We stood bravely in front of the upcoming swarm of ghosts with confident grins in our faces. Gothra dumped a load of corpses all over the ground in preparation for the clash about to happen. She scattered them all around creating a very fitting battlefield.

"Scrrreeeaaaahhhh!!!"

That was the wail of a ghost about to sink its claws into Gothra, only to stop at the last second as it stepped-- or well, floated back. All the other ghosts also froze and wavered in their tracks.

This was of course because they were afraid. Afraid of Giohra who shows no mercy even to corpses, showing just how willing she is to desecrate the dead with her actions.

She then quickly followed it up by striking with her mace, but it only went through the ghost!

"Pfft!"

"Shut up! Look! It's HP went down!" Gothra pointed at the Ghost's HP bar, that really looked full...

Oh, wait, no, it had like a tiny little pinch subtracted from it. Like maybe 2%, or 3% if I'm being generous...?

"Gwahahahahahahahaha! A dud! So weak! Limp dick! Baahahahahahaa!"

"It's the skill! It's because of [Haunted]! That's what it is!"

"Gahahahaha! Rage! Rage some more! Wahahahahhaha!"

"Gaaahh!! How about you do it then!? Let's see your micro dick attacks!"

"With pleasure!"

"...Not right here, please. Focus!"

"Not like that!" I shouted, running towards the same ghost and hitting it with my hammer, depleting about 10% of its HP.

"Heh." Muttered Gothra with a smug look.

"It was better than yours!"

"Sure. But after all that boasting... only for this... Heh."

"Gah! How can you be so cocky when yours was so much worse!?"

"It's not about the size. It's about how you use it."

"We're talking about the damage! Your weak ass pathetic damage!"

"I know. That is indeed what we are talking about. Otherwise, mine would surely be bigger."

"Eh? What--"

But before I could ask, Gothra pulled on me hard as a ghost claw just passed on by where I was.

"Focus," she sighed, jumping forwards, and swinging her mace wide, hitting a ghost with it.

But the mace did not stop there.

It continued on its path as 3 more ghosts were hit by it, all of them letting out a slight groan. I checked and noticed how all of their HP had gone down by a small but very similar amount.

"And that is how you use it."

"..."

I was left speechless. Damn. That was, honestly, really fucking cool! What the fuck. She's Gothra, she's got no business being so cool!

"W-well, that was... impressive, I suppose..."

"Hahaha, pile it on, don't be shy!"

"Geh..." I didn't say another word as I then rushed forwards, exchanging places with Gothra as if we rehearsed this prior.

Fwooosh!

My hammer went through the ghosts like nothing was even there, but I could clearly see that their HP decreased by a decent amount! It's still low, but thinking about it, I think now we're dealing the least possible damage.

In this game defense and/or resistance can only prevent up to 90% of upcoming damage. Under normal circumstances at least. I heard shield can allow you to block all damage.

You are guaranteed to deal at least 10% damage at minimum, and I bet that is what's going on here. Though again, exceptions apply, since the ghosts were actually completely immune to physical damage earlier.

The 4 ghosts that I hit came after me, without any pause as they didn't even budge. It's really annoying that collision or knockback doesn't work on them, shockwaves don't even trigger, but in exchange I can deal full damage to many of them with the same attack!

I dodged the upcoming ghosts, retreating to the perfect spot as I read the trajectories of their attacks with my Unique Skill. But then, 2 more ghosts emerged, passing right through the ones that just attacked like they weren't even there!

Crap, I won't be able to dodge...!

Clash! Slash!

"Guuaaggghhhh!!!"

I lost... about 10% of my HP!

"Gothra... I...it's over for me... Live on without me!!!"

"Fira! Nooooooooo!!!"

I jumped back and swung my hammer simultaneously, as Gothra stepped foward once more and attacked the 2 ghosts up front. She immediately stepped back right after, then swung her mace again at the upcoming ghosts, now three were in her range as they overlapped with each other!

Smash!

And by smashing a corpse, even actually ghosts pissed themselves in fear.

Yea, it's exactly what you're thinking. Gothra does indeed smash actively rotting corpses. What else could one expect from her? Gotha The Necrophilia!

