CH 185

Data.175 – Another Perspective: Cat Treasure

“What!? Why is Core getting killed so quickly! The leader is supposed to set a good example for the others! Damn it. That’s not very manly of him!”

“So Satomi took down the leader…! He also died while doing it, but that’s still quite an accomplishment…!”

It was in the natural park area of the city.

Trees, grass, and flowers were managed by AI, and there were fountains, benches and a course for walking or jogging.

It was in this once peaceful place that Necoco Strange and Mad Slime CORE’s Jelly Jeller were battling.

“So it’s 2 vs 3…! You were the one who taught me how scary the disadvantages of numbers could be… Hmph!”

“You can give up and surrender if you want!”

Said Necoco, but Jelly laughed confidently.

She wasn’t going to give up… And Necoco already knew this.

Because all she needed to do was to defeat Necoco in order to turn the tide of battle.

And during this current battle in the park, Jelly had the upper hand.

“I just need to defeat you and then it will be 2 vs 2! Besides, I need to kill at least one of you if I want to taunt Core about dying!”

Jelly’s weapon was a shovel called ‘Kirakira Zakuzaku Shovel,’ which she now shoved into the ground.

And then golden rocks shot out of the ground under Necoco’s feet!

Necoco used her high agility to dodge them quickly and hide behind an obstacle.

This obstacle she was hiding behind was also a glowing gold and translucent. And it was crackling with electricity…!

“Rise Jewel Thunder… You can’t crush this jewel!”

Rocks like this one had grown all around Necoco and Jelly.

As they were translucent, you could not hide your location by being behind them.

Furthermore, they were made of durable material and had both the thunder and earth attributes. As someone with low firepower and with the thunder attribute, Necoco could not break them!

“The enveloping electricity clashes with your thunder, lessening its power, and then nullifying them completely with the earth attribute…! Surely you understand all that?”

“Of course! Muscle Lady.”

She was wearing a colorful work suit and had a gaudily painted helmet on her head. And her weapon was a shining shovel!

However, Jelly’s physical appearance was just as striking.

She was over 2 meters tall, with a healthy tan and bulging muscles. She had a large chest, short hair, and a face that had a boyish charm…!

“Muscle Lady…huh? It has a nice ring to it. I wouldn’t mind being like this in real life, but people don’t really like it, and it limits what clothes I can wear! And I’m still a young lady who gets sore muscles on the same day!”

“Huh, so the soreness comes a lot more slowly when you age.”

With a swift movement, Necoco moved around to Jelly’s back and charged at her!

“Apparently. Not that I’ve ever experienced it!”

Jelly quickly made a stone wall and then drew back.

As there were so many obstacles in the area, Necoco could not move at top speed, and so she could not become invisible.

This was the worst kind of enemy that she could fight…!

“Hey, why don’t you be the one to give up? I’ve been told to save my skills and charge attacks.”

“I can’t do that. But don’t worry, you won’t get a chance to waste them!”

“…What do you mean by that!?”

“Up until now, I’ve just been measuring your ability! And now I know how much I need to show…in order to beat you!”

“Hmph! A bluff! Core told me all about you! In order to deal a lot of damage, you need to boost the thunder attribute and chain attacks with your claws! But my equipment is stronger than it looks, and my defense skills are more than enough…”

“That’s true! But I teamed up with all kinds of people in order to find a new member for our guild. And each time I had to play in special ways, so I have plenty of skills that don’t fit my usual style!”

“Wh-what!?”

“Eat this! Claw Missile!”

“Tsk…! I’ll use it then! Princess Jewelry Box!”

Five jewel walls shot around Jelly as if to protect her.

And then a lid appeared on top, creating a pentagon-shaped box.

This charge attack was resistant to both physical and magic attacks and would be very difficult to break.

“Come! Claw Mis… Wh-what? That light…”

The ground under Jelly’s feet started to glow, and then there were a series of explosions!

It was so sudden that she didn’t have enough time to use her defense skills, and so she took the damage directly.

However, the charge attack remained, and Jelly still had HP left.

Core had made her stock up on expensive HP recovery items. So she just had to use them now…

“Blue Electric Claws – Dual Claws… Cool Shock!”

The blue electricity shot into Jelly’s neck…!

Necoco had dug a hole in the ground and entered the jewelry box.

Jelly had seen videos of Necoco doing this, and it had left an impression. And she knew that the floor was the weakness of Princess Jewelry Box.

However, the explosions had clearly occurred while Necoco was above ground.

If Necoco had disappeared, she would have known she was underground, and would be able to unleash a counter attack at the ground.

But the unexpected explosion had thrown her off…!

“As a parting gift, it would be nice if you could tell me how you did that…”

“…Claw Missile.”

“So you won’t tell me. Well, we may fight again.”

Necoco was speaking the truth.

The explosion was one of the effects of the Claw Missile skill.

The name of the effect that she didn’t use was Missile Style.

It was an attack that launched your equipped claws like they were missiles. 

The claws would regrow a few seconds later, but you would not be able to use any other claw related skills in the meantime.

And though it was short, in a way, it put everything in cool down, which made it a difficult skill to use.

The other style was Mine Style.

You buried your claws in the ground like mines and then detonated them when you wanted.

As you were able to cut them off one at a time, you could set them in the ground while keeping some.

However, there were no marks for where you buried it, and the explosions were small in scale.

If you set all ten of them close together and detonated them all at once, it would deal similar damage to a charge attack, but it would be quite a feat to accomplish during combat.

While it had seemed that Jelly was pushing her, she was actually being made to move in the way that Necoco wanted her to.

In spite of appearances, she had a more reserved personality, and had a habit of backing down when the enemy became aggressive.

And like this, Necoco pretended to be running away as she secretly buried the Claw Missiles and executed her bluff just as Jelly stood on top of them, luring her into using a powerful charge attack.

The stronger a defense ability was, the more they tended to restrict your movement.

And since Princess Jewelry Box trapped you into a small box, Jelly was not able to escape from the mines.

“Damn it! I hate losing without being able to contribute at all… Even Core had it better! I guess that’s why he is our leader! He’s a real man after all!”

Jelly said as she disappeared.

Now there was only one member of Made Slime CORE left.

(You were really strong. You had an advantage over me. However, you lacked the experience…! But why did a pro gamer group let someone so inexperienced into their main team? Hmm. Well, given how they have people like Slime Man, maybe they just take in anyone who looks interesting?)

As Necoco tilted her head to the side, she thought of a certain possibility.

(No, perhaps Satomi’s brother put her in specifically to beat me…? She had all of my weaknesses down, and had a lot of information… Was it all because he didn’t want to lose to his younger brother…? No, surely not! I’m overthinking it!)

As an only child, Necoco couldn’t really imagine what their relationship was like.

And so she pushed it out of her mind and sighed so that she could head to the next battle.

She was the one who had founded the Ghost Guild.

And she felt that she had to work harder because of that.

(Hold back and beat a new player… While it makes sense, it’s not very satisfying. But I will continue…! It’s my responsibility! It doesn’t matter how I win!)

Necoco started to run.

For the glory of the ghosts…!

“Now! Where is my next opponent?”

‘The fight is over!!’

“What!?”

‘As all of the players of Mad Slime CORE have been annihilated, the winning party is…Ghost Guild! Congratulations on making it to the second round! The surviving players will now be warped to the waiting area!’

“The person who defeated the last player was…Anne! In other words, we each killed one player…! It looks like I have a good eye for recruiting after all…!”

Necoco felt that a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

(Still, Anne swings around such a heavy weapon, and yet I didn’t hear the sounds of her fighting at all… I wonder how she won?)