Chapter 15: The First Companion
Chapter 15: The First Companion
“…Haaa.”
When things went sideways and didn't go according to plan, I couldn't help but sigh.
Ah, fuck. I really shouldn't try to beat around the bush.
This isn't a game. I tried this roundabout way, attempting to be rational and persuade her step-by-step since she'd be a long-term companion in this reality, but things just keep getting more tangled.
Should I just give up on her now?
But all the time and effort I've invested would be such a waste.
Besides that, I'd much rather keep that beautiful face by my side for as long as possible.
“I’ll be honest with you. I want to improve my skills as fast as possible so I can challenge the deeper parts of the dungeon. That’s why I tried to form a party in the first place. But it’s a problem if a party member I went to the trouble of recruiting holds me back because of their level, of all things. It doesn’t have to be with me, but… do you have any plans to level up somewhere else?”
Of course, ‘honest’ my ass. It was all bullshit.
The plan was to get her in the mood for sex first, then seduce her by any means necessary.
“I don’t. But I’m confident I won’t hold you back. No, I’m confident I can do even more than that. I’m sure I’ll be a help to you. If you decide I’m not helpful, you can dissolve the party immediately.”
Such incredible confidence.
She was so sure of her own talent. What the hell was her deal?
“I told you, I’m not going to abandon a companion. But let me ask you something. If you’re that confident in your skills, shouldn’t you be fine even if the party breaks up? Why do you want to stick together?”
“…That’s because… Do I look that shameless to you? I’m well aware of the kindness you’ve shown me. Didn’t I say I wouldn’t do something as despicable as taking what I can get and leaving?”
Jeez. So, in other words, she’s skilled enough to go it alone, but she’s grateful for what I’ve done so far and wants to help me from now on? Even though she plans to level up solely through combat? Does she really think she’ll be helpful?
It seemed she wasn't a total bitch, but she was more clueless than I thought.
“…And it seems you’re really not just after my body.”
At least my efforts up to this point hadn't been a complete waste, seeing as she said that.
My original plan was to go with the ‘I’m not after your body, I’m just doing this because I have to level up’ strategy.
I never imagined I’d end up in a situation where I succeeded in lowering her guard but failed to get her into bed.
“…Let’s just head back for today and think about it tomorrow.”
“Alright. Let’s take on stronger monsters tomorrow. I’ll prove my words to you.”
Honestly, I don’t care whether you’re actually that strong or not.
Of course, it’s good if a companion is strong, since we’ll be going through the dungeon together. It’s reassuring.
But that wasn’t the only thing Guwon wanted from a party member.
What kind of hell is it to travel with a girl like that and not even be able to touch her? It’s nothing short of torture.
Did I take this too lightly?
Honestly, the moment I heard her goal was to get stronger, I foolishly assumed that as soon as she hit a wall with her job level, everything would just fall into place.
I felt an impulse to just say screw it and quit, but then I’d look at Sara’s face and think she was too much of a waste for a one-time thing.
Isn’t there some plausible way to do this?
To organize my thoughts, I habitually opened all my game windows and fell into deep thought.
Then, suddenly, a skill in the Saint’s skill window caught my eye.
It’s a little… no, it’s very risky, but I think I can use this.
Healing Sex Lv. 1
Passive Skill
During sex, your metabolism is stimulated, increasing the recovery rate of both the caster and the target.
Natural healing increases by [100%] during sex, and [100] health is restored upon climax.
It was a core skill from Great Earth’s previous game, ‘Sex Healer,’ and the Saint could learn it as well.
But honestly, until now, I hadn’t given this skill a second thought.
That was because ‘Sex Healer’ had an insane world setting where the only means of recovering health was through sex.
That’s why a skill like this became a core skill, but that wasn’t the case here.
If you get hurt, you drink a potion. Who in their right mind would have sex? Besides, if you’re injured, nine times out of ten it’s during combat. Have sex in the middle of a fight? Or quickly finish the fight and have sex right there on the spot?
Either way, it was still insane.
Especially in a situation like this, with no other party members to stand guard, it was a straight-up suicide mission.
But this wasn’t the time to be picky.
Guwon was the kind of man who could do that insane thing if necessary.
