Chapter 8 – Good Times Are Over in a Flash
Once we were back at the Guild House I was going to go buy meat, but Peru-chan said she had loads of it in the food storage~ and handed it over. I accepted gratefully, then went looking for Baldie-san, hoping to get it cooked~. No luck; he’d stepped away, and Donta looked ready to die of waiting, so raw it was. He still ate it looking delighted, going delicious, delicious, so, well… good enough! Lia-chan headed straight for the bath the moment we got back. She loves baths, apparently~… Players, for the record, are absolutely barred from going in. Obviously!!
So Peru-chan and I held an appraisal party before exhaustion killed our motivation entirely. The rare item from the ☆2 Inksane can wait; first, the contents of the chest on the third floor, the one that was the trigger for the Giant Inksane showing up!
[{?Long Staff} was {Staff of Fishbone}.]
[{?Accessory} was {Pearl Necklace}.]
[{?Book} was {Chef of the Sea: Book of Secrets}.]
“Baldie-san is a lucky man…!”
“Baldie-san will be delighted~”
A Chef of the Sea: Book of Secrets came out, so let’s definitely have Baldie-san read it. It isn’t a consumable, so once he’s finished we’ll have him leave it in the guild library. And the long staff is………… uu~n!! It’s a cartoon fish skeleton!! A giant fish skeleton done up all cute and stylized! It’s got a proper head and tail, the eyes are little X marks, and it’s weirdly adorable~!
Someone explain this to me, though. No drawback, plainly and simply strong, and yet next to Lia-chan’s broom it somehow looks weak… Even though they’re neck and neck on cuteness… How about the Pearl Necklace? Umm… performance is, [MND +1]…? Eh, that’s it!? It wouldn’t fetch much if we sold it, and Lia-chan isn’t wearing a neck accessory, and Peru-chan said she could have it, so Lia-chan will be the one wearing it.
“Slaughtorca and the Giant Inksane. Which shall we appraise first?”
“Uu~n, the ’torca first!”
“Yes, then let us look at that one! Would you take it out?”
“Yes, here!”
The real event starts now! Boss drops should be worth something. Hope there’s good equipment in there~!
[{?Claw} was {★Slaughterer’s Head}!]
[{?Spear} was {Harpoon}.]
[{?Furniture} was {★Slaughterer Plushie: Life-Size}!]
“Something strong-looking came out!”
“This is a rare item! The rarity is Legendary!”
“Oooooh——!!”
Only the unidentified spear turned out to be a common-rarity store-bought thing, which is a shame, but the claw was a weapon called {★Slaughterer’s Head} and it was a jackpot! It looks like a fist weapon you strap to your hand; handling it needs a dedicated skill~.
As for the furniture, honestly, the icon spoiled it, so I already knew what it was. It had the same silhouette as Slaughtorca… But I did not expect life-size! It’s as big as Donta!? About twice the size of a real-world orca! Overwhelming spatial dominance, overwhelming presence! I couldn’t make out its face at all while we were fighting, but observing it properly like this, it’s incredibly cute…! I’d want one in real life~. Smaller would be fine.
Right, the plushie can wait. Let’s look at the detailed stats on the jackpot item, {★Slaughterer’s Head}! I only glanced at it earlier, and I want to know how strong a Legendary weapon is!
Hiii~… Super strong!! Insaaane… The stats are strong, but the gear and the look are super strong too! Because, I mean, from any angle it is an orca hand puppet! It’s so cute you start doubting it’s a weapon! Is there anyone who can even use it~?
“Is there anyone who can use this?”
“I wonder… It is terribly cute, so I would love for someone to use it…”
If someone can use it, we could hand it over… or putting it in Saturday’s auction is an option too! Now then, let’s do something about this giant plushie. The guild lobby is pretty big, and there were loads of members in there yesterday but plenty of open space left… If it’s in the way they can put it away. Let’s set it down. Better than leaving it filling up Room 3!
“Oh yes, the treasure chest from the Giant Inksane had two items, and both were books.”
“Oh? Maybe there’s another Tome of Babylon-sama’s Descent!”
“I wonder. They looked like completely different books…”
Books come out a lot, huh~. Doesn’t look like a Tome of Descent… Apparently there are skill-learning books too, so let’s hope for one of those.
“Here we go!”
“Go go!”
