Failure Frame: I Became the Strongest and Annihilated Everything With Low-Level Spells Vol. 1

by Kaoru Shinozaki

  Level 1

  HP: +3 MP: +1 / 33

  Attack: +3 Defense: +3 Vitality: +3

  Speed: +3 Intelligence: +3

  Title: E-Class Hero

  As expected, my mana was running low. I’d used Paralyze three times—once on the Goddess, once on the minotaur, and once on bird-head…so that was 10 MP per use? The other two mana must be what I put in the leather pouch.

  This is bad…I’m basically out of mana already.

  I thought through everything the Goddess had told me. Maybe that wasn’t exactly true—she’d said that our listed stats were actually stat modifiers. So I’m out of extra mana…but the real amount of mana I have left depends on my natural abilities, the mana inside me that can’t be described in numbers.

  But there’s no way of telling how much I have left…if it’s under ten, I still can’t use my skills again…

  My only weapon, useless.

  Checkmate.

  Not knowing how much mana I had left to work with was stressful, but it beat being sure I was dead. Shaking off my fear, I flicked over to the skill page.

  Unique Skill: Apply Status Effect / Available for use

  And again.

  Paralyze: Level 1 / Mana cost: 10 MP

  Sleep: Level 1

  Poison: Level 1

  So I have to use the skill at least once to see its mana cost…?

  “I’m done for.”

  I held my head in my hands. It was hopeless. There was no way my mana would last until I reached the surface.

  Does it regenerate over time? Maybe when I go to sleep like in an RPG? But even if it did, that’s an extra—what? Thirty mana? I’m an E-Class, I can’t count on having much natural mana inside me.

  And what happens if I run out of mana? Do I pass out? That would mean using my own mana at all is risky.

  Wait.

  When Kirihara used his Dragonic Buster skill, he’d mentioned something about his skill level increasing…so we can level up, just like in a game.

  “If I can level up high enough, maybe I can make it…” My maximum mana might increase, or the mana cost of my skills might go down.

  As an E-Class, however, I’d probably grow slowly. That’s what the Goddess said, at least. S-Class heroes like Kirihara leveled up much faster. He got enough EXP to level up his unique skill after just one use, but I’d used mine three times and hadn’t leveled once.

  So that’s the difference between an E-Class and an S-Class, huh? But in games, you usually only get experience when you kill the monsters…

  I glanced back at my list of skills.

  “Poison, huh?” That was the only one that looked like it did any damage.

  Or maybe the other heroes left some weapons behind that I could use? If I found a sword or something, I could use it to kill the paralyzed monsters.

  As a regular person my stats weren’t great to begin with, and my E-Class stat modifiers clearly sucked. But if I could find a decent weapon, there might be a chance. I had to hope that other heroes were allowed weapons, same as the Goddess giving me my shoddy little pouch.

  I stuck my head out of my hiding place and looked back towards bird-head.

  “I wonder how long this paralysis thing is gonna last? I should go back and check.” I’d get some important information that way. If the monster was still paralyzed when I got there, that meant the spell had a pretty long duration. That would make standing there with a weapon and hacking at it until it died a more realistic plan.

  But if I get back and the monster’s not there anymore…

  “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”

  I could see a small light at the end of the tunnel—I started to walk towards it.

  Take the risk. Just be prepared for the worst.

  Maybe this was a bad idea. It might’ve been smarter to keep pushing on toward the surface, but…I wanted to know. I’d run frantically the moment I realized the paralysis had stuck, so I wasn’t even sure how far I’d have to backtrack. Maybe it was hiding in the darkness, just waiting for a chance to strike.

  My eyes were starting to adjust to the dark, and I could see dim shapes in the blackness. There, on the ground—

  “An axe?”

  Did some past hero drop this?

  I’d been moving so fast that I must’ve run right past it. I picked it up—it felt heavy in my hands.

  I wonder if it’s still sharp.

