Chapter 6: Clash of the Three Armies
Akaro and his party entered the library to be shocked to find a battle occurring. As the rest of his party watched the battle ensue he made sure to lock up behind him to prevent anyone from escaping or anyone coming in and interfering.
This was the start of his battle and he needed to make sure that scales of victory would only tip to his favour as outside sources could impede or alter his chances at victory. He then looked at his small brigade.
“Everyone stay quiet. I'm going to observe the situation first.”
Serenity only nodded meekly while hiding her face behind Anko. She was literally frightened at the vast amount of mice and spiders. She wanted to scream and leave the library but she needed to stay to make sure the one she was hiding behind didn't have Akaro all to herself.
The other young woman, was trying to verify the situation like the red head. She was still the next leader of her clan and her experience in leading would help in this situation. Anko wanted to say something but nodded as she was told to keep quiet.
'I've never seen him that focused. It's as if he was making my weapon again.'
The red head watched the scene play out. It seemed like an even battle at first but it started to tip into the rat king's army advantage as mice had a higher birthrate than spiders. In terms of numbers, spiders have the most but the mice could replenish their forces thanks to the games accelerated birthing program. Spiders matured a bit slower than the mice and it caused the spiders to lose out even with them being stronger.
Akaro could easily tell that the mice were level 5 to level 10 were no match for the spiders who went from level 15 – 20 depending on size but they were outnumbered. The mice utilized suicide tactics and aimed for legs to immobilize the spiders. Once their movement was impaired the stronger spiders would fall prey to the large rats. It was an effective strategy and the mice were the only ones who can utilize it in this situation. Akaro couldn't help but click his tongue at the situation.
'The mice and rats have such a large number advantage. The only thing I can tell though is that the mice were the only ones replenishing forces. The spiders that killed rats or were fighting rats were taken down first. That means the rats are a set number and cannot replenish like the mice.'
This was good news for Akaro as taking out the rats would be his main objective. He knew right now he needed to steadily grow the strength of his party and he cannot just ignore the mice.
“I got the battle plan.”
Akaro started out while addressing his brigade.
“Hyung I'm ready to take them on this time.”
“I will show them the claws of justice.”
“Kill vermin! Make master happier.”
“We will follow your orders Sir Akaro.”
“Say the word Akaro-sama.”
“They look pretty tasty Aniki.”
“I can't dig here but I'll still sneak up on them Yusha-nii.” (Hero-bro)
“Ssstupid mice. Ssseiryuu is going to consssume you all.”
“I'll stay behind and watch from here.”
“Master, I will make sure they know what fear means.”
“I smell the scent of my favourite food. Let me attack them... uh who are you again?”
Continuing Akaro pointed at the dynasty brothers and the sky knights.
“Suzaku you will lead the dynasty brothers and Yasu to attack.”
The red falcon responded almost immediately.
“It will be our honour to lead the charge Sir Akaro. The three young lads and us winged knights will show no quarter to the vermin.”
“I want you all to massacre them and to instill fear into these mice. Suzaku and Yasu aim for the rats first.”
Anko was watching the redhead hand out orders to the falcon that seemed to respond positively. She then looked back at the eyes staring back at her.
“Anko-san. You will be going out front and you will aim for only the mice. We are going to assist the spiders as we may need their help to beat the mice.”
She nodded to the red head.
“The enemy of our enemy is our friend strategy. That is the right choice in this situation. Please take care of me.”
Anko bowed to the animals who seemed to have reacted accordingly.
“Hyungs! We must protect master's woman in the name of justice!”
“Will protect serious pretty lady!”
“We must defend her for hyung!”
“Sir Akaro this woman is quite polite. We will protect her in your stead.”
Akaro nodded. Then he looked at the remaining eight.
“Kuroneko you will be in charge of Kogane and Seiryuu. We want to cause dissension in their ranks. All three of your skills will be important for this. If one of you can, capture one of the rats alive for interrogation.”
“Asss you wisssh massster. I will enjoy causssing them ssstrife.”
“Akaro-sama. I will make you proud.”
“We will catch one master. Seiryuu and Kogane. Follow me we are going to sneak around back.”
Kuroneko wasted no time following her owner's orders. Because of her high intelligence Akaro had seemed to have fully trusted her capabilities to lead.
“Hikaru and Kagerou. You will boost everyone here before they head out. Then you will be Serenity's and Tsukino's body guards. Protect them from any mice heading to them.”
Akaro continued to issue orders as he will also be joining the fray but he needed to make sure they are all taken care of.
“Tsukino you are the leader for the support team. You are also in charge of healing.”
“I...I'll try my best. Please leave some of the poison with me.”
