Vivian whirled around and sprinted at Renee.
Lewis jumped forward. “Renee, get back!”
“You rat! Can’t you wait until we beat the boss?” Kors shouted at Vivian.
Vivian threw his rake behind Lewis’ feet as he jabbed the clippers at the man’s eyes.
Lewis backed away, directly into one of the waiting vines. In a split second, the vine wrapped around his ankle and bound his foot in place. Jerked off-balance, he stepped back with his other foot to catch himself, directly onto the rake. The rake snapped up and clocked him in the back of the head. Lewis jolted, half-falling forward. “Ow!”
Vivian swerved around Lewis. Renee’s eyes widened. She lowered the flute and reached for something at her waist.
Throwing up his hand, Vivian summoned the spray bottle into it. Point-blank, he fired it into Renee’s face.
Renee recoiled.
[Stunned!]
In the next instant, Vivian clipped her neck open. Frozen by [Stun], Renee coughed, choking on her own blood, but couldn’t move to defend or protect herself.
That would kill a non-Player, but Players work on HP, not purely bodily damage. Vivian slashed at her again and again, racking up the damage with superficial cuts. On the other hand, a papercut can kill as handily as a severed head for a Player. Upsides, downsides.
Something tore behind Vivian. He jolted. Time’s up.
“Get away from Renee!” Lewis growled, charging at Vivian, shield raised once more.
[Tiptoe Through the Tulips]
Vivian danced through the reaching vines. Each step landed precisely where it needed to. As if he’d faced the vines a thousand times, he dodged the vines as though he knew their patterns by heart.
Lewis trundled after him. The vines clung to him, holding him back with every step. He bulled through them, tearing and snapping the vines. “Get back here, you filth!”
Calling out the spray bottle again, Vivian fired it behind him again and again as he kited Lewis across the battlefield, careful to keep the Lady between him and Kors. Although Lewis had an advantage in raw stats, Vivian’s movement skill and the Lady’s vines made it easy for Vivian to stay ahead of Lewis.
[Stun Resist]
Resist isn’t Impervious! It can get through!
Mist built up on Lewis’ face from the spray. He blinked away water, drops running down his face and accumulating on his eyelashes. Annoyed, he wiped his face. “Stop that!”
Ignoring him, Vivian continued to spam the trigger. The bottle grew lighter and lighter in his hands. C’mon. Land! Stun him!
[Stunned!]
Yes! Vivian whirled around, but not toward Lewis. He looked up at the Lady and made a come-on gesture.
The Lady bared her teeth. She swept the whip at him.
Vivian darted back, but Lewis, stunned, wasn’t so lucky. The whip knocked him into the waiting vines. Hungry, the vines whirled around him, binding him to the floor.
Stolen story; please report.
[Bound!]
“Great job, teammate!” Vivian said, shooting the Lady a thumbs-up. He ran over to Lewis and jumped onto the man’s barrel chest, clipping through any holes he could reach through the man’s armor. Blood spilled into the vines. The vines shivered, then surged, growing fat in an instant. They twisted tighter around Lewis, the thorns growing deeper into his skin.
Damn. If I can grow plants, I want one of these! This would be a great plant to have on hand. It’s vicious, it gets stronger when it eats blood, it slows opponents but not me, has great synergy with my skills… it’s an excellent combat partner!
I’ll have to grab a clipping before the battle ends.
The Lady growled, too busy fighting Kors to focus on Vivian. She flicked her wrist. A thick perfume surrounded Vivian and Lewis.
The sweet scent instantly clouded Vivian’s mind. He staggered, his eyelids growing heavy. Ah… shit…
He bit his tongue, forcing himself to stay awake, and stumbled away from Lewis. The vines lashed at his legs, opening wounds around his knees and shins.
HP: 4/10
The pain jolted him back awake. He stepped out of the range of the attack, and cool air rushed into his lungs. Stopping for a moment, Vivian put his hands on his knees. He caught his breath and wiped his mouth, then straightened and reached for a potion. Eyeing the thin gashes on his legs, he snorted. Yeah, that whole thing about dying to papercuts? It counts for me, too.
He downed the potion.
+20 HP
HP: 10/10
The cuts on his legs closed up, faintly steaming. Turning, he looked out at the two downed Players. Any moment now…
[Level +1]
[Level +1]
Vivian snorted. Yep, the level slog begins. It’s much harder to level up once you hit level ten. Still, two points…
Calling up his menu, he quickly allotted the points.
[Status]
HP: 10/10
SP: 5/5
STR: 15
MAG: 1
SKL: 7
SPD: 7
MDEF: 5
DEF: 5
I’m going hard into STR, so I might as well keep investing into it. Better to minmax than maxmin… or rather, try to make up for my deficits. That 1 MAG isn’t going anywhere, not as long as I’m the one allotting points.
If I get a Checkpoint reset, I’d probably put some points into SPD, too, but for now, STR is the way to go. Now that I have STR at fifteen, I’ll start considering SKL for crits and agility or SPD for movement and extra attacks.
As for the last point…
[Tiptoe Through the Tulips] Lvl 2
It’s a skill worth leveling. I can wait for it to level on its own, but movement skills take forever to level up. Right now, that skill can make the difference for me, given that the vines alone can shred through my HP. If I can get it high enough that I can subconsciously avoid the vines in combat, I’ll have a head up on Kors, who has to consciously dodge the vines as he fights. He has high enough speed and skill as a Swordsman that the vines won’t pose a serious threat to him, but the distraction might be enough to level the playing field some between me, a level twelve NPC, and Kors, a level nineteen Swordsman.
Plus, the Lady of the Lost has been focusing him. I’ll let her go ahead and take care of him.
Kors shouted and unleashed a slash at the Lady. Bright white light burst from his sword and soared toward her. She screamed in pain.
Something flew past Vivian’s face. Dark liquid splattered over him. He turned.
The Lady’s arm laid on the ground behind him. Her fingers spasmed once before the whole limb went still.
He licked his lips. Or… the other way around?
The Lady threw her remaining arm in the air. Lost Ones phased through the hedges, eyes maddened and claws bared. They darted toward Vivian and Kors. At the same, the vines underfoot twisted up taller, as the ones gripping Renee and Lewis dragged their bodies underground. Their thorns dripped purple, threatening deadly poison.
Vivian backed away, carefully dodging the vines. “Phase two, go!”
The closest Lost Ones hurtled toward him. Vivian blocked one pair of claws, only for another Lost One to charge him from behind. He pointed the spray bottle at the second Lost One’s face and pulled the trigger.
Sptzz. Sptzz.
Ftzz! A breathy, empty sound came from the spray bottle.
He scowled. Of all times, it empties now?
An image of himself pulling the trigger a hundred times in Lewis’ face welled up in his mind.
Oh, right.
The Lost One grabbed tight to his arms, little hands like vises. Claws bit into his flesh. Opening its mouth, it went to bite his hand.
[HP: 8/10]
Still fending off the first one’s wild clawing with his clippers, Vivian lifted his foot and kicked the second Lost One away. It tumbled through the air and struck another Lost One, who clawed its fellow in frustration.
A shadow loomed. Vivian looked up to find the Lady staring down at him, glowing eyes just visible beneath the rose.
He swallowed. Fuck.