Chapter 127

“You sayin’ we should go easy on her?” “I think the Deputy Guildmaster is goin’ senile!” “What’s the point of such an easy test?” As four members of the group disparaged Cayna, it was the slim man with the wand who spoke harshly. “Careful, folks. Rumors about that girl occasionally go around the pubs. They say she walked on water. Ordinary methods may not work.” This silenced the others’ raucous laughter, and their easygoing air immediately shifted into battle mode. Each readied his weapon and scowled at Cayna. Sheesh, it would’ve been easier if they underestimated me. “You would have preferred a group of alpha males?” Cayna had been thinking she could easily take the men down if only they’d continued to underestimate her. This was completely beyond her expectations, and she let out a sigh. After all, she never thought walking on water would’ve made her famous. Cayna had been expecting a bunch of lowlifes based on what she’d heard so far, but their degree of self-control was surprising. “What, this kid?” one asked. “Doesn’t look it to me…” Despite their skepticism, however, only Mohawk’s narrowed eyes popped open as he quickly retreated. He must have used Search as well only to be stunned when he couldn’t find anything. By this point, the one other person who could peruse Cayna’s stats was her equal, Opus. Only her name and kingdom allegiance were visible at present, but few players would realize she was the Silver Ring Witch without being told so. It was pretty rich for someone around level 100 to try analyzing Cayna. “Hey, what’s the matter?” “This girl is trouble! She’s bad news, Boss!” the terrified Mohawk warned. It wasn’t like he knew her true identity, but there was no hiding his panic. “Prepare for the worst! If we can’t pass this preliminary round, we can kiss those fun days good-bye,” their leader commanded. “““R-right!””” Roused by the quiet man’s rebuke, each member brandished his weapon of choice. Anyone caught in the chaos of previous tournaments would’ve liked to give these guys a piece of their mind. If Cayna went easy on Viper’s Belly and let them pass the preliminaries, she couldn’t complete her guild request. On the other hand, she’d be changing more than the terrain if she got careless and cast a lethal spell. It’d be inexcusable to torment them beyond even a broken heart. She took out a twisted weapon from her Item Box. It was a sword with a fanged mouth across its blade. This was a Hungry Like the Wolf Sword just like the one Luvrogue wielded. The moment she unsheathed it, the jaws clanked open and shut with an unsettling “Geh-geh-geh-geh-geh!” The incomprehensible Hungry Like the Wolf Sword was an event reward that fell into periodic silence and had the unique ability to devour any weapon that tried to challenge it. As a side note, the rare, moaning, laughing sword was number two on the list of most repulsive weapons. Number one was another noisy item known for obliterating enemy weapons—the Shut Yer Yap Shield. The moment Cayna drew the Hungry Like the Wolf Sword, Mohawk turned white as a sheet. “Damn it! This is what’s wrong with the Black Kingdom!” Huh? “Oh-ho. I see there is kingdom prejudice here, too.” Cayna was thoroughly confused, but Kee appeared to be enjoying himself. It felt like he was smirking somehow. She didn’t entirely get it, but back in the game, the Black Kingdom was everyone’s most loathed opponent during Battle Events. According to average players, it was inundated with untouchable Limit Breakers and weirdo guilds. Aside from the small yet powerful all-Limit Breaker Cream Cheese guild, there was the Fuma Ninja Army guild, who enjoyed playing tricks on players and NPCs alike. The Pink Pineapple guild was a band of perverts (including a single, cross-dressing, middle-aged man who ran an in-game bar) known for occasionally abducting handsome male players. Other guilds had a longstanding reputation of accurately streaming the war situation in each nation while simultaneously filling smaller related events with seat warmers just to disrupt the whole scenario. There were plenty of other kooky characters, but at any rate, it was an assembly of guilds who all had a quirk or two. Every nation had the same issue at first, but these exiled outcasts gradually converged in the Black Kingdom. The Black Kingdom wasn’t entirely to blame, since everyone else resorted to expulsion in an effort to preserve their own dignity. Opus was the commander of the misfits, and since the neighboring White and Purple Kingdoms suffered terribly after every Battle Event, this led most players to believe the Black Kingdom was a menace. Mohawk must have been convinced of this as well. Together with a string of curses, he insisted they avoid fighting. “Seriously, this girl is trouble. Let’s back down.” “What kind of fool are you? Our entire year of preparation will come to nothing if we do that.” “It’s better than dying!” “She’s just one opponent. Even a chance to make the first move would not save her. Prepare for battle. Is that understood?” “Sniff. Y-yes…” Did the mousey guy have something on Mohawk? Cayna got the impression this player was being bossed around by your average joe. Although Cayna could hear her opponents, she was too preoccupied with figuring out how to fight without killing anyone. Kee recorded every word but planned to delete the conversation unless Cayna asked to review it. It was one-on-five, and there