“You should be looking at her too.”
Selkie shook her head.
“I’m not sure what happened—he won’t tell me the full story, but after a terrible trap setup by crusader researchers, resulting in the loss of many lives, he declared war on them.”
Clyde sighed.
“Yuki, do you mind doing the honors, please? Reversing the damage and all. It’s a miracle the cops aren’t out here yet.”
“Yeah…something’s strange…” Melody’s sentence cut off as she realized something. “It’s my mother’s illusion powers. She’s keeping the panic down.”
“Come on, tell us the rest,” Clyde said, motioning for Yuki to wait. “I already know the cliché. She definitely seems like the double-edged sword type.”
And to think someone like that was going to be his mother-in-law. The young man shuddered inside. Scary mothers being scary.
“I think she’s casting something else,” Melody said. “And judging by the amount of power she’s emitting, it’s not to clean up the mess of one single area.”
The screaming from the other side of the festival grounds began right as Clyde received a prompt.
[You are entering a dungeon. Difficulty: Very hard to Super hard. You have no say in this, so good luck!]
[Objective: Rescue the guests from their prison cells in the twisted version of the school. There is a barrier on the entrance of the building. Figure out how to disable it to proceed. This objective is mandatory and cannot be refused. Result of failing this dungeon is a game over.]
Clyde, Tessa, and Dark facepalmed then looked at each other and laughed. Tear made her way to him and pulled the young man into her.
“What’s going on, my love?” She kissed him. Everyone outside of Team Stone blushed.
“Wha—what—are you doing?” Tessa said, barging in between the two. Tear grinned.
“The elf girl is right,” Tear said. “We’ve got to stay relevant.” She stepped around the Wind and Clyde found himself pressed against heaven.
“Melody’s mother is playing games with us,” he said. Tear’s eyes widened.
“Clyde…why do you know this?” she said.
“Because she’s been a guest of the festival the entire time,” Airi said, walking up to the two. “Scary lady with glowing eyes. Mel’s told me about her and let’s just say, I’d rather live on a different planet.” Airi shuddered. Chizuru looked mystified by the sight of the purple-haired young woman.
“Aren’t you…Airi?” she said. Airi turned to her.
“Yep,” she said. “Oh! I remember you. The girl who was scolded for having manga hidden in her bag.”
“Tha—tha—that’s not important right now,” Chizuru comically snarled, faced flushed. Clyde burst out into laughter. Tessa and Dark hid their laughter in their own ways. A moment like this was exactly what he needed to break the tension.
“Look, you two can catch up later,” Clyde said. “For now, we’ve got to find some way to get into the school and turn off whatever game Amaterasu’s playing. Or we’ll be stuck in this little dimension she created.”
The party nodded.
“As much as you hate it, love, we’ll have to split into groups,” Tear said to Clyde.
“I know,” he said then sighed. “Fuck. Even Team Stone’s too large.”
“Clare and the magical girls are here too,” Kitome said.
“Damn, I missed the transformations,” Seth said. Toru sighed, wincing as the blue-haired young woman punched Seth in the gut.
“Masochism at its finest,” Toru said.
“More like perversion,” Kitome snapped.
Harumi softly facepalmed.
“He never learns.”
Clyde looked around.
“Where’s Natalia?”
A looked of panic flashed through his life mate’s eyes.
Episode 43 (Part 3)
[Dungeon: The Trap of She Who Dawns Time. Area: outside.]
Clyde thought about the ordeal carefully before organizing the party. He needed to talk with the Wind or at least keep an eye on her. Chizuru and Dark would probably go at each other’s throats if left unchecked. Great. So much for giving his team time off.
“My group will be a little smaller,” Clyde said. “Our focus will be to take on whatever awaits us at the end of the barrier. Everyone else will be rescuing anyone caught in this trap. Melody, is there any way you can get us back into the real world?”
