Bickering

"... You know... For a self-proclaimed genius... You haven't been killing an awful lot of enemies recently. "

If you've been following the story so far you'd probably have figured out that the person standing at my back is none other than that daughter of a bitch Milia.

"... You realize that I'm only half your level, right?"

Not counting the initial three harpies (which were critical hits), very few of Milia's shots have been killing blows.

"That's true... Since you're only level 35, your actually a little below them in terms of level..." I admitted.

Also, the Harpies were either pretty dumb pretty dumb, or their AI was set in such a way that, instead of rushing at us en-masse, they insisted on attacking in groups of up to four (a flock of? a murder of?). This made them much easier to handle now that there are two of us.

*Twang! Twang! Twang! Twang! Twang!

Milia was firing arrows non-stop at a decent rate of roughly 1 shot per second. I suspect that she's actually capable of a much higher fire rate, however~

"I'm glad that you took my lessons seriously."

"Cheh! Don't read too much into it. Even a child could tell you that hitting a target is better than missing it."

*TWANG!

*Kwiok!

The much louder twang of my crossbow could be heard over the sound of her short bow as it pierced through a harpy skull, killing it even as it was being set on fire.

Instead of simply spraying arrows in the general direction of the target like many speed-type archers, Milia was taking the time to aim in between shots and maintaining the basic posture I thought her waaaay back in Serabourg.

Even more amazing was the fact that, while there were few headshots, Milia has yet to miss a SINGLE shot. Any harpy that entered her firing range would be unerringly knocked back by one of her arrows. It's like having one of those TF2 auto turrets standing at my back.

"But seriously! Every single Harpy is coming towards us!"

"That's because you're wearing that beacon of a costume! What kind of Archer wears WHITE!"

"They were S-Class leather! What about you? You're still wearing the same leather dress as you were back then! (Okay, I wore my beginner gear for quite long too, but she doesn't have to know that)"

"Oh shut up! When I got into town, this fuck-fest already started!" Milia paused her shooting, "[Load Quiver]!"

"ALready!?!?" Milia gave me a look when I complained, "Alright, alright, I'll cover you. [Shower]! [Snap Shot]!"

The shower of bolts cleared a hole in the sky, but obviously couldn't kill off all of the nearby harpies.

I felt Milia press her back against mine as she retreated a step. I immediately spun around and aimed my crossbow over her head.

"[Shackle Shot]!"

It was a blind shot and I wasn't certain there was anything behind the target to Shackle it to, but I was fortunate enough that the blot clipped another harpy on its wing.

Interestingly enough, both harpies got set on fire by the bolt. Not to mention that the chain was also on fire.

*Bolt compartment is empty, need to switch to Sword-Bow*

"Get your hand off me you perverted moustache!" Milia complained, as I just realized I had one hand on her shoulder.

*So now I'm just a walking moustache....*

"Is that how you talk to the person who just saved you?"

"CHEH! Don't forget, I also saved your hide earlier on!"

"No, I probably could've handled myself," I demonstrated my slicing a harpy in half with my Sword-Bow, side-stepping a second one, and then shooting it, "See?"

"Hah! You're not the only one with a close-ranged attack! Watch this! [Kick]!"

It's a skill quite similar to my [Bow Bash] skill (I set it to auto-trigger when I melee with my weapons). The [Kick] skill is meant to knock back and stun the enemy to give the Archer room to shoot, while doing some damage on its own.

It is an effective skill, and the Harpy did get hit. But there was one small problem...

"..... *ahem..." (me)

"... Don't say anything..." (Milia)

"... You realize that you're wearing a fairly short dress..."

"Didn't I tell you not to say anything... More Importantly, you didn't see anything, right?"

(Both blushing)

"No... I couldn't really see anything from behind..."

"Good..."

...

...

Five dead Harpies later.

"... Although I must say I've never heard of green underwear before..."

"You!~ [KI~] -ack!"

