Bushido Online_Friends and Foes

by Nikita Thorn

  Seiki paid him no attention.

  “You’re trying to zerg the machine with Level 10s?” Kojiro scoffed. “Let’s see you go at it for hours.” The man presumably turned to one of his clan mates. “Just shoot him off that thing.”

  Another arrow flew, and Seiki managed to turn and Parry, surprised that this did not take all his energy. The White Crane Level 10s were suffering heavy losses. Seiki gritted his teeth and forced himself to wait. The first of the Level 10s had reached the front of the trebuchet now, but their purpose was not the trebuchet. They were just there to provide cover for a small, white kitsune.

  With a flash of bushy tail, Seiki could spot Mairin in fox form. She immediately turned into a human girl the moment she reached the front of the trebuchet. In her hand was a scroll made of blue and white paper. She glanced at Seiki and, without hesitation, pulled the scroll open.

  Her eyes were on him when a Rogami arrow killed her. The Level 10s were mostly dead now, as the Rogami members in the vicinity had started to gather around and went on an easy killing spree. Someone shot at Seiki with another arrow, which was most likely not a Focused Shot, since it did not manage to kill him just yet. It had struck him in the knee, rendering his left leg feelingless.

  “What’s this stupid stunt? The thing isn’t even loaded.” Kojiro was shouting. He had meant the trebuchet. And Seiki knew well the payload was empty. But Seiki was not trying to hit anything. He was not even trying to survive for very long.

  Some Rogami members were already noticing something wrong. Right in front of the trebuchet where Mairin had been, the air trembled, the ground shook, and—almost as if breaking out of a crack in reality—a giant face materialized.

  The face was almost as tall as the trebuchet itself, with two eyes set wide apart, and a mouth that slit all the way from side to side and that failed to conceal all its teeth. Floating in front of it was a large ball of light, as big as a gym ball and glowing bright blue, lighting up the face in a strange shade of the netherworld.

  A sense of terror descended on Seiki. The intoxicating blue light felt like gentle mist on his skin, threatening to consume his whole body. And for a moment, Seiki forgot everything: who he was, what he was doing. His mind was filled with nothing but that terrible blue light, beautiful and deadly, that spelled the end of all things. It was as if through a haze that Seiki saw the mouth part, and the teeth were slim and jagged, like pikes sticking out from the bottom of a hunting pit. The monster in front of him was massive, and overwhelming, and he could not fight it. But Seiki did not want to. He knew the teeth would close around him and crush his body, and his mind welcomed it.

  It was, strangely, not a new feeling. This was a kind of forgetfulness Seiki had once yearned for, to end it all, to be free from everything, and it was absolutely terrifying, although it was alluring at the same time. It would be such sweet relief, and he would no longer feel the burden of pain he had been carrying with him all this time.

  Seiki stared at the face, completely enthralled, before something else at the bottom of his soul started screaming. This was wrong. If anything, this was too late now, since he did not want to die anymore. At this moment, he was completely certain that, no matter what happened, he would always choose to live.

  All this must have lasted only for a split second. And as Seiki freed his mind from the enchantment, he threw himself off the top of the siege machine. Falling, he swung his sword at the string holding the beam back. He remembered now what he had to do. He did not have to try to hit anything. He did not even have to try to survive. He just needed the long trebuchet beam to whack whatever came out of the scroll right in the face.

  That was precisely what it did.

  With gravity violently yanking down the counterweight, the beam swung forward and hit the side of the giant head.

  And that was all it took for the rare to take on a level: four above whoever landed the first attack, to give them a chance to one-shot.

  Ankoudama [Level 34 Rare]. HP 51480/51480. Attacking stance.

  The rare let out a roar and lunged forward. Seiki had landed on the ground right beside the trebuchet, with almost all his health missing. As he flipped himself over to look, his Strength of Will must have activated, and Seiki watched in fixated awe as the head closed its mouth on the Level 30 siege machine and completely obliterated it in a single bite.

