abcnovels
Chapter 31: Skeleton
Chapter 31: Skeleton
Chapter 31: Skeleton
Coming out of the Fairy Square, it was the same old stone-paved passage greeting us. But different from the same old was the point that it was much cleaner. Rather than new, it gave the feeling of not yet deteriorated.
The stone walls didn’t display a single crack, even moss hadn’t grown. Even the light panels illuminating the passage from the ceiling, seemed to glow somewhat brighter.
The path draws a loose curve, so the Boss Room at the end isn’t visible, all in all the perspective is quite narrow. But as long as the ceiling or floor doesn’t suddenly open up, or we don’t get suddenly warped in the middle of the passage, there’s likely no risk of surprise attacks.
“Hirano-kun, I have some idea, but the Skeleton, what kind of Monster is it?”
“They’re uh, you know, just bones. Well, Itou’s the one who started calling ’em Skeletons though.[1]”
Seems like it’s none other than that stereotypical Skeleton. The pure white collections of bone rattling along as they attack, they appear frequently in RPGs and fantasy genre movies… but thinking back, it’s my first time encountering a non-living Monster. Somehow or other, all the one’s I’ve seen could be called extensions of creatures found on Earth.
“Yeah, you’ll get it when you see it. And they’re just small fry so relax”
I’m not too reassured with Hirano-kun’s frivolous smile and wild laughs, but from the fact that they’re stuck on the Boss, Mob Monsters wouldn’t be any problem.
“Ah that room, there’s a Skeleton, look”
Nishiyama-san who was walking alongside Hirano-kun reported a discovery.
Looking there, from an entrance to a room along the passage wall, a white figure gaited along. The distance is about 30 meters(~100ft).
“Woah, it really is a Skeleton”
That is, it was so perfect a skeleton, there isn’t any other description. As if the educational model in a biology lab started moving, it was a walking human skeleton.
It doesn’t have clothes, but it’s armed.
Lightly grasped in its bony hand, was a wooden club. At around 50 cm, the club was of rough make, but not too thin or too thick. That reminds me, the clubs equipped on most Goma looked similar. There’s a chance they beat these Skeletons and plundered the item.
“Doesn’t look like it’s noticed us”
“Yeah, they won’t notice till ya get closer”
“So shooting my Magic to beat them is easy as pie see”
I see, it’s like a badly made Monster AI.
“It’s the first for Momokawa and Futaba-san, so I’ll show you the ropes”
How generous. No matter how strong Futaba-san’s gotten, it’s better to avoid challenging on first encounter. If we can observe its movements, she can fight easier too.
Reason for refusal is nowhere to be found, so at your convenience, I replied in agreement.
“What about me?”
“If y’insist, have the first one. I’ll get the two behind.”
The Skeletons entering the passage from the room, number three. There’s no particular sign they’re cooperating, it’s more like a wandering zombie, they’re aimlessly roaming around. One was facing here, and the other two, towards the direction of the Boss Room.
“OK. I’ll be going ahead then, since I’m a Wind Mage.”
With a light intro, Nishiyama-san pushed out her wand. Her wand tip pointed, practically announcing that it was about to shoot Magic.
Thinking of, it’s my first time seeing Attack Magic. I’ve heard all about it from Futaba-san, but getting to see first hand, the staple in fantasy known as Attack Magic, it’s kind of exciting.
Eh, Red Fever? Who’s that?
“?????? ??? ?—Aer Sagitta(Wind Arrow)”
She quickly muttered something in a mystery language, and right after, the green ball on the tip of the want let out faint light.
With that, leaving behind sharp winds, a whirlwind of glittering green ran through the passage. The emerald wind I saw for a split-second, drew an arc with a form similar to a curved blade.
Then, the blade of wind danced true to its aim, scoring a direct hit on the wandering Skeleton. With a dry clang, as if they took on a powerful slash, the Skeleton’s ribs went flying.
Must have been a quite a blow. The Skeleton’s spine bent back so much it seemed to almost snap, and as if the force was too unbearable, it fell backwards. Falling with a shatter, its movement completely stops.
With the splendid one-shot killing of a Skeleton, I regain an appreciation of the convenient thing known as Attack Magic. Also, a bit of envy. Shit, if only I could do attacks like that…
“A’ight, be a back in a bit. Get a good look at my abilities as a Swordsman”
Completely unaware of my ugly jealousy, Hirano-kun donned a confident smile and named his vocation. In his hands lay a double-edged longsword with a steel blade. A precious partner he scored from a Treasure Chest being its origins.
“Woah, fast”
I had no other comment seeing the sword-wielding Hirano-kun bolting off. Leaving behind only the rubbery sounds of his shoe soles clashing with the stone paving, Hirano-kun’s fairly large figure shot out like an arrow.
