Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

The ‘Foglet Dedoction’ is a type of potion. It was the product of Alchemy. One’s attributes would increase upon ingestion. However, not anyone could just down it. Alchemical ingredients were highly toxic to regular humans.

Olivia was not actually interested in things like using foreign materials to increase her attributes. After all, this was a game, and she was a hacker.

However, these ‘Witcher Quests’ provided extra rewards, so why pass up on this?

Olivia did not act rashly. In reality, Olivia had an abnormal amount of experience in fighting monsters and creatures, as she possessed all the abilities of ‘Jane Doe Su.’ She could rely on her dodging abilities to make herself invincible to monsters. That is right, that was her unrivaled tumbling!

Tumbling might end up being highly useful in this Source World. Perhaps all gaming worlds used it as a staple mechanic?

At that moment, the self-proclaimed professional witcher, Geralt, had applied the Necrophage oil on himself. Then, he made a casting gesture with his hands. It turns out that he had cast a ‘Quen Sign’ [1] on himself!

This was the first time Olivia had ever seen a witcher in battle. He was cool! As expected, this was an action hero!

There was a golden layer of halo around Geralt’s head right after casting the ‘Quen Sign.’ He appeared to be in an invincible state. In reality, the ‘Quen Sign’ was a protective shield that could absorb all incoming damage from monsters. Unless the enemy’s attacks shatter the shield, nothing could hurt Geralt at all.

Geralt has always appeared brave and courageous in front of females. It was no wonder that he enamored many beautiful girls. For example, Yennefer [2] from Vengerberg [3] was his soulmate, and was always ready to be the mother of his child.

Geralt, who thought himself well-prepared, rushed forth!

Then the foglers appeared!

Olivia had been mentally prepared to face the battle. However, the ‘foglers’ who were Necrophages [4] were extremely ugly, which slightly threw her off.

Foglers were shorter than humans. Their bodies were slightly hunched, and their arms ended in long, pointed fingers. In fact, from their huge feet and claws alone, you would know that its attacking power was not to be underestimated. They did not seem to have any skin – their blood vessels were even visible and exposed. Most horrendously, their brains jiggled about as they moved. They had glowing blue eyes that emitted an ominous glint, exposed sharp teeth that were interlocked, and two huge and sharp ears…

Even though Olivia had seen many monsters and demons in the literary world of the “Tales of Wuxia 3”, these western monsters were far uglier. Furthermore, the realism levels of the literary world could not even be compared to Source World’s.

As confident as Olivia was when it came to holding her own in combat, the sight of these nightmarish images still left her knees feeling weak. It would be wise to cast a magic shield on herself first. In fact, the witchers’ signs were actually simplified forms of conventional magic. In other words, her magic shield would be something like a completed, upgraded version of the ‘Quen Sign.’

Since Geralt was acting as the main tank, Olivia felt relatively safe. However, she would soon realize that she had overestimated Geralt, who she had thought to be the ideal action hero. She did not expect that Geralt, who had rushed towards the foglers in elaborate fashion, could not finish the foglers off. This was because the foglers would always use their signature skills at the most crucial moment. It was similar to the Shadow Clone Technique from the Naruto Anime…

Therefore, Geralt, in spite of his magnificient and excellent swordsmanship, could not hit the foglers at all. After all, this was the real world, and not a game. Geralt was a human being and not some player-controlled character. Levels did not differentiate monsters in the real world.

Witchers might even fall before seemingly easy enemies like Necrophages. That was why they had to make sufficient preparations before every battle. For example, applying the correct Necrophage oil on his blade, casting the ‘Quen Sign,’ and drink some potions, etc.

The foglers in the game were creatures that might be one or two levels above regular Necrophages. A player-controlled witcher would make short work of them. However, a real-life Geralt would face some trouble.

Geralt was starting to regret this. He had not prepared a ‘Moon Dust’ [5] bomb. This bomb contained Quicksilver solution [6] which could cause their illusory ability to lose its effectiveness. At least, he would not be hitting thin air.

This was by no means Geralt’s fault. After all, Alchemy bombs were not cheap. Geralt was not one for meticulous planning, thus he would always be short of money. Was it because he was too addicted to the Gwent [7] card game that frequently left his pockets empty?

Furthermore, he had not been prepared for this battle. Most importantly, Olivia, the ‘step-child’ was there. He had to keep an eye out for her.

Just as he started cursing his fate, the ‘step-child’ Olivia finally got to her feet!

After observing the battle for a few minutes, Olivia had consulted her various in-game indexes and cards, and figured the foglers out, down to their weaknesses!

Olivia, a trained mage, had a solid foundation of magic from her talented teacher ‘Vilgefortz.’ The rest of it was her doing. Mages’ would usually use their ‘wind blades’ for long-range attacks, but she held her ‘wind blade’ in her hands!

This magical sword was made up of solid wind and was almost invisible. It was just like the Excalibur wielded by Altria [8] in the Anime ‘Fate/stay night’. The questionability of its power aside, it definitely looked cool. It was even cooler than Geralt’s silver blade!

Olivia then transformed into the best swordsman in the Wuxia world – Jane Doe Su. She cast a magic shield, and while holding up her wind blade, rushed forward!

The foglers were at their weakest right after their illusions are struck. During that short period, their physical bodies would be revealed, and they would be less than mobile.

Anyway, Geralt would have eventually won. After all, these foglers were small-fry. However, Olivia did not want to pass up on this quest: ‘Assist the witcher against the foglers.’

Therefore, Lady Olivia Zhao charged into fray. She seemed to have forgotten that she was a mage…

The foglers who just had their illusions smashed apart by Geralt had distanced themselves from Geralt. They were waiting for Geralt to rush towards them. Who knows, they might be able to evade his attacks by then. Little did they expect the little girl – their food, to rush towards them!

They thoroughly underestimated the little girl. On top of that, they could not see the invisible ‘wind blade’ in her hands. Almost leisurely, they swung their claws at the girl…

The foglers were relieved. The witcher had held them against the ropes. Finally, a weakling for them to kill!

“NO!” Geralt screamed!

Of course, he quickly fell silent… The air had became eeriely still, while the atmosphere became very awkward.

Translation note:

[1] “Quen Sign” (昆恩法印) is a simple magical symbol used by witchers. When cast it forms a protective field around the casting witcher.

[2] “Yennefer” (叶奈法) was a sorceress who lived in Vengerberg, the capital city of Aedirn. She was Geralt of Rivia’s true love and a mother figure to Ciri, whom she viewed like a daughter to the point she did everything she could to rescue the girl and keep her from harm

[3] “Vengerberg” (范格堡) is the capital city of Aedirn and was once one of the richest and most populous metropolises (numbering six thousand inhabitants) in the Northern Kingdoms.

[4] “Necrophages” (食尸鬼) is a hypernym used to refer to monsters that generally haunt cemeteries and battlefields, places where dead bodies lay, eating the remains.

[5] “Moon Dust” (月之尘) is a bomb in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

[6] “Quicksilver solution” (银丝) is an ingredient which can be used in place of certain monster parts when producing alchemical concoctions.

[7] “Gwent” (昆特牌) is a fast-paced card game that can be played within The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt on every platform.

[8] “Altria” (阿尔托莉雅) is a fictional character from the Japanese visual novel and anime series Fate/stay night by Type-Moon and its prequel, Fate/Zero, by Type-Moon and nitroplus.