Radosh

  *Guaaah!*

  The bck humanoid keeps shouting and attacking us. Meanwhile, we can’t see it yet, but the Camity, who already knows of our presence, must be getting ready to fight us.

  “Moo, Muribelle, quickly deal with this guy, please,” I say, waving in its direction. “

  “Sure. Burn quickly and leave us alone!”

  Before I turn around, I can see Muribelle using her iconic skill: Ignite.

  Ignite (Active skill)Cost: 30 MPLaunch a fme that sticks to the first unit hit, dealing (2 + 0,2 * SPI) fire damage every second for 5 seconds.Ignite is a powerful and cheap single-target skill. But unlike other skills, it’s retively easy to avoid because the fme doesn’t fly very fast and it’s very eye-catching, making it retively easy to avoid.

  This time, though, Muribelle didn’t have to worry about nding the attack. The monster is too stupid to evade, and it’s close enough that it isn’t possible to miss the target. The bck humanoid starts burning as fire covers it.

  If this bck humanoid is simir to those we found in the ghost city, it shouldn’t take too long. Furthermore, Muribelle is doing everything she can to kill it quickly, as she doesn’t want to miss any of the Camity’s moves.

  Meanwhile, I look inside the cave with Balmy. The Camity is close to the throne, walking in our direction. Other than him, I can only see two more of those bck humanoids, probably the teammates of the one that surprised us.

  But we can’t be sure. There could be something hidden, ready to strike when we’re busy fighting. And that’s Balmy’s job.

  “Now, go and do your job.”

  She shakes her head and crosses her arms. “Nuh-huh. I don’t wanna. I never agreed to it, I’m against it.”

  Sigh… She can be so annoying… “Didn’t we talk about this already? You must check inside to make sure there’s nothing we need to worry about… except for the Camity, of course.”

  “If it’s so important, why don’t you go instead?”

  As the only one who can fly freely, plus her small size, she’s the one best suited to explore the cave. She needs to check there are no traps and explore the va sea and waterfall. We must reduce the possible variables to the minimum.

  “Just do your job already!” I grab her by the wings, making sure she can’t escape, and throw her inside.

  “Kyaaaah! Noooooo! I don’t want to die yeeeeeet!”

  The Camity is so surprised by my action and Balmy’s shout that he stops moving, switching between looking at me and her.

  Yeah… I know what you’re thinking. She’s one zy ss.

  But this gives enough time to Balmy to find a pce to hide. All’s well that ends well, as they say.

  “I’ll never forgive yooooou…!” I hear someone’s cry. I wonder who is it? Hahaha!

  As I was saying, it all went as pnned. The Camity was so surprised that he didn’t attack us yet, giving enough time to Moo and Muribelle to finish that bck humanoid. Now we just need to keep his attention on us and the pn will proceed smoothly.

  Ah, yes. You didn’t know because I didn’t tell you yet. Caban’s party isn’t with us. They’ll show up ter.

  “You Camities have been terrorizing us for too long.” I spout random bullshit to buy some time. “We’ve grown tired of it. Now it’s payback time! Prepare yourself, because we’ll sy you here and now, damn demon!”

  The Camity, who’s using a demon Champion, smirks. Don’t ask me which kind of demon, because I’m not sure. I just know it’s a demon because of his bat-like wings, horns, tail, and reptilian green eyes.

  “Hooh, how unusual. A pyer who cares for others.” He mocks me. “Are you angry because I killed your fellow pyers? If so, what are you going to do about it? Do you really think you can defeat me?”

  Huh…? I… I don’t care about them at all. Wait a moment. Did he buy what I said…? If so, I might as well keep the ball rolling.

  “I won’t allow you to harm a single more pyer. Fight us if you dare!”

  In response, the Camity makes an evil grin. A grin so evil you would only expect from an actual demon.

  “Then…” He waves his hand and suddenly, something heavy falls from the ceiling.

  I quickly realize that that ‘something’ is the fourth and st member of the party who reached this pce before us. Of the three members, one must be the bck humanoid we just killed. The other two are roaming somewhere inside the cave, still unaware of our presence.

  The Camity says, pointing at the still-alive pyer. “...how about this? I’ll let him go, alive, if you surrender to me. Hahaha! You won’t break your moral code, will you?”

