I look at Rine's status and she has lost most of her HP in one go, but other than [Bleeding] she has no other [Condition], therefore she was not smashed to pieces. At least I didn't cause her to die! Yet she may be imprisoned by the cliff, unable to get out by herself.
Problem is that I can't afford to have a look as I face another issue, namely a boss bear which is able to move cliffs. Like koalas at a big tree, several rocky-bears are clinging to its body. It's facing me despite my stealth-mode, so it may have tremorsense or bullshit like that. The worst part is, I have no idea how to turn things around.
I change to [Pikeman], my muscles grow and the panic I feel is suppressed to a certain degree, though it also cost me my [Stealth]-ability and therefore my skills deactivate. I prepare my spear and brace myself for whatever may come.
Hurled rocky-bears! Instead of trying to attack them while they're still in the air, I charge forwards: “[Speedthrust]!” With the propulsion of the skill, I pass the rocky-bears underneath. My aim is the boss as it's clearly the biggest threat here.
And fuck, how big it is! Each step makes it more and more intimidating due to its sheer size. My instincts tell me to run away, yet my mindset is that of a [Pikeman]; so my spirit stays firm, like a pikeman who faces a cavalry charge.
Still the size will be problematic. I'm now at it, my spear is about to hit its foreleg. My [Speedthrust] doesn't even pierce the boss' rock fur. Well: “[Armor Piercer]!” … … … Shit!
Yes, my spear-blade was capable of penetrating with a moderate amount of difficulty. But I'm sure that the blade is now stuck in a portion of its rocky skin without even touching the flesh underneath at all! I try to yank it out, but there is a shadow over me, the other paw.
If I evade it by abandoning my spear I may face even worse problems. “[Armor Piercer]!” Of course I have no room to move the weapon, so it won't cause any damage, but for a split-second my spear moves a bit easier. Now I can pull it out!
Paw incoming! If I were in my [Ranger]-class, I would be able to see it clearly enough to make the best decision, but I'm a [Pikeman] with too little time to change the class, so I can only rely on what my stats say. My [Agility] isn't great, yet I have the best [Strength] and [Vitality] possible for me...
Power it is! “[Rising Point]!” A wind-current stronger than those before builds around me and my upward-strike is enough to push the claws back for a moment. Two.
While still in the air, I change to [Ranger]. The boss-bear's paw comes back to strike me, yet I rely on a skill that's totally unrelated to fights and won't help me beat that monster. Nimbly, my hand catches the upper part of the paw and I kick the middle to get enough momentum to swing over the thing. Hooray, [Mountain-climber], the skill that allows me to instinctively know what spots of the rocky paw are good to hold onto. Still, kicking the bear hurts, I feel it in my knee and hip.
I still hold onto the claw. The boss-bear seems to be confused for a moment, as it didn't hit anything, so I better start climbing the arm before it uses its senses to find me again. Actually, it's quite simple to climb, maybe because it makes it easier for other rocky-bears to cling to it? Speaking of which, there are still some here, yet they ignore me, like they're sleeping or something...
Monsters are strange!
OK, the previously hurled rocky-bears are making their way back to the boss, so I'm trapped. One chance to take the giant bear down, I guess. If I don't, I'll be shredded to ribbons by a pack of bloodthirsty bears.
Ignoring the pain in my leg, I try to get to the neck of the bear, can't it feel me? Maybe it doesn't have a tactile sense because its fur is rock? I also use [Hide Smell] just in case. Its eyes wander and it lightly steps on the ground... I'm lucky!
Then it strikes the ground harder, causing an earthquake. Its own body also shakes, luckily this rock is firm, though I can't help but groan as motion sickness, pain in my joints, and this strange, creepy-crawly sensation wave through my body.
Wait, why is it pacing itself upright, going only on the hind paws? Oh shit! The bear has noticed my groans and now throws itself at a cliff, trying to crush me. ...can I pull it off? No choice but to try! Just before it hits the cliff, I jump at the cliff myself, nimbly climb a portion of it, just to jump again the moment the boss crashes into it.