“It’s called Quick Step. The effect is as you see”
I see, so that’s the speed boosting Battle Art, Quick Step. Movement boosting moves, if it was an RPG, there’s a big chance they’re useless. I mean, no player wants to waste a turn just to raise evasion rate and maybe increasing the chances for a critical. [3]
However, in real life, boosting movement, in other words, being able to run crazy fast, gives a tremendous advantage in combat. At the very least, if it was an average person, even if Hirano-kun came at them from straight ahead, they’d have no way to cope with his current speed. It’s not so fast that my eyes can’t follow, but it kinda doesn’t feel like a human running with that kind of speed. Even world class athletes I’ve seen on TV aren’t as fast. I wonder what the km/h is.
“Natsukawa-san was even faster you know”
Leaks Futaba-san as if talking to herself. Perhaps even with the same technique in name, there’s differences per vocation. Well, it’s most likely something to do with individual differences though.
Natsukawa Minami was our Shiramine Academy’s Track and Field Ace. If it’s the sprint, there’s no one with more talent than her.
“UoOOOOOOOO—”
Before I noticed, Hirano-kun had closed the thirty meters and had the Skeletons at swords reach. With a roar, he unleashed a full power overhead swing.
On their side, the Skeletons had noticed their friend has been defeated and were slowly turning to it. The existence of the quickly approaching enemy did not have time to enter their mental faculties.
“—Break(Great Gash)!”[4]
For an instant, the sword seemed to slightly shine. The instant phantom glow passed, and a shrill noise echoed. A hit.
One Skeleton was cut from skull to pelvis. A moment passed, and the clump of bone was separated left and right, it rattled, and powerlessly crumbled.
A splendid strike. But one more enemy remained.
That Skeleton finally showed a proper response. Aiming for the opening created when Hirano-kun swung his sword, it greatly raised its club.
“Heh, saw it miles away!”
True to those composure-filled words, as if perfectly foreseeing the Skeleton’s monotonous attack, Hirano-kun bent down, dodging the club’s swing.
“Well duh, no problem for Foresight”
What a show off, that guy, says Nishiyama-san somewhat coldly.
“No but, seeing it and then even evading is pretty amazing”
“Momokawa-kun, please don’t say those words to him. You do, and he’ll definitely get a big head”
Nishiyama-san’s wryly smiling face looks, what is it, just like, like a girlfriend who gets just about everything about her idiot of a boyfriend, it gives that kind of composed impression.
“—Booyah! Got ’em good!”
Oops, as I was raising suspicions towards their interpersonal relation, Hirano-kun had cut down his 2nd Skeleton.
Slipping through the enemy’s attack with Foresight, right after, he rode Quick Step’s speed to circle behind. Speed so overwhelming, as if it was saying, Ya gettin’ sleepy champ? as the Skeleton couldn’t react at all.
Then it was a simple task of driving your favourite technique into that defenceless spine.
With that, Hirano-kun finished off the Skeleton safe and sound.
“Good work out there”
“Yeah, this stuff, it’s pretty much just warm up!”
Ha ha ha, he laughed as Hirano-kun returned in great humour. For us from the peanut gallery, seeing the Swordsman’s brilliant show of technique, well, it’s satisfactory I guess. Even the way he put the sword back in its scabbard on his belt gave quite an elegant impression.
“And, how was that?”
“Ah, yup, I more or less get Skeletons now. Also, you two look like you’re making good use of your vocations, pretty strong I say”
“You flatter me dude. I mean, I haven’t even got any new Skills yet”
Which would mean, that Break, Quick Step and Foresight he showed us, should be all the abilities he has.
As for me, yeah, leaving out the lucky Armor Bear subjugation, I did attain that new Vile Mud Doll.
Of course, this must have some factor of individuality too… but yeah, maybe experience fighting Skeletons won’t really amount to much.
Nevertheless, they could become convenient ragdolls, or I guess bone-dolls to throw attacks at. At the least, they’ll be useful in testing out and getting used to various powers.
“Even though Nishiyama learned new Magic really fast man”
“Just say how you were scared at first and we only used my Aer Sagitta to beat them”
“Haa, I wasn’t scared a’ight! And right now, Skeletons are easy as hell!”
“Yipes, them bones man, they’re bad mann, tell me you didn’t forget those tears”
“Never said it! Also, forget that, bygones are bygones dammit!”
They’re fighting but they sure get along, I thought as I was watching over, but then Gahah, Hirano-kun noticed my gaze and took a critical blow. Were my eyes that lukewarm?
“A-anyway, once we beat the Boss, I’ll be getting a new Skill for sure”
“Yup, for sure”
No I’m not lazily replying, I’m pretty serious here.
Leaving the special case of Futaba-san’s class change to Berserker aside, the Class Rep group, according to the story, seemed to attain new Skills pretty normally through fighting. That means, the Boss, if we can take down a Monster even this Swordsman and Mage pair couldn’t, we’ll be getting new powers for sure.
