Chapter 27: Tag Team

NPCN: Emul

LV: 56

JOB: Magician, Vorpal Bunny Traveler

HP: 125

MP: 655

STM: 80

STR: 30

DEX: 71

AGI: 50

TEC: 70

VIT: 35

LUC: 85

Skills:

? Beast Step

? Tap Step

? Critical Focus

Magic:

? 「Coordinated Teleportation」

? 「Coordinated Teleportation Gate」

? 「Coordinated Teleportation “Bunny Battle Gate”」

? 「Random Encounter Lv.2」

? 「Magic Edge Lv.7」

? 「Additional Cast Add Spell Lv.5」

Equipment:

Weapon: Wise Gang

Head: Observer’s Monocle

Torso: Ceremonial Clothing

Waist: Ceremonial Clothing

Feet: Ceremonial Clothing

Accessories: The Secret Ring of the Vorpal Bunny

I know that it was just a game, but the fact that this little bunny had stats that were bigger than mine was really depressing for some reason. No, I shouldn’t dwell on it like that.

Even though I was wearing a mask on my face, Emul looked like he saw right through me. I only shake my head as to ease his worries and together we venture right into the swamp, where very few people were at this hour.

「But still, whatever shall we do, Sanraku-san? It looks as though the curse is keeping all of the monsters away.」

「Actually, I have already thought about a countermeasure for that.」

「What countermeasures? Ah, there’s a mud frog right there…… Wah!?」

I notice the Mud Frog in the distance, sneak near it outside of its vision range and start running with all of my might.

When the Mud Frog noticed me entering its vision range it tried to make a run for it…… but was too slow. Why do you think I dumped all of those precious points into agility, huh!?

「Tooooooooo slooooooooowwwwwwwww!」

「Gero!?」

Since stepping into the swamp would lower my movement speed, I arrive at the edge of the swamp and jump into the air, shortening the rest of the distance between us.

Then I manage to knee the frog right in its face, since it was the only part that was sticking outside of the swamp’s mud. To compensate for my abysmal strength I try to pin it down to the ground, and since the game’s engine was correctly recreating the laws of physics, the frog was left unable to move.

Mud Frog was doing its best to break free, but it only managed to turn over before I stabbed it with my daggers for ludicrous amounts of critical damage.

「Giiie!?」

Being hit in its belly, its weak point, the Mud Frog screams in pain and then shatter into a geyser of red polygons.

「Fuh…… I guess this is the best thing I can do for now.」

「U, uwah…… Sanraku-san, you were like a real monster there just now……」

「Hey, that wasn’t nice of you.」

I thought it might be bad, but there was one fortunate thing in my current position…… Since the weight of my equipment was lessened I didn’t have to worry about my movement speed, and I could focus on catching up to my unaware enemies and finishing them with critical strikes.

This carnivorous animal-like tactic was my best weapon in my current predicament.

「The only thing I need to worry about is managing my stamina bar while I’m aiming for those sweet critical strikes……」

Sprinting like mad before eventually striking the opponent when it was least expecting it. This tactic was proving itself to be rather effective against opponents with low agility.

「As you can see, this is what we are going to be doing for a while now.」

「Yay! Yay! Yan, yan, yan!!!」

「Anyways, onwards to the Area Boss!」

「Are we really going with that all of a sudden!?」

I don’t know why he sounded so surprised. I was telling him that from the very beginning.

「We are only going to take down the rare monsters on our way. We are not going to waste time on small fries, since this area is going to become pretty much clogged sooner rather than later. Before that happens, I would like to go to the next area.」

The feeling of moving your body in this game was truly different to all the other games I have played so far.

Although the movements still felt a bit awkward compared to the real world, not many games out there could say that they allowed the players to grasp the gist of movement controls in such a short amount of time. Usually it would be hard for new players to get used to the controls over the duration of the first few towns, resulting in much slower progress than some would have liked.

For the shop clerks a huge amount of people in one town would be a dream come true when speaking business, but since the vast majority of them were there for the same reason, there was the possibility of the exploration zones becoming trafficked really fast. What would be the countermeasures against that happening? And how was the situation right about now? If you wanted to clear the unique quests without issues, picking the towns with high “capacity” as your main hub would be ideal.

For example, apparently the next town was double or even triple the size of Sekandil.

「We are not going to stop until we reach Thirdrema. And since you are an agility type just like me, try not to fall behind, alright?」

「But running around like mad is not really my forte……」

「That line is not something a Bunny should ever say!」

Let us go! To the place that lies beyond the Area Boss! The town of Thirdrema!!!

Chasing down the escaping monsters only because you have a high agility is not a very valid strategy during the early and middle stages of the game.

It doesn’t apply to all monsters out there, but many high level monsters can run at speeds that far exceed the running speed of players.