HEAR ME FELLOW COUNTRYMEN, WELCOME TO CHAPTER 3
I HAZ AN ANNOUNCEMENT TO MAKE
THE STORY IS SWITCHING TO PURELY FIRST PERSON HITAKI POV UNLESS SPECIFIED OTHERWISE.
The people will be specified.. style probably won’t change. Unless I decide that 2nd person is a thing…. But that’s in the FUTURE
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Oh shit.
Ohhhhh shit.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhh shit.
A heat wave spreads across my back as a miniature fireball hits me in the leather armor.
Damage in the ones digit starts chewing at my hp bar…
Why am I… running?
Turning around, I can now see their rag-tag band of vigilantes. Wait a second… “Inventory”
Inventory [0 Plat : 0 Gold : 17 Silver : 45 Copper]Greater Boar Tuskx2Lesser Health Potionx12Rusty Swordx1Fire Stickx1Bracerx1Amature blow pipex1Slightly toxic dartx9Average-ly toxic arrowx39Weapon poison12 servings.
Confirming that I do indeed have a large number of health potions left (liquid money), I stop running. A single potion is probably worth more than the total value of three or four of them combined.
This will make an excellent experiment. I forgot to use [Inspect] before to track my damage, but now I can pick these silly fools off.
Using [Inspect] on the closest volunteer, I get
[Inspect]HP320Level5MP230Name???
Eww a tanky one.
Pulling out my bow, I drop my right foot back and take on a sturdy form. Drawing back on the familiar weight, I take aim at him ignoring the projectiles flying around me.
Eyeing my favorite target spot (the throat) I release the arrow from max draw. The difference between sniping at 100 feet and firing at point blank is the difference between day and night.
The arrowhead makes it completely through his neck before coming to a stop. Instantly, it’s a -150 followed by -35s until he dies. On the inspection window, it appears the thing that killed him was a combination between the bleed, poison, and a status effect called [Asphyxiate].
[Asphyxiate]Deals no damage until 10 seconds after application.
Deals 1% MAX HP/second until breathing resumes
What a nasty effect this is… No wonder knights have chain mail covering their neck.
Turning around, I decided to flee, as my own health bar is slowly taking hits. None of the hits dealt more than 15-20 damage since they didn’t penetrate very well, but they really added up if six or seven of them are attacking at once.
Chugging 10 silver down (a health pot), my HP bar jumps upward by 100 points.
I don’t exactly just want to bee-line straight for the city gates, they’ll stalk me like annoying children if I don’t kill them. Deliberately running slower, they start gaining on me.
Jumping off the path, I make towards a small forest. Unfortunately, their vigilante group appears to be tiring out due to their low stats.
“HAHA YOU OBESE TURDS CAN’T EVEN OUTRUN A GIRL!” I screamed at them, flipping them off in the process.
Throwing myself over a tree branch and purposely tripping myself, I cried out “Owowoww time out! Asagi-san tripped!” I grit my teeth in fake anger while I hid a smug laugh at my new name.
Seeing me in my helpless state, they rushed me like I was a free buffet in a slum.
However they failed to account for the 13% light level of the forest. At level 2 [Active Camouflage] I was completely invisible. Their yelling completely masked my sounds as I circled to the back. Grabbing an arrow, I stabbed it into the fire mage ‘Richard’ and finished him off with another arrow to the neck.
They were desperately looking for where the arrows were coming from. Rushing through the group and using my dagger to slash at exposed necks, I easily cut a path through the group and ran for cover.
Running about twenty feet away, wary of my rapidly dying mana pool I broke invisibility and let the onslaught begin. Picking off the small fry was easy since they died in a single hit anywhere with the damage I already inflicted.
Inhale, pull, aim, exhale, shoot. Simple. Sure they shot back, but their 50 copper bows didn’t really pack any power. Most shots just barely got past my leather armor, creating a tiny entry wound. Small fireballs burst against me but were instantly put out but their water balls and dirt balls. Their coordination was absolutely abysmal.