Yes, I'm above it, I- Shit, I'm above it! One forepaw on the left, another on the right. I'll be crushed like a bug! [Distraction]! Change to [Pikeman]! “[Rising Point]!” I know it's futile, yet it's the only thing that I can do.
The wind current is torn apart and the skill is too slow to escape my predicament. Now comes the pain. At least my [Distraction]-skill, which makes the enemy lose me for a second, brought the claws out of sync. The left hit first, causing me to fly head-first, as a last resort I use it to push me downwards... some meters of free fall are better than being crushed, right?
“*Cough*” ...barely better at this point. My hero-body may be sturdy, but this is it. I'm stunned by pain, unable to move for maybe three seconds, enough time for the rocky-bears and the boss to shred me to pieces.
I'm dead. My one chance at life squandered. I can finally say goodbye to this fantasy world. You suck! I wish I could at least laugh, but I have the feeling that the moment I open my mouth, only vomit will come out.
I feel a surge of energy, this can only mean that at least one of my wives is close to me. Has Rine freed herself? If not, then stay back, idiots!
You gain 3 WP. Your wife is saving your life, be sure to spoil her later.
The sounds of high-pressure water and a groaning bear tell me that it has to be Ara-san, shooting her [Fountain Gun] at a rocky-bear close to me. Then everything becomes moist and muddy, as her [Quagmire]-spell strikes, a spell that changes earth into a mudhole. Doesn't seem to be that effective in a rocky terrain, as I barely sink in, yet as it's flat, it's rather slippery, causing bears to halt.
“[Heal]!” Kyou-san casts a healing spell and the pain that paralyzed me is now duller. My body begins moving. I stand up, trying to keep myself standing in this slip-fest while seeing several of the bears falling. I change to [Ranger] to improve my [Dexterity] which also increases my sense of balance.
Shit, boss-bear is pissed. I can't understand how I can tell that, but he begins stomping on the ground... which doesn't cause quakes? Because of the mire? Well...
Using this unexpected chance, I look around to find the two idiots that actually tried to save my life without knowing that we're at a point where it will only delay the inevitable. There, they're right at the sideline, having charged without any plans it seems. Well, Ara-san is there, so she may have a plan after all.
Wait, she's chanting, so it has to be her [Tidal Wave]! Kyou-san shouts at me: “Ken, where is Rine-chan!?” Ah, they thought that Rine was around, huh? Well, as long as we have Rine, we'll always win. Kyou-san may still think that despite the encounter with Luuto in the swamps.
“Somewhere there!” I point at the devastational site of two cliffs clashing with each other. “[Armor Piercer]!” While moving to them I take the time to stab at least one of the fallen bears, trying to diminish their forces even by a bit.
“[Stamina]!” Kyou-san is already used to look at each of our stats, so she also knows that I desperately need the SP right now as I can only spam skills to fight these mobs.
“[Tidal Wave]!” Ara-san unleashes her spell and hurls a bunch of water on the rocky-bears that are flooded away. “[Second Flood]!” and reuses it on the boss that's totally unfazed by it. This isn't Pokémon, it's not like rock is weak to water! Yes, water may erode it over time, but it's not like it instantly dissolves it! Many dams are made out of concrete, which is close enough to rock!
“Heck, Ara-san, do you even have a plan!?” I'm now at their side and turn around to the enemies, ready to charge them again if necessary.
“Kenta-kun,” she says in a dead-serious tone that gives me hope, “are you seriously thinking that I would do this without giving it serious thought?”
“Phew... good, because I'm out of ideas.”
“Then we have a problem.”
“...why?”
“Because my plan was to make Kenta-kun come up with an idea.”
…
… … …
I had thought better of you, Ara-san!
“We just need to buy time, Ken,” says Kyou-san with conviction. “Look at Rine's status.”
I do as she says and see that Rine is spending SPs in large chunks. She must be freeing herself right now. With her overpowered magical sword, Friedensbote, she may be capable of doing it. “Too bad that this one's not letting us.” Ignoring its minions, the boss-bear has stopped its futile attempts to create quakes and just charges at us while stepping on the regular rocky-bears.