  There was one MP left on my stat modifier. I considered feeding it into the leather pouch to light it up enough to check the stats on the axe, but no…not just yet. Bird-head’s creepy orange veins glowed enough that I’d be able to see when I got close.

  I held it in one hand and kept walking. My chest hurt. My throat was dry.

  That bird…it’s still out there somewhere in the darkness…

  Finally, I caught a glimpse of the orange glow. As I drew closer, I realized it was still paralyzed right where I’d left it.

  Unless it’s just faking it…trying to lure me in.

  “Bwa-aa-aak!”

  It clearly still wanted me dead. I’d done something to it, and now it couldn’t move—it seemed to at least understand that. That thick acid still oozed from the holes in its body.

  So the paralysis doesn’t stop all bodily functions, then. I guess if it worked like that, it’d be essentially an instant kill…huh, what’s that? A gauge?

  There was a yellow gauge hovering just above its head, looking exactly like something out of a video game. If the yellow bar measured the effect duration like I guessed, it was about half over.

  I stepped away from the monster, grabbed a stone off the ground, and pitched it as hard as I could at its back.

  Klunk!

  It made contact, but that wasn’t the sound you’d expect to hear from a stone hitting skin…it must have had very hard skin, at least. I hid and peeked back out at the monster—luckily, it was still frozen in place. I’d played RPGs back in my world where a status effect wore off when the character took damage, but luckily it didn’t seem to work like that here. I could do whatever I wanted to the enemy until the gauge ran out.

  “Yes!” Without even noticing I did a little fist-pump of triumph in the air.

  I stepped out from my hiding place and inspected my axe in the orange glow of the monster. It looked like it was in pretty good shape, not chipped or anything.

  “Eat this, bird-head!”

  I raised the axe above my head with both hands. I figured I’d start with the limbs—I swung it down hard like a lumberjack at one of its arms.

  Klank!

  The impact sent a shockwave through my arms—a dull, heavy pain followed as I let the axe drop from my fingers. The monster looked exactly the same.

  It’s no use. It’s just too tough.

  Catching my breath, I looked down at the axe where it had landed. There was a long crack in the blade now.

  “Oh…”

  Before I could reach down to pick it up, I saw that it had landed in a pool of bird-head’s acid—the axe blade had already begun to melt, the acid eating through the metal way faster than it had the stone floor. The weapon was totally useless to me now.

  “What am I supposed to do? Is this thing even beatable…?”

  What if I jam a blade into one of those holes? No… It’d just melt away.

  There’s only one thing I can think of that might work.

  I’d have to use my own mana—the mana I couldn’t see—to cast Poison on bird-head. I walked over slowly and raised my arm. Target acquired.

  “Haah…”

  Deep breath. Stay calm.

  “P-poison…”

  The monster’s whole body seemed to blur, then turn purple. Translucent purple foam started to form on the creature’s body, like little soap bubbles all over its skin that popped and melted away into the air.

  So this is the poison effect…I did it. It worked. Other than that one failed attack on the foul Goddess, I’ve had a 100% hit rate.

&nb
sp; The paralysis had left bird-head frozen in an odd half-standing position. The yellow gauge had drained more, but there was no other change—I’d expected a purple gauge to appear next to the yellow one.

  “…”

  I’d been lucky again—casting poison on a monster could’ve overwritten paralysis, but thankfully, the effects stacked.

  Okay, combo complete. The paralysis-poison one-two punch. I can do this…!

  It was exhilarating.

  Now all I have to do is wait. Wait…and pray. And if the monster dies from the poison damage, maybe I’ll level up.

  I could only hope that it would die from poison—I’d played games where poison effects couldn’t deal the final blow, they’d just bring a monster down to 1 HP and you’d need to physically finish them off.

