Episode 9. We Are Team? (3)
ROGUELIKE has ended and restarted.
It had just passed midnight. The overflowing power from his reset abilities and the exhilarating sense of "I'm stronger" had vanished. It wasn't quite a feeling of loss or lethargy, but a lingering regret remained.
I should have hurried a bit more.
The fact that it had ended right now was, if anything, a problem.
"Pull back your neck, breath!"
Sephirah's shout came even faster than the monster's movement. The player predicted the next attack just from the "tell" of the dragon-like thing pulling its neck back—and her judgment was spot on.
The monster pulled its neck back once, then thrust it forward, spewing fire. But no one was caught in the blast; everyone had already dodged.
"How the hell do you even know that?!"
"Experience!"
"What?!"
"Just watch closely and dodge—it's easy!"
"...?"
Claire, who had dodged in the same direction, couldn't make sense of the answer. How could someone who seemed so timid and not even that strong have the confidence to claim "experience" like that? The fact that it wasn't bravado made it all the more bizarre.
"Focus, Aiden. Don't stand near the wings!!"
Once more, Sephirah predicted the action faster than anyone. The "dragon" hadn't shown enough movement to telegraph its next move. It had barely twitched its wings, but that might have just been incidental as it steadied its body.
Whoosh—
But Sephirah's words were accurate again. The "dragon" flapped its wings to blow its enemies away, but it couldn't dislodge Aiden, who had planted his weapon into the ground and braced himself.
Sephirah was more precise than expected, and the "dragon" was weaker than it seemed.
Is this why she said we should avoid fighting and just pass by?
"Exactly! Dodging isn't hard, but if possible, I didn't want to fight. It takes too long."
"...That wasn't the reason I was asking."
Aiden couldn't entertain optimistic thoughts while staring at the monster threatening the three of them with its widely spread wings. That appearance was unmistakably a dragon. It was absurd to say such things about a creature whose very existence was uncertain, but anyone would think the same upon seeing its massive body, featherless wings, and sturdy-looking scales. Just like the archetypal dragon from legend.
"Ah.... Hey, dragons don't exist in this world, okay? That's not a dragon!"
"It's... not?"
"If it were a real dragon, it wouldn't be here. We'd all be dead already!"
Sephirah giggled as if it were all just fun and games. Certainly, at first glance, the monster looked undeniably like a dragon—one with wings separate from its arms, not even a wyvern, but the real deal.
But Sephirah, who had passed through countless loops reading the names above NPCs and enemies, already knew the monster's true nature. True dragons never appeared before players, and this one was just a facade.
"It's like a doppelganger. Born without a fixed form, it reads the shape of what other creatures fear most and grows into that... a fake!"
It wasn't some hidden lore. The name floating above the monster's head was uniquely marked with a question mark: Dragon?. No matter how dragon-like it looked, it wasn't a real one, so its level was low. The difficulty was tuned for a solo player to handle.
"So do whatever. I'll draw its attention for you!"
Sephirah snapped her fingers, and seven stars materialized around her wand—the basic, unremovable magic attack slotted in her first position.
At the same time, the slowed fake dragon locked eyes with Sephirah. The simple AI of this single-player game had recognized the threat.
"Hehe."
The moment the monster and player met eyes, star-shaped mana bullets flew and relentlessly stabbed at the fake dragon's horns. The fake dragon squeezed its eyes shut in pain. Even as a fake, it sensed the cracks in its horns, thrust its head forward, and opened its maw.
Then, with its slowed body, it chased Sephirah while spewing fire.
"Nice, you're up!"
"...Got it."
Sephirah was drawing its attention, freeing the two NPCs to find an opening.
Aiden rose from his spot. He straightened his kneeling body, then activated Focus to scan the fake dragon's entire form with his eyes. Red for enemies, blue for allies, neutral or gray otherwise. The fake dragon glowed red.
The color wasn't uniform. Amid the red enveloping its body, its head and forelegs shone especially bright. Intuitively, those were the weak points highlighted.
Do I have to hit it while it's flying?
Just because it mimicked a form didn't mean its wings were ornamental. The fake dragon was flying low while flapping them. It was low enough that reaching up with his hand could almost grab its legs, but even that was impossible with just his bare body and a single sword.
He had to trust the system.
"Aiden, do something! I hate playing tag!!"
Sephirah complained as she stopped running and caught her breath. The stars still orbited her, repeatedly darting toward the fake dragon.
"Hah, running low on mana...!"
The fake dragon's movements sped up, then slowed again. As the debuff wore off, Sephirah had snapped her fingers once more to reapply it. Right now, she was just a weak character who couldn't sustain long debuffs or fly.
"If flying's tricky, throw a spear or something! You did great earlier! Just hit it and it'll drop!"
Conveniently, Sephirah suggested a brilliant plan: knock the airborne target out of the sky.
"Of course."
That had been his intention from the start.
Tzzzt.