Truth be told, I had been overthinking things.
No matter how much of a sex master I was in virtual reality, in the end, VR was just VR.
The NPCs Guwon faced there were ultimately programmed to feel pleasure when they had sex, all for the user’s satisfaction. The idea that your technique could improve through VR was bullshit.
In the end, Guwon’s only sexual experience was that one time he was basically forced upon by Alicia.
In other words, you could say I had no proper experience at all.
I hadn’t realized it myself, but I might have been subconsciously intimidated.
That’s why I couldn’t take the first step and, uncharacteristically, tried to proceed slowly and carefully, trying to lead her into bringing it up herself.
But my conversation with Sara had completely blocked that path.
I never would have guessed she was a crazy bitch who intended to level up only through combat.
I thought she was a bit of a brat, but still a normal person.
Still, what Guwon had done so far wasn’t in vain.
By focusing only on improving Sara’s abilities in the dungeon and not laying a single finger on her even while sleeping in the same room at night, Sara now seemed to completely believe that Guwon hadn’t approached her just for her body.
It was subtle, but seeing her attitude change from when we first met, I felt I had built a certain amount of trust as a companion.
Moreover, Sara seemed incredibly confident in her own abilities.
Seeing that, she probably did have something hidden up her sleeve.
But even so, she was still only level 8.
No matter how many hidden cards she had, there would be a limit to what she could do.
Should I take a gamble?
A plan spontaneously formed in Guwon’s mind.
Even if things went wrong, I had a potion in my inventory that I’d bought just in case.
This might actually be worth a shot.
Just then, a pack of three female wolfdogs appeared in front of Guwon.
Huh? Isn’t this an opportunity?
When Guwon turned to look at Sara, he could faintly see three more wolfdogs in the distance behind her.
It was too far to tell if they were male or female, but this really felt like a chance.
Sara hadn’t yet noticed the wolfdogs behind her.
With the opportunity for his newly hatched plan presenting itself, Guwon didn’t hesitate. He charged toward the nearby pack of females and shouted.
“Let’s get these guys before we go! Just support me from the back!”
Grrrrrr!
The wolfdogs spotted Guwon and all three charged at once.
First, Guwon invested all the bonus stats he’d saved up after leveling up in combat into Durability.
Then, he slammed into the legs of the first one to reach him, as if to trip it.
While the first one tumbled, unable to stop its own momentum, the others that followed lunged for Guwon, but an arrow flew in and struck one of them in the torso.
Ignoring the one that was sent rolling by the arrow, I grabbed the remaining one in mid-air with both hands and drove a knee into it.
Then I stomped down hard with that same leg, crushing the one that had fallen earlier.
In that time, the one with the arrow in it got up and bit my leg, but with my defense boosted by investing all my bonus stats into Durability, I could feel it doing significantly less damage than yesterday.
Of course, it was bleeding and it hurt, but thinking of it as part of the plan to come, I could gladly accept even this.
“Kuk!”
Hearing a groan, I looked over at Sara and saw she was being attacked by the wolfdogs that had been in the distance.
Good. This is it.
“Sara!”
Guwon immediately abandoned the three wolfdogs he was fighting and ran toward the ones attacking Sara.
They were all males, and it seemed Sara had only been momentarily flustered by the surprise attack. She quickly fired off arrows and was able to finish them in an instant.
But that brief moment was enough.
When Guwon turned his head back to the wolfdogs he’d abandoned, two were approaching him while one was tilting its head back.
Of course, if I ignored the two approaching and charged the one with its head raised, I might still be able to stop it. Or, if not that, Sara could probably stop it with an arrow.
But Guwon, under the pretext of Sara being in danger, chose to stand in front of her and block the charge of the two wolfdogs.
Because Guwon blocked the way, Sara couldn’t fire an arrow, and in the end, the wolfdog’s howl echoed through the air.
Awooooooooooo!
Perfect.
I can’t believe things are unfolding so similarly to the scenario I imagined.
Having come this far, I can consider this a success, right?
Guwon hid his inner thoughts and shouted with urgency.
“Sara! Get up a tree! More are coming!”
“What? Yes!”
