Volume 1: New Game+

Chapter 8: Moon Step

Action Games and Fighting Games, once players figure out techniques that the developers didn’t intend to be a part of the game mechanics, many of those techniques become the accepted standard.
This happened particularly often for the Fighting Game genre. For example, in a certain cla.s.sic 2D fighting game, there was a simple bug that allowed you to cancel a normal move into your special move. In spite of it being a bug, this allowed for a deeper level of strategy on the compet.i.tive level, and it became widespread to the point where it was considered a fundamental technique. That technique which came from a bug would eventually become officially recognized and implemented in the next game in the series.

And of course, techniques like these also existed in the highly action-packed game of Dragon’s Krone.
That technique was Aran’s「Moon Step」.
Moon Step was not a skill implemented into Dragon’s Krone’s game mechanics.
Moon Step was a G.o.d-like technique that only Aran could use; his fans had even christened the technique with names like「AraSte（Aran Step）」and「Aran Style」.

「Wh……What……」

The Monk had absolutely no idea what had happened to his own body.
He had tossed out his【Crush Kick】 at Edgar who was in front of him, but Edgar’s body was obscured by pale light, and suddenly the Monk received a fierce attack from behind──
The Monk had no idea what had happened, and simply knew that he was struck as a result.

「……Whaa, Wh-Wha-Wha……」

However, the view was different for the players watching on the side lines.
After suddenly witnessing what just happened, every player, including the one-eyed Fighter, they had all forgotten how to form words, and simply stood there awestruck.
Blowing up a cloud of dust, with his body clad in pale light, Edgar had instantaneously moved behind the Monk within a blink of an eye──
That was, without a doubt, Aran’s「Moon Step」.

「E-Edgar-kun……Just now……what did you……」
「WH, WHAAAAT, THE MOOON STEEEEPPP!? HOW COME EDGAR CAN USE IT!? THIS ISN’T REAL, RIGHT!?」

Suzu and Megu voiced their amazement at the same time.
Aran’s Moon Step, it was such a mystery that players created a exclusive page on the Dragon’s Krone Wiki to try and recreate it, it was a technique that everyone wanted to learn.
Since Aran himself has never made the technique public, it was never properly explained how he was able to use the Moon Step.
However, although it was only on the level of speculation, volunteers tirelessly a.n.a.lyzed Aran’s livestream footage in an attempt to explain the true nature of the Moon Step.

According to the volunteers, Moon Step was apparently the byproduct of several skills used in succession.
From the high-speed movement skill【Ground Rush】, you would circle around the opponent and appear behind them by using the Counter skill【Tsubame-Gaes.h.i.+】,  and then you would use the Skill 【All or Nothing】which converts defense into offensive power to finish them off.
The reason why his body glows a pale blue light, is because of a lingering visual effect from using【Tsubame-Gaes.h.i.+】. This was pretty much the general consensus as to how the Moon Step was produced.
However, there was a problem with that explanation.
No matter how you think about it, it was impossible to string together【Ground Rush】【Tsubame-Gaes.h.i.+】and【All or Nothing】in rapid succession.

The primary theory used in Dragon’s Krone is that you should focus on leveling up only one Skill Tree. This allowed you to learn the most powerful skills in that Tree, but there was another reason why it was important to only use one Tree.
That was「Combinations」.
If you learned skills from the same Skill Tree, then you can form a one-time「Combination」between those skills. Once you use the first skill it was possible to cancel the movement and activate the second skill in succession.
For instance, if you learned【Ground Rush】from the Samurai Skill Tree【Lower Stance】, then was possible to connect it together with the skill【Upward Slice】 that was from the same Tree.

Therefore, under normal conventions, Aran’s Moon Step was a technique that should be impossible to accomplish.
From the【Lower Stance】Tree you used【Ground Rush】 and the connected it together with the【Tsubame-Gaes.h.i.+】from the【Middle Stance】Tree, and lastly you would connect it with【All or Nothing】from the【Iai】Tree.
Of the many players who challenged the Moon Step and there were a few that claimed on the wiki「It’s doable」. However, other than Aran’s broadcast videos, there was no proof that such a feat was possible, and Moon Step remain a mysterious technique till this day.

「b.a.s.t.a.r.d……You can use the Moon step……!?」
「Like you said earlier, the last move was【Diagonal Slash】 from that『f.u.c.ked up Skill Build』though……But, It’s still good enough right?」

Edgar nimbly turned his body, and pointed the tip of his katana at the one-eyed Fighter. The moment he did so, the Monk who took his brunt of【Diagonal Slash】fell down and crumbled on the spot

「Uu, uuuu……っ」

The Fighter instinctively took a step back.
Witnessing Edgar use the Moon Step, that was enough to greatly extinguish his will to fight.

「What’s the matter? Weren’t you going to “educate” us? Bring it on already」
「……Y-YOU BASTARRD……!」

Like h.e.l.l I can let this newbie make a fool out of me──
Falling for Edgar’s provocation, the Fighter let his anger ooze out as he shouldered his giant sword.
However, Edgar’s provoking words were merely「Bait」.

「I’LL FUUCKING KILL YOUUU!!」

Giving in to his anger, the Fighter charged at Edgar.
He held his blade by his side.
Using the momentum from pivoting with his right leg, he flailed the giant sword around in a large circle.
The Fighter used his area of effect Skill【Slash】.
Being careful of the Moon Step, he used his 【Slash】Attack over a large area. He was thinking of restricting Edgar’s movement’s with that attack.
However──

「Naive」

Once again Edgar’s body glowed pale blue.
Edgar started to move at extreme speeds.
But, this time he did not circle around behind his opponent.
Where Edgar was headed, was right into the greatsword’s path.
And, the moment his body was struck by the Fighter’s greatsword, Edgar activated the Samurai Counter Skill【Tsubame-Gaes.h.i.+】.

