Chapter 8: The Great Candidate Kidnapping Caper
Chapter 8: The Great Candidate Kidnapping Caper
“Hey, why are you guys handing these out?” I asked Alfred.
“Who knows? I was just asked to help hand them out, so I have no idea.”
“Huh. That so?”
“Excuse me, but I have to get back to work.” Alfred hurriedly left us to hand out more pouches.
Once he was gone, Yukino said, “He’s laying groundwork.”
“Say what?”
“If the name didn’t give it away, his guild is made up of people who idolize bad guys. When you think of bad guys who play MMOs, what comes to mind?”
“I guess PKers, event griefers, people who fix item prices, people who exploit terrain to kill bosses without taking damage...”
“Yeah. Like you said, there are all kinds. But if you kept doing that kind of stuff in a video game managed by a school, you’d be looking at a ban and a school transfer, right?”
Having your account banned would essentially be forced expulsion.
“Definitely.”
“That’s why these guys say they’re sorry in advance. ‘We’re about to do something bad, but it’s all roleplay, so please forgive us.’ It’s kind of like how in variety shows, the host will start ragging on the performers partway through. But it’s all for the sake of making things fun and exciting, so they let their guests know ahead of time. They’re trying to essentially create a situation where you can’t rightfully be mad at them.”
Simply put, the guildies were all playing at being roguish without actually being roguish. Mischief and mayhem was just their style, so they apologized in advance to prevent people from getting angry.
Very weird, but I guess everyone has fun in their own way.
“So what you’re saying is that if they’re passing this stuff out, it means they’re about to do something nasty.”
“Yeah. And soon, at that. Be on your guard.”
“Gotcha.”
The pathway to our school building was lined with beds of brightly colored flowers. I glanced down at one of them and happened to see a large egg sitting among the blooms.
What is that? I keep seeing eggs all over the place. Am I just imagining it?
Yukino and I parted ways, heading to our respective classrooms.
“Hey! Morning, Ren!”
“Good morning.”
From there, an ordinary school day came and went without incident.
“Okay, gamers! The testing period starts next week, but you’ll be able to log in over the weekend as usual. Only for your studies, okay? Good luck!”
No surprise there, as our textbooks were in-game items.
The textbook files were also accessible locally from our PCs, so if you really wanted to, you could print them out to make a real, paper textbook to study at home.
However, the game world had guild houses, the academy’s study rooms, and the library. Additionally, you could board an airship at any time, so players could study anywhere they wanted. If you studied in a place you liked, you’d make better progress!
We were still forced to log out at 10:00 PM in real life, though, so if you wanted to study after that, you’d have to do it in the real world.
“Since everyone’s studying, you could go on a hunt for some rare items. But don’t blame your teacher if your score suffers as a result! Remember to stay responsible, kids.”
I figured some people would jump at the opportunity either way. Homura’s guild would probably see this as the perfect time to go on the prowl.
My entrance exam had netted me a painful 241 out of 500, so I wanted nothing more than to earn a better grade. There were still talents I wanted!
“All right! Time to aim for the top of our grade! I’m gonna get that airship, just you watch!” Akira was ready and raring to win.
For the sake of both our grades and the guild mission, our group planned to meet up and study together this weekend.
“Let’s get back to the guild house. Kokoru’s waiting for us,” I said.
Just as the four of us were getting ready to leave, we heard something strange.
“Whoa!”
“What is that?!”
“Monsters in a place like this?!”
A cacophony of screams was coming from outside.
“What’s going on?!”
Akira was on high alert. “Something about monsters!”
“Let’s take a look!” cried Yano.
Maeda nodded. “Okay!”
We rushed outside. Right outside of the school’s gate was a huge monster.
Prison Turtle: Level 60
Crown Icon (rare monster)
It was around fifteen feet high, tall enough that you had to look up to see the whole thing.
As the name implied, it boasted a big shell. But its head looked much more brutal than that of a normal turtle, instead resembling a rhino’s. The horns on its snout and forehead curved backward rather fiendishly. Its shell was spiked, too.
