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World: MSS - Loading...
"Speech"
"Thoughts"
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3 weeks.
It could be a long time if you thought it was long, but it was also a short amount of time if you thought it was short. For me personally, 3 weeks was too short to learn everything that Arrosh had to teach me.
Arrosh Bloodedge, one of the three disciples of Nearnigh, commonly known as the [Sword Saint].
In the game there had been no option to get anywhere close to Arrosh, the other two disciples or Nearnigh on friendly terms. They were optional boss fights and that had been it. In this life however, I miraculously encountered Arrosh and managed to become his disciple. I wished more than once I could see a system screen and check to see if I unlocked a new quest or achievement, but that was impossible. So I did my best in those 3 weeks, listening to everything that Arrosh wanted of me.
But I realized one thing.
“He only taught me to stand still.”
I want to say I attacked the assassin in a flurry of blades, using my shield to deflect every thrust with his dagger. Instead what happened was that I ran towards him and raised my shield, barely managing to block his dagger that came close to stabbing me in the eye. As soon as I tried to thrust into him with my sword, I knew instinctively that it was clumsy and was bound to miss. The assassin dodged me easily and pivoted, kicking Lety in the stomach and sending her flying. Simultaneously he twisted his body and aimed at my stomach, forcing me to stumble backwards.
Then all his attention was on me.
I realized that his limbs were freakishly long, in a two-on-one battle like this where he was outnumbered, all he had to do was keep us at a distance. He drew himself to his full height looking like a nightmarish bird of prey and swiped down with his inwardly curved dagger. I had thought he was going for a downward strike and raised my shield, but felt nothing.
“JUMP!” L’teya yelled and I felt my body obey before my brain could argue.
The man’s dagger swept the place where my feet had been moments before, most likely aiming for my ankles. He quickly stopped mid swipe and did an upward slash, which I managed to block with my shield. But the power behind the slash was too much and I was still in the air; I flipped over backwards and landed on my back on the ground. I saw his shadow descend on me, coming at me for the finishing blow.
But he had to turn around and face Lety, she had been about to cut his arms off at the shoulders using her axes.
｢ Abay Munet has cast [ Wind Barrier ] ｣
The cloaked man pushed out with his arm, shoving her hard in the middle of her chest. I was getting to my feet when the wind began to pick up around the three of us.
“Shit, is he using a Core Ability?”
Just as I had finished the thought the wind solidified, encircling him in a half dome tornado. Both Lety and I were buffeted by the fierce winds and pushed back, being forced to give ground. Additionally we were knocked on our backs, spending much-needed seconds to get back up on our feet.
“Don’t let him in the water!” I cried out, automatically taking my stance as the wind came down.
“We can’t let him get reinforcements.”
The man’s face turned to me, twisted in fury. “You think I'll run from you? A couple of slaves?!”
He closed the distance between us, his long limbs allowing him to strike at me with his dagger while his vitals stayed just out of my reach. I blocked the first thrust, but I was too slow for the second and he pierced my armor, stabbing into my shoulder. I felt blood beginning to drip down my arm from the wound but instinctively knew that it had been a calculated move, trying to weaken my shield arm.
Lety was attacking from the other side but the man had too much of a reach advantage and experience. He kept slamming his foot or palm into her stomach or chest, sending her flying and focusing the entirety of his attacks on me. All I could do was hold onto the shield and try to block each one. But it was impossible to block all of them, some of them slipped through and left me with dozens of tiny cuts and shallow stab wounds.
“At this rate it’ll be death by a thousand cuts.”
We would lose at this rate. Everytime he went close, he could activate his [Wind Barrier] to keep us away and regain his position.
I made up my mind.
He kicked Lety away again and lunged towards me, another stab aimed at my shoulder.
I stepped forward and let him stab me.
Whether it was coincidence or not, the knife stabbed into the same shoulder where the Dokkaebi had left its mark. I wondered if getting hurt in the same place like this would leave permanent damages and absently wondered if a cleric would be able to heal it. But I had promised myself not to be afraid of pain and to never let my fear be an obstacle to survival.
There was a popular saying on the forums. Let them slash into my skin and muscles, and I’ll take the bone. It came about because in MSS, there were no ways to avoid damage sometimes. Moves that caused instant death, moves that had the avoidable mechanics, there were simply too many factors to expect a perfect run. This saying became a meme among us MSS players back then, because it perfectly described how we felt when we won. There was no winning in MSS without risking something.
I was going to survive, even if I had to suffer some wounds.
He tried to pull the dagger out but I didn’t let him, I released my sword and shield to grab onto his forearm.
“Lety! Now!”
｢ Abay Munet has cast [ Wind Barrier ] ｣
I felt the winds stir around us but Lety managed to make it in time before he activated his ability again. The elf barbarian leaped onto his back from behind and tried to behead him in one stroke. He evaded at the last second twisting with his non-dagger arm and backhanding her across the face but received a nasty gash on his rib and shoulder. The [Wind Barrier] activated and I let myself be flung away, rolling on the ground to hastily pick up my weapons again.
