Having been appointed by Haruru as a tester of the prototype, I was once again visiting the swamps of Lores.
　The reason why I came here, where I had suffered so much yesterday, was, first, to try out the weapon that bears the name of this ballpoint pen.
　Secondly, to try to fight the lizard monsters that I couldn't see yesterday.

　When I think about it, I don't really understand why there are lizards in the swampy area. I wonder if they are aquatic lizards.
　A crocodile would have been more realistic, but this is a game, and I think I'm losing if I go into it.

'Yoo-hoo-hoo!

　As I jumped and knocked down the Amalfrog that was trying to hit me, I checked the performance of this two-handed cudgel as if it were a rhythm game.

　It has an attack power of 35, which at this point is higher than the Super Kinbou.
　The attack power does not change when transformed, but it seems that the durability is set separately for the handle to the back part of the blow and the blade that comes out after the transformation.
　And perhaps because of the built-in transformation mechanism, the durability is not high overall, not just for the blade.
　Especially after the transformation, you will have to operate it like a spear or naginata, carefully aiming for critical hits.

'Serya!

　Twist your body as hard as you can, and step in with a 'Cleave'. This is the basic art of the Two-Handed Cudgel skill, and is also its most useful technique.
　Perhaps it was because he had cleaved with both hands, or perhaps it was because his HP was low. I hadn't even transformed them, but they both turned into polygons and disappeared.

　Incidentally, perhaps because it is a derived skill, the Two-Handed Cudgel skill has another art.
　It's called "Rampage", and it's a thrusting technique consisting of three strikes.
　As the name implies, the location of the hits is random except for the initial hit.
　As an image, it looks like a circle is generated around the first hit, and the hits are randomly thrown into the circle.


　However, when you hold them again, you will see that the three weapon types, the one-handed mace, the two-handed mace, and the two-handed cudgel, are completely different even though they are categorized as "striking weapons.
　According to Haruru, the difference between these three weapon types is "length and weight".
　The shortest is the one-handed mace. The shortest is a one-handed mace and the heaviest is a two-handed mace. The longest and lightest is the two-handed club.

　The most maneuverable is the one-handed mace. Well, just because you can handle it with one hand, you can understand how easy it is to handle. In this respect, the two-handed mace boasts the worst handling.
　On the other hand, their positions are reversed in terms of firepower. The two-handed mace is the weapon with the highest firepower in this game, and at the same time, it is a weapon that can only be used with a high strength value.

　Then, what is the greatest characteristic of the two-handed club?
　It is its overwhelmingly wide attack range.

　This is because each weapon has its own way of inflicting damage.
　In the case of a mace, you can expect to do a lot of damage by hitting it with the tip, or the striking part, while hitting it with the root will not do damage commensurate with its attack power.
　Even if you hit with the handle of a sword, it won't hurt so much, and if you hit with the handle of a spear, it won't hurt more than if you hit with the tip. In the case of a spear, there is a spearhead, but that is an exception.

　In this way, weapons are set up in such a way that if you treat them appropriately, they will inflict damage appropriately.
　In this respect, due to the fact that this two-handed club weapon is a "stick", all parts of the weapon have almost the same damage assessment.
　Therefore, a "Cleave" shot with this weapon will retain its damage even if it strikes many monsters at the same time, or even if it strikes with the tip like a strike.


　It is a rare weapon that can continuously deal similar damage in all situations, and at the same time, all of its range is its attack range.

　That said, the firepower of its arts is relatively low, so it's well balanced in that area.
　It also has one of the highest friendly fire rates of any melee weapon, so if you don't choose the right arts to use in a party, you might end up attacking your allies.
　In other words, it is relatively dexterous for solo use.
　Of course, you can use the "Striking Weapon" skill even when using this weapon. If you use it effectively, you will be able to expand your fighting range even more.


'Hmmm, there are no ...... lizards...'

　I concentrated on hunting for an hour, but the lizard still showed no signs of appearing.
　You'll be able to find out how to defeat them by using the same monsters that have been hitting you for a while now: Amalfrog, Amalfrog, Amalfrog, Amalfrog.

　You either have to hit the brain precisely or gut it. This seems to be the condition for a critical hit on a frog.
　It's fine if it's the size of an amateur frog, but if it's a bullfrog or a flying frog, you can't get a critical hit and you'll end up in a pitched battle.
　The transformation mechanism of the "Kugelschreiber" is certainly convenient, but the length of the blade is frankly short.
　It's not much different from a spear, and even compared to a naginata, it has only half the blade.
　It would be difficult to cut through the internal organs of a frog of several meters in length with it.