Akaro looked at the white rabbits eyes and he could see not a scared rabbit but she seem to have a mad glint in her eyes. She had a plan and he could only trust in her at this point. He took out the jar of healing items and the poison. He took some of the healing slop of herbs and put it back in his inventory. The rest he gave to Tsukino to distribute to any team member who was feeling weak or injured. He also left a handful of poison to her and she greedily started chewing on it.
“Tell her to use the poison with her arrows.”
'So that is what she was thinking of. By shooting the poison tipped arrows she'll be able to kill mice even if she grazed them. But why did she have such a crazed look in her eyes.'
“Serenity. The poison that she spat out will be effective against the mice so as long as you graze them they will die by the poison.”
The young woman tailor nodded furiously. She has been in parties before to hunt rabbits, foxes, and wolves but never an amount this grand. Also it was animals she detested and feared. Hearing that she got a poison to mix with her arrows made it easier on her now.
“So just aim for the mice and rats?”
“Yes. Try to protect as many of the spiders as possible. Our goal is to push the mice back to the basement.”
Akaro then looked back at the main attacking team focus.
“Everyone. I want a massacre. Show no mercy. Slaughter them all.”
Ding
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Leadership up by 30
Charisma up by 30
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With the familiar falcon shriek they charged forward.
“YOU HEARD SIR AKARO! SHOW NO QUARTER!”
“YEAH!”
The dynasty brothers lead the charge with Genbu and Rai just running straight through as they caught the mice off guard. They cleared a path for Anko to go in with her unsheathed naginata.
“You will all fall to my blade.”
She started spinning it and slashing anything she deemed as a threat. The blade spun and manage to kill some of the mice that were struck by the rampaging Rai.
Byakko was behind Anko and was watching her back. Biting and slashing at any mice who tried to get close.
“Byakko twin claw! Byakko Roar!”
The meow instilled the natural fear the mice had for cats.
“IT'S A CAT! RUN!”
“THE DOG HAS A STRONG HELMET!”
“JOE NO!!!!”
Various mice were scampering around trying to figure out what was happening. Suzaku had already flew with speed towards one of the rats. As he didn't have a lot of space to manoeuvre as it was still a building and the ceiling was filled with silky webs he could only make sure he was accurate. He found his query and quickly dug his sharp talons through it's body. It didn't die right away as it was still slightly higher level but the initial strike stunned it and he used his beak to pierce and nip the stomach. If it was extremely real the rat would have had his insides taken out but as it was a game it just flashed grey. Another metal ring fell as it was the first rat killed by the party. He took it in his beak and looked for his owner.
“Sir Akaro! I have obtained a treasure from the first rat.”
Akaro caught the ring the falcon dropped to him before it went off to join the battle once more.
“Identify.”
Ding
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Ring of the Rat Knight
Durability: 200/200
Equip:
Mana regen 4 mana/sec
VIT +30
LDR +20
Requirement:
Level 70
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Wearing it at once as it will help him with his mana regeneration he rushed towards the spider forces. He then threw needles at any mice he can lock on. One particular spider who was bigger then most of the rats was getting assaulted by multiple mice. Throwing weapons would cause damage to the spider so Akaro decided to go in with his katana.
Slashing in an arch he dispatched the wave of mice on the left side and stood beside the spider.
“Take the right side.”
The spider made a hiss as if accepting and started attacking his right side leaving the left to the ninja prodigy. In a few moments mice were afraid to attack and decided to retreat.
Due to the injuries of its legs Akaro took it back while the other spiders covered their retreat. The large spider started to making a strange chittering noise with its fangs.
To regular people it would look like the spider was about to attack but Akaro already knew better and decided to use translation. It failed quite a few times before succeeding.
Ding
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You have learned the Arachnid Language
Level up: Translation (Beginner Lv. 7 20%)
INT up by 1
WIS up by 1
Mana up by 100
Speech up by 50
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“Great warrior. Thank you for your assistance. My name is Lieutenant Toxinfangs. Our commander has already fallen earlier and our forces have become quite strained. Please forgive me for asking but will you please help us against these mice and turn this losing situation around?”
Ding
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Spider Queen's army request #1
Lieutenant Fangs has given you a request to drive the rat king's army back to the basement.
Difficulty: D
Quest Requirements:
Failure:
Lieutenant Toxinfangs dies
If more than half of the spider army forces dies
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“It has already been my plan to drive them back to the basement. I accept.”
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Quest Accepted
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Akaro: “Serenity please come to the stairs as quickly as you can. I need Tsukino.”
Serenity: “We are a little busy but we will start heading over...EEEK!”
Akaro: “Are you okay?”
Serenity: “Yeah. I'm sorry we are going to head there now.”
What happened with Serenity's party was they were attacked by about twenty to forty mice. Unfortunately for the mice they didn't expect to see foxes guarding her.
