Chapter 11. The Road to the Forest IV
Episode 11.
The Road to the Forest IV
Blade Whirlwind
Type: Ranged/Area Attack
Cast Time: Instant Area of Effect: 5-meter radius
Cooldown: 20 seconds
Summons a blade wind that attacks enemies ahead. Deals damage to all enemies within a 5-meter radius. Damage scales with the character's Agility stat.
*TIP: When used in a confined space, it is easier to secure the maximum number of hits.
That was the overview of <Blade Whirlwind>.
The biggest caveat I saw with this skill was its ambiguous 5-meter radius, which meant it could hit up to three targets when they were lined up overlapping.
Of course, considering how quickly battlefield conditions changed, it was safer to assume I'd hit about two targets.
SKRRRRSH!
The power of Blade Whirlwind exceeded my expectations.
First, the priest at the innermost position was literally torn to shreds by the blade wind pouring in from behind.
The one standing behind him rolled across the ground with his right arm severed, and only that bastard Dorman at the very back pulled off a perfect dodge.
'Damn it.'
I'd known a three-for-one was too much to hope for, but I'd thought I could at least take out two.
Was reality really that different from the game?
'Still, taking out the priest first is a positive.'
Archer, priest, mage.
Targeting the ranged support first is basic in a fight against Delvers.
'The one with the severed arm.'
If I could just finish him off, the battle would tilt heavily in my favor.
As if thinking the same thing, the weasel lunged at the bleeding bastard, and Dorman quickly stepped in front of him to block.
"Reina!"
The archer vanished in an instant without a word.
In an instant, her presence could no longer be felt.
'Tracking that woman is going to be difficult.'
I kicked off the ground to finish off the one-armed bastard.
"Fuck!"
The bleeding bastard drew his sword, looking ready to cry.
With that, the battlefield split into three.
The weasel took Dorman, and I took the party member with one arm missing.
Finally, the archer.
Whizz.
The instant I heard the arrow whistle, a gust of wind whipped up from somewhere.
An arrow that had probably been aimed at me wavered off course and grazed the tip of my arm.
Thud-thud-thud.
The sound of tearing air continued, but only the dull thud of arrows striking the ground echoed.
Dorman, unable to take it anymore, lost his temper.
"Reina! What the hell are you doing?"
"Damn it! The wind is fighting me! And right before I shoot, there's always this light—!"
She was doing well.
Fortunately, unlike magical talent or spirit affinity, her basic instincts didn't seem bad.
'The Sylph and Light combo.'
Even if direct attacks were impossible, they could hide like this and make things miserable for the enemy.
The problem was that dragging out this stalemate did us no good.
The weasel was also gradually being pushed back.
That was only natural, considering the level difference with Dorman.
'If the weasel dies, the balance collapses.'
In other words, I needed to kill this one-armed bastard as fast as possible and join the weasel's fight.
'Even with one arm gone, he's still this strong?'
Was this what a Grade 4 Delver was like?
His level was probably in the mid-to-late twenties, and his combat experience was surely far greater than mine.
If he'd been at full strength, someone like me would have been killed instantly.
"Guh......!"
But I wasn't the only one getting impatient.
I could feel the urgency in the movements of my bleeding opponent too.
At an opportune moment, I shifted from offense to defense and opened my mouth.
"You're having a rough day, aren't you?"
"......What?"
"Your ankle got cut, your hand went flying. Your foot seems to have been treated fast enough to reattach, luckily, but what about the arm? The priest is already dead, so you'll have to live the rest of your life as a one-armed man."
"........"
Ail—the Delver—closed his half-open mouth.
Sharp little bastard.
Did he catch on that I was trying to get under his skin with talk?
But he couldn't exactly plug his ears mid-fight. I kept prattling on regardless.
"Do you think you can stay in the party as a one-armed man? That Dorman guy seemed pretty cold-blooded. He didn't even blink when he saw the corpse of the comrade I killed."
"......."
"You'll probably be kicked out the moment you head back to the city, and he'll bring in some other useful party member."
"Shut your mouth."
Hearing that actually gave me strength.
This guy probably knew in his head that he shouldn't react.
