Like a grenade detonating in mid-air, the dazzling flash of fire formed a crimson flame cloud that churned continuously.
"Huh?" Noah frowned slightly, realizing this attack was a little different from what he had imagined, because not just the speed, but the explosive power was way too dispersed.
It looked spectacular, but the destructive force wasn't focused enough, meaning it probably couldn't deliver a fatal blow in one hit.
"It still needs some refinement."
Thud!
From within the flame cloud, a figure wreathed in fire plummeted to the ground like a meteor, revealing it was Tsubaki landing on both feet and cracking the ground beneath her.
The two massive weapons were held firmly in her hands, not letting go for a single moment.
Upon closer inspection, you could see some scorched marks on the side of the two-handed great axe, which was still smoking, making Noah notice this and exclaim in amazement.
"She actually blocked the damn thing."
What kind of bullshit reflexes were those?
His earlier thought was totally correct, because if he used mere gunpowder for propulsion, the speed would definitely not be enough to keep up with a high-level adventurer's movements, which was exactly why a special launcher was needed to solve this problem.
"Whoa, what the hell was that? Can the Spell-Weaver skill even do something like that? That's practically cheating."
Tsubaki knew the effects of his three skills and also knew he had no magic, so that being the case, it was pretty easy to understand.
"If you didn't know about that skill, you probably wouldn't even know what the hell happened the first time you saw it," Tsubaki remarked with a heavy sigh.
If used properly, the Spell-Weaver's ability could indeed become an unfair "first-encounter killer," and coupled with Truth Seeker, the amount of information between the two sides was on a completely different level from the very beginning.
In other words, you couldn't expect any semblance of fairness when fighting Noah, since the scales were already tipped before the battle even began.
"Evasion and offense, not bad at all. More importantly, your movements... you don't look like some greenhorn who's never been to the Dungeon, so is that also because of that skill?"
Tsubaki didn't hold back her praise, but she showed absolutely no signs of stopping.
'Is this crazy girl getting carried away?'
"Alright, Noah-boy, let's pick up the pace a little! The rhythm of the deep floors is way faster!"
The moment Tsubaki's voice fell, she burst forward with astonishing speed, launching a direct charge right at him.
Noah raised Raven Feather, his five fingers spread wide and aimed at the oncoming Tsubaki, realizing this Bombardment needed to be more focused into a beam rather than a wave.
"Bombardment!"
A dazzling beam of light shot out from Noah's hand, aimed straight at Tsubaki's head, packing a power that was seventy percent stronger than the last one, putting the destructive force on a completely different level.
"You idiot, Noah-boy! How could you aim for a girl's face!" Tsubaki roared, swinging her greatsword in a horizontal sweep that cut across the lower part of the Bombardment before lightly lifting the hilt, leaving Noah in utter astonishment as he watched his Bombardment get deflected by Tsubaki and veer completely off target.
"Wh—"
"Haha, too naive, Noah-boy!"
Having deflected the Bombardment, Tsubaki appeared before Noah in the blink of an eye.
Noah took a deep breath, focusing intently on Tsubaki's every move with the appraisal effect of Truth Seeker continuously active to observe the movement of her every single muscle, until suddenly his entire body relaxed and he seemed to be falling forward, a movement that instantly made Tsubaki's expression change.
Noah's seemingly slow movement suddenly accelerated as he ducked his body, evading Tsubaki's attack by the slimmest of margins and slipping right into her guard, pushing off with his feet to activate the Anti-Gravity.
The very next second, a massive burst of propulsion erupted, allowing Noah to grab Tsubaki's shoulder with one hand and use the instantaneous burst of force to halt her forward momentum, knowing that at point-blank range, she shouldn't be able to deflect this hit!
"This time, it's not a Bombardment, it's an impact! Resonance Detonation!"
BOOM!
A massive explosion erupted right between the two of them.
Noah had activated Anti-Barrier in advance and interfered with elements like repulsion and pressure to mitigate the backlash on himself as much as possible, but even so, Raven Feather couldn't withstand the excessive load and developed cracks, furthermore leaving Noah's arm completely unable to be lifted again for a short time.
At that final moment, he had dispersed all his strength to make his movements unpredictable, surpassing Tsubaki's judgment and seizing a golden opportunity to land a point-blank Resonance Detonation, which was the most destructive technique he could currently produce, so it should have some effect, right?
"Oww—that hurts," Tsubaki's voice came from within the dust and smoke, followed by a powerful gust of wind pressure that swept away the smoke from the explosion, revealing the half-dwarf woman having swung the greatsword in her hand.
Noah looked at her and immediately activated his appraisal while muttering,
"Bruise... burns, and a barely perceptible minor bone fracture?"
Plop.
Noah spread his arms and fell backward onto the ground, completely out of tricks, knowing Tsubaki had probably only used a tenth of her strength yet had already forced him to use every trick up his sleeve.
He had gone all out while she was off guard, but the damage he inflicted was barely a scratch, and for her, an injury of this level didn't even require a potion since a night's rest would probably be enough to fully recover.
As a half-dwarf, Tsubaki's strength and endurance were naturally far superior to adventurers of other races, and moreover, as a smith, those were her primary stats, making it completely inevitable that she was way tankier than a typical Level 5.
If this attack had been used on Jura, the bastard probably wouldn't have escaped unscathed, but the conditions to pull it off were too demanding, meaning.. relying on Bombardment alone had a very limited threat.
However, Bombardment was a standard offensive tool for him, and as his level and magic stat increased, he could weave even more powerful techniques to compensate for the lack of power.
"Hey, hey, what's with that look? Are you dissatisfied with the power of that last attack?" Tsubaki seemed to have seen through his thoughts and complained.
"Give me a break, because for a low-tier Level 2, you actually managed to inflict a minor injury on me, meaning you're not just a regular monster anymore, you're a total cheat. If the mages from other Familias found out, they'd treat you with the exact same hostility as they would their father's killer."