By the time Guwon beat down the two charging wolfdogs and ran to the one that had howled, new packs of wolfdogs were already swarming in from all directions.
Even though I had prepared for this, being surrounded by over a dozen wolfdogs made even Guwon start to feel nervous.
If it was just a matter of killing them all, it would have been manageable, but I couldn’t do that.
Guwon faced the wolfdogs, keeping a close eye on his health gauge.
Woof! Woof!
Wolfdogs charged from all sides.
He swung both arms, striking down the ones attacking from the left and right, then kicked out to send the one in front of him flying. But the wolfdogs showed no signs of backing down, their eyes instead turning bloodshot as they lunged.
Sara provided support by firing arrows, but it wasn’t enough against these numbers.
Besides, there was a limit to her arrows. Since monster corpses disappeared after their magic stones were extracted in the dungeon, adventurers typically reused their arrows, so they only carried two or three quivers at most.
At this rate, it was only a matter of time before she ran out.
With wolfdogs attacking from the front, back, left, and right, Guwon eventually couldn't block them all, and the number of his wounds began to increase.
Not yet. It’s still not enough.
Guwon could see his own health bar.
That meant he could control the situation himself, right up to the brink of death.
As long as he was careful not to get hit with any strange status effects, he was confident he could survive even after reaching the verge of death.
Normally, he would never do something this crazy, but this was a gamble.
If I still can’t get with Sara after this, I’ll just have to break up the party.
No, since I’ve invested so much, should I at least fuck her once?
Even Guwon, who considered himself a sane and rational person, was so desperate that he briefly considered rape—something he would never normally do.
Was it because my mind wandered for a moment? I failed to stop two wolfdogs from using their circus-like acrobatics to head for the tree Sara was in.
“Sara!”
“I’m fine!”
I quickly looked at Sara and saw her shoot an arrow, knocking down the attacking beast.
Looks like she can handle just two of them on her own.
Guwon decided to deal with the wolves around him first.
After a long, bloody battle, he finally managed to kill all the nearby wolfdogs.
Honestly, I had been too complacent about them calling their allies and swarming like this.
Besides, just how many of them were there in the area? No matter how many I killed, reinforcements kept appearing.
From the midway point, I wasn't even paying attention to my health gauge; I was just desperately trying to defeat the wolfdogs in front of me. By the time I had killed them all, my health was critically low.
“Kyaaak!”
Just then, I heard Sara scream.
I whipped my head around to see Sara falling from the tree in an unstable posture.
A few wolfdogs lay around her with arrows in them, but two females were still standing.
Sara seemed to have injured her leg when she fell. She awkwardly pulled a knife from her sleeve.
Her quiver was empty; she must have run out of arrows.
Fuck, when did so many more get over there?
Guwon ran as fast as he could to save her, but the wolfdogs’ attack was a little faster.
Sara managed to kill one of them somehow, but the other one bit deep into her abdomen.
CRUNCH!
Blood gushed from a wound on Sara’s abdomen that was clearly serious even at a glance, and she collapsed as if she’d fainted.
Goddammit!
“Die, you son of a bitch!”
Guwon rushed over, killed the wolfdog, and checked on Sara.
Her face was pale, and a huge hole had been torn in her once-beautiful abdomen, so deep that I could see her intestines.
“Hey! Snap out of it!”
Fuck! Fuck! I didn’t expect this!
Was it because I was too hasty, thinking all my efforts might go to waste?
Guwon had only considered a scenario where he himself would be left with critical health and unable to finish off all the wolfdogs; he hadn't thought Sara would get seriously injured.
His complacent thought was that if she drew aggro, he could just use his own body to tank the hits.
Seeing a person’s internal organs right in front of him, his mind went blank, and he fell into a state of panic where he couldn’t think at all.
Fuck, what do I do?
Ah, right! The potion!
Remembering the expensive emergency potion he’d bought just in case, Guwon immediately took it out of his inventory, poured half on Sara’s abdomen, and made her drink the other half. The gaping wound closed up enough that her intestines were no longer visible, but that was it. The wound was still severe, and her pale complexion showed no signs of returning.
Anxious and fidgety, he habitually opened all his game windows, panicking, when a certain skill caught Guwon’s eye.