by Nikita Thorn
At the sight of the intruders, its armored hand went to the hilt of the sword.
This particular Yureimusha was similar to the one Seiki had encountered back in the Bandits’ underground territory, minus the symbolic yellow Rogami scarf Gin and his crew had given to the replica.
After one glance at the specter, however, Seiki realized there was a problem.
Yureimusha [Rogami Clan – Level 26]. HP 12453/12453.
“It’s three levels higher than the one we fought,” he pointed out. “With almost double the health.”
The replica had been a Level 23. Gin, now at Level 18, who was the highest of the group, would have had a reasonable chance to be able to take it on one-on-one even if all else failed. Now, with the Yureimusha at Level 26, that last resort had become impossible.
The Bandit nodded thoughtfully. “Well, apparently my information was a bit off. My contact didn’t really have territory rights to the guardian. But, we now have more people, plus a strategy.” Gin turned to smile brightly. “And I can see you have a few more tools in your arsenal since we last met.”
Seiki supposed it was true, but the fact did not make him feel any better. He turned back to study the ghost samurai. Guardian stats and abilities corresponded directly to what ingredients had gone into creating them in the first place. With over six thousand more health than the replica, it was likely the recipe used to create it was different, which could be very bad for a group that had calculated a very particular strategy for one specific opponent.
Seiki was supposed to rush in, grab and pin it facing away from the group. Several ryoushi would launch Traps to keep it from turning around and Life Draining the rest. The ninja had modified their Poison Dart to do less damage but instead interrupt spells, to prevent the Yureimusha from using its Battle Shout to free itself from the Traps. Once the setup was done, it was going to be burst damage by the whole group, plus Gin’s secret weapon: his named bow and quiver set, which could allegedly do three thousand points of damage when properly prepared. Technically, it should be over in a few seconds.
The problem was that their strategy had been built on the assumption that the Yureimusha had around six thousand health.
“How do we know the strategy we came up with would even work against this thing now?” Seiki asked.
Yamura let out a grunt. “Okay, did they double-cross you and the Rogami fed you the wrong information so we would all die here and be stuck in their spirit shrine when they come back from the Shogun’s Ceremony?”
The group shifted uncomfortably as they looked to their clan leader.
“Nah,” said Gin. “We’ll manage. Like I said, we all have slightly better moves now.”
Ippei looked thoughtfully at the Yureimusha. “Maybe this is a good time to test out my newest variation…”
“No,” cried Seiki and Mairin almost at the same time.
They had discussed it in advance and agreed that the invasion should not jeopardize their chances with establishing something more permanent with the West Defenders. At least one of them should have perfect deniability with a clean combat log.
Ippei let out a reluctant sigh. “Fine. But if the choice is between that and leaving you in the Rogami Spirit Shrine, I’ll do what I have to do.” The samurai took a quick glance at the Bandits to take in all their levels, before turning his attention back at the Yureimusha in the middle of the room. “All right. Does it look identical to the one you practiced on?”
“Yes,” said Seiki.
Gin and Chika nodded in agreement.
“Yes,” said another man, Daisuke of the East City Bandits [Level 15], who Seiki recognized as one of the Bandits who had joined him in the practice run. “I still have nightmares about this thing and, yeah, it looks just like the other one.”
“That’s good news. It’s possible that similar but higher-stat gear went into it, or maybe an extra health potion, which should explain the extra health. If that’s the case, it shouldn’t have any additional abilities.” Ippei paused for a moment as he did some quick calculations. “You might be able to do it, but just about. Your energy quota combined will allow for that amount of damage, but you can’t be wasting it on projectiles that might miss.”
“Gin can burst, right?” said Houshiki of the East City Bandits [Level 14]. “With his color arrows?”
“Yeah, how does your bow and arrow set thing work again?” asked Yamura.
