Kettle began its twirling dance behind me. If my party couldn’t be counted on to attack, then we had to do what we could to support KTK and Akari through healing. Although that said, it wasn’t as though my entire party was useless on the attacking front.
“Chirp chiiirp!”
Rick was picking up the rest of my party’s slack with some fierce attacks. He was honestly in his element in a small arena like this. He was hopping all over the place—even jumping off the boss wall at times—as he threw nuts and fruits like crazy. He threw some valuable ones, but I couldn’t do anything about that at the moment. And although he was taking some damage, he was able to heal himself.
While Rick transformed himself into a mobile artillery unit, Akari was unleashing an even more intense barrage of attacks. With her red pigtails fluttering in the wind, she struck the Curse Man with her sword over and over again. She used a defensive skill to put up a barrier around herself so she could focus on attacking while also reducing the amount of damage she sustained. If she couldn’t dodge the boss’s beams, then she wouldn’t. It was a very offense-oriented strategy.
I wasn’t expecting such a berserker way of fighting from Akari. Or maybe she was just confident in my ability to heal her? If so, then I had to do everything I could to keep up the healing!
“Drimo, Eine, take care of defense!”
“Squeak squeak!”
“Tra-la!”
You don’t have to salute me in the middle of battle! Just do it!
I used items to heal Akari, even if it meant getting hit with several of the boss’s attacks. I saw Akari glance my way and give me a thumbs-up. Great. We should be able to keep things up this way.
Actually, I was starting to doubt that my monsters and I were even needed. As a top player, Akari was certainly skilled, but KTK was on a whole other level. She dodged every one of the Curse Man’s ray beam attacks with the same agility as Rick, attacking the boss every time she passed close by it.
I had witnessed her attack style during the Cerberus Lion battle, but this was my first time getting a good view of it up close. All I could do was stand there with my mouth open. That was how mind-blowing her moves were. The only thing an amateur like me could even register was that she was moving superfast.
I suddenly understood why people might suspect her of cheating or using an illegal modding tool. Not that there were any cheating tools that could be brought into a VRMMO. Her moves were purely the work of a skilled player.
“Wh-Whoa...”
“Squeak...”
“Tra-la...”
Even Drimo and Eine were staring at her with open mouths. KTK left even the AI speechless...
Despite this enemy being a stronger version of the Shadow Man, the Curse Man’s HP was dropping at a staggering rate.
“Why can’t I hit you?! Curse it aaalll!”
KTK was dodging so well that she even made the boss complain. That line had been straight up directed at her. That’s KTK for you! She’s the best of the best! Yup, there was no way I could compete with her. The ambition I’d had when I first started playing LJO had been nothing but a pipe dream.
That said, we were fighting a boss. The battle would not be won that easily.
“Gaaaaah!”
Once it was down to fifty percent health, the Curse Man unleashed a scream that inflicted us with paralysis. And that wasn’t all—the shadow creature’s body swelled before forcefully spewing out a black mist. The mist engulfed the entire field, making it impossible to avoid. Even KTK took a lot of damage from it. It was a combo move that showed just how desperate the boss was to land a hit on her.
But KTK wasn’t going to go down without a fight. In fact, it didn’t even seem like this was a big deal at all for her. She used some sort of special skill to heal herself back to full health plus cure herself of paralysis and poison.
“That caught me a bit off guard,” she said.
Okay, maybe it did throw her off a little bit. She wiped the sweat from her brow, her face expressionless. But that was all she needed to do before she began laying waste to the boss once again. In fact, I was pretty sure she was moving even faster now. She must have boosted her agility with a buff.
After three minutes, when the Curse Man was brought down to ten percent HP, it underwent another change.
“Why can’t I hit you?!”
“It got smaller.”
The dark shadow that made up the Curse Man’s body began to shrink down to a more humanoid size, like the Shadow Man. It was switching from indiscriminate attacking to speedy, fencer-like moves. Under normal circumstances, the boss’s speed alone would be enough to throw us into confusion and put us in a dangerous position.
But to KTK, this boss was simply a slower, weaker enemy who couldn’t even land a hit on her. The Curse Man chased KTK around, swinging its arms to hit her. I almost felt sorry for it. With the speed the boss possessed, it would have wiped out my monsters and I had we been fighting it alone.