Wouldn’t want to land on that.
But the thing that stood out the most was the small room of sorts on top of its back, which was surrounded by latticework. Was that meant to be a cell, owing to the “prison” part of its name? What in the world was its purpose?
Students who had been here before we arrived were engaged in battle with the Prison Turtles. There was no right to monster monopoly in this area, so we were free to jump in and attack.
There was a whole throng of players hurling attacks at the monster, with no real divides between parties, guilds, grades, or class affiliations.
Even some of the hero candidate NPCs for the guild mission were in the fray; they must have gotten sucked into all this while they were watching over the school.
As it turned out, those same NPCs were the Prison Turtle’s argets.
Prison Turtle prepares to unleash Scud Imprison!
Whoa, what?!
I turned my attention toward the latticed prison cell, which detached from one of the turtles’ shells and flew toward an NPC with incredible speed! The cell and the rest of the turtle’s body were connected by what looked like a chain.
Chaka-chak, chaka-chak! Clink!
A young, well-built, male NPC was captured. I had no idea whose candidate he was.
With the NPC imprisoned, the chain dragged the cell back to the turtle and returned it to its original position.
“What the heck?! Hrngh! Let me go—ACK!”
He struggled in the cell, but it seemed to be made to electrically shock the prisoner when they struggled.
The only way to free him was to help him from outside!
“This is bad! We’ve gotta do something!”
“Yeah!”
“It’ll be all right. This thing isn’t even that high-leveled, so we can do it!”
The other players in front of the gate seemed to agree. They were all banding together.
“We should go help them!” I shouted.
My guildmates nodded, and we all ran right up to the gate. People were crowded all around the Prison Turtle.
However...
“Mwahaha. Now’s the time! Cyclone Scythe!”
“Waaargh?!”
Suddenly, a tornado launched away all of the players who had gathered around the turtle. Because we were still at a distance, the four of us weren’t hit by the gale.
“Haha... Ahaha... Mwahahaha!”
A shadowy figure appeared atop the Prison Turtle, wielding a huge scythe.
So she’s the one who did this?!
Aiko Hijirisawa (3-G)
Level 196 Warrior
Guild: Baddest of the Bad (Guild Master)
Hmph. A member of the bad-guy guild. No, not just any member—it’s the guild master herself!
After blowing away the other students, the guild master burst out in a fit of cackles.
“Ahahaha! Mwahahaha!”
On closer inspection, she was pretty cute, albeit ridiculously short. She was one of those girls who would look like an elementary schooler no matter what.
Yet that little girl was doing her best to arch her back in villainous laughter. She leaned back more and more, until...
Whoa, she fell!
“Eep?!”
The Prison Turtle's back was round, so it was practically a walking hill. The girl slipped, skidded, rolled, and bang! She fell to the ground, right on her little butt.
“Ow, ow, owie... Aargh, what the heck?! Ugh, this is so uncool.”
She rubbed her sore tush with tears in her eyes, then made her way back up.
“Cute!”
“She is adorable.”
“Now I see that being attacked was a gift. I see the light!”
“Thank you, God in heaven.”
Despite the sudden, violent gust that had cast them aside, the players here seemed to be happy and comfortable with the turn of events.
Life is a blast for you guys, huh?
The guild master, Hijirisawa, loudly proclaimed, “Ehehehe. We are the Baddest of the Bad! We are not bound to evil, nor do we resent even a single one of you, but right now, we are your enemy! Why, you ask? Because we like it this way! Allow me to apologize in advance: I’m sorry!”
Oh, so you like it. If that’s all, then who can stop you, right?
Well, some people definitely like to play the bad guy during big events. Even if they can’t kill other players, they might intentionally revive fallen enemies and support them through buffs and the like.
Baddest of the Bad was a gaggle of for-fun contrarians like this girl here. They never forgot to apologize in advance, just to be sure nobody got seriously mad at them.
