“Hmph. I take it you prefer the sausage over the pie?” Etsuji said with a snicker.
“What? No, you ass,” Hijo said.
“I’m just fucking with you,” Etsuji said. “I’m out.”
“See you,” Hijo said then hung up.
He frowned, finding himself stuck staring at the email again. That woman and Undine had to be different people, using the same name. Sure, they were very similar, but that’s that.
“Fuck,” he said softly. He could just challenge Yusuke…He tossed away that idea. That woman clearly wasted her love on him. How did the delinquent trash win the heart of someone like that? An unremarkable nobody.
Maybe if he pursued Kitome, maybe become friends with her…no. Even if he pulled off a miracle like that and got an invitation to her house, that mother of hers would make investigating impossible. How did the father put up with her? Breasts… Or maybe he’s just as ruthless. What an off-putting family.
Hijo closed the email, glimpsing at the clock on his computer.
“Damn, it’s that time already.”
Fortunately, he was already dressed in the proper attire for his violin lessons.
**
Ring City, Terravon…
Kimiko decided to follow the strange couple on nothing more than a whim. Oh, who was she kidding—the power from those two practically radiated, “I’M MORE THAN WHAT MEETS THE EYE.” Freaking couples.
Her luck with men sucked—all perverts to her. Over time, she simply began to hate couples. Sure, an overreaction to being single, but she hated them nonetheless. The lovey-dovey walking pair of dynamite were no different.
They were on a date…
Kimiko almost abandoned her investigation, even considered middle-fingering the entire world to spread out her wings and take flight. But Chiya’s wrath would be scarier than even a world war. That thought made the orange-haired young dragon girl shudder. Eldest sisters were scary.
Kimiko saw the pair stop. The young man chatted someone up on a phone.
Abruptly, Kimiko’s foot timed a stride with a rock and she tripped, landing face-first.
“Mom look! Blueberry panties! Blueberry panties!” a little boy chanted.
Kimiko quickly lurched to her feet blushing furiously, tears dotting at the sides of her eyes. The mother was already halfway across the street, scolding her son. She shot the orange-haired girl an apologetic look.
“Nice ass.”
The orange-haired dragonling turned to see three thugs grinning evilly. One pointed a gun at her. That…could be quite troublesome in her human form. And she hadn’t lived long enough to develop a natural resistance to human projectile-based weaponry. She could put up a shield, but…would it deflect the bullet?
“Come on, to the alley,” the leader said. “We’re going to have some fun. And if you scream, we’ll blow your brains out.”
Kimiko walked into the alley, blood cold, quiet. All men were the same. Violating scum. They were far out of sight and she could hear the leader unzipping his pants.
As if she’d let some lowly human trash do this do her.
She allowed the ancient magic of the dragons to zip through her blood, triggering the transformation. She was the fastest shifter of the Rose sisters. She had to be—or else her big sisters would simply overshadow the “whelp.” Years of being compared to them took its toll.
The human garbage were frozen at the sight of a fifteen feet tall, magnificent dragon standing before them. Of course she cast a spell to prevent anyone else from seeing her. Kimiko wasn’t taking any chances with Chiyo’s wrath, but she wanted to teach these scum the consequences of violating even the breathing space of a Rose sister.
Beautiful snow-white scales with magical pink roses floating around her, Kimiko was a force of nature. An Alligator-like head with razor-sharp teeth, long tail, glowing red eye color, terrifying claws and bright orange aura, the human men didn’t know how to react at the sight.
She bashed them to the wall with a swift tail strike that they didn’t see then roared. They groaned, blasted with intense pain, but no injury. Just raw fear. Terror. Kimiko instilled more into them by giving them a nice and toothy grin. Two of the thugs fainted. The leader peed himself.
Satisfied, Kimiko shifted back into her human form, clothes fully intact. That was the first lesson taught by Big Sister Chiyo. Or as that anime addict would insist, “onee-chan.” Ugh.
“I take it you won’t be troubling anymore women,” Kimiko said. “Any one of them could be what I am or worse. And they’ll kill you. Gut you with a claw, give you the blender treatment.” The leader started to cry. “Bye now. And I will know if you violate any innocents. You’d better turn your life around.”
Kimiko continued forward, unperturbed. She undid the magical cloaking before rejoining the crowd. Sadly, her queries were nowhere in sight.
“Bloody hell,” she snapped. “Stupid humans.”
She noticed the Tea-cookie shop ahead and allowed just a brief smile of bliss to curl on her face. A large and hot choco-tea cookie topped with cold whipped cream. She couldn’t wait!
**
Late afternoon…
Clyde’s house, backyard…
Clyde tried to tune out the Toru-style blank stare Alice beamed onto him. They spent an hour under Naoko and Natalia’s “training,” which shifted from the cliché, “focus your power,” to loli bickering. Mostly Natalia not agreeing with the teachings and methods of the kuudere elf loli. Fuyoko and Airi watched, sitting at a table yards away, enjoying a spicy tea that the locals loved. Yuki seemed a little annoyed, but couldn’t do anything about the smirks of the two women. Especially Airi. She didn’t want to risk being drawn into a tunnel of a million questions about demonesses.