[{?Book} was {★Book of Lesser Magic: Selection}!]
[{?Book} was {★Book of Souls}!]
Oh~…? Some rather attractive books…!
“Here, Rinne-san!”
“Eh?”
“It was our promise that any book you could use goes to you!”
“Is that okay…? These would sell high, wouldn’t they?”
“I need you to learn a great deal more magic, Rinne-san~! Now, go on, go on~!”
Waah, I got them! So happy~! Then right away… ah, I can only choose a book for magic I can actually use. It’s the Book of Lesser Necromancy or the Book of Lesser Dark Magic! Then~… necromancy, I think!
[Acquired {★Book of Lesser Necromancy}.]
[Used {★Book of Lesser Necromancy}, acquiring new magic…]
[Acquired necromancy {Bone Shield}!]
“Ooh? Oh~! A shield of bone that nullifies one physical attack!”
“My, that is a good skill! Now even a sneak attack is safe, once!”
Oh, yesss!! Now I can be even more useful as a supp…………a-an attack skill would have been nice~…!! Oh well, it just means I went from a plain lookout to a lookout who can also block!
“And this Book of Souls?”
“I have no idea… It displays as unusable for me.”
[Use {★Book of Souls}?]
“Ah, I can use this one!”
“My, my! Then please, do use it!”
“If one comes out for Peru-chan I’m absolutely giving it to you! Thank you~~!!”
I can use this one too! I feel kind of bad~… ehehe, but let’s use it gratefully! I want to catch up to Peru-chan and her pile of skills, even a little!
[Acquired {★Book of Souls}.]
[Used {★Book of Souls}, acquiring new magic…]
[Acquired necromancy {Rite of Soul Return}.]
Rite of… Soul Return? It does have a soul-related name, but… Aah! This, this is…!!
“It’s a revival skill!!”
“Truly!?”
“Yeah! It consumes all my NP and revives the target at a value matching the NP spent!”
“Amazing, I have never even heard of a revival skill!!”
“Animate Dead only works once, ever, and I kept wondering what I’d do about reviving anyone, and now I can~! Thank goodness~!”
Good opportunity, let me check the skills I’ve got! {Animate Dead} to create a new servant, {Morgue} to collect a servant’s corpse and prevent a loss if they go down, {Rite of Soul Return} to revive a fallen servant. Feels like I’ve finally got the bare minimum a necromancer needs!
Attack skills are still just Curse Spear, and… ah!! I told Peru-chan off for forgetting Aegis, and I’d forgotten Negative Aura existed. It’s magic that hinders the enemy and buffs allies at the same time, so I need to start using it properly. And my new defensive magic, Bone Shield: the activation word is Block. A shield of bone that nullifies one physical attack, deployed automatically!
“Following this fine streak, I do hope the rare Inksane’s drop is a good one as well! I shall go first!”
“Yours was a spear, right!”
“Quite so. It used Ice Bolt and Ice Lancer, so an ice spear would be delightful~!”
Now then, all that’s left is appraising the unidentified items the ☆2 Inksane dropped! Peru-chan got a {?Spear} and I got a {?Hat}. Looking forward to seeing what rare items we got~!
“Eh? Ah………… it is a Squid Spear.”
“Uwaah. Uwaah…”
“There is an Inksane on the tip…”
“The design sense…”
An Inksane, attached where the spearhead should be… That dead-center, right-down-the-middle naming sense… I assumed it was a joke weapon and it isn’t weak at all; it’s on the strong side, actually. No drawback beyond the look, and for someone who’d call the look a merit, isn’t it the perfect weapon? Plus it lets you put up an Ice Shield yourself and nullify Water Attribute attacks, so of course it’s strong. It blocks an Inksane’s Ice Bolt! I’ll be declining to use it. Because… the l o o k, you know?
“There are no spear users in the guild at present, though it does seem barely usable as a magic weapon… I shall have it added to Saturday’s auction!”
“R-Right. Someone who wants it might really want it…”
“Now then, yours next, Rinne-san!”
“Here you go, please~!”
“Of course!”
The Squid Spear had me distracted, but let’s pull it together. My {?Hat} appraisal! Now, what’ll come out——
Uwah, it came out. Uwah, it came………… uwaaah………… When I showed it to Peru-chan, her face did an ‘Uwaah… indeed…’ thing too. Well, of course it did, it’s the thing we fought until it traumatized us…
“Ah… Baldie-san appears to have returned!”