“Nishiyama-san, what other Magic can you do?”
“Eh, the other ones aren’t much though. Like letting out strong wind around me, or like making slightly high jumps using wind—”
The former has the name Aer Dress(Wind Garment), and looks to be a sort of Defence Magic. Releasing strong gusts for a meter centering around the caster, it’ll either blow away an enemy closing in, or at least, hold it back temporarily. Light long-range attacks like arrows or stones would also be repelled or bend off trajectory.
With some concentration, she can apparently hold it for a minute or so, and I think with more practice, it could become a solid defence… but it seems like Nishiyama-san herself hasn’t used Aer Dress much, so her mastery of it hasn’t risen.
The latter is Aer Follow(Wind Floater), a movement boosting, no, it’s Support Magic I guess. Creating an updraft around the caster, her jumps get a slight boost. However, rather than upping jump height, say if you fall from a high place you can get a smooth landing, it seems more useful in things like cushioning a fall.
I don’t know if you can remain calm enough to cast Magic during a free fall though. And as such, this one hasn’t been used too much either, the current Nishiyama-san wouldn’t be able to handle such a situation either. [5]
“But that one, her new Magic, is pretty damn strong”
“I mean, sure Aer Blast(Tempest Edge) has a good bit of power… but the chant is so long, if it’s moving fast like that Boss, it’ll never hit. Not to mention, one shot and I’m spent[6]”
Finally, perhaps thanks to hunting all those Skeletons with Aer Sagitta, she attained the new Attack Magic, the Aer Blast.
The Invocation time for the aria, is around 10 seconds. In the world of ruthless battle, every 0.1 second counts. One can experience the tumultuous anxiety of a 10 second lag simply by playing a high speed action RPG and trying to fight with a skill with around 10 seconds of cooldown.
To add, one shot of it gets you as tired as with three shots of Aer Sagitta… in other words, mana exhaustion.
A one-shot all-or-nothing High Magic. Using this practically in battle, would be quite a gamble.
“Just think though, one shot of this, and that mutt’s done for”
“It won’t hit, that’s the problem stupid”
Well she’s not wrong. In a game, you could Save & Load as many times as you want until you get that hit, but reality clearly doesn’t work that way. If she uses Aer Blast against the Boss Red Dog and misses, then taking the exhausted Nishiyama-san and escaping from the Boss Room becomes even more risky. It’s not the kind of thing we can leisurely challenge multiple times.
“Then like, we can stop it movin’ so it hits and—”
“If you could do that, you could just kill it with your sword stupid”
“Anyway, I understand about Nishiyama-san’s magic, thanks. It’s at least reassuring we have a one-hit kill technique”
It seemed like the two would start fighting again so, half serious, half confounded, I speak to cut in between them.
“Now would be, Momokawa-kun and Futaba-san, it’s your turn right?”
“Wanna wait till Skeletons come out? Or we could pick a room and look?”
“I’m curious what’s happening in the rooms, so the 2nd option I guess… Futaba-san, is that alright with you?”
“Yup, no problem”
From her agreeable response, I sense a somewhat forced smile coming from Futaba-san. Hmm, she’s making sure to be vigilant of those two I guess.
Since it’s favourable to get along at this point in time, we shouldn’t behave as to invite any discord… she understands that, and is displaying a cheerful atmosphere at least on the surface.
If she isn’t high from the drug, Futaba-san is clearly not an idiot, nor is she a musclehead, I think. So, instead of me telling her to get along, we should just continue like this until she opens up naturally. If all four of us work together to beat the Boss, at the very least, we’ll gain some trust between us.
“A’ight, let’s go”
With Hirano-kun’s nonchalant call, we once again begin walking the passage. First objective being, the room where those three Skeletons came out from.
Naturally, a game-like, Monster corpses turning into light particles, leaving behind item drops and modest sums of gold, isn’t a phenomenon that passed, and outside the entrance, the bones were littered around. With a glance, we can tell there’s no core to be found in these Skeletons.
“Hmm, nothin’ in there”
Hirano-kun entered the room so unguarded it’s like, Oi oi you alright?, and came out to report the non-existence of enemies. The room here doesn’t have a door, but a simple opening in the structure. You can see inside just walking past, but need to enter to check the corners.
Even if Skeletons were lying in wait, clubs readied, beyond both sides of the entrance, Hirano-kun wouldn’t be done in with a group assault of that level.
Well, looking at their behaviour, I doubt Skeletons have the intelligence to use traps or ambushes. But arrogance is fatal. These kinds of Mobs, if they get a Boss character to lead them, they can suddenly become elite troops too.
“Momokawa, you wanna take look inside anyway?”