I guess it would be pretty rude if they didn’t, though.
There are even talents for those who want to play bad guys, such as giving the player the ability to PK while also removing any death penalties from the players they defeat. There ought to be plenty more, too.
As such, the school pretty much formally accepted this kind of playstyle. At least when it came to enormous, free-for-all battles where anyone could jump in, anyway. And indeed, this very area had turned into such a battlefield.
What an elaborate rule.
“Wait, Aiko! You told me nothing about fighting our fellows!”
Oh, there’s Alfred. That’s right, he was also marked as a member of Baddest of the Bad.
He climbed up the back of the Prison Turtle.
“Shaddap! This is how we do things! It’s our MO! Now, get to protecting the Prison Turtle! Do what I say, or we’re abandoning your training!"
“What?! Aww...”
Poor little fellow. He seemed like a real honest, standup guy. Must’ve been hard for him to play a villain. To top it all off, the team who’d drafted him had turned out to be a bunch of double-dealers!
“Hey, Hijirisawa!” I was already close to Hijirisawa and Alfred, so I decided to speak up.
“Hmm, yes? Oh! You’re the first-year with the pet dragon! You’re one heck of a guy, you know that?”
“Uh, thanks. Mind if I ask a question?”
“You have my permission. Go ahead.”
“Well, uh, what are you after? Where are these guys going?”
Even while we spoke, the group of Prison Turtles that had assembled trudged onward. They moved slowly, though, so I could just speedwalk to catch up with ease. At this point, we were walking at a brisk pace alongside them.
“Hmph. As for that...”
“Yes?”
“I dunno!”
Seriously?! Now I look like an idiot, too!
“Huh?! How do you not know?!”
“Who cares? If there’s mayhem to be had, we’ll be there! That’s who we are! An evil-looking NPC told us to hide weird eggs all around town, so we did. Once they hatch, we’re supposed to protect ’em!”
“Eggs? Oh!”
Speaking of, I’ve seen a whole bunch of those, right?! Like in Homura’s item museum, at the info brokers, even in the school’s flower beds—
At that moment, someone behind us screamed, “Waaagh! A monster just came out of nowhere! What is this thing?!”
Oh, that came from the pathway with the flower beds!
There, another Prison Turtle had appeared!
“They’re multiplying!” Akira exclaimed, pointing.
“I saw a weird egg over there a while ago! They were in a bunch of other places, too!” I replied.
“Then these things are appearing all over town?!”
Yano held her head in her hands. “Aargh, there was one in our guild shop! I thought it was a product, so I painted it!”
“Kataoka bought that one and put it up in their shop!” I told her.
“There were a bunch! The others are still in storage!” she said frantically.
“That means they’re gonna hatch in our guild shop!”
“W-Will Kokoru be okay?” Maeda asked.
Things could go from bad to worse if we didn’t hurry back to the guild shop!
However, we still didn’t know the Prison Turtles’ objective. What was the point of capturing and transporting NPCs?
“Hijirisawa! Who was the NPC who told you to do this? If there’s anything you can tell—”
“It was I!”
A voice boomed from above us.
I looked up to find a young man with pale-blue hair perched on top of a nearby building.
Froi Jasin: Level 80
Crown Icon (rare monster)
“It’s him! It’s Froi!”
And his level was even higher than last time!
Froi glared directly at us. “Hey, brats! I’d love to kill you where you stand, but I don’t have time for that today. This greeting should serve as your warning.”
“What is the point of all this?!”
“We can’t have anyone interfering in Karanaught’s war with Mishuria. To that end, I’m going to remove your Mishurian trainees from the equation! The Prison Turtles capture Mishurians, and then they dive right into the Lagoon! Your precious, would-be warriors won’t die, but they won’t be found for a long time. Bwahahaha! Later!”
Suddenly, Froi vanished into thin air. He’d made his escape.
What a twist! So, this was essentially a sort of interference in our guild mission. If we weren’t careful, we would lose our drafted—and for many, partially trained—hero candidates.
