by Nikita Thorn
After the purchase, the seller warned him that the scroll was a rather unpopular rare monster, one where the loot table was horrid and which was definitely not worth the trouble. “I don’t know what it is, but it puts a mild debuff on you, which I suppose is annoying. And, allegedly, it has an enrage, so, uh, maybe try to kill it quickly?” That was probably why the seller had been so eager to get rid of it. Rough calculations, however, showed Seiki that killing it on his own would give him at least ten thousand XP, enough to push him over the threshold to Level 16, which would solve a few of his problems.
It was worth the risk. Seiki did all the research he could for the encounter. Going through Kentaro’s and Mairin’s entire collection of old Society newsletters, he managed to find a short article on the Yamashiga scrolls. It was unfortunately not illustrated. The write-up said the scroll summoned a carnivorous snake-like creature. It could bite, but also attacked by leaping off the ground to tackle its prey. The Society did not seem to know much about the creature beyond that, but speculated that it was probably poisonous. Wanting to be prepared, Seiki even went as far as to do some real life searches, but found the term to be a family name, which gave him no more hints.
Rares in the wild took on four levels above the first player they first locked on to. Rares spawned in instances, however, took on the level of that particular instance. For personal territories, it adjusted to the level of the owner, so he knew it would be Level 19: difficult, but doable. He wondered if having his troops with him would increase its power.
“We’ll see pretty soon,” said Seiki to himself. At least his troops were now much better equipped than they were two days ago. Wondering what Ippei would think of this build, he turned towards his unit. “Any last-minute suggestions about the formations?”
Genta shook his head. “Whatever you think is best, is best, Chief,” he said, although not sounding exactly convinced.
Saburo was a little more straightforward. “If you ask me, we’re definitely going to die.”
“Saburo!” cried Rumi. “Don’t say that to the Chief.”
Ojisan simply let out an ambiguous grunt that could have been agreement or disagreement or amusement.
“It’s okay, Rumi. He’s probably right.” Seiki grinned. “Well, if we die, we die. If not, it’s really good XP for thirty gold.” He held up the scroll. “Ready?”
Seiki had never pulled a rare scroll before, despite having seen a few of the monsters summoned in this way. The binding string came loose with uncanny ease at the slightest tug on the knot. Unsure how much of it he had to expose, he stretched it all the way in one decisive pull, hoping for a glimpse of an illustration to clue him in on the type of creature, but the whole length of the interior was filled with messy scribbles.
The scroll began to hiss as the black illegible characters started to wriggle and merge, like a thousand tiny snakes. With a grunt of disgust, Seiki tossed it onto the ground several feet in front of him. It landed face-up, and gray smoke burst from the middle of the scroll as soon as it touched the ground, and a thick, long shadow started to form, growing larger by the second.
Seiki fixed his sight on the creature and drew his sword.
Amidst the dispersing smoke, a monster slowly emerged, a thick long heap of rough, blackish fur. About a foot wide and five or six feet in length, it had no limbs and no other features except for a large, circular mouth at one end, filled with double rows of teeth, dripping greenish saliva. It writhed, as if trying to free itself from invisible chains.
Nozuchi [Level 19 Rare]. HP 3365/3365.
“I thought it would be called a… Yamashiga,” muttered Seiki, wondering what this meant, although he was rather relieved it was not higher than Level 19. From the violent way it twisted, he would not be surprised if the thick fur hid under it a muscular body, and so he readied himself for speed.
The creature reared its head as it sensed his presence. Seiki suddenly felt sick in his stomach. It took him a second to realize it was not his own reaction to the sight.
You have been spotted by a Nozuchi. You are affected with an unknown wild fever. You take 10% extra damage from the Nozuchi, doubling every subsequent damage.
His unit shifted uncomfortably, as they were not spared from the effect. Despite the unpleasant feeling, however, the debuff did not matter as long as they remained untouched. Considering any damage at all from a Level 19 rare would instantly kill anyway, perhaps it was not that important as long as they played it very safe.
