Bushido Online: the Battle Begins: A LitRPG Saga

by Nikita Thorn

  Seiki took it. After that, Kichirou was happy to share his passion and knowledge for all things equine. “Snowstepper,” he said, pointing towards the beast’s hooves, where there was a perpetual fall of very faint snowflakes. In the dim light, it was hard to make out, and at first Seiki had thought it had just been a trick of light on the water splashes as the horse ran.

  “It doesn’t actually do anything, since it’s just a skin. Some people swear it goes a tiny bit faster on snow but that’s just a myth. The thing is, it’s relatively rare, so people are willing to pay stupid amounts for it. Steppers don’t come lower than mid-grade, so yours is a decent one and will last you a while.”

  Kichirou’s eyes twinkled. “I’ll show you a good one.” He put two fingers in his mouth and let out a high-pitched signal, without the need for a physical whistle.

  The horse that came galloping in was tall, muscular and midnight black. Even when Seiki was not well-versed in the realm of horses, whether real or virtual, he could tell from the way it moved that it was of exceptional quality. The beast seemed spirited and stamped its feet as it stopped beside Kichirou. Seiki remarked then that its eyes were glowing ethereal blue. “This is from a class we call jewel-eyed. Two slots,” said Kichirou proudly, as if he expected Seiki to understand what it meant. “Now let’s get out of here. Where are you heading?”

  It was most likely that the man just wanted to find a reason to show off his mount.

  “Out the East Gate,” said Seiki. “But preferably not through the gate itself, if that’s even possible.”

  “Why, trouble with the clans?”

  “Something like that,” said Seiki, surprised the man had guessed.

  “That’s the hotspot for ganking,” said Kichirou. “There’s a rumor that you can use the underground sewage to get to places, so people come wandering down here all the time. What levels are we talking about?” he asked as he picked a direction and started walking, leading his prized horse alongside Seiki’s.

  “Twenty-ish. Highest I saw was Twenty-Six.”

  Kichirou thought for a moment. “Any ryoushi?”

  Seiki remembered seeing a crossbow on one of the other unknown Rogami members. “At least one.”

  “One is doable.”

  Seiki recognized what the man was offering to do. “You’d better not get involved,” he said. “Have you heard of the Rogami Clan?”

  Kichirou shrugged.

  “They won’t leave you alone.” Seiki had to think hard to recall what he had done to earn their ire, and it seemed that it was simply not getting killed by them.

  “If they can catch me,” Kichirou replied. “Hey, we’re talking about a Master Rider here.” When Seiki did not seem convinced, he added, “And you forget one thing: the morgue is in West City. If I get away, it proves my point, and if I don’t, it saves me all that time getting there.”

  “I’m serious. These people really go out of their way to cause trouble.”

  “Makes life more interesting, right?” Kichirou hid a mischievous smile. “There’s also something I’ve always wanted to try out and this will be a perfect reason for it.” He nodded ahead. “And, we’re here anyway.”

  Seiki did not know how Kichirou did it, or what he had done differently that had allowed him to find his bearings through the underground labyrinth, but they were now at the bottom of a tunnel sloping upward. Following it, they emerged into Shinshioka’s gentle night again. Near the wine brewery in East City, to be more precise.

  “I’ll create a diversion. And it’s not just them I’m harassing, so they probably won’t know I’m helping you,” said Kichirou as he leapt skillfully onto his black horse.

  Seiki thanked him and mounted as well. When he looked at the snowstepper, that seemed to be of a very calm temperament, he could not help but feel a childish sense of joy again.

  Kichirou took him on a short gallop toward the gate, where he slowed down.

  “They’re still there?” asked Kichirou.

  Seiki ignored how long it had been but, as he peered through the group of guards, he thought he could make out Rieko’s white and red kimono in the darkness not too far away. “Yeah.” He pointed them out to Kichirou.

  “That guy’s got a full war horse,” Kichirou muttered to himself, perhaps with a bit of jealousy. Seiki guessed he meant Taiyora, whose horse came fully armored. “That thing is slowish, though. Now where’s the ryoushi?” He squinted as he tried to see and did not seem at all worried about the two obake.

