Chapter 9: Run, Chased by DoT

I admit it. I underestimated Shangri-La Frontier. I thought it was just some "easy mode" game praised by the masses, something I could manage if I just tried hard enough. Thinking, "No damage clear is easy even without herbs ^^" was pure hubris. It seems clearing Faer-kuso made me a bit conceited. For that, I suppose I should thank the Gluttonous Giant Serpent. But at the same time, let me make an excuse.

"How the hell was I supposed to predict a snake monster would throw shit at me!?"

You have a form that resembles a dragon, for crying out loud! Don't you have a little more pride?! I open the status screen to check my current HP: 28. It's been about twenty seconds since I got hit by the toxic feces. So, 1 damage every 10 seconds (it's likely percentage-based damage). Remaining HP 28... no, practically 27. That means 270 seconds. Four and a half minutes is the time limit left for me, Sunraku. How long does it take to run to Secondil? What’s the optimal stamina management considering the distance? And more importantly, how much HP does the Gluttonous Giant Serpent have left? Dammit, I hate systems where you can't see the enemy's HP bar at times like this!

"Dammit, I'll kill you in a speedrun!!"

RTA (Real Time Attack) isn't my specialty, but I have decent experience with TA (Time Attack). The Vorpal Choppers, ShanFro's critical hit criteria, the Gluttonous Giant Serpent's durability and defense... I calculate the answer from the information I currently possess.

Critical hits in this game aren't random occurrences. It seems they trigger when a player's attack hits in an ideal way or strikes a vital point. And the Luck parameter adds a bonus modifier to the former condition. For example, if swinging vertically down produces a critical, raising the Luck parameter might make it so that even if the angle is off by 1 or 2 degrees, it still registers as a critical. That sort of feeling.

And then there's the Gluttonous Giant Serpent. Snake-type monsters usually have their weak point in the head, but despite its appearance, this guy has high burst speed. The "correct" strategy is probably for a party to pin down its head while an attacker crushes it. But since I can't do that, aiming for the head forcefully will just take too much time. So what do I do? attacking anywhere other than the head is ineffective due to the scales providing high defense... If it doesn't have a weak point, I'll just make one!!

"Right there!!"

Thank god the Vorpal Choppers are Deba-style knives. If they were Chinese cleavers (rectangular), the thrusting attack would probably have registered as blunt impact. Using Screw Pierce, the tip of the knife plunges into the flank of the Gluttonous Giant Serpent, gouging and tearing through the scales to expose a wound (polygons).

Unable to bear the pain, the giant serpent tries to entangle me in a thrashing motion, but I've already grasped your action patterns roughly!! I use Tap Step to evade, sticking close to the wound. Aiming for the exact moment the Gluttonous Giant Serpent's animation ends, I switch to the offensive.

"Stamina! 5 per hit!!"

Since I haven't fully recovered from the evasion, I need to stop at three hits. If I use up all my stamina, I'll be forced into a fatigue animation. Furthermore, it's already proven that hitting with Screw Pierce leaves a "wound" for a few seconds. I hammer more attacks into the artificially created weak point—the wound—triggering a critical hit. Unable to withstand it, the Gluttonous Giant Serpent goes into a recoil animation. In that opening, I check my stamina and skill cooldowns (Recast Time).

"Drop dead!!"

Stamina required to activate Screw Pierce... Just enough. Critical check for landing Screw Pierce... Critical on both Left and Right. Polygons burst from the Gluttonous Giant Serpent's wound like an explosion, and I felt like the Vorpal Choppers gleamed for a moment. The polygon explosion spreads to the Serpent's entire body, and its colossal frame bursts apart.

"A-Alright...!!"

Does the fatigue animation actually make you feel fatigue...? No, more importantly—Drop Items! HP! Stamina! I have no time!!

Without even checking properly, I shove the dropped items into my inventory, confirm my stamina has recovered, and start running. Bad, bad, bad. My HP is in the single digits. That shitty snake's animations were all so damn long!!

"Run, run, run...!!"

Normally, this would be the part where one looks down the cliff and shivers, but I don't give a damn. I sprint across the suspension bridge at full speed. Remaining HP: 6! Reach the town in fifty seconds... and buy an antidote!? No, updating the Respawn Point takes priority!! Damn, my stamina won't hold. It's frustrating having to walk to recover stamina. At this interval, I'll die before I get there... No, wait.

"If I soloed the Area Boss, I get all the Experience Points to myself... BINGO!!"

I leveled up! And I have points!! With my thoughts on the verge of short-circuiting, I dump the 30 points I barely managed to see: half into STM (Stamina) and half into AGI (Agility).

"UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

And so, running at nearly double the speed and with full endurance, I dove into Secondil.

Author's Notes & Lore

The Serpent Series: As a side note, this snake monster belongs to a series called the "[Something]-Eating Giant Serpent." Players who play long enough will end up fighting snakes constantly. Rumor has it there are even groups of players who exclusively hunt these "Eater Snakes."

Translator's Remarks

• "Nuruge" (Easy Game): Translated as "Easy Mode game" or "Casual game." It refers to games with low difficulty, often used pejoratively by hardcore gamers like Sunraku.
• Deba vs. Chinese Cleaver: Sunraku notes the shape of his knives. A Deba bōchō has a pointed tip suitable for piercing/filleting, whereas a Chinese cleaver is rectangular and lacks a stabbing point. This distinction allows him to use the thrusting skill Screw Pierce.