“Ah, sure thing”
As I was meandering over things, I reply kind of like an idiot, and step into the Skeleton-summoning room with safety guaranteed.
Yup, nothing there indeed. There’s only stone walls here, the room is around the size of a classroom. Nothing more, nothing less. The light panels on the ceiling shone down adequately, making it all too obvious that there’s nothing strange to be found here.
“Have you guys ever seen where the Skeletons come from?”
“Nope, never… Oi, don’t tell me you plannin’ on waitin’ till one comes out?”
“I’m not that bored”
That being said, we move to the next room. With rooms this deserted, even if there was a hidden door or something, without a Thief’s detection skill, it’ll be impossible to find. Looking around would be a waste of time.
“Yeah, other rooms’re pretty much the same as that last one though— Oh, hold up”
Progressing through the passage, as we read the 2nd room, Hirano-kun calls out again.
“We’re in luck, Skeletons straight ahead”
As I follow Hirano-kun and peek into the room, sure enough, they’re in there.
This new room was around twice as big as the last one, and at the center stood three stone pillars. Behind the right interior pillar, as if hiding itself, a Skeleton… no, two of them, were vaguely roaming around.
As usual, they don’t look like they noticed us. Big chance for a preemptive strike.
“The floor’s all yours”
In accordance to Hirano-kun’s words, said as if he was requesting us to fill-in for classroom cleaning duty, Futaba-san and I challenge our first Skeleton subjugation.
“Futaba-san, you alright with the usual?“
“Yup, if you can tie the legs, leave everything else to me”
Futaba-san returns a strong reply. Or rather, she nonchalantly left out Red Fever there. Well, it’s not an immediate effect Curse, so it’s pretty much a waste of mana anyway, so that’s fine.
“Momokawa-kun and Futaba-san’s vocations, what are they?”
Off we go, but before that, we need to let them know our vocations. On their side, their vocation and abilities have already been laid bare.
But we can’t go being too frank and reveal everything here.
“I’m a Shaman, and Futaba-san is a Warrior”
I’ll keep quiet about the class change for the time being. Being a Berserker doesn’t necessarily mean Futaba-san has gone insane, and there’s no outward change either. It’s probably a special exception to the rule, but letting their hopes rise because of that would be problematic.
“Let’s do this”
Detailed explanations come later. Let’s first beat the Skeletons and give them a demonstration.
“Entwine its escape, with weaving hair— Blackhair Bind”
I step into the room and take the initiative. From the shadows near the pillar where the Skeleton is wandering, suddenly, a bundle of weed-like Blackhair gushes out. Wriggling in a gross manner like tentacles, the hair tightly latches onto the bone ankle.
“Now!”
I call out, and with that Futaba-san swings up her axe and— I thought, but she’s just standing beside me, and doesn’t seem like she’ll run ahead anytime soon.
“Err, Futaba-san, what’s wrong?”
Her suddenly becoming unwilling, doesn’t seem to be the case. Futaba-san is on alert, and glaring straight at the Skeleton.
She wasn’t replying, and lets go of her weapon that is the axe. She takes her now free right hand, and thrusts it into the Goma pouch hung at her waist.
“— Ei!”
Along with that lovely voice calling out, I hear a powerful hum cutting the wind. The next moment, a dry shattering sound echoes loudly.
“… Eh?”
When I noticed, the Skeleton’s head was gone. Wait what, Futaba-san, when did you suddenly become able to use Attack Mag—
“Yah!”
Next, the 2nd one’s cranium shatters. It burst away so cleanly, one could argue there was a bomb implanted in there beforehand.
“I’m done, Momokawa-kun”
We present the hero.
Indeed, since I was standing right beside her, I came to understand how Futaba-san finished off those Skeletons. It’s nothing complicated, she was just throwing stones.
I’d given her a bag of throwable stones thinking they’d at least be used as faints, but they suddenly became one-shot kill projectiles. The Berserker’s strength has me in awe yet again.
“Woah, Futaba-san, that was friggin’ cool…“
“You’re sure Futaba-san isn’t a Pitcher right?”
Their surprise isn’t unreasonable.
“We can totally beat the Boss with this right!?”
“Yeah, I think this can work”
Nevertheless, her awe-inspiring power had come across in that performance. The reception is highly positive.
It may be a bit too optimistic, but I feel like we can at least take down a Boss now.
________________________
[1] Skeleton is said in English, and Hirano described them as … a skeleton (??).
[2] Aer — Air in Latin I guess
[3] Change: Martial Art ? Battle Art
[4] ?? — Dai Dan — Break, it’s not too complicated
[5] The Aer stuff is all romanized by author so I’m keeping those.
[6] ??? — Fuuren Ha – Aer Blast (Tempest Edge) … I’m kinda making this up here, but the kanji name doesn’t matter anyway~