Chapter 17: A Protagonist's Divine Right

Stepping over the ashes of their progenitor, the freshly respawned pack of monsters— all piercing Diegi with their vile red gazes— continue to steadily approach. The scene of the beasts dragging their claws through the bloodied grass as they shamble forwards is undoubtedly a terrifying sight. And yet.

Amidst the sounds of guards and adventurers struggling not against the individual strengths but rather against the sheer numbers of the massive monster horde, Diegi stands still in his improvised battle stance, confidently grinning. Yes, even though he'd died en route to Paxdom after only facing one of these monsters, he's not crying, but grinning. After all, what value was precedent in the face of his brilliant new idea? The past is the past, now is now. And now, nothing can shake his confidence. Now, he has something he didn’t have before: a Skill. The Perception Skill he'd gotten from the glorified scam-victim achievement, to be precise.

> Never have I been so happy to be ripped off by some creepy old man. It’s only natural that the first Skill I get is the one to carry me to victory in a crisis, right? That’s what being sent to another world is all about! Combine that with all the useless MYTH knowledge I’ve got folded away in my brain… hell, using Perception to pull off a win here is like… it’s like… my Divine Right as an Isekai-er! Yeah, it’s my Divine Right of Protagonism!

Thinking back to all the hours he’d spent holed up in his room, leaving swaths of angrily crying players in his wake with each tap of the decaying old keyboard, maybe it had all been for this very moment…! As a result of his total lack of a life, just hearing the word “Perception” allows him to vividly recall the stance player-characters would take when activating the skill in the original MYTH.

“It boosts your eyesight, eventually even gives you some freaky x-ray vision thing? That’s at higher levels though— but as a MYTH veteran, I’ll be fine with just the boosted eyes. I’ve got this, I’ve used Perception to find treasure and hidden paths a million times. If I use it here, I’ll definitely find something to beat these monsters and help me out of this mess.”

The adventurers are all vastly more powerful than the individual tutorial monsters to an almost ridiculous extent. If they can just find a way to halt the beasts' respawning, the battle is all but won. Finally, it's Diegi's time to shine— he'll be the one to find out their weakness.

”And after I win, I’ll be sure to demand a huuuuuge reward. Now, here I go—!”

He strikes the iconic pose. It’s similar to a sideways “ok” sign— an open palm held face down over the eyebrow as if to block out a hypothetical sun, with the thumb and pointer fingers curled to make a monocle for one eye— and dramatically lifts his voice as if trying to ensure the whole battlefield can hear:

“PERRRCEPTIONNNN!!”

…

Closing his right eye, he focuses with his left through the small scope made by his fingers and watches as his vision enhances. He can see the minute details of the revived monsters that are closing in on him. It’s truly incredible— he can see each individual drop of goo stream down the humanoids’ maybe-faces and even keenly smell their rancid odor. His powers of observation are so strengthened, it’s as if the beasts really were right in front of him.

He can’t fully take in the sight because of that aforementioned odor, though. That delicate modern nose of his really can’t take it— like the scent of a million convenience store restroom stalls had been condensed and distilled.

> Yeesh, these things stink. I know monsters don’t shower, but have the Terries been rolling in trash or something? Pee-yew, I didn’t need my sense of smell to be boosted too—

Diegi quirks an eyebrow. Something about that sentence doesn’t sound quite right.

> Sense of smell, huh. Actually, hold on… doesn’t Perception only boost your eyesight!?

*SWOOSH*

“Ga- hah!”

Only his quick reflexes save Diegi from a swift death. He suddenly drops the hand sign and leans far back— Right in front of Diegi’s face, a tutorial monster’s claws swing only centimeters in front of his eyes before narrowly passing him by. He’d realized just in time: he wasn't gaining the illusion of closeness to the monsters by way of the Skill, he was actually just that close to the monsters. Waving his hands to try and stop himself from toppling over completely, Diegi processes the situation in a state of minor shock.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

> What the hell!? Did I get weaker again or something? When did the monsters get so close, and why didn’t the Skill even activate!? Skills don’t even take too many points compared to spells, and Perception Lv 0 is dirt cheap. It only uses up five Stamina, I have ten Max Stamina... the one time I actually have the stats to do something useful, it just refuses to work! Is the system broken?? It isn’t fairrr!!

Unfortunately for Diegi, monsters lack the mental and moral capacity to give a damn about fairness. Multiple beasts move in unison, all preparing to attack the off-balance boy at once. They’re once again interrupted by a spell caster from the rear line, however, this time with a small gust of wind that keeps them in place without killing them. Diegi nobly uses the golden opportunity that a spellcasting adventurer had sorely strained themselves to grant him by giving up on the fight and running the hell away.

> Yeah, I guess wind spells would be effective against this annoying revival-multiplying gimmick… but still, damn am I tired. And once again, I didn’t even land a hit! That Stamina stat isn’t doing much for me, as always…

Then, it hits him.