It was just hard to actually do it.
Anyway, running my mouth during a fierce fight was exhausting for me too.
I grinned and landed the decisive blow.
"......I said I was a Delver earlier, but actually, I'm a stoker. How are you going to keep calling yourself a Delver after getting wrecked like this by a stoker?"
"......!"
Was 'stoker' really some kind of berserk button for Delvers?
For an instant, Ail's teeth clacked and sparks flew from his eyes as he took a huge step forward.
BOOM!
An unknown current of air seemed to spread out from him.
Sword in hand, he raised it high overhead.......
He was down one arm, but it was a familiar motion.
"Die!"
FWOOOOSH!
A cross-shaped sword wave flew at me.
I gauged the distance, deflected the first sword wave, and ducked under the second.
"What?!"
I slipped into the startled man's guard, leaving his neck wide open.
Open enough that even I, unfamiliar with the scythe, could cut it easily.
SPURT!
Even as blood sprayed, deep confusion lingered in Ail's eyes.
"How...... my attack......?"
He seemed to have realized that I'd read his attack.
I didn't need to answer, but I opened my mouth anyway.
"<Cross Cut> has a big windup. Its power is excellent, but using it as a finisher is......."
I stopped talking. Because Ail had collapsed with a thud, and the light had already faded from his eyes.
The moment I let out a sigh, a sharp pain shot through me.
'Shit.......'
My wrist hurt as if it had been broken.
That was because I'd forced myself to deflect the first strike of <Cross Cut>.
Dodging both had been too difficult, so I hadn't had a choice.
'Should I have used my left arm?'
That was an arrogant thought.
If I'd failed, my body would have been split in two.
I wiped away the pointless thought and looked toward Dorman.
I saw the weasel covered in blood. If I could see its HP bar, it would definitely have been deep in the red.
I was just about to join the fight.
THUNK!
Something felt wrong in my abdomen.
I immediately looked down—and, damn it, there was an arrow lodged in my abdomen.
"I-I'm sorry! I'm out of mana now......!"
The situation I'd been most worried about had come to pass.
Both the Sylph's duration and the mage's mana pool had run out.
"Shut up and hide!"
A rain of arrows poured toward where the mage's voice had come from.
'Is that <Rapid Fire>?'
An archer-exclusive skill that could fire dozens of arrows at once.
Considering Reina's level, there would be somewhere between ten and twenty arrows, but thinking about that now didn't matter much.
I hurriedly hid behind nearby cover too.
'What do I do?'
Hiding wasn't the answer.
The moment Dorman killed the weasel, we'd lose anyway.
That archer bitch knew it too, which was why she was stalling.
'Hah.......'
Was there no choice but to endure the bleeding here?
I forced myself to ignore the pain in my stomach and steadied my breathing. Just as I was about to break from cover—
SKREEE—!
A beast's howl rang out from some distance away—
['Blade Weasel' is now incapacitated.]
"Fuck."
I was well and truly screwed.
* * *
After the weasel's death cry, the area sank into silence.
Only the occasional sound of wind could be heard, and to me it was an ominous silence.
The pain in my wrist remained, and the arrow lodged in my abdomen was still bothering me.
I was agonizing over whether I could even run in this state.
"You little rat. Where are you hiding?"
Dorman's voice.
Then I heard footsteps, as if he was searching the area.
"It's been a while since someone's annoyed me this much. You don't seem like an ordinary Delver—what the hell are you?"
Stoker, you son of a bitch.
More importantly, that bastard's breathing was fairly labored.
Which meant he hadn't gotten through this without expending stamina.
'Or is that an act too?'
I couldn't be sure of anything until I confirmed it with my own eyes.
"You're not coming out? Hey...... if you keep hiding, you're only hurting yourself. Come out quietly and I'll kill you painlessly. Our goal was never you in the first place."
A hollow laugh escaped me.
Why did that bastard keep spouting bullshit that wouldn't work on anyone?
'His voice seems to be getting farther away little by little.'
Should I run?
No matter how I looked at it, my odds of winning were far too low.
Dorman's level was over 30. A Delver barely around 20—
and one who'd struggled even against a one-armed opponent—was not someone I could beat.
