I quickly dodge to the right, and in the corner of my vision I see the sharp canines land right beside me, crunching down on nothing but hard rock. The stone splinters.
After seeing that display of power, my brain shifts. Immediately, I go back to battle mode.
W-wait, not yet! Abort! Abort! I gotta allocate my new Combat Points first!
<10 Combat Points
Health: 14
Mana: 7
Damage: 15
Defence: 9
Speed: 20
Which attributes do you wish to increase?>
Huh?! I thought levelling up only gave +1 to each stat. So why did health, defence and speed grow by an extra two, and why did damage increase by an additional three??
Do stats grow in a different way than I thought?
Is it affinity based instead?
SHUT UP! Focus on the battle, dimwit!
Ah. Sorry, me!
Damage: 15 (+2)
Speed: 20 (+7)
Confirm?>
Mhmm. Confirmed.
Health: 14 → 15
Damage: 15 → 17
Speed: 20 → 27
Current Combat Points: 0>
Alright, nice. Everything already feels much lighter. What about my Skill Points?
Could I access a shop or something?
I mean, I know I was rushing myself before, but this roach seems to be waiting for me to make the first move after I dodged.
Might as well gaslight it by getting into a cool fighting stance and stall for as much time as possible. And then I can use that stolen time to quickly do some last-second point allocation.
Skill Points have to do something. I can’t accept them being some useless, aesthetical feature.
Maybe I had insufficient Skill Points before, so I was too broke to access the Skill Point menu…?
I avert my eyes from the blue screen to the roach. Good, it still seems tense in wait.
Allocate Skill Points! Pleeasee!
[Run Lv1]—(Active) Temporarily increases base speed at the cost of stamina. Bonus speed increases as skill levels up.
[Jump Lv1]—(Passive) Adds correction to spatial movements related to jumping. Bonus correction increases as skill levels up.
[Sense Lv1]—(Passive) Increases perception of the surrounding area. Bonus perception increases as skill levels up.
[Bulk Lv1]—(Active) Temporarily increases base damage at the cost of stamina. Bonus damage increases as skill levels up.
[Reparation Lv1]—(Passive) Heals the user from damage and negative attributes such as paralysis. Repairs faster as skill levels up.
Which skill(s) would you like to purchase?>
Um, what? That’s a lot to process. I quickly skim through, deciding on either [Run] or [Reparation].
[Run] makes me faster and increases my speed. That in itself is already pretty helpful. However, the only method of healing I have available to me right now is through levelling up. Which, as it suggests, isn’t very reliable.
Besides, [Run] is a skill I need to mentally activate. At the cost of stamina, while [Reparation] is for free.
So yeah. [Reparation] seems waay more useful.
[Reparation], please!
Yeah. Sure. Besides, I’m in a hurry. The roach seems to be running out of patience.
User Rena Shinohara has 0 skill points remaining>
Okay, you can come out now, battle mode!
The roach finally runs out of patience. It makes the first move, charging at me head on at full force. I simply reciprocate the action and return the favour. We sprint at each other, with full killing intent.
Once I get close enough to strike, I go straight for the roach’s neck—the one place unprotected by its hard exoskeleton.
I swing my sword forwards.
But in the time it took for me to make that move, the roach had already sidestepped, shifting to my left in order to dodge my swing. It had its fangs outstretched, pointing straight at my torso.
Unable to withdraw my sword and defend in time, I make the split decision to dodge.
Rolling sideways and out of danger, I feel the electricity of the adrenaline burst into every single muscle in my body.
Already, I can tell that this will be an intense fight.
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The two of us are now distanced by a couple of metres. The roach rears up, beady eyes looking straight at me with undeterminable bloodlust.
From what I can tell, this is probably going to be an even matchup.
And this fight just got started.
The roach charges towards me again, closing the distance in mere seconds. When I get inside its jumping range, the roach leaps forwards at me again, its jaw unhinging to form a perfect one-eighty degree vice.
Lunging back, I try to stab at its exposed backside.
But…
I stop for a moment, frozen in awe—my sword simply got reflected off the exoskeleton without making as much as a scratch.