Damn you, Froi! You won’t get your hands on our Kokoru!
“We’d better go help!”
“Right!”
“Let’s all work together!”
The nearby players decided to join forces.
However, the black-clad little girl, Hijirisawa, stepped forward.
“Think carefully, now. This could be your chance.”
Uh-oh. She’s really playing up the part of the villainess now.
“What chance?” somebody asked.
“Why, the chance to crush the competition, of course. The guild mission is a race to raise your hero candidate, right? If the weaker ones drop out simply because they’ve lost their NPCs, the rest of you will have the upper hand. Really, why help them?”
Hijirisawa was right. If you were focused on winning the guild mission, then as long as you secured your own NPC’s safety, helping other guilds recover their NPCs would be nothing but aiding the enemy.
She’s really sticking her nose in some sensitive business, though. Not surprising coming from the leader of the bad-guy guild, I guess.
“True.”
“But I don’t want to just leave them.”
“Hey, our guild’s NPC was kidnapped! Help us out!” One of the surrounding players was begging for help, but others were reluctant to respond.
Hijirisawa's words had not fallen on deaf ears.
“The best course of action in this situation is to protect your own NPC, isn’t it? If you have your own hands full, no one can blame you for not helping. Riiight?”
Whoa, she’s good. She gave everyone an excuse to abandon other guilds’ NPCs guilt-free.
Now people could easily say, “Yeah, we have our hands full. Too bad for them.”
Finally, one player broke. “Fair enough. All right, I’m gonna check on our guild house!”
After a round of “Me too,” the number of players around us decreased. Soon, only the kidnapped NPC’s guildmates and our own guild members remained.
“You guys should go, too,” Hijirisawa said. “I can’t stop you.”
“No, you can’t! Please, help them rescue my poor countryman!”
“Shut up, Alfred! Nobody told you to talk!”
“B-But Aiko—”
Hijirisawa and Alfred continued their squabble.
Just then, a crowd of voices cried out, “Joint Magic!”
We quickly turned toward the source.
“Look, there’s Spitfire!”
Yano was correct.
“Hey, don’t give me weird nicknames!”
Yeah, I figured she wouldn’t like that.
Leaving that aside, Homura and the other members of Grand Museum were standing on the roof of a nearby building! Every last one of them was a Wizard.
“Let's do this—one focused attack!” Homura ordered her guild.
“Grand Bolt!”
CRACK!
With astronomical volume, their combined magic tore through the air! An insanely huge lightning bolt descended from the clouds, directly striking the Prison Turtle.
The sheer, incredible power of their magic created such a bright light that I couldn’t even keep my eyes open.
Their superpowered bolt of lightning was enough to kill the Prison Turtle in one strike. Almost pitifully, it sank down on the spot, unable to move.
The cell popped open, setting the imprisoned NPC free.
“What incredible power...” I blurted.
“That’s what happens when you use Joint Magic with a bunch of high-level players, huh?” Akira murmured.
We were dumbfounded.
With her Prison Turtle obliterated, Hijirisawa flew into a rage.
“Hey, what the heck? Why did you do that, Spitfire?! I said you didn’t have to help other guilds!”
“Will everyone stop calling me that?! And I wasn’t trying to help them, anyway. This Prison Turtle is a new type of monster, which means... it could drop a new type of item! Heheheheh... So, we hunt! Nay, we must hunt! Let us drive them to extinction, my friends!” Homura’s eyes were sparkling with glee.
Looks like we’ve gotten a glimpse of the item-lover’s true nature.
Normally, she was more of an upright, big-sister type.
“WOOHOO!” Homura's party cheered, their excitement nearly palpable.
But hey, they had been pretty helpful.
“Ngh! Argh, do whatever you want! I’m going somewhere else! Let’s go, Alfred!”
“Y-Yes, ma’am!”
But just as Hijirisawa was about to leave, someone accosted her.