“Fox duet!”
The twin foxes shouted using their buffing skills together. This increased the parties attack and defence which gave them the boost they needed to kill the mice without worry of retaliation.
The mice seeing they were not fairing too well decided to aim for the weakest member on the team. They spotted the white rabbit and were slightly cautious to the violet mixture on the ground.
“Hey you stupid mice. I can't believe we were once known as rodents. You guys are disgusting and not even worth my time.”
Tsukino used her provoke skill which worked amazingly well. They got angry and ran towards the rabbit who was surrounded by the poison that smelled like cinnamon. The moment the remaining mice got close to her they flash grey as the toxin invaded their small bodies quite quickly.
“Hahaha. You fools think you can kill me! I am invincible in this pool of poison.”
“Hikaru-nii... Tsukino-chan is quite scary.”
“Don't look at her blood red eyes Kagerou. You might catch her crazy.”
The two foxes commented on their white haired companion who seem to be dancing on the mice tails that have dropped.
“Um... your master asked us to go to the spiders now. Let's go before more mice come.”
The party of four started running towards the stairs whey they spotted the red head.
***
“We can watch Myung-Ki's actions from here.”
Juhee was speaking to her father and Dong-Sun.
“So grandson is currently with two lovely ladies. Look Dong-Sun! Told you I didn't have to worry. Haha. I might see my great grandson soon.”
“Abeoji! You keep joking like that I'm going to smack you!”
“You going to hit old men now?”
“There is no age requirements for punishment.”
“Haha. True true. Alright I'll leave that topic for now. Looks like someone doesn't want to be a grandmother yet.”
Kim Juhee pouted at the word of being a grandmother. She was still young considering she was in her late thirties but it was the thought that little Myung-Ki's running around scared her.
'If they all acted like him I would have a heart attack. One Myung-Ki is enough.'
"Anyways. Your grandchild looks like he has some exciting quest we can watch. I was also a bit curious after Anko-ssi said they were doing a quest when I have never seen the boy leave the city."
Myung-Dae nodded as well.
"It is surprising that the pets he has are actually talking to him. I've never knew you could do that in a game."
"I can see why he's been talking to them. It makes a lot more sense now."
Juhee commented before looking at the other man in the room who was watching the screen.
“I can see why young master would be furious. Look at the destruction of all those books.”
Dong-Sun commented while they watched from the linked television. Myung-Ki's capsule was linked so they can watch his videos.
“Didn't he read all those books Dong-Sun? He'll need help to rewrite them. Maybe even write some of his own...Oops.”
“Abeoji... what is this about writing? He's writing like you! Aigoo...”
Juhee slumped herself down on the couch.
“We did not mean to keep it from you but he asked me about writing on his own accord. Please do not get mad at him. I told him to keep it from you.”
Myung-Dae was trying to be apologetic.
“Abeoji... Does he want to do it?”
“Well he is just asking about writing and story telling as it's related to the class he picked up.”
“Enough... I'll talk to the both of you later.”
“About the writing?”
“No for lying to me.”
Myung-Dae looked to Dong-Sun for support but was ignored. The butler decided to continue watching the screen as the fight between the mice and Akaro's party continued.
***
“Hello boys. Do you guys want to follow me?”
Kogane gave a wink to the mice. Any of the males were soon charmed and started shouting.
“Kogane! Kogane! We love Kogane!”
This caused the female mice to get angry.
“Hey she's not even a mouse!”
“Men are so stupid!”
“Ladiesss... the men think you are all ugly... ssseriousssly punisssh the foolsss... You are all beautiful after all.”
The deceitful words from Seiryuu soon persuaded the female mice to fight against the males.
“Oh no. Are you guys going to just let those women try to hurt me?”
“NOOOO! PROTECT THE GODDESS KOGANE!”
Soon two hundred mice were in a middle of a gender war. The women falling to Seiryuu's lies and the men charmed by the golden fox were all destroying each other.
If they had hands the two of them would have given each other a high five but Seiryuu smiled and Kogane just winked as they watched what their actions has done.
Kuroneko was also not just standing by.
“You all will follow me or...”
A wicked smile could be found her face as she took one of the mice and lifted to her mouth and bit off the arm while purring.
“George!”
“Please just kill me...”
Kuroneko looked at the mouse called George then at the mice.
“Where is the fun in that?”
The mice who didn't want to experience the painfully slow consumption like their colleague quickly replied back.
“We follow your commands our empress!”
“Bring me one of your rat oppressors. Even if you die, you will bring one here. If not I'll kill you all myself quite slowly just like your little friend here.”
“My legs.... just finish me off...”
The other mice knew she was not joking and somehow knew she would enjoy it if they didn't listen to her.
