Claw-Strike Raptor

I increased the flight speed of the Circular Particle Blade to five times the speed of sound. Traveling at Mach 5, the blade sliced through a boulder approximately two meters in diameter before embedding itself in another rock behind it and coming to a stop.

“Oh, nice. Now, what would happen if I increased the speed to ten times the speed of sound?”

Mach 5 already provided more than enough destructive power, but I decided to try accelerating it to Mach 10 anyway. The Circular Particle Blade, now traveling twice as fast as before, exploded the instant it struck the rock.

Realizing the danger, I threw myself to the ground and covered my head with both arms. After the blast wave passed, I raised my head and found that the surrounding area had been devastated. Trees near the boulder had been snapped in half.

I sighed and got to my feet.

“That was close. Maybe I should stick to Mach 5.”

I considered settling for that speed, but after thinking it over, I continued experimenting. Eventually, I discovered that the blade wouldn’t explode at Mach 7.

“I’ve got my offensive techniques sorted out, but I’ll probably have to withstand enemy attacks sooner or later. I need some defenses, too.”

The realization that I hadn’t given much thought to defense until now was rather frightening. I was sure the Planetary Information Network contained information on defensive techniques, but its sheer volume of content made finding anything incredibly time-consuming.

And it wasn’t just the Planetary Information Network. The Level C Civilization General Knowledge and Heavenquake Force Drive Engineering that Zorofienne of the Rikagel Celestial Gods had bestowed upon me each contained an enormous amount of information. Fully understanding either would probably take years, if not decades.

I couldn’t afford to spend that much time studying, so I had once consulted Sario about the problem. According to him, the solution was to purchase and use something called an Information Support Butler.

Apparently, the Information Support Butler was a product designed to organize the vast knowledge stored in a person’s brain alongside information from the Planetary Information Network, allowing users to research topics efficiently. Unfortunately, Information Support Butlers were only available on planets with highly advanced medical technology, and I couldn’t purchase one on Boran.

I searched the Basic Magus Course for anything useful. Eventually, I discovered a defensive technique called Particle Armor. It involved covering the body with Bosol particles and reinforcing them with Heavenquake Force to create a powerful protective barrier.

Heavenquake Force could make a mass of Bosol particles as hard as steel or as elastic as rubber. Because the technique was so versatile, the design and structure of Particle Armor varied from race to race.

Apparently, some Magi even developed their own unique forms of Particle Armor. The Basic Magus Course didn’t provide detailed instructions, so I searched the network until I found something called Standard Human Particle Armor. I decided to use it as a reference for constructing my own armor.

Unlike a powered suit, Standard Particle Armor didn’t assist the wearer’s muscles. It was essentially a suit of highly advanced protective armor.

Back in my room at the Guest Tower, I began constructing my Particle Armor using the information I’d gathered online. First, I enveloped my entire body in Bosol particles, then used Heavenquake Force to shape and reinforce the sections that needed to be rigid.

Bosol particles could be bonded together using Heavenquake Force as connecting joints. Depending on how they were arranged, the resulting structure could be either rigid or flexible. This time, I assembled them into a hard, durable structure.

Next, I shaped the sections around my joints to be both sturdy and elastic. Although the armor barely felt heavy, it restricted my movements. I spent considerable time adjusting it. Three days passed before I finally completed a suit of Particle Armor that satisfied me.

After that, I practiced maintaining the Particle Armor without consciously concentrating on it. Eventually, I managed to keep it active for approximately three hours.

That day, I decided to go hunting to test whether my Particle Armor worked properly. I stopped by the Dragon-Slayer Rangers Guild to borrow a communication terminal for summoning the guild’s transport personnel, then headed toward the Black Forest of Belva.

Belva was a forest of enormous trees. Giant trees resembling oaks grew densely together, leaving the ground beneath them shrouded in gloom. Apparently, Dragon-Slayer Rangers used hoverbikes to fly above the treetops, heading directly to their hunting grounds to pursue their chosen prey.

Beneath those enormous trees, gigantic mushrooms reaching three meters in height and massive ferns grew in abundance. They apparently served as food for the monsters inhabiting the forest.

The forest was home to plenty of prey, including several dinosaur-type monsters besides the Rampaging Dragon Belgona. This time, I intended to hunt a Single-Horned Saurus that inhabited the forest’s outskirts.

Apparently, Single-Horned Sauruses attacked by charging their enemies with the horns on their heads. Those horns were also the parts that Dragon-Slayer Rangers specifically targeted. They were valuable medicinal ingredients, and the Dragon-Slayer Rangers Guild would pay as much as 1.2 million Crebits for one.

At the entrance to the forest, I equipped my Particle Armor. It still felt somewhat uncomfortable, but with gradual adjustments, I expected to make it fit my body perfectly.

The Particle Armor was transparent, making it essentially invisible. However, someone possessing Bosol Sensitivity would see it as a yellow glow surrounding my body.

Although I had been searching for a Single-Horned Saurus, the monster I encountered was a Claw-Strike Raptor, an agile dinosaur-type creature approximately 150 centimeters long.

Walking on two legs and moving somewhat like a chicken, the Claw-Strike Raptor possessed razor-sharp claws. Apparently, those claws were sharp enough to slice like razor blades, making them a serious threat to Dragon-Slayer Rangers.

That said, with my entire body protected by Particle Armor, I didn’t consider a single one particularly dangerous. Dealing with a large group, however, would be troublesome. As it happened, I found myself surrounded by five Claw-Strike Raptors.

The Claw-Strike Raptors held their sharp claws in front of their chests as they swiftly circled me. Apparently, these creatures were skilled at hunting in packs.

One of them leaped toward me, attempting to drive its claws into my chest. Instead, its claws struck my Particle Armor and bounced off harmlessly. In truth, I still didn’t know exactly how much protection the armor provided.

According to the information I’d found on the Planetary Information Network, Standard Particle Armor could withstand ordinary attacks from planetary monsters up to Threat Level 3. However, attacks from space monsters of the same Threat Level were apparently too powerful for it to withstand. In other words, space monsters were considerably stronger than their planet-dwelling counterparts.

Since Claw-Strike Raptors and Single-Horned Sauruses were both Threat Level 1 planetary monsters, my Particle Armor should have been capable of withstanding their attacks.

Surrounded on all sides, I fired a Penetrating Particle Round at one of the Claw-Strike Raptors. The projectile punched straight through the monster’s chest in a single strike before hitting a tree trunk behind it and boring a hole through the wood.

I escaped through the opening left by the fallen monster, but the remaining four immediately pursued me.

“Persistent little bastards.”

With my Particle Armor proving effective, I was able to fight with a reasonable degree of confidence. As I fled, I fired Penetrating Particle Rounds at the pursuing Claw-Strike Raptors, picking them off one by one.

By the time I killed the last one, I was completely exhausted. I had trained against orc-shaped robots aboard the goblins’ spaceship, but that level of training wasn’t enough to compensate for the physical decline that came with age. Maybe I should start working out.

I removed the claws from the Claw-Strike Raptors. Apparently, these claws were used as catalysts in specialized batteries. Selling them would bring in approximately twenty thousand Crebits. Incidentally, the meat and hides of Claw-Strike Raptors weren’t worth much. Their meat, in particular, was supposedly terrible.

Collecting the claws took some time. Once I finished, I resumed walking along the outskirts of the Black Forest of Belva. Before long, I encountered the Single-Horned Saurus I’d been searching for.