“Every half an hour, a special colored arrow appears in the quiver,” said Gin. His Gosai bow and arrow set had appeared in his hands and he was slowly equipping them. “The colors all do different things, like green doubles your Regeneration. Red is basically a Focused Shot with a free Extreme Focus on top of it. And having a black arrow delays all the damage until you fire the black one.” He tilted his quiver for them to have a look. Inside were five arrows with dyed fletching: four red and one black.
Yamura let out a whistle. “That’s four Extreme Focus in a row.”
“Five, counting my own,” said Gin with a smile. “I’ll use my Extreme Focus on the final black arrow.”
“Extreme Focus does extra damage, right?” said Mairin.
“Yeah, and you can’t auto-miss,” said Yamura. “I mean, it ignores dodge stats on the armor.”
Extreme Focus had a significant lockout time as a trade-off, but Seiki only now fully understood Gin’s intended burst strategy. The red arrows had been prepared in advance, presumably with the ryoushi firing off unwanted arrows until he got all the correct ones.
“The kicker about this is that you can’t shoot a black arrow on its own without other setup shots, so that was a lot of prepping.”
Chika nodded. “It’s a case of: prep time forty hours, cooking time one minute.”
The other concern was that the quiver held a maximum of five arrows, which meant once Gin had exhausted them, he would not be able to inflict any more damage, except to run into melee range and use his dagger.
“So that’s… about four thousand damage in total?” asked Ippei.
“More or less,” said the Bandit.
“Over how much time?”
“As fast as I can shoot five arrows. So… six seconds?” The Bandit grinned. “I have an attack Charm that allows me to crit, so that will be double the Extreme Focus.” He took out a knotted piece of rope with a bell at the end and equipped it. “But the chance is one in a hundred,” he added before anyone could get too excited.
Unfortunately, one in a hundred was not something to bet on, and so they continued discussing the strategy. As long as Seiki could keep the Yureimusha facing away, the group, which was comprised mostly of ryoushi, could run into closer range for a better chance not to miss. Seiki learned there was such a thing as what ryoushi called a point-blank range, which guaranteed a hit, and which depended on the level of the ryoushi and the level of their bow. For a group that averaged around Level 15, the distance was about four feet.
“Which means we have to get ridiculously close,” said Niko of the East City Bandits [Level 12], who did not sound very confident getting so close to something that could one-shot any of them.
Still, from their calculations, they agreed that with the whole group giving their biggest burst at once, Seiki only needed to keep the ghost samurai occupied and facing away for a maximum of fifteen seconds.
“Why can’t we get more ronin and they can all keep stunning the thing?” someone muttered. “That would be the safest.”
Gin smiled. “That’s a good idea. Hey, anyone has any spare ronin lying around?”
A few voices groaned.
“It’s not too late to pull back, right?” said one of the Bandits.
“I’m getting a bit nervous,” one of the houshi admitted.
The group had no intention to take the territory, which meant they would not be able to free their dead members. Both houshi in the group were below Level 21 and did not have Revive available. Any fatality would mean being tr
apped in the clan’s spirit shrine until the Rogami Clan came back.
This was perhaps why the Bandits had come over-prepared. Now that it was no longer the case, the situation was much more precarious than they had expected.
Gin turned to Seiki. “You’re our only melee. What do you say?”
Seiki grimaced. “Let’s do it. We’ve come this far.”
In the worst case, being trapped in the Rogami’s Spirit Shrine would perhaps also give him a chance to talk to the Rogami clan leader, which was what he was here for.
Pushing unpredictable unknowns out of his head, Seiki concentrated on the ghost samurai in front of him. From what he remembered, its attacks were nothing special. The reach of its blade could prove a challenge, but could be countered by getting in close. Life Drain was more worrying, as he would be directly in the ghost’s line of sight the entire length of the battle, unless he could pin it to the ground facing away from him. That would also be tricky, but at the very least he had two houshi dedicated to healing him, as well as a very reliable kitsune.
There was no room for mistakes, and he did not intend to make any. According to Gin, the group had extensively practiced their roles, and Seiki decided to trust them.