“Yes your highness.”
A swarm of two hundred mice began to fight other mice as they rampaged towards one of the rat commanders.
While this was happening Genbu and Rai had slowed down but clearly caused quite a bit of confusion. Anko was still picking off mice but she was now level 8. This made it easier as she also progressed her staff/pole mastery skill.
Akaro: “Anko fall back to the stairs leading to the second floor. I need you to regroup with me and Serenity so we can properly work with the spiders.”
Anko: “No honorifics? Fine I'll call you Akaro starting from now. I'll tell your pets and we'll start heading back.”
“Your master is calling for us! Let's regroup!”
Anko commanded and the animals couldn't help but follow it. She did have a charismatic voice and personality.
“Yes nuna!”
Rai barked as the attack group followed Anko towards where the red head was.
With the confusion of the retreating backs of the attacking force the mice and rats also decided to regroup as they have lost quite a bit of their forces.
Serenity and Anko both arrived around the same time and accepted the quest that Akaro was talking about.
“So we really need to push them back while protecting the spiders as well.”
“They are safe... right?”
Akaro looked at the two females before continuing.
“Yes. We are changing formations. Anko you will be in the front lines with me and we will keep the spiders safe. Serenity you and the spiders will be firing at the mice. You with poison arrows and their webs will slow them down. It would make it easier for the front lines to attack. They don't have any range so it's an advantage we have.”
Serenity nodded while she couldn't keep her eyes off his face. He looked rather dashing when he was giving orders. He felt like some sort of general and she couldn't help and try to suppress her blush.
'I'm in love. I'm definitely in love.'
Anko was thinking less romanitc thought and more on his maturit as she was more familiar with a more silent personality that he had when they were kids.
'He is a lot more vocal now then when we were younger. He would usually reply with one or two words but never really had a conversation with me... but then again I just kept screaming out to spar with him. I was so immature then.'
Anko was broken out of her thoughts when she saw the animals all looked quite serious as the red head spoke to them.
“Alright. Attack team we are going to the front lines. They know we are here now and have already marked us as dangerous. Dynasty brothers you will stay with Anko. Sky Raptors will stay with me. We are going to use some hit and run tactics now.”
Akaro finish informing the attack team then looked at the support team.
“Tsukino you will be healing any wounded spiders. Your main focus will be Lieutenant Toxinfangs. He cannot die.”
“Great warrior Akaro. I will be fine. I should lead the group in my Generals place.”
“You've done well Lieutenant. Let me be in charge if you do not mind. We are now allies and we need to make sure the spiders have a commander. Do you all agree with me!”
“Leiutenant Fangs sir please leave the front line to us.”
“We will follow you friend of spiders!”
“We all know of your kindness!”
Akaro wasn't expecting them to already follow orders. His leadership was high for his level but he didn't know if it was high enough to lead the spider army. The last comment of his kindness was quite particular but there was no time to dwell on it as the rat army was now calm and started to retaliate in full.
“Quest status”
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Special Event Quest Rat King and Spider Queen Forces
The library has been taken over by two forces that have waged war and many of the literary works found in the were caught as collateral damage. You have allied with one of the forces and only need to take down the Rat King Forces.
Difficulty: D
Rat King Forces: 1340/2000
Spider Queen Forces: 1203/2000
Crimson Brigade: 514
Requirements:
Rewards will be based on contributions on removing the threats of the library.
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Another surprise shocked Akaro. He had some how increased his forces by five hundred. This had to be the work of his mastermind group. It was a shame that he couldn't order them right now as they must be attacking away from the main forces somewhere.
'Kuroneko is with them. I'll trust her for the time being. She will make sure to use the forces wisely.'
“Sky Knights, Anko, and Dynasty brothers. We will lead at the front!”
Akaro, Anko, the dynasty brothers and two raptors were at the front of the spider army.
“Spider Queen forces! We have not met long but I lend my strength to you. Lieutenant Toxinfangs has given me command but I will not force you to follow me. For those that do I promise to avenge your fallen comrades and bring an end to this war! To all who wishes to follow me into combat let us show these mice no mercy!”
Akaro wasn't use to using a booming type of voice but learning from Melchior he knew that it was necessary to make sure the masses can hear him.
“YEAH!!!!”
The entire force of the army started to scream. To people who didn't understand all they heard was loud hissing.
Ding
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Leadership up by 20
Charisma up by 10
Arachnid Army Loyalty 80%
Fame with Arachnid Race increased by 200
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'He seemed to rile up the whole army. He is completely different now. I wonder if he got stronger as well...'
Anko couldn't help but give praise to the red head who had somehow increased the fighting spirit of their army. She may have not understood what they said but their actions was enough.
