the teammates in her mind have no time to give instructions. Olvera can only fight by herself and react by instinct.

Fortunately, after the baptism of the first two corridors, the princess's fighting skills have become more and more sophisticated, and she can move freely among the monsters. There may be thrilling moments, but in the end, they can be perfectly resolved by her own operations.

With one sword, he split open the giant slime tongue that suddenly jumped out from the corner of the wall, and took a step forward, stepping on the head of the wolf-shaped shadow beast that jumped over. His petite body flew into the air, and he slashed in mid-air, using the force of the rotation to drive the sword to draw a beautiful and smooth arc. The arc of the sword was like a clear silver moon, sweeping away the rapidly attacking giant bees around, cutting them into pieces, and the dark flesh and blood turned into dark black mist and dissipated before it hit the ground.

After landing, there were no living shadow beasts around, so the girl switched to the holy book and, with the help of "continuous chanting", released elemental magic of wind and fire in succession, combining them into a more powerful [Scorching Storm]. A huge tornado, wrapped in red lotus flames that were all over the sky, twisted its body and swept across, crashing straight into the dense group of monsters, causing a horrible explosion in an instant. The fierce collision of wind and fire caused the scorching heat to instantly sweep across the entire corridor, and the rumbling sound of the explosion seemed to crack the floor.

The broken limbs and flesh of the shadow beasts were splattered all over the ground, and the sounds of miserable wailing and roaring were endless. Even the mushroom turret hiding in the back that kept spewing acid mist and gray-white mycelium balls was blown into charred carbon trees by this terrifyingly powerful magic. When the mouths on the fungus strains and caps opened, they only weakly spit out a few streams of burning smoke.

"Watch your back!" Alice suddenly shouted.

Olvera had no time to look back. She saw from the corner of her eye that a huge shadow appeared behind her at some point. He raised the huge steel sword in his hand high and swung it down with force. The rotten and dilapidated armor burst out with amazing power at this moment. The sword twisted the void and instantly ignited a surging black flame. The dust exploded and burst into crackling sounds.

At such a close distance, there was no energy left to dodge, but Olvera's mind was clearer and calmer than ever before. In an instant, she switched the holy book in her hand to the holy chain. One end of the sacred golden chain wrapped around her arm, and the other end quickly spread out a huge net, covering the surrounding space before the sword cut off the petite body.

Therefore, the angle of the sword's inclination, the direction in which the blade fell, and even the point of force when the enemy swung the sword... all the complex information was transmitted to the princess's mind through the threads in the net, and with the power of the holy lock, she completed the analysis of the situation in less than a second.

After the analysis, the natural thing is... seeing through!
Time suddenly froze, and flowed very slowly. The huge sword trembling at high speed was just a still image in the eyes of the girl. Even the dark flames burning on it were so clear that she could see the direction of the flames licking the void. She bent her knees slightly and tightened the chain. Every thread that woven the network was gathered at this moment. The CTP slot that had been filled for a long time was shining, and then it became dim the next moment, and the number on it instantly returned to zero.

A flash of counterattack, launched!

In a flash, Olvera's figure turned into a white light, passed through the enemy's body, and appeared on the other side of the battlefield, while the broken ancient armor still maintained the posture of swinging the sword, standing stiffly in place. Olvera stood up, moved her wrist slightly, retracted the holy chain, and the giant net covering the space was unraveled along the woven path like pulling out silk cocoons, turning into a sacred golden giant snake, swimming docilely through the void and returning to the master's side.

When the brass pendulum at the end of the giant's armored body brushed against it, the latter, as if isolated from time and space, trembled slightly, and gradually evolved into a roar like a meteor shattering. In the end, the entire body broke into countless metal fragments and collapsed with a loud bang. The remaining half of the blood bar on its head disappeared directly.

With a precise flash, the launch was successful.

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)