Drawing a deep breath, Seiki slowly stepped forward. Gin motioned to his group to rearrange themselves, with higher-level members in the front, to allow them a better chance of survival in case the ghost samurai chose to use Life Drain.
Seiki mapped out a mental path for his Slide across the tatami floor toward the Yureimusha, with a trajectory that curved tightly around the ghost samurai to lend him extra momentum in the correct direction when he finally grabbed it.
Gin turned to address his group. “Ruri, keep heals on him. Utada, keep an eye on the group. Someone gets Drained, give a shout immediately. Miss kitsune will help as necessary, but we shouldn’t overburden our guests.”
The man could be authoritative when he needed to, and his shift in tone gave the group the needed confidence. Gin turned back toward Seiki, a smile on his face, but for a rare moment his lazy facetiousness had completely disappeared. “Ready when you are.”
With one last breath, eyes fixed on the Yureimusha, Seiki let loose his Slide. The ghost warrior’s hand closed on the hilt of the nodachi as soon as Seiki touched the tatami floor. The sword, with its impressive range, was slow to draw, and by the time the blade left its black scabbard with a harrowing ring, Seiki was already less than three feet away.
Behind him, Yamura had burst into action. Seiki could feel the reassuring footsteps of his friend following on the tatami floor, the metal Trap in his hand giving a clear clank, ready to snap on any part of the Yureimusha Seiki managed to pin down.
Taking no chances, Seiki activated his Crimsonfire Tekko as the enemy’s sword swept up at him. The fiery shield burst against the blade, and Seiki twisted his hand to grab the Yureimusha’s handguard. The metal spikes on the leather piece pierced through his own Tekko, but one of the houshi’s Heal was already landing, instantly canceling the numbness. Seiki pushed energy down to speed up as he followed the curved trajectory, spinning the ghost samurai around and away from the group, dropping low to duck under its attack.
More footsteps sounded behind him on the tatami as the group rushed in to execute the next step of their plan. From the dull vibrations coming through his hand, Seiki could sense Gin’s special red Gosai arrows burying themselves into the ghost samurai’s abdomen.
The Yureimusha was facing away from the group, and Seiki shifted his body weight on his arm to force the off-balance enemy to the ground, where Yamura would be able to trap its arm in place for a brief moment.
A tingling sensation radiated from his grip on the ghost samurai, before the world exploded with agonizing, writhing darkness. For a split second, Seiki felt himself falling, paralyzed. The next thing he was conscious of was himself staring at woven strands of the tatami mat, shivering uncontrollably.
He had been hit by Fear, and his hands were empty.
Two horrible thoughts flashed through his mind. The group was now all in melee distance. The Yureimusha had broken free and was now spinning back around, in its hand a sword of incredible range.
Seiki traded all his health to below eight percent, slammed Strength of Will into focus as he shed off the Fear effect. Then he lunged at the turning Yureimusha. There was no time to stop its attack, no time to reach for its sword. Seiki wrapped his arms around its torso, felt both his knees drop back onto the tatami floor, and burst out in a backward Slide with his whole supply of energy.
The long blade swished, missing most of the ryoushi, who had checked their pace in time as soon as they noticed the development. Two cried out, who must have got caught by the tip of the nodachi. Gin was yelling for someone to heal the injured.
Seiki had not planned his trajectory, and he found himself, along with an armful of the Yureimusha, crashing into the shoji backwall. A Trap landed next to his body, but snapped over empty air. A second Trap caught the Yureimusha’s forearm, but, a second later, its hair-raising Battle Shout screeched. The metal jaws sprung open. The Yureimusha bounced back up and was about to swing its sword again even as the ryoushi rained arrows into its body.
“Life Drain!” someone screamed in alarm.