“Anko let's lead the charge. You seem to be a lot stronger now.”
He had looked at the party stats and Anko had grown to level 10 in no time during the earlier skirmish. This put them in a better situation as she would have gained some much needed stats in order to fight without having a guard around her.
The two decided to sprint towards the front in a phalanx position where the dynasty brothers on Anko's right slightly behind her and the sky raptors following behind Akaro.
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
The rat army was ready for an assault this time but what they were not ready for was Akaro's next actions.
Closing his eyes to gain some much needed focus he started to get into a stance. He needed to eliminate a lot of them but still be careful with his allies. He did not want to use his Fuujin skill as it had a large area of effect and he may attack an ally by mistake.
'Tsukiyome no Mangetsu.'
Akaro jumped into the middle of the rat army and thrusts forward with his two blades and pierced a group of mice. Then using his right arm he started to spin clockwise with the first blade and when it reached directly behind him he slashed with his left blade as if following the first katana. He stopped it once he reached a first circle.
Ding
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You have created a new combat skill. Please give it a name.
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“Tsukiyome no Mangetsu”
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Tsukiyome no Mangetsu
Rank [A] Dual Sword Technique
A move meant to representing the full moon and with the proper focus it can damage all around the user.
Attack power with two weapons (+100% ATK)
Attack speed with two weapons (+100% SPD)
Consumes 400 Mana
20% chance to cause bleed
20% chance to double damage
20% chance to ignore defence
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Akaro only quickly viewed the skill before he got onto another stance.
'Tsukiyome no Hangetsu'
This time he thrust Yasuke forward while standing side ways. On the opposite direction he had thrusted Sasuke at the same time. With his arms still extended he brought the two blades together until the blades just overlapped each other. Any mice that was on his left side were taken out and all what was left were mouse tails.
Ding
You have created a new combat skill.. Please give it a name.
“Tsukiyome no Hangetsu.”
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Rank [A] Dual Sword Technique
A movement that represents when the moon wanes to a half moon, with focus it can damage all opponents in front of the opponent.
Attack power with two weapons (+100% ATK)
Attack speed with two weapons (+100% SPD)
Consumes 400 mana
20% chance to cause bleed
20% chance to double damage
20% chance to ignore defence
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The mice all around were now fearing for their lives. By jumping in and using the two moves he had already made a clearing around him. This only took him two minutes to do and the rat that was leading this squadron of mice was already looking for ways to escape.
Anko who did not want to fall behind in terms of skill rushed and pierced the front lines before spinning similar to Akaro's Ameterasu skill. She also received a message regarding creating a skill.
“Enso!”
It was the word that represented the zen circle or void. Simple naming but it was a simple action that massacred some mice around her. She was still about the same level as them so the ones that died were the ones who were not level 9 or level 10 but the damage was great enough that she thrust the blade to finish off any of the stragglers.
Rai, Genbu, and Byakko had to watch in awe as they just saw a quarter of the forces in front of them decimated by a few moves. But that didn't mean the two wasn't in any danger as they saw the other battalions of rats and mice were now converging on the two.
Back to back Anko and Akaro looked at the situation. Even though he and her brought down a lot of the forces it did not mean they couldn't get tired. Akaro who was a higher level, seem to be doing fine while his counterpart was breathing heavily as she just unlocked a skill that used up her stamina as she did not have the mana to support it yet.
“We are getting surrounded Akaro.”
Akaro had to think quickly. His action of jumping in was to do minimal damage to his allies but it did put him in a disadvantage. He did not have to worry long as the sky raptors did their job to support the red head.
“Aerial Slash.”
As the rat army started to focus the two players, their allies were free to attack with little retaliation. Suzaku had swooped low and started striking mice left and right with his wings as if he was a flying blade.
Yasu was aiming specifically at any rats who thought they were safe and using his Silent Aerial Grasp where he would pick them up with his talons and crush whatever life they had.
The dynasty brothers also wanted to save their leader and rushed in using a new move they had together. Rai launched Genbu and Byakko in the air as high as he could. Genbu used rock form and hid all his limbs and head into his shell while Byakko then kicked him which made him fly backwards but as he was a cat he landed on his feet quite gracefully.
“CDT Spinning charge!”
The rock turtle literally was spinning forward using the force of the kick and the speed of gravity to accelerate downwards and he landed shell first. Which bounced for a bit but then steadily accelerated forward. The force of the attack caused any mice caught in it's path to disappear immediately. Rai and Byakko had to run after their brother made weapon but that was fine as the damage was done.
The spiders who were watching the vanguards capabilities stared in awe and decided to charge in to help the two players out as well. Shooting webbing to slow the converging enemies down enough for the two players to be able to continue their charge.