Finally enough time for shenanigans. I open my pouch and grab a stink bomb, throwing it right into the face of the bear that's too busy running towards us to go into defense. Its sense of smell is strong enough to be completely disoriented by the stench. It loses its footing, falls, and... slides towards us instead of charging. “Ara-san, air!” I lift up Kyou-san and jump.
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Knowing what I mean, Ara-san shoots a [Fountain Gun] at me, which propels me high enough to overcome the boss-bear, while she relies on her [Acrobat] to easily jump over it.
Only problem is the landing. “[Heal]!” At least I'm healed before I hit the ground... there is also still Ara-san's [Quagmire]-spell which will cushion at least a bit... this will hurt so bad.
“Ugh-!”
“-agh!”
Sharing the pain of impact, Kyou-san and I roll on the ground in the midst of the path of hurting rocky-bears that the boss just trampled on. But everything still seems intact, dammit rock-skin.
Kyou-san casts another [Heal], this time on herself. I can't blame her. “[Heal]!” The next one is for me. “Ken, wake up!”
I feel like shit. I don't want to stand up, my whole body hurts at this point. “...meh.” Nonetheless, I pull myself off the ground, looking at the situation as a whole. Shit, we need to retreat. Still, Rine is inside this cliff, if we run away, she... dammit, dammit!
I look at Ara-san, uninjured. Kyou-san, scrapes over her body after our landing. Rine's status says she's bleeding and dangerously low on SP, most likely she has forgotten that we have SP-pots for situations like this! I'm basically down, the only reason I'm even standing is because I can abuse this hero-body a whole lot before it admits that it's broken...
We can't win this. We need to retreat, yet there is still Rine trapped inside these rocks, maybe she's about to free herself, but I don't know... It's clear what to do. Abandon Rine, save our own hides, hope that Rine somehow survives it and meet up with her with the help of [Spouse-Location].
Still, I can't picture her overwhelming these odds. The boss is capable of moving fucking cliffs! This, and its probable tremorsense, would make it capable of locating and finishing off Rine when we're out of its reach...
So if we leave now, I leave her to die. Yet this is the option with the highest rate of success, of me surviving, of Kyou-san and Ara-san surviving, and with a little chance of Rine surviving as well. It makes sense to do that.
What doesn't make sense is me pointing where Rine is buried. “Ara-san, use [Tidal Wave] again.”
“Alright.” She begins her chant as I put myself between her and the rocky-bears that are about to stand up.
Kyou-san cries out in anger: “Ken! If she does that, Rine might drown.”
“I'm betting on it. Instead of complaining, cast [Stamina] on me! I have no time to explain.” My body hurts, but how often is this the case? Maybe I'll break a bone for a change? Small price to pay. Yet without any SP, I won't be able to hold on. “[Armor Piercer]!” One down, half a dozen or so to go.
“Aaaaaah!” With a scream of frustration, Kyou-san lifts her hand in my direction: “[Stamina]!” Then she changes to [Herbalist] and takes a powder from her arm-pouch: “[Sleep Breath]!” Infusing it with magic, she blows it into another rocky-bear's face, making it sleepy while trying to lure it away from Ara-san, knowing that her knife won't do much.
Problem with [Tidal Wave] is its chanting time, it can take up to a minute. Enough time for the boss-bear to get back its senses and finish us off.
Kyo-san learned to excel in stall-tactics. She also takes one of my stink bombs to throw it into another bear's face, while another starts hitting the air as she starts using [Mirrored Moon] on it, a [Spirit Magic]-spell that creates an illusion of hers into the mind of a creature. It's obvious why she doesn't even try attacking, her knife can't do shit against the bears if even I need [Armor Piercer] to pierce them.
I use brute force, as it reduces the enemies to face, while I try to keep the boss in my field of view. It's slowly starting to get up... shit, it slipped out of the [Quagmire]-range which means it can start quaking again. “Kyou-san, to the boss!”
