Later that morning…
[Your relationship with Ming has increased to Friend level 2.]
As Clyde and Ming left the new restaurant on thirtieth street, the young man found himself looking at her with more respect. Getting to know her and vice versa turned out better than he expected. The young man wasn’t sure why he expected Melody’s bad luck for some reason. She surprisingly didn’t bring up any about her powers, the supernatural, or romance, though she blushed a lot. He pretended not to notice Kiko and Ruri trailing them. The disguises were poor and obvious, and Ruri’s drooling toward the meat-selling vendors gave the ploy away instantly. To give credit to them, he didn’t expect the trope.
After parting ways with Ming, the young man decided to either craft or train before the meeting that afternoon. Halfway down the hall, he heard voices coming from Harumi’s room, the door closed.
“Harder,” Harumi said.
“I’m trying,” Sazuki said.
“Try harder—come on, but your back into it,” Harumi said. “Whoa—I’m going to break—”
Clyde’s eyes widened as he tiptoed to the door—the door that he thought was closed. Leaning on it too hard, it swung wide open to reveal Sazuki attempting to button up Harumi’s recently bought dress—he could tell by the obvious sales tag on it. The pink-haired girl’s huge breasts just wasn’t having it. They all awkwardly stared at each other. Sazuki’s face reddened—she was in a bra and panties, her dress sitting on the bed.
“Ah,” Clyde said, smiling sadly. He took two steps backward and closed the door. A second later it burst open, but he already took off before Sazuki could retaliate.
“Next time, knock you perv!” Sazuki shouted after him.
That afternoon, Team Stone once again met in the boardroom. Ashard, Airi, and Undine were there too, non-team members willing to contribute to the situation.
“Let’s make the vote simple,” Alice said. “If you’re a hard-charging, blood thirsty moron, raise your hand. If you actually want to take some time to come up with a working strategy to beating an entire legion of Blood Hand, then keep your hand down.”
Clyde and the others hid behind blank stares. He was standing this time, arms folded, waiting. No one raised their hand.
“Well, there you have it,” Clyde said. “Let’s start planning.”
Natalia whacked the young man on the head with a paper fan.
“Don’t try to act as if you knew this was going to happen all along, pervy-nii.”
Ironically, he did. He sure as hell planned to vote against patrolling that night, although for other reasons.
Undine pinched Yusuke’s cheek and whispered something that caused the ninja to blush. She smirked.
“I smell sex,” Matsume said offhandedly. Clyde decided to just let that one go without a reaction. Because the hellhound waited for it.
And so they planned until the early evening. They also goofed off, talked about professors, which eventually led to everyone finishing up homework. Chika helped a few who needed it—super impossible questions appeared every now and then to challenge the top-scoring students.
That reminded the young man that a three-way tie generated no reward. He remembered the extra-credit question that he couldn’t answer. Then he looked at both Chika and Alice. They didn’t know it either… Intriguing. Especially for Chika, who studied more than anyone. Maybe she did answer the short-essay question and got it wrong. He wouldn’t dare ask.
After the non-housemates left, Clyde found himself on the third floor’s balcony, staring down. Melody was sitting at the table, reading. The young man at first considered talking with her, but decided in the end just to enjoy the peacefulness of the night. The prompt still surprised him.
[Quest completed: wait for Melody to come to you.]
Despite his hopes of her opening up, they didn’t speak, just took in the mild autumn night air.
That’s why it surprised him when he turned around to see the redhead standing there. And her eyes were filled with determination.
“I…I— love.”
The door burst open, Natalia and Ashard rushing in.
“We’ve got a problem,” Ashard said, oblivious to the blushing state of Melody in a nightgown. Melody who steeled herself. She seemed to snapped to herself when the fairy continued. “The Blood Hand spawned some monsters—you can see them attacking some civilians right now on the news.”