“Now, don’t be like that. Since we’re here, how about you forget the item fetishist and have a duel with me?”
It was our friendly, neighborhood PvP lover, Yukino!
“Ugh, you’re here too?!”
“Let’s fight! Right this second, even! Fighting with you is always a good time!”
“We’re always fighting! Why do we need to do it right now, in the middle of a special event?”
“Aww, c’mon. It’s better when the situation’s a little different from the usual. Maybe something special will take us by surprise!”
“Argh, geez! You’re so annoying!”
Haha! Yukino’s the same as ever.
Both she and Homura were simply acting according to their own desires, but as a result, they had the situation entirely under their control.
“Yo, Ren. You’re good to go. Go and protect Kokoru.”
“Honestly, you’re probably best letting him go and having them get you a new candidate.”
Wait. Are Yukino and Homura here so we can leave?
“Okay, duel time! Let’s fight!”
“New items, hooooo!”
Nah, I must be imagining things.
Anyway, what we had to do now was clear: it was time to go save Kokoru!
◆◇◆
We rushed to the guild house as fast as we could. When we arrived we found the place empty. The entrance to our store was wrecked, so it was clear that something big had broken out.
“Chirp! Chicken, chicken!” Draco called Kokoru’s “name” with a tinge of loneliness in his voice.
“He isn’t here. The Prison Turtle must have captured him already,” Akira said.
“Froi said they’d drag the NPCs into the Lagoon. They must be heading to the coast at the edge of town!” I cried.
“Let’s follow ’em! Which way is the closest coast?!” Yano asked.
“This way,” Maeda said, waving. “Let’s move!”
Our guild house was located closer to the edge of the town than most others. The area just outside of the Guild Market had become a scenic, coastal park with absolutely gorgeous views of the Lagoon. I had no doubt the Prison Turtles were gonna depart from there.
I nodded. “All right, time to follow them!”
We ran off in search of the Prison Turtles and Kokoru.
“I’ll go ahead and do some recon! If I see them, I’ll let you know!”
Yano’s class, Sky Pirate, possesses a skill called Sprint that ups the user’s movement speed. As I recall, she should’ve learned it at level 35. With this ability, Yano could run ahead of us and act as a scout.
“Wait, Yuuna! Take some AP with you!”
“Thanks, Akki! Here goes. Energy Steal!”
Sky Pirates learn this one at level 45. Yano was level 45 now, so she really had just learned it. The skill allows the user to steal half of a targeted ally’s AP, and it has a cooldown time of three minutes.
As Akira had Breath of Ares, she passively gained AP over time. Even now, she had full AP. Instead of letting it overflow and go to waste, she could give some to Yano; it was an efficient move that benefited the whole party.
“See ya soon!” Yano said with a salute before dashing to the forefront.
We followed after her, heading toward the coastal park.
Along the way, we spotted several groups of players attacking Prison Turtles, hoping to rescue other guilds’ NPCs. There was no doubt that the turtle that must’ve appeared in our house was heading this way.
“I think we’re on the right track!” Akira shouted.
“Yeah! But where in the world is our boy?!”
“Yuuna looks to be heading even farther ahead.”
We continued onward, careful to avoid getting caught up in any area-of-effect attacks by the raging Prison Turtles.
At some points, Maeda would stop running in order to cast defensive spells, magical resistance spells, and more. Not just on us, but also on the combatants from other guilds.
Occasionally, she even flung a healing spell or two over to support them. This wasn’t out of pure goodwill; she was intentionally trying to burn MP.
When Maeda had created her character, she’d chosen Tactical Magic as her starting talent. This talent has the effect of increasing AP as MP is consumed.
Pretty useless for a back-liner like Maeda to build up MP, you might think, but it wasn’t intended for her to use; it was meant to be given to Yano using Energy Steal.
When we entered battle, Akira would need all the AP she could get in order to do her job. That meant she wouldn't be able to hand it off to Yano anymore.