Without warning, the Nozuchi curled up into a ball and sprung from the ground, bounding straight at the group, its mouth gaping, exposing its jagged teeth.
“Go!” cried Seiki, mentally commanding his troops to run around the creature, two on each side, now that it was locked in an attack trajectory.
Luckily, the Nozuchi ignored the troops.
Seiki stepped up and slashed at it with Sweeping Blade, hoping to gauge how powerful the knockback effect was. The Hikari connected with rough fur, and Seiki tightened the grip on his sword, wincing as it felt like trying to stop a bowling ball with a chopstick. The hit broke a little of its thick, hard skin, not enough to draw blood, but it did push the monster back by a few feet. The Nozuchi landed, uncurled, and snarled. Then it scrunched low as if preparing to pounce.
“Stun!”
His troops who had positioned themselves on both sides of the creature rushed in, stabbed down their swords around the Nozuchi, unleashing their Vertical Spike formation.
That gave Seiki a safe second to engage. He stepped forward, pierced at the black mass with a burst combination of Sliding Focused Strike and Upslash, spending more than half of his energy at once. Despite the near-perfect connect, the blade did not penetrate far and only left a slim gash across what he guessed to be the monster’s neck.
Nozuchi [Level 19 Rare]. HP 2711/3365.
The combination would normally do about 1200 points of damage. This was only around half the amount, but given that it was against an unknown rare, it was not entirely unexpected.
At the back of his mind, Seiki had some misgivings. Its health was moderate. Its defense was not very high. He supposed the multiplying damage it could dish out was going to be a challenge, but considering that, at Level 19, it could easily one-shot any of them at any moment, he doubted it made that much of a difference. That meant its nastiness laid somewhere else.
The creature reeled and let out a squelching noise. Seiki gritted his teeth and stabbed it with Focused Strike again before it could recover, aiming for its wounded neck.
“Attack,” he shouted. His troops rushed in and started hacking at the creature’s furry body. The Nozuchi hissed and was about to turn on Ojisan, and Seiki cried “Hey!”, before swinging his sword at its mouth, pulling back before its jaws snapped around his blade. Having successfully drawn its attention, he took another quick glance at its health bar as he ordered his unit to reposition themselves.
Nozuchi [Level 19 Rare]. HP 2398/3365.
Each troop member, when leveled to the player’s level, had about half of the player’s base health, and their damage output was about a third of the player’s standard attack. Each of their individual attacks normally dealt only around sixty points of damage, but the amount was now cut to around half by the monster’s protective layer of rough fur.
Still, it was effectively dropping the monster’s health, and the unit’s auto attacks were the most economical way to whittle it down.
The Nozuchi lunged for a direct bite at Seiki. His first thought was to Parry, but then he realized that the only way his unit could safely attack was to keep the monster fully occupied. Seiki instead raised his sword above his head, with the blade pointing forward, and forced himself to wait as the monster rushed at his exposed chest.
“Chief!” Rumi cried out in warning.
Aiming his Hikari at the Nozuchi’s bottom jaw, Seiki activated his Vertical Spike directly on the monster, wincing as the upper rows of teeth
clamped down on the blade as it tried to bite. The stun effect exploded around the point of impact, freezing the Nozuchi in its track, the momentum of the downward thrust slamming it to the ground.
“Keep attacking.” Seiki pushed down with as much force as possible, his hands gripping tight the hilt of the Hikari as he tried to pin the creature down by its lower jaw, to buy his unit more time to deal damage. He knew it had an enrage, which could happen at any moment, and so he was trying to save all his unit’s energy for that final stage.
Saburo let out a yell as he rushed in. Genta was on his heels. At once the unit was hacking and stabbing wherever they could. Ojisan managed to puncture the creature on its side, and his sword was drenched in red blood.
The two seconds of stun expired. The Nozuchi growled and tried to shake loose the blade through its jaw. Seiki put all his body weight on the sword. “Keep going!”
