“Cleaver!”
My Iron Chef’s Knife glows red as I shout the skill name out loud. I begin to spin then use the centrifugal force to cut down the Darkness Lizardman with great strength.
Swish!
The knife goes cleanly through the Darkness Lizardman’s right hand and, along with the b.a.s.t.a.r.d sword it was carrying, it falls to the ground.
“I bagged one. You all good there, Shouko?”
“Completely fine! Wild Dance the Second: Bloom!”
Once Shouko opened her glowing fan, flower petals dances through the air like some sort of special effect and tear into the two Darkness Lizardman.
One of them gets cut down but the other swings its b.a.s.t.a.r.d sword at Shouko.
She catches the blade between her fan and cleanly snaps it into two.
“Recharge…”
As Shouko mutters, her fan begins to glow white.
Then, she attacks the Darkness Lizardman by thrusting her fan.
She probably didn’t need the helping hand, but at the same time, I stab the Darkness Lizardman with my Iron Chef’s Knife. Our combined efforts take down the monster.
“Are you injured, Kizuna?”
“No, not at all. I did better than I thought I would but fighting two at once might be too much.”
I did get hit once, but it was nothing.
Not to mention, I earned more Energy than I lost, so it’s a net profit.
Then suddenly, Shouko’s folding fan glows even brighter.
Her offensive skills often need to charge up before they can be used.
It can be anywhere from 10 seconds to three minutes. The longer it gets charged, the brighter and more powerful her fan is. While it’s charging, she fights and blocks normally.
If I had to nitpick, I’d say that the fan is kinda mediocre at both offense and defense.
Most of the offensive skills are area of effect and so it doesn’t do a lot of damage. Plus, it doesn’t block as well as a proper shield would.
“Alright, then I’mma gut them up. Cover me, alright?”
“I have your back.”
I point my Iron Chef’s Knife towards the Darkness Lizardman I killed. I start with scaling the monster and quietly mutter out a skill.
“Speed Gutting…”
It takes a lot less time with the skill activated. Plus, it’s not mentioned in the description, but there are two other effects that it grants you. The first one is that it increases the success rate. That’s why even when I do it so quickly, I get as many items as I would when I gut carefully.
The second hidden effect is that the user feels a lot lighter and nimble.
I’m guessing attack speed and gutting speed are both calculated the same way.
Anyway, I gotta hurry up and butcher all three of them.
We might be safe now, but who knows what’ll happen.
Clink!
The sound of Shouko parrying the enemy’s attack rings out.
She’s already engaged in another fight.
Enemies are coming quicker than I expected. Gotta hurry this up.
We decided ahead of time that when I’m breaking down corpses and there are less than three baddies, then I’ll finish up before helping to fight.
I get that it’s my job, but I’m still getting anxious about ignoring Shouko.
I gotta do what I gotta do though.
“All done. And it looks like you’re fine too.”
As I finish gutting the three monsters, Shouko lands the finishing blow on the Darkness Lizardman. Needless to say, I go and cut up that fresh carca.s.s too.
“How are you doing with your Energy levels?”
“Aren’t you using skills more than I am?”
“I have Energy Production X, so this is no problem to me at all.”
Two levels higher than me, huh?
That’s an ex-frontliner for you. Even her skills are way beyond mine.
Meanwhile, I finish up gutting and put the items in my inventory.
“Whew…”
I take a deep breath in the middle of this lull.
All around us is forest, pitch black.
The paper lantern Shouko brought with her is the only light source around. There’s not even a single star to shine down upon us.
We’ve set up camp in the cave we found along the way.
It’s been two hours since we’ve started, and I think we got the hang of it.
“Kizuna, how are you feeling? Are you tired yet?”
“No, I’m good.”
“Do not push yourself, okay? Even slight mistakes will cost us our lives as Spirits.”
“This is nothing compared to the gaming sessions I was subjected to by Tsugumi.”
“I see. Then, shall we continue for another hour?”
According to Shouko, Darkness Lizardmen are pretty good for experience.
We’ve encountered a good number of them and so we’ve got a good number of items too. On the contrary, we encountered no other players to far.
And, thanks to Shouko, we’ve been steadily chugging along.
The biggest weakness right now is how dark it is. Maybe it woulda been better if I’d taken Night Vision.
I have more than 20,000 Energy right now and I’m earning more at a good pace.
“…?”
“What’s up? Did something happen?”
Shouko has an odd expression on her face.
It’s the first time I’ve seen her like that and so I asked.
“No, but I hear something.”
You hear something?
I perk up my ears too.
Of course, I don’t have any skills or anything for better hearing, so I don’t actually hear any better.
But…
Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud, thud.
She’s right. Footsteps of some kind.
“… over there!”
Shouko swings her fan at seemingly nothing.