Serenity who had stood on one of the shelves to watch couldn't help but feel a little jealous when she watched the two fight. They were moving steadily forward while watching each other to make sure they did not collide as they fought. It was as if they were doing a deadly dance as their proximity to each other as they fought was extremely close. The only reason why they were able to fight this way is that they both trained in similar styles that was derived by Miyamoto Hanzou. That and they fought each other enough when they were younger to know each others' tendencies.
"Daebak!"
Serenity whispered under her breath. As she was really impressed with the way they were fighting.
'I wish I knew how to fight like her then I would be beside Akaro-ssi. I won't give up. There are things that I can do still.'
She just decided to support by firing arrows from her position towards any of the rats she can find as the poison would greatly decrease their health. She only had a few more poison covered arrows left before she had to just use normal iron tipped arrows.
This time a group of eight rats that were level 40 decided to come out and try to stop Akaro and Anko. As they surrounded the two players, their mice army placed themselves as a barrier to keep the spiders and companions out.
“Anko how many can you take?”
“Honestly only one. The last rat that I tried to strike hit me quite hard. Any more I might not have enough health.”
“That leaves me with seven then.”
Back to back the two eyed their opponents. Akaro had already used a good chunk of his mana using the Tsukiyomi kata continuously. He had to use shukuchi this time round in order for him to strike against this many opponents. Anko had to kill the two that she was targeting as fast as possible for them to get into a better situation.
Serenity also saw the situation and decided that she needed to assist. She started firing the last of her poison arrows on the rat Anko was fighting before showering the rat army with normal arrows. Although most would hit the mice she manage to hit some of the rats.
Once the rats reacted to being hit by the arrow the duo bolted. Akaro had no time to waste and used Ameterasu for the first rat quickly killing it before throwing two kunai at the two that was beside Anko.
Anko could only put her trust in the red head as she aimed for one of the rats that had the poison arrow and multiple arrows stuck on it. It had the lowest health and she needed to kill it quickly. Using her naginata she thrust with all her might. The rat was impaled by the blade and disappeared in grey flash. She leveled up twice which brought up some of her missing health but two other rats were now about to descend on her. They both fell on the ground when two kunai was embedded in them. She took this chance to strike one with three thrusts. She obtained another skill with her quick succession of strikes.
“Sukisasu no Sankai.”
This literally meant penetrate three times. The rat also flashed grey from the strikes of her naginata. Again her stamina was used up and she felt quite a bit weaker. She could no longer move but she felt at ease as what she was observing showed that their leader was still in control of the situation.
Akaro had appeared on the other kunai and kicked it into the rat making sure it disappeared in grey flash. He drank two mana potions to recover the lost of mana and watched the remaining six. He had to cover for Anko who had to eat one of the packed meals to replenish health and stamina. He had made sure she had a bit of the healing mixture that Tsukino made but she had used it up already during her first encounter with a rat.
Seeing as they could die at any time the rats were also waiting for the perfect time to attack the weaker of the two. In the midst of their talk two raptors finally manage to bypass the walls of mice and took two of the rats leaving four. Due to the confusion of losing two of their ambushing partners Akaro had manage to throw out needles at the four. When they moved to dodge, Akaro used shukuchi on a kunai that was thrown to the rat who was the furthest left. He then placed his left arm extended all the way out with the blade edge facing inwards. His right arm bent at the elbow but the blade pointed in the same direction. He then moved in a crescent using his whole body to slash all four rats at the same time.
Ding
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You made a new combat skill. Please give it a name.
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“Tsukiyomi no Gengetsu!”
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Tsukiyomi no Gengetsu
Rank [A] Dual Sword Technique
A movement that represents when the moon wanes to a crescent moon where it strikes anything within the range of the attack.
Attack power with two weapons (+100% ATK)
Attack speed with two weapons (+100% SPD)
Consumes 400 mana
20% chance to cause bleed
20% chance to double damage
20% chance to ignore defence
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The rats disappeared in a flash and with the loss of their commanders the mice quickly fell to the onslaught of spiders who took advantage of the panicked mice.
All the remaining mice was pushed back to the basement door by the spiders and Akaro and Anko had just sat down. With the amount of damage that they did it was clear they easily took out over half of the opposing army while the companions and spider army finished off the much weaker mice that were too slow on escaping.
Getting licked in the face by Rai, Akaro looked at the situation of his pets and the remaining spider forces. As this was still a war he did lose some of the spiders who got into close combat with the mice.
“Did we complete it? Nevermind I spoke too soon.”
Anko started to say before she saw a wave of mice and a rat that had blue rope all around him. After closer inspection it was Seiryuu who tightly constricted a rat.
Akaro then told everyone around them to stand down.
“Hut 1 Hut 2 Hut 1!”