When I mean roll I don’t mean that I rolled like in video games. I rolled shoulder over shoulder, on my stomach like an insect.
“AGH! What did you do?!”
The man’s wounds were green and bubbling, leaking blood.
L’teya absorbed the [Death Worm Core] which had an active ability that applied poison to her weapons. It worked the same as it did for the monster, it would insta-kill people under level-10. If he was level-10, he would be keeling over soon. But I knew that couldn’t be the case, both L’teya and I were under 10 and were having a problem facing him. Judging by how tough of a time we were having, he was definitely higher than 10.
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“I changed my mind. I’m going to kill you first, elf.” He hugged himself with his long arms and I saw the skin on either side of his back beginning to bulge, sprouting two additional arms.
I recognized the ability. It came from the core of a [Lesser Tsuchigomo ( 土蜘蛛) ], a grade 9 monster commonly found in dungeons. If he had a [Tsuchigomo ( 土蜘蛛) ] core, he would have sprouted two more arms on top of that.
“The other was a grade-10 Core, and now a grade-9 Core. ”
He rushed towards L’teya, tossing the dagger between the four arms until the last second when he intended to attack her. L’teya tried her best to evade but received a nasty stab wound on her thigh. Unlike me, who had the leather armor and received only shallow stab wounds, her wound sank to the handle. But we both underestimated just how tough an elf barbarian could be, because L’teya traded the stab wound for another pair of long gashes on the man’s ribs.
The wounds bubbled and hissed, turning a sickly green. But our opponent paid it no mind this time, continuing to push L’teya back. Even when I attacked from behind, he used one of his four arms or his long legs to keep me at bay.
Click
Grr-grr-grr
“Lety! Lock! Now!”
I heard rocks sliding; Clover must have managed to open the door. Right after, Clover started firing her arrows.
｢ Abay Munet has cast [ Wind Barrier ] ｣
“3 seconds of casting time.” I had been counting the charge-up time to his moves and met Lety’s eyes.
“Now!”
Right as the Wind Barrier came into existence, Lety and I stepped back out of its effects.
“You fucking rats!” I heard the man’s compliments as soon as the Wind Barrier came down.
As soon as the barrier came down, Lety rushed in with her axes swinging wildly. But I had to give the man credit, he didn’t flinch. Most likely he saw us get out of range just before the wind came up and had been expecting this. What he didn’t expect however was Clover starting to cover us with her arrows. I saw him gather his arms to himself, kicking Lety in the stomach to gain distance for another instance of [Wind Barrier]. Then his beady eyes darted back towards the water.
He was planning to run away, despite his earlier words.
“No you don’t.”
I had already seen him cast it twice and figured out the timing. For me, it wasn’t about figuring out the enemy but always about working up the guts to do what’s necessary. I had three seconds left to make my move.
3
Right as Lety got kicked away, I stepped in silently. He didn’t even notice me, probably because I wasn’t even a threat to him.
2
I [Cut] him, a skill that I had finally unlocked after carving dozens of wooden figurines in my spare time with a kitchen knife.
1
The thing about the [Spider Arms] was that it was originated from a grade-9 monster, so it could only be a grade-9 skill. No matter how many arms he made it wouldn’t measure up to the original nor be a perfect copy.
I aimed right at his fingers with the [Dimension Ring] that I noticed earlier.
“GUAHHHH!”
I bent down, picked up some fingers and rolled away just as the wind barrier came up. Without pausing to look to see if I got the correct finger, I ran through the door that Clover was holding open.
“Clover, the door!” Lety was the last one to come through, and she turned to face the doorway in case he got through in time.
“On it!” Clover pushed a spot on the wall, and hidden pressure plate pushed in.
Grr-grr-grr
The door began to close and I looked through the gap, meeting the man’s eyes. His face was warped into a snarl, glaring at us. He was holding his hand close to his chest and I saw the bloody stumps that I had left him. But he didn’t give into his anger and charge at us like I had expected him to.
“I’ll be waiting right here… little mice.” I saw him mouth the words right as the door closed.
<>
Thump
Thump
Thump
Clover looked at us, biting her lip. “That was close.”
I leaned against the wall, my heart pounding.
“Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!”
I knew what abilities he had used. I even knew the weaknesses that the combination of his Cores and fighting style created. Because of the long channeling time of the wind barrier, if we had just been fast enough to get inside his range while he casted it, one of us could have finished him off. Or even when he used his [Tsuchigumo] ability, it should have split his focus into controlling four arms instead of two. My eyes hadn’t been able to notice it but my gut told me that he used the fancy dagger juggling to hide his slower speed.
But all that knowledge meant nothing because my body was too weak.
“I need to get strong… much stronger.”
I started thinking about the dozens of ways that situation could have gone wrong. We were lucky to have gotten off with just wounds. If he hadn’t underestimated us, or if his party came down or if the Mage had been able to summon [Water Elementals], then-
“Lock Slaveborn, your wounds.” Lety broke me out of my thoughts.
She took out a couple of bandages from her pack and began to wrap my shoulder.