“We’re still in the real world,” Melody said. “Just coated in a bubble of illusion. Something this big is more than likely being sustained by a placeholder, maybe a sphere of energy, rather than Mother. I don’t want to sit in here just to wait for it to wink out, so we’ll have to shatter it or beat some since into Mother.”
“This is an instance in which I will interfere,” Selkie said. “Trapping an entity breaks the rules of the stone-viper games and so I’m permitted to correct this.” She looked uncertain. “I’ll…still use minimum magic to not attract unwanted eyes”
“Fuck yeah,” Clyde said. “Easy mode. Alright, Selkie’s in my group.”
Alice gave him a pout. He chuckled. “You know you’re with me.” He would’ve pulled her if Tear and Melody weren’t already holding his arms. If Kanako was present, she’d probably be hugging his waist just to join in the clusterfuck.
“Alice, Selkie, the crusader champion, Charles,” Clyde began, but was interrupted.
“It’s Dark!”
Clyde rolled his eyes, continuing,
“And you.” He pointed at Tessa. She gulped. “I hadn’t forgotten about you, Wind.”
Selkie’s eyes widened.
“It couldn’t be—that shouldn’t be…”
“Look, it’s nothing impossible, we are allowed to go wherever we want,” Clyde said, “and we’ll discuss it later. First, let’s go beat up my mo—Melody’s evil mother.”
The redhead sighed.
[Missing: Chika, Natalia, Kanako, Ruri, Matsume, Kiko, Sazuki, Ming, Noona, Yusuke, Tetra.]
[Team: Clyde, Alice, Selkie, Chizuru, Dark, and Tessa.]
“Everybody else, form your group and—”
“I’m going with your group and you’d better not argue,” Tear said. Her eyes glistened, drying up the young man’s protest.
“Fine, but I really need to keep this group small,” Clyde said, but Harumi still walked over to him, arms folded, and would not be deterred. “Eight is the limit of any party. No more objections. Yuki, you’ll be the leader of team two.”
She nodded, smiling.
[Improved team 1: Clyde, Alice, Selkie, Chizuru, Dark, Tessa, Harumi, Tear.]
[Team 2: Yuki, Toru, Airi, Kitome, Seth, Melody, Chizuru’s Crusaders.]
Having a harem was going to be so much harder than he thought. Of course, it was. Women were strong-willed and brilliant-minded. They were going to keep him from fucking things up whether he thought he knew it all or not. There were no throats for them to go after at the moment.
“You know your jobs, so let’s do this,” Clyde said. “Check the entire area and help me break this damn barrier so we can get into the school. The faster we get this done, the faster we get back to the cultural festival.”
Clyde and the others searched the enormous school yard for any clues to disable the barrier that would allow them access to the academy. He could imagine some people being traumatized by the monsters. He bet they weren’t mere illusions, but spawned fuckers from Melody’s world.
The young man admitted to himself that he was already missing Natalia. Annoying at times, but always had his back in combat. Wielding the Staff of Hopes, she was a powerhouse. If the culprit behind the illusion was anyone but Amaterasu, he’d relax, unworried. That fucking vision…If she harmed his friend in any kind of way, Clyde would…
He pushed away the thoughts. Even he had limits. Could he possibly threaten someone that outclassed him so much? And that’s why he fought with Team Stone. Realistically, no one could fight the enemies
they did alone. Not at their levels without some kind of bullshit cheat.
Clyde checked his Mental Navigation System, hoping that it’d lead him to a switch or something, but the arrow and meters only pointed at the obvious front entrance. The back way, even side doors all held the same unbreakable barrier. Selkie couldn’t pierce it even with entity-level brute force.
Abruptly, a group of monsters spawned in a circle formation around Clyde’s team.
They were large lizard-like creatures with eight legs. Some had dark blue scales, others black. The young man analyzed them.
Generic Basilisk
Level: 87
Type: Monster
Work under: trickster demoness spawn…
Special: Petrifying Gaze. [Chance to cause paralysis or even petrification.]
Weakness: Sound attribute.