But, as she struck something with an audible smack, a somewhat transparent figure appears with a puff of smoke.
“Please, hold! I am not thine enemy!”
A ninjlooking figure clad in all black appeared.
I bet he used a camouflaging skill like Hiding or something.
And really? “Thine enemy”? What a clichéd character to roleplay.
“Your lies will not work on me. What are your true intentions for creeping up to us?! Speak!”
“’Tis a misunderstanding! I am merely trying to escape a boss monster!”
“A pathetic excuse!”
Shouko didn’t relent with her hounding, so I’ll cut it short.
In any case, Shouko is being very suspicious of this figure in black and so I try to be the liaison.
“Well, let’s give him a chance to explain himself. Alright?”
“If you say so, Kizuna…”
I soothe Shouko’s suspicions as I turn towards the ninja.
“So? Why were you hiding from us?”
“Thou art mistaken; I did not mean to hide from thee. As I have said, I had been chased by a boss monster as I was gathering materials with dark attributes. Unfortunately, I encountered something more than I can tackle by myself and so, I escaped with my camouflaging skill to misdirect the monster.”
“Hmph. a.s.suming you’re telling the truth, then where is the boss monster?”
I have a bad feeling about it, so I had to ask.
“It is in front of us, in the cave.”
“I knew it…”
I had a feeling that might be the case when I first heard his excuse.
Nervously, I take a look at the cave, but I can’t see well since it’s so dark.
“It is visible for me as I have acquired Night Vision.”
“I see. Well then, my next question is what do we do about it?”
This Forest of Eternal Darkness blocks players from using teleporting items, like “Tome of Return” to send us back to town. There’s only one path and it leads directly to the cave.
And that cave has now been taken over by a boss monster.
“What do you take us for?! We will not so simply perish!”
Shouko is unusually fl.u.s.tered.
But she’s right. Us Spirits don’t die.
Rather, when we lose all of our Energy, we just get really, really weak.
We get sent back to level 1, you could say.
Thinking about our situation carefully, it fl.u.s.ters me a little too.
If we mess up, then we’ll lose all of the Energy we’ve earned up till now.
Anyone got a good idea or anything?
“Please, take me with thee. I shan’t perish either!”
“Hold on. I know why we won’t die, but why you too? Other races have penalties for getting defeated, right?”
“It is for I am a Spirit.”
“…”
I applied my palm directly to my forehead.
They say there aren’t many Spirits in this game, yet there are three of us in this dungeon with practically n.o.body in it? Talk about a miracle.
“So are we.”
“Pray tell, are we the same peoples?”
“I would say that I am very pleased to meet another one of us, but not under these circ.u.mstances.”
“I agree.”
If we had only met in different circ.u.mstances.
Well, whatever. We’re still in this together.
“However, we should brace for this adversity we are about to face, though I do not mean to force it upon you. It is more so whether we are able to or not.”
“Yeah, Shouko’s got a point.”
I don’t think any old plan would work against this monster.
No matter how weak it might be, it’s still a boss. I’m not sure if our weapons would be any good against it.
I really doubt we’d win in a head-on fight.
Not to mention, we can’t rely on ninja boy.
Why? Well, he literally was just running away from the boss.
“Let me atone for this sin through death!”
“Hold your horses. Don’t jump to that from the get go.”
“Oh, little Miss…”
… little Miss?
I mean, I guess I look like a grade schooler. My character, I mean.
“It’s Kizuna. Don’t call me ‘little Miss’.”
“It is my pleasure. Please call me Yamikage, the Black Shadow.”
“… you a ninja or something?”
“I did not know there were still ninjas.”
“It’s because we’re in a game…”
“O-Oh, but of course…”
Our introductions were short, but sweet.
The guy clad in all black is Yamikage.
Quite the stereotypical ninja.
We’ve got a tomboyish GIRL, a traditional j.a.panese lady, and a old-timey ninja.
… G.o.d, this is such an embarra.s.sing party.
“Is the boss still in the cave?”
“I see no signs of it moving.”
“And just to make sure, what’s its name?”
I then quickly give Shouko a look. She always pays attention to the details, so she’d be useful now.
But it doesn’t seem like she understands what my glance at her meant.
You could almost see the question mark above her head.
No good, huh?
Well, we’ve technically only met today. I guess it was too much to expect to be able to communicate through our eyes.
And by the way, what I meant was to check with her whether that name is correct or not.
Who knows if Yamikage is laying? Maybe he’ll try to monster player kill or something.
“’Tis the Lizardman Dark Knight.”
“The answer’s almost obvious but can the three of us beat it?”
“That is unlikely.”
“Aye, ‘tis an impossibility.”
It wouldn’t be a boss monster otherwise…
It has been decided from time immemorial that boss monsters in MMOs are extremely difficult. Some raid bosses need nearly 10 people at once to be defeated. We might be up against something like that.
