Chapter 37: The Situation Starts Moving
I see. So apparently the leader of the PK clan called Ashura Kai is determined to make me cough up the information no matter what.
Sunraku: "Three... no, four, I guess?"
???: "Doesn't matter how many of us there are. Taking out some low-level guy like you is easy."
???: "I hate PKing small fry, though. It makes your Karma Points skyrocket."
???: "Same goes for the higher-ups, right? That's why they stuck us with the dirty work."
The players pointing weapons and open hostility at me have their player names dyed red above their heads—the mark of a player killer. It was in the manual. For now, let's take stock of the situation.
My objective is to reach Thirdrema, then make it to Rabituza. To do that, I literally have to get past this wall of high-level players. The positions are... the gate, four PKers, a two-meter gap, me and Emul, then Pencilgon and Animalia-san several meters behind us.
What catches my attention is that unfamiliar term, Karma Points. From the way the PKers are talking, having those build up isn't exactly good for them. For a second I consider letting them kill me over and over just to harass them, but with Emul here, that option is out. None of the PKers I can see have anything like a ranged weapon, but that doesn't mean they have no magic or ranged-capable skills. Now then... which one should I go for?
As the player killers slowly tighten the encirclement, the fluffy bundle clinging to my arm shudders. Relax. I'm not going down that easily to second-rate player killers who are taking me lightly. After all, there's a game out there called the post-apocalyptic United Rounds where high-level players camping new-player spawn points with weapons drawn is treated as perfectly normal, like NPCs standing around saying, "This is the starting village."
Incidentally, the reason people do that is because the title "Disqualified Knight," awarded after killing a certain number of players below your level, is surprisingly useful. I'd like to grill the developers about why a title like that exists in a co-op game. Apparently, when they were grilled about it, their answer was, "It was intended as a penalty effect, but it ended up becoming a benefit."
Well, sure, who could have predicted that the penalty of dropping NPC affinity to the absolute minimum would turn into the ultra-barbaric advantage of "taunt an NPC, they pull a weapon and attack you, so kill them and take the weapon"!? More importantly, don't make a title like that in the first place, idiots!
All right. Remembering the foul memories—stress—of a kusoge has revived the part of me that was starting to wilt under the current situation. I pull myself together, put strength into my legs with a grin, and...
After finally breaking free of the wave of NPCs fleeing the appearance of Arthur Pencilgon—a player who, from an NPC's point of view, is practically a serial killer—Psyger-0 sees Arthur Pencilgon and the clan master of SF-Zoo literally trading sparks, while Sunraku and the floppy-eared Vorpal Bunny clinging to his arm are being surrounded by four player killers.
Psyger-0 thinks, What on earth happened while I took my eyes off him!?
For an instant, the strange thought That man needs more watching than a baby crosses Psyger-0's mind, but then she realizes this is a chance.
Across every age and every land, how many encounters have begun with someone in a crisis? If she can drive off the malicious player killers attacking him, she can build a far better relationship than she would by simply walking up and talking to him. Fortunately, since an update a few months ago, killing a PKer—that is, PKK—only lowers her own affinity with certain NPCs somewhat and does not cause trouble for her clan.
Psyger-0 thinks, A chance! This is a chance! Anyway, first I make his acquaintance inside this game, and then in real life...!
Guests flocking in? A once-in-a-lifetime chance? At this point the only thought left in Psyger-0's head is first, rescue him from the player killers, and every sense of moderation about the means she will use to do it has completely vanished.
Psyger-0: "...Severing Strike [Castle-Breaking Slash]!!"
The attack Psyger-0 unleashes—level 99, a frontliner in the top clan Schwarz Vulf—is a skill meant for monsters whose armor is on the level of a fortress...
Pencilgon: "Well, I had quite a bit of fun, Director-san. As expected of a curse-user who mastered debuffs and status ailments purely for the sake of photographing monsters. Really."
Animalia: "Kh... u..."
Arthur Pencilgon looks down at Animalia, whose HP is about to run out at her feet, and offers sincere praise.
Setting aside the embarrassingly grand nickname Hardcore-Player Hunter (Giant Killing), it is a fact that Pencilgon has continued targeting high-level players taking on challenges in Fifticia—and beating them.
