Yanagi lashed out with his sword and knocked it to the ground, then approached her.
“Sorry,” he said. “The treant changed direction, and I responded too late.”
“…R-right,” she said unsteadily.
“I know this is hard to hear, but the group is long gone. You’ll have a hard time finding your way back alone.”
“Oh, no…!”
Yanagi’s shoulders raised slightly as his expression turned sympathetic. Hearing his words made Hana’s heart race faster. If he was correct, she couldn’t leave this location on her own. She’d have to risk her life to stay with Yanagi while he fought off the treants.
Terror threatened to drown her.
Something different, something like determination, lifted Yanagi’s expression as he watched her. “Amane-san, I have a favor to ask you,” he said slowly and deliberately.
“A favor…from me?”
She hardly believed what came out of his mouth next.
“Would you mind lending me your unique skill—Stock, that is—to help get us out of here?”
Honestly, she had no idea why he was asking. Stock could only copy another person’s skill if it was LV 1. Worse, her stats would determine the power output, and she was low level. It would be difficult to make any use of the skill with limitations like that.
Wait.
How did he even know about Stock anyway? She’d hidden it.
Her hesitation must’ve shown in her body language because he became apologetic.
“I’m sorry. I used my Enhanced Intuition skill on the participants to ensure nothing went south during the first practice run. I overheard that you acquired a unique skill…and that you used Conceal to hide it. I knew you didn’t do it to cause trouble, and it was my bad for eavesdropping, so I just kept an eye on you.”
Hana didn’t like knowing he’d eavesdropped on her. Still, he’d taken her safety into account and protected her. She couldn’t blame him too much, since she was the one who wasn’t forthright about her stats in the first place. Either way, they could hash that out later. She needed to clear up something.
“You’re right about what it does, but Stock doesn’t borrow the power behind the skill it copies. I don’t think I can help you.”
“Yeah, I suspected, but you don’t need to worry about that.”
“Why not?”
“We can get into it when we’re not in danger. For now, will you copy my Bullet skill?”
“O-okay!”
If Yanagi had a plan to get around her limitations, she’d cooperate. Worry still clouded her face, but she placed a hand on him.
“Stock!” she commanded, and his skill information popped into her head.
Bullet LV 1
A skill that releases a ball of mana that contains decimating power. Power output is determined by percentage of MP spent.
“The ‘Percentage of MP spent?’” she read, cocking her head at the unfamiliar description.
Yanagi nodded. “This skill powers itself regardless of the user’s stats. You can determine how much punch in your output based on the percentage of MP you pay.”
Hana remembered something Rin had told her: some skills didn’t depend on stats to deal damage. Bullet must’ve been one of them.
“I’ll create an opening, so you use all your MP to activate Bullet. The treants are around level 8,000. If you use Bullet at 100 percent power, I think you can take out these monsters.”
“Why not activate Bullet yourself?” she countered.
“I’ve used 20 percent of my MP to fend them off. You can make it more powerful than I can right now.”
Hana had only used a sword that day, so he was right; her MP was full. Maybe it was better if she went on offense. Regardless of what he said, was she truly prepared to take on such a major role? The pressure of the situation weighed on her. If she didn’t fight, they could both die. She had to try!
“Okay,” she agreed. “I’ll do it.”
“Thank you. The treants are regrouping, so wait for my signal!”
The treants launched at them just as they finished talking, as if they’d waited for the conversation to end. Their thrashing branches and curling vines hurtled toward the two of them.
“Haaa!” yelled Yanagi as he swung his short sword. He deflected a branch at amazing speed and followed it with an elaborate dodge that seemed to strain him. He must be struggling to make sure the attacks didn’t reach her.
I can do this.
With the skill copied, the knowledge of how to use it bubbled up inside her. She held out her hands in front of herself and collected her focus. One moment, then another—until the timing was right. Over a dozen branches and vines flew at Yanagi, but he narrowly sidestepped them. The attacks struck the ground. The treants stopped briefly to recover.
“Bullet!”
An ominous shot of black mana fired from her hands and struck the treants. They couldn’t evade, and when the mana impacted, it utterly obliterated them. The sound of crumbling bark raining on the ground filled the room.
The system spoke inside Hana’s head.
“Gained XP: Level increased by 452!”
“…I beat them?” she asked.
If she gained levels, she must’ve. But she’d borrowed the power to kill them. Even though the treants were dead, it didn’t feel like her victory.
Oh, right. Where’s Yanagi-san?
She searched around for him. If he was happy with her performance, she’d feel better about winning. It wasn’t hard to find him. He was smiling down at the treants’ corpses, or what remained of them. She placed a hand on her chest and breathed a sigh of relief.
“We did it, Yanagi-san!”
“Sure did.” His smile turned more sinister. “It was worth all this planning.”