But Maeda was a different story; she was just fine giving away all of her AP. Maeda was doing her best to generate AP to be ready for that time in order to support Yano.
By learning Energy Steal, Yano had essentially retroactively made Maeda’s choice of Technical Magic a good investment. What a beautiful expression of synergy!
“Yo, he’s there! I saw him!” Yano came back, still under the effect of Sprint.
She must have reused it as soon as it came off cooldown.
“Nice! Whereabouts?”
“Over here! But they were super close to diving into the Lagoon! Good thing I was able to stop them with Leg Snipe!”
Leg Snipe is a gun Art. Along with receiving damage, the target is unable to move until the effect runs out.
It was a good thing Yano had enough AP left to pop the turtle with a Leg Snipe. Akira’s AP transfer had done us all a world of good. A hidden pro gamer move, if there ever was one.
Akira’s brow furrowed. “That’s not good! We should go, now!”
“We must hurry!”
“Yeah, follow me!”
With Yano in the lead, we ran as quickly as possible.
Ahead of us was the Prison Turtle with Kokoru on its back. It was standing precariously close to a fence erected to prevent anyone from falling into the Lagoon.
Yano was right; they really were just about to jump in.
Without Leg Snipe, there was no doubt he would have been taken away from us for good.
“Kokoru, are you okay?!” I called out for my boy, who had been jailed by the turtle.
“R-Ren! I’m about as good as I look! I’m safe, but I think I’m about to get dragged into the depths, baaawk!”
“Yeah, no worries! We’re here to save you!”
“N-No, I’m fine! Just forget about me, bawk!”
I blinked in surprise. “Forget about you? What the hell are you even saying, Kokoru?! Don’t be ridiculous!”
Kokoru was nearly in tears. “It’s not ridiculous, bawk! This is for your own good! I do nothing but drag you all down! You, Akira... all of you are good people. You’re so nice, even to a failure like me. But I don’t want to bother you anymore, bawk! If I’m gone, you can bring home a new candidate! So just leave me—”
But I wasn’t ready to accept that. I could never!
“I’ll say it one more time: don’t be ridiculous! We didn’t choose you out of kindness! We just wanted to take you, a guy everyone thinks is pathetic, and make you into a giant-killing machine! We’re just doing whatever we feel like, so you have no reason to be so worried about it!”
“Uh, that’s not what you girls were thinking, is it? Pretty sure it’s just you, Ren. I just wanted to help Kokoru out.”
“Y’know, I wanted to pick the strongest-looking one out of the bunch. Not that I super care.”
“Agreed. But I had given up on it, considering how very like you it seemed, Takashiro.”
“Okay, shut up, outfielders! Listen to me, Kokoru! This is exactly how I was crowned the Emperor of the Underpowered—I find a weak-looking thing, and I make something of it! For example, my class: symbologist! It has no firepower, and everyone thinks it’s the worst. But depending on my approach, I can still make things happen! I’ll show you proof right now, so just watch this!”
I immediately got to casting a magic circle.
“Enervating Circle!”
I made it the maximum radius, of course, in order to drain my MP to nothing. I’d chosen this one in order to slow down the turtle as much as possible once it decided to start moving again.
Then, I began charging toward the Prison Turtle.
Ready to follow up, Akira moved to match me.
“Ultimate move!”
Upon my approach, I immediately let loose an attack.
I unscrewed the top of my Canesword, revealing the blade within. The Canesword was enveloped in a dark-purple glow, tracing an arc of light.
This time, there was no time to save up AP. That was why I’d decided to use this ultimate.
“Dead End!”
Ren activated Dead End.
Dealt 2,912 damage to Prison Turtle!
Yuuna activated Guilty Steal.
Yuuna stole all of Ren’s aggro!
Kotomi cast Exheal.
Ren recovered 341 HP.
Akira activated Sword Samba.
Ren’s cooldowns have been fully reset!
Log messages flooded the screen.
Our combo was pretty well-established by this point.