were several meters between the two parties. Across the way, the soldiers paused their training and looked eager to watch the preliminary match. “Listen up. If you lose, you’re disqualified. Killing is also grounds for disqualification. That means you, Viper’s Belly! Don’t get crazy!” “It’ll be fine, Ref. She’s a girl, after all, and I’m always a proper gentleman. Especially in bed,” Slim replied. His lustful gaze didn’t sway Cayna in the least. She had a tough skin, thanks to the nonstop wave of racy comments from guild members like Ebelope. Even her gaze remained steady. Slim eyed her dubiously. “Begin!” At the Deputy Guildmaster’s signal, the preliminary match commenced. Meanwhile, a pleasant, familiar voice cried, “Do your best, Mother!” Cayna instinctively looked back at the main road. Mai-Mai was waving wildly and threw her a wink. “…What’s she doing here?” Cayna mumbled with surprise—and clearly leaving herself wide open. The battle began with a great ball of fire. “Fireball! Ha-ha-ha-ha! You’ll regret underestimating us!” Slim’s veneer of chivalry fell as he sneered. The fireball flew straight at Cayna and swallowed her up in a violent explosion. Despite her mother disappearing into a ball of flame, Mai-Mai remained calm and continued observing with a cheerful smile. As a shock wave rattled the area, the kobold threw two knives to deal the finishing blow. “Tch, my weapon didn’t even get to see any action,” Patchy grumbled as he stifled a yawn. “That didn’t do nothin’!” Mohawk frantically yelled. He once again readied his large sword. Cayna appeared from the smoke unharmed and tossed the two knives she’d been twirling in her right hand behind her. “That it?” She asked with a tilt of the head and a confident smile. “Shaaa!” Patchy swung his enormous blade down on her, and Cayna countered it with the Hungry Like the Wolf Sword in her left hand. “You’re wide open!” Baldy materialized from the shadows of Patchy and thrust his blade toward Cayna’s stomach. However, an invisible wall several centimeters in front of her blocked the pointed tip. “Wha?!” “That’s impossible.” Cayna held her right palm in front of Baldy. He looked up at her between those fingers, and his eyes bulged. Magic Skill: Gluttony Gurgle “Sleep.” A black mist poured from her palm and enveloped Baldy. It quickly dissipated but left him collapsed on the ground. “““?!””” Three fighters gulped nervously at the sight. “He’s just passed out!” Mohawk shouted. Patchy soon returned to his senses and realized his opponent’s sword was making a bizarre noise. Munch, munch, crunch, crunch. Cayna’s blade was gnawing on his own giant sword, and cracks formed as it broke into tiny pieces. His enemy’s weapon seemed determined to leave nothing behind. It was more like a gluttonous monster than anything else. Patchy rushed to put distance between them. A quarter of his weapon was already gone, so it wouldn’t do him much good. “What the hell?!” He couldn’t keep up with the madness. Whether it be her words or movements, Patchy wanted Mohawk to explain everything. However, even the player didn’t have all the details. Expressionless, Cayna twirled Wolf Sword in her hand and pointed its tip at the kobold. “You tried to shoot poison and paralysis into the air earlier, but that won’t work on me.” Cayna was surrounded by Status Windows visible only to her. These monitored the local environment, and she’d already received multiple notifications: Poison Nullification activated and Paralysis Nullification activated. The rattled kobold hastily flailed his arms and hid a bag behind his back. His guilt was all too obvious. His comrades clicked their tongues, and the frozen kobold began sweating like a waterfall. The Deputy Guildmaster shot a fierce look but refused to halt the match until a final outcome was decided. “Damn it. How about this, then?!” Slim howled. He produced a fireball one size larger than the last one, and it came flying at Cayna to swallow her up. Magic Skill: Ice Arrow Liza “Hyah!” Cayna shot a pen-sized ice arrow directly at the fireball. Anyone except Cayna and Mai-Mai would have expected it to evaporate in a flash. However, the ice arrow pierced the fireball and transformed it into a rain of sparks. Everyone’s eyes instantly turned to dots, and the flying ice arrow broke the befuddled mage’s wand after striking it head-on. “Aghhh?!” The others turned toward Slim’s anguished cry, and their own faces contorted with misery. “You still wanna go?” Cayna asked, hands on her hips as she drove the four into a corner. If anything, she was taking every precaution not to kill them. In terms of effective magic that would knock them right out, she could only think of Gluttony Gurgle. However, she could also put them to sleep with an instrument or win by dodging enough to wear them down. Or she could give them a taste of helplessness by breaking their arms and legs one by one. …Yikes. Cayna had a feeling she was slowly turning into Opus. ““““No! It’s not over yet!”””” Mohawk took out a Hungry Like the Wolf Sword just like Cayna’s, Slim cast magic without his wand, Patchy drew a short sword from his side, and the kobold wielded multiple knives. Cayna let out a heavy sigh, not from exasperation but from resignation. She decided to cast her last resort. Summoning Magic: Emperor Slime A summoning circle two meters in diameter formed on the ground before Cayna, forcing Viper’s Belly to halt their