“Son-of-a-fucking-bitch,” Clyde said. “And here I thought that maybe there was some hope to reason with the fallen angel. Natalia, call Team Stone.”
“Already did,” she said. “Maybe I should take Tear’s place.”
A paper fan came out of nowhere, whacking the loli on the head.
“Ow!” Natalia said, holding her head.
The succubus joined them, dressed in a black nightdress. If it weren’t for the situation at hand, she probably would’ve oozed sex and longing at Clyde.
“I suppose it’s time for that planning we did earlier to come in handy, without the extra time to increase power levels,” Tear said.
“Not necessarily,” Clyde said. “We’ll need to clean up the monsters.”
“What a pain in the ass,” Alice said, joining them at the balcony.
“Let’s go. Complaining about it won’t do us any good. Be prepared to fight a fallen angel,” Clyde said.
Episode 38 (Part 13)
Inner Lot City…
The team bitched and complained anyway and continued their muttering until Kitome flipped.
“Shut the hell up! It’s not like Clyde wants to be out here either. And Yusuke if I have to hear another goddamn complaint about your stupid online raiding party, I’ll hire a priest to come banish Undine.”
Undine flinched, then grinned evilly.
“Is that a challenge, dear sister?” Her voice portrayed sweet and kindness, but Clyde could see all the anime obviousness.
“Why you—”
Yusuke chopped them both on the heads and took his delinquent persona.
“You two calm down or I’ll banish you both to sleep outside. Don’t think I can’t.”
Like brother, like sister, Clyde thought. Alice looked at the trio skeptically then shook her head without saying anything.
Normally, the young man would’ve split the team into three to four groups, but with this Blood Hand lurking about, he couldn’t risk it.
Through his mental navigation system, he could see the rough location of the fallen angel, but none of her troops. If he had the mini-map unlocked through the Ki’s system, the team would be scouting for red dots. He recalled the prompt.
[You have started the learning of Area sense 1. You will be able to detect all enemies within a vicinity. You will gain a Mini-map to accompany your mental navigation system. Your foes will show up as red dots. Level this system up and you’ll gain more details and range. Example: yellow dots indicating tougher enemies and much more. Requirements: Energy: 2 Love: 2 Focus: 1]
Kitome gave him energy, Harumi for love. Who was focus? God, he hoped it wasn’t Natalia. It could also be Ruri or Matsume. They would eagerly rape him if he requested it. Damned monster girls. Then there was Ming, Melody, even Hinako. Sazuki and Kiko weren’t officially Team Stone yet. Clyde thought about giving them a final test, but Kiko was a vampire, fully qualified. Sazuki…hid something, being level nineteen when they first met. In fact, she probably didn’t know. His analysis of her didn’t reveal anything either. A mystery for later—he couldn’t just bring up nonsense to the girl.
The first monstrous encounter finally happened ten minutes later.
[Current party: Alice, Harumi, Kitome, Chika, Tear, Yuki, Ming, Ruri, Matsume, Melody, Airi, Seth, Toru, Nina, Undine, Yusuke, Kanako, Natalia, Ashard.]
A party of twenty, including himself. There were roughly twenty or more of the stone-like creatures moving toward them, gazing with a single eye. Seven feet tall with alligator-like heads, hunched over with somewhat muscular bodies, the creatures let ou
t short roars.
Clyde analyzed the grey monsters.
Cyclops Stone Golem Dragon
Level: 93
Type: Monster
Work under: summoner.
Special: Low sun blast [chance to cause burn, smoke blight, and does heavy glass damage.]
Weakness: water and wind.
Resistances: ice, fire.
Secret: this is not a sentient creature.
“Team Stone, battle formation one, all out,” Clyde said. “Power level is ninety-three.”
“But you said power levels are bullshit,” Alice said softly. The young man laughed and kissed her.