“WHAT!?” She looks at me as if I have announced that she would be crowned Queen of England despite being a common Japanese high school girl with no European relations whatsoever: Total disbelief of being put in the wrong position with the wrong set of skills. Pretty accurate, seeing how I ask her, Miss Healer, Miss I-can't-fight-at-all, to take on the boss.
“JUST THROW ANOTHER DAMN BOMB INTO ITS FACE! [Armor Piercer]!” She's the one with the least combat capabilities, that's why she's expendable against the smaller ones. I would also have chosen someone else if I had a choice, yet I can't rely on her protecting Ara-san with stalling tactics alone.
“#+!” With a grunt that is neither lady-like nor distinctive, she starts following my order. She's most likely about to wet herself out of fear, a feeling I know too well.
The boss-bear stops its movements and slowly turns around. Well, I better look at the bears I'm supposed to kill before being too distracted... Shit, now I'm also feeling like pissing my pants.
As I stab another rocky-bear, I hear the loud noise of stone crushing stone, so either Kyou-san was between its paw and the ground or not... no scream at least? Shit, I want to see what happens, but the rocky-bears are becoming more and more numerous. I jump between one and Ara-san only to be hit... …ok, the pain is rather dull compared to what I have felt today.
Yet it's enough to make me grunt: “[Armor Piercer]!” Spamming the same skill over and over again isn't good, there is a slight increase in SP-consumption and a growing delay, maybe because the body is experiencing the same stress over and over again. Well, at least no direct cooldown.
Boss growls, yet I have no choice but to kick the bear I just stabbed, feeling the pain in my knee again, just so that I can deflect a blow from another, targeted at Ara-san.
“[Tidal Wave]!” Finally! Water falls down on the site Rine is buried under, entering it through even the tiniest crevice, slowly leaking between the rubble and rocks. Come on, Rine!
A flying air-blade cuts through the rock and the water suddenly splashes out, taking Rine with it. She coughs before standing up, looking at the battlefield and rushing to the boss who is whining like a beating dog. I can see the yellowish cloud at its nose. “[Crescent Moon]!” The next flying cut isn't as deep as we hoped, only some stone-skin is chipped away.
“RETREAT!” I yell, pointing at the direction the path is going to.
Rine picks up Kyou-san, who looks like she has just won a marathon wearing her slippers, and accelerates with her [Swiftstride]-skill to catch up with Ara-san and I who are already at top speed.
The bears don't chase us, maybe because they're bound to the boss or shit like that. Still, we don't even dare to look back for the next ten minutes...
[https://kentusauthor.files.wordpress.com/2020/07/kentapikeman60.png?w=676]
―○●○―
I can't believe we survived it... I, the only one of the party that has no combat-oriented classes, faced this big bear on my own and I'm still alive! My side hurts, my stomach as well, mostly because I had the urge to pee the whole time. What was Ken thinking, entrusting me with this! The only reason why I'm still here is because of [Mirrored Moon]!
We take a breather, Rine-chan combs her hair because Arako cast [Dry] on her during our escape. The sudden drying gives the worst hair and it feels gross, yet it's still better than catching a cold.
“Ken, what happened? I mean, how could it end so well?” I look at his naked torso as I put some salve on his bruises. The only reason why he hasn't broken some ribs may be because of how armor interacts with the hero-system, yet the black and blue spots on his body gives me an idea how much it must hurt. Damage that is beyond what the simple [Heal]-spell can properly treat. How could we still be alive despite that?
“Phew...” He looks like I'm asking for the obvious, but what goes on in his mind is sometimes a mystery to me. “Friedensbote.”
“What?”
“Rine's sword. It becomes stronger in relation to the danger she's in.”
“Yes?”
“Rine?” He asks her over his shoulder. “Did cutting the rock worked?”
“No... it was hard to move and I didn't have the room.”
“A lot of struggle to almost no avail?”
“Yes.”