For Animalia, a PvP amateur despite her high level, to put up this much of a fight against that Pencilgon is more than worthy of praise. Pencilgon gives a wry smile at the enormous number of debuff icons displayed on her status screen.
Pencilgon: "If you pile on this many debuffs, I guess even monsters have no choice but to become pitiful photo models."
Animalia: "I hit you with stun... and poison... over and over... Why...?"
Pencilgon: "Hm? The secret is... ta-dah! It's all thanks to this little guy, the unique item 'Straw Doll of Retribution,' which works as a top-tier counter against curse-users! My, coincidences sure are scary."
There is only one reason Animalia lost: because Pencilgon had once been relentlessly targeted by a curse-user PKK, she happened to carry one of the highest-grade anti-curse-user countermeasure items. In short, Animalia was unlucky. Any player well versed in PvP would have known, regardless of whether they had counters prepared, that fighting a fully prepared Pencilgon is about the worst move you can make.
Animalia: "I... see..."
Pencilgon: "So that's how it is—karmic retribution, and every curse gets countered. It really was close, though."
Curse-users in this game are troublesome, after all. It is not quite this simple, but in summary: unlike magic, which activates by consuming MP, curse techniques require some kind of cost separate from MP. The benefits are correspondingly large; in a raid, having two or three curse-users can make the fight dramatically easier. It is a job with both high costs and high returns.
And Animalia, clan master of SF-Zoo, whose goal is to "admire every animal-type monster in Shangri-La Frontier," had filled nearly all of her spell slots with restraint-type curses.
For the specific purpose Sunraku had wanted—stalling Pencilgon—Animalia had, by coincidence, been about the best possible player for the job.
Pencilgon: "Now then..."
What to do? Pencilgon considers. The player killers accompanying her had been sent by the clan master to help finish off Sunraku, but Pencilgon never believed for a second that they could actually do it. She has no intention of helping them, either.
Pencilgon thinks, Sunraku-kun, bringing your own DEX is cheating... Normally, with a level gap of fifty or more, you'd get killed without being able to put up any real resistance.
Pencilgon knows that the experience accumulated across games of every genre—even if limited to kusoge—is worth more within this game's systems than some half-baked unique item.
People who can do nothing but gang up and PK players at or below their own level will never be able to stop that. Pencilgon once made the same sort of judgment herself and paid for it, so this estimate is backed by firsthand experience.
Pencilgon thinks, That idiot is chickening out, and because of that the clan keeps filling up with boring players... Maybe it's about time to quit. I heard Katzo-kun started SLF too, and that plan is starting to look realistic...
What Pencilgon pictures is the warrior who effortlessly wiped out even an extermination force of fifteen high-level players, including Pencilgon herself at level 99—the current level cap in Shangri-La Frontier.
The only acquaintances she knows who might be able to contend with the one who could be called Ashura Kai's greatest secret are those two—the pair who once, by themselves, brought down the kingdom of the Pencil Warrior (Arthur Pencilgon). If only the timing lines up, the plan becomes realistic. Thinking that, Pencilgon suddenly looks down at the fallen Animalia.
Pencilgon: "Hmm. By the way, Director-san? If my memory isn't wrong, it looks an awful lot like you're about to use a curse that can only be activated when you've memorized the chant word-for-word and your HP is in the single digits..."
Animalia: "..........."
Animalia smiles brightly. Even Towa Amane—Pencilgon—who as a model spends so much time smiling that her facial muscles nearly cramp, finds it charming. Yet the silent smile unmistakably conveys something very ominous: If I die, you're coming with me.
Pencilgon used up her stock of Straw Dolls of Retribution earlier. Consumable unique items are characterized by the fact that, in exchange for their extraordinary counter-meta performance, the number you can carry is extremely limited.
Pencilgon: "...WE CAN TALK THIS OUT."
Animalia: "No discussion. [The Journey to the Netherworld Is With You (Fellow Traveler)]...!"
A top-class curse-user's self-destructive curse surges toward Pencilgon...
And then the entire situation starts moving at once.
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