“Oh, has he… Then let’s go give him that cookbook!”
“Quite so, that would be best!”
Right, let’s pretend I never saw this avatar. Peru-chan pretended she didn’t see it and withheld comment too, so I’ll skip past it as well. Baldie-san seems to have come back at a good moment, so let’s go hand over the Chef of the Sea: Book of Secrets! Appraisal time, over!
“Is there nothing you have forgotten to appraise?”
“Nope, all good. Ah! The corpses, what do I do? Do you want to use the boss corpses?”
“I am not a necromancer, so I have no need. Do as you like with them.”
“Got it, thanks!”
“Not at all~. Baldie-san appears to be in the lobby!”
“Let’s go, let’s go!”
The freshly renamed Slaughtorca, the Giant Inksane’s corpse, and the rare ☆2 Inksane: all mine! Then let’s take them gratefully and go see Baldie-san in the lobby.
“Look, there he is! Good day to you~!!”
“Hm? Yo!”
“Ah… um…”
Nn~…!! Baldie-san and I talked pretty smoothly yesterday and today, so I’d assumed a third time would be a breeze~, but talking face to face is still too high a difficulty for me…!! Annoyingly, no follow-up words will come out at all… Ah, he’s gone over to the sofa in the middle of the lobby…
Ah! But maybe I can talk to him from behind while he’s sitting. If I don’t have to face him head-on, if he isn’t looking at me, I might manage… G-Go, me, escape social anxiety…! Escape social anxiety!! Approach from behind Baldie-san… nn, his shaved head is dazzling… Without his usual chef’s hat, that smooth scalp gleams…………!!??
————I want to put it on him…!!!!
“E-Excuse me~…”
“Hm? Oh? Oh!?”
Can’t stop it, this impulse…! Baldie-san, I’m sorry, my hand, my desire won’t stop! I’m sorry…! What do I do if I get scolded later, but… I want to put it on him!!
[Placed {Perchable Inksane} on the head of player {Baldie}.]
“Rinne-san!?”
“Hm~? What’re you doing~? Ah, it’s Baldie~. Welcome ba… guh, bfft…!!”
“Ah, no, you mustn’t! You simply must not…! This is… kh, hff…!”
Aah, perfect… You are perfect, Baldie-san… The miniature Inksane fits his head exactly. It’s magnificent…!!
“What’s going on here? Oi oi oi, this is…!”
“Ta-daa~, Eris-chan is ba~… ?? Eh, what’s that, what? What…?”
“Ahahahahaha!! I’m done, I can’t, I can’t hold it in!!”
“Baldie-san, that is lethal~~!! I cannot endure it any longer~~!!”
“Baldie, you don’t need the Wolf Headband anymore!! Ahahaha!! Aa~~ that’s so good, that’s something!!”
“Come on, this is cute, isn’t it…!!”
The instant I set the Perchable Inksane on Baldie-san’s head with a little pat, that was it. It could only ever be this man. The only perfect match for the Perchable Inksane is Baldie-san!! There likely exists no better-suited wearer!! Magnificent!!
“Hff, hoo~… I’ve calmed down… aah!? It moves!? Ahahahahaha!!”
“Ehh~~ that’s not fair~, moving sometimes and striking a pose is cheating, I thi~nk…! Eris-chan can’t take it anymore…!”
“Rinne-chan, did this drop for you!? It’s the best!”
“Baldie-san… It suits you…! So cute… khff, kh, ahah…!”
“You mean from now on, every day, we have to, guh…! We have to keep looking at this, hff…! If I see an Inksane in the dungeon, Baldie’s face is absolutely going to surface, I won’t be able to fight properly!!”
Nap Lover-san and Eris-san both collapsed at the sight of Baldie-san’s perfect-matching Perchable Inksane. Peru-chan and I were barely holding out, but the Perchable Inksane reacted to the word cute by striking a bashful pose, and that finished us.
By the time I noticed, guild members who’d heard there was a lunatic wearing a Perchable Inksane were gathering from nowhere, and gathering, and gathering…! In the end about thirty people showed up and ended up rolling on the floor at the overwhelming impact that is Baldie-san. Baldie-san had been beaming ever since the Perchable Inksane landed on his head, playing endlessly with the thing as it struck poses in response to all sorts of words.
