17 April 2023
Faerie Hill, 26th Floor
I wonder how many player parties I'd hitched on since like forever. I never bothered to count anyway, but it couldn't have been hundreds of times.
Still, my occasional title of "Mercenary" stayed alive for some reason. I did ignore what players are calling me nowadays, but that title might have spread far and wide throughout the floating castle by now.
Well, they were other players doing the same stuff I was doing, so I don't see a reason why they couldn't own the title as well.
So when players started to offer me requests to join their parties, I was a bit taken aback. I had always chosen which parties to join in the hunting fields, but being forced into one? That's definitely not how I work in this world.
I accepted some of their requests, and rejected others. I couldn't give up any opportunity that was profitable, but I knew my limits. If I thought that I couldn't take down a field boss with the party that requested help from me to take down, I would, of course, not take that chance.
Of all of those party requests that I had received, there was only one that I have clearly remembered of.
And it wasn't because of the fact that the player that made the request wasn't from a party at all.
I never knew how she had found me, who was in a shady tavern tucked somewhere in the main city of Faerie. That tavern wasn't popular with the players, and the bartender there looked shady as hell, so I had hoped it would keep pursuers away from me.
In this female player's case, apparantly not.
She was wearing a small chestplate over her violet-coloured jacket (or at least, I thought it was one) that covered until her waist level. Her dagger sheathe, which was at a length unimaginable for its weapon type, was hung on the right side of her waist. Complete with a dark-coloured short skirt and tights, she approached me silently as I turned to notice her.
"...I....need your help." The girl said in a slightly feeble tone.
I'd already heard that sentence--or the implications of it--too many times in the past week.
"How did you find me here?" I asked, a bit annoyed.
The girl's delayed reply was soft.
"....A friend helped me to track you here......"
I took a good stare at her, basking myself in whatever amazement I have left. Letting out a sigh longer than normal as I set my drink down, I turned my chair towards her and offered her a chair beside mine.
"......I'm listening." I told her with a tinge of reluctance. I couldn't possibly turn anyone down without hearing what they have to say first. As she explained her request in detail, the me inside was starting to recognize the impossibility in her words.
And yet, 30 minutes later, I was traveling up Faerie Hill with the girl, as a 2-player party.
There were many factors that made her request seem impossible to do, but the reason I eventually gave in was.......
"Tekio......" The girl suddenly brought that name up.
"Huh?"
"He was the one who told me to find you if I ever need help."
As speechless as I was then, I knew that Tekio was the only player who knew where I would be this week.
".....And he said that you defeated the Fairy Moth on Faerie Hill before--"
"With a party of 5." I added, expecting her to remember a fundamental fact that she should have known when fighting bosses.
"You were carrying the party, I heard. Tekio was with you at that time, wasn't he?" The girl continued.
Damn that Tekio. How much had that blacksmith told her about me? Making a mental note to visit him personally as soon as I finished this request, I looked at the girl again, this time with another sigh.
"'Kay lah, I'll help you out. Since you only want the Brown Feelers that the field boss drops, I'll just grab the rest of the drops as payment. Sounds cool?"
And that started the trek up the Faerie Hill. It wasn't hard to get to where the field boss spawns, but the journey was steep, which made it longer than it should be.
"Your name's.....Irokei, right?" I asked as the path of the hill was getter wider and less steep.
"Yes....and you're Zena....lyth, is that right?" Irokei replied, probably trying to get a clear look at my party HP gauge in her vision.
"Just call me Z." I smirked. "Makes your life a lot easier, Iro."
The dagger user turned to look at me with a face of crimson colour. "Please......don't call me like that....!" She became a little more shy than she already was, her voice also as shaky as her self-esteem.
"A shy tsundere, huh....?" I mumbled to myself with a chuckle.
The summit of the Faerie Hill was actually an insect den, home to the boss that we were planning to raid. Stopping before the entrance, we made quick preparations with our weapons, getting as ready as we could possibly be.
"I'll say this again." I turned to Irokei. "We may know the boss's attack patterns, but dodging them is practically impossible. The party I was with last week took that giant bug down in an hour. Don't expect anything less than that."
"Ok..." The girl nodded.
"I'll be in front lines, while you support me in the back. It's the only formation I can think of. Well, we don't even know if we can damage it while it's flying, though....."
