Chapter 190

“” …Steph was absolutely dumbfounded by the truth of the matter—but!! “…While the enemy…throws his rocks…we need you to…get ours off…” “Oh, Steph! How bold! How courageous of you! You are a true hero!!” “That sounds absolutely barbaric!! And watch your language, Shiro! You’re only twelve years old!!” Shiro and Sora’s approach was relentless, causing Steph to scream at the two of them. But Sora didn’t have time for it—he continued!! “I was thinking this would happen after we were in a safe spot, you know, during a break—like before or after a boss—but we don’t have that leisure anymore!! We have to do it here and now!! You follow?!” “…I wish I didn’t, but—wait, you’re not asking me to…?” That Dwarf party long ago did that thing boys and girls do and…got back their HP and MP, I guess? And Sora wants me to do that with him in the middle of a fight? Do it here and now…? Do it…? Do what exactly? By it, do you mean…it—? “Um, wait…! So when Til said you were in my hands, she meant literally—?” As much as she wanted to hightail it out of the situation, there was nowhere for the rosy-red-cheeked Steph to run inside the bag. She couldn’t even get dressed. They were so close, the siblings could probably feel her heartbeat through her bare skin. Steph turned to Sora, who was practically breathing onto her face, and asked: “This is…all a big joke, right? I mean—” “This is as serious as a heart attack, Steph—we’ve got no time to lose.” Steph knew a joking Sora when she saw it, and this wasn’t the case. He looked back at her with utmost intensity. Her heart was beating like an alarm; she could barely think straight— I…I…I can’t!! There are stages in a relationship that we need to go through before we get to this point… At…at least give me some time to process all this!! A-and what are we going to do about Shiro?! She’s right there!! …………, ……Hold on… Didn’t Shiro say she was okay with it…? I mean, she couldn’t participate even if she wanted to…given her age— No. Calm yourself, Stephanie Dola!! Using this emergency as an excuse would be dishonest to Shiro!! E-especially considering that she would be watching… I wish it were at least just me and Sora… Her thoughts were running a mile a minute. Though confused, she was subconsciously convincing herself to accept this turn of events. Also likely subconsciously…she was staring at Sora’s lips as his face approached with utmost seriousness. Steph was quivering, but she could accept her fate. She closed her eyes and waited. Sora, with the intensity of a thousand burning suns, looked straight at her…and said: “We need you to hurry and spoil us rotten by patting our heads and complimenting us and stuff!!” ……, , Hmmm? “……Could you repeat that, please…? Surely, that’s not what you just said?” “Listen to me, Steph! We need you to compliment us!! Pat us on the heads, maybe rub our bellies!!! Do whatever you can to make us feel better and recover MP, while keeping it PG!! Why, what the hell were you thinkin’?!” Give me back that fleeting feeling of innocence… Also, I’d rather die than ever admit that this was somewhat of a letdown!! Her nerves went from boiling hot to freezing cold, but now Steph was calm and ready. Perhaps due to the intense change in mental temperature, she managed to push past the headache to eke out her next words. “Absolutely not. Actually—now I’m confused why you’re being so tame in a situation like this!” she screamed, tears forming in her eyes unbeknownst to her. This time, the answer she wanted came from outside the bag. It was Til—still fighting the Rock Golem, she cried out: “I said you two should just do the deed, I did!! But King Sora insisted on keeping it PG!! He knows it will work because of how much MP he got back the first day, he does!! You’re the only one who can do this, Lady Steph!! Both King Sora and I know it, we do!!” Or would you rather go all the way? Til didn’t need to say this last part for Steph to understand, which had Steph reeling. Sora buried himself in her lap, and Shiro in her bosom— “C’mon! Our friends are fighting for their lives out there! You need to mother it up!!” “…Steph…hurry… You gotta be…an efficient mommy…” Steph finally understood what she had to do. Ohhh? I see what’s going on here. Now I know why they refused to tell me about the secret plan. It’s because they knew I would never agree to this!! “You two sadists are using the situation