  What kind of damage is poison, anyway? Is it a fixed amount, or does it scale with the strength of the monster? Does it deal a certain amount every tick, or a percentage of the enemy’s health? That could really affect how useful it’s going to be…

  “Bwaaak… Bwaak… Bwah…” The creature’s cries grew weaker and weaker.

  So is it a fixed amount of damage, or a percentage?

  It could be an incredibly high amount of fixed damage.

  Whatever kind of damage it was doing, the monster was clearly getting weaker. Sweat dripped down my forehead as my mouth turned up in a manic grin, a mix of joy and hope.

  “I might be able to kill them.”

  Every last monster.

  I sat cross-legged on the ground and waited for the monster to die. The yellow bar of the gauge got shorter and shorter as bird-head weakened under the poison’s effects. I kept my eyes glued to that gauge, knowing that the moment it ran out, the paralysis would wear off.

  I have to stack it again before it runs out…

  Stack it again before it runs out…

  Stack it again before it runs out…

  I muttered it to myself over and over like they were the real magic words.

  “Speaking of magic…”

  I’d been so caught up thinking about poison and paralysis that I’d forgotten all about my mana. I opened my stats screen.

  MP: +0/33

  My stat modifier for mana was spent.

  What’s gonna happen if I keep using my skills…?

  Dizziness and lightheadedness, then eventually passing out—that kind of thing happened all the time in manga when a character used too much mental energy.

  I have to avoid that at all costs. Being unconscious in a place like this would be a death sentence.

  I looked bird-head straight in its bulging eyes.

  “Hey, don’t look at me like that. You tried to kill me, right? And I can still sense how badly you want to rip me to shreds.”

  You tried to kill me. I’m trying to kill you. It’s just survival.

  Serves you right.

  Die.

  Die.

  Die.

  I could feel my time in the dark changing me—driving me out of my mind. I could feel this place chipping away at my compassion and reason.

  Murder is wrong. I know that…but if I don’t murder this thing, it’ll kill me. I have to kill to stay alive. Senseless murder is evil, I know that…but this is different. I have a good reason for taking a life here. Survival of the fittest.

  Kill or die.

  But…what do I mean by “here”? These ruins? This world?

  I shook my head. Who’d care about philosophy at a time like this? I only needed to focus on one thing—making sure the monster in front of me died.

  “…”

  I waited a long time, watching in silence and praying for this creature’s death.

  This could really start messing with my head.

  I got to my feet, grabbing a sharp rock off the floor as I stood, and tried to crush the bird’s eye with it. It didn’t work. Its eye was covered with a thin, hard layer of mucus.

  More time passed. The gauge was almost empty.

  Paralyze is about to wear off… Time to use it again.

  “Paralyze.”

  Error: Duplicate skill—cannot apply twice.

  “Huh…?”

  It won’t stack?

  Oh…it’ll probably only work once the first effect wears off. I’ll need to target it with another Paralyze as soon as it gets free of the first one.

  I…I’d better be fast. This thing might charge at me as soon as it can move.

  I raised my arm.

  Almost…time…

  The yellow gauge disappeared.

  “Bwaaaaak!”

  “Paralyze!”

  The monster began spinning its arms, testing its new freedom.

  “It…didn’t work?”

  That can’t be…

  “No…”

  Am I out of mana?

  Error: Duplicate skill—cannot apply to the same target twice.

  No, it’s not that! I can’t paralyze the same target twice! Even after the effect wears off, I can’t reapply the same effect.

  I took a step back. The monster took one heavy step towards me. The purple poison bubbles were still active—that much was clear—but the situation was dire.

  Paralyze isn’t going to work anymore… What do I do? Wait…stay calm. I have another skill.

  “S-s-sleep!”

  “B-bwak?”

  The monster staggered back, its eyes falling closed immediately. Its lumbering black body swayed and fell forward with a loud crash.

  “It worked…?” This time, a blue gauge appeared over the monster’s head. Using a different skill was possible, at least.

  Sweat rolled down my face as I drew a shaky breath.