  Huh… sorry? My moral what? What is that? Is it tasty?

  No, seriously. I don’t care shit about that pyer. He can do whatever he wants to him.

  What’s more, he wants us to surrender to save a random guy we know nothing about!? Who in their right mind would do something so stupid? Are we in some kind of me-ass unrealistic hero story?

  I must have shown a stupid expression on my face because he looks dumbfounded. He furrows his brows and observes my reaction for a while, alternating between me and the captured pyer. Which is perfect, because I need to buy more time.

  “Oh, no. What am I going to do?” I do my best to sound concerned but ultimately fail. “I can’t allow him to die…”

  The Camity raises his hand. “Stop.” He shakes his head. “You don’t care about him at all, right? Everything you said was made up. Aah… and here I thought I could rolepy the vilin…”

  ‘No! You should believe my bullshit for a while longer! We aren’t ready to fight you yet!’

  “W-what are you talking about? I was… I was serious?”

  Yeah… I don’t sound convincing at all.

  “Haaaaah…” he slowly exhales, shaking his head. “It’s no use then…”

  A fme appears on his hand. He closes in on the unknown pyer, who, until now, has been silent. Maybe he hoped that the Camity would get so angry at me that he would forget about him.

  “N-no! Don’t kill me– Uugh…”

  With a st struggle, the pyer dies, engulfed by fmes. One pyer less. But it wasn’t one of us, so it’s okay.

  This whole situation was so unexpected and ridiculous that he didn’t get time to get angry. Not yet, at least. Thank god. He could have bsted me already if he were angry.

  Someone did die. But… who cares?

  In the middle of all this, I can see Caban’s party sneaking into the room while the Camity is distracted. We accomplished our objective and are now ready. We just need to wait for Balmy’s confirmation that there’s nothing hidden.

  “Hahaha…” The Camity starts chuckling. “It’s the first time someone pyed with me like that for a long time… Not since I became famous, at least…”

  Why are all demon pyers so twisted? Does it come with the race? Do you have to pass a ‘wicked test’ to get permission to use them?

  He smiles. “Alright. I’ve decided. Even if you apologize now, I won’t let you escape. You came without knowing anything, hoping for an easy win and points, didn’t you? All pyers are the same.”

  We didn’t pn on escaping, so it’s fine by me.

  “Um… by the way… What’s your name?” I ask.

  He sends me an incredulous look.

  “I’m Targaroth, the pyer currently ranked 29th in the PvP ranks.” He makes another wicked smile. “What? Scared? This is kind of funny. You mocked me without knowing who I am. I’ll sear my name and rank into your brains so you never forget. I hope you don’t regret your actions, hahaha!”

  Ah, no, no, sorry for the confusion. I don’t really care who you are. I was just getting tired of saying ‘the Camity’ in my mental conversations.

  Furthermore, I don’t care about your rank. My sister has a higher rank, and I’ve fought against her several times already. I’m not scared of someone in the 29th position.

  …I was defeated an equal amount of times too, but let’s forget about this minor detail.

  “Hey, hey, Koa. Is it true you didn’t know about him?” Moo asks. “But aren’t there rumors that your sister is one of the top pyers too?”

  “I don’t care about top rankers.” I confidently say.

  “Is that so…?” Moo shrugs.

  “If I were in your position, I’d ask her about cool moves and skills.” Says Muribelle. “She must have a few, right?”

  “Well… Maybe?”

  “Do you think she can help me pick fire skills for my build? I have trouble deciding because there’s so many that look good…”

  “Ahaha.” I scratch my head. “I can try. But I’m almost sure she’s going to say no.”

  “Why? If you ask, she should consider it, don’t you think?”

  Our retionship isn’t that nice…

  “You can test them on me! I don’t mind being your practice target! Mooohahaha!”

  Targaroth’s eyebrows start twitching as he grows angry. The initial shock has long passed. It could have something to do with us completely ignoring him right after his introduction.

  Don’t worry, it’s just a possibility.

  “Wow… the nerve. To ignore me right after my introduction…” Okay, maybe it isn’t just ‘a possibility’. “Less talking and more fighting.”

