D.I.O

“I guess normal attacks won’t affect it.”

A werewolf possessed remarkable life force and regenerative abilities, so it wasn’t a foe that could be fought with just physical force. Spiritual power was necessary as well. And although they also had a tough hide and sturdy bones, the most challenging aspect of dealing with a werewolf was, without a doubt, their innate physical damage resistance. This meant that, unless an attack used a silver weapon or was imbued with magic power, the werewolf would sustain little to no damage.

Of course, a tank shell or any other overwhelming force could overcome the werewolf’s high physical damage resistance. However, any lesser attack would essentially be harmless. For users with a special ability such as internal energy or magic power, they may be able to put up a fight against a werewolf. Unfortunately, for commoners, even if ten or a hundred of them worked together, they wouldn’t be able to overcome a single werewolf. However, in Lancelot’s case…

Grr.

All users possessed special abilities.

Kyak!

Possibly fearful of Lancelot’s intimidating aura, the werewolf ferociously pounced on him. Lancelot used this straightforward move to launch another counterattack, but the werewolf’s reflexes proved too quick. With bright red eyes that seemed to glow, the werewolf crouched down and avoided Lancelot’s attack before leaping up and biting Lancelot’s neck.

Ting!

The werewolf’s sharp fangs couldn’t pierce Lancelot’s neck. This wasn’t because the user’s skin was tough; it was because Lancelot had enveloped himself in an invisible aura for protection.

“Ha!”

Shouting, Lancelot forcefully exploded his aura and sent the werewolf flying. As it lacked wings, the werewolf was vulnerable in the air. Then, Lancelot grabbed his long spear with both hands and thrust it upward. The aura power behind his strike shook the surrounding air.

“No!”

While he was attacking, the woman in the house rushed out and grabbed Lancelot’s arm. This was a dangerous move. The amount of aura that Lancelot projected to finish off the werewolf was substantial enough to instantly kill most living things in his vicinity. Hence, for an average, defenseless person, encountering such an aura expulsion was deadly.

“Ugh?!”

Lancelot gritted his teeth. Since he had amassed his aura and planned to send it exploding outward in one attack, his ability to control it was somewhat limited. And while he could try to use his remaining aura to surround the woman and push her out of his attack range…

‘That… that’s only a possibility for other aura users.’

Lancelot’s skill in aura power was limited to direct, linear use, so this type of division and complex use of aura wasn’t possible. After attacking, his control over any additional aura greatly diminished. In the end, this weakness and inability to do what he wanted were ultimately due to his lack of ability.

“No, you can’t! No! Please let my Sensun live!”

Seeing the woman hanging onto his arm, Lancelot briefly wanted to kill her as collateral damage. He wasn’t a soldier who fought for another nor a pushover who was willing to let things go so that others may benefit. Moreover, he didn’t have to expend any additional aura to kill her, as she was already within his aura attack’s range. For users, NPCs were primarily insignificant existences. However…

“Fuck.”

Crack!

As Lancelot withdrew his aura attack, the werewolf safely landed on its feet, bounded towards Lancelot, and bit his neck once more. Since Lancelot had just used his aura shield, he couldn’t prevent any injuries this time.

Pff!

The sound of blood gushing could be heard, but instead of liquid blood, golden particles started wafting out from Lancelot’s injured neck. Beneath this wound was a flat plane rather than the proper human body structure; however, from the woman’s perspective, the scene seemed different. She blanched, her face whitening as if all the blood had been sucked out.

“A-are you alright?”

“How could I be alright, you dumb woman?”

Crack!

The werewolf bit the other side of Lancelot’s neck. Now, with his neck bearing a cut that went almost halfway through his neck, he began to have trouble speaking. This was a critical injury.

‘Ah, fuck. If it weren’t for those goddamn Good Deed points.’

Considering that the penalty of dying was much worse than losing a few Good Deed points, Lancelot’s words were just an excuse. He didn’t stick to his objective and kill the woman as collateral damage because he chose not to. It was ultimately his decision.

Gurgle.

Lancelot felt blood rushing toward his neck, pouring out of it as the world blurred and began to darken. It seemed that he had failed his test.