"Fira, stop admiring me in the middle of battle! Though I am flattered! Actually, I'll buy you a few more seconds. Use that time to wisely admire me more!"

"Shut up! That's not what I was doing! You necrophilia bastard!"

I chose this moment to go to the sides of the group of ghosts, and got 5 of them with a single swing! Though one only took half damage as it was hit with the handle part of my big hammer.

The fear has already worn off and the five were coming after me now, but 2 of them immediately strayed as they were hit again by Ghotra's hammer right at this time.

With 3 ghosts at her tail, Gothra focused on keeping her distance her distance, drawing them away, but not too far so all those ghosts would still be bundled up.

I also decided to do the same, running around til I found the perfect opportunity, hitting a whopping 6 ghosts at once!

Just at this moment, with perfect timing, Gothra feared them again, and I hit the same number of ghosts once more!

Once they started moving again, we kited them around just as we were doing prior, managing to get them all to pile on top of each other.

This is it!

I swung my hammer again as I hit all 7 of them with the same strike!

Fwoosh!!

Fear and once more!

FWWOOOOSSHH!!

The weakest ghosts were already below half HP now, and Gothra decided at this moment to bring out Bereo once more!

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

He warped right next to her, swinging his gun like a club and hitting 3 ghosts! It actually did about 2% of damage, just a little bit less than Gothra's. And it didn't even aggro them all as only 1 of them went after him.

Is it because the damage was too low...?

"Haunted!" Gothra shouted, and I immediately realized. Yes, we naturally aggro ghosts so some ghosts actually remained aggroed to us even though Bereo attacked them. Though the amount of damage being so low probably doesn't help either.

Nonetheless, Bereo ran around, hitting the ghosts when he can and getting their aggro on him if possible. I and Gothra then moved on to surrounding the ghosts on two sides, pulling them to one side, and then swiftly to the opposite. Attack, retreat, fear, attack, REPEAT!

FWOOOOOSSHHH!!

After repeating this loop a few more times, one ghost finally breathed its last, as another quickly followed, being bonked in the head by Gothra.

"Screeaa..."

"Scraaahh...!"

With 5 ghosts left, we didn't let up on our kill circle, confusing them, and not letting them get a good attack in. Though we still got swiped from time to time, specially the much slower Bereo, it's nothing that we couldn't just naturally regenerate.

After 1 or 2 more rotations, all the ghosts were wiped out as I and Gothra let out sighs of relief.

"Whew, that was fun," said Gothra.

"Yeah, it was. Damn. We really make a fucking good team."

"Yeah. We do, we do. Counting on you from now on, partner."

"Haha. Yeah... but for now let's finally go back home."

"Uh-huh. Agreed. I wanna lay in bed and do some things."

"Hahaha. I like doing things."

"I too like doing things. We have so much in common."

"Hahaha! Yes. People don't normally like to do things."

"Yeah. But things often like to do people."

"They do. Things do like to do people."

"Hahahaha."

"Hahahahahaa!"

"Muahahahahahahaha!!"

We ended uo laughing like evil demon lords for some reason.

"I'm actually the evil but not really type of Demon Lord." Said Gothra.

"I'm the--"

"You're the one that looks like a kid! Gahahahaha!"

"Geh, I don't like that. Chichakunai!"

"Chichai! Chichai!"

"Look at us, fucking weebs." I laughed.

"Hahahaha! Speak for yourself. I was actually just playing along."

"Oh come on. Don't be like that."

"Hahaha! Okay, okay. I'm weeb too. There, happy?"

"Yes."

After chatting more for a while, we decided to finally, finally call it a day.

But before that, "Hey, Gothra, you mind exchanging contact info. Like actual ones? The real life ones. So we can contact each other offline?"

"Is this the pick up artists I've heard rumors about? Hahahahahaha! You're supposed to do something really creepy first!"

"No! That's not what I'm trying to do! Stop making it weird!"

"Gaahahahaha! Come on, come on, Don't be shy. Do something creepy! Stalk, harass, and coerce! Like the pick-up artist you are!"