charge and stumble in their tracks. Soon enough, a palm-sized pudding materialized from the circle. To be more precise, it was a slime that resembled a certain flower-shaped pudding and wore a crown on its head. The party looked between the pudding, Cayna, and each other, then burst into laughter. “Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! “That’s her backup?!” “Gwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! She ain’t givin’ us much credit!” “Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! What’s that little pip-squeak gonna do?!” “Fwa-ha-ha-ha-ha, I’ve got this! Just sit back and watch!” As the kobold prepared to throw his knives, the Emperor Slime’s round sesame seed-like eyes turned to Cayna. She nodded and gave a single command: “Stomachache.” The Emperor Slime immediately spewed the kobold in a golden fog, and he squeezed his eyes shut in dreaded anticipation. However, upon the realization that nothing was happening, he took a timid peek and patted himself all over. Naturally, the three Viper’s Belly members who had previously fallen silent stared dazedly before bursting into another round of laughter. That is, until they heard what sounded like thunder. The battleground that once echoed with only men’s jeers was suddenly struck by an unnatural rumbling. Meanwhile, the kobold dropped his dual throwing knives and fell to the ground clutching his stomach. “Wh-what’s wrong?!” As his comrades raced over, the kobold broke out in a sweat. His tongue lolled from his open mouth. “M-my stomach…h-hurts,” he moaned feebly. Slim, Mohawk, and Patchy gasped in realization and turned to stare at the pudding responsible. Cayna, on the other hand, issued her next order to the Emperor Slime. “Vomit.” This time, all four were struck by an extreme nausea. It wasn’t like they’d been drinking or binge eating, yet a violent urge to puke welled up from the pits of their stomachs. Only the men’s pride and stubborn refusal to look pathetic just barely kept their lunches down. “Hangover.” In that same vein, an excruciating headache struck them like an alarm bell. Their ears rang endlessly as the nucleus of each brain radiated with unbearable pain. The men fell to the ground, clasping their mouths and heads, but this did nothing to ease their torment. “You guys are more stubborn than I thought,” Cayna mumbled as she stared at the anguished Viper’s Belly. In truth, groaning was all they could manage, thanks to the excruciating pain. The Emperor Slime tried to hop up on Cayna’s left shoulder but scurried over to her right when Kuu poked out of Cayna’s hair and growled. “Come on, Kuu. Don’t be immature,” Cayna chided. “Booo.” Kuu sat and sulked on the left shoulder she’d just chased the Emperor Slime away from. “H-hey, are they going to make it?” The Deputy Guildmaster worriedly pointed to the unfortunate quintet. It was an odd question, given how much he hated them. “I just hit them with a status ailment.” “Should they really be in this much pain?” It was an agony only those who knew extreme nausea and killer hangovers could ever understand. The experience was pure hell if you didn’t have any Pain Resistance skills. “Well, I don’t see how the battle can continue,” the Deputy Guildmaster mumbled. “M-Mother, what is that summons?” Mai-Mai asked with a grimace. “It’s a level-300 Emperor Slime. They’re great at inflicting status ailments and know spells even players can’t use.” They play dirty, though, she mentally added. Back in the game, even Limit Breakers had trouble dealing with this type of monster, since Emperor Slimes lacked nullification skills and usually hung back behind an army of minions. “Maybe I oughtta toss in two more.” Mai-Mai and the Deputy Guildmaster desperately clung to Cayna as she glared at the Viper’s Belly punks whose faces had gone from pale to ghostly white. No matter how deep his hatred, the Deputy Guildmaster wasn’t so despicable that he’d pour salt on the wound of a miserable, writhing enemy. The way Cayna saw it, she just had to break their spirits until she struck down the root of the problem. “Please, Mother! I beg you to stop this tyranny!” “‘Tyranny’? What’s that supposed to mean?” “Y-you win this battle. Release them already and collect your reward at the guild! I beg of you!” “Why do I feel like the bad guy here?” She ordered the Emperor Slime to release Viper’s Belly, and their caterpillar-like squirming eased before finally coming to a complete stop. Foam poured from the putrid mouth of the first victim, the kobold with the stomachache. He was knocked out with his eyes rolled back. Aside from a slight decrease in HP, all five were in fine health upon release from their status ailments. The trauma, however, was permanent. The men sluggishly woke as Mai-Mai cast Simple Substance Recovery Dewl on each one. The moment their skeptical gazes caught sight of Cayna, the kobold and Slim yelped and hightailed it straight out of the training grounds. No one even had time to react. Needless to say, only Baldy woke up refreshed from his mid-battle nap. Mohawk and Patchy, on the other hand, fainted again. “Sigh. I’ll take it from here. Go on ahead, Cayna.” “I agree, Mother. Let’s head to the guild.” As the Deputy Guildmaster pressed a hand to his forehead and Mai-Mai pushed her from behind, Cayna returned to Felskeilo. Back at the Adventurers Guild, Cayna heard Viper’s Belly disbanded. But that’s a story for another time.