  Sharp splinters from the trebuchet flew everywhere around him, and Seiki clambered to his feet, turned and ran. His heart was pounding in a mixture of terror and excitement, not knowing whether he was going to be dead in the next second. With a whistle, Fubuki emerged from the confused crowd around him. And as soon as Seiki managed to scramble onto the saddle, he made a mad dash toward the gate of the White Crane Hall.

  The world seemed to be exploding with motion all around him, with whisks of arrows, sounds of metal clashing, and incoherent shouts as riders, horses and troops tried to go in every direction at once. Seiki did not care to even turn around and look; he only concentrated on galloping as fast as he could, spending every single point of his energy as it recharged.

  Behind him, the rare—whatever it was—appeared to be thrashing amid a cacophony of cries and screams that had risen within the Rogami army. The ground shook, and several people and horses were thrown like rag dolls directly into Seiki’s path, dead even before they hit the ground. Fubuki had to jump over them, but Seiki hardly noticed. He had his eyes transfixed on the wooden gate. The agreed plan had no more use of him, and it would hardly make a difference if he died, but Seiki gritted his teeth and ran like his whole salvation depended on it, as the world seemed to be ending in chaos behind him.

  Running through an army meant running through a whole slew of abilities, and whether or not someone was trying to kill him on purpose, Seiki suddenly felt cool grips of Nether Chills passing through him, its misty fingers about to drag him into the darkness. At this point, it would not take much at all to snuff the remainder of his health out of existence.

  Before Seiki completely lost consciousness, something bright and white burst in front of him, and his vision cleared in a snap. Seiki blinked as his senses pulled him back into a world of chaos, before realizing his energy was now at a fifth.

  Mairin was somehow beside him on her brown horse. She had named it Koko, Seiki’s dazed and useless mind remarked, and her long white sleeves and jet black hair were flowing in the wind. “Why are you here?” he asked, wondering if he was hallucinating. She would have resurrected in the White Crane Hall spirit shrine, so there was no way she could be here right now.

  The kitsune smiled but did not answer his question. “Keep riding into my foxes. Their paths are random, but they follow me.”

  With more energy to spare, she burst forward on her horse, and behind her was a trail of phantom healing foxes. Seiki questioned no more; he guided Fubuki through them, allowing his energy to refill and using all that to gallop faster. By the time they reached the gate, he was almost side-by-side with the kitsune girl.

  His breath was ragged against his throat, his palms were wet with sweat, and his ears were almost deaf from the sounds of explosions and screams. But as Seiki’s eyes fell on the wooden gate slowly opening to receive them, his heart soared with a kind of overwhelming, unadulterated hope he had never experienced before.

  Chapter 27

  The atmosphere within the White Crane territory was like that of a packed theater where the show had already started, and no one paid Seiki and Mairin any attention as they slipped in, save for Ippei. The samurai was now marked White Crane Order Mercenary, like Seiki, after he had put himself in charge of dropping the army of the Level 10s out the east wall earlier. He beckoned them to join him on the battlement.

  Still dazed, light-headed and too exhausted for words, Seiki patted Fubuki on the neck as he dismissed her, before climbing the stone steps and finding a spot next to Ippei.

  “Come watch the fruits of your labor,” said the samurai with a str
ange kind of spark in his eyes, as he moved to make room for Seiki and Mairin on the crowded battlement.

  Several things had not quite gone as planned. Because of Kojiro, it had taken longer for Seiki to reach the trebuchet, and Sayahime’s cavalry had sustained more losses than what was ideal before they could retreat back into the gate. But at this point, no one seemed to care much, and the moment Seiki reached the top of the battlement he could see why.

  Among the blackened ruins of Nanamura, a monster was on a rampage. From a distance, Seiki could now note that the gigantic head he had come face-to-face with was directly attached to a tear-shaped body, from which five fan-like limbs sprouted: two below, two on the sides, and one on top, which led to a vertical flat tail at the end. The ball of glowing blue light turned out to be part of the monster, and it dangled in front of its head like a lamp, which brightened and dimmed in an almost predictable pattern. The Ankoudama, Level 34, hovered a few feet above the ground, waving its limbs to propel itself around in the air and occasionally turning to take snaps at groups of Rogami soldiers.