  “Okay, here goes. Good luck.” With that, Kichirou kicked his horse into action. The black horse shot forward with impressive speed and Seiki followed him to the edge of the gate and waited.

  Kichirou’s mount dashed ahead in the middle of the road. Someone coming in on his yellowish horse cursed at him as he pulled aside to avoid collision. As Kichirou passed the group of Rogami members, he gleefully yelled, “Kitsunebi!” The black horse seemed riderless for a moment, and a line of blue lively flames sparked up along the road. Seiki had pulled his horse left outside the gate and had already started galloping north. Surprised cries rose from people behind him, and for exactly two seconds Seiki felt his attention drawn to the blue flames and he felt compelled to turn around and gaze at them.

  It was almost like hypnosis. But as soon as the flames flickered out, the effect was broken. Seiki was now free to turn his attention back to galloping ahead. Flowing his energy to his feet, his eyes on the sparse pine woods under the starless night not too far ahead, his heart suddenly filled with a strange kind of exhilaration at the speed.

  Welcome to the Wilderness! Wilderness combat rules apply. PVP status: enabled.

  In his back, he could hear someone yelling something about an idiot kitsune trying out his new ability and some other alarmed shouts about patrols. Four hundred human paces was perhaps a hundred horse strides, Seiki guessed as he kept count.

  He only got to sixty-eight when the snowstepper froze under him. From full speed, it had come to a complete stop, and the momentum threw Seiki forward. By some miracle, he managed to land on his feet without any damage. But he was far from safe. From the corner of his eyes, he saw a rider in gray following him.

  It was Suguru.

  The horse let out a panicked neigh and started running away, and Seiki made a dash toward the pine trees. His guess was that the obake had used Freeze on the horse to force him off his mount. He thought fast. Magical abilities could not be dodged, and the best countermeasure was distance.

  A sickening coldness was now taking hold of him and Seiki recognized it as Life Drain. He kept running, as his life quickly trickled away. Since he was almost out of range, the effect was much weaker. In the several seconds it had affected him, it had only stolen a third of his health.

  Just as he reached the first pine tree, Seiki remembered something else. Acting fast, he threw himself behind the tree trunk, thus putting himself out of sight. That was all it took to break the effect, and the coldness immediately evaporated.

  No attacks were possible while mounted, so Suguru must have gotten off his horse for the Soul Freeze and Life Drain. Now he had mounted again, and one could only marvel at how quiet his shadow horse was. Rather than the normal gallop that gave off vibration on the ground, an obake’s horse was very light on its feet and only produced a strange rustling noise as it ran.

  Seiki dashed forward into the pine woods. It was dark, and there would be plenty of opportunities to use the trees to break line of sight. Still, he could not let Suguru get close, or his abilities would be lethal. Seiki knew he needed his mount to get out of this, yet when he blew the whistle no sound came out.

  Your mount was hurt and needs time to recover. Lockout: 2 minutes remaining.

  He no longer remembered his pace count, but the sound of rustling was drawing closer and Seiki thought it was best to put as much distance between him and the obake as possible. He also did not know exactly what he was looking for, since it seemed
extremely unlikely he would simply find Master Tsujihara standing in the woods. An unhelpful thought flashed in his brain and he wondered if Master Tsujihara would help him fight the obake if that was the case.

  Suddenly, he felt something shooting straight at him. Out of instinct, he ducked as a flash of fur missed him by an inch. The thing landed on his left with a snarl, baring its white teeth in its drooling mouth.

  Rabid Wolf [Level 7]. HP 150/150.

  The woods were not empty, Seiki found out. These were its inhabitants, and it was very bad timing. Without waiting, he drew his sword and struck the wild animal with Focused Strike as it leapt for his throat. Another Focused Strike finished it off completely.

  Rabid Wolf slain. 22 XP gained.

  The obake’s rustly horse was drawing very near now. Seiki was continuing on his course when the Freeze stopped him in his tracks. He winced as the coldness spread through his body. But before it could manage to disarm him, Suguru let out an annoyed grunt and the effect evaporated.

  A second wolf had come out of the left and attacked the obake’s shadow horse, which dispersed into thin air. Almost simultaneously, another one leapt at Suguru and bit him on the arm. The obake slapped it away and it fell to the ground, dead.