I crafted a new Canesword and once again emptied my MP bar using circle magic. Then, of course, came my next blow!
“Here comes another! Dead Eeend!”
Ren activated Dead End.
Dealt 2,912 damage to Prison Turtle!
Seeing this, Kokoru gasped in shock. “Wow, bawk! What incredible power! And you’re supposed to be a weak class with no firepower at all?!”
“It’s all about what you make of it! Even you can be reborn! I believe in you, Kokoru!”
“But, Ren, I—”
“Now, you need to believe in me and come back! I swear, we will make something of you!”
“I... Yeah, bawk! Okay!”
“Do you see now?! If you do, equip this! This is what will make you strong!”
I lobbed the Princess’ Skull Ring over to Kokoru!
“What?!”
Knowing the cursed effects of the ring, Akira and the others were aghast. But I had already figured out the path to raising Kokoru; there was no reason to waver now.
We’re gonna ride this to the very top, Kokoru!
Kokoru’s stat growths were among the absolute lowest. Whether he equipped the ring or not, he would be ridiculously weak. If he was going to be a weakling either way, the difference between zero and one was nothing to be concerned about. It wasn’t going to change anything.
In that case, let’s forget all about raising his stats! We’ll just get his level as high as possible!
There was an ability that would make use of his high level. The problem of how to get Handshaker still lingered, but I figured we could ignore that for now.
Either way, this was our only hope; we had to raise his level. Kokoru may have been weak, but his very weakness was what had given me the idea in the first place!
This, indeed, was the fighting style of the weak!
“Okay, Ren! I equipped it!”
Trusting in me, Kokoru had put on the Princess’ Skull Ring.
“Ren, are you sure he should be using that?!”
“Yeah, it’s perfect! Now, let’s finish off this Prison Turtle!”
With Akira’s support, I let loose yet another ultimate.
Ren activated Dead End.
Dealt 2,912 damage to Prison Turtle!
By now, the thing was at death’s door. Thanks to the focus fire from Akira, Yano, and Maeda, the last of its HP was about to be zapped away.
“This’ll end it! Here I come!”
The two twinkling, crescent moon-shaped flashes seized the Prison Turtle.
Akira activated Cross Crescent.
Dealt 308 damage to Prison Turtle!
Akira defeated the Prison Turtle.
The Prison Turtle finally fell to Akira’s ultimate.
Nice! We’ve successfully rescued Kokoru!
“Bawk?!”
Suddenly, the shell of the fallen Prison Turtle ejected him. Launched high into the air, he tried to flap his wings. Unfortunately, Kokoru could not fly.
“Kokoru’s falling!” Akira cried.
“We’ve gotta catch him!” I replied.
All four of us darted forward and caught the falling Kokoru.
“B-Bawk! Oh, bawk, I’m safe. Thank you, everyone!”
This was followed by the level-up fanfare sound effect. Having defeated such a high-level monster, our own levels had risen. I was now level 43, Akira level 45, Maeda level 45, and Yano level 46! Mine was the lowest because of all the EXP I wasted during my experiments with the Princess’ Skull Ring.
“Wooo! I'm finally level forty-five!” Akira joyfully bounced around.
That much was a given; she’d been waiting excitedly for a certain something she would gain at level 45. Anyone would be excited to reach a level where they'd learn a skill they coveted.
And as for what she learned...
“Ta-da! Check this out!”
Spinning all around with excitement, Akira hoisted up her two swords and showed them off. One was her usual Skyfall, and the other was a sword she had prepared just for this occasion, complete with Yano’s own special painting.
No matter how you looked at it, she had clearly been waiting for this for a long time now.
Yano grinned. “Oooh! Lucky you, Akki! It’s dual-wielding time!”
“Very cool,” Maeda added.
Indeed, a sword dancer’s level 45 skill is Dual-Wielding. Yeah, this class has some high-quality abilities.