Since the Curse Man was focused solely on KTK, it left itself wide open to Akari. She finished the boss off with a single blow from behind, and it broke into polygons and disappeared. Guess that wasn’t so hard after all.
“You’ve defeated the demon’s minion! That was phenomenal!”
The tiger hybrid, whose presence had been barely felt in the second half of the battle, congratulated us on our victory. He was talking to me, the one who triggered this event, but he really should have been praising KTK and Akari. I didn’t do anything!
I had a feeling that the tiger NPC was meant to jump in to help during the final, ultra-speedy stage of the boss, which would give a regular party too much trouble.
“Oh! Our idol has returned!”
“Your idol?”
In the center of the clearing, where the Curse Man had first been standing, was a stone statue that hadn’t been there during the battle. It looked like an animal-human hybrid, but even upon closer look, I couldn’t tell what animal it was supposed to be. It had doglike ears and deer antlers protruding from the front of its head. It also had what looked like sheep horns on the sides of its head, and a tail like a tiger. It had four eyes, with two facing forward like a carnivore and two on either side like a herbivore. It was like a conglomeration of various beast features.
By defeating the Curse Man, we succeeded in having the idol that it had stolen returned to the village.
“This is a statue of the Beast Deity, the guardian deity of our village.”
“Huh? There’s a beast deity?”
“First time I’ve heard of it,” KTK said.
“I didn’t know about it either,” Akari followed.
If neither KTK nor Akari knew about this, did that mean this was brand-new information?
“Those who have earned our trust are eligible to undergo the Beast Deity’s trial. And those who successfully complete the trial can receive the beast-hybrid factor.”
“Factor?”
“Yes. Those who are not beast hybrids can be reborn as such, and those who are already beast hybrids can take on the characteristics of a different animal.”
Huh? We can be reborn? Players can change races here! It was standard in games that let you choose from various races to provide a system that allowed you to change your race. It was expected that LJO would have a similar system, but it still hadn’t been discovered. But apparently, it could be unlocked here in this village.
KTK was hard to read, but I could tell Akari was excited. This was a crucial finding, regardless of whether we were actually going to use it on ourselves or not.
“What does the trial entail? Killing the enemy we just defeated wasn’t the trial, was it?” Akari asked.
“Correct. I thank you for defeating the demon’s underling, but that has nothing to do with the deity’s trial. Also, I have no way to know what the trial will entail. It changes based on the person who undertakes it. However, the challenger’s unique specialties are often taken into account,” the tiger man explained.
In summary, if you were a fighter-type class or possessed a lot of fighting skills, you’d probably be given a trial to slay a certain number of monsters, and if you were a crafter, you’d probably be given a trial to create something.
“Do we have to be reborn if we complete the trial?” I asked.
“No, it’s not compulsory. If you don’t wish for the beast factor, you will be given a means to strengthen yourself as you are.”
Did that mean we would receive bonus points? In that case, it’d be a good idea to accept the trial.
“What happens if we fail?” Akari asked.
“There is no way to fail. The deity will always be waiting for you.”
So there was no penalty for accepting and not finishing it.
“Can we choose what type of factor we receive?” I asked.
“Yes, but you may also leave it up to the will of the deity.”
“Huh? Th-Then it can be randomized? D-Does that mean I could become a rare race?”
“No, that won’t happen. The god looks at the actions the individual has taken so far and bestows the most fitting factor for them.”
Dang, it would have been awesome if there were a rare species that you could only get by choosing to be assigned one randomly. Disappointingly enough, that wasn’t the case.
“If you have the determination to undertake the trial, you may touch the idol.”
“O-Okay.”
I followed what the tiger man said and touched the statue of the Beast Deity.
“Do you wish to take on a trial?”
“Yes.”
“Very well. Here is your trial.”
Beast Deity Trial
Requirement: Offer three monster materials with a rarity of 6 or higher.
Reward: Beast factor, or five bonus points.
Time Limit: None.
“Huh? Hey, this is a combat quest!”
“Well, Yuto, you are a Tamer,” Akari pointed out.
“Technically, you’re a fighter class,” KTK said in agreement.
Oh yeah, that’s true! I am a fighter, even if just barely!
“Silver-Haired? Will you choose to be reborn? As a cat human, maybe?” KTK asked.
“Nah, I don’t think so.”
“I don’t plan on doing it either, but those five bonus points sound pretty nice,” Akari said.