Hidden Stage (4)
How did we get here already!
The man who fell flat on his butt was staring at us in utter shock. It was so ridiculous that I wanted to laugh, but that would only be possible once we had completely seized the advantageous high ground.
For now, I just needed to focus on reducing the enemy's numbers.
'Does the Chimera Cat not come?'
The most threatening monster here was, of course, the Chimera Cat. Fortunately, I remembered quite a bit of detailed information about it.
Back then, I was controlling a player character and fighting the Chimera Cat. The control wasn't a joke.
Even though it stuck close and attacked, most normal attacks were evaded, and when its HP dropped below 50%, it suddenly ran away. Then it ate the Chimera Rat to recover blood and charged again.
Still, its attack power wasn't that high, so we could take it down along with the fairies that had defeated the Chimera Rat group.
'The key is to take out the Chimera Rats quickly!'
I need to take out the Chimera Rats quickly so that the Chimera Cat can't recover its HP. Now was the perfect opportunity to protect my master.
"Charge, you rat bastards!"
I shouted at the Chimera Rats and activated the Greed skill. The monsters that were about to swing their bone swords and bone shields at Aquaril hesitated, then immediately swung their weapons at me.
"Aquaril!"
"Yes, Master!"
While the Chimera Rats' attention was on me, Aquaril came running from the side and attacked the Chimera Rats. Thud-thud-thud! Every time she swung her sword, the heads, arms, and bodies of the Chimera Rats were severed.
'Wow...'
Watching that, I was amazed as I swung my sword wildly at the Chimera Rats.
Even if I could easily kill them by targeting the stitched wounds on their bodies, accurately attacking the weak points of moving enemies was extremely difficult.
Yet Aquaril had done it.
'She's really a 1-star fairy? With that kind of sense, she should have been at least 3-star level when first summoned?'
From the eyes of a former top-rank player, Aquaril's talent was definitely not 1 or 2 star level. It was at least 3-star (★★★).
'Since the fairy is fighting so well, I can't just sit still as her master!'
"Hyaaah!"
I roared and swung my sword wildly at the Chimera Rats in front of me. To third-party observers, it probably looked like I was swinging a baseball bat instead of a sword.
But it was effective.
"Thud!"
"Slash!"
The Chimera Rats were desperately stabbing and swinging the weapons in their hands at me, but instead they hit my sword and bounced back.
"Hah!"
"Thud!"
In the meantime, Aquaril successfully killed another Chimera Rat.
"Wha, what the hell! Aquaril! You dirty fire bitch's whore! As expected, it's you!"
Meanwhile, the man who had been startled by our sudden appearance regained his composure and shouted at Aquaril. He had called the Hwaryongwang, the ruler of Indigo, a "dirty fire bitch", but now that she was no longer the Hwaryongwang but my fairy Aquaril, it had zero impact.
She calmly attacked the fairy rat and severed its head. With that, only three Chimera Rats remained.
"Damn it! Go, Nyomi! Go kill that fire bitch's whore!"
"Cyaaoong!"
When the man gave the order, the Chimera Cat Nyomi, who had been guarding him, charged at us. Unlike the Chimera Rats who weren't wearing any clothes, Nyomi was wearing dirty bra and panties.
As expected, the Chimera Cat wasn't just a cat head on a body. It rushed 30 meters in one go and swung its hand at Aquaril.
Clang!
"Clut!"
"Cyaah!"
Unlike the Chimera Rat with human hands, the Chimera Cat's hand was that of a cat. It was human-sized but looked more like a tiger's paw.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Nyomi swung her claws repeatedly based on her fast speed. But Aquaril wasn't at all behind in speed. Her agility stat was a whopping 20 points, overwhelmingly higher than other stats.
Sword and claws clashed without pause.
Aquaril's biggest problem right now was her durability stat of less than 10 points. Even player characters start with 10 points, but Aquaril was lower than that.
One attack could be fatal to her.
But unlike my worries, Aquaril didn't easily allow attacks. Rather, she made the Chimera Cat's heart skip a beat with attacks targeting the stitched wounds.
'Chance!'
Slash!
"Slash!"
I didn't stay idle either. I succeeded in beheading the Chimera Rat's neck holding the bone sword.
Now only two Chimera Rats remained holding the bone shields!
"Huaaaaa!"
I aggressively pressed the Chimera Rats. While carefully avoiding the stinging face and neck, I fearlessly charged forward without worrying about being stabbed by the bone shields.
"Hua!"
"Slash!"
Finally, I entered within the spear's range and swung my sword. Although I didn't target the stitched wounds, I instead cut the belly of one Chimera Rat long and deep. Rotten guts spilled out.
Boom!
"Thud!"
I pushed the last one with my shoulder, and the monster rolled back. The path to the boss of the hidden stage had finally opened. I ran full speed toward it.
