1. Damnable Possession
1. Damnable PossessionThe VR roguelike game, Loof Blood.
The essence of gaming, where Souls-like and roguelike elements had evolved into a virtual reality form.
A work life spinning like a hamster wheel.
Since reality held no particular fun for me, I spent a good while going crazy over this VR game.
The thrill of donning heavy armor, rampaging across the battlefield, and dancing on the edge of death.
The biggest charm of this game that drew me in was the Parrying system.
The pleasure that came from twisting away a sword strike that would have beheaded me by a hair's breadth.
And the exhilaration of carving open an enemy in the opening that followed.
The bliss of reflecting an arrow with a parry and killing an archer with his own arrow.
When you installed the modern warfare mod, parrying bullets was even possible. The thrill of cutting down soldiers with a sword was absolutely immense.
"Yeah, there's nothing left to do now."
Mods aside, I cleared the base story well over 90 times.
And the game had only been out for three months.
The fastest record among the speedrun videos floating around Nutube right now was 42 minutes and 39 seconds.
My best record was in the 39-minute range, over 3 minutes faster than that.
Even so, I started the game one more time.
I casually killed the final boss monster, the 'Immortal King', and pressed quit.
An email had arrived on the digital game distribution platform, Stem Site.
The sender was Miyazaki Hideo, the lead representative developer of Loof Blood.
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To [Don't Screw Me Over], who has continuously enjoyed not only our recently released 'Loof Blood' but also the previous Loof series titles from our company, we sincerely thank you.
You are the first person to achieve 100 clears.
For our next project, we plan to remove the roguelike elements that inevitably constrain the story and attempt to create our very own open world game.
We absolutely wish to give [Don't Screw Me Over] a special privilege as a gift, since you have shown our game so much love.
So, we will send an invitation when preparations are complete.
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"Oh, this should be fun."
Seeing the email, I was simply pleased.
It was because a simple sense of anticipation arose: another god-tier game to properly kill time with was on the way.
And a week passed after receiving this email.
Only then did I understand what they meant by sending an invitation.
***
Ssshhwaaaaa─
The wind in the forest blew fiercely.
A man who had been lying in the brush opened his eyes.
"Oh, this bastard. He woke up."
Ash-grey hair.
And blue eyes, with snow-white skin.
He possessed an elegant appearance anyone would describe as 'aristocratic'.
"Hyung-nim, isn't this guy a noble? His looks ooze nobility."
At the words of the scrawny, anchovy-like man Melau, the ill-tempered looking man Aron shook his head.
"Would a noble walk around wearing tattered leather rags like this? He's just a handsome commoner."
That aristocratic-looking man slowly opened his eyes.
"Where...."
The man paid no mind whatsoever to Melau and Aron, who were aiming their short swords at him.
"This son of a bitch is awake and already looking elsewhere."
The man's gaze was fixed on empty air.
To be precise, he was staring at the multiple windows floating before his eyes.
[Welcome, 'Don't Screw Me Over'.]
[You can return alive upon clearing the game.]
[Check the special privileges for 'Don't Screw Me Over'!]
-Special Privilege List-
[Skill - Parrying(★★★★★) : Parrying. Trust in the user's skill.]
[Skill - Absolute Counter(★★★★★★★★) : Counter. Can be activated upon a successful Parrying. Launches an attack at the opponent dealing damage equal to 10 times the attack power of the parried attack. The attack homes in on the target.]
[Skill - Searching Eye(★★★★) : Reads information about figures. Grants eyes that can view Lv, stats, potential, and more.]
[Skill - Bullet Time(★★★★★★) : Once per day, makes time flow slowly for 30 seconds, limited to the caster. Cooldown: 24 hours]
[Trait - Nobility(★★★★★) : Exudes a noble aura throughout the entire body. Makes any action feel dignified. You are the most noble existence in this world by your own right. Does not yield to external pressure.]
The absurd situation of suddenly being thrown into a game.
But was it survival instinct? Or perhaps consideration from the ones who shoved him into the game? He recognized that the immediate situation was dangerous and rapidly began to rack his brain.
'Absolute Counter.'
The man was certain which among the privileges he received was the most critical skill.
It was Absolute Counter. A reflection technique usable after successfully executing one parry.
'I have to let them strike first.'
A body that could only attack after diverting one blow, only after successfully executing a <Parrying>. The cost-performance ratio was quite terrible. But no alternative to using Absolute Counter came to mind.
[Name: None
Lv.1
Personality Trait: Cool-Headed
Strength: 10 Endurance: 25 Defense: 10 Agility: 30 Growth Potential: 0 - Mortal]
Because his own status window was floating right before his eyes.