“We’re lucky to have gotten away.” I said, searching Lety’s expression.
L’teya must have been frustrated as I was because she didn’t reply back in her usual jovial manner. Her lips were pressed into a thin line, most likely from frustration.
“Right. Barbarians hate running away from battle.” I looked down at my weapons that I threw on the ground.
Checking for damages, I found that my shield had been chipped from the earlier battle. It looked small enough that I ignored it. Checking my sword, I found the same.
“L’teya, your weapons.” I wanted to make sure the [Death Worm Venom] hadn’t corroded her weapons.
“They’re fine.’ She said after a moment, then frowning added. “I can feel him from the other side. He just leapt back into the water… now I can’t sense him anymore.”
“It must be the Death Worm Spirit Core. Perhaps it gave you some abilities.” Clover said in awe.
The ability was a passive called[Tremor Sense]. Just like the Death worm had been able to, now Lety would be able to detect movement through vibrations in the ground. Combined with her active ability she’d make a great Elf Assassin.
“But she’s a Barbarian, you know from the game that they’d never agree to that.” I sighed, thinking about what a waste it would be.
But more than that, I had been impressed that Lety had been able to activate the Core’s active ability so fast. It hadn’t even been an hour since she had absorbed it. Could it be that being able to use a Core was common knowledge in this world? It raised a question for me who was so used to having the Core Abilities just appear on the skill bar and click on it. How would I use a skill if I absorbed a Core?
“No. It probably has to do with the fact that Lety is a barbarian and she was being trained to become an adventurer.” I tried moving my shoulder.
“Lock, perhaps Puca’s dimension ring has something?” Clover asked.
“The dimension ring.” She was right, I had been disappointed at Puca’s lack of potions but hadn’t bothered to check the ring.
Nodding solemnly, I took the ring out from my pocket and handed it to Clover.
And at the same time, I quietly pocketed the finger that I cut off into my pocket.
“You’re not going to check it yourself?”
“If you don’t mind, please.” I was too busy trying to see if any of the fingers in my pocket had a ring on them.
I leaned back, relaxing for a moment and feeling the cold rock cool me down. The battle had been quick but it had also been challenging. I was out of breath and soaked in sweat when we ran through the door. Not hearing an answer, I peeked from one eye to see Clover studying me.
“I’ve never used a dimension ring before.” I tried to give an excuse.
“Oh.” Clover cocked her head to the side. “It’s easy. I’ll teach you.”
She placed the ring on my hand and taught me how to activate the ring.
“All you have to do is push some mana into it and it should open up. If it doesn’t it might mean that it’s been personally linked to Puca.”
“I doubt the orcs are rich enough to afford that high quality of a ring.” But I didn’t bother correcting her.
I closed my eyes and imagined my mana that was circulating through me.
Arrosh had briefly touched upon it during our training, having me sit on the floor and simply try to feel the mana coursing through me. It had taken me a few tries but now I could feel it pretty consistently, as long as I had the time. But pushing mana into an outside object was something new for me. Closing my eyes, I imagined that my mana was stored in my heart and spread throughout my body like a magical circulatory system. I pictured my heart pushing out a pulse of blue mana that traveled down my arm and into the ring.
“You did it!”
I saw that above the ring was a bend in the air, almost like an invisible black hole.
“What do I do now?”
“Since we don’t know what’s inside, you should just try to imagine pulling out everything at once.”
I did as she asked and everything inside the ring came spilling out into the hallway. Monster parts that Puca had picked up, a few coins and most importantly of all, potions.
“Yes!” Lety came over and picked up a potion.
“4. Not bad.” I took one in my hand, turning it this way and that since it was my first time seeing it in real life.
Then Lety uncorked it and began unwrapping my bandage from the shoulder. I tried to jerk away away from her.
“It would be much faster to apply the potion on the wound.” Lety said with a frown and Clover nodded from the side.
“Oh. Yes. Go ahead.” I had forgotten about that.
Potions in MSS could be applied in one of two ways: orally or directly poured over the wound. Orally was usually slower but kept morale high. I found that pouring the potion over a wound healed them more effectively but lowered morale for some odd reason.
Now I knew why: it was painful.
As soon as the potion hit the stab wound, I felt my mouth open automatically, to try and scream out in agony. Smell of burning flesh entered my nostrils and I saw black as my eyes rolled back from the pain. I couldn’t even manage the scream because my lungs couldn’t suck in enough air to do so.
“Easy there, Slaveborn.” Lety held my arms down, keeping me from flailing around.
Just as fast as it began, the pain passed. My armor was soaked on the inside from the sweat.
“With this we saved half a bottle.” She shook it in front of me. “Are you ready to move?”
As much as I wanted to just stay and fall asleep, L’teya was right. There was no point in wasting time. We were in a dungeon being chased by a party of higher-leveled adventurers. The only way to find a way out of this situation was to move forward. As soon as my feet felt steady, I stood up.
When we left this dungeon, we would have to be stronger than the adventurers waiting for us, else we'd all die.