“Why am I here?” Alice finally said, though under her breath.
“You need this training as much as I do,” Clyde replied.
“Training? You call this training?” she hissed. “You just didn’t want to endure this by yourself.”
He finally looked at her.
“Alice, you’ve got a terrifyingly strong power hidden beneath you,” Clyde said. “I’m counting on this training to remove your block so that you can access it.”
The half-demoness sighed.
“That much I understand,” Alice said, “but why these two? I think we’re better off figuring things out on our own.”
“I know it looks bad,” Clyde said, “But—”
“You should consider learning the way of the samurai.”
Clyde flinched as Ako appeared right in front of him. The lingering magic of her Jump faded from the air.
“I’ll pass, but thanks,” he said to the catgirl.
“If you want, I can scold them, nya,” Ako said. “And if I fail, then—”
“No, no you’re not going to commit any self-harm,” Clyde interrupted. “Sheesh, why are you so suicidal? Don’t answer that, it’s a rhetorical question. Wait…” The young man really looked at the catgirl. “What does it mean to learn the way of the samurai?”
The emotionless catgirl actually smiled. Well, half-smiled. The second she opened her mouth to speak, Natalia anime-dove into the young man, tightly wrapping her arms around him.
“Waah—he’s my student. Go get your own, milk-drinker!”
He shot the loli a blank stare as he felt the tears damn his shirt.
“I concur,” Naoko said. “It is imperative for us to teach the Stone how to access the power within and control it through his veins without suffering from the backlash of the strain. We must eliminate the strain. It won’t happen overnight, but we have less than thirty days to make progress.”
“Instructing him on the way of the samurai will not interfere with this Stone Mode training, nya.” Ako said. As the two kuudere people glared at each other, the young man could just sense the voltage between them. They were wasting time.
“I’m starting to think you were right,” Clyde muttered to Alice. She sighed.
; “Enough fighting,” Alice snapped. “Either you show us why we should listen or piss off.”
“Language High—ow!”
Alice tossed the paper fan to the side and glared daggers at the trio.
“We’re sorry,” they said, unable to take the power of her scrutiny.
At last, Naoko and Natalia worked together, teaching Clyde and Alice how to control the magic within. For Clyde, it was the power. For Alice, they weren’t sure if calling it magic did it justice, but stuck with the term.
Ako jumped in to teach the duo the discipline of the samurai. She even taught them some combat. They also had to exercise because reasons.
After two hours, the pair were exhausted. Fortunately, the lessons were done until the next day. A prompt grabbed Clyde’s attention.
[??? 5% of 100% complete.]
[You have learned the samurai combat style! Train with Ako or a samurai master to raise its rank!]
Clyde allowed one more brief thought to enter his head as he and Alice headed to the baths. A silly thought, really. But, why wasn’t his appetite endless like most protagonists?
**
Somewhere…
All-You-Can-Eat Buffet…
Sol downed his twenty-third large plate of amazing Alonian cooking. The only thing he didn’t like were the greasy duck tenders. They were tasty, and the deep fried food didn’t threaten his health as much in this world. Yet, the young man didn’t want to introduce his body to any bad habits. He looked at his table and the teary waitresses coming to collect the empty plates.
Fifty-third? One hundred fifty-third? He did very hardcore training, but that shouldn’t have generated an appetite like this. Ah well, who was he to complain about a gift from the Bright Ones.
He tipped his main waitress a large amount before leaving. That was probably the reason why the restaurant didn’t ban him. Well…some people started showing up to watch him eat—and often challenged the young man to eating contests. He never lost those. Somehow, this got him a few beautiful women in bed. This world just made no sense.
Even after being here a few months, Sol just could not comprehend it.
Back in the hotel room, he played a few videogames. Some people of this realm showed him the ropes and he loved it since. Somehow, he was just too good—he never lost. Unfortunately, humans of this realm regressed their friendship for losing all the time.
He never gloated or rubbed his wins in their faces. He won every tournament they signed him up for, even against the regional champion. What more did these people want?
Suddenly, someone squeezed his muscles. He turned to see…a girl in his bed, smiling at him. But not just any girl. A yandere.
“Hellfire,” he muttered.
“I miss you,” she said. “Please take me back.”
“No,” Sol said simply. “I do not mingle with the mentally unstable.”
The yandere’s smile widened.
“But you do like my breasts,” she said. “Is there anything wrong with sex?”
“Yes,” he said.
“What?”
“Why would I get close enough for you to plunge a dagger through my throat,” Sol said.
The yandere shook her head sadly.
“You are my world, Sol. If I can’t have you, no one can.”
[Sol activated Forced Return!]
With his hand aimed at the crazy pink-haired woman, he fired a bolt of magic that forcibly warped her home. Four hundred miles away…
“How did she find me?”