The battalion of mice was being led by Kuroneko and Kogane. Seiryuu was their rope to hold the rat.
“Let me go foolish slaves of humans!”
“Sssure let me jussst give you sssome ssslack.”
“Aaugh! You squeezed tighter!”
“Just be lucky that massster sssaid to capture one of you alive.”
After they stopped Akaro used his translate skill on the rat.
Ding
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Learned Rodent language: Enables the user to communicate with animals listed under this classification
Level up Translation (Beginner Lv. 8 5%)
INT up by 1
WIS up by 1
Mana up by 100
Speech up by 50
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As this is the seventh beginner level language learned you have unlocked a new myth weaver skill
Learned skill Language Breaker (Beginner Lv. 1): Enables you to become the beacon that breaks the barrier between languages.
Requirement of Translation Beginner Lv 5
Can only provide translation for languages the user has learned
Consumes 1000 mana
Duration 1 hour
This spell can be assigned to a symbol.
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'This will be quite useful in this current situation. Serenity and Anko will be able to speak to the spiders in future battles as long as I'm around. Now to focus on our prisoner.'
“Language Breaker.”
The skill activated and the two other humans in the library could now hear what the others were saying.
“Goddess Kogane. Where shall we put the nonbeliever?”
“Just put him in front of Akaro-sama.”
“Gently you ssstupid mice!”
“You better treat Seiryuu-oppa well!”
The mice were obviously being controlled and the twins couldn't help but comment.
“Nee-san did it again Hikaru-nii...”
“She did that with a whole bunch of foxes last time and sacrificed them so we can escape...”
“Looks like Seiryuu-senpai had tricked the women...”
“I'm just going to ignore it Kagerou...”
The twin foxes couldn't help but shudder at some of the actions their sister would do in order to either protect them or simply out of boredom.
“Sir Akaro what is this language breaker skill?”
“Who is Akaro? Who are you?”
“Sir Yasu. Please my friend, silence yourself so I can hear his explanation.”
The falcon didn't need to hear an explanation from Akaro as he would soon find out what occurred.
Anko who now understood what they were saying was quite surprised.
“I can understand what they are saying... is that what you always hear Akaro?”
“Wow. They sound so cute! My little body guards.”
Serenity was getting excited as she now could hear the twins different personal ways of speech.
“Master! They can understand me!”
“Haha. Sensei's power of justice is so strong he can break even language barriers!”
“Hyung. You are too cool...”
The dynasty brothers also joined in in the conversations.
Akaro watched as Serenity and the spiders were beginning to talk to each other.
“I'm sorry if I shot any of you.”
Serenity bowed as she did shoot some of the spiders by mistake as she was technically still a tailor even though the class did give her a stronger penetration skill when using weapons that pierce. She chose the bow as it allowed her to stay comfortable at a distance as she did not have a sturdy body to take damage.
“It is okay miss.”
“Think nothing of it.”
“You have a really strong commander.”
“I'd follow him even if we were not fighting.”
The spider army forgave her quite quickly.
“Massster. Can I kill him yet?”
“Kill?! Please spare me! I promise I'll persuade the Rat King to leave you alone.”
Akaro then looked at the rat who was pleading for his life. He then remembered which rat this was. It was the same one that smirked at him earlier. The rat was now level 42 but thanks to having a large force capturing one rat it did not take that long to subdue it.
“I remember you. We can do this two ways. The painful way or you cooperate and I'll release you from the pain. Seiryuu tighten the grip so he knows I am not lying.”
The rat squirmed as some of the bones began to crack as Seiryuu was literally squeezing the life out of him.
“Oka...y. I get it. I'll talk.”
“How many rats does the rat king have in his army?”
The rat was cowardly to begin with so it felt as if was ready to spill the beans. But like how the saying goes you can never trust a rat.
“There is only ten of us left.”
Akaro knew he was already lying. Taking down quite a bit of the rats in their previous skirmish he knew there had to be quite a few more. Looking at Seiryuu he watch as the snake nodded his head.
“Aarrg!”
“You dare lie in front of sssnake! We are the sssymbols of deceit!”
“I get it.... there are in total of one hundred rats in our forces....!”
Akaro still didn't want to trust that information completely but there was truth in it. There had to be around that much but there seems to be something off. If he took into consideration the forces he acquired with the help of the mastermind trio, the Rat Kings forces would still replenish to one thousand.
He didn't know how many of the rats were killed prior to their intervention but they easily have taken out about twenty or more of them between him and his companions. Something didn't add up if there was only a hundred of them. When he first started this even it would always replenish to two thousand but now it is maxing out at about half of that. He only killed the mice at the start so the mice was the only one that returned in numbers. Taking into account that his forces converted five hundred of the mice. Then it didn't make sense why another five hundred would disappear in the standard. Then it hit him and he knew what to ask next.
