Chapter Text
Mmmmh...? Ooooooh...
What happened...? I don't remember falling... asleep.
So dizzy... my head is spinning around and around...
Ugh... f*cking sun... all over my face... (>﹏<)
So disgusting sun... Somebody turn it off!
With difficulty, I achieve something extraordinary... open my eyelids.
My mouth feels pasty... and I have a strong 'false pain' in my head.
[Suffering Nullification] only replaces the pain with another different sensation. A little unpleasant, but different and tolerable. Like a 'false pain', to also know when they hurt you.
If it wasn't for that... I would feel a strong pain... as if I had a spear stuck in my head.
I have to... get up... woaaaah, so difficult... and although I have managed it, maintaining my balance is even more difficult...
I feel like I'm forgetting something... and that's a problem... no, actually... I'm forgetting a lot more things... so it's okay...
No, wait... that's worse...
I feel something strange on my chin... Sticky? What is this... what is this dripping under my chin?
What am I stained with? Red? What will it be...?
A red stain on the floor? Pieces of white exoskeleton?!
"HIIRO!!"
I don't understand! What happened?! Why?! ᕙ(>ᗝ<)ᕗ
Multiple hypotheses cross my mind, but... that's not the most important thing.
C'mon c'mon! [Healing Magic] and [Medicine Synthesis] at full speed...!
C'mon... almost there... Done...! Phew...
Hiiro already has the body recovered.
"Hiiro, you ok?"
Her body has turned upside down, so I can only see the lower part of her body... like a dead insect...
No... this can't be... Right?
I-I mean... I can appraise her, see her HPs and all that... she's... fine, right?
"Hiiro?"
Why... why doesn't she answer?
Damn, it can't be... Im... mortality... Right?... She can't... die... Right?
Cold sweats run through my body.
"Hi... Hiiro?"
"WHAT, YOU HAPPY?!!" ¯\_ (◣_◢ꐦ) _/¯
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!" (⊙ᗝ⊙)
A moment ago I was scared that I had killed her. Now my heart is so fast it's gonna explode.
Out of fright, I jumped several meters back.
*Ah**Ah**Ah**Ah**Ah**Ah*
"Hey! I'm glad you're okay, but don't scare me like that again!"
"EX-CUSE-MEEEEEE?! Did you say me not to scare you like that again?! I don't know if you've noticed, but I've turned into a red blur on the ground, because a huge [Earth Dragon] fell on me, and crushed me the same way an aircraft carrier crushes a cardboard box!"
W-what? I don't remember any of that...
"I'm usually a bit... reticent about hugs, but what I will NOT accept is a 'Dragon hug' in that way"
"I'm sorry... dunno... what happened..."
Girls, do you remember anything?
Fei7: 'Ugh, I'm not on my best day either. I feel my head terribly bad'
Fei2: 'Think... I gonna... barf... Somebody want to... barf with me?'
Fei5: 'I think there is not much to remember. According to [Record], the memories... are not very abundant or clear'
I want to see them. No matter how few there are. I need to remember.
Fei5: 'But-'
I want to see them!
Fei5: 'Okay, okay'
But... What is this about a black and white animated cartoon of a mouse on a boat?
Fei5: 'And what do I know? Already told you! We do what we can with the little we have!'
"Aaaaah... I don't remember absolutely nothing about what has happened"
"He... hey babe. You really have a bad face"
Oh! Wait... a memory is coming...
"I think to remember... I drank the juice you brought me and... I don't remember anymore"
"The juice? Since when does the juice make you fall... asleep, unconscious... or even amnesic?"
"And what do I know? I just know that's the last thing I remember!"
"Is there any juice left? Let me check something"
"If it's to 'check' the taste, I'm telling you it was delicious" (─‿‿─)
"What?! No! What I want to check is something else..."
After a few seconds inspecting the remains of juice, Hiiro seems a bit surprised.
Maybe she appraised the juice? Why would she do that? What's the point?
"Oh... oooookay. I know what happened, Fei. It seems that this was not juice, but a distilled fruit liqueur, and very strong by the way"
"Liqueur?!"
"Yeah, that's it"
I'm starting to remember some details.
I remember it was delicious, and I felt weird shortly after.