I go for the same shot again, but the slippery shell makes it hard to even get a direct hit in.
This keeps on going for a few seconds. Eventually, I’m forced to retreat again, my onslaught bearing no fruit.
Seriously, what is up with this roach’s armour?
It’s like trying to grab a ball covered in oil!
The roach repositions itself. So do I.
It’s now or never. I can tell that the next exchange is about to get really serious.
We dive towards each other in a similar fashion. Going for a full frontal attack, I charge at the roach, swinging my sword in a windmill pattern. I strike the roach on its exoskeleton again.
However, instead of harmlessly sliding off, my sword makes a loud banging noise.
The roach flinches backwards, aborting its attack as the echo reverberates through the battlefield.
Interesting. So it seems that blunt attacks are more effective when dealing with the lubricated surface.
However, the roach quickly repositions itself, and lunges towards me once again. Without time to prepare for the advance, I flail and fumble back in the nick of time as I feel cold fangs skim the skin on my torso.
Hot blood trickles down from my wound.
It isn’t anything life-threatening, but it seems even after enhancing my speed stat, this overlevelled roach is still faster. Even if only by a tiny bit.
From the prior interactions, I already get that this guy is no joke.
First of all, it's a much higher level. And hence, it should also have significantly higher stats.
But that’s not the only problem. The other thing is bothering me a lot more.
Namely: the attack patterns of the roach.
The other roaches would mindlessly charge towards me. Sure, this roach also mainly attacks by charging, but it has spatial awareness to some extent and positions itself properly. It even adds feints into its attacks to try to catch me off-guard.
For instance, the roach feinted left before, but quickly swivelled to the right in an attempt to attack my unguarded side.
Sure, I knew what was going on, but if roaches also get smarter as you climb up the scale, I might have quite a lot of troubles later on.
Seriously, what?! Why is this guy way smarter than the other roaches…?!
Alright. Calm down and start to consciously assess your surroundings.
I can tell the roach is trying to bring me to a corner. It also knows it has the upper hand in this battle. Must be an instinct thing.
And so, I do something that the roach doesn’t expect.
Instead of backing down despite the loud and intimidating clicking, I push forwards.
Lunging, I catch the roach as it stands there unmoving—still processing my move.
Having not expected the sudden advance, the roach slightly flinches and recoils as it recollects its thoughts. Unable to fully counter my blow, the roach goes for a kamikaze attack.
(Un)gracefully gliding through the air, I put a lot of power into the next slash and strike at the roach’s exoskeleton again. I would prefer going for the neck, but I would need a really precise shot to hit that part.
My sword makes contact. But only a miniscule crack forms on the roach’s exoskeleton. Certainly not enough damage to be worth the risky manoeuvre. I grimace, noticing the roach’s own attack about to connect.
I feel my body shake. Seconds later, my vision creates many duplicates as I get sent flying away. I skid backwards, before staggering up, using the wall as a support beam. I take the moment to recollect my directional bearings.
Shit.
Maybe I should have retreated into the corner.
No. If I backed into a wall, I wouldn’t be able to utilise my speed effectively, as I would only be able to move left and right—not backwards or forwards.
I can’t win this fight.
Maybe I should just turn tail and start running again. Retreating might be the best possible option available to me right now.
NO!
I refuse to run. I have my own pride to live up to, after all. Running away doesn't suffice. Not now, not never. I don’t want to do something so cowardly.
I want more. I want power and strength. No, I need it. To survive this dog-eat-dog situation of mine. And none of that can be achieved by fleeing whenever a single scale tips out of favour.
I will not run away from this confrontation. No matter what.
I sprint towards the roach and grab its antennas with my other hand.
It tries to fight back, and bites down on the arm I used to grab it with. With an immense force. Up to 400 PSI.
My arm begins to uncontrollably convulse and spasm, but I break past the pain.
True to its word, the pain in my arm subsides slightly, making it slightly more bearable. Barely bearable, but still bearable. I grit my teeth to stop myself from letting out a pained groan.