“Rat how many mice were you commanding?”
“I don't understand what you.... MEAN?!”
Seiryuu started squeezing as he did not like the answer he gave.
“You are trying our patience rat! Ssstop acting the fool.”
“Alright.... I command fifty rats and they each command fifty mice.”
The pieces came together and Anko was the first one to understand the line of questioning.
“Akaro that means for every rat we dispose of fifty mice who would have no commander. We took out quite a bit of mice but the mice always returned in full. We need to kill all the rats in order for us to win.”
Akaro and Serenity both nodded at the explanation as it made perfect sense. But Akaro then had a wicked smile on his face.
“No not just aiming for rats. We are going straight to their king.”
Serenity then looked at Akaro and also smiled. As if they took down their leader than there won't be anyone to command the full force of the army.
“That's perfect Akaro-ssi. We can finish this quest faster if we attack the king directly!”
“Ha! You really think you can fight the king. He's guarded by our strongest. No way you and your fur ball can stand a ch..CE!”
“Shut up rat. Massster wasss not talking to you.”
“I told you what I know! Let me go already! You promised!”
Akaro looked at the rat then at Seiryuu.
“Why is the snake squeezing me?!”
“I promised I would end your pain. I didn't say I would let you go.”
With that last comment the rat disappeared in a gray flash. The mice who witnessed the execution shuddered and marked Akaro as a source of fear and to make sure to stay on his good side.
Ding
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Obtained Special Title
Rodent Reaper
Special Trait:
Rodents will be 10% weaker and will have 30% chance of fear status when entering combat.
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'Well that's a good title to have. I don't feel like making any rodents as pets anyways.'
***
"He has potential in our previous career sir."
"Ssh. Not in front of my daughter. She still does not know."
Myung-Dae and Dong-Sun we're whispering while Juhee was watching in horror as she hugged one of the couch pillows.
'Aigoo... I can barely watch this without worrying about him. I cannot believe he's fighting against such filthy creatures. What's worse now he's befriending the spiders... Hopefully he doesn't get a pet spider. Eun Mi please help me.'
The foster mother could only shake her head as she continued to watch the video.
***
“I thought you were going to let him go Akaro-ssi!”
“This was the right choice Serenity. We cannot let our enemy be warned of our plans.”
“Ahem.”
The lieutenant of the spider army who was also watching finally made a noise to get noticed.
“May I ask your name warrior?”
“My name is Akaro.”
“Nay. Not just Akaro. For helping our army. We will give you the honorary title of Spider General. My unit and I will be glad to follow you in battle.”
Akaro bowed and the lieutenant did the same.
Ding
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Obtained a special title
Spider General
Special trait:
Arachnids will know of your achievements and will follow your commands once sufficient loyalty has been made.
The quest completed and the party increased by two levels.
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“Yay we got stronger master!”
“Justice will always get stronger.”
“Hyung I've gotten stronger!”
“Sir Akaro. We continue to grow under your guidance.”
The dynasty brothers and their leader were the ones who voiced out that they grew in level. This informed Akaro that the NPC's also know when they grow in level. As it it was the norm of the world it wasn't that surprising for players to understand that they would level up but for NPC Akaro was surprised they would get the same notification.
Now that the animals around could be understood thanks to Akaro's new skill and the women of the party was now able to hear the complaints of the females of the animal party.
“You two do not deserve to be beside our master.”
“Akaro-sama doesn't need you fawning over him when he has us.”
Anko a little irked being told off by animals glared at Kuroneko.
“I'm a better partner then a small feline!”
“I don't fawn over him!”
Kuroneko and Kogane continued.
"Coming from someone who barely had any way of fighting until our master gave you armor and a weapon."
"Who are you kidding? You're only here because you're worried that the other hussie over there would get closer to him. I've already kissed him!"
Serenity commented first.
"So you licked him and you think he belongs to you. It's not like it would work out with you and him anyway. You're a fox!"
"It may be true that I am indebted to him but I knew him way before any of you came into the picture. If anything I should be his second in command of this group."
Each conversation was accompanied by glares between the females. If this was an anime, sparks of lightning would have come out of their eyes and fight over dominance.
“Hikaru-nii... why are girls scary?”
“Kagerou... I don't know...”
“I'm not scary. I'm a rabbit and I'm the weakest of the whole group.”
“If they only knew. You're the ssscariessst of them all.”
“Hey!”
The support team and Seiryuu were also having their own conversation while the women were having their fight.
Just then they could hear marching coming from the upstairs. Akaro and company stared and almost all of them had their mouths open.
“Lieutenant Toxinfangs and Spider General Akaro. You have been summoned by the queen.”
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