I thought it would be some special effect of one of the fruits.
If some fruits like the ones I found a few days ago had special effects, the fruits in the juice could also have some of those things, right?
But no... all that was just the effects of alcohol. Which means...
"Which means the only thing that's happened to you, is that you caught a championship sh*t-face, and now you're sooooo hungover" ¯\_(─ ‿‿ ─')_/¯
That explains the pasty mouth feeling, the difficulty of maintaining balance, dizziness, and pain... well, the 'fake' headache, which still continues to feel annoying and unpleasant...
But... Isn't being drunk considered some kind of 'Status Condition'?
I mean, my [Status Condition Super-Resistance] skill should have covered my back in this situation... Right?
And I have this skill at such a high level that it borders on Nullification.
Or maybe getting drunk... somehow overtakes, surpasses... or simply ignores the characteristics and particularities of the System?
Fei9: 'Bleugh!... Could it also be... because the skill is... disabled?'
What?!
It's... true.
I was so distracted by seeing that I have the skill, that I hadn't noticed that the skill was grayed out, meaning... disabled.
But why?!
Don't tell me that alcohol has the ability to disable the skill?!
But that's absurd. If alcohol were not affected, there is no point in disabling a skill that does not affect it.
And if it were affected... How could alcohol deactivate the skill?
Fei2: 'If memory serves... I think... we disabled the skill recently'
What? Why would I do something like that?
Fei7: 'It could be... Blugh!... when you ate those berries that had paralysis'
Eeeeh...
Fei6: 'Ah, yes... temporarily disabled the skill to feel the paralysis in the mouth'
Jesus! I forgot!
Fei2: 'What a day, isn't it? The least we can do is apologize to Hiiro...'
"I'm sorry... about crushing you... and all that... you know..."
"Okay, it's nothing. You didn't do it with bad intention. I guess it's nobody's fault. I did not imagine that the villagers would start making distilled spirits with the fruit, and even less that they would keep it there"
It seems that re-enabling the skill, some of the effects of alcohol disappear quickly.
Bleugh!
But not all them.
Retching. Damn, so disgusting. I feel an unpleasant taste in my mouth.
I have to get this disgusting taste out of my mouth.
Water, I need water to gargle.
They say 'if life gives you lemons, make lemonade', but...
Up here on this mountain there are only rocks, and I can't gargle with that!
Then if nature doesn't provide me the water I need, I make it myself with magic.
GLAGLAGLAGLAGLAGLA!
Much bett... eh?
Fei3: 'But what did you do?!'
BLAAAAGH!
"HEY! Why are you spitting on me now?! Huh? Does it itch...? Wow, this is really itchy! By chance, it won't be this...?"
"*Ah**Ah**Ah**Ah**Ah* YES!"
Fei8: 'How did you come up with...?'
I forgot, sh*t!!
<Skill proficiency has risen. [Acid Super-Resistance] has risen to LV5>
"It can't be... Are you telling me that you...?"
"*Ah**Ah* YEAH!"
"Seriously?! I mean... Did you really forget...?"
"Haven't you ever forgotten anything?!"
Yeah, that's right.
I forgot to separate the skill [Strong Acid Attack] from [Water Magic]. Therefore, when gargling with my own water, I have completely burned my mouth.
It's been a while since I did that. It is not about 'joining' the skills, but rather combining their effects. it's a bit hard to explain.
Even if this kind of thing is supposed to heal on its own, and even quickly, it has been about as unpleasant as gulping down a small bottle of hot sauce.
God, I could almost feel fire coming out of my mouth!
That's a Fire Dragon stuff, not an Earth Dragon stuff!
The Earth Dragons shoot a laser beam from their mouths, which looks like something out of a music video from the 80s.
Yeah, I have sometimes seen things from the 80s and 90s, and the style that was worn back then was a bit... particular.
"Pfff..."
Ah, no, no way.
"Don't laugh, I see you"
"PFFFFFFFFFFF...!"
"DON'T LAUGH!"
"BUAAAA- HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!"
"HIIRO!"
Damn you... Haven't I had enough with the hangover, and having burned my mouth because of my carelessness? Do I also have to listen to how she laughs at me? (◖益◖ꐦ)
"Sorry, sorry, my bad, but... HAAAAAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!"