My right arm begins to go numb from the pain. And the roach is currently occupied, as it tries to tear my arm off its sockets with violent shakes.
Perfect.
With the roach solely focused on my arm, it has to contract its neck out in order to tug and pull with force. And I take the opportunity to strike at the unarmoured nape of its neck.
My sword cracks the light and malleable exoskeleton permeating around its neck. The blue, gooey blood bursts out, and a fountain of otherworldly liquid erupts out like a burst volcano.
The roach responds by immediately letting go of my arm. That same arm that just flops around lifelessly afterwards. I try to move it, but it seems my motor neurons don’t agree with me.
So, I’ve lost control of my right hand.
…
Screw that…!
[Reparation] can heal me later. Right now, I have to push past my temporarily crippled state and kill this roach!
Once again, the roach and I are mere metres apart. It glares at me. I return the gaze.
It snarls. I grunt.
And we both come running towards each other at full speed, killing intent so solidified that it could cause an entire room of people to waver.
This time, the roach doesn’t even use its back two legs to steer and feint. It just rushes in a straight line. Predictable. But I’m not fast enough to make a counterattack.
All I can do is hope I get the first hit.
The roach leaps at me, its jaws outstretched. I can see smaller sets of teeth lined beneath the large fangs. And the thick stench of blood eludes from its mouth. What a malodour.
Time seems to stop.
No—not stop. Just slow down at such a rate that any changes around me are difficult to make out.
I yell. Though, the yell really just sounds like the groan of an old man since everything is slowed down.
I watch as the grip of my blade begins to change, though rather lagged. Everything is moving at a pretty leisurely pace, after all.
I opt to reeling it in as I hold it like a spear.
And then, everything returns to the state of normal.
I smirk. The roach’s eyes go wide in fear. Its pupils dilate as it stares in shock. The roach breaks into a cold sweat.
Good game, well played.
Half a second passes, before I hear a satisfying crunch.
I had pierced my sword right into the roach’s mouth—the most unprotected area. I mean, it was asking for the stab when it opened its mouth so widely!
And that named sword is now jutting out from behind the roach’s head.
And… Ew. Is that brain matter leaking out?
Yuck.
All basic attributes increased.
Level up proficiency acquired
Skill Points acquired
Combat Points acquired
50% of max health has been healed>
The voice rings soundlessly within my head. I feel my arm twist back in place with a gnarly snap.
All my cuts close, and clotted blood begins to pool out. Quite a… disturbing approach to recovery, honestly.
Well, at least most of my wounds got mended back together. There’s still the occasional scratch and tear, but I’ll leave those for [Reparation] to deal with.
Afterwards, I leisurely take my time to carve out some basic (yet decent) looking daggers using the sharp point at the front of the roach’s legs, before dumping them into my inventory. [Appraisal] results show that they’re weaker than my current sword, so I won’t be using them until I manage to get my hands on a better pair of daggers.
Besides, there’s no such thing as over-preparation, right?
Making some backup weapons won’t do any harm after all. Better safe than sorry.
Having defeated the steroid roach, I bask in the sunlight of glory.
That roach sure was no joke!
Really, I’d say the two of us were pretty evenly matched, with the scales ever-so-slightly tilted in favour of the roach. I sure am glad I caught it off guard with the direct spearing, or I probably wouldn’t have won.
My moment of peace is, however, cut abruptly short as another roach stumbles upon the scene.
Nameless
Level: 2 Rank: D Class: Soldier>
SERIOUSLY?!
Are you kidding me or what? This is one fight after the other at this point.
And… this guy is rank D.
Which means, at minimum the same strength as a level 25 rank F if you factor my prior assumptions into the equation.
This guy even has a class and all!
Well…
Confirm?>
Yeah, sure.
Damage: 17 → 22
Current Combat Points: 0>
If I can kill this guy, I’m guaranteed at least one or two levels.
It really comes down to whether I win or not…
Er…
…Hellooo~?
Has the roach not noticed me yet…?!
Wait… why does it look… weakened.
I mean, it’s covered in a bunch of cuts and other wounds…
Well…Third party time?