Chapter 19: Half-Naked, Worse Again
[If I told myself from one week ago, "This series is going to hit #1 on the daily category ranking and #4 on the overall daily ranking," would I even believe it?]
[Thanks to all of you, we've made it all the way to #4 on the overall daily category ranking—a spot where people can find the series without even having to click "See More Daily Rankings"! Thank you so much!]
[I hope you'll continue to support this humble work from here on out.]
So what, exactly, is the problem? Simple.
- I'm forced to stay half-naked. Body and leg equipment are unavailable.
- Weak enemies run away, so I have to keep fighting things above my level.
- Curse resistance that might repel a curse user's buffs—or, worst case, even a mage's buffs.
- Now then: does my character currently count as a beginner, intermediate, or advanced player?
Sunraku: "This is... turning into a kusoge, isn't it?"
No way. Have the grudges of all the kusoge soaked into my body after it rejected a god-tier game, bent causality itself, and summoned a curse that turns SLF into a kusoge...?
No. Calm down. Think clearly. Cool. So cool.
There are three essential rules when playing a kusoge. First: have a generous heart toward garbage scenarios. Second: possess indomitable patience toward idiot AI. Third: keep a cool head when sudden bugs strike.
Sunraku: "First, let's organize what I need to do..."
Stat allocation. Right, stat allocation. With fifty points, it's about time for my character build to start taking shape. At the moment I'm a lucky, paper-armored crit warrior, but there's no guarantee I'll be able to keep leveling without any trouble. Lycagon's curse isn't entirely a drawback, either. I need to factor that in when deciding how to distribute these points.
Sunraku: "...Come to think of it."
What happens in this game to monsters that run away?
In games with this kind of respawn system, once a monster gets far enough away from the player, it usually disappears automatically and respawns at its original position. But if it's fleeing specifically from me, how far does it run? This is full-dive VR with no loading screens at all; it operates under rules that are, for practical purposes, almost the same as reality. If my prediction is right...
Sunraku: "Yeah."
At this point, minimum HP and VIT are enough. I'll just keep charging ahead with a one-hit-death setup. Trying to turn into a tank now would only produce a half-baked build.
What's important is the leg strength to catch up to fleeing monsters, and the stamina to support it... Going all-in on one stat is still scary, so I'll put a little into technique and dump the rest into luck. Yeah—the fact I managed to survive an attack from Lycagon the Nightslayer at 1 HP must have had something to do with luck.
Sunraku: "This is..."
————————————
PN: Sunraku
LV: 28
JOB: Mercenary (Dual Wielder)
2,000 Mani
HP (Health): 30
MP (Magic): 10
STM (Stamina): 50
STR (Strength): 15
DEX (Dexterity): 20
AGI (Agility): 60
TEC (Technique): 20
VIT (Vitality): 6
LUC (Luck): 65
Skills
- Rush Slash
- Spiral Edge
- Knuckle Rush
- Slide Move
- Repel Counter
- Loop Slash Lv. 4
- Edge Climb
- Accel Lv. 3
Equipment
Right: Vorpal Chopper
Left: Vorpal Chopper
Head: Staring Bird Mask (VIT +1)
Body: Lycagon's Curse
Waist: Splitblade Belt (VIT +4)
Legs: Lycagon's Curse
Accessory: None
————————————
This is weird. I never meant to do a challenge run or anything...
At this point, though, I guess I have no choice but to go down with the luck-warrior ship. I'll have to make up for the paper armor with dodging technique, and make up for the firepower with criticals and sheer number of attacks.
And then there are the new skills I picked up—one that lets me climb walls with my dual blades and another that literally accelerates me for a set amount of time. Looking at them now, even I have to laugh at how desperately I must have been fighting.
Actually, maybe I went a little too hard on feeling my way through the game. I went full "hyah-ha!" the moment a powerful enemy showed up, but now that I think about it, there may have been warning signs before Lycagon the Nightslayer appeared. And even though this is an online game, playing solo probably puts me in the minority, doesn't it?
This isn't a kusoge where the lack of players leaves you forcibly solo. In a god-tier game with several thousand people logged in at any given time, I should be able to form a pickup party.
But if monsters below my level are going to run away, then from the perspective of everyone else trying to level, I'd be nothing but a nuisance... Ah, damn it. No matter how much I think about this, I keep reaching the same conclusion: "I just have to do my best solo."
And seriously, is there even anyone who can remove a curse from a monster that was obviously designed to be fought by dozens of people? Could a top player manage it? The odds of a player that high-level coming to a beginner town like this are probably about the same as randomly encountering that black wolf in the first place.
Sunraku: "Haaah..."
And more than anything else, there are the claw-mark-like... Curse Markings blackening my torso and both legs below the knees where that damn wolf bit me.
As though asserting some perfectly natural right, the Splitblade vest and pants were damaged and vanished. No matter how many times I check the status screen, that hateful black wolf's name is sitting there, filling my equipment slots.
The suspicious half-naked guy who could at least be laughed off as a joke has once again become the sort of suspicious person people would actually report.
Sunraku: "Still, if they think a little hardship like this is enough to make me go crying to the devs... they've got another thing coming."
I've gotten hooked on this game enough to surprise even myself. Using "defeat Lycagon the Nightslayer" as fuel, I renewed my resolve to sink myself into this game all over again.