Resistances: 20% physical .
[Your party has entered combat!]
“Battle form…oh wait, this isn’t fully Team Stone,” Clyde said. “These are basilisks. Don’t look in their eyes or you’ll be either turned to stone or paralyzed. Focus on magic damage!”
Alice, Tear, and Harumi nodded. Selkie shrugged. However, Dark, Tessa, and the crusader girl, Chizuru looked unsure, more than likely not used to taking orders. Hell, getting her crusader group to go with Team Two took intimidation before the champion gave them the command.
There were fourteen enemies, but luckily for the party, they all had the same level.
Clyde dashed forward to attack, although it was awkward to fight an enemy one couldn’t directly look at. He started off with an attack he hadn’t used in a while.
[Tier 3 skill: Sound Slash. Does physical and sound damage. Chance to cause deaf at 1%. ]
And the results were what he hoped for.
[CRITICAL. WEAKNESS EXPLOITED.]
It was an instant kill; however, the cooldown prevented him from abusing it.
[Your MP has dropped from 380% to 350%]
He didn’t have to worry about the others. Selkie and Tear virtually deleted the enemies with the greatest of ease. Alice and Harumi fought side by side, forces of nature. Chizuru’s sword caught his attention—it was something that he figured held a class of Legendary or higher. Dark and Tessa, the player characters fought with varying strategies, leading to easy victories. And soon, the victory screen graced the mind’s eye of Clyde. And probably the minds of Dark and Tessa.
[Battle completed. Victory! Reward: 120,000 EXP and 20,000 dollars.]
No chest. Clyde sighed. This world went out of its way to make sure they were rare.
[School ground mini-boss approaches…]
The area rumbled like the start of an angering earthquake. Clyde looked around, almost as if he were a videogame character. In real life, shit like this was more concerning. Especially in Satovia. A hole opened up from the ground, maybe thirty yards in front of the group. Something hopped out of the inky blackness, laughing.
“Boofa boofa boooffaaaa,” it yelled, wiggling his tongue wildly. It turned its gaze to Chizuru. The monster had a white praying mantis body and a reptilian head, human hands, and two giant egg-shaped, all-black buggy eyes. Its grasshopper-like wings were opened wide. “Boofa boofa boofaaaaaa.” It laughed hard. “Boof.”
The analysis told the young man everything he needed to know about this creature.
Abyssal Mantis- Jaffa
Level: 117
Type: Monster
Work under: trickster demoness spawn…
Special: none.
Weakness: fire, lightning, and taint.
Resistances: dark and its attributes.
[Your party has entered combat!]
Jaffa rushed the crusader champion, laughing goofily, his wings aiding the glide. The busty woman waited then swiftly pulled off a fighting mechanic Clyde hadn’t seen before.
[Chizuru activated Counter.]
[Jaffa’s attack was reflected!]
[Jaffa’s HP has dropped from 250 to 180%]
Tessa moved in to attack, aiming a curved sword etched with tornado symbols over the handle.
[Tessa activated All Encasing Wind.]
[Jaffa is trapped in a wind tunnel.]
Sure enough, a whirlwind, visible by all of the dirt it picked up, held the monster in place. Clyde, not wanting to miss out on the action, rushed forward and leapt forty feet in the air.
“Damn I love these anime leaps,” he said. Instead of the downward kick, he gave it the clichéd slash that normally killed enemies in one hit. Surprisingly the bastard was still alive after the Deep Slash.
[Jaffa’s HP has dropped to 145%]
Seemingly pissed, the creature howled, loudly. It sounded like thousands of vultures attempting to perform in a chorus. Clyde held his hand to his ear when he landed.
[Jaffa used Magic’s execution.]
[The wind tunnel has been shattered. This skill has been disabled for thirty minutes.]
Jaffa held up a hand as it hovered the forty feet, wings fluttering. Red light formed in its paws.
“Shit, be on your guard,” Clyde said.
