A week has passed.
My experience earning has been going well all thanks to the Di-Que strategy. After some small chat with the store clerk, I bought the remaining 500, after throwing these I'll have used 10,000 in total.
The rank of my skills has also improved. I haven't learned "Rook Archery" yet, but the other [Archery] skills are fairly good. "Lance Archery", "Knight Archery" and "Silver Archery" were all stopped at the 5th Grade. Their effects are 「110％ penetration attack」, 「90％ sniping success rate」 and 「200％ single target damage」 respectively. "Gold Archery" and "Bishop Archery" were stopped at the 3rd Grade. Their effects are 「80％ range damage + knockback」 and 「180％ penetration attack」each.
Since I still got a considerable amount of experience left even after ranking them up to this point, you can see how much of a cheat the Di-Que strategy can be. And you can also see how high the average level of a Mobius player is.
In addition, with the considerable improvement of my Archery skills, DEX has become quite the prominent stat. Agi too, has risen too much.
DEX is a stat that refers to dexterity, and is directly connected to the firepower of the [Archery] skill. And since it also relates to the success rate of production skills, it's good that it has been going up. AGI is a stat that governs quickness, and the more you got, the better your battle prowess will be.
"I guess it'll soon be the turn of Swordsmanship."
With such idea in mind, I continued on the road towards the cave again today.
In response to my mutter, Seventh Teiō neighed as if agreeing with me, so I decided to leave the learning of "Rook Archery" alone for the time being, and decided to raise the skills in [Swordsmanship] once the Di-Que strategy is finished.
"Ugh! "
It happened as I approached the mine. A vague voice was heard from the other side, across the woods.
Maybe.
With some expectations in mind, I jumped off from Seventh Teiō and taking along my long bow, I ran into the forest.
"Damn it, we're retreating! Clear a path to run a――ugh!? "
...People and monsters.
Rough breathing.
The sound of metal bumping.
The smell of blood.
Screams.
This was not a sight of the 『Mobius Online』 that I knew.
About 20 meters ahead, knights who seemed to be from the third order, were surrounded by monsters.
The monsters' name is Scarlet Mantis―― Huge mantis a lurid red color. There are six of them.
The Third Knight Order seems to be struggling. Five of them are already in the ground and unmoving. There are five others who are holding their sword and formed in a circle formation. It's easy to see they are probably going to be annihilated.
"..."
At a time like this I got angry.
Angry at the me who was delighted for a second and thought "I may be able to use this and learn Rook Archery" and
"Should I wait for the remaining five people to drop their HP just to make sure? ".
That's wrong, right?
People are dying. They aren't players. They are people.
The same as me.
And those very people were being robbed of their life and after risking it for their aspirations.
And I was going to take advantage of that.
...That's when I lost my temper.
It already happened.
But is not like I'll sit and do nothing.
I can't stand that type of despair.
"Get down!! "
I screamed with all I could.
The five members of the Third Knight Order ducked as soon as they saw me holding my bow.
Schhwaff! ――An arrow flew, overflowing with a red aura from "Lance Archery"and pierced the three Scarlet Mantis who were in a straight line.
Those Scarlet Mantis collapsed on the ground and died after being left with a big hole in their bodies.
That was when I first took notice that the 5th grade of "Lance Archery"'s penetration was not normal.
"Gigigigi."
While raising an intimidating sound, the remaining three monsters targeted me.
The distance is 20 meters. Since their enemies have turned their attention towards me, the knights seem to have escaped this crisis.
...Eh.
Isn't this a nice outcome?
Maybe because it happened so easily, I suddenly got a chill.
There's no better chance than this. Pumping myself up, I added "Silver Archery"on top of "Knight Archery" as I stretched the bow.
Twang――Along that deep sound, the arrow was released from the bow and flew along a large white-silvery aura.
At the moment it landed on the head of the Scarlet Mantis, the white-silvery light exploded, and 80% of the body was splattered into the woods. 5th Grade "Silver Archery" appears to be quite the overkill against the Scarlet Mantis.
Without wasting time, I prepared the second shot. The second enemy also followed the same fate.
And the last one. This time, a critical hit came out and its whole body was blown away. Rainbow colored sparkles from the effect lasted for a moment. The damage I dealt was 1566. Stupidly low… Well, even with this rank, I wonder if it's because the weapon is this that it turned out like that. I feel like I still got a long way ahead.
Well then, the real issue…
"Nice! "
I got it! "Rook Archery" learned!
At one point I had given in on this, but somehow, I got it! It was the perfect decision. I suppose this is killing two birds with one stone.
...Then, it suddenly dawned on me. What about the knights?
"Sorry, you got our thanks. For Helpi――Ah."
The five members of the Third Knight Order approached while being wary of the surroundings. The knight who thanked me had a familiar and dignified voice.
"Second… dono. I have no words to express the gratitude of saving us this time."
Removing her helmet, the female knight Silvia showed her face and bowed.
She had a pale face. I suppose that is a given. After all, her companions were killed.
"Well, don't worry. Let's bring them back home."
When I said so, Silvia and the other four knights walked towards their dead companions' bodies, and made a very clean and beautiful salute.
...This is not the time to be spacing out.
After smacking my cheeks with my hands, I followed after then and helped them.
Thank you for reading.
＜Status Details＞
HP Hit Points
MP Magic Points
SP Stamina Points
STR Short range attack skill power, strength, physical power.
DEX Long range attack skill power, dexterity, hit rate.
AGI Quickness, avoidance rate.
INT Attack Magic skill power.
LUK Good luck, critical rate.
VIT Simple defense.
MGR Magic defense.