against me to make me dote on you!! Would forced doting actually have any effect?! Would it really help your mental health?!” Forcing someone to spoil you rotten… Isn’t a part of being spoiled the fact that someone else does it for you…? “Steph, what aren’t you getting about this? You’re not going to spoil us—we’re letting you spoil us!!” “How is that any different?!” “…It’s completely…different… We’re the ones…with power…here…!” “We’re making you pat our heads like a good little boy and girl—of our own volition!!” “…We’re making…the decision…and that’s what counts!” “I’ll ask this one more time… Is that really going to do anything for your mental health?!” “You bet it will! All it takes for the body to produce oxytocin is a single touch!! It doesn’t matter what we think about it!! And if you make it sexy—while keeping it PG, of course—that’ll trigger a lot of other hormones in me!! We’ll definitely recover our MP!!” “…Steph…don’t make us…repeat ourselves… Hurry…” Urging Steph to get a move on, Shiro shifted her eyes—outside… At their friends, who were fighting outside the bag. Steph scratched her head furiously before steeling her nerves—she was ready. She put her hands on both of the siblings’ heads and began rubbing them, just as she’d been asked to. “Uh…there, there, you two— I’m, uh, not quite sure in what way, per se, but…you’re both such good children… Just don’t ask for specifics, okay? My good little girl and boy…?” Steph didn’t really know what she should do to spoil them. Try as she might, she didn’t have any words of praise for the two. So she focused more on rubbing their heads. “…Mommy…how…can I make my boobs…as big as yours?” “Oooh…Mommy…I’m so tired…” “Stop calling me Mommy!! I—I won’t do this if you’re going to tease me!!” Hearing Sora’s and Shiro’s words—Sora’s in particular—gave Steph goose bumps, causing her to yell at the two. “We’re spoiling ourselves with you the best we can!! You’d better take this seriously, Steph!! Compliment us more, FFS!!” “…And be…more specific… You need…to pretend to be…our mommy…” “I can’t do this!!!” Despite having steeled her nerves only moments earlier, she fell apart quite easily. Steph motioned to throw in the towel—when… “Little Dora? Are you dissatisfied even though Master chose you over me—?” “Proposal: Still possible to switch roles. Certainty: This unit can meet Master’s and Little Sister’s needs.” “Stuch! I dunno what the hell’s going on in there, but you gotta do it, please!!” “If you guys really can’t figure this out—then we’ll hafta retreat, we will!!” It wasn’t just Sora and Shiro who were pleading to her, but those fighting outside. Steph could hear in their voices that Izuna and Til were also struggling to keep up with the enemy. “” Inside the cramped inventory bag, Steph looked up and quietly closed her eyes… We’re in a battle to save the world. It’s my duty to protect everyone. To defeat the Devil. Winning this game will ultimately save the world… I need to protect everyone. I can protect them—my friends fighting outside the bag, too, and the world! And all those who wish to live in it! “…Oh, children… Come here, you two sillies…” And thus, with the weight of the world on her shoulders, Steph took on her role in the most natural of ways. Her tone was compassionate beyond compare. She pulled Sora and Shiro in close, and they both looked up at her, wide-eyed in confusion—and then. Steph let go of her pride and dignity to oblige them in a way that they wished her to—nay, in a way that went far beyond their wildest dreams. She poured into them all the love she had to offer… With that, Steph awakened to her new role: the party’s main healer. No—the siblings bore witness to the sudden emergence of this world’s Mother Teresa…… They were in the bag for all of thirty minutes… “Report: This unit acquired the skill Analyze. Praise me, Master?” “Master…I apologize for interrupting you during your time of rest, and having yet to unlock a skill of my own makes it even more difficult for me to say this…but I believe I am approaching my limit in terms of saving enough MP to warp us back…” “King Sora, Queen Shiro!! This is getting pretty tough, it is!! Do you still need more time…?” “I-I’m not finished yet, please…!” The room didn’t even look the same after the many rocks the golem had thrown, but the team managed to dodge the nonstop barrage—no. Though the four members’ physical