"No, no! I will not! How highly do you think of yourself anyway!?"

"Hmm, an interesting question... One that is very hard to answer because the concept of height doesn't really exist in the outside universe, where up or down are but imaginary concepts. What is high, and what is deep? How do you even measure it? For where do you start, where is the origin?"

"If you're a narcissist, just say you're a fucking narc!"

"No, no. You see, the concept of altitude does not exist, therefore I have no ego at all, actually. I'm like a saint? But like much better."

"One of those saints that's actually a psychopath, maybe."

"Interesting premise, I'd read that book."

"Me too, actually. Hahahahaha! Though it is probably quite cliche by now. But I've rarely seen them be the main character."

"Yeah, just obvious comically evil villains, hahahaha." Gothra coughed, changing topics, finally, "But jokes aside, sure, of course."

Gothra pressed a few buttons and then suddenly, I saw a confirmation box appear in front of me.

< Martyra Anchovy would like to be your contact. >

< Yes/No >

I pressed on 'No'.

Kidding!

Hahahaha! Can you imagine?

I clicked 'Yes'.

Gothra read a few lines of the notification she received and started chuckling.

Oh crap, I forgot.

"Gwahahahahahahahhaa! Bob Walkerman! Hahahahahahahhahaha!"

"S-shut up! Yours is not any better! Anchovy, what are you food!?"

"Well, I am definitely a snack."

"Gah! Does nothing work on you!?"

"Muahahahahahaha! Bob Walkerman! You are destined to be generic and to walk!"

"Oh nooooo! It's the eleventh circle of hell!!"

"Hahahahahahaha!"

"Gahahahahaha!"

After laughing like idiots, we finally logged out-- except we couldn't because we've actually apparently entered into battle again.

Ghosts were coming at us from all sides!

Wait, why only ghosts... [Haunted]!

"It's your fault!" I quickly pointed my finger at Gothra!

"What!? No it's not! I wanted to leave but you were all like 'No, no! Please don't leave me alone! I might poopy my diapy!'"

"What the fuck!? I never said that! Is that what you're into!?"

"Oh hell no!"

"Denial! Denial! Gahahahahaha!"

"Grrr!! It's not! I swear! I only like cool shit like furries and demons!"

"Sure, sure. Hey everyone! Gothra wants you all to dress up like a baby!"

"I do not! Hahahahaha! Fuck!"

Facing the Ghosts surrounding us, Gothra once again took out her corpses and threw them all around. I also decided to chip in and throw away some of mine.

As the ghosts closed in, we immediately decided to run towards one side and just pass through the ghosts there, taking the damage, instead of getting surrounded by all of them! We then ran around in circles getting all the ghosts to come after us and gather together like idiots so we can hit them all at once.

After that, it was just like before. We used to same rotation, circling the ghosts, hitting them, inflicting the fear debuff, rinse repeat over and over again.

It's a very good plan, and we'd managed to reduce them all to around 50% HP until Gothra snapped and said, "Argh! What a fucking pain!"

She then actually commanded Bereo to try and take on as much of the aggro, not caring about him dying!

"Oi, oi! What are you doing!?" We would've won soon too!"

"Shut up and attack!" Without even waiting for my reply, she did just that.

Tsk! I had no choice but to follow, smashing up the ghosts too distracted by Bereo!

He wasn't running at all, but staying in one place unlike when we were taking on that big monster wave before, therefore his HP was going down fast!

"Hey, Gothra, this is-"

"I have a plan! Trust me!"

"Eh!?" I had my doubts, but as stupid as she might seem sometimes, she's never... actually failed... Argh, fine!

Then Bereo died! Just as I thought would happen!

Gothra then saw this but did not panic at all. Instead, she said, "I'll fucking use it! Fira, pull me back and run if I'm about to die!"

"Huh? What are you-"

"[SADISTIC SLAUGHTER]!" She shouted the name of a skill I didn't know she had!

Also, I'm pretty sure you don't need to shout the names of skills to use them in this game...

But that didn't stop Gothra!

She used this skill as I could see in her character status in the party tab that she's been inflicted with taunt.

The ghosts had that ability this whole time!?