Milia almost repeated the mistake she made not too long ago, but stopped short before actually kicking.

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...

...

"OUT OF THE WAY! HOT FIRE MAGE COMING THROUGH!!" a player who was on fire (literally) ran past us, giving us just enough time to step aside.

"... Looks like reinforcements are arriving," I tried changed the topic.

"You're not getting out of it that easily! You're buying me dinner!"

... (short pause to kill a Harpy)

"Isn't that a date?"

"... Then.. Since you made an issue out of my armor, you're buying me the next set!"

(Milia stuns several Harpies, which I finish off with an arrow Shower.)

(And an exploding fireball sets a few of them ablaze elsewhere.)

"... Isn't that also kinda a date?"

...

...

"How about I make you a weapon?" I compromised, "It's what I'm good at anyway."

"That will do I guess," Milia agreed, "Don't turn around!"

"Huh? What? OOOoohh."

"[Kick]!"

I shot at the Harpy she kicked away with my Sword-Bow.

"I SAID NOT TO TURN AROUND!"

"I had my eyes closed."

"YOU SHOT WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED!?"

"I pre-aimed."

...

"That doesn't even make sense."

"It's easy. Watch!" I drew my weapon, "Aim first. Close your eyes. Then fire."

I hit a low-flying Harpy.

"That seems like a really tedious thing to learn."

"Actually, it's just like imagining you're firing a much slower arrow. Either way you still need to predict and compensate for the flight time"

"Still seems pointless."

"At least I didn't have to see your underwear this time."

"How do I know you didn't?"

"You'll just have to trust me."

"HAH!"

"I don't know what you think of me, but I can assure you that I'm trustworthy. By the way, is it just me, or are the Harpies getting more aggressive now?"

"!? Now that you mention it..."

While they were still coming at us in small groups, the time in between each wave was getting shorter.

"Is it because there are more people up here now?"

"Ah! The fire mage!"

"If that's the case, then if more reinforcements come, then things will get even harder."

"But so far we've hardly even put a dent in their numbers."

"My turn. [Load Quiver]!" since both compartments were empty, I had little choice but to reload, "I guess that means that group over there is good news."

A small group of players, 2 archers, 2 mages, and a heavy warrior (not really sure what good he is here) just climbed up onto the castle walls, and there was a visible increase in the harpy's aggressiveness.

"CHEH! At this rate we're going to have to bunch up with the rest ."

"That seems to be the best course of action," I agreed, "Back to back, we need to inch our way towards the fire guy (who was the closest to us)."

*BOoOOM!

"Yeah... Bad news, looks like the fire guy just blew up. At least he took a quite a few with him."

"Damnit! [Shackle Shot]!" I chained and set ablaze two Harpies. Miraculously, another Harpy flew through the chain and set itself on fire as well.

"Oh look, I leveled up again." (Milia)

"Gratz... But leave your point distribution for later."

"You don't need to tell me that, idiotic-otaku."

"... Really, what's with you and name calling?"

"I bet you call me names in your head."

*Well, she's not wrong*

"Wait..." I heard a sound, "Hear that?"

"Yeah... Sounds like..."

"Footsteps?"

"A lot of them..."

A moment later, a dozen female players rushed up the steps, all dressed in a variety of armor, and all of them wielding swords, yet somehow firing arrows at the sky.

"This is either really good, or really bad..." I commented, "And are they using what I think their using??!?"

A familiar players stepped towards me.

It's the swordslady I partied with while I was on the way to the castle.

"I saw your name in the party list earlier," she said to me, "Just like I thought. You're Notrem!"

*This is either really good, or really bad...*

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Author's Note:

Hello Again!

How'd you like this chapter?

I'll admit, it's a little dialogue-heavy, but what do you expect me to write when all the action's pretty much two archers continuously shooting at flying things?

And it looks like Notrem's going to make a new friend :)

As usual all comments and criticisms are welcome.

Happy year of the Horse!