abilities far surpassed that of the Immanities’, dodging all the attacks proved to be impossible. This, combined with the use of newly unlocked skills, left the active members with nearing critical levels of HP and MP. Signs of weakness could be heard in their voices as they called for help. Their calls, however, didn’t go unanswered. Though it wasn’t quite the answer they were expecting: “Everyone except me and Shiro, into the bag.” Huh? The members of the party who got sucked into the bag were equally confused. The moment Sora emerged, he unleashed a Flashbang Shot, whiting out the room. In the bag itself: “It’s r-really cramped in here! I thought it was bad with three people, but five is going overboard!!” “L-Lady Steph…your two giant— They’re killing me, they are… I can’t…breathe…” “Ow?! Who the hell stepped on my tail, please?!” The rest of the party was stuck trying to figure out how to fit themselves in the tight space, but their bickering turned to utter shock when the bright light quelled. Their shock was not at the Rock Golem lying facedown on the ground, but toward their two friends who fought it—or what was above their heads. “Lady Steph, what did you do to them to get them back that much MP?!” They had been in the bag for only thirty minutes… Though it was by no means a short amount of time for the four members fighting the Rock Golem on the outside, it was an unimaginably short amount of time to recover the amount of MP the siblings had. Til and the rest of the party stared at Steph, who they were pressed up against—but. “I will never tell you! And I’m never doing it again!!” Red in the face, Steph shook her head and refused to answer. But above her embarrassed face were her own HP and MP bars, which had also regenerated. Not only that, but even her skin condition seemed to improve, for whatever reason…leaving the party with one question. Whatever they did, it was PG. So what exactly did Sora, Shiro, and Steph do to get this much MP back? Why is she acting like this? What did they do in this bag…? It wasn’t just Til; Jibril and Emir-Eins stared questioningly at Steph. But she shook her head once more. “Enough about that! Are we really going to let those two fight the boss alone?!” “!!” The party remembered the severity of the situation they were in, albeit belatedly. They looked outside the bag—Sora’s Flashbang Shot didn’t seem to last as long against the boss. The two Immanities were far too weak to face off against the Rock Golem, which was already starting to get back up. The girls in the bag were just about to cry out in horror, when: “C’mon, guys…we can’t let you have all the fun.” “…Now…it’s our…turn… ” Only thirty minutes ago, the siblings were depressed and emaciated. But it was as if none of that had ever happened. The Rock Golem was several times larger than the two, but it didn’t matter. They were their usual selves again—savage, fierce grins and all. Immanity’s most powerful gamers—Blank. “You said it yourselves: This guy’s got nothing on me and Shiro when we have all our MP.” “…It’s time…to lock down…the boss…and kick his ass.” Til and Izuna were right about what they said about us. So now it’s time to put on a show! With a low bellow—the Rock Golem swung its mighty arms, flinging rocks violently through the air. Mere humans such as Sora and Shiro couldn’t possibly dodge this attack. It should’ve thrown the two into despair. But it didn’t. The siblings calmly reached for their left wrists, each using the buttons on the menus under their status bars. They held up their hope-based weapons—and Shiro was the first to speak: “…Ricochet Shot… Hollow-Point Shot…” Undodgeable rocks? Yeah, okay. But who says you have to dodge ’em? The Rock Golem had thrown one of its massive hails of stones toward the siblings with its right arm—but. Not a single one found its target; neither Sora nor Shiro took even a single step. Then came the left arm’s attack, which had the same result. The Rock Golem spoke in the Demonia tongue—probably something to the effect of “How can this be?” Shiro’s two skills… The first, Ricochet Shot, made her bullets bounce from target to target. The second, Hollow-Point Shot, allowed her to clear this game’s biggest hurdle: It added a knockback effect to her bullets. The Rock Golem had no way of knowing that these two skills stacked. Nor did it realize that Shiro didn’t need a skill to land eight