'............ Kyaaa......'

''Hmm?''

　I was pondering in front of the upturned frog when I suddenly noticed a voice echoing from afar.

'Scream ...... over there.'

　Thanks to my clear vision, I knew at a glance where the voice was coming from.
　I didn't have any obligation to help him, and I wasn't necessarily in trouble in the first place, but now that I had heard him, I decided to go and see what was going on.

　The closer we got, the more we understood what was going on. A small island with the same swamp we had found yesterday.
　If you look, you'll see a girl in a gothic dress being attacked by a bullfrog. Her HP didn't seem to have decreased yet, but she was on her butt and shaking.

'Hey, do you need help?

'Oh, please!

'Yes, please!

　After getting a word in edgewise, I blocked the tongue that was being swung at the girl with the metal rod that I had changed before coming here.
　I hit the girl's head, which was full of gaps, with a "slam" while jumping up to scare her, and made her stand up on her buttocks on the ground.

'Can you fight?

'Yes, that's because my ...... weapon is broken.'

'I see. I'll take it down then.'

　I glanced at the girl's entire body, but she certainly didn't seem to have any weapons. Unless she had a sub-weapon or fighting skills, she wouldn't be able to fight.
　While she was talking, she jumped and dodged the press attack of the bullfrog by backstepping.
　But you're really light. I've never seen a real bullfrog before, but I wonder if it's as light as this one.

　Unfortunately for the bullfrog, I was fighting you yesterday.

'Unless you change your attack pattern, it's going to be one-sided.



　With that, I took a stance for one of my arts.
　I ducked the attack of the bullfrog, which switched to a tongue attack as if it thought the press would not hit it, and I stepped in as hard as I could and hit it with the metal rod.
　As if to catch up with the frightened bullfrog, I hit him again. And then another. And one more.
　This is the "Four Strikes" art, which consists of four "strikes" in total.

　The advantage is that it uses less SP than four strikes. The disadvantage is that you can only perform the striking motion while it's active, and because it's a series of strikes, each strike must be performed within a certain amount of time.
　However, the striking itself is a free art, and as long as you hold it with both hands and swing it, it will be judged as a striking action.
　Even so, it's a difficult art to hit unless your opponent is relatively slow.
　If you tried this in front of Aria, she'd probably miss your second hit, get out of range, and drop your head while you were still stiff after the move.

'Since you're here, let me try out various arts, okay?

　In fact, my striking weapon skills had improved quite a bit yesterday, thanks to my endless fights with the frogs, who were unnecessarily tough against strikes.
　Due to the fact that I had been bumped up by Aria, I hadn't gained enough proficiency for my level, and when I arrived here yesterday, I could only use "Slam" and "Finisher".

　Although 《Four Strikes》 was the next art I learned after Finisher, it only reduced the HP of the Bullfrog by about 20%.
　If that's the case, let's try to hit him with something a little more effective.

　I waited for a while, dodging tongue attacks and hitting it with blows, and finally the time came for me to aim.
　I stepped forward and jumped straight up. I had already evaded the so-called rushing bullfrog just before the leap, and was holding the metal rod like a bat.
　With the intention of smashing the head of the charging bullfrog, I swung the gold rod, accelerated by the Arts, as hard as I could.

　Counter Arts "Home Run". It's a pretty nasty move that uses the momentum of an oncoming enemy to send it flying.

　Boom!　The sound of the blow was terrifying, and the two-meter-long body of the bullfrog was blown away.
　If you land this move correctly, the opponent is sure to be blown away, so it doesn't really matter how long it takes.
　However, I did lose a bit of HP due to the recoil from hitting back with a large mass.
　The recoil depends on your status in relation to the enemy's mass, momentum, and strength, so if you use this against an opponent much larger than yourself, you may end up destroying yourself, or you may be blown away without even being able to perform the art in the first place.
　It's an interesting and powerful art, but it's a little difficult to use.

　I healed my wounds with some potion juice I bought on the street, and looked at the dying Bullfrog.
　Perhaps suffering from a concussion, the bullfrog was wobbling with less than 20% HP remaining.
　I'm not one to let things drag on, so I hit it again with the "Four Strikes" and cut off its HP.


'Woohoo......ohhh......!

　Suddenly, a deadly blade swung at my neck, but I avoided it by crouching down.
　You'll be able to find a lot more than just a few of them in the market.