  Seiki took his chance to flee. Unfortunately, another wolf—which had been lurking nearby—jumped out of the bushes at him, forcing him to Parry. He could not be wasting energy on this, so at the last second he decided against using any. The wolf was of lower level and a normal parry warded it off without Seiki losing his grip on Hikari.

  Glancing behind him, he saw several wolves closing in on Suguru, who only had to hold out his hand and the creatures dropped like flies. As Seiki slashed at the wolf assaulting him with two normal moves, he waited for Suguru to Freeze him again, but no spell came. Between attacking and parrying the wolves, he stole a quick glance.

  Suguru of the Rogami Clan [Level 23]. HP 4122/4122. Energy 134/3318.

  His aggressor was out of energy. He must have used a lot of it in galloping to catch up with Seiki. And without energy, all he could do was to get in close and try to physically hit him, which was probably something the obake did not want to get into.

  Seiki was also saving up his energy. He killed the wolf with four more normal moves, got his experience, and turned and ran further into the woods before Suguru had recovered enough for another ability.

  “No use running,” said Suguru in a chilly voice. He let out a whistle and was immediately on his shadow horse again. The lockout must have expired, but Seiki did not want to call his yet, since he was not quite sure where to go.

  “Rieko told me not to kill you quite yet,” said Suguru, smiling as he easily caught up with Seiki.

  There was a snarl and yet another wolf rushed at the obake from behind. Suguru was compelled to dismount before the wolf could take a snip at his shadow horse. He was about to kick the wolf, when he changed his mind.

  From the corner of his eyes, Seiki could see the man throwing a ceramic bottle to the ground, which exploded in a thick puff of smoke. Bad news: his energy was back to full. Right away, the wolf froze, shivered, and turned toward Seiki.

  Rabid Wolf [Level 7]. HP 150/150. Possessed by Suguru [Level 23].

  Seiki had enough energy for two Focused Strikes. Not wanting to take chances with the Possessed wolf, he lunged his sword and pierced the beast in the chest as it sprang forward. Right before the tip of the sword connected, Seiki felt a drowsy chill descend on him. The sword hit and the wolf growled as it fell to the ground, before jumping for another attack.

  Rabid Wolf [Level 7]. HP 112/150. Possessed by Suguru [Level 23].

  “That will keep you occupied for a while,” said Suguru. “Rieko has some questions.”

  Confused, Seiki tried to shake off the drowsiness and used another Focused Strike. He was not any slower, but his limbs felt strangely powerless. The second move was identical; it dealt only half its usual damage. Out of energy now, Seiki tried a normal attack, which also did very little damage to the wolf.

  Rabid Wolf [Level 7]. HP 98/150. Possessed by Suguru [Level 23].

  “I’ll help enlighten you,” said Suguru, seemingly pleased at Seiki’s puzzlement. “This is Weaken. You deal less damage and take more damage during its ten seconds.”

  The wolf bounded at him again, and Seiki struck it twice more with normal slashes. For all his trouble, he only managed to bring it down to half health.

  “But I’ve modified mine so that you don’t take extra damage, but Weaken now lasts twice as long,” said Suguru. “Oh, and you might want to pick up that one, too.” The obake backed away out of range. Seiki turned to look and saw that another rabid wolf had appeared out of the wilderness.

  With an energy-less Sweeping Blade, he knocked both wolves back as he tried to reposition them. He could handle two, even with the Weakened effect, but he was starting to have a very bad feeling that the wolves would come endlessly.

  Rabid Wolf [Level 7]. HP 68/150. Possessed by Suguru [Level 23].

  Rabid Wolf [Level 7]. HP 139/150.

  The effect expired and the drowsiness left him. Of course, Suguru had been waiting for this, and he put another one on him as soon as it did. The wolves were rather predictable in their attacks. Seiki quickly figured out how not to take damage from them. However, his normal moves were taking a very long time to chip away at their health.

  “Aren’t you going to say something?” said Suguru, sounding a little bored. “Here, I’ll make it a bit more interesting.”