"That's enough, huh?!"
"HAH-HAH-HAH... What? Don't complain so much. At least you made me laugh enough to compensate and forget that you barfed acid water on me a few seconds ago, and that a moment ago you fell on me, leaving me flatter than a postage stamp... hah-hah-hah-hah..."
"Okay yeah, I'm sorry about that... it wasn't... it wasn't my intention"
After apologizing, Hiiro finally stops mocking, teasing and laughing at me.
Although I had already apologized before.
"Well, hairs to the sea. What? At least you seem to feel better now. I guess that made you more sober up, right?"
Well, after burning my mouth with acid... I'm just a little more awake, but...... I guess it will pass with time...
"Meh, more or less"
"Then I think we should get out of here already. It's a good place, and we can come back by teleporting whenever we want"
Yeah, it is true that it is a good place, but I don't think it is convenient for us to stay in the same place for a long time.
Although the mountain was several thousand meters high, we went down it in just a minute with the same ease with which we went up.
We continue towards the West, through the forest.
It seems that the forest around here is much smaller than at the East.
In fact, in this area the vegetation, although it has a healthy bright green, is mostly small grass.
As cattle pasture or park grass.
I understand as 'forest', a place where there are many trees with little distance between them.
And what could be considered 'forest', here... is little land.
It's almost like a grass desert.
And the forests, although numerous, are small in this area. They would be like oasis.
It is not possible to go unnoticed here, since with my enormous size, I cannot hide anywhere other than in a forest, among many trees.
And I can't get from one forest to another without crossing an open, wide and extensive area.
It is true that so far, the journey has been smooth. We haven't encountered humans, and there weren't even many monsters along the road.
And speaking of roads, we are following one.
We find it and it turns out that it is heading west, in the same direction as us, so coincidentally, it coincides with our way.
It is a well-made road and someone has bothered to build it, since it is a road of smooth stones. You could say that it is like a paved road, but primitive.
Hiiro and I have already seen how technologically backward humans are in this world, so what will cross this way will almost certainly be carriages. Or at least that's the only thing I can think of.
However, we do not walk on the road, since the probability of humans passing through here is between 100% and YES.
We walked some distance from the road.
It turns out that right now next to the road, in parallel there is a small plateau with a forest, which is where we are moving.
At least this forest is bigger than the others.
We even had to camp here, because we didn't manage to cross all the way.
"C'mon Fei. It's time to keep moving"
"Yeah, yeah... I'm on it..."
Well, we continue our journey towards...
Fei3: 'A better world?'
I was going to say 'a place away from the [Demon Lord]', but that would be fine too. I wish.
"Oh, look! A carriage"
From up here along the road, we can see a horse-drawn carriage approaching.
To avoid problems, except for Hiiro's 'excursion' to that village to 'see what it was there', we have tried to travel avoiding any city, town, village, or anything similar.
Obviously, if we go near a road that, based on the footprints seems to be followed by carriages, we would meet some human sooner or later.
It is a quite beautiful and decorated carriage. Probably from some wealthy family.
"But get down! Don't let them see you!"
I'm sorry! I will reduce my body size!
Oh, wait... I can't!
Do you know it wasn't my choice to be huge?!
"Well, at least it's drawn by horses, and not by something else... extravagant"
"Like what"
"Dunno. We've seen so many weird and fanciful things in this world, it wouldn't have seemed weird to me if it was drawn by tamed monsters or something. Even Wyrms"
Yeah, being honest, the fact that the carriage is drawn by just ordinary horses, is even... disappointing to me.
But why does she mention Wyrms? Knowing how proud and strong Dragons are...
"I doubt a Wyrm can be tamed so easily"
The carriage keep moving at a leisurely pace. They don't seem to have seen us up here, despite being so close to them.
"Anyway, let's try to go unnoticed. Let's get out of here"
"Yeah, it'll be better"
Avoiding encountering with humans is what we should do.
But as the carriage passes near us, three armed people run out of some bushes heading towards the road.
They are blocking the road, and the carriage stops.
"Oeirwxr rgw xpeeupfw!"
"Npjw ayew rgw siie ua oeirwxrws!"