  He opens his wings and takes an intimidating pose. His whole body starts glowing red, sending ripples through space. And as if responding to him, the whole room starts shaking.

  “Did you think I’d be an easier target than other Camities just because I was immobile? You have no idea. This pce isn’t called a ‘Domain’ for nothing. The Camities with Domains are the strongest ones in this Mystery Event, fools! Hahaha!”

  There’s a final burst of red light from him and he returns to normal. But immediately after, we hear a huge explosion coming from above. Part of the ceiling near the waterfall colpses. Lava pours in rge quantities, starting to flood the entire cavern.

  At the same time, we also hear a fairy-like scream. Heh. Balmy got burned by the sudden increase in va flow.

  I observe in a panic as the va level starts rising. We’re lucky the ground isn’t ft and it’ll take a while to cover it. But when it happens… we’ll be in trouble. Lava deals continuous damage upon contact, and the only one who can avoid it because he can fly is Targaroth.

  Well, him and Balmy. But she doesn’t count as a fighting force.

  Following this, huge fire walls appear in all the exits, blocking the way out.

  “Aah. So that’s why that pyer died next to the entrance. He tried to run away.” Comments Moo from my side.

  Seems right. This means we can’t run away anymore. It’s a fight to the death.

  “You committed a grave mistake. Now it’s time for you to pay for it.” Targaroth says, pointing at me. Me? I’m innocent! Judge, please! “And that payment is your suffering and death! Prepare to suffer at the hands of this Targaroth, one of the–”

  “Fufufu! Hahaha!” I interrupt him with my cssical loud ughter. “Did you think we’d come without a pn? We’ve got this to defeat you, fool!”

  I take out our secret weapon, Buddug’s Daze, and show it to him.

  “That’s… crazy…” Targaroth quickly scans the item’s description. “Hmph! Pathetic. Such tactics won’t work on someone of my caliber.”

  That is what he says. But contrary to his words, his expression has shifted to one of extreme caution. A ten-second stun is enough to put anyone on high alert.

  “Why are you showing him that!? Weren’t we supposed to keep it a secret!?” Moo starts shaking me by the shoulders. Oops, I almost dropped Buddug’s Daze.

  “Fuck! I knew you were crazy. I hope this doesn’t bite us back…!” Muribelle swears. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

  I do.

  “Kyaaaaaah! You fuckeeeeer! You sabotaged your own pn!”

  And finally, our st member has come back. The first thing she does is start pulling my fur like crazy.

  As they say, to fool your enemies, you must fool your allies first. To make Targaroth think I’m stupid and that I’m just bragging, I had to fool my teammates. I told them we’d hide Buddug’s tears from our enemy and use them when he least expected, but that pn wouldn’t work.

  Camities, or more specifically pro pyers, tend to take the fights easy at the start and only show their true strength when things progress adequately. They take their time analyzing their opponents, to avoid making mistakes. I learned this from observing my sister for a long time.

  We can’t allow him to do that. We can’t fight him on equal grounds when he has higher stats, more experience and skills, and holds the home advantage.

  Furthermore, now that the va level keeps rising, we have a time limit. Forcing him to take this seriously from the start is our best and only option.

  Showing him Buddug’s Daze from the start was my pn all along. Knowing that we have an on-demand ten-second stun, he can’t do anything but take us seriously. This way, he’ll think our best chance to defeat him is when we use the item.

  He won’t imagine the possibility of there being another party aiming for the moment he lowers his guard.

  Only Caban’s team knows the truth. Depending on our situation, I told them I might reveal Buddug’s Tears to the Camity. To make him wary. Since I can’t communicate with them, I needed to make sure they followed through with our pn. I had no choice but to tell them in advance.

  “Kyaaaaaaaaaah! I’ll have you apologize for this! Write me a real-life apology letter, signed by the ‘Evil Mastermind’, ok!?”

  What a weirdly specific request, don’t you think? “Sigh… Fine. I’ll do it. But now, shut up.”

  “Oka~y!”

  She quickly changes her attitude. Hmm… wasn’t her change too fast? Why do I have a bad feeling about this?

  “Sometimes, things go as pnned. Sometimes, they don’t. Anyhow, I love pying DMA.”

  - Famous st words from a certain DMA pyer right before his pn inevitably failed.