Out of that flow, all the assembled guild members ended up taking a commemorative photo——a screenshot, or ‘screenie’ for short, apparently——and when the ‘Say cheese’ came, the Perchable Inksane reacted by raising two legs into a pose, which set off another explosion of laughter. It was a full hour after the Inksane went on his head before I finally managed to hand Baldie-san the cookbook I actually came for! Good times really are over in a flash…!
“————I’m absolutely going to remember this every time I see an Inksane mid-dungeon. I’m gonna start hallucinating Baldie’s face under the Inksane.”
“Rinne-chan’s crime in putting that on his head without a word is a heavy one…”
“Hff, hf…! Khf…!! Eris-chan might be losing it on a schedule for a while…”
“How’d you even get that in the first place?”
“It dropped from a ☆2 Inksane, you see. From the Inksane’s rare monster!”
“Hoeh~, rare monsters show up inside dungeons too!? Still, why’d you put it on Baldie’s head, you knew that was a bad idea!! The sheer existence of it is funny, that’s just cheating~!”
“Cute, isn’t it?”
No, Baldie-san, don’t! The Perchable Inksane reacts to your saying cute and strikes a pose…! It’s doing the sexy one agaaain…!!
“Gh, gehoh…! You’ve got complete control over it!!”
“Gehoh gehoh!! Ahahahaha!!”
Ah, right! I lost the moment to bring it out, but while everyone’s attention is on Baldie-san… Loads of guild members are gathered so the unused space is easy to see, too. Let’s set up the {Slaughterer Plushie: Life-Size}. Heave-ho.
“Hah!!??”
“Huh? What is it? Wha—— what in the world is thaaaat!!”
“C-Cu, cuuute…!”
“What is this, what is this—! Uwaah, it’s fluffy and soft!!”
“So cute~! An orca? It’s an orca, right?”
“Rinne-chan, are you some kind of jack-in-the-box?”
“W-Wait, this, this is a rare drop too!?”
“This is, um, um…! Ha… hah… hh…!”
I was going for a set-it-down-quietly-and-let-them-notice-later thing, and Nap Lover-san spotted it instantly! When everyone’s attention lands on me, when the eyes gather, bad, it’s coming…! Hyperventilation, hyperventilation…!
“Woof!”
Ooh, Donta…! You remembered I can’t talk when I feel eyes on me! Getting between us and blocking everyone’s view, good boy~ Donta~… there, there, good boy, good boy…
“Rinne-san, shall I explain instead?”
“Y-Yeah.”
“If you move at high speed inside the Sea Cave Dungeon, a large orca called the Slaughterer appears as a penalty monster!”
“The Slaughterer!?”
“Eh, that’s terrifying.”
“I thought the Giant Inksane was the only penalty monster!! Then that thing must’ve been seriously strong!”
“It was Level 99!”
“Eh, hold on? If this story’s going where I think it’s going… you beat it!?”
Peru-chan’s explaining for me… Peru-chan is amazing~… She can talk with everyone’s attention on her, sparkling away with a smug face. Really, she’s my exact opposite. Smug Peru-chan is cute…
“Cuute… cuuuuute…”
“Are you leaving this in the lobby!?”
“Eh, y-yes… If it’s, in the way, please, put it away…”
“The guild lobby furniture was nothing but sofas and it was bleak, and this is fluffy and comfy, and my napping spots have increased, so I’m happy~! Not putting it away, absolutely not putting it away!”
“Nap Lover-chan does love a fluffy thing~”
“It might be neck and neck with Don-chan~… But it’s a different fluffy from Don-chan…”
Looks like they’ll let the Slaughterer plushie stay here. Standing next to Donta, the spatial dominance is going to be tremendous… Even so, the Guild House lobby is still so big there are plenty of empty patches…
“Ah, Donta reminded me… Donta, evolution.”
“Woof!! (I can evolve!)”
“Eh? Evolution? Don-chan evolves?”
“That is right! What materials are required?”
Come to think of it, Donta could evolve. Let’s evolve him~. You need ☆3 Magic Crystals, which drop from monsters occasionally, plus Mithril Ingots to form his hardened bones. You need an item called Proof of a Sovereign too~… ah, got it!
“If I’ve got any materials that work, they’re yours.”