"Qgpr pew qw dpxubf?"
"Rgwew'ew rgeww icwe gwew!"
Seconds later, three other armed men come out of other bushes, but to block the opposite side.
"Pbs rgeww niew! Vwgubs ya!"
I already knew in advance that those six were hiding there in the bushes. One of the skills included in [Detection], and of course, in [Wisdom], is [Presence Perception].
A skill that allows to perceive the presence of other nearby life forms.
I didn't pay much attention to the fact that those guys were hiding, because I didn't know they were hiding to rob the carriage, but also because I don't care. It's not something that concerns me.
Well, it is now clear what all this is.
"An assault by bandits!"
Indeed.
Realizing that they are surrounded, several armed people get out of the carriage.
Three people, to be more exact.
| <Human LV15 Name: Yavier> |
| HP: 170/170 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ MP: 170/170 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ SP: 170/170 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ SP: 170/170 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Offense: 135 Defense: 135 Magic Power: 135 Resistance: 135 Speed: 135 |
| Skills: [SP Lessened Consumption LV1] [Exhaustion Resistance LV1] [Taste Enhancement LV2] [Night Vision LV1] [Swordsmanship LV1] |
| Skill Points: 40 Titles: None |
E... ex... excuse me?
Of the three bodyguards, this is the... strongest one.
By any chance... can 'THIS' be called... 'strong'?
His stats are only slightly higher than mine... When I was born!
They even have fewer skills, and at a much lower level!
They have almost nothing at all!
I can see that these people... are not children. It's true that they are quite young. They appear to be between 18 and 20 years old, so they are more or less 'adults'.
Although to be honest, they don't even look like professional fighters.
There are three things to note about them: Their clothing, their armor, and their weapons.
Their clothes are quite formal, and seem well cared for. More than soldiers or bodyguards, they seem like servants.
Their armor... is just leather armor, which only covers the torso, and only from the front.
I'm no expert on medieval armor, but I'm fully convinced that such a simple armor would be more appropriate for some sword training, than for a real life-or-death fight.
Their weapons... well, all three of them carry the same weapon. A sword.
Judging by what I see, it is a simple double-bladed sword, but it is very thin and light.
It is so thin that it almost seems as if it would break with a blow. It looks more like a foil than a sword.
If these were my bodyguards, I would be dead. So pathetic.
The carriage driver has joined them. I hadn't noticed that he also carried a sword, but he doesn't even wear armor like his colleagues.
It is terrible that someone trusts their life to such softy and poorly equipped people.
Wait! There are 6 bandits, but I have not appraised them.
Although the bodyguards are at a disadvantage in numbers, they may be able to beat the bandits in skills or stats.
But I doubt so.
| <Human LV20 Name: Garbo> |
| HP: 253/253 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ MP: 204/204 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ SP: 235/235 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ SP: 234/234 +150 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ Offense: 275 Defense: 221 Magic Power: 196 Resistance: 192 Speed: 215 |
| Skills: [HP Auto-Recovery LV3] [SP Recovery Speed LV3] [SP Lessened Consumption LV3] [Longevity LV3] [Instant Body LV2] [Endurance LV2] [Herculean Strength LV3] [Sturdy LV2] [Protection LV3] [Acceleration LV1] [Energy Attack LV4] [Dark Attack LV7] [Heavy Attack LV4] [Destruction Enhancement LV5] [Cutting Enhancement LV7] [Piercing Enhancement LV2] [Impact Enhancement LV4] [Shock Enhancement LV1] [Dark Enhancement LV5] [Heavy Enhancement LV1] [Mental Warfare LV2] [Spatial Maneuvering LV4] [Cooperation LV10] [Command LV1] [Presence Perception LV9] [Danger Perception LV10] [Motion Perception LV10] [Heat Perception LV3] [Concentration LV10] [Thought Acceleration LV2] [Foresight LV1] [Parallel Thinking LV3] [Memory LV2] [Heresy Magic LV1] [Destruction Resistance LV5] [Cutting Resistance LV5] [Piercing Resistance LV4] [Impact Resistance LV4] [Shock Resistance LV2] [Poison Resistance LV4] [Paralysis Resistance LV3] [Exhaustion Resistance LV1] [Dark Resistance LV2] [Heresy Resistance LV1] [Fear Resistance LV2] [Pain Resistance LV9] [Vision Enhancement LV7] [Auditory Enhancement LV6] [Taste Enhancement LV3] [Throw LV6] [Hit LV8] [Evasion LV2] [Night Vision LV10] [Vision Expansion LV5] [Axemanship LV8] [Overeating LV3] [Usurp LV1] [Crude LV2] |
| Skill Points: 19 Titles: [Merciless] [Commander] [Monster Slayer] [Monster Slaughterer] [Human Slayer] [Human Slaughterer] |
Those have been the results of the one who undoubtedly seems to be the boss.
