Chapter 36: The Eye of the Storm Raging Inward

The existence of the Unique Scenario, which I had kept secret, has been exposed. While it's partly because I let my guard down, I never expected a hardcore player (No-Lifer) to come directly from the front lines in person. While taking distance from Pencilgon, who was launching attacks from positions that were difficult to deal with precisely, I racked my brain on how to handle this current situation. At the moment, I am dodging Pencilgon's sword with a composed expression, but when it comes to bluffing—both faking it and seeing through it—she is several steps above me. She has likely already figured out that I'm actually barely hanging on. Besides, since I am inferior in stats and player skill, my advantages are mostly crushed. With her abundant equipment, she is steadily driving me further away from the gate to Thirdrema.

"Feints mixed with delays... you're troublesome as always..."

"What level are you, Sunraku-kun? 20 or thereabouts? It's amazing you can dodge at all."

"Because it's a God Game. My body moves smoothly... Hup!"

I dodged a knife that was loudly asserting, "I am imbued with Poison Attribute!", and used my daggers to parry the flat of the sword thrust at where I dodged. At mid-range, knives fly at me, but if I close in, I'm overwhelmingly at a disadvantage. Even if I want to open up distance, she won't let me. She really fights in a nasty way...

"That aside, I'm just a messenger this time. I have a message for Sunraku-kun from our Boss..."

"Now!?"

If you want me to listen seriously to a message, maybe stop attacking... Whoa! While dodging a rapid succession of attacks, I listened—and while launching a rapid succession of attacks, Pencilgon conveyed—simple words.

"Choose: Disclose everything, or be targeted until you want to disclose everything... apparently."

"............"

I see, a simple message. Choose between spilling the details of the Unique Scenario or being thoroughly PKed... What an idiot.

"20 points. Before making a threat, they should have thought about what the outcome of that threat would be."

"My, a high score. Considering everything, I'd give it 10 points—a failing grade."

"If you're going to threaten a beginner without knowing me, that's about... right!"

"Oop."

The leader of this "Ashura-kai" or whatever, whom I haven't seen yet, has made two fatal mistakes. First, I came to Thirdrema to secure a base, but that's just a "place to return to from Rabituza." The location I'm going to make my respawn point from now on is a place no one has ever visited. At least, if they know about the existence of a talking rabbit (Emul) due to a Unique Scenario that no one has known about for nearly a year of service, overlooking the possibility that it's in a location unknown to anyone else is inexcusable. If I hole up in a place only I know, it won't matter if it's a group of Player Killers or whatever; it's someone else's problem. And the other mistake—this is the most fatal one. If they sent this guy knowing that Pencil Warrior (Pencilgon) and I are acquaintances, then making her the messenger in the first place was a mistake. A messenger's primary job is to deliver a message, and for that purpose, a restriction is imposed: they must not kill me.

"Emul!"

"Y-Yes!?"

It seems the time limit is approaching. Emul's tail, face, and ears were starting to revert from human to rabbit, and she was frantically moving her hands to hide them all at once, making it look like she was doing a bizarre dance. I called out to her. Dammit, it's strange that I've been able to hold out when I'm clearly inferior in level, equipment, skills, magic... everything. Pencilgon hasn't used a single skill or spell... at least not until she delivered the message. And swords aren't even her specialty weapon in the first place. I parried Pencilgon, who was blatantly holding back (sandbagging), with a repel counter, and then for good measure, kicked her away to gain distance all at once.

"Go back and grab on!"

"Eeeeh! No, but—"

"Hurry up!"

"Ah, geez, okay, desu wa!"

A PK attempt that started suddenly, yet for some reason I'm friendly with the perpetrator, and to top it off, the assailant who launched the surprise attack is a messenger. I held out my arm to Emul, who was dumbfounded by the strange situation, and threw words that only she would understand in this context. Sorry, but reveal the secret art.

Boffun! With the usual goofy sound effect, white smoke erupted. When the smoke cleared, a drooping-eared rabbit was clinging to my left arm. If we were just running at full speed, it might be fine, but from here on out, I'm going to be fleeing somewhat "seriously," so I have to do this. Sorry.

"Aaaaaaaaahhhhh!!?"

"Animalia, was it? Sorry, but even I don't grasp the flags for this. Sorry about that."

"At least let me take a picture with that child...!"

"At this rate, this guy is in danger too, so!"

The seeds have been sown; now all that's left is to run. I pushed Emul toward Animalia and Pencilgon's direction and ran at full speed, taking a detour.

"Oops, that used to be my specialty, you know..."

"I don't really care about the player, but as long as that lovely rabbit-chan is in danger... I'll stop you, Giant Killing!"

"Well, I guess I should be grateful you set up a stage where I can fight the director of the monster photography clan 'SF-Zoo', who has not a single fragment of interest in PvP? thaaaaaaank yooooou, Sunraku-kun!"

Naturally, Pencilgon tried to attack me, but she couldn't ignore the attacks of Animalia, whose stats were far more threatening than a low-level player like me. Or rather, what is that? For a dagger, it looks awfully over-decorated... Is it just a dagger with that kind of design, or does it have another use? Well, whatever. Being a shield doesn't just mean being exposed to attacks. We only exchanged a few words, but if Animalia has the guts and motivation to come this far just for Emul, she will stop the Player Killer—who will likely get serious after finishing her job—just because Emul might be in danger... Yes, using Emul as a shield... or rather, not a hostage but a "Rabbit-age," I have obtained a high-level player as a shield. Sorry about that, Animalia. If we ever meet again, I'll present you with a screenshot of Rabituza. And Pencilgon, you definitely better remember this... I'll ambush you back sometime. The condition for Emul's [Gate] is fulfilled the moment we enter the city. I'll quickly dive into the gate and vanish into Rabituza.

"Well, I'm the only messenger, but... I never said I came to meet you alone... Kukkukku."

Wild PKs appeared!

Dammit, bringing reinforcements against small fry who haven't even reached Level 50 is cowardly! Stop turning a God Game into a Trash Game scenario! Fighting back the urge to scream that, I looked ahead. The four additional players who appeared all had bright red Player Names floating above their heads.

Translator's Remarks:

Rabbit-age: The original text is Usagijichi (Rabbit-hostage), a pun on Hitojichi (Hostage).

Wild PKs appeared!: Sunraku uses the classic Pokemon encounter phrasing ("A wild [Name] appeared!").

Sandbagging: The term Namepu (Namepurē) means "playing lazily/disrespectfully" or "sandbagging," implying Pencilgon wasn't trying hard.