At lower levels, fire spells did most of their damage from [Immolate]. If left untreated, [Immolate] could deal 30-40 damage on its own, from a single fireball. Even health potions heal over five seconds, they still greatly outhealed the pitiful damage dealt.
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Looking over the field painted red with gore, I saw one last person standing. I used [Active Camouflage] for about five seconds, not moving. Thinking I re-positioned, he slowly turned until he had his back to me, Yelling out “I know you’re there, you can’t hide!”
A wide smile crept across my face. Seeing the blood all over the field just… turned me on. This battle was far from the disappointment I expected it to be. I wish I could have this guy stuffed… I would totally put him on a plaque above a fireplace- a trophy! If I could, anyways. I let an arrow fly at maximum speed. However the impossible happened-
whirling around, he chopped the arrow out of the air.
Who the fuck does this guy think he is? Jackie Chan?!
“[Active Camouflage]!”
“[Inspect]!”
[Inspect]HP650Level15MP410NameCaptain Olaf
Captain my ass, he’s about to be a pincushion.
Sprinting about in a quarter circle around him, I drew my bow again, this time drawing four arrows out. Block this, hotshot!
“I can feel your killing intent, baka!” He said grinning and slicing an arrow out of the air.
His smug look was wiped off his face when two other arrows impaled him, while the third grazed by his neck.
-125
-132
-1
(392/650)
…
Although [Active Camouflage] went down from the lack of mana, I smiled as the poison started tearing through his hit points.
Drawing another four arrows from my scarily light quiver, I took aim.
“Awww, now that’s not fair! Fire one at a time please Asagi-chan!” He said amicably with a rather amused look in his eyes.
“I didn’t think an assassin would ever drive me into this far into a corner” He continued, his smile growing wider. “I'll take you down with me!”
I let the arrows fly at him
“[Defiance]” He called out, and then he charged. All four arrows pierced through him and dropped him to a single hit point, but [Defiance] kept him from dying. I turned around and fled for my life, having completely spent my mana like a fool.
Bolas shot out and tripped me, leaving me sprawled out on the ground with my legs hogtied together. Roaring “[Subjugate]” and “[Hemorrhage]”, he lifted his sword above his head, smashing it downwards, stopped only by a comparatively tiny dagger. The blunt impact dealt nearly 250 damage, shattered my left hand, and caused instant bruising all across the impact center due to [Hemorrhage].
At this point, [Defiance] wore off and he rather pathetically died to poison damage. But by no means was I out of the red just because he wouldn’t attack anymore. Chugging health pots slowed the initial [Hemorrhage] to 30 damage/second instead of the brutal 50.
Coughing up blood, I drank another health pot, watching my health dip to a mere 7 points. But at this point the bruises had all but disappeared and the healing outstripped the internal bleeding. “Saved by the 10 HP from a level up ehh? Goddamn NPCs too strong.”
Filled with the adrenaline high from cheating death, I just looked at the sky, content with my life. They say money can’t buy happiness, yet here I am, happier than a 'small slimy creature' with a returned ring1 after chugging that cash, err health potion.
I started untangling my legs as I finished the rest of my health pots, getting back to around 80% of my max hit points. Surveying the scene of carnage, I picked up the drops (my arrows actually more valuable, sadly), not even bothering with the bodies.
“Inventory!”
Inventory [0 Plat : 0 Gold : 25 Silver : 95 Copper]Greater Boar Tuskx2Rusty Swordx1Fire Stickx3Water Stickx2Earth Stickx1Bracerx4Amature blow pipex1Slightly toxic dartx9Average-ly toxic arrowx49Weapon poison12 servings.Key Ringx1Dried Breadx15
I grinned when I saw the list of drops: some silver, starter bread, the elemental sticks, and a key ring from the captain.
Remembering my exploits from the first day *cough* murder *cough* arson *cough* , naturally, I felt like a bunch of cash was coming my way when I saw those keys.
My backed up notifications showed that I leveled up three times throughout the manhunt.
Cutting off the head of the captain, I put it in my inventory and headed back towards the city. I had a feeling it would make a nice gift.
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1 Reference to Lord of the Rings, Gollum's ring (not that he got it back).