While the bodyguards have almost no differences in stats, level and skills, among the bandits there are.
The leader of the bandits is undoubtedly the 'strongest'. All the other bandits also have a ton of skills, but their skills are a little different.
The boss is not only the one with the most skills, but also the one who has them at the highest level.
The other bandits have stats between 150-200, while the boss's stats are between 200-250.
The boss seems to be someone who enjoys using the axe. The others, as they use other weapons, have some different skills.
More specifically, what we could call 'weapon skills'.
They are skills that according to the description, 'increase the attack power of the weapon', and also make it easier to handle. Skills typical of a race that fights with weapons like humans.
They are skills like [Swordsmanship], [Bowmanship], [Dagger], [Axemanship], etc...
There is the boss with a fairly large axe, but one that he can use easily. He is not wearing armor and seems quite confident, quite sure of himself.
There is a bandit with a long spear, who among many other skills has the skill [Spearmanship], and has metal armor that covers his chest.
Two bandits have much more clothes than the others. Their faces are covered, they wear a hood and dark-colored tunics that cover their entire body. However, I think they don't wear armor under their clothes.
Each one has a knife in each hand. The funny thing is that this is the first time I've seen a weapon with a skill.
Those knives have the skill [Poison Attack LV5].
They have a high level in [Hit], [Evasion], [Camouflage], [Stealth], [Silence], [Odorless] and [Dagger].
Poisonous knives, covered faces, dark clothing...
C'mon, they are shouting everywhere that they are professional assassins.
Another of the bandits uses a small bow, arrows, and has the [Bowmanship] skill. He does not wear armor, since it is normal for attacks to be carried out by the vanguard, and not someone like him, who attacks from afar.
And to handle the bow well, you need flexibility and ease.
The last bandit looks like being blown up like a balloon. He is seen to have robust muscles like a bull, and is the second strongest bandit.
He wears metal armor that covers his torso and shoulders, a helmet that also protects his face, a small metal shield, and a curved sword that looks more like a huge machete or something.
Since he is the only one who carries a shield, he is also the only one who has the [Shieldmanship] skill.
And of course, they all have the [Snatch] skill, which is clearly a thieves and bandit skill.
The boss is the only one who has the higher version, [Usurp].
<[Snatch]: Absorbs a small random part of the target's power when the user kills others. Possibly stat points, skill proficiency, or skill points. The portion of the absorbed power increases according to the skill level>
This is certainly a useful skill. When you kill something, you absorb some skill points, proficiency points from some skill, or extra points for stats.
If Hiiro got this skill just by stealing things, I think I already know how I can get it too, although I'll leave that for another time.
And so much for Feirune's useless and unnecessary analysis of the situation in the next fight: bandits VS bodyguards.
You ask why did I start telling all this? I don't know, I guess I was bored and boredom is sooooooo bad for health.
In short: The bandits have the advantage in everything. Number, stats, skills and equipment.
"Everyone has more or less the same strength, but the bandits win by a landslide"
"Maybe their stats... well, for us, stats between 100 and 200 are as different as having to break a chopstick, or two. I mean, inappreciable, but for them I guess it's the difference between heaven and earth. I don't think we can really say that they have the same strength"
Fei7: 'NANG!'
The bell rings, and the fight begins!
The results were not long in coming.
"Eeeerh... Is this a life or death fight?"
Yeah, for them it should be, but I only see a few weapon movements back and forth, movements to dodge attacks...
But... it lacks the tension of combat. This is too boring. Too relaxed.
