*Guaaah!*

The black humanoid keeps shouting and attacking us. Meanwhile, we can’t see it yet, but the Calamity, who already knows of our presence, must be getting ready to fight us.

“Moo, Muribelle, quickly deal with this guy, please,” I say, waving in its direction. “

“Sure. Burn quickly and leave us alone!”

Before I turn around, I can see Muribelle using her iconic skill: Ignite.

Ignite (Active skill) Cost: 30 MP Launch a flame that sticks to the first unit hit, dealing (2 + 0,2 * SPI) fire damage every second for 5 seconds.

Ignite is a powerful and cheap single-target skill. But unlike other skills, it’s relatively easy to avoid because the flame doesn’t fly very fast and it’s very eye-catching, making it relatively easy to avoid.

This time, though, Muribelle didn’t have to worry about landing the attack. The monster is too stupid to evade, and it’s close enough that it isn’t possible to miss the target. The black humanoid starts burning as fire covers it.

If this black humanoid is similar to those we found in the ghost city, it shouldn’t take too long. Furthermore, Muribelle is doing everything she can to kill it quickly, as she doesn’t want to miss any of the Calamity’s moves.

Meanwhile, I look inside the cave with Balmy. The Calamity is close to the throne, walking in our direction. Other than him, I can only see two more of those black humanoids, probably the teammates of the one that surprised us.

But we can’t be sure. There could be something hidden, ready to strike when we’re busy fighting. And that’s Balmy’s job.

“Now, go and do your job.”

She shakes her head and crosses her arms. “Nuh-huh. I don’t wanna. I never agreed to it, I’m against it.”

Sigh… She can be so annoying… “Didn’t we talk about this already? You must check inside to make sure there’s nothing we need to worry about… except for the Calamity, of course.”

“If it’s so important, why don’t you go instead?”

As the only one who can fly freely, plus her small size, she’s the one best suited to explore the cave. She needs to check there are no traps and explore the lava sea and waterfall. We must reduce the possible variables to the minimum.

“Just do your job already!” I grab her by the wings, making sure she can’t escape, and throw her inside.

“Kyaaaah! Noooooo! I don’t want to die yeeeeeet!”

The Calamity is so surprised by my action and Balmy’s shout that he stops moving, switching between looking at me and her.

Yeah… I know what you’re thinking. She’s one lazy lass.

But this gives enough time to Balmy to find a place to hide. All’s well that ends well, as they say.

“I’ll never forgive yooooou…!” I hear someone’s cry. I wonder who is it? Hahaha!

As I was saying, it all went as planned. The Calamity was so surprised that he didn’t attack us yet, giving enough time to Moo and Muribelle to finish that black humanoid. Now we just need to keep his attention on us and the plan will proceed smoothly.

Ah, yes. You didn’t know because I didn’t tell you yet. Calaban’s party isn’t with us. They’ll show up later.

“You Calamities have been terrorizing us for too long.” I spout random bullshit to buy some time. “We’ve grown tired of it. Now it’s payback time! Prepare yourself, because we’ll slay you here and now, damn demon!”

The Calamity, who’s using a demon Champion, smirks. Don’t ask me which kind of demon, because I’m not sure. I just know it’s a demon because of his bat-like wings, horns, tail, and reptilian green eyes.

“Hooh, how unusual. A player who cares for others.” He mocks me. “Are you angry because I killed your fellow players? If so, what are you going to do about it? Do you really think you can defeat me?”

Huh…? I… I don’t care about them at all. Wait a moment. Did he buy what I said…? If so, I might as well keep the ball rolling.

“I won’t allow you to harm a single more player. Fight us if you dare!”

In response, the Calamity makes an evil grin. A grin so evil you would only expect from an actual demon.

“Then…” He waves his hand and suddenly, something heavy falls from the ceiling.

I quickly realize that that ‘something’ is the fourth and last member of the party who reached this place before us. Of the three members, one must be the black humanoid we just killed. The other two are roaming somewhere inside the cave, still unaware of our presence.

The Calamity says, pointing at the still-alive player. “...how about this? I’ll let him go, alive, if you surrender to me. Hahaha! You won’t break your moral code, will you?”