「Aa……Gaa!」

Signaling the activation of the skill a glittering effect came forth. Floating above the Fighter was a damage counter higher than the amount the Monk took.
Being supplemented by the additional damage gained from using a counter, the Fighter’s health was depleted in an instant.

This is what made Moon Step truly terrifying.
If you matched the initial【Ground Rush】to sync up with your opponents attack then you could activate【Tsubame-Gaes.h.i.+】on them. If you completely focused on the timing, then you could unleash a powerful attack into your opponent’s backside.
Moon Step was a technique with no openings; It was a technique to be feared in terms of both offense and defense.

「You……s.h.i.+tty b.a.s.t.a.r.d……」
「From my point of view, You guys are the s.h.i.+tty b.a.s.t.a.r.ds for Colluding」

Edgar swiftly sealed his katana back in it’s saya.
As the Fighter fell down to his knees, he body turned into small orbs of light, and he disappeared.

「A-Amazing……」

As if breathing a sigh of relief those words came out of Suzu and Megu.
Level, Equipment, and Numbers. The odds were entirely stacked against him, and yet Edgar was victorious. Watching Edgar’s battle, it was like seeing a sword fight being acted out on television, the beautiful sight was etched into their memories.

「You guys alright, Andou, Yamabuki」
「ah, yea, somehow……but」

Forgetting that they need to recover their health, Andou managed to squeeze out a reply to Edgar who had turned to look at them.

「You seriously beat the two of them」
「Wait, you…… how come you can use the Mood Step?」
「……Well, that is……」

──Now then, how should I explain this.
As was expected, Andou and Yamabuki asked him that question. Edgar was carefully deliberating.
I let my anger get the best of me and I ended up using the Moon Step, so I expected them to ask me about it, but… I wonder what kind of explanation would satisfy them.
“Aran taught me the Moon Step.”
“The Moon Step was a technique that Aran and I developed together.”
No, here I should just say「Aran was one of my friends before I retired」, that might be the best thing to say right now.

「The truth is-」
「AANDOOOUUUU!!! YAMABUKIIIIII!!!」

Just as Edgar was about to open his mouth, an angry roar so loud that it could wake up the dead came from somewhere else.
The owner of the voice, wearing a terrifying Demon-like expression, was Megu.

「……Hiii!? Megu-san!? 」
「HOW DARE YOU! LEAVING US BEHIND AND RUNNING OFF LIKE THAT!」
「W-W-We’re sorry!! It’s not what you think……」
「HAA!? NOT WHAT I THINK!? THE h.e.l.l’S THAT SUPPOSE TO MEAN, HUH!!」

Pointed at the two, s.h.i.+mmering in Megu’s hands, were her twin daggers.
Really, it’s just like I feared, Megu-san is planning on finished off these two.

「And don’t say that to me, shouldn’t you be saying that to Edgar who ran over to save you!」
「Y-You’re right! Sorry, Edgar!」
「I’ll NEVER forgive you twooo!!」
「……Eeh!?」
「Wai- Hold on! Megu!」

Sensing the danger in the air, Suzu rushed over and grabbed Megu.

「LET ME GOO! SUZUU!」
「M-Megu! You can’t! You can punish them after the quest ends! So let’s focus on clearing the quest!」

So that means that it’s alright to punish them when this is over huh.
As an innocent bystander, Edgar mumbled this in his heart as he watched the exchange between Megu and the others.

Making a loud ruckus, Megu was busy raising all h.e.l.l. Edgar took his eyes off her for a moment and looked over at the watchtower.
Maybe because the other parties had already took them down, but the large number of orcs were now gone, and the sounds of battle could be heard coming from the heart of the watchtower.
The remaining parties are probably, they must have started battle against the Boss Mob Orc King by now. Even if we went over there now, we would probably lose just on Mob kill score alone, so winning was pretty much impossible. Things will probably end up with the other parties killing the Boss Mob, but, in any case, we were able to achieve our objective of keeping Suzu and Megu alive to the end.
I guess that’s a victory in itself huh.

「Wait, Edgar-kun! Don’t just stand there, Help me stop Megu!」
「Eh……No, that’s a bit……I can’t help you with that」
「EEEEH!? WHY NOT!?」

Isn’t that like asking me to help calm down an enraged G.o.d?
I mean, just look at her.
The Megu-san right now, she’s way past the level of Orc, she’s even scarier than the Supreme Dragon Drake.

In Dragon’s Krone, people often say that teaming up in a Party makes things easier, but when I look at these guys, I have a feeling that joining a Party is 100 times more troublesome.
Like for the Grand Mission this time around, if I partic.i.p.ated Solo then I could easily clear it by myself.
Parties are nothing but trouble. All the more so when you party with people you know in real life.
Still──
Even though it was nothing but problems and difficulties, it was just a little tiny bit── Fun.

Echoing out into the Field was the sound of Megu continuing to rampage, Suzu’s voice trying to pacify her, and, louder than their cries for help when they were attacked by the Colluding Players, the terrified screams of Andou and Yamabuki.
And thus this marked the end of Edgar and friends’ First Grand Mission.

Extra TL note #1: So to clarify, The reason why the Moon Step is called “MOON” step is because the “pale blue light” that comes out of Edgar is similar to the light of the moon.

So last chapter when it said “The Moon was walking” was suppose to mean something like “the light was so brilliant that it looked like the moon walking [across the ground]”

Extra TL note #2: The last part didn’t really say Edgar and Friends, just “Edgar + Others”. But you know, I find it cute this way.