8: F1, No Shield Needed
And that`s why I`m sitting here, in the shade of an especially large tree, using my [Meditation (Lv.9)] skill. Now that it`s gotten pretty high, I can easily get into that place that took me hours before. The perfect darkness. It makes the pain feel more dull, and brings me away from the horror and darkness outside.
The only trouble is every time I reach this state, this thing pops up. And, no, I checked, and it`s still the same thing. Basically, it`s useless. That aside&
I think I know what my best strategy is, now that I understand how this works.
Gently, I place a hand on her. I can`t really remember her name anymore, and all I`ve got left is her upper torso. Her pelvis fell off a while back, but by holding her in my left hand and my sword in my right and keeping Battle Focus active, I can dodge, parry and block arrows almost perfectly now. That`s the only reason why I think my new strategy will work.
I will need to slowly walk in a gradually smaller spiral around the hill, several times over, until I finally get close enough to hopefully reach the eye of the storm.
To boot, I`ll need to do this clockwise. The arrows move counter-clockwise, but as I`ve discovered, it`s a whole lot easier to block arrows if they`re coming from the front. For the past few days, I`ve basically been walking backwards. Sure, she`s pretty battered by now, but I think she can last.
It`s all just a matter of will.
Meditation Lv.10> Regeneration Meditation Lv.1> Oho? The meditation skill can evolve? It doesn`t sound too bad, either. <[Regeneration Meditation (Lv.1)] Evolved version of [Meditation]. Recovery skills are enhanced as long as the skill is active. Greater mental clarity is achieved.> Is this what I think it is? The so-adored battle meditation, that heals your wounds quicker? Well, well, well! Looks like I may actually have more than a child`s innocence`s chance in RainFurrest at surviving this! And for once, the effects of the skill actually feel somewhat drastic, with the half-a-dozen or so holes in my abdomen and legs and arms quickly healing. Well, maybe not quickly, but I can feel that it will only take around half an hour as opposed to several hours. Is this how my legend as the unkillable player begins? &But maybe not under my current username. If I die, do I get to choose a new username in the afterlife, or do I need to pay cash for a name change? Hm. On that note, how`s the community doing so far? <21:21:21 Day 12> 19:02:39:39> I`ve been in here for almost two weeks, huh& Somehow, it feels like it`s been both more and less. Anyhow&This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. I poke the Community tab. Normal Lobby: 52/187 Hard Lobby: 3/27 Hell Lobby: 0/1> A lot of people have started to die now, huh? Around 13 in the Hard, almost 100 in the Normal, and a couple in the Easy. I guess the only way to know how this happened is once the lobbies open once I clear this stage. There`s a fair chance that some of the others have already beaten this floor, but I don`t know if the next floor opens instantly or only with the next attempt. I really don`t know. Either way, dying isn`t reserved for the Hell difficulty alone. Anyhow, my wounds feel pretty much healed, so it`s about time that I get moving. There are 19 days until the next attempt, and I don`t want to find out what happens if I haven`t beaten this stage by then. I get to my feet. Picking her up, I slide my hand into a hole I made around her spine to make for a sort of grip. She really does look like an urchin now, but better her than me. And so, I set out again. I had only hypothesised it, but my theory was proven true. As I slowly, slowly, inch by inch made my way closer to the hill by circling around it, the winds did indeed get stronger. After some time, I was unable to physically move forward because of how strong the winds were. But once my Wind Tolerance—a skill I had assumed useless—reached level 10 and evolved into Wind Resistance, I was actually able to continue. Somehow, it made me more unshakable as I made my way forward. My stats were the same as when I began, but with the skills I had accrued, I was able to defend myself against the winds with some amount of skill. And it was going just fine, until one day, she poofed. I don`t know what did it or how or why, but exactly two weeks after she had died, her torso just up and poofed. I was so surprised by it that I got a couple of arrows in my abdomen, but by this point the arrows move so fast that they just burst straight through you rather than get stuck. In shock, I threw myself into the shade of a tree, deliriously staring at where she`d disappeared. And there, like a mob in a game, laid a few item drops. Two pieces of jerky and a bottle of water. I blinked at it like an insane person. I no longer had a shield. But, deep inside, a little question slyly chiselled its way into my brain. Do I really need a shield? After an hour of Recovery Meditation, the holes from the arrows were gone. My skills were high enough to dodge and parry the arrows as needed. Did I really, actually, need a shield? And, really& If the arrows hit the shield and not me, then I couldn`t get skill experience from them. A grin rose to my lips. That`s right. The more you get hurt, the stronger you become. Boldly, like a lion facing an armed hunter, I went out into the fray. Jumping, leaping, dodging, I held one sword in each hand, deftly parrying the arrows before they even got close to my supple flesh. And even when I get hit, thanks to my many skills, I`m able to keep going regardless. I think, by now, I`m mainly fueled by adrenaline and not much else. Any time I settle down without meditating, the pain seeps in and I have a strange, illogical need to get hurt again to get another fix, to keep the pain at bay. I have no idea how my brain is producing this much adrenaline but I am certainly not complaining. And so, slowly, I make my way closer to the hill, inch by inch, foot by foot. I am now so close that the hill looms over me. But unlike my initial hypothesis so long ago, getting closer to the hill does not grant me any form of rest. The arrows now move so fast that even with all of my skills, I can`t see them. I just can`t. The wind is also horrible and occasionally takes me off my feet despite my resistances. I`ve been in almost the exact same spot for three days now. My only movement has been to jump out from behind the tree, get shot with arrows, and jump back in to pull them out one by one before meditating to heal it again. In and out, in and out, in and out. My Lesser Auto-Regeneration evolved into [Auto-Regeneration (Lv.1)], losing the Lesser prefix. My Regeneration Meditation has reached level 5. By stabbing myself with an arrow and then comparing how fast it regenerates with or without the Regeneration Meditation, I can conclude that it currently grants a +50% healing rate, which is insane. I can also use it in conjunction with [Hypnagogia (Lv.4)] to enter a half-waking half-sleeping state where I can get some sort of rest without actually going to sleep fully. The problem isn`t this place. If I could, I would almost have liked to stay here for a few weeks until my Battle Focus and Enhanced Vision and the others were high enough to let me both see and dodge the arrows, but at the moment, the problem isn`t with ability and growth so to speak, but rather with time. <05:10:05 Day 27> 3:19:50:55> In a little less than 4 days, the next attempt will begin. I need to beat this floor within that time. I have no choice. I just don`t have enough time left to try to get strong enough to beat this properly. I need to brute force this. Looking to the sky, I can see how close the eclipse is, and the hill just below it. If I were to run straight at it, I could reach it within only a few hours, I think. The problem is that by the time I get there, I`ll be as prickly as a porcupine. But-, but I can survive that, right? Sure, I mean, she didn`t survive it, and neither did those two, but& But I can. They didn`t have any skills. They weren`t quick enough to understand the situation. They couldn`t take it. But I could. I can. I can do it, if I just push myself to the highest limits. Isn`t that how your skills get better anyways? I just need to go for it. Any damage I take can be healed easily. Piercing Resistance Lv.2 is nothing to laugh at! Yeah. Yeah. I can do it. I just need to set out. Silently, drawing myself up, I get to my feet. I just need to run straight for it. No pauses, no healing unless I`m really about to die. I set my eyes on the hill. My body tenses. A grin finds its way onto my lips. And off& I& Go!