Huh… sorry? My moral what? What is that? Is it tasty?

No, seriously. I don’t care shit about that player. He can do whatever he wants to him.

What’s more, he wants us to surrender to save a random guy we know nothing about!? Who in their right mind would do something so stupid? Are we in some kind of lame-ass unrealistic hero story?

I must have shown a stupid expression on my face because he looks dumbfounded. He furrows his brows and observes my reaction for a while, alternating between me and the captured player. Which is perfect, because I need to buy more time.

“Oh, no. What am I going to do?” I do my best to sound concerned but ultimately fail. “I can’t allow him to die…”

The Calamity raises his hand. “Stop.” He shakes his head. “You don’t care about him at all, right? Everything you said was made up. Aah… and here I thought I could roleplay the villain…”

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‘No! You should believe my bullshit for a while longer! We aren’t ready to fight you yet!’

“W-what are you talking about? I was… I was serious?”

Yeah… I don’t sound convincing at all.

“Haaaaah…” he slowly exhales, shaking his head. “It’s no use then…”

A flame appears on his hand. He closes in on the unknown player, who, until now, has been silent. Maybe he hoped that the Calamity would get so angry at me that he would forget about him.

“N-no! Don’t kill me– Uugh…”

With a last struggle, the player dies, engulfed by flames. One player less. But it wasn’t one of us, so it’s okay.

This whole situation was so unexpected and ridiculous that he didn’t get time to get angry. Not yet, at least. Thank god. He could have blasted me already if he were angry.

Someone did die. But… who cares?

In the middle of all this, I can see Calaban’s party sneaking into the room while the Calamity is distracted. We accomplished our objective and are now ready. We just need to wait for Balmy’s confirmation that there’s nothing hidden.

“Hahaha…” The Calamity starts chuckling. “It’s the first time someone played with me like that for a long time… Not since I became famous, at least…”

Why are all demon players so twisted? Does it come with the race? Do you have to pass a ‘wicked test’ to get permission to use them?

He smiles. “Alright. I’ve decided. Even if you apologize now, I won’t let you escape. You came without knowing anything, hoping for an easy win and points, didn’t you? All players are the same.”

We didn’t plan on escaping, so it’s fine by me.

“Um… by the way… What’s your name?” I ask.

He sends me an incredulous look.

“I’m Targaroth, the player currently ranked 29th in the PvP ranks.” He makes another wicked smile. “What? Scared? This is kind of funny. You mocked me without knowing who I am. I’ll sear my name and rank into your brains so you never forget. I hope you don’t regret your actions, hahaha!”

Ah, no, no, sorry for the confusion. I don’t really care who you are. I was just getting tired of saying ‘the Calamity’ in my mental conversations.

Furthermore, I don’t care about your rank. My sister has a higher rank, and I’ve fought against her several times already. I’m not scared of someone in the 29th position.

…I was defeated an equal amount of times too, but let’s forget about this minor detail.

“Hey, hey, Koala. Is it true you didn’t know about him?” Moo asks. “But aren’t there rumors that your sister is one of the top players too?”

“I don’t care about top rankers.” I confidently say.

“Is that so…?” Moo shrugs.

“If I were in your position, I’d ask her about cool moves and skills.” Says Muribelle. “She must have a few, right?”

“Well… Maybe?”

“Do you think she can help me pick fire skills for my build? I have trouble deciding because there’s so many that look good…”

“Ahaha.” I scratch my head. “I can try. But I’m almost sure she’s going to say no.”

“Why? If you ask, she should consider it, don’t you think?”

Our relationship isn’t that nice…

“You can test them on me! I don’t mind being your practice target! Mooohahaha!”

Targaroth’s eyebrows start twitching as he grows angry. The initial shock has long passed. It could have something to do with us completely ignoring him right after his introduction.

Don’t worry, it’s just a possibility.

“Wow… the nerve. To ignore me right after my introduction…” Okay, maybe it isn’t just ‘a possibility’. “Less talking and more fighting.”

He opens his wings and takes an intimidating pose. His whole body starts glowing red, sending ripples through space. And as if responding to him, the whole room starts shaking.