  Seiki finally discovered what it was. “An anglerfish,” he said.

  “A very big one.” Mairin giggled.

  Seiki could not stop staring, in both awe and horror, and with a tiny bit of satisfaction at how the fish spirit tore through the Rogami army. The hypnotic blue light had the same effect on Rogami soldiers as it had had on Seiki—players and NPCs alike. Those caught within the circular range of the light would freeze and gape, and simply wait for the giant mouth to close around them. All around the Ankoudama were dead bodies, scattered like loose matchsticks.

  “They really upped the rares,” said Ippei.

  The Rogami Clan was in a kind of excited chaos as they took on the giant fish. Several players tackled it from behind, but the tail end of the Ankoudama proved almost as destructive. One swipe from it meant troops went flying like domino pieces swept aside in tantrum, before ending up littered on the ground while riderless mounts broke off in a terrified gallop.

  Seiki tried to detect where the trebuchet had been, but nothing remained that was recognizable. A Level 25 Rogami Clan member was galloping around the fish, and Seiki could hear his faint cries. “Regroup! Regroup over here!”

  The man had unfortunately come a bit too close to the wall, and Kazuha—the Fuoka Army ryoushi—picked him off with two arrows. His white horse bolted and ran off.

  Seiki found himself unable to tear his eyes away from the surreal scene unfolding in front of him.

  “Enjoy it while it lasts,” said Ippei.

  “Now we have to last an hour?” Mairin asked.

  Ippei wrinkled his nose. “Kensoku Temple isn’t coming. They don’t have enough people, and they don’t want to make enemies of the Rogami Clan.” He pointed back toward the demonic fish. “Although that thing is wrecking the Rogami army right now, it will probably be dead in ten minutes, and now we don’t have enough people or resources to fight even a quarter of their army.”

  The White Crane Order, in an attempt to save as many NPC troops outside the wall as possible, had pretty much used up all their Wood resource, and now their NPC archers were completely out of arrows.

  Sayahime, who was standing calmly beside them as she looked out over the Rogami army, heaved a small sigh. “If we had our full army,” she said. “Or Hiro.”

  “What? After all that, you’re saying we still have no chance?” said Mairin in disappointment.

  “Even if the fish kills half their army, we’re still outnumbered two to one,” said Ippei.

  Seiki thought he should be more worried about the fact that this siege was ultimately going to end with yet another death. And an execution. And after what they had done, he suspected it would be a highly drawn-out event. But at this point, he could hardly make himself care.

  “At least, all these count as our kills, right?” asked Mairin.

  Ippei nodded. “Yes. During a war event, it doesn’t matter how you die, you end up in your clan’s spirit shrine until it’s over.”

  For one thing, the Rogami spirit shrine must have been filling up quite fast, and Seiki wondered if any extra instancing within the spirit shrine would be needed, since the building had not seemed like it would be able to accommodate more than twenty people at once.

  Ippei turned to Mairin. “You’d better go in a bit. The Rogami Clan is definitely not going to let any of us walk.” He nodded toward the scene of massacre going down outside the gate and chuckled. “Definitely not after that.”

  Seiki’s attention had been on the fish spirit and now he just understood why Mairin had been able to find him on the battlefield earlier. As part of the plan, to prevent Rogami soldiers from attacking her on sight, the kitsune girl had been kept out of the mercenary agreement, but they had added her to their guest list, which allowed her to choose to resurrect back in the clan territory.

  There was one reason why she would risk choosing to resurrect at the Rogami temporary shrine, and Seiki wanted to kick himself for not having realized sooner.

  He looked at the kitsune girl. “Thank you.” He had no doubt now that he would have not been able to survive the ride back. The plan had not even anticipated him to make it out of there alive, and Seiki had been prepared to die and be confined to the White Crane spirit shrine until the siege ended.

  This also meant that, as an individual player, Mairin was not bound to the fate of this battle and was still free to leave. And upon death, she could choose to resurrect at the nearest Wilderness spirit shrine and simply walk back to Shinshioka.