“I’ll give you whatever I’ve got~”
“Evolve as cutely as I did.”
“Baldie evolves just by putting a squid on his head…”
“Only Mithril Ingots, I don’t have…”
“I sure don’t have mithril…”
“Ah~, nope.”
“Not in the guild storage either~!”
“Anyone got some~?”
“I do not have any either…”
Ah, huh, are Mithril Ingots maybe a valuable item…? There’s a decent crowd here and nobody has any… Do I just have to save up money and buy one at the in-game official auction?
“I’ll give you some. Don-cha, get fluffier?”
Eh… C-Cute, there’s a tiny kid…! A guild member I’m meeting for the first time…! Being stared at expressionlessly makes me nervous… Is she a Goth-Loli fan like me, a Lolita fashion devotee…!? That navy Goth-Loli dress suits her so well…!
“H-He might, get fluffier…?”
“Nn! Use them? I have lots.”
“Th-Thank, you, very much…!”
“Nn!”
[Received {Mithril Ingot} from 07XB785Y.]
How am I supposed to read this name!? Zero, seven… why, why is your name like this!?
“Call me Rena. During name entry, I put the serial code in. As my player name.”
“You’re kidding…!? Ah, I’m Rinne…!”
“I don’t know if Rena-chan’s incident is the reason, but lately the first angel says ‘Tell me your name!’ now, doesn’t it~. It was a sad incident…”
“I hate that angel. Zuu~~n…”
“She is visibly dejected…”
“I hated it, so I skipped the tutorial. Hate the angel.”
“I hate them too… I hate them so very much…”
Aah, so you’re the person who created the opportunity for me to deck an angel without a moment’s hesitation…! I might have failed to hold back and hit them eventually anyway, but you are overwhelmingly the reason the punching happened early. No question.
“I get it~. Then Rinne and me, we’re friends now.”
“F-Friends…!”
“Nn, nice to meet you. Angel-hating Real Module buddies should stick together.”
“…………!?”
“Nn…♡ We’re friends, so, hug.”
F-Friends, hug…!? She’s expressionless but the physical affection is intense, Rena-chan is friendly!? And she’s a Real Module!? Uwaah, it’s true~~!! The only change is hair color, she only changed it to silver and left everything else!? Eh, so her eyes are red in real life too? Hyoeeee~~… A tremendous beauty~~………… She looks like a slightly older big sister to Lia-chan, and I’d assumed she was a made-in-the-editor loli, not a Real Module, and she’s a Real Module!! The world is amazing, a miracle like this exists…
“Rinne, minor?”
“Eh, ah, yes…”
“Then I’m older. Ahem.”
“…………?????”
————???????????????
“Rena-chan is of age~…”
Hold on, I have no idea what you’re saying…
[Friend request received from 07XB785Y. A message is attached… “Let’s talk lots next time?”]
“……!”
From Rena-chan… Aah, from Rena-san…? Something’s off… She has life seniority on me, so: Rena-chan-senpai! A friend request out of nowhere! My first friend other than Peru-chan~… Is someone like me even allowed to be her friend…? But we’re fellow angel-hating Goth-Loli fans, the kinship is real, so friends it is…!
[Accepted the friend request from 07XB785Y.]
“Thanks, looking forward to the evolution, see you.”
[07XB785Y has logged out.]
Oh my~… A little wave, and she logged out… Rena-chan-senpai is cute~… Let’s talk next time I have a moment~… Eh, logged out!?
“Rena-chan absolutely goes to sleep before midnight no matter what~”
“I-I see…”
She always logs out before midnight, which is why the message said let’s talk next time. The fact she properly goes to sleep before midnight is very much a little-girl thing and it’s cute…!
“Then, I’ll do Donta’s evolution.”
The materials are gathered, so let’s evolve Donta! Evolution options are~…? Three types this time.
…………
……
Ah, I haven’t read to the end but this is rejected… If he stops being fluffy, Donta has no value… The fluff is the point, the fluff.
Oh~~… So Donta becomes extra large… This one~? Let me check the last one just in case.
This one, I daresay~! Champion Warg! That’s completely a strict upgrade over Warg, nobody would pick Warg, Donta is confirmed for Champion Warg!
“I’ll evolve him.”
“Oh, this’ll be fun…”
“Flu~ffy. Flu~ffy!”