"Huek?!"
As I jumped toward it, the man flinched. As he wiggled his lips and muttered something, his hand turned black. Eventually, a black arrow emitting ominous aura shot from his hand.
'Magic!'
I instinctively sensed that it was magic. If my memory was correct, that was the skill [Dark Arrow] mainly used by [Dark] attribute mages.
Those who can summon fairies and see their status windows are said to have received [Divine Selection] in this world.
But not receiving Divine Selection doesn't mean you can't become strong. You just can't see the status window, but everyone has status windows.
Yet many people want Divine Selection because, besides wanting a fairy that only follows them, the decisive reason is the difference in growth speed.
If you can't see the status window, you can't use growth stones that increase stats by 1 point when consumed. No matter how many growth stones you eat, whether 10 or 100, your stats don't increase at all.
Moreover, you can't use [Skill Stones].
Skill Stones are rare items that allow you to obtain skills when consumed, so rare that you can't find them in the market.
In other words, to have power comparable to a king without receiving Divine Selection, you have to use the expression from the previous life and grind like crazy to become strong. And those who receive Divine Selection just need to work hard.
Anyway, back to the main point. That man, destined to become the ultimate 10-star [Frustrated King] in the future, could use magic even though he didn't receive Divine Selection.
I couldn't imagine how much grinding he must have done to use that magic.
'Dark Arrow is an explosion-type skill. When it hits, it scatters darkness like smoke. Power is low.'
Based on my previous life memories, I analyzed the incoming Dark Arrow skill. I put the sword in the inventory and raised my arms to cover my face. Since I wasn't wearing a helmet, my head was vulnerable.
The status window doesn't show HP, which is commonly seen in games. And Fairy Masters also don't have HP.
Why? Because no matter how high your stats are, one attack from the enemy can instantly kill you. Attacks can be normal or skills.
'Trust in stats!'
I charged toward the Dark Arrow trusting my 19-point durability stat. It was too fast to dodge the skill.
Boom!
"Guk!"
Soon, the Dark Arrow the man shot hit my arm and exploded. My vision darkened like a dark night without a single ray of moonlight.
'This much... I can endure!'
As expected, the power of the Dark Arrow was low. It wasn't a magic focused on attack power to begin with, and moreover, the caster of the Dark Arrow didn't receive Divine Selection. People without Divine Selection have very slow skill level growth.
After the Dark Arrow exploded and scattered darkness, I charged straight at the man who had pierced through it.
"W-what?!"
"Huaaaaa!"
The man was shocked, as if he couldn't imagine that even after taking the Dark Arrow, he wouldn't move at all. I jumped and hugged him, rolling on the floor.
"Kyaaak!"
"Sup!"
In an instant, I took the mounting position and swung my fist at the man writhing underneath me between my legs.
"Kyaak! Ny, Nyomi! Save me! Hurry and save me! Kk!"
"Cyaahaaaa!"
"Where are you going!"
The Chimera Cat Nyomi came running to save her master. But in terms of speed, Aquaril wasn't behind either.
Slash!
"Cyaaoong!"
Aquaril, who had lunged low, swung her sword and precisely severed the stitched wound on Nyomi's leg. The Chimera Cat whose leg was cut rolled on the floor.
"It's over!"
Aquaril didn't stop there; she swung her sword at high speed toward Nyomi's stitched wound. She used the Cheer skill that increases attack speed by 100%.
Slash!
"Cyaaooo..."
She cut the leg, the arm, and the body, and finally severed the Chimera Cat's neck. The cat head larger than a human head rolled on the floor.
"A, noooeeek!"
"Now it's your turn."
"Kk! You bastards like the fire bitch's offspring...! Yeah! If it's like this, we'll all die together..."
Boom!
"Kk..."
I summoned the sword again from the inventory and stabbed it straight into the man's forehead. The light disappeared from the man's trembling pupils.
"Tsk. Why did you try to do something useless?"
I clicked my tongue in regret and stood up.
I hadn't intended to kill him immediately, but since he seemed to be trying something strange, I just killed him.
There were many enemies to defeat in Indigo right now. There's the Hwaryongwang, and the Prisia Princess who tried to assassinate me. Although I don't have any particular grudge against them yet, there's also the Trilie Prince, one of the double bosses in Chapter 1 of the story.
This man will become incredibly strong, to the point of being called the [Frustrated King] in the future. He was a person with tremendous potential to grow to 10-star without the system's help.
He was weak enough to be inferior to me, who was only 1-star now, but he had enough value to be useful. I had thought of using this man to defeat them... but it was a pity.
"Master. All enemies have been killed."
"Yeah. Good work, Aquaril."
Aquaril, who had cut the heads of the Chimera Rats I didn't kill for confirmation, came to me and said.