No, that's idiotic, we've literally been harassed by them for so long already. No way they had that handy and only decided that now.

'Now is the time, once and for all, for us to use our hidden trump card!'

Nope, no way.

So then that taunt...

She has another status effect, and... it gives her +100% more damage!? What the fuck!?

Well, it's still less than mine in total because of her lackluster strength stat, but still...

She keeps on bashing over the overlapped skellies as their HP quickly melt and diminish. But she's also easily gotten all of their attention and the hologram Bereo cannot draw them away!

Oi, oi, oi, you're about to be swarmed!

I grabbed the back of her robe and pulled her away, only to notice that she wasn't at all stopping her onslaught even in this situation!

"What are you, stupid!?"

She answered in telepathy, "It's taunt you idiot!"

Ah, ok.

But hmmm... This could work.

"Gothra, I have a plan. I'll carry you, but don't make it weird!"

"Heh, no time to joke about it. Alright! Go for it!" She answered instantly! Damn, now I feel kinda bad for doubting her plan before. Mine sounds just as, if not even more stupid.

"Alright!" I put away my hammer to my back, then grabbed her legs and hefted her up. It wasn't so much a princess carry as she was sitting on my arm, while I kept her back straight with the other by her neck.

Like a weapon, I aimed her incessant attacks at the ghost wave giving chase!

"Gahahahahaha! Die, die! Die for a second time!" That was Gothra, of course. Not me.

I read the trajectories of their attacks as I ran backwards, letting the [ SADISTIC GOTHRA 9000 ] club them whenever it's safe, then falling back when there are too many attacks coming for us. Of course, we still got injured along the way, Gothra especially. Her HP was now down to around 50% but that's still pretty high considering this crazy plan.

Oh! I get it! Bereo gives her increased defenses while he's dead!

I ran away some more while carrying Gothra as our HP bars and the enemies' grew smaller, like a dick going flaccid!

The ghosts HP went to 30%, and then to 20%!

Alright, we're winning this!

"Guh!"

Thud!

But then I crashed into a tree from behind!

Crap!

"Let me down! Corpse!" Gothra shouted in my head. I was confused, but I just did as she said!

I dropped her to the ground and took out a corpse from my inventory. Gothra then immediately aimed her attack at it, applying fear on the ghosts!

Her taunt has worn off!

She then ran to the side and nodded at me.

I nodded back, as I took out my hammer and slammed all the ghosts!

"Scrraaaeeehhh!!"

Another one!

"Screeeaaahhhh!!"

WIthout caring for their follow-up attack, I attacked them in succession, taking out 6 of the ghosts in total!

There were three left, critically injured yet still unwaveringly going after me! But it was at this moment that Gothra suddenly appeared behind them and hit them all in one go!

"Scraaaeehh!!" two of them screeched their last!

And as for the one that dared turn its back on me, going after Gothra instead...

SMASH!

I brought down the hammer of judgment upon it!

CRASH!

...

......

< Proficiency Acquired! >

< The [Exorcist] Skill has been acquired! >

< The [Exorcism] Skill has been acquired! >

That notification brought us back to reality. We won. We really did! Woohoo!

"Haah... hahhh..." I panted, "It worked..."

"I know..." Gothra then showed a snickering smirk, albeit without much energy. "That's not what I meant when I asked you to 'carry me' til I get a gun...! Ha...hahaha...!"

"Guugghh...! Are we really doing this right now...!?"

"No... I'm tired too! Haha...ha!"

We weren't really out of breath, nor our bodies tired, but it felt like it. It's like more mental exhaustion than anything. That last fight... we really gave it our all... even though we didn't have to, and there was a much easier way. But eh, it was honestly awesome. So whatever.

"I'm logging out," I said, hurrying. I really don't want a repeat of that previous situation.

"Yeah. Me too." Gothra agreed. Even this nuclear ball of energy has had enough, it seems. Hahahaha!

"Bye."

"Later."

Poof.

(For those who are not cringy weebs like these 2 idiots. ...And also the stupid author who wrote these cringe lines in the first place. Chichai = small/little. Chichakunai = I am not small/little!)