But it doesn’t mean we’re completely out of ideas yet.
It’s just that we might have to resort to cheesing the boss.
“Whatever. Do y’all have any ideas on what we can do?”
“Aye. Perhaps we can run past the monster.”
“You know, you escaped away from the monster by the skin of your teeth, right? Do you really think we can outrun it?”
“’Tis another impossibility.”
So, we can’t escape it.
Then, Shouko puts up her hand.
I look straight at her.
“What’s your plan?”
“How about we have someone act as a decoy?”
“It wouldn’t be too difficult. But who’d it be?”
“Since I have brought it up, let me take that role.”
It doesn’t sound like a bad plan, but I don’t like it.
Shouko had already lost a lot of Energy by being defeated by another boss. It’s just my personal opinion, but I wouldn’t like to have that happen to a Spirit buddy.
“I’m against it.”
“Nay for me as well.”
Surprisingly, Yamikage voted against that plan too.
Maybe he’s looking at it from a Spirit’s perspective too.
“But why? Is it not our best plan?”
“If we were to use Madam Hakoniwa’s plan, then let me be the decoy.”
“Forgive me for being rude, but I believe both you and Kizuna lacks the defense. Besides, I have defensive skills with my folding fan. If I am lucky, then I shall be able to escape too.”
“But, I had brought this problem to you. I cannot have Spirit comrades sacrifice their—”
I can’t believe that’s what they’re arguing back and forth about.
They’re both so willing to make the sacrifice.
“I’m against either of you doing it. Why the h.e.l.l are you guys so willing to throw down your lives?! What we should be focusing on is how to get all of us out alive, right?”
Both of them stare at the ground.
This would totally be an emotional scene if this were a manga or something. Plus, there’s not much meaning to it if no one’s actually dying. We don’t know if Yamikage is going to accidentally MPK us either, let alone plotting doing so.
Our first priority is to think of a better plan.
“Oh, right. I forgot to ask, but what skills do you have, Yamikage?”
“I possess Night Vision I, Camouflage I, and Drain VII.”
“Drain?”
“It is dark magic which steals the enemy’s HP and MP.”
“Huh. Didn’t know there’s a skill like that.”
“Aye, that is correct. And as I am a Spirit, I would be absorbing Energy instead.”
That’s pretty handy, eh?
But to have it at rank VII? That’s really high.
“Do you have a lot of Energy or something?”
“Nay, such is not the case for me. I am but at around 20,000.”
“20,000? That’s pretty much at my level then. How the heck did you get to rank VII already?”
“I am losing 3,000 Energy each hour.”
… huh?
To put it in other words, Yamikage’s spending Energy just to live?
Our skills cost Energy to acquire.
But because we can also take as many skills as we want, us Spirits can activate enough skills to be in the red.
That’s how Yamikage’s losing 3,000 Energy per hour.
“Can you manage to earn anything?”
I guess you could call this high risk, high reward–style gameplay.
“I profit about 1,000 every day.”
So he says with a smug smile.
“Kizuna, he’s…”
Shouko is totally worried about his situation. I’m sure Yamikage can manage though.
Well, I’d like to believe there are quite a few players who would do something like him. You could even say it’d be the more fun that way.
By the way, our Energy levels are 20,000, 25,000, and 23,000 for Yamikage, Shouko, and I, respectively.
Shouko also produces the most Energy out of all of us. In that case, Shouko’s plan might be our safest plan, but I wouldn’t never go through with it.
“Anyway, we can’t do anything if we can’t see the monster.”
“Though, I am able to.”
“Seeing is believing, as they say. I’d rather be able to see for myself. Let me get the skill too.”
I open up my menu and check under unacquired skills.
Night Vision I
A skill for nighttime action.
Activating the skill will counter any nighttime debuff.
Consumes 200 Energy per hour.
Costs 200 Mana to acquire.
Unlock requirement: Be active for more than 24 hours during nighttime.
Upgrade requirement: Be active for more than 168 hours during nighttime.
I take the skill and a look towards the cave.
Since it’s only level I, it’s still pretty dark all around. But at least now I can see the outlines and silhouettes of the trees and stuff around us.
… and there really is a boss monster there.
It’s a humongous Lizardman clad in black metallic armor. In its hands are a ma.s.sive lance and shield. There’s no way the three of us can beat it. And it doesn’t look like a folding fan can break its weapon either.
And, did I mention that the guy is gigantic?
Its physical appearance is definitely appropriate for a boss.
“… oh!”
“Is something the matter?”
“Maybe, just maybe…”
I tell them the plan that suddenly popped into my mind.
“Will this truly work?”
“Probably. It’s an old trick I got from a game.”
“Aye, but how shall we get its aggro?”
“I think I might have an idea about that.”
This pinch we’re in might actually prove to be a good chance for us.
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