......Then the real problem was the archer, who was probably hiding somewhere and watching the situation.
'.......'
This was no time to hesitate. The moment I judged Dorman's voice had receded far enough, I kicked off the ground.
"11 o'clock!"
Along with the archer's shout, I heard a sound from behind as if he was immediately giving chase.
'Shit.'
Just how fast was this bastard?
I should have secured at least several dozen meters of distance, but I could feel the gap closing at terrifying speed.
The wind rushing past my ears somehow sounded like Dorman's laughter.
"You're a decent runner, huh? Keep running. The later you're caught, the more painfully you'll die."
Sinister bastard.
Given how easily he was talking, his labored breathing earlier had definitely been an act.
Dorman was already treating me like a fish he'd landed—and honestly, he wasn't wrong.
"I'll slice you up with my sword, starting from the toes. I've experimented, and most people don't die until I reach the calves. How long will you last?"
I had no room to answer, so I just kept running.
Feeling the distance close with every passing moment, I ran through several countermeasures in my head, but none of them seemed particularly effective.
Whizz.
Amid all that, I heard the sound of an arrow.
Could it really reach me at this distance?
In the game, an archer's range was at best a few dozen meters.
Since it was a quarter-view game, attacks rarely reached enemies off-screen.
Fft.
Fuck.
The moment the arrow grazed my earlobe, I was reminded once again that this was reality.
Now that the game had become reality, archers had the insane ability to shoot accurately from hundreds of meters away, even at night.
And accurately enough to hit while I was overlapping with an ally, no less.
'Goddamn fantasy world.'
Considering the physical abilities of melee combatants, it wasn't strange, but I couldn't help feeling the unfairness of it.
Fortunately, my destination was gradually coming into view.......
But Dorman's presence had already closed to within arm's reach.
The moment I heard the sound of a sword being drawn behind me, I immediately spun around and swung my scythe.
CLANG!
The sound of metal clashing.
Because I'd turned around while running, I immediately had to roll across the ground.
Then, as Dorman closed in, I threw the dirt I'd grabbed while rolling at him.
'Damn.'
Dorman dodged it, just as I'd expected.
Of course he did.
Tricks like that only work the first one or two times. I'd overused the cheap move, so the enemy had adapted.
"Keh-heh-heh!"
Dorman laughed and swung his sword.
The instant I thought I wouldn't be able to dodge—
THWUNK—
A heavier, rougher sound than before cut through the air,
and Dorman doubled over just as he was about to attack.
"Fuck......!"
While Dorman spat curses, I quickly scrambled to my feet and ran again.
"Reina, you idiot! Who the hell are you shooting at?!"
Reina? No.
The sound just now had been clearly different from the sound of a bowstring being drawn.
A blunter, rougher sound.
'A crossbow?'
Was there another ally?
Or.......
I couldn't be sure what had happened yet, but one thing was clear: someone had bought me a split second, and that had saved my life.
THUD!
I left Dorman behind and ran again.
The pain in my arrow-pierced abdomen was gradually becoming unbearable, but I ignored it and sprinted at full speed.
Fortunately, I no longer felt Dorman's presence chasing me, and I finally reached my destination.
[Entering <Eternal Forest>.]
......Done.
Now that I'd made it this far, I might be able to shake off Dorman.
I had the forest terrain—especially the early-game map—memorized perfectly.
Rustle.
But instead of continuing to run, I hid myself in some nearby underbrush.
Why?
Because I'd never intended to run away in the first place.
[The tutorial is ending.]
<Forest of Shadow>, true to its name, was a game whose main stage was the forest.
A colossal forest covering more than half of this world.
Fighting the countless enemies that existed there, finding rare treasures, and uncovering the secrets of the world—that was the purpose of <FoS>.
In other words, everything before entering the Eternal Forest was nothing more than a tutorial.
Therefore.......
[Conditions satisfied.]
[<Achievement Shop> has been unlocked.]
[Achievement points can now be used.]
There were functions that only unlocked once you entered the forest.
[Achievement points held: 12,615,151]
Now, it was time for the counterattack.