“Hugging Don-chan is warm and lovely~”
[Donta has evolved from {Lesser Warg} to {Champion Warg}! Congratulations!]
“Ohh, what, what’s this? He’s gone awfully handsome!”
“Woof…! (Somehow I got hungry!)”
“Ah, Donta is still Donta.”
“He looks tightened up.”
“Ooh, he got a bit slimmer. Slim Don-chan.”
Excuse me, the sharper mind has gone missing. Should I file a bug report? The first thing he said after evolving was ‘I got hungry!’…
[Donta acquired the active skill {Doppel}.]
[Donta acquired {Slash Annihilation}.]
[Donta’s {Double Palm} was strengthened into {Blast Annihilation Double Palm}.]
[Donta acquired {Super Howl}.]
[Donta’s stats have risen substantially.]
Ah, the stats hadn’t risen yet! So now Donta’s head has gotten better! Thank goodness, thank goodness! Man~, I thought it was a bug. What a relief~.
“Glad you got stronger, Donta.”
“Woof! Woof! (Yeah! I’m hungry!)”
His head hasn’t gotten better at all, this is definitely a bug. No, wait…? Maybe sharper mind means his brain level went from 1 to 2? Going from brain level 1 to brain level 2 is, numerically, twice as smart! Thinking about it that way, he has obtained a sharper mind… Well, from here he’ll surely grow strong and wise like a sovereign! Surely. Probably. Yes…
“Awoooon♡ (Rub my tummy~)”
“You want your tummy rubbed… There, there, uu~n… you’re a big doggo, huh…”
………… The road is a harsh one, but he will approach the sovereign of the great demon wolves (lol).
“He just looks like a mega-huge doggo to me…”
“By the way, is Don-chan strong~?”
Well, uu~n. I think he’s strong if he fights, but the thing is, all everyone ever sees is a giant pet. Peru-chan is the only one who knows how strong Donta actually is, huh.
“There’s a training ground in the Guild House basement, you know, you can do sparring matches down there.”
“Donta, want to try practicing against people?”
“Woof!! (I do! But I’m hungry!)”
“He just ate, but the evolution seems to have made him hungry… He says he wants to once he’s eaten something.”
“My, I should like to fight him once as well!”
“Then once he’s eaten, give him a bit of a match~”
————Up to this point, everyone’s read on him was roughly a slightly big, strong-looking doggo.
“————Ngoaa~~!?”
“Woof!! (I won!)”
“Donta’s strong~. You did great~…”
“Woof~~♡”
The first rule was a 1-on-1 spar. It started with Nap Lover-san, who’d suggested it, against Donta, and it ended in an instant because Nap Lover-san underestimated him. The Demon Wolf Cannonball’s ultra-fast, massive-body tackle had turned even more vicious than when he fought Slaughtorca, and the instant a colossal boom rang through the training ground, Nap Lover-san was already embedded in the wall, knocked out.
“I can’t win even four-on-one~…”
“Can’t call him Don-chan anymore. It’s Master Donta…”
“Kkhh, one more! One more, please! I feel like I’m about to grasp something!”
“Reiji, you’ve lost at least ten times already.”
“I mean~, we’ve got cooking buffs on. Losing with those is bad~”
“I no longer feel I can beat Don-chan at all!”
“Woof-fuun!”
And at some point sparring with Donta became multi-opponent by default, and eventually the thing got itself named Donta Dojo. Donta gets a little snack from Baldie-san when he wins a spar, so he’s completely into it.
“Can I get one solo run!?”
“Donta, Reiji-san wants a 1-on-1.”
“Woof! (Got it!)”
Donta’s strength is that he doesn’t sandbag. Once he decides to do it he’s serious, he doesn’t hold back against anyone… Well, there are the occasional hopelessly scatterbrained and slow moments…
[Sparring match begins in 5 seconds…]
“Here I go…!”
“Woof!!”
Reiji-san is someone who doesn’t give up no matter how many times he’s beaten. His job is Samurai, his weapon a katana, an attacker built on speed and power who deals huge damage the moment an attack lands.
[Begin]
[Donta activated {Doppel・Demon Wolf Cannonball}.]
“It’s coming…! Right here!!”
[Donta canceled {Demon Wolf Cannonball}.]
[Reiji activated {Iaido Draw}, Donta’s Doppel vanished.]
“Wha!? A phantom!?”