I turned to look at Irokei, who was holding her dagger out of its sheathe. The dagger which seemed longer than a normal one. Its blade alone could easily be as long as half the length of a one-handed sword. I wondered how she could have obtained such a special dagger. Daggers with extended blades? In my opinion, they would have longer reach while using their respective weapon skills, and that's called being overpowered.
Equipping my Crystal Poleshard+5, I stepped into the dome-like den first.
The place was bright. Bright enough for me to spot the boss just as clearly. The giant moth flew down from somewhere in the ceiling, almost to ground level. Its landing location was somewhere at the edge of the dome, on the other side from the entrance. And even though I had called it a landing, the Faerie Moth never touched the ground, still flapping its wings as if it was levitating.
I started my briefing on the boss's attack patterns, not moving an inch further forward. I didn't want to gain aggro from the boss yet.
"Even though it can fly, its attacks are all close range. Its only ranged option is a wind attack, which deals no damage but can throw us into the walls, so be careful about that. Make sure you target the wings first, it'll weaken the boss's wind attack power and flight."
I didn't turn around to see if Irokei had understood what I said, but I hoped she did.
"It starts with a charge attack every time the battle starts. Wait on my signal."
I stepped forward, followed by a rush filled with burst. The moth, with its 2 HP gauges floating somewhere above it, flew straight at me as well, its fangs and legs ready to pierce.
I held my spear, having already decided on my counter against the attack. My right hand on the lower part of spear to lift the blade up when pushed down, and my left hand acting as a pivot in the center. The moment I closed in on the boss, my spear flicked up, right in front of it.
PING.
The sound of a successful parry.
I quickly adjusted my grip on my spear again, and assumed a stance. The blade of my spear glowed bright red, as I aimed for the left wing of the moth.
The 5-hit spear skill, Fatal Thrust. 5 simple but strong thrusts at that giant wing, all while charging through the air. The last thrust gave me a burst of speed, striking at the flat material, but never puncturing it.
"Switch!" I shouted, backing away with a jump.
Irokei charged at the faltered moth, her dagger skill ready to unleash. She made a leap, and with both hands holding her dagger downwards, swung down at the right wing.
I thought for sure her dagger could have made a hole in the wing, but even that didn't work. But the moth fell backwards onto the ground by its wing, due to the force.
The 1st HP gauge had only decreased by a quarter. As the girl lifted her dagger up, the moth immediately started to take off up high.
"Move to the walls, quick! It's the wind attack!" I called out to her. Or at least, that was how I had perceived the boss's next attack to be.
Sure enough, I could feel the winds around me, as I ran towards the walls. I couldn't afford taking damage just by being blown into deadly collision, and neither could Irokei. Being already at the walls when the wind attack happens wouldn't do a thing to our bodies, apart from getting an experience of what a hurricane would feel like.
I touched the wall, and looked out for my party member. The winds were starting to press me against the wall, but with no distance to create the force to collide me against it, I was pretty safe from any damage for the time being.
But Irokei hadn't reached the wall in time. Her whole body started to lift off the ground, heading straight to the wall faster than she would have planned.
".......!" I quickly sprinted towards her impact zone, amid being pressed onto the wall at the side. Luckily, I had plenty of time to prepare myself to cushion her flight.
BOOF
"Ah......!"
Even though I had thought that Irokei was quite light for her size, I still felt the blastful impact when she crashed into me. I was sure the both of us took damage, but I couldn't check our HP gauges. The winds were still blowing, and I was coming up close with the same crimson (but gentle) face staring into my conscience.
"I just saved you from a wall slam, goddamnit!" I protested. "Never touched anywhere!"
Damn right I didn't. My whole body was now intensely pressed against the wall by the ever strong winds. It might have been a miracle that I was still holding my spear with my right hand the entire time.
The winds died down, and Irokei jumped off me the moment she could move. Her shy face still remained as she checked for her dagger. Letting out an uncontrollable sigh, I rushed forward again into the frontlines, to meet the flying opponent.
The boss was still in the air, impossible to reach, though it most likely would go for another charge attack at me again. I looked up at it and called to Irokei, "'Kay, we'll do this again. You support me from the rear, and I'll---"
My words were cut off by the sight of a flying object over my head.
In fact, there was only one object that can fly in this world.
I turned around, and the sight that I saw had matched my expectations, spot on.
Irokei was still at the edge of the wall, standing.
And pulling the bowstring with her right hand.
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