[Trap detection has upgraded.]
[Trap detection. GPS marker magnet soldered to the back of your phone.]
Sol wasted no time, ripping it off and crushing the device. He…just didn’t understand this world.
“It’s time to leave this town,” he said. “Another step on my journey.”
He looked at the yandere’s keys.
“How long will it take for her to report it stolen?” he said softly. He figured she’d find a way back to this city within a day. Maybe even a few hours—a borrowed car from her parents or friends, stolen vehicle, train—that crazy woman was persistent. But this time, she wouldn’t find him.
Sol made sure there were no more tracking devices on his person. He sent his belongings to the inventory, then hurried to the hotel staff. It took only a minute to pay for his stay.
[Warning! The yandere is headed this way!]
Sol decided not to risk it with the car. What if it was rigged with tracking devices? He tossed her keys into a nearby trashcan while no one was looking then made a run for it.
He Jumped right as he sensed the familiar three presences of the monster girls that followed him around town.
Selkie was only a second off—she almost negated his ability to Jump.
“Fuuuuccccckkkk!” the entity yelled. The crowd gave her skeptical glances before shaking their heads and strolling off.
Fuming with rage, Selkie stomped away, almost wanting to give up. But...her sister. She’d have to pull herself together and tough things out.
Episode 52 (Part 4)
Unknown Forest…
Sol’s late afternoon training felt too easy, flooded with low level enemies. What made him pause was that they all seemed to be running from something. He equipped all of his armor, which only showed up on his status screen, rather than in real life. It acted as a barrier between getting wounded, especially by bladed weapons; however, it wasn’t perfect. Magic could slip through or crack it, and sometimes not activating against basic physical attacks. A fist fight didn’t trigger it.
He continued deeper into the forest until at last coming across an opening. Something guarded a golden chest.
A muscled humanoid…creature with blue-green skin, one large eye, and a long tail that ended with a spike. Standing eight feet tall, it looked quite strong, which meant one thing. A forest boss. The large chest and its obvious magical lock indicated this much.
Sol smiled and analyzed the creature.
Monster Name: Cyclops.
Type: monster. Rank: A
Level: 485
Weakness: fire, ice, light.
Resistances: dark.
Loot chance: high.
A high loot chance! The excitement poured through Sol’s veins like rebirth. Finally! Sure, taking on a monster twice his level wasn’t the ideal situation, but it wouldn’t be a boss fight if it was weak. This is what he trained for! A level wasn’t the only thing that could guide a player to victory.
Sol equipped his golden knuckles and then stretched his muscles a bit.
“Let’s do this.”
Alerted to his voice, the monster looked at him and let out a guttural roar.
[!]
[You have entered a BOSS fight!]
Sol chuckled then pounded at the ground.
[Sol activated Curse of Weakness]
The gray shockwave of energy hurdled through the ground, striking the monster as it cautiously walked toward Sol.
[Boss was inflicted with weakness]
Sol thrusted a palm in the monster’s direction.
((Sol triggered Double slowness))
A sky blue glow briefly enveloped the young man, then like an arrow, shot out at the approaching monster. It growled, struck with an unseen burden.
[Boss was inflicted with slowness]
While in the same position, Sol pulled from a different source of power. One that he knew little about, nor was safe to abuse, but the hellfire with it.
He reversed the Ki flow within him, flooding it with an imaginary vision of space time. Then he replaced it with a force of power that didn’t really exist. While Ki had color, this new substance was always gray. Nothing but a disturbing endless gray.
>)Sol has accessed Negative Ki.)<
[Warning! Limit your use of this to avoid inviting Black Ki into your body.]
>)Sol re-channeled Mind Crush! (<
The gray Ki rushed from his palms and as it struck the monster, it shattered like literal large
frames of glass.
The monster dropped to a knee, holding its head, roaring.
[Boss was inflicted with mind scramble!]
Sol let go of the Negative Ki and tapped back into chakra, palms still aimed.
((Sol triggered Loose Defense))
The light blue energy struck again, giving the young man the results he wanted.
[Boss defense was lowered!]
[Sol activated Sharpness.]
[Sol’s attack was increased.]
“Now let’s get on with it,” he said, rushing toward the cyclops.
((Sol triggered Chakra infusion))
[Sol’s attacks are now infused with Chakra.]
He started with repeated punches and kicks at the monster’s head, but despite the lowered defense it didn’t do much damage.
[Boss HP has dropped to 400%]
He weakened its natural demonic armor, but even with Chakra-infused punches, the level difference made up for the losses. Good. Something had to make sense in this ridiculous world.
He switched from the golden knuckles to his Titanic Eldritch Sword. It was better to overkill than to die, especially with the loot chest right in front of him.
Loot—such a rarity in this world. Even brown chests had a low drop rate.
[Sol activated Tier 1 skill: Gatling Slash]
10.The Anime Trope System: Stone vs. Viper, #10 a LitRPG (ATS) Page 10