Seiki lunged once more, locking his arm around its sword arm and dragging it back to the floor, ignoring the spots of icy numbness flashing all over his body. His right hand pulled his Kohagane dagger free and stabbed down next to the ghost samurai with a Vertical Spike. The Earthlink enchantment activated, and a solid, reassuring weight wrapped around his hand as the stun fired, with the Tekko acting like one of the two required contact points.
That bought them only two more seconds. The unholy Shout rang out again, but by this time the group’s ninja had managed to close in, some of them landing their Assassin’s Stab on the Yureimusha’s exposed back. The ghost samurai was spinning around as it regained its ability to move.
In the midst of the chaotic shouts and thudding arrows, he heard Ippei’s voice. “Shield, Seiki.”
Without hesitating, Seiki threw the Protection Shield on himself. Half a second later, the second wave of Fear hit, and he lost control of his body. The ghost samurai yanked its arm free, and the sword swished down across his shoulder. The freezing cold cut deep, disturbingly clean and precise. Judging from the damage spiking on the shield, if it had been a real blade it would have sliced his arm clean off. Seiki winced at the thought as he fell onto something wet on the ground. He could feel Mairin’s Spirit Mend filling his health, but he was not sure it was going to be enough. The Yureimusha was already raising its sword to execute a killing blow.
Abilities were still going off, and a quick glance at the ghost samurai showed it at six thousand health, which meant Gin’s burst must have already gone off.
Seiki glanced up as a shadow appeared in his field of vision. Ippei was crouching down beside him, his eyes on the Yureimusha.
“This would kill you without the shield, so you’re still keeping its attention,” said the samurai quietly. He let out his own Shout as he placed a hand on Seiki’s shoulder. Then he suddenly cried, “Quarter health!”
Seiki never thought he would be so relieved to hear the sound of seven daggers leaving their sheaths at once. As the nodachi’s freezing pierce sent shivers through his side, the ryoushi rushed in and landed their collective Finish on the preoccupied Yureimusha.
The shielding effect expired. The damage was overwhelming, and despite knowing that Ippei had used his Contact Brace, Seiki still felt a tremendous wave of relief as he noticed half the damage funneling out through his friend’s grip on his shoulder.
Yureimusha [Rogami Clan] defeated. 3585 XP gained.
As the first to have defeated this particular build of the guardian, you have gained an additional 350 XP.
The Fear evaporated as the Yureimusha dispersed into black smoke. Seiki felt another involuntary shiver, this time from th
e realization of what had happened in the last five seconds.
Ippei was next to him on the floor, one knee on the ground, his health two-thirds missing. “Don’t worry. I don’t show up on the logs this way.” The samurai paused for a second and his smile widened.
Congratulations! You have reached Level 17. HP increased to 2405. Max energy increased to 980.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Before Seiki could fully collect his thoughts, Mairin’s Spirit Mend and the two houshi’s Heals bombarded him, like extra icing on top of the rush of joy and health and energy that came with leveling. He shuddered off the rapid assault of different sensations. It was always jarring to have the numbing cold nullified while his heart was still threatening to burst from his chest.
With his mind still trying to catch up to the present, Seiki forced air down his lungs and looked up at a room full of spooked lower-mid-level Bandits. No one was dead. A few of them were reaching for health potions. The floor was drenched with fresh blood, with some splattered across the shoji back panels. It took Seiki a second to realize that most of it was his.
Yamura sheathed his dagger, his eyes widening slightly at the amount of red on the floor. “Damn. That was with your special Shield already?”
Seiki was in no shape to explain that the damage reduction only helped him number-wise, but did much less for physical aspects like the associated numbness and other cosmetic effects.
“This keeps happening, doesn’t it?” Gin laughed as he casually put away his weapon set. “Hang out with Gin. Always a win-win.”
Seiki had no clue what the man was talking about until the Bandit lifted his brow. “Level? Congrats?”
Seiki could only afford to nod.
Chika giggled. “Hey, Gin, you should make that your new motto.”
“It’s always been my motto. I can’t believe you don’t know. Maybe I should make it our official clan motto?”