Chapter 48: The Strategy of the Pillar

A blood-red aura began to swirl around me. One of the greatest advantages of a virtual reality game was being able to read a skill’s description just by glancing at its icon. Judgment of Scorch was a Berserker-exclusive skill that consumed the caster’s health to grant an attack buff to the target. In other words, this crimson aura enveloping me was literally Sephiroth’s life force.

I didn’t even have time to be impressed before Dorethes launched its next attack. I leaped backward, narrowly avoiding its sharp forepaws as they swiped through the air. Then, the rat’s eyes flashed a brilliant red, and my vision instantly cut to pitch black.

“I can’t see!”

“Top right!”

Sephiroth reacted instantly to my shout. As I rolled toward the bottom left, my vision returned just in time to see a massive paw slam into the spot where I had been standing. The marble floor shattered, sending shards flying toward me. I hurriedly parried them with my blades. Dorethes unhinged its jaw. I’m not falling for that twice. I sprinted toward a blind spot where the suction of its breath couldn’t reach, but a whip-like tail lashed out from the opposite side.

“Should I go for the cheese?” I yelled while twisting my body to dodge.

Dorethes hadn’t strayed from the giant cheese block since the fight started. It used that black-hole-like suction to pull Sephiroth and me in for close-range strikes, but it never actually moved toward us. That meant the cheese was likely its weakness.

Sephiroth was calmer than I was. He cast another buff on me and replied quickly.

“Hold off for a second.”

“Got it.”

I nodded. Sephiroth had far more experience in Zelpia than I did; if there was a trap hidden in the mechanics, I trusted his instincts to sniff it out. At least within the confines of the game, I could trust him implicitly.

Instead of attacking the cheese, I charged at Dorethes. Twin-blade users were characters built for fast, stylish chain attacks. There was no need to play defensively forever. In fact, while Dorethes was playing guard, this was the perfect time to shove in as many effective hits as possible.

Kreeeee!

“Shut up!”

Slash, shink, swish!

[Attack power increased by 5%.] [Critical hit chance increased by 10%.] [Critical hit damage increased by 30%.]

I leaped into the air, unleashing a flurry of skills. Whirlwind Slash, Ten-Blade Strike, Blade Rush. Stabbing my swords in while dodging paws and tails provided an incredible tactile sensation. The various buffs Sephiroth kept stacking pushed my damage and crit numbers higher. The damage numbers popping off Dorethes were looking pretty good.

In the middle of my onslaught, Dorethes opened its mouth to suck in air for a counter-attack. But by predicting the angle of its jaw, I could tell the range of the attack. I simply dodged and struck from the other side. As my attacks grew fiercer, Dorethes became frenzied, slamming its paws down randomly. Once I understood the patterns, dodging was easy. The only tricky part was the marble floor fragments that scattered like shrapnel every time a paw hit the ground.

But I wasn’t perfect.

“Ah, slip-up.”

In the heat of swinging my twin blades, I miscalculated the reach of my follow-through. By a hair’s breadth, my sword grazed the cheese. Small chunks of cheese began to fly out at high speed. Just as Dorethes tried to snatch a piece out of the air, I sliced the cheese fragment into nothingness. Instinct told me this rat should not be allowed to touch that cheese. I spammed my skills, carving lines across Dorethes’s body.

Finally, when my sword drew a long horizontal gash across its chest, Dorethes reared up and thrashed as if it were about to fall over, let out a piercing scream.

KREEEEEEEAAAK!

“Phase 2, right?”

“Yeah.”

I exchanged a glance with Sephiroth. He immediately cast several buff spells on me—high-duration spells with long casting delays. I also chugged the potions Sephiroth had given me earlier. Critical hit rate increased by 40%. I looked at the message at the bottom of my vision and smirked.

Boom!

As Phase 2 began, Dorethes’s fur became as sharp as needles. The rat bared its massive incisors and stomped its feet, causing more marble fragments to fly from the already broken floor.

“…These fragments.”

“What?”

Sephiroth muttered something, but I couldn’t hear him. Dodging Dorethes was the priority.

