Chapter 95: Wind Wisp

Ralph raised his shield, the one dropped by the Temple Knight, as best he could, then braced himself.

A moment later, the Wind Wisp crashed into the alloy and began gyrating as it tried to cut through it.

To its credit, bits of metal were already being ground off the shield’s face.

’D-damn it!’

The Wind Wisp was one thing...

’But where is this mystery attacker?!’

It still hadn’t shown itself.

Dita, having crawled her way back into the light, collapsed right next to Peace, placing a potion into his hand as she fell.

"A little sooner, asshole."

Catching the memo, Peace looked away from the Wind Wisp and poured the potion liberally onto Dita’s back.

She began to convulse and looked about ready to scream...

Then, she suddenly bit into Peace’s pants to stifle her shouts.

’Ow! What the hell?! I don’t need more injuries!’

After unclamping her jaw from Peace’s thigh, she let out a few labored breaths, then picked herself up off the floor and readied herself to fight.

’She really is one tough bitch.’

’...’

’If only she wasn’t a bitch sometimes.’

Though Peace hadn’t really gotten to know her outside of life-and-death situations.

Not that it mattered at the moment.

By then, Ralph had managed to push the Wind Wisp back, only for it to slam into the shield even harder. This time, a noticeable dent formed from the impact alone, and Ralph skidded backward.

Peace looked over at Volkar and Maura...

Neither looked in any condition to wield a weapon.

As for Yulis...

’He looks so lost.’

The paranoia was getting to him.

Absolute darkness, attacks coming from nowhere, a foe they were never meant to face at their current level... the kid had finally reached his mental limit.

He was still fighting, but his capabilities, especially with a sword, were certainly ’something.’

He’d swiped at the Wind Wisp multiple times, but not only had every strike bounced harmlessly off the ball of wind, the force had also repeatedly knocked the sword from his hands.

That left his hopes resting on Dita...

Dita slid out from behind Ralph and circled around to the back of the Wind Wisp, then thrust her sword straight inside.

Her blade began to twist and jerk in every direction, yet she kept driving it forward. She managed to push it deep enough for the tip to scrape the edge of the core before the wind finally tore it from her hands and sent it flying.

Suddenly, the Wind Wisp spun away from Ralph and hurled itself toward Dita.

Only for Ralph to lunge forward. With all his might, he drove his blade into the same spot Dita had targeted.

’Ah, I see!’

The back of the Wind Wisp was like the eye of a hurricane, where the winds were weakest. In the game, critical hits were awarded for backstabbing them. Peace now understood why that was the case.

Ralph also seemed to have figured it out from watching Dita’s attack, though perhaps he’d known all along.

Either way...

Whether the Guild considered him one or not, Ralph possessed the strength and ability of a Tier 8 Diver.

And if a Tier 8 Diver, even one specced as a tank, couldn’t one-shot a Tier 8 F-Class, it would be nothing short of pitiful.

Thankfully...

[You have slain Tier 8 F-Class, Wind Wisp]

[+4 EXP]

Ralph wasn’t that pitiful.

His sword cut through the wind and carved into the core.

The wind immediately dispersed, stopping just short of crashing into Dita, who had already been preparing to roll beneath it.

The core fell to the ground with a couple of clinks before a stray breeze sent it rolling toward Peace, where it came to rest against the makeshift stretcher.

Peace stared at it for a few moments before picking it up.

’Hmmm...’

He turned it over a few times in his hand.

’Fuck it.’

Watching him, Dita disregarded the whole ’silence is golden’ rule to say:

"Don’t you—!"

Peace brought it to his mouth.

With all five watching him, even the bleeding Maura, Peace began to munch away at the core, until he reached the Spirit Stone and plucked it out...

Then he continued eating the rest.

[???] — (condition to unlock: 92/100)

It wasn’t much, but his body began to mend, healing the more superficial cuts and bruises. His right knee even started to feel a little better.

’Ah... that feels good.’