bullets from her twin Machine Pistols. The magical bullets struck the stones in midair, sending them off course and away from the siblings. Some of the bullets even found their way to the Rock Golem’s left arm, preventing its next attack with the knockback effect… The Rock Golem definitely didn’t know any of this. And even if it did, it would neither understand nor accept the power of these incredible bullets. Sora knew what Shiro was capable of, and he didn’t bat an eye when the Rock Golem tried to continue attacking out of confusion. He knew that the result would be the same this time, too. Therefore, without fear, or much emotion at all, he got down low and aimed his gun’s massive barrel—and thought. About his own weapon, his own hope…and what that should look like: Yeah… This game turns our hope into weapons. I thought each of our weapons looked and functioned way differently by nature, but that ain’t the case. The rules are the rules—our weapons are just the shape of our hope. Firing my weapon will deal a certain amount of damage… It all depends on how much damage you believe you’ll deal—how much MP you use! This was why Emir-Eins used up all her MP in one OP attack. The same probably goes for Jibril—so. If that’s the case… How much damage will I actually do…? Sure, my weapon may be weak… It makes sense, ’cause I’m weak!! I’m not strong like Emir-Eins or Izuna or Til, that’s for sure!! And I’m not a genius like Shiro, either! I’m just an ordinary, weak dude!! So why the hell was I given a high-caliber Anti-Matter Rifle?! The strength of my weapon probably lies in the bullet I use— —the payload of its bullets is where my damage hides!!! “Projectile Shot!!” Clunk! Feeling the weight of his gun shift as the bullet in his chamber changed—Sora pulled the trigger! It left his barrel with a beam of light, only to split into multiple pieces before hitting its target. These pieces were explosives that destroyed the outer shell that protected the Rock Golem. The skill was a debuff that lowered the target’s defense!! With this debuff active, Shiro’s bullets began dealing their original damage. That said, this wasn’t over yet. In fact, the siblings were just getting started! With a fierce grin, Sora shouted again before pulling the trigger!! “There’s more where that came from! Flashbang Shot!! And how about this?! Napalm Shot!! Venom Shot!!” The same loud flash from before stunned the enemy and threw it off-balance, knocking the golem to the floor. This was followed by a bullet that left its target engulfed in flames, then one that covered it in toxic venom. These were DoT—damage-over-time—effects that slowly applied damage. “And for the finisher!! Detonation Shot! Eat this!!” Sora’s fifth shot used the most MP yet—except it fired a tube that attached to the Rock Golem, instead of dealing damage. Thus, the enemy was on the ground, unable to do anything. Its shell had been ripped off, its defenses were lowered, and it was on fire and covered in poison. All the poor golem could do was flail around while it tried to regain its bearings, when: “Heh, ha-ha—HAAA-HA-HA-HA!! That’s right! Have I ever tried to fight a battle head-on?! Why did we think I could use a weapon based on pure brawn?! I’m Sora, the pathetic nineteen-year-old virgin!!” That’s right—my weapon. The shape of my hope. My true nature!! Is to be a debuffer! To incapacitate my enemies by getting in their way!! “First, we stopped you in your tracks! Then, we defanged you!! Now that you can’t move, we’re beating you while you’re down!! And the best way to end these things is to make you end them yourself!!!” “…Brother…you’re so, cheap…! You’re…the coolest… ” Sora was shouting at the top of his lungs—it was clear he was enjoying himself. And just as the siblings said, they continued to pelt the immobilized giant with bullets. “Not so tough now, eh?! Where’d Mr. Big Scary Rock Guy go?! Go on, get up! We’ll just hit you with another Flashbang Shot and Hollow-Point Shots when you do! Ah-ha-ha-haaa!!” “…Heh…heh-heh… You’re just…another trash mob… Look at you…on the ground… How’s it…feel…to be a…trash mob…? We love…to see it. ” Incessant gunfire followed. The Rock Golem that Til and Izuna could barely damage saw its HP get whittled down to almost nothing— “Wh-whoa… Sora and Shiro are gonna freakin’ do it, please!!” “Whew! I knew it, I did! I knew this guy would be a cinch for those two!!”