“Did you think I’d be an easier target than other Calamities just because I was immobile? You have no idea. This place isn’t called a ‘Domain’ for nothing. The Calamities with Domains are the strongest ones in this Mystery Event, fools! Hahaha!”

There’s a final burst of red light from him and he returns to normal. But immediately after, we hear a huge explosion coming from above. Part of the ceiling near the waterfall collapses. Lava pours in large quantities, starting to flood the entire cavern.

At the same time, we also hear a fairy-like scream. Heh. Balmy got burned by the sudden increase in lava flow.

I observe in a panic as the lava level starts rising. We’re lucky the ground isn’t flat and it’ll take a while to cover it. But when it happens… we’ll be in trouble. Lava deals continuous damage upon contact, and the only one who can avoid it because he can fly is Targaroth.

Well, him and Balmy. But she doesn’t count as a fighting force.

Following this, huge fire walls appear in all the exits, blocking the way out.

“Aah. So that’s why that player died next to the entrance. He tried to run away.” Comments Moo from my side.

Seems right. This means we can’t run away anymore. It’s a fight to the death.

“You committed a grave mistake. Now it’s time for you to pay for it.” Targaroth says, pointing at me. Me? I’m innocent! Judge, please! “And that payment is your suffering and death! Prepare to suffer at the hands of this Targaroth, one of the–”

“Fufufu! Hahaha!” I interrupt him with my classical loud laughter. “Did you think we’d come without a plan? We’ve got this to defeat you, fool!”

I take out our secret weapon, Buddug’s Daze, and show it to him.

“That’s… crazy…” Targaroth quickly scans the item’s description. “Hmph! Pathetic. Such tactics won’t work on someone of my caliber.”

That is what he says. But contrary to his words, his expression has shifted to one of extreme caution. A ten-second stun is enough to put anyone on high alert.

“Why are you showing him that!? Weren’t we supposed to keep it a secret!?” Moo starts shaking me by the shoulders. Oops, I almost dropped Buddug’s Daze.

“Fuck! I knew you were crazy. I hope this doesn’t bite us back…!” Muribelle swears. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

I do.

“Kyaaaaaah! You fuckeeeeer! You sabotaged your own plan!”

And finally, our last member has come back. The first thing she does is start pulling my fur like crazy.

As they say, to fool your enemies, you must fool your allies first. To make Targaroth think I’m stupid and that I’m just bragging, I had to fool my teammates. I told them we’d hide Buddug’s tears from our enemy and use them when he least expected, but that plan wouldn’t work.

Calamities, or more specifically pro players, tend to take the fights easy at the start and only show their true strength when things progress adequately. They take their time analyzing their opponents, to avoid making mistakes. I learned this from observing my sister for a long time.

We can’t allow him to do that. We can’t fight him on equal grounds when he has higher stats, more experience and skills, and holds the home advantage.

Furthermore, now that the lava level keeps rising, we have a time limit. Forcing him to take this seriously from the start is our best and only option.

Showing him Buddug’s Daze from the start was my plan all along. Knowing that we have an on-demand ten-second stun, he can’t do anything but take us seriously. This way, he’ll think our best chance to defeat him is when we use the item.

He won’t imagine the possibility of there being another party aiming for the moment he lowers his guard.

Only Calaban’s team knows the truth. Depending on our situation, I told them I might reveal Buddug’s Tears to the Calamity. To make him wary. Since I can’t communicate with them, I needed to make sure they followed through with our plan. I had no choice but to tell them in advance.

“Kyaaaaaaaaaah! I’ll have you apologize for this! Write me a real-life apology letter, signed by the ‘Evil Mastermind’, ok!?”

What a weirdly specific request, don’t you think? “Sigh… Fine. I’ll do it. But now, shut up.”

“Oka~y!”

She quickly changes her attitude. Hmm… wasn’t her change too fast? Why do I have a bad feeling about this?

image [https://i.imgur.com/ZGSK4Pl.png]

“Sometimes, things go as planned. Sometimes, they don’t. Anyhow, I love playing DMA.”

- Famous last words from a certain DMA player right before his plan inevitably failed.