“They are, but it’s the only reference we’ve got, so don’t take it lightly,” he said, doing his best to ignore the jealous vibes behind him. His life mate didn’t act smug toward the others this time, her focus on the approaching enemies. She’d be fine, being among the strongest members of his party. Fuck, everyone was strong, but Alice stood among the top tier.
[Your party has entered combat!]
The party fanned out, selected a target and engaged it. Clyde took on the first one ahead, aiming for its weakness. Not everyone could use water-based attacks and the only one who’d have trouble was Seth, most of his skills being fire-based. He trusted the blond to handle himself like always.
Kitome surprised him, taking the lead with the first spell cast—and it was probably what won them the battle.
[Kitome activated tier 3 skill: Plain of Silence!]
[All enemies within a mile has been inflicted with mute!]
The golem looked as if it tried to activate its Low sun blast—the inhaling and exhaling confirming so—but nothing happened.
[Clyde activated Tier 2 skill: Neptune’s Water Edge.]
[Critical! Weakness exploited. ATTACK ONCE MORE.]
Clyde happily obliged, unleashing a Holy spirit wave to accompany his current cooldown.
[Enemy HP has dropped to 80%]
[Your MP has dropped to 150%]
He listened to the vibrations and heard it coming. It took one good jump to dodge the dinosaur-like tail.
[Enemy secret skill activated. Magic barrier.]
Uh oh. Clyde shrugged. As if he only needed to rely on magic. He inhaled and then exhaled a golden flame. He was glad he didn’t feel the fire or its heat. That would’ve sucked.
The enemy BURNED. Sure, he had fire resistance, but he wasn’t sure if what he unleashed was actually fire at all. It sure looked like it.
[Ki attack instantly killed enemy!]
He nodded. Melody stared at him with wide eyes.
“Did you just exhale fire from your mouth?”
Clyde smirked.
“You know, I could attempt to say something witty, but I know it’s going to come out cheesy no matter what.”
Melody laughed.
“Maybe. That wasn’t magic.”
“Ki,” Clyde said.
[Enemies killed with Ki 1 of 10.]
“I think Alice was right,” Melody said. “Or…you were right. Power levels are indeed baloney.”
“Bull shit,” Clyde said. “You have to say bull shit.” He gave her a smug look.
“A proper lady can’t use profane words,” Natalia said, walking over casually. She hopped on Clyde’s shoulders. He didn’t bother protesting at this point. He wouldn’t be able to get the loli off his back. The only thing that could make this worse… An excited Kanako rushed over to anime-dive into his waist, holding on, and floating too.
“These things may be big, but they’re no match for me,” Kanako said. Clyde smiled down at the genie.
“The same goes for the fallen angel,” he said, gaining wide eyes from Melody.
“I can’t believe that hadn’t come to mind,” Melody said. “Do you think she has the power to do so?”
“I think she can,” Clyde said. “She can nerf as much as possible. It’s a waste of a wish and I’ll have to recha—I mean she’ll have to take some time to meditate. I’ll personally take her out to my secret training grounds.”
“You’ve never taken me out to your secret training grounds,” Natalia said.
“As if he’d—”
The sound of Kitome barking at Undine interrupted Melody.
“And I say you tried to hit me with that!”
Tear walked over and whacked them both on the heads, breaking up the fight.
“We don’t have time for your childishness,” the succubus said. “The Blood Hand is out here and they won’t be pushovers like these summoned creatures. These are meant to scare the humans into their homes.”
“So they want an easy search and destroy target?” Clyde asked.
“Indeed,” Tear said.
“This is so bothersome,” Toru said.
“I second that,” Harumi said, “but the exercise is nice.” She winked at Clyde. The young man smiled.
“Let’s grind them out!”
[Battle completed. Victory! Reward: 400,000 EXP and $20,000.]
Seeing his improved leadership and his attitude—he seemed unapproachable—something within Melody twanged, maybe blossomed. He acted as if that genie girl was his only plan, the only method of winning, his secret weapon, but what if…
Melody reached deep inside of her slumbering reserves and pleaded for them to emerge. The block remained.