With a faint noise, a spear materialized in Aiden's hand. As he assumed a throwing stance, the projected trajectory appeared in his vision. But under Focus, it kept showing misses. Its forelegs kept obscuring the wings in the brief windows of opportunity.
This won't work.
Instead, Aiden aimed the spear at an intact wall. Throwing it like this would at best embed it in the wall or the ground. But the visible trajectory promised a different outcome.
Trusting that, Aiden hurled the spear with all his might.
The spear followed the predicted path exactly. The system ignored skill and error, always delivering consistent results.
Ting.
A metallic clang echoed as it struck, ricocheting off. As expected, precisely as Focus had shown. An unpredictable outcome for anyone but the system—one that arbitrarily bent reality.
That result pierced the fake dragon's jaw.
"...!"
The fake dragon couldn't even cry out. It couldn't make a sound at all, its mouth agape in silence. It thrashed soundlessly, plummeted to the ground like a falling stone, and folded its wings.
"Whoa, what was that! How'd you do it?!"
Sephirah's face lit up with uncontainable glee as she looked at the NPC.
"Tell me quick! How'd you pull that off?!"
"Focus!"
"Aww, a few words won't hurt!"
Players couldn't feel true peril in the game. That simple fact let Sephirah immerse herself purely in the thrill.
Bouncing a ranged attack off a wall to hit elsewhere—like a trick shot—wasn't a built-in system here. Back when games used pads or keyboards, it had been common. He still remembered revolver bullets ricocheting to hit new targets.
But in modern VR gaming, it was rare. Even with system assistance, ricocheting attacks off walls was superhuman territory.
And yet, Aiden—an mere NPC—had done it. For Sephirah, it was a nonstop parade of fascinating experiences. Every NPC here provided them. She wanted to gather them all and adventure together.
"Alright, head shot means it won't last! Let's finish it!"
With that, Sephirah slipped behind Claire and grabbed her arm. She aimed her staff like a wand and tapped Claire's left arm.
"Claire, you seem to know a lot of tricks."
"...Not none."
"When that thing's down, think you can stab a weak spot?"
"What's the weak spot?"
"Head, tail, forelegs. Surprisingly weak to fire since it's not a real dragon."
"...Blunt or blade?"
"Either should work fine."
"Then...."
Claire muttered in a voice so soft it wouldn't reach nearby ears. It felt deliberately hushed.
Immediately after, a massive axe materialized in the air around the puzzled Sephirah, who hadn't caught the words. It was a crude, brutal thing big enough for a giant—larger than a person or even a tree.
"Uh... I didn't mean that kind of thing...."
Even at high levels, you'd rarely see something on this scale.
The axe Claire summoned began slowly toppling toward the fake dragon. Inefficient, but terrifying—like an executioner's guillotine descending.
It targeted the precise spot: the fake dragon's neck, between its white horns and black wings. Adjusting its angle flawlessly, the flawless blade came down without a miss.
"...Hng."
Thud.
The axe crashed down, kicking up a dust cloud with a deafening boom that made you want to cover your ears. Silence fell.
No one moved hastily. Even Sephirah held her tongue, swallowing as she waited for the dust to settle.
As it cleared, the sight revealed was a dragon with its neck cleanly severed.
"It's done...!"
Claire's quiet voice sparked joy on all three faces. A complete victory, no twists possible.
Dark red blood oozed from the stump. The fake dragon, which had mimicked a predator of other creatures to survive, shrank back into a small lump.
Just as the player remembered from past runs.
Combat status has been released.
FAST TRAVEL is now available again.
Aiden's ears heard the voice confirming the end. The pattern on the back of his hand no longer signified restriction. Like any other time using Fast Travel, it had reverted to a compass shape.
Stepping out of the cave now would reveal the blue forest again. Though with the day gone, the sky would be pitch black.
"...Before that."
One thing remained.
Aiden quietly gazed toward Sephirah. She looked like any ordinary person, hugging something in plain sight with delight. Claire's expression, caught in her grasp, wasn't thrilled, but the situation wasn't bad.
"Fast Travel."
Thanks to the silent activation, Aiden grabbed Sephirah from behind before she noticed.
"Wh-what, who's there!!"
Sephirah gasped and whipped around as her shoulders were seized.
"Sephirah."
"...Huh?"
"Now we can finally talk alone."
"Oh."
Realizing the forgotten fact too late, Sephirah raised her wand in resistance. But Aiden seized the tip and yanked it away, lifting her arm.
"Spare me."
"I said I had no intention of killing you."
"Nooo...."
Sephirah didn't even try to reclaim her wand, just begged for her life. Whether she was playing it up despite his repeated assurances or truly terrified, the outcome wouldn't change. He'd take her along either way.
"Wait, I-I have to pick up Loqi. I've been gone too long. He's been waiting hours!"
She could handle that after their talk.
"Aren't we a team?! We fought great!!"
We were not a team.