Our eternal rival, dual-wielding, is—as you ought to know by now—a very popular skill among the public. Everyone loves dual-wielding. It’s the superstar of the gaming world, so much so that people would be ticked if it was underpowered. No matter what game I would decide to play, dual-wielding would somehow inevitably block my path.
“Aww, yeah! Woohoo! The motions are completely different. It’s so satisfying.” Akira kept on repeating practice swings.
Damn you, dual-wielding. You’ve even seduced my best friend! But hey, as long as she’s having fun.
“B-Bawk?! Guys, I’m gaining a lot of levels right now!”
Meanwhile, there was another guy who was riding the level-up train! Kokoru had gained EXP from the fight, too. Before, he was just level 1. Thanks to the Princess’ Skull Ring, his gains were tripled.
As a result, the level-up chime was resounding like the pounding of a drum.
Akira gasped. “Wow, this is awesome, Kokoru! Your level is skyrocketing!”
“But what about the Princess’ Skull Ring?” Yano asked nervously.
“I wonder if this was really a good idea,” Maeda mused.
“Worry not! Everything is a-okay!” I declared, nodding in satisfaction.
In the end, Kokoru got twenty-nine whole level-ups before finishing. He had jumped from level 1 to 30!
“Whoa. My level’s so high now.”
“How’s it feel? You’re even stronger now!”
“R-Really, bawk?”
Kokoru displayed his stats screen.
“Bawk?! What the hell, bawk?! I’ve barely grown at all!”
Yep, thought that would happen.
Here were Kokoru’s normal growth rates: STR 1, VIT 3, DEX 1, AGI 1, INT 1, MND 1, CHR 1.
With the Princess’ Skull Ring equipped, they looked like this: STR 0, VIT 1, DEX 0, AGI 0, INT 0, MND 0, CHR 0.
After all, the ring cut growth rates to a third of their normal values in exchange for multiplying EXP by three. The zeroes meant that those stats wouldn't go up even if his level went up. With the increase in VIT, his HP also went up a little bit.
NPCs don’t receive level-up bonuses either. Players, with their level-up bonuses, talent slots, and concept of classes, are canonically extra-strong people in this world. That was why Legrand Academy of Magic, where we extra-powerful players gathered, was considered the world's top academic establishment.
“It’s all right. You’re fine just like that.”
As Kokoru fell to his knees in dejection, I gave him a nice pat on the back.
“You’re weak either way, so it doesn’t matter if your growth is one or zero. Don’t worry about growth rates because we’re gonna do this with an ability that only cares about your level. Min-maxing a single thing and winning that way is basically the first rule of giant-killing.”
“Really, bawk?”
“Yeah, bro! Better yet, did you learn any skills?”
“B-Bawk? Oh, like this, bawk? Um... Golden Sweets?”
I took a look at the skill’s description.
Golden Sweets
Cooldown: 0/300 seconds
<Effect> The killer move of an unscrupulous merchant. Offers golden candies to enemies in order to bribe them for their assistance.
Monsters successfully negotiated with can be summoned or released. If a recruited monster is defeated or this skill is removed, they cannot be recovered.
Only monsters below the user’s level can be recruited.
“Unscrupulous merchant, bawk? My family would never do anything so evil!”
“Hey, wait a second.”
This was way too familiar. Golden Sweets had almost the same effect as Handshaker, that lance I really wanted!
The golden candies would probably cost a fortune, but at this point, that was an acceptable sacrifice.
Who could’ve imagined that Kokoru would learn the very thing I had my eyes on?!
“Nice, Kokoru! You’ve got real talent!”
“Y-You think so, bawk?”
“Yeah. We have a real chance of winning now! This is our chance to boggle the minds of all those other guildies!”
“Got it. I’ll come with you, bawk!”
Kokoru and I exchanged a firm handshake.
All we had to do now was get his level going up, up, up!
Heheh, just watch me. It’s time for some real-deal giant-killing!
It had been one heck of a ride, but we’d protected Kokoru through the Prison Turtle event and succeeded in raising his level pretty high all in one fell swoop.