  I can do this.

  If I alternated using sleep and paralysis, I could keep the combo going for as long as my mana held out.

  Okay, next I need to check whether I can put paralysis back on it before sleep wears off. Poison’s still working—maybe it’s a whole different system from the other status effect skills?

  I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand. I was sweating heavily.

  Am I sweating this much because I’m using my own mana…?

  I looked down at the bird-headed monster. It seemed like it was still getting weaker. Purple bubbles still grew and popped on its skin.

  Paralyze, Poison and Sleep… Those three skills are going to get me out of here.

  I was still panting hard. But after a moment the sound of my breathing got strange…

  “Huh?”

  That’s not me!

  I turned.

  “Grrrgh!”

  “Aah!”

  It was the minotaur. Its paralysis spell had worn off, so it must’ve come looking for me, golden eyes narrowed in rage. The minotaur closed in on me.

  I can’t use the same skill on the same target twice in a row, so…

  “S-sleep!”

  “Graah…?”

  The minotaur collapsed with a thud. A blue gauge appeared above its head.

  I was panting even harder, and I’d started to feel lightheaded.

  This isn’t good. So, what now? Do I use my own mana to poison this mino-guy?

  “I don’t really have a choice…”

  I looked down at the collapsed bull-headed monster, my heart empty.

  Kill the enemy. No compassion. Not for this thing that was about to—what’s that sound?

  Heavy footsteps, and the hiss of melting rock.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  All around me, specks of gold and ropey orange lines of light appeared out of the darkness.

  “Bwaaak! Bwaak! Bwaaa-aaak!”

  “Grrrraaaagh!”

  A chorus of minotaur and bird-head sounds rang in my ears.

  I guess the minotaur brought some friends.

  “Gimme a break…how many more of these things are there?”

  Sweat ran down my face and soaked the collar of my uniform. I smiled, mind racing in strange directions to escape the reality of what
was happening.

  That acid stuff is melting the floor—is the point to make it bumpy so it’s hard to run away?

  Minotaurs in front of me, bird-heads behind—I was cornered. I was out of the MP I could use safely, and my stats were too pathetic to count on. I stared up at the ceiling.

  Isn’t this the part of the story where somebody swoops in and saves me at the last moment? Some super strong hero who’s still alive down here should be coming to my rescue—a real warrior living in these caves in secret.

  Of course not.

  I tried my best. I did everything I could, didn’t I? If this were a manga, I’d be one of the characters who dies in the prologue.

  Air.

  E-Class.

  Disposable hero.

  “I hope you die in an unsightly and pitiful way, Too-ka Mimori.”

  That foul Goddess.

  “Wh-what the hell…”

  I backed up against the rock wall and clenched my fists.

  Nobody’s coming to save me. Nobody cares enough about a background character like me to even try. That’s why I have to save myself. Don’t rely on anyone. Don’t expect anything of them. Don’t cling to them. The hero you were dreaming about isn’t coming to save you—he’s already here. You have to become him.

  I’ll annihilate every single one of them.

  Background character? E-Class? Rock bottom? Sure, bring it on. I’ll survive in the harshest conditions, resist and rise up like a weed. I’ll bet everything on my own capabilities. I’ll keep going until I use my status effects on every last one of you, or my MP runs out. Whichever comes first.

  My eyes darted left and right. I raised both hands and took aim at the first monsters in the horde.

  “P-paralyze!”

  “Bwaah—”

  The first monster in front of me stopped dead in its tracks.

  Paralysis successful.

  I felt dizzy, light-headed, but stood firm. Sweat rolled down my cheeks.

  “Haah…haah…ha ha ha haa! Come and get it!”

  I smirked at the horde before me. It was time for survival of the fittest.

  “Let’s do this.”

  Chapter 3:

  The Road to Annihilation

  “PARALYZE, PARALYZE, Paralyze, Paralyze, Paralyze, Para-lyze!”