Ken turns to me again, continuing his explanation. “She was trapped, but not in immediate danger, so she had a really hard and sharp sword, but that's not a tool for cutting rocks. Especially given her situation.”
“So you drowned her to create a danger for her!?”
“Technically, Ara-san drowned her.”
I mercilessly punch him into one of the bruises I didn't treat yet, he grunts in great pain, yet he deserves it: “Are you insane!?”
“... ...wh...” He spits out and lifts his head, staring at me. “Did you have a better idea?” His calmness here is much worse than his usual angry remarks. “If no, don't judge me.”
“Kyou?” Rine-chan walks over and puts her hands on my shoulders. “Please, he's hurt.”
“He was risking your life!”
“I... I know... but we were on a battlefield, so dying can happen... we should be glad that we all survived.” Her voice is like she's quoting someone, most likely her instructor or one of her tutors.
“Rine-chan... how do you feel about it?” She can't dismiss it like that, she may be gullible, but it must hurt her.
“I... I don't know... but...”
“Phew.” Ken exhales heavily while scratching his head. “We're all alive, that matters. Rine, take your time pondering about what you think about it. Also, Ara-san? Could you take over treating me?”
...hey, are you telling me that you don't want to be treated by me!?
I give Arako a meaningful look which may or not may cause her to speak the following words: “You're asking me to rub a slimy cream all over your naked body? I believe that is sexual harassment.”
“Phew..." He snaps the jar with the medicine and starts applying it onto himself. The bruises become smaller after just putting it on, showing how effective healing items are on a hero's body. “Nevermind.”
OK, this is pissing me off. So you still think I'm useless, is it that? I can't even treat your wounds despite being the [Herbalist] here? Fine, have it your way. I won't help you unless you're begging me!
“Rine-chan, strip.”
“Huh?”
“I have treated your head wound, but let's see if you have more underneath your armor.” She doesn't have the [Bleeding]-condition anymore and status-wise she looks alright.
This also causes Ken to stand up while taking some bandages from his backpack. He turns around and starts trying to bandage his torso which proves to be difficult. Oh, so you need help after all? You also have nobody to ask, seeing how Arako has made fun of you while I'm unwilling?
With a sigh he stops the futile attempt and stays still. I help Rine-chan out of her armor and the top part of its undergarment. She also has bruises all over her body though it looks much better than Ken's. I take the jar and start applying the salve. Rine-chan sighs in relief as the pain she didn't even mentioned before subsides. “Thank you.”
“You're welcome.” At this point I'm used to wrapping bandages, so Rine-chan is finished within a minute.
The moment she closed the top of her undergarment, Ken looks over his shoulder: “Rine, can you help me with the bandages?” So you waited until she's finished to ask her!? Is it so hard for you to just ask me, who is clearly the best in patching people up around here because you, more than the rest of us, keep getting hurt!?
I grind my teeth while Rine-chan is working on Ken. Arako is noting something down, I look at it and can't help but rubbing my nosebridge: “Why? I mean, a cliff?”
“Because there is nothing in my notes that resembles these special circumstances, of course I need to write down how much damage it did and how difficult it is to heal.”
Come on, I know you like this, but that doesn't make any sense. From what I heard from Rine-chan, who is doing nightwatch with her, Arako always notes stuff from battles and such from the day, but I feel like she does it much more since the Spirit Swamps.
…was it because of that alfr, Lvo'tjos? Arako doesn't talk about the nature of their relationship, no matter how much I pry.
Ken is donning his armor after his treatment. “Let's go. I want to put as much distance as possible between us and this boss. Let's hope for some birds. Guess they don't come close to this area because of that thing. If we see some, it'll be a good sign.” Instead of taking a break, something that would do him and us good, he just keeps pushing us.
Rine-chan is also putting on her breast piece and doesn't seem to mind at first glance, yet I see a sad face on her for a second. Arako puts her portfolio back into her backpack and is most likely mentally absent for the next few minutes to blend out the oh so taxing activity of walking.
In times like these, I really wish I had a better party, that supports and talks with each other more.