  “Ippei’s right. You should leave,” said Seiki.

  Mairin had acknowledged his gratitude with a little smile but, at that, she narrowed her eyes and turned her gaze back toward the field. “Kiku-chan,” she said to the obake girl beside her. “Invite?”

  It only took Kiku a second before she understood what Mairin wanted.

  Mairin [Level 11] has joined the White Crane Order army as a mercenary.

  “That was totally unnecessary,” Ippei said.

  Sayahime smiled. “I appreciate the spirit.”

  “So what’s the plan now?” asked Mairin, innocently.

  It greatly bothered Seiki that she would have to deal with Kojiro and the likes but, once she had accepted the invitation, it was too late to do anything. His best hope was that perhaps they would be able to persuade her to log out before the Rogami actually came in.

  “When they finish killing that rare, we’ll ride out and meet them outside the gate,” said Sayahime with a grim expression. “Akihisa and the Fuoka Army will do what they can, but when they die they will leave to the nearest Wilderness shrine and go back to their camp. I’ll stay to face the consequences.”

  The remaining Rogami army had now managed to whittle away at the Ankoudama and bring it down to half health. The trick seemed to be to kite, keeping just outside the range of the blue light, while other people attacked it from both sides. Still, occasionally, the monster would spin around, whipping out its tail and catching groups of people at unawares.

  Seiki heaved a sigh. Even if it was not good enough to save the White Crane Hall, he had done everything he could.

  “I leave for a second and look at the mess you’ve made,” said Kentaro’s disapproving voice. “I can’t believe you manage to have a second army besieging your territory on the same night.”

  The houshi had materialized behind them.

  “We’ve got some cut-scene quality stuff going on right now,” Ippei said, and he and Seiki moved to make room for the houshi. “Come look.”

  Mairin arched her eyebrows. “I thought you said you had an early day tomorrow.”

  “I do,” said the houshi. “But then I realized I had left some leather tanning, and that it should be done by now, and then I had better put a new batch in to avoid wasting a day, so I came back for a minute. Never thought I would have to come save you all again.”

  Ippei laughed. “If
you can talk Rogami into giving up at this point, I’ll really write to the Nobel Committee to nominate you.”

  The houshi smiled. “As much as I’d like to see that, I’m afraid I had done quite the opposite.”

  Before Ippei could ask what he meant, Kiku gasped.

  Seiki turned to look. The Rogami army was still engaged in a confused battle with the anglerfish. But as he strained his eyes to look further, Seiki could see that, from the north, a few riders had come into view.

  Kazuha the ryoushi was squinting, using her Eagle Sight ryoushi perk to check who they were. “Tabu of the…” She blinked. “Honor Warriors?”

  At first, Seiki could only spot a few riders, then several more behind them, then dozens more, slowly pouring into the scene.

  “Honor Warriors?” Ippei seemed confused. “They don’t PVP. They’re not even an army.”

  Seiki looked again as the first dozen of riders drew nearer. They were all individual players, with no NPC soldiers trailing them.

  Kentaro beamed. “Well, let’s say… what if someone goes yell in their clan hall that there’s a super rare monster out the East Gate, and some RPers are not letting anyone attack it for fear of diluting the loot?”

  “Oh,” said Mairin. “So everyone’s coming out to get a hit in,” she said with a giggle.

  The first of the riders had reached the Ankoudama and were starting to attack it. A swordsman’s Sweeping Blade accidentally caught some of the Rogami soldiers in its half-circle swing and a nearby Rogami Clan member immediately ordered his subordinates to return an attack. But before he could do so, an Honor Warrior ryoushi, who had just arrived at the scene, launched his Rapid Shots from afar at the fish and everyone else in its path.

  Kazuha was still squinting. “And the West Hills… and the Social Guild?”

  Kentaro laughed. “You know what happens when you’re just minding your own business on Trade Street and, suddenly, see a group of excited people hurrying out the East Gate?”

  People would naturally come take a look. By now, more riders had arrived and the Rogami army suddenly found itself caught between a monster and over-zealous Shinshioka citizens.