“Awoooooooon!!!!”
[Donta activated {Super Howl}, Reiji was {Stunned}.]
[Donta activated {Demon Wolf Cannonball}, dealt 1274 damage to Reiji. Reiji recovered from Stun. Reiji was knocked back.]
“——G-Gah…!?”
[2 COMBO! Donta activated {Doppel・Blast Annihilation Double Palm}, 4 HITs total on Reiji! Dealt 6255 damage. Knockdown!]
“Ugoh…”
[Donta wins. Good work.]
Donta’s getting good at handling his Doppel. His new skill {Doppel} is an action skill that spends Donta’s dedicated points, {Fight Points}, to make a phantom appear. The effect is simply that hit count doubles. But what makes this skill truly terrifying is the cancel-feint he just used: Donta cancels the skill, but Donta’s Doppel keeps going without interrupting it. So the Doppel comes charging in even though Donta isn’t doing a Demon Wolf Cannonball anymore, and if you mistake it for Donta and attack, you whiff like that and Donta harvests you.
————Uh oh, is our Donta too strong…?
“Woof woof…♡ (Chicken jerky!)”
All he ever remembers is food names, honestly.
“Reiji’s a top-tier PvP player and this is what happens~. Here you go, Don-chan.”
“Wooof~~♡”
“Man~, he’s seriously strong… Super Howl’s stun is brutal.”
“And while the Doppel’s alive the stun check happens twice. The scary part is you can resist the first and still fail the second.”
“Whaaat~~…! I was sure I had that one, just now…!”
“Demon Wolf Cannonball having stun and knockback is rough too. Getting launched, stunned, then finished by Blast Annihilation Double Palm is too strong a combo.”
“Having Aegis stripped so easily is painful~…”
“You stack bludgeon resistance for Blast Annihilation Double Palm and the Cannonball is Bludgeon and Pierce so it just hurts anyway, and even if you tank all of it there’s Slash Annihilation with the foreclaws~? I don’t think I can beat this~”
“Wooof~~♡ Hah♡ Hah♡”
“He’s a giant doggo pure and simple when he’s eating chicken jerky, though.”
“Don-chan’s gonna get tired, think about Don-chan properly~”
“I’ll let you off… for today…! Guhah…!”
Apparently Donta can accept sparring offers on his own even when I’m not around, so the Donta Dojo looks set to stay busy for a while. Still, honestly, am I actually unnecessary here? I’m basically a fragile main unit whose only feature is having a powerful servant called Donta??
“——And so, the reason the power goes up when you cast without abbreviating the chant: I think it’s because the deployment, composition, charging, and firing of the magic circle are all performed perfectly.”
“Certainly, looking at this drawing, the activation word does appear to summon a simplified magic circle…”
“It seems to be written in an ancient language, but the decipherment isn’t going anywhere.”
“I can read this! Only a little, though… I believe this says {Flame, spread}.”
“You can read it!? Eh, I see, so these lines that look like a hexagram in the center, they’re connecting letter to letter!?”
“That is how I was taught. The activation word summons these in simplified form, and I believed the chant grants power to each of these letters individually.”
Lia-chan’s group has turned into a magic study session. She’s surrounded by the guild’s big-sister mage group, talking magic theory over a grimoire… You’d think a little witch was being tutored by lovely older ladies, and surprisingly it’s the reverse…! If anything Lia-chan is leading the study!
“Then perhaps the words themselves hold power.”
“Certainly, and perhaps the magic circle is what assembles and shapes them.”
“Maybe if you put mana into the words, the power goes up.”
“Using strong words might matter too.”
“Speaking strong words with mana in them, you’d probably need a skill that senses mana flow~.”
“I was taught you can train it by closing your eyes and tracing the presence of your own magic and other people’s!”
“Heeh~! Want to try that next time we’re free?”
“Wonder if we can learn it~”
“Worth a try. If a precedent for learning it exists, the magic scene advances!”
“There was nobody around me who could use magic… And I have a constitution that only lets me use strong magic, so I couldn’t do this…”
“I want to see the magic Aurelia-chan uses, but the power is a bit scary!”
“Then how about this, rolling an ice ball around you with your eyes closed?”
“Nice, let’s do that.”
“I want to join too!”
Oh, oh… Things are developing all over… If a mana-tracing skill comes out of that, let me in on it too. Today, uu~n, I think I’m tired… I want to sleep!
