(Seigi’s PoV)
Immediately after parrying the attack of a nearby swordsman, I cut his head off with my own sword. Blossom was covering my back, so even if we were outnumbered, I still wasn’t particularly worried about the attacks from the people that I wasn’t seeing.
“Wasn’t Blossom supposed to be a solo player!?” One of the players fighting us asked.
“Since when does she have followers-!?” Another one started saying that, but he ended up being cut in half by Blossom’s scythe.
“They’re not my followers!” She exclaimed. I was happy that she said that while also protecting us like she is right now, so I have to do my best here. I have to raise my level and my skills to beat all those players that are aiming for Blossom… Only if I do this, will I be able to have a chance of fighting against my sister-in-law.
“… This guy is good with a sword.” A player that was exchanging blows with me commented.
“How can he keep up when his equipment is clearly one of a beginner!?” Another one exclaimed just before I stabbed his belly.
It wasn’t that strange though. My father just taught me swordsmanship directly since I was young, so I happened to be more skilled with it than most players. I couldn’t quite understand why I had to bother with learning that on our current era, but it’s being useful now that I’m playing a VR game I guess. Moreover, I’ll definitely need this sort of advantage when facing our sister-in-law, so I’m glad to know how to properly wield a sword.
As I thought of that, the swordsman in front of me made a wide movement that left a gap on his defenses, so I made use of that to step on his foot to further hinder his balance, then beheaded him.
After that I pushed his body to the side, to use it as a human shield to stop the thrust of a spear that was coming towards me, then parried a dagger that was thrown at me. Following that, I held the spear that was stuck on the dead corpse, pulled it near me, then beheaded the spearman with my sword.
“Don’t get in the way-!?” The dagger user tried to stab me from behind while shouting that, but he was killed by Marie’s arrow, which pierced his head.
“Has nobody found the sniper yet!?” One of the players shouted.
“We can’t! She seems to move after shooting each arrow!” Another player shouted.
But of course she’ll move after shooting. She won’t commit such a silly beginner mistake of staying in one place the whole time, it would be too easy to find her if she did.
And as they worried about Marie’s position, I stabbed the belly of another player, killing them.
“It’s really hard to beat a top player when she also has a party to help her…” A player commented.
“I came here because I just couldn’t withstand dealing with the Perverted Gentleman, but… This is rough.” A different player replied.
… Perverted Gentleman? That’s a username? Someone actually plays the game with this kind of nickname…? “Don’t think about it.” Blossom said, as if she was reading my mind… You know what? She is right. Let’s just worry about turning all those players into experience points. I wonder if our karma will fall by the end of the battle though. I mean, this should be legitimate defense, right?
“Prepare to die! Gyah!” A mage exclaimed just a bit before having his head pierced by Marie’s arrow. He was still able to release his <Crimson Explosion> spell though, so I had to minimize its damage by using the <Water Blade> skill against the explosion. I still lost quite a bit of HP from the spell though.
Nonetheless, I made use of the dust raised by the explosion to rush towards their rearguard and quickly cut through their archers and mages, who were the main threat to Marie.
And immediately after that, “<Body Enhancement: Rejuvenation>” I used the skill that I obtained from getting level 40 and my second class. It might not be considered much now that information about third classes already exist, but this was still a very strong skill that rapidly recovered my HP.
And then, as the dust settled and I stared at the remaining players near us, I shouted, “You’re all gonna become fodder that will allow me to face my sister!” I just didn’t like them. I don’t get why they’re all going after Blossom, but she has been really nice to us, and she also resembles Kako a lot… I can’t help feeling angry when seeing all those players going after her.
These annoyances are going to be a good stepping stone to let me and Marie reach our ambitions.
******
(Komari’s PoV)
I shot an arrow, sniping the assassin that was trying to sneak up being Masa, then shot two more arrows against other players that were trying to attack Blossom from her blind spots, then moved places again to not let them locate me.
As we fought this battle, sister’s speech echoed through the city and I could hear her edging the citizens to fight against the players… I wonder why she did that. Why put their life in risk when we’re all just players fighting each other in a game… And why does she hate me and Seigi so much? Could she maybe… Have some sort of mental problem? Could it be impossible for me to grow closer to her? Will we just be forever unable to solve our problems?
I was remembering how she reacted when I approached her a small while back in the game, about how she tried to kill me right away… Can I really do this? Can I really be a proper family with the ‘Genocider’? With this person that has such intense negative emotions… Can I really be part of her life?
… I can. I definitely will. Even if she thinks it is useless, even if we end up fighting, I will have a dialogue with her, I will show her that Reiko is not the only person in her family.
I will definitely do it. I’ll definitely say everything I want to her… And until then, I’ll keep sniping everyone that is trying to attack Masa and Blossom.
Translator’s Note: In case anyone forgot, Reiko is Rena's mom.