I don't... I don't 'feel' like I'm witnessing a fierce fight.
I feel like two children are playing swordsmen with branches.
"Yeah, I understand you... we have faced so many calamities, that now for us this mediocre level of fight is..."
"Pathetic, pitiful"
On the other hand, what Hiiro says is true. It is the fact that we have been in such insanely difficult situations, that we no longer see this as we would have seen it the first day we were reincarnated.
Well, we can also compare it to when we lived in Japan... sure, if I think about it as we lived at that time... perhaps it could seem like a terribly hard fight.
"Oh, chick. What do you think we should do?"
"The ideal would be... to do nothing. I mean... What are the advantages of helping them?"
"I know. In fact, all are disadvantages. We are trying to go unnoticed and not be seen. And if we help them, it is clear that they will see us"
"Maybe we could kill the bandits once they massacre everyone"
"We could just leave and pretend we haven't seen anything, kill the bandits quickly and leave just as quickly so as not to attract too much attention... or as you said, kill the bandits when they finish massacring everyone. In fact... we don't know these people at all. They're complete strangers to us, and they might even raise their weapons against us even if we save them because... well, you know, we're monsters and all that, but... Fei, why do I feel terrible watching them get murdered without doing anything?"
"It's not that I feel better about letting them die. Will we still have any of that thing called 'humanity' left?"
"I may have some pieces left on the left scythe, or on the right one. I don't have it clear"
"Maybe I have something left in my tail, or in one of my three horns. Anyway, we'd better leave now, and then we won't have to think about this again"
"Leaving is the best option to go unnoticed, and the other 2 remaining options... well, we would more or less go unnoticed, as long as we look like 2 monsters who just happened to be passing by and killed the bandits. However, I would prefer to at least kill the bandits. I mean, getting XP points makes me happy. And the people around here, having to worry about fewer bandits, will be happy too. Everybody happy!"
"Suuuuure, and the bandits will be happy because..."
"Fei, it is a privilege to become MY EXP points" (> ‿‿<)
WHAG?! (･.◤)
"I'm sure the bandits will be happy about it. Besides, once we kill them, no one will be able to ask them... and anyway... Nobody wants to know the opinion of the bandits!"
"HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH! My, my... heh-heh-heh... it's a pretty convincing argument... I certainly don't see any flaws in that logic, but still, I think it would be better for us to leave. Look! One of the bodyguards has already fallen!"
"We play it rock, paper or scissors. If you win, we'll get out of here, if I win, we'll help them"
"Deal"
"Rock, paper, scissors..."
"One, two..."
"THREE! Oh! The paper wins over the rock. C'mon, let's help them. Ah, yes! And let's try to make it quick "
Eeeeh... Ho-ho-how? What? Where? When? How? Why? (?⌓?)
I thought Hiiro would fall again. Since she has no fingers, she could only pull out... 'scissors'.
She knew that because of this, I would pull out 'rock'.
I was surprised that she was the one who proposed playing this, because she had no way to win.
I thought 'if she wanted to lose, then let her lose'.
What I didn't figure was that she, instead of the scythe, would use a 'hand' created threads.
With which she has made the 'paper' gesture.
She has beaten me. And I admit that the way she did it, caught me with my panties down.
God, the thread has all kinds of uses, but Hiiro finds over and over again, new ways to surprise me with her thread.
I'm sick of it! I'm always saying that everything can be done with thread!
But it's also true that she always finds a new use that I wouldn't have thought of!
Next time I'll cheat and use [Future Sight]. (一`_´一ꐦ)
Fei2: 'Don't sleep on the laurels(1) and get off that goofy face! Don't you see that she has already taken out the bandit boss?!'
"Hey, don't keep them all to yourself! Let me a bit of bandit too!"
As I jump towards where Hiiro and the bandits are, I hear the cries of a baby. Looking at the carriage, I see the baby crying.
Ugh, damn. Now I have even more reasons to help them. I would feel like being stabbed if I let them die, while a baby's life is at stake.
Damn you, [Merciless] title. You're supposed to eliminate any feeling of guilt.
Why don't you work now?
(1) In Spanish 'dormirse en los laureles' (Literally 'sleep in the laurels') means 'get distracted'
