Chapter 79: Chapter 64: Momentary Thoughts Part 11 Part 1

Just like that, the next days went by with the same routine for us: farming and getting ready for the Gravekeeper fight, day in and day out. Monday through Friday and on the weekends as well. The days soon started to merge into one convoluted mass, and before we even noticed it, the appointed time was nearly upon us.

Our meeting place was the NPC bar “Snake’s Apple”, like usual. When I once asked Pencilgton why he would choose such a shabby place as a meeting spot, his response consisted of two things: that the food was surprisingly good and filled with rare dishes and that this place accepted the Player Killers as its patrons without any prejudice.

Beginners apparently don’t know about this place at all, and advanced players chose more sophisticated facilities around the city, so it was something of a secret spot, where only those familiar with the name would gather. Katsu seemed to like the place pretty much as well, for he was always ordering cake and eating it like it was some kind of gourmet dish.

「Hmm, oh yes, it’s so sweet!」

「I’m not all that fond of excessive sweetness like that.」

「Right, right…… I gathered us here this early in the morning only because I wanted to reconfirm our strategy one more time.」

So we were doing exactly that right now, while every single one of us was munching on something.

「For now, we shall wait here at Thirdrema and head into the Caves at around 11:30…… right?」

「Reaching our destination will take about fifteen minutes, so we shall wait right at the entrance for the right moment.」

「That’s right, I will go and set some traps ahead of time in case some members of the Ashura-kai were going to invade us from the Fiftsia’s side, so I should barely make it in time…… The moment the date changes, it’s the decisive battle for us.」

Right now we were sitting in a private room that the store’s owner made available to us. It was good, because having a private room eliminated the possibility of some other players trying to invade our meeting or privacy as we waited.

Our leveling up was done. Our skills were combined and organized. Our weapons and armor were renewed and repaired. And while Katsu said that he wished he had more time to prepare, I was pretty much calm and content with what I had.

And since I’ve done some fighting with the super OP last boss from “Crap”, I was fairly confident that I would be able to read the boss’s movements and attack patterns ahead of time, up to some extent, at least.

Additionally, Katsu finished his leveling up process while farming Destrobsters, since the Sea Serpents stopped satisfying him with the EXP they were giving. I am fairly sure that he managed to train his abilities and skills because of that, but what about my own level? It was as follows:

PN: Sanraku

LV: 53 (15)

Class: Mercenary (Dual Wielding)

Money: 150 Mani

HP: 30

MP: 10

STM: 60

STR: 40

DEX: 50

AGI: 70

TEC: 55

VIT: 20

LUC: 74

Skills:

? Infinite Slash

? Drill Piercer

? Infight Lv.4

? Skate Foot

? Parrying Protection

? Hand of Fortune Lv.3

? Greater Climbing

? Climax Boost Lv.2

? Five-Fold Jump

? Sharp Turn

? Assassin Earring Lv.5

? Oppressive Kick Lv.6

? Best Step

? Hunger Wolf

? Off-road Lv.2

? Fatal Sword Art 「Water Mirror Moon」

Equipment:

Left Hand: Empire Bee Sword

Right Hand: Empire Bee Sword

Head: Mask of Bird’s Eye (VIT + 1)

Torso: Curse of Luukan

Waist: Leather Belt (VIT + 19)

Feet: Curse of Luukan

Accessories: None

…… Yes, that’s right! I bought it! That super expensive skill! But I only did that because I was too scared of what would happen to me if I didn’t!

But it wasn’t all bad! With that, my defenses should be upgraded from paper-thin to cardboard-thin! And cardboard is much sturdier than paper, mind you!

Everything should be fine for as long as I keep my guard up at all times and do my utmost best. For starters, I’m going to go with the Empire Bee Swords, but if the situation proves to be too difficult, I’ll switch them for something else.

「So, what are you going to do for now?」

「I’m going to confirm the locations of the top members of Ashura-Kai for now.」

「「Uwah.」」

「I want to know their locations ahead of time. If they are somewhere else, that’s fine with me. But we cannot risk it that they lie in ambush somewhere around our desired route. That way it would be too late for us to stop them if they tried to attack us.」

So he would want to challenge his whole guild just to clear that one boss? Talk about dedication to the task. Not that I didn’t understand where he was coming from.

「For the time being this is going to be our strategy until we get to the actual boss arena…… Then it shall proceed as planned.」

「I’m in charge of fighting Gravekeeper himself.」

「I shall take “KIRIN” on once it appears, and Pencilgton will be our support, right?」

「That’s right. Now, Sanraku-kun, there’s something that I would like to confirm with you.」

Pencilgton turns to looks at me, while I was busy with stroking my neck out of loneliness, since right now Emul was nowhere to be found on my back.

「First of all, I must ask you to be able to deal with all of Gravekeeper’s skills without being hit once by them.」

「Seriously?」

「Once the “KIRIN” appears on the stage, you’ll be left with it all on your own. Neither Katsu nor I will be able to assist you since we’ll have our hands full as well. You need to be aware of that.」

Fumu…… Even if you tell me all that, I won’t be able to know how I’ll behave until the right time actually comes around. But it would be ideal if we were able to go through this fight without wasting our resources for as long as we possibly could.

「That’s why if worst case scenario comes to pass, I’ll have to ask you to become our meat shield.」

「Leaving the tanking to the guy with cardboard-thin defenses? You sure have some nerve.」

Apparently gotten used to our comedic duo routine, Pencilgton ignores Katsu’s stingy words, but turns towards him next before long.

「Katsu-kun, there will be more than a few times when you will be left on the brink of death. But I shall support you whenever I have a chance to do so, so rest assured.」

「…… Oh sh*t, I knew it would be bad, but for it to be this bad?」

Katsu’s true role begins when the Tactical Warhorse “KIRIN” appears on the stage. Judging by his skills alone, he should be able to do it, but Pencilgton’s words made it sound like it was going to be one hell of a difficult fight, even for a Pro Gamer like him.

「How should I put it…… It’s like, I think it would be best for you to throw away everything you know about horses for now. Better for you to think of it as a heavy truck with four legs. Yeah.」

「That is certainly quite an image to throw out there, but it works surprisingly well with me for some reason.」

I let out a small sigh to calm myself down. We were all going against really improbable odds and almost certain death, but neither of us was losing face. Pencilgton and Katsu were even smiling.

「Oh well, I’m a professional gamer. I guess that handling a metal horsie while you play with the main enemy shouldn’t be all that hard. I’d lose face if I didn’t fight it with grace.

「But before anything else, don’t let its hind legs kick you man. That would be painful to watch.」

「Yeah, of that you can be sure. Ashura-kai’s best tanks were all taken out in one hit when the “KIRIN” kicked them like that.」

「……………」

A smiling Pro Gamer was never a good thing.