“My, forgive me for leaving you alone, Rinne-san!”
“No no, I’m glad Peru-chan was having fun. It was fun to watch.”
Peru-chan came over. Lost to Donta comprehensively, apparently. Hyper Slash is a big swing so Donta dodges it, and even when it lands it doesn’t have the power to finish him. He forces his way in with the Demon Wolf Cannonball and rips off Penetrate with the Blast Annihilation Double Palm. A hopelessly bad matchup for her. Donta is far too much of a Peru-chan killer…
“That is good to hear! Oh yes, now that you are Level 50, have you noticed anything?”
“Uu~n? Not really…?”
“For me, look! I can bring out a greatsword now!”
“Uwah, you really can… Huh? Peru-chan, has your vibe changed?”
“Indeed! I have entered a prestige class! Nemesis Princess!”
“Hoeh~~…”
She’d class-changed from Dark Princess to Nemesis Princess while she was at it. Prestige class, prestige class~… What are the conditions for getting one?
“You have the thing Babylon-sama gave you, do you not? That item should be awaiting an awakening release!”
“Ah, it really is. It says fifty ☆4 Magic Crystals.”
“Yes! I have them!”
“Ehh… is that okay…?”
“I have close to nine hundred! It is no great quantity!”
She’s right, the Urge of Death is awaiting awakening. I see, so I enhance this. Materials, uu~n, I really do nothing but receive things. Let me lean on her again…
[Meltis Alert: Warning!! Dangerous operation!!!]
[Meltis Alert: Warning!! You may become unable to receive normal support!!]
Oh, some special staging is happening. This kind of thing makes my heart race…
[Meltis Alert: Unknown error… resisting interference————Error————Your Urge of Death is going to awaken~♡]
[{Urge of Death of the Slime} has awakened into {Abyssal Urge of Death of the Slime}~♡ Not bad~!♡]
Nnngh!!!! The system messages turned into Babylon-chan————!!!! So cute, yesss————!!!!!!!
[Your job class-changed from Necromancer to {Abyssal Necromancer}, so keep up the good work~? A celebration gift for the class change, here! This is a p-r-e-s-e-n-t too♡ I’ll be watching for a while~♡]
[System restored————Support system has switched. Acquired {Introduction to Necromancy Vol. 2} and {Introduction to Dark Magic Vol. 2}.]
Aah, Babylon-chan’s gone from the messages…!! System messages, I want them to stay Babylon-chan forever… I could watch that forever… Ah, what happened to the Urge of Death. Let me check.
There’s a new skill called Abyss Walker! Yaay! And I got grimoires! More new skills for me~!
“My, my my…”
“Uu~n? What’s wrong, Peru-chan…?”
“You class-changed, did you not…? Your shadow… Your shadow… it feels as though it is watching me…”
“Shadow? Nothing’s wrong with it?”
“No, um, well… I-It is nothing!”
Peru-chan said something about my shadow, but nothing’s changed. My appearance is the same, and nothing like Peru-chan’s faint red-black Aegis aura deepening has happened to me. Doesn’t look like anyone’s about to figure out I’m a necromancer! Good, good.
“My, look at the time! We have school tomorrow… Shall we go to bed soon?”
“Yeah~. Sleep, sleep. See you tomorrow.”
Well, it’s a good stopping point, so let’s call it here for today. The Donta Dojo and the Aurelia study group both look set to continue, and over there… Maybe I should tell them not to overdo it.
“————Ah, you’re going to bed. Roger~, see you~”
“I’ll stop before Don-chan says he hates it! I won’t give him too many snacks either!”
“Ah, Big Sis, good night. I’ll wrap up in moderation and sleep too!”
“Woof woof~ (See you tomorrow! I’ll be waiting)”
“Ah! Good night, Big Sis!”
“Well then, good niiight.”
“Good night, everyone~!”
“Night~”
“Later~”
“Yeah, see ya! Thanks for the squid!”
“Ah, no…! I’m glad, you liked her…!”
“By~e.”
Lia-chan noticed and said goodbye properly, that makes me happy~. Now then, what shall I do tomorrow~, looking forward to it~… Logging out for today…
[Logout in progress…]
[Interference————See ya later, Crazy Woman~♡ I’m watching~♡]
Nnngh————!!!!!