PinkBerry

I turned it over, and over again, and the conclusion didn't change. I hadn't done anything wrong.

Even so, I didn't want to leave people sitting on the wrong idea. I was rolling around in that pure-white void, trying to figure out what to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠do, when an alert came in.

I opened the window. A mail was waiting.

"Legacy?"

From somewhere I hadn't expected at all.

"Oh... they work a lot harder than I thought. Well, yeah. Otherwise they couldn't have made a game like this."

The mail was simple enough. They'd been buried under inquiries, they'd checked, and they'd confirmed I hadn't cheated or used an illegally modified connector. They meant to put that in a notice of its own.

The game company, offering to clear my name themselves. I nodded before I even thought about it.

"Guess I can play without sweating it, then."

I shoved every worry and every stray thought straight out of my head and logged into Legacy.

The notice had gone up fast. The moment I saw it, I settled in and enjoyed Legacy the way I wanted to.

The attention hadn't died down, of course. Anyone who so much as inconvenienced me, anyone who got on my nerves, I blocked without mercy. All of them.

Same as always, I cleared every quest that could be called a quest, and I wiped the monsters of the region I was in down to the last one. Somewhere in the middle of it I hit level 20, and I finally stepped out of beginner gear. Next to level 60 equipment it was still garbage, but it wasn't rags anymore, and that was enough to please me.

A max-level player would have laughed at the numbers. By my measure, though, it was close to three times the weapon I'd been swinging—not a mere double—and that was plenty.

Stronger than I'd been in a while, I stretched out my whole body and looked at the monster waiting in front of me.

The second field boss was, of all things, a monster in human shape—a field boss carrying a one-handed sword, the same as mine.

I knew a field boss wasn't something you cleared alone. You built a raid and broke it that way. I'd already soloed the Orc Chieftain, though, so I meant to try this one too. If it didn't work, I could think about gathering people then.

I'd always assumed you had to be max level before a raid meant anything. A field boss like this meant you could raid even while you were still low.

I closed to a certain distance, and the moment it recognized me, it came running.

"Do not stand in my way!"

The voice was unpleasant, and the one-handed sword came down with it. I took the blow on a parry, the same way I had against the Orc Chieftain.

Clang!

"!?"

A tremendous vibration started in my hand and ran through my whole body. The knockback threw me.

The timing had been perfect, and still the risk came down hard. I couldn't help it. The field boss's attack landed.

Shhk!

The parry and that one hit tore away four-fifths of my health in a single chunk.

Fast. Heavy.

The Orc Chieftain's axe had been bigger, more massive, and parrying it hadn't been a problem. The Corrupted Adjudicator's attacks were simply too strong for me to handle as I was.

This isn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠something I can solve with parries.

A parry let me endure two hits. Alone, I couldn't take every attack the Adjudicator threw.

Think about it. That's a DPS eating a raid boss's hit.

This field boss needed a tank. Or else—

I think I'm going to need a healer.

As a rule, if a damage dealer takes a boss attack, it's an instant death. That's why you bring a tank.

I'd already survived two hits from this one. On the third—

"Die!"

Shhk.

I died.

A great vibration rang through my neck. The world in front of me drowned in pitch black, and when I opened my eyes I was back in town.

"Nnngh..."

One healer. I wanted to find a single healer and try the kill again. A tank would have made it comfortable, but if I could parry, I figured I could fill that role well enough myself.

Which left the question of how to get a healer.

"Hm?"

"Ah?"

I lifted my head, and my eyes met someone else's.

A woman in gear that anyone would have read as a healer's. A pure-white robe, a white staff in her hand, and a face so soft and round she had the air of a slightly lacking holy maiden out of a comic.

Why a max-level user was standing in this town, I had no idea... No. Had she come to watch me?

PinkBerry jerked her head aside and made to flee, so I called out.

"Excuse me."

"Eek— yes! Yes!"

"Nuna— ahem. Unni, you're a healer?"

"Ah... yes. I'm a healer."

"Would you party with me?"

"Eh— m-me? Really?"

"Yes."

I sent PinkBerry a party invite on the spot. The moment she accepted, I pulled up her info.

A class that looked like a healer at a glance. Exactly.

"You heal well?"

"I— I do!"

"Yeah? Then let's go take it down."

"Take what down?"

"The field boss."

"What!?"

We were back in front of the field boss, the Corrupted Adjudicator.

"PinkBerry, just heal as much as you can. If you've got any room to spare, land a debuff too."

"Y-yes! Yes!"

The briefing was that short. I charged the field boss at once.

"Do not stand in my way!"

The same line as before. The same attack. I brought my sword up a little faster than last time and parried.

The instant the vibration reached my hand, I threw my body backward.

Before the knockback could take me, I forced one of my own, even a tenth of a second early. That tenth of a second was enough to slip the next attack by a hair.

I flicked my eyes up and checked my health bar. What the parry had shaved off was already full again.

I came out of the dodge and swung for the field boss's open flank. It reacted all at once. The sword moved as if it were alive, and it parried me clean.

Clang!

"Hup!?"

The boss's parry threw me. I was about to eat the follow-up.

"Die!"

"Shield!"

A pure-white effect closed around me, and a transparent film took shape.

Boom!

Half my health blew away in an instant, but I was alive. Without that shield, the hit would have killed me outright. PinkBerry's Shield had saved me.

After that I dodged the field boss's attacks or parried them, and I varied my own swings so they wouldn't be parried in turn.

Every piece of information in front of me came flooding in. Down to the finest detail—the path of each attack, and which one would follow—it all entered my eyes.

It was definitely stronger than the Orc Chieftain. The exchange ran on and on, long past the point where the orc would already have been dead.

After a while, pain started up in my brain. It felt like overload from processing too much.

If I shut this sense off now, I could still dodge the field boss. I just wouldn't be able to parry it.

Clang!

A clean ring, a red impact, and the two one-handed swords met. A sharp crack split the air.

"You would obstruct this body!"

Ugh...!

Maybe because I still wasn't even at the field boss's level, I lost the contest of strength completely. My sword was driven back, and I gave up the hit.

Again a heal arrived on a knife's edge. I smiled and swung.

The field boss was slowing. So was I. Too much information, an aching brain, reactions dragging half a beat behind.

And because of that—

"Arang!"

I missed the attack. Too late to dodge. I forced a parry anyway.

Clang!

The risk was bigger ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠than I'd thought.

One knee buckled. A huge bite of health vanished, and a vibration larger than anything I'd felt locked my body in place.

The field boss's sword poured out black light.

Anyone could see it. A boss's heavy attack.

I was still in the recovery after the parry. My body wouldn't move. I couldn't dodge, couldn't block, couldn't parry.

Ah... so close.

The moment I felt death coming, my body shot backward at a tremendous speed.

"Hyah!?"

A sound I had never once made in my life tore out of me, and I fell into PinkBerry's arms.

Something enormous and soft met the back of my head. I flinched hard.

"It's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the White Mage level-twenty skill, Rescue. It can pull a party member to me."

"Oh..."

A seriously good skill. Recovery lag had nearly killed me, and she'd saved me by a hair.

"Thank you."

"U-un!"

Alive because of PinkBerry, I ran forward at the field boss, still stuck in the recovery after its own attack.