She thought back to Tear’s coaching and even some of her jokes. The most common joke…Or was it a joke? No…could that be a hint? She wasn’t a succubus, just half trickster and half dark goddess. Surely engaging in lewd acts only worked for her kind…There was no way her powers would be blocked off in such a stupid, ridiculous way. What kind of logic was that?
“Melody, are you good?” Clyde said.
“Sorry, here I come,” she said, hurrying to catch up with the others.
**
Mid Lot City…
[Ayu activated Tier 1 skill: En grande de ender.]
[Maho activated Tier 1 skill: Heaven arrows.]
Ayu’s silver fiery magic crushed her half of the stone monsters with ease, dust and smoke briefly coating the area. Maho’s glowing arrows finished off the rest of them, clean shots through their heads. Seconds later, they melted.
Hiroshi stood there, eyes widened. He needed a fucking drink. Maybe ten cigarettes. Rodger chuckled.
“They’re interesting, aren’t they?” he said Hiroshi. “The brats can also glide on water, forming cannon-like equipment from their magic to take on enemy nations or water monsters. They inspired me to undergo the cyborg enhancements those years ago.”
Rodger pointed a finger at a dead monster—a golem pumpko. He actually fired a goddamn laser from it. Laser finger.
Hiroshi wanted a strong drink. He was the only actual human here, among…well, whatever they were.
“We detect a large group of…gifted,” Ayu said excitedly, jumping up and down.
“It could be this rumored Team Stone,” Maho said. “Shall we go investigate?”
Hiroshi sighed.
“Let’s go to them. Maybe they’re…also killing these things.”
Rodger sighed.
“More gifted for recruiting. And I’m dragged back into this shit again.”
“At least you’re getting a bonus for it, Mr. Cyborg,” Hiroshi said. “I had no clue fucking…monsters existed until recently. And now they ask me to—”
“I know,” Rodger said, laughing. “Despite their unreasonable demands, you still came out here. If they would’ve sent some kind of pussy to pick me up, I would’ve rejected that offer and told them to shove it where it belonged.” He pat Hiroshi’s back. “And you came here armed. Did you get one in bed? What did it feel like poking a ship girl?”
Hiroshi blushed.
“You—you know I can’t risk fraternization,” he quickly sputtered. “If I get in trouble again—”
“Relax man, I’m just crushing your balls,” Rodger said. “Judging how you reacted, you want
to.”
Hiroshi sighed.
“I need a drink.”
Rodger smirked.
“Don’t think this is the last time you’ll be interacting with the ship girls or the gifted. Too bad we’re in the city. The silver-haired brat, uh, Ayu, can shoot planes from her bow. And they release bombs.”
“That…” Hiroshi shook her head. “I thought that was a corny joke.”
Rodger folded his arms.
“Like I said, they’re interesting. And one day, we’ll have enough of them to wipe this planet clean of all threatening monsters.”
“Now you’re sounding like one of those crusader nuts,” Hiroshi said.
Rodger laughed.
“I’d like to wipe this world of those stuck-up assholes too.”
Hiroshi chuckled.
“It’s probably the only thing we have in common with the monsters. A mutual hate for them.”
Rodger nodded solemnly.
“Ain’t that the truth. It’s a damn shame too. But no one’s capable of working with them without the risk of getting sucked into their so-called deadly experiments.”
“Traps,” Hiroshi said. “And they don’t care who gets sucked into them, ally or enemy.”
“The gifted are ahead,” Ayu said as they rounded the forth corner. “I shall recruit them!”
“Just let me do the talking,” Hiroshi said. “The last thing we need is you pissing them off. I’m not calling the Draft to force anyone into our shitty positions.”
Rodger laughed.
“It may suck, but we all embrace the suck together.”
The Anime Trope System: Stone vs. Viper, #7 a LitRPG (ATS) Page 11