The monster’s health was now down to half, and Seiki braced himself in case it chose to enrage now. Nothing immediately happened, and the monster continued to struggle. Its head was trapped, but it suddenly swept its body to the right. Ojisan let out a grunt as he leapt back, although not fast enough, and he took a glancing blow across his right arm.
The impact sent the old man staggering. He survived, but his health had dropped to a fifth. Seiki knew anything else from the Nozuchi would immediately kill him. “Only attack when it’s safe. If you’re in the middle of something and it tries to hit you, abandon and run.”
With another growl, the Nozuchi lifted its head up against the push of the Hikari, in a way that should be impossible considering its position. Seiki yelped as he nearly lost his balance. The sword broke through its bottom jaw, and thick red blood ran down its tip into a wet pool on the ground. That hurt the monster a little more, but then it twisted its whole body to the left, forcing Seiki either to let go of the blade or to drop to his knees to wrestle it.
Seiki turned with the motion to avoid having to make that choice. He found his footing and tried to pull his Hikari free. The tail end of the monster lifted, curled, and suddenly shot over its head, aiming for a fatal crush on its distracted prey. Cursing, Seiki mapped a quick Slide to get out of range, at an angle that would also dislodge his sword. To his horror, the creature tilted its head back, yanking him off his trajectory before he could escape.
“Stun!” He only had time to toss out a hasty mental guide on the ground before the thick hairy end of the creature filled his field of vision. Immediately, he let go of his Hikari and threw himself flat on the ground. The Nozuchi froze in an awkward position right above him. Seiki involuntarily shuddered as he could feel the thick bristly hair brushing across his back. Scrambling to a better position, he grabbed the hilt of the Hikari and pulled again, to no avail. His one-second bought time was up. The creature started to move. Grunting, Seiki pushed his left palm forward and hit it with a desperate bare-handed Focused Strike, while his right hand twisted the hilt of the Hikari.
That fortunately dislodged the sword, and Seiki used the last of his energy to strike the recovering monster with Sweeping Blade right as it was about to take a bite out of him. He realized, a split second later, that he had knocked the creature directly toward his troops. “Genta, Rumi, move!” he yelled.
The two unit members turned and fled. The monster, now curled into a blackish furry ball, sprang from the ground and went after them.
Seiki cursed. “No, over here!” The creature had no eyes he could see, and so it was impossible to use the normal method of reclaiming its attention with eye contact. Still, it paused for a second at his shout, and Seiki ran in, traded health for some more energy, and stabbed it with Focused Strike.
Nozuchi [Level 19 Rare]. HP 984/3365.
It immediately turned on him, snarling, mouth first, its fangs dripping greenish venom. Seiki winced as he Parried. The block did not drain his energy, but the force of the pushback slammed into him and he staggered.
His unit cried out in alarm as they rushed in, and Seiki drew another mental circle on the ground and said, “Stun!”
That depleted all six of his unit energy bar, and he cried, “Potions!”
Despite the rather chaotic exchanges, they were not doing too badly, and Seiki hoped that once he could land another two-second stun on the creature, he and his troops could unload everything and burst through whatever enrage phase it had in store for them.
His personal Vertical Spike came off lockout just in time for him to link it with his unit’s stun, and for a moment Seiki could not help thinking that perhaps Ippei was right after all. You could never have too many stuns. His heart started beating faster as he saw that the creature was low on health. His unit had taken their potions, and now had enough energy for three successive direct Upslashes in a row, and Seiki’s own combination was readily available.
The mental guide for Upslash was a little tricky, since you drew a rectangle with fully connected sides, which indicated the range of the wind effect from the move. When using it for the actual physical attack, Seiki had to estimate the range for the intended melee damage himself.
Seiki connected the shape, and the troops ran up and struck out their swords diagonally. The aim proved a little too short to be a true connect, but it was still effective.
Nozuchi [Level 19 Rare]. HP 691/3365.
Heart pounding, Seiki drew the guide again as he felt the creature starting to come off the stun. At the same time, he lifted his right hand, raising his sword for another Focused Strike which would bring them very close to finishing off the thing.