Crappy stats with no visible growth potential to speak of.
'Parrying.'
He was confident in parrying alone. No matter how crappy his stats were. Like in Loof Blood, it was an act he had performed countless times in previous virtual reality games too.
Because even when he claimed to act like a veteran and played wearing nothing but underwear and bare skin, he had never once let his parrying accuracy drop below 100%.
"Hey, you bastard. You think ignoring people like this is gonna fly? Take out all the money, or lack thereof, in that pouch. Your belongings too. If there's nothing, you'll have to strip off those rags you call clothes too."
Aron aimed his blade right at the man's throat.
The personality trait 'Cool-Headed' bestowed calmness upon the man.
"Is that sword for show?"
The calmness to engage in brazen-faced provocation.
"...What?"
"I asked why you're carrying around something you're not even going to stab with."
It was a provocation staked on confirming the items hidden inside the pouch hanging at his waist.
Upon fiddling with it, information about a dagger came into view before his eyes.
[Black Dragon Bernak's Fang
-Dagger
-A short sword crafted from a Black Dragon's fang.
-Possesses superior durability.]
At the man's provocation, Aron's eyes became bloodshot.
"You bastard who looks suited for nothing but being a noble's errand boy!"
Shuwaaak!
The short sword rushed towards the man's upper body. The thought of using 'Bullet Time' didn't even occur to him. What floated above Aron's head was [Lv.10].
If considered a monster, he was nothing but trash mob level.
He wasn't an opponent worthy of using a skill clearly meant for life-saving emergencies, usable only once a day.
The trajectory of the opponent's extending attack was clearly visible.
It was that same trajectory he had seen hundreds, thousands of times in 'Loof Blood'.
Hwirik─!
He swung, gripping the dagger in a reverse hold.
Kaaaang!
The short sword that clashed against the dagger was pushed back heavily.
A golden radiance impact, signifying a successful parry, burst forth.
And simultaneously.
Sssseokeok───
A purple energy stream that extended from the tip of the dagger he held curved like a scythe, passing right through Aron's neck.
<Absolute Counter>
Aron's head plummeted to the ground.
Blood spurted up like a fountain.
"Uwaaaaaak!"
The scrawny, anchovy-like man, Melau, screamed at the death of the man who was leading him.
Seobeok.
The man walked forward.
Looking down on Melau as if he were beneath notice, his chin raised.
"Aren't you going to try?"
"I, I am...!"
Melau could not calm his pounding heart.
He hadn't wanted to mess with this man from the very beginning. He was merely lying peacefully sprawled out asleep in the brush. It was because, for some reason, he gave off a lofty aura that didn't seem like that of an ordinary human.
"Then, I'll be going."
The man raised his right arm holding the dagger, then extended his arm at a clumsy, absurdly awkward angle.
"Fff, fuuuuuck!!"
In the end, Melau moved his arm. It was an attack trajectory far more polished than the man's movement.
Just before Melau's short sword reached the man's throat.
Kaaaang!
The man succeeded in parrying again. At least in the movement of 'Parrying', he had long since transcended the Mortal.
And this time too, the purple energy stream gracing the tip of the dagger curved like a scythe.
<Absolute Counter>
Sssseokeok───
Melau's head dropped.
Melau's two eyes were wide open. As if unable to accept his own death until the very end.
"......."
The man stared at the two decapitated corpses with an expressionless face.
"Fuck."
But he couldn't hold back the hometown curse that rose to the back of his throat.
"Just what kind of game did they drop me into."
The man reopened his status window.
The name field was blank.
'Don't Screw Me Over is unusable.'
In a way, it might fit the situation better than any other name.
But now that the game had become reality.
He needed to decide on a name reasonably usable here.
"Yuma."
Yuma.
He chose a name that sounded reasonably decent among the nicknames he used before.
The moment he acknowledged using the name 'Yuma', it was engraved onto the status window.
[Name: Yuma
Lv.1
Personality Trait: Cool-Headed
Strength: 10 Endurance: 25 Defense: 10 Agility: 30 Growth Potential: 0 - Mortal]
There was no change in the crappy stats.
'I need to head to a village.'
As the tension eased to some degree, a vicious hunger struck him.
Yuma searched the insides of the two men's pockets. What came out of their coin purses was a total of 1300 Cent.
Yuma could roughly gauge how much 1300 Cent was worth.
Because the unit 'Cent' was also used in 'Loof Blood'. It was enough to cover about a week's room and board at an inn.
'I need to buy some proper clothes too.'
He had to throw away these shabby leather clothes.
Having sorted out his thoughts, Yuma slowly began descending the mountain.
With a profoundly lofty gait, unconsciously brought forth by the 'Nobility' trait.