[Jaffa activated Tier 1 skill: Abyss’s source light.]
He aimed the beam at Clyde.
“Boofa boofa booffffaaa.” It laughed.
The red beam of energy looked like a Kamehameha wave as it rushed toward the young man. He dodged, but the monster quickly changed its direction, causing the entire party to jump around.
“Enough of this,” Harumi said, aiming her wand.
[Harumi activated Tier 1 skill: Kitsune’s Thunderstorm.]
The laughing abyss monster seemed to have sensed the impending lightning blast because it dodged. And continued to evade with ease.
“Boof boof boofa boofa, boof boof, boofa boofa,” he said, waggling a taunting finger at the pink-haired girl. Then suddenly, it swooped down and knocked Harumi to her ass, taking flight again right away.
[Harumi’s HP has dropped to 94%]
“What a cheap shot,” Dark said as he aimed a hand. “Great power—”
The idiot immediately grabbed the monster’s attention, but instead of attacking, it laughed. Even folded its weird arms, hovering, eyes on the chuuni.
“Booofa boofa booooffa.” It laughed. “Boofa booffffffa boof. Boof booffaa boof. Booffa. Fafafafa.”
“What the hell is it saying?” Selkie said. “Ugh.”
[Talent. Mystic languages activated. A skill you held since the beginning, this allows you to speak and understand all languages, including the old and unknown.]
Clyde blinked. He forgot about this ability, as the opportunity to put it to use had not revealed itself until now.
“Great Power, power that is all mine, Dark scaling wave!”
[Dark activated Dark scaling wave!]
“I have never witnessed such a braindead, idiot human in my life,” Jaffa said. “Oh wait, they all are!” He easily dodged Dark’s magic, as well as Harumi and Tear’s attacks. Selkie had no luck hitting it either. The creature stayed away from Chizuru.
“Stop with that annoying boofa crap,” Tessa said as she attempted another spell, only to get bashed to the ground by its flying rush.
[Tessa’s HP has dropped to 123%]
“Okay, this is annoying,” Clyde said. “We’re not about to get stuck on some mini-boss that’s doing nothing but talking shit about us in its own language.”
Selkie blinked.
“You…you can understand it?”
“It’s an ability, but…”
Airi came out of nowhere to anime-dive into Clyde, eyes consumed with the lust for knowledge.
“You’ve got to tell me about it,” she said.
“Airi, get your ass back in our group!” Kitome yelled from afar. “They can handle some bug without you.”
Selkie pulled the purple-haired young woman with a single hand and launched her sixty yards to Kitome. Fortunately the green-haired entity stopped her in midair before the crash. The monster seemed amazed by that throw, judging by
its open-mouth gawk, and while Clyde found it impressive too, this distraction was perfect.
[Clyde invoked Mystic wrath]
[Clyde activated Mystic lightning.]
Direct hit! Jaff fell to the ground.
[CRITICAL! Jaff is stunned. ATTACK ONCE MORE!]
[Jaff’s HP has dropped to 90%]
[Jaff has been inflicted with holy blight.]
[HP halved by holy blight.]
[Jaff’s HP has dropped to 45%. Holy blight still continues!]
[Your MP has dropped to 330%]
“Fuck him up!” Clyde ordered, releasing Mystic wrath to conserve MP. Swords drawn, the team beat the shit out of the bug monster. Alice spawned a giant magical-girl like mallet made of light and finished it off with a smash. And looked…cute doing so. The young man thought he’d seen everything, but wasn’t prepared for that.
[Battle completed. Victory! Reward: 500,000 EXP and access to the main dungeon.]
Clyde wished he had his phone right about now, but with it being stuck in the locker with his normal clothes, simply texting their success wouldn’t be happening. So Tear teleported over to the group, relayed the message and hopefully scolded Airi a little and informed her not to give Yuki anymore trouble, and returned.
The Anime Trope System: Stone vs. Viper, #8 a LitRPG (ATS) Page 12