[Dorethes is enraged!]

Every time it lifted a paw, an AoE (Area of Effect) magic circle appeared on the floor, and these circles even started moving. Fortunately, they moved slower than a running character, so I could evade them—provided my path wasn’t blocked by the whip-tail or flying marble. The marble shards were relatively small and didn’t block much, but the tail was a problem.

Sephiroth and I ran in opposite directions. We exploited the fact that the rat only had one tail and couldn’t block both of our escape routes simultaneously. When Sephiroth’s path was blocked, I would quickly clear the AoE zone; when my path was blocked, Sephiroth would clear his. We knew what to do without saying a single word.

Saliva dripped from Dorethes’s open maw. Red dots flashed sporadically across the ground, and a sudden barrage of corrosive spit rained down. I jumped back and watched the spot where it landed. The marble floor bubbled and melted.

“Pretty boy. When are you going to kill it?”

“Could you consider that my concentration drops every time you call me that?”

“If your concentration drops, you just get prettier.”

“F*ck…”

I looked for an opening while dodging. The needle-like fur couldn’t be cut by my swords. I tried to aim for hairless spots, but the fur was too dense to slide a blade through.

“Looks like there’s nothing left to attack but the cheese this time,” Sephiroth said.

I nodded and sprinted toward the cheese. Sephiroth used a taunt skill to pull Dorethes’s aggro. The moment Dorethes growled menacingly and took a step forward, I seized the opening and plunged my sword into the cheese.

Squish!

The disgusting, mushy sensation of the blade sinking in coincided with a frail whimper from Dorethes. I pulled my sword out and scrambled back just as Dorethes’s black form slammed into the spot I had occupied. That thing had thick fur on its belly too; didn’t it stab itself? Apparently not. Dorethes rolled back onto its feet and glared at me with blood-red eyes.

[Dorethes is fixated on you!]

“Hey. I think I’m in trouble.”

“The rat is looking at you with such a passionate gaze.”

“Passionate my ass—whoa!”

Dorethes, now faster than before, lunged at me again. I dodged the massive shadow looming over me. Its burning gaze made my skin crawl. The “Taunted” icon was flashing brightly under my health bar.

“Taunt it back!”

“It’s not working.”

What kind of bolt-from-the-blue news was that? Sephiroth’s cold voice quickly briefed me on the situation—a briefing I really didn’t want to hear.

“I’m using Taunt, but it’s being resisted. Your ‘Fixation’ debuff probably has higher priority.”

“Then what do I do?!”

Crash! Smash! Boom!

While listening to Sephiroth and replying, I had to frantically dodge Dorethes’s falling body. This giant rat was so agile that it seemed to ignore air resistance when jumping. It was a relief that it had stopped spitting, meaning no more poison damage, but the corroded holes in the marble meant I still had to watch my step.

Sephiroth looked troubled, glancing to the side in hesitation. At that moment, a marble fragment kicked up by Dorethes hit Sephiroth’s foot and bounced back, hitting Dorethes. Squeak! The rat let out a tiny yelp. Sephiroth looked at his feet, then back at Dorethes. Then, he shifted his gaze to one of the pillars.

“Ah, I see.”

Suddenly, he began sprinting along the wall.

What is he doing?

I stared at him in bewilderment and almost got flattened by Dorethes. He must have caught me looking, because a sharp reprimand followed.

“Bly, focus on the game.”

“I am!”

What is this, a mother-in-law nagging me? He’s acting like I’m the one being lazy.

Dorethes, seemingly irritated, stomped its feet again and let out more spit. After the familiar pattern, I knew another body slam was coming. I was bracing to block when—

K-BOOM!

That sound didn’t come from Dorethes. I rolled and snapped my head up. I saw Sephiroth’s signature massive axe in my field of vision. What is he doing? Before I could voice the thought, the axe swung again.

K-BOOM!

Sephiroth wasn’t attacking the monster; he was attacking a pillar. He wasn’t a lumberjack, yet under his ferocious strikes, the pillar couldn’t hold. It began to crack and splinter. Then, it finally toppled over—right toward the cheese.