In response to the incredulous stares he was getting, Peace smiled, shrugged, then pointed onward.

Despite his gesture, none of them moved, save for Dita, who’d gone to retrieve her weapon.

"Guck!"

It was only when Maura was once again knocked off her feet, another invisible attack slicing into her shoulder, that they decided to ignore what Peace had just done.

’Seriously, what is that?! What’s doing it?!’

No Tier 8 or 9 monster could turn completely invisible. At most, some could manage a degree of camouflage.

True invisibility was reserved for the highest Tiers.

So, either some incredibly high-ranked Diver was trolling them, or... well, no other explanation made sense. If something was attacking from a distance, Peace would have seen it. Even if he hadn’t, there should have been some evidence of its existence.

The only way Peace could describe it was as a bug...

As if Maura was suffering at the hands of a glitch.

If environmental bugs existed, then combat ones could too.

’What in the world do we do about it, though?!’

Did they have to watch her take cut after cut until she died?

’It only started when we entered here...’

Their best hope was to leave the area. Either forward or back.

Peace thrust his hand to the right, directing the party away from a Wind Wisp just in time.

’We’re over halfway... there’s no backing out now!’

The only thing they could do was step on the gas.

However...

’Seriously?! Again!’

One after another, monsters kept spawning directly in their path.

’This feels targeted! Deliberate!’

’This has never happened to me before!’

Then again, Peace had never had night vision on any of his characters while in the Light Temple before. This might very well have been how most encounters happened. Without night vision, it would simply seem as though they’d stumbled upon the monsters by accident.

’Don’t tell me it’s for chunk loading!’

Peace threw his hand to the side.

’Why does this world care about reducing processing demands?!’

Then he changed his mind, pointing nearly in the exact opposite direction.

’Why are there bugs at all?!’

Peace once again found himself questioning whether he’d become a one and a zero, merely a character in a game.

But the question vanished from his mind when a Wind Whipper suddenly began spawning much closer than any of the others.

Too close for him to guide the party around it in time.

Just behind it, however, was their target zone.

So...

Peace broke his silence once again.

"Beyond this one... is the exit."

"Huh?"

Ralph’s eyes widened as the lantern illuminated the nearly fully formed Whipper.

"Oh..."

The Whipper was much like the Wind Wisp, except it possessed two tendrils that lashed about.

’What a fitting name...’

Ralph, understanding Peace’s intentions, didn’t whine or complain, nor did he back down or cower.

He raised his shield again, invoked Audacious Challenge, and issued his demand.

"At me, rubbish."

A demand the Whipper accepted without delay, lashing one of its tendrils down at Ralph.

The blade of wind bounced off the shield, but another came from the side. Ralph barely managed to swivel his sword in time to deflect the blow, though the force nearly drove his own blade into him.

Dita soon appeared at his side, deflecting the first tendril as it nearly struck Ralph across the head.

Seeing that Ralph could... somewhat hold his own, especially with Dita’s help, Peace turned his attention to Maura and Volkar, even throwing in one of the Giant’s favorite words to encourage him to play the coward—though Volkar had been quite content to play that role thus far.

"We’ll be of little help here... let’s get out of their way. Let them have their honorable fight."

Leaning to the side, Peace dug through Ralph’s subspace bag, taking out his umbrella.

Seeing what he was doing, Maura reached out to try to push him down.

"Stop!"

Using the umbrella as a crutch, he pushed himself off the ground. He couldn’t put any weight on his left ankle, but he could bear just enough on his right to slowly shuffle along.

Grunting, tears welling at the corners of his eyes, Peace looked at Yulis and said:

"You’re welcome to follow as well."

The Day Elf shuddered, then bit his lip and looked toward the Wind Whipper.

"No..."

Picking up his blade, he turned to face the monster, putting his back to Peace.

Setting down the lantern, Maura placed a hand on Peace’s shoulder and followed him into the darkness, matching his slow, painful steps.