> Shit, that’s right, dodging and rolling around consumes Stamina points! That's why I couldn't use Perception. Stats aren't like Attributes that stay static during battle… With only ten points, I’m constantly starving for Stamina even without using any Skills. Damn it, I need somewhere to rest and recharge. At least I can trust Equo and the spellcasters to deal with the monsters for a bit, so it should be fine if I just run to the rear lines and hide there.

So Diegi does just that. He dashes into the ranks of nearby spellcasters, sneaking his way into their formation while they’re distracted supporting the melee fighters, and tries to make himself as small as possible.

> Okay, there we go. Don’t panic, don’t panic, everything’ll be fine. You may be useless, but it’ll still be fine. Between this incoming strike force and the city guards, there’s a ton of targets here, so the monsters’ll spread out. That way, not too many should focus on me at once.

They’re nice words to tell himself, but he knows that he’s lying. Really, the situation’s starting to break down. How do you beat a foe who revives when you kill then? Not only that, but makes clones as well?? If nobody figured out a solution, even the powerful adventurers would eventually be overcome. And, to andd insult to injury— Diegi comes to an horrifying realization in his thoughts.

> Coming back after death to immediately fight again, spawning identical clones, having almost no cooldown time… holy clichés! Even the damn tutorial monsters have a better OP cheat skill than I do! What the hell, this stupid game-world has everything backwards—

“Hey hey, you can’t be serious? What’s with the sudden influx?? Dealing with such underhanded tactics is not a knight’s specialty…!”

Diegi perks his ears as he hears a familiar voice cry out. It’s Equo, still valiantly fending off as many monsters as he can. Something’s changed, though. Not about him, but about his surroundings. Diegi squints in Equo’s general direction, doing his best to pinpoint the change in environment that’s making him uncomfortable… then he realizes.

> Wait, were there always this many monsters here near the back of the pack!?

When they had arrived and Vivian had made her declaration, there hadn’t been too many of the apelike beasts near the gate. Even after the monsters had started reviving, there hadn’t been more than 50 for the rear line to deal with at a time. But now. What had started as a small pack numbering less than 20 had quickly ballooned into a force easily surpassing 200. And even as he watches, more and more seem to be flooding this last line of defense, exponentially increasing the amount of work Equo and the spellcasters have to do.

> Why are they all so dead set on coming here of all places? Damn it, I’ve gotta act fast. I’ve been sitting here for a bit, I’ve got to have recovered at least 5 Stamina points. Hang in there, meat shield— I mean, Equo— I’m about to find their weakness. Troll’s honor!

Whispering so as to not be found out by the spellcasters, Diegi holds his left hand over his eye again and softly proclaims:

“Perception!”

*bing*

And the most amazing thing occurs directly afterwards, something nearly unheard of for one of Diegi’s post-summoning actions— it actually works. A melodic tone plays inside of Diegi’s head, and though he can’t see it, his irises briefly glow. A rush of visual clarity washes over Diegi’s vision, and this time he makes sure it’s taking effect by looking at a faraway target. Choosing to focus on a fruit tree (because of course he does), he notes that he can see each fruit with enhanced details. Not quite crystal clear, but well enough for it being nighttime.

> There we go. Now, all I’ve gotta do is look around me, and the world’ll feed me a clue just like in all the TV shows and movies. Come on, think like a protagonist would. What can I find to stop these monsters’ regeneration? If it’s something relating to the original game, only I’ll be able to spot it…!

Over the span of the next few seconds, he looks and looks, leaving no area unnoticed. He peers at nearby guards, scans the ground, gazes at the sky, searching and searching for any kind of tool or trick that he could use to win this battle and guarantee his own safety. But it’s all in vain— he can’t find anything. And to make matters worse, his head is starting to hurt as well.

“Ugh, what am I missing?”

The only thing he hasn’t closely analyzed yet are the tutorial monsters themselves. He doesn’t think there’s much point, since they all look identical, but he figures it’s worth a try. Carefully probing each monster both close and nearby, watching as they drag their freakishly long limbs around in hordes and take awfully timed swings at Paxdom defenders, he begins to see a pattern.

But not a pattern that he likes. Of course, it can’t be that easy.

“Oh. Oh, I see.”

> Hold on… now that I think about it, it’s been like this ever since I noticed these monsters in the first place. Ever since Vivian carried me out of Paxdom’s northern gates. If I was able to see all of their eyes, then—

“Is this… also part of my Divine Right? The fantasy world is supposed to be all about the guy from Earth, right?”

Yes. For every monster Diegi can see, even the ones that were supposed to be locked in combat with other guards or the newly arrived adventurers, even with his enhanced range of sight and eye for detail, he can also see their red eyes gleaming in the darkness. Naturally, in order for that to be possible, another condition has to be fulfilled. So, let us rephrase.

“I mean, it’s not like I don’t want the world to revolve around me, but I just— I mean, isn’t this a bit excessive?”

Every single humanoid lumbering monster Diegi can see, across the vast battlefield located outside of Paxdom’s northern gate, even if they had to twist their ‘necks’ at unnatural angles to do so, is looking…

“Heh heh… oh, I can’t even joke about this one anymore. That’s it, I’m fucked.”

…Straight.

At.

Him.