The Nozuchi snarled when the blade of the Hikari pierced deep into its body, just as the troops’ second Upslash formation, now slightly better-aimed, slashed across its body.
Nozuchi [Level 19 Rare]. HP 203/3365.
Only one more hit would do it. Every second counted, and Seiki had no time to drink his own potion as he traded half his health for the same amount of energy. He stabbed it again with Focused Strike while he drew another guide for his troops.
A firm grip closed around his sword hand and pushed it astray. Seiki looked down and saw, to his horror, a human hand clasped around his wrist, wrinkly and slightly discolored. In shock, his brain struggled to comprehend where the limb had come from, while another part of his mind noted that it had sprouted from the beast’s black furry body.
A wave of overwhelming unpleasantness slammed into him, dazing him for a second, and the wrinkled hand forcefully pushed him off balance. Seiki immediately recognized the spell, as he had felt it before: a houshi’s Reprimand. Even when he could not see how it was possible, one thing became very clear. Reprimand was an effective interrupt. His mental guide for his troops’ ability fizzled and his unit abandoned the formation and paused in confusion.
The first cast of Reprimand incapacitated him for half a second. His mind blank, Seiki stared at the transforming Nozuchi as he landed helplessly on the ground. The arm was certainly part of the creature. In fact, another arm had sprouted from the other side of the hairy mass, mostly hidden under the ragged, torn sleeves of a grayish monk’s robe.
Grunting, Seiki struggled to regain control of himself. Only one well-formed Focused Strike and it would be over. His mind shouted to his unit to keep attacking. It was a little too late. The arms moved again, and Seiki winced as he knew what was coming. The second cast of Reprimand hit him, forcing him to voluntarily cast his sword aside, at the same time dropping his health by more than a third. Seiki struggled to maintain a grip on his Hikari, but it was futile. And for a moment, his limb was not his own. His trusty blade landed several feet out of range.
You have taken damage from the Nozuchi. Next damage will be 20% stronger.
The Nozuchi was rapidly shedding its thick layer of hair. Standing on its rear end now, its girth shrank to the size of a large human. It spun around to face his confused troops. Undirected, Saburo was yelling at the top of his lungs as he tried to slash at the transforming monster. Next to him, G
enta was also rushing in for a strike. As soon as the arm moved, the troops grunted, their movement slowed. The Nozuchi turned around again, still waving its arms, and a similar wave of sluggishness washed over Seiki before he could scramble to his feet.
“Hinder,” he muttered through a curse, although no sound made it out. The ability was a slowing spell, and it turned the air into thick gel as Seiki tried to reach his Hikari.
The Nozuchi spun around again, and Seiki glanced back to take another look. It was now very much human, except for the disturbing fact that where there should be facial features there were none, except for a mouth, which was misplaced, on the top of its head, still a wide gaping orifice of sharp teeth that snapped sporadically at the air. The arms moved again, in a recognizable pattern identical to how Kentaro cast a Heal. Seiki’s heart sank as he saw its health leap back up by several hundred points.
Nozuchi [Level 19 Rare]. HP 412/3365.
Rumi and Ojisan, who were not caught in the Hinder spell, managed to land several slashes at the body. Seiki was glad to notice that they each dealt around fifty to sixty points of damage per attack, which meant that in its houshi form, the monster had much less defense.
They still had a chance. Seiki traded health for energy, dropping his health to 8% to instantly activate his Strength of Will. The slowing effect dissipated, and the air around him loosened its restrictive grip. He grabbed his Hikari and broke out in a Slide at the Nozuchi’s turned back, aiming for a burst combination.
The creature, its attention locked on the unit, let out a growl from the top of its head. It suddenly dived forward at the troops, and Seiki watched in horror as it knocked Ojisan aside and landed on Rumi. Its jaws closed around her throat.
“No!” Genta fought against the Hinder. Saburo’s eyes were wide when he saw that neither of the two unit members moved anymore.