/NPC ‘Terna’ has unknowingly put another in danger! (1/3) /

A text message popped up, displaying a notification regarding the NPC’s three-strike system. If an NPC directly attacked a user, the user wouldn’t be faulted for killing that NPC. However, sometimes NPCs would, knowingly or unknowingly, put users in arduous positions where they had to fall into danger or kill an NPC and lose Good Deed points. Essentially, the system judged that the NPC ‘Terna’ put Lancelot in danger that he wouldn’t have had to face initially. This three-strike system helped users avoid being constantly led astray by wayward NPCs, but for Lancelot, it was too little too late.

‘Ah. My ability stats have fallen to such low levels again. I’ll probably need to do another reset….’

As he chuckled at himself…

Click.

Lancelot lost consciousness.

***

With a heated heart, I am looking forward to what is about to begin.

Merlin heard music from the fingernail-sized magic device that he had placed into his ear. Due to his protracted stay in the Training Room, Merlin wanted to listen to some music, so he created the device. During its creation, he had a simple MP3 player in mind, but he was also able to incorporate other functions, such as noise cancellation.

“This is the sea.”

Merlin reached the coast south of the Land of Creation. He hadn’t had to travel as far as he’d expected, with it only being five kilometers south of Starting. However, the weather and climate were completely different.

“Wow… it’s so hot here. How does this make sense?”

When Merlin ventured around the outskirts of Starting, he found that the temperature dropped three kilometers north of Starting, and once this distance extended to five kilometers, there was snowfall. This was a drastic climate change. Furthermore, when he went east, he saw a vast wooded forest filled with vegetation, like the Amazon Forest. Meanwhile, toward the west, he was welcomed by a desolate, windy desert. These abrupt changes weren’t something that could exist in reality.

“Well, I guess swimming in this type of weather isn’t bad.”

The sun was out, and it was a bit hot, making Merlin feel as if he was in Hawaii. Though the temperature was high, it wasn’t scorching. It was just a feeling of relatively pleasant warmth. In addition, there was also a large sandy beach with palm trees scattered here and there. It seemed like a suitable place to take a break, especially for weary users who were tired and stressed out from leveling.

“Gear 2.”

As he muttered this, his outfit changed from his long red robe to a pair of swimming trunks, which were just his underwear. No matter how quickly he swam, his swimming trunks wouldn’t fall off, as they were essentially part of his skin. This made this outfit the perfect attire for swimming.

Sss.

Merlin rose to the surface after diving in and started swimming forward. Rather than wading through the water, Merlin seemed to glide across the surface. It was like he was an ice skater in a rink.

“We will now start the free skating portion of the tournament. First up, athlete Yoon Yongno!”

Merlin cried out, “Yay!” and started clapping as he motioned pushing off with one skate and slowly accelerating around a rink.

Sss~!

He created beautiful lines and movements as he skidded on the water, moving toward the horizon. If an observer were here, they would’ve thought they were seeing a mirage as Merlin glided around effortlessly. During this whole imaginative exercise, Merlin couldn’t help but smile.

“Athlete Yoon Yongno has started the interpretive and artistic portion of his skate. Ah, yes. Yoon Yongno is an athlete who garnered attention after leaving a fine impression last winter with his free skating program in- Ah. While I was speaking, Yongno prepared for his triple axel… and he succeeded in landing it perfectly! I expect a tremendously high score for Yongno’s Free Program!”

Whoosh!

Merlin sped up. The shore was barely visible, and it had become a dark spot behind him. And once Merlin reached top speed…

“Huh?”

Suddenly, Merlin felt his legs being pulled down. Then, his body began to tilt, much to his surprise. Merlin tried to regain control, but he couldn’t fight these rapid developments.

Merlin’s situation was akin to a skipping rock bouncing off the water’s surface repeatedly before hitting and sinking into a large wave. There was no issue with his water attribute. This sudden loss of control was due to his life energy, or stamina, which had been almost completely depleted.

The water attribute could be activated and maintained through various energy sources, ranging from internal energy and magic power to physical power. Merlin was currently using his stamina as fuel to operate his water attribute. However, because his stamina was almost entirely gone, his heart started pounding wildly, and he felt as if he would suffocate at any moment.

“Ugh… t-the triple axel was perfectly executed, but the edge that Yongno used… ugh… was incorrect. Yet, there’s no need to worry; the Grand Prix Final is still left. And now, on to the scores. Yongno’s score is… 187.56 points! It’s his personal… ugh… best!”

Merlin was lying back on the surface of the water as he kept talking to himself. Even though he was breathing heavily, Merlin was still having fun in his imaginative world.

Plumpcat's Thoughts

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