  The man jumped on his mount and described a wide circle around him. It took Seiki a few seconds to understand he was looking for yet another wolf. The woods seemed to be well populated with them, and after a while one did come, and Suguru led it back to Seiki.

  “Hit it, please,” said the obake. “I’m still locked out of Possess.”

  The wolf clawed at the shadow horse, and Suguru gave an annoyed sigh as the mount evaporated from underneath him. He then let the wolf bite him on the leg, which did no damage. Obviously, he was careful not to touch the wolf, as any feeble attack would have immediately killed it.

  The possessed wolf was almost dead, but the other one was still alive and well. There was no way Seiki was going to take this new one off Suguru.

  Rabid Wolf [Level 7]. HP 42/150. Possessed by Suguru [Level 23].

  Rabid Wolf [Level 7]. HP 93/150.

  “I’ll just have to make you, then,” said Suguru. For a brief moment, he seemed to waver and fade, and the wolf turned and ran toward Seiki instead.

  Seiki was doing all he could to keep the two wolves off him. With a half-strength Focused Strike, he killed off the possessed one, just as the newcomer reached him. He was not quite sure how it worked, but since Suguru wanted him to hit it, he was not going to. He ducked and rolled out of the way, and struck at the one he had been fighting instead.

  Suguru had come out of the fading effect now and the wolf immediately abandoned Seiki to run back to the obake. “Didn’t fall for that one,” mused Suguru.

  This was not working. It was taking Seiki too long to fight these wolves compared to how fast Suguru’s energy recharged, and the obake could make this last forever. Seiki knew he could not outrun the wolves, and there was a mount lockout if his horse took damage.

  Seven more normal moves took care of the remaining wolf. When Seiki landed the last blow, he found that Suguru had disappeared. Grabbing his chance, he whistled. The snowstepper materialized and he leapt onto it as he made his way further into the woods.

  He had completely lost count of the paces and he guessed he had about twenty more horse strides to go. The obake would not simply give up like that, though, and Seiki glanced around frantically for a sign. Then he spotted it: a small circular clearing in the woods. He rode into the middle of it, but there was nothing there but grass.

  Out of nowhere, Suguru and his shadow horse burst from one side in full speed, with four snarling wolves trailing
behind. Seiki had to leap off his snowstepper and send it away before they reached him. Suguru dismounted as he approached Seiki, landing right beside him. “This is Disperse, in case you’re wondering.”

  He wavered and faded again, and all four wolves turned on Seiki. This time, he would be forced to defend himself. The Weaken had expired and—before Suguru could cast it again—Seiki’s Sweeping Blade knocked all the beasties back, bringing them down to varying health levels.

  “Rieko had better appreciate all this,” said Suguru as he backed away casually.

  Rabid Wolf [Level 7]. HP 73/150.

  Rabid Wolf [Level 7]. HP 95/150.

  Rabid Wolf [Level 7]. HP 124/150.

  Rabid Wolf [Level 7]. HP 137/150.

  Seiki knew he was in trouble after this. The wolves were of lower level, but multiple enemies were tricky. He did not remember ever fighting this many at once before, even without having his attacks halved.

  He kept hitting the wolves with energy-less Sweeping Blades, and as he killed off the one with the lowest health, Suguru managed to find and Possess another one. The substitute shot forward out of the bushes and landed on Seiki, sinking its fangs deep into his left shoulder, and sending sharp chills down his whole arm.

  Seiki stabbed the wolf with his sword as he tried to get up, but another bit him on the leg. Seiki contemplated that death by rabid wolves would not be pleasant at all. Another wolf jumped in, aiming for his throat. But it froze in place before it could close its jaws.

  “Can’t let you die just yet. That’s Rieko’s business,” Suguru said, holding out his right hand.

  Seiki rolled away and scrambled to his feet. He was at half health now, and he desperately fended the remaining wolves off with another energy-less Sweeping Blade.

  Perhaps it was the man’s tone, or his sneer. Whatever it was, something took over Seiki and he was flooded with fury. He was angry at everything, at this obake who was just toying with him, at Master Tsujihara, at the Commander and the Shogun, and his coach, and every opponent he had ever fought, and the doctors, and the cheering and screaming audiences.