Chapter 9: Running, and Fighting Against Damage Over Time Effect

I admit it: I may have underestimated ShangriLa Frontier. After all, since it was so well received by the general public, I thought that I’ll be able to easily overcome every single obstacle that this game might throw at me. So even without potions that I couldn’t afford for the moment, I thought I would be able to easily solo that giant serpent that was blocking my way. What’s more, without taking any damage! Clearing the “Sh*t Chronicles Online” must have thrown me into that false sense of security. But at the same time, even though I knew it was lame, I was trying to come up with excuses. 「How could I possibly have known that a simple snake-like monster would be this damn strong!?」 The damn thing looked almost like a dragon, so maybe it’s exactly that instead of a serpent!? I open my status widow and check my current HP, which was twenty eight…… There has been approximately twenty seconds since I took the direct hit with those poisoned feces, and it looks like I was taking one point of damage per ten seconds (most probably the poison was calculated as a percentage of your max HP per a set time). The remaining HP was twenty eight…… No, make that twenty seven. This means that Sanraku has approximately two hundred and seventy seconds to live. How long would it take me to reach Sekandill? And since I have a stamina bar, does this mean I need to manage that one as well? And how low on HP was that Serpent meant to be? Sh*t, it was so upsetting that you couldn’t see enemies HP bar at a time like this! 「Sh*t, I need to hurry, or else I’m so dead!!」 I may have had no prior experience in RTA (Note: Real Time Attack; a term used in speedrunning, meaning beating the game as fast as possible without any kind of assist) but TA (Note: Time Attack, self explanatory, beating the game under a set amount of predetermined time) was a whole different story! The knives that I currently had on me, ShanFro’s critical hit criteria, both the endurance and the defenses of the giant serpent…… The answer was somewhere within the information I already had available to me. In this game, critical hits are not something randomly decided or left to chance, but are rather determined by how clean and precise your attacks are. And if we take my high Luck statistic into consideration, I must have at least some sort of positive modification to that mechanic as well. For example, if we assume that a clean vertical slice is considered a critical hit, with high Luck you can deviate from that by a few degrees and it would still count as a critical hit. Now for the serpent itself. Usually, monsters of that kind have a weakness that is their head, since they may be able to leap huge distances and move fast, but when they want to thrust their head at someone and bite them they need to stop for a moment and gather the necessary strength. So that would mean that the ideal moment of attack would be to forcibly strike its head when it stops moving and readies its attack. But if you are unable to strike its weak spot by any means and you are unsure whether it has more weak spots or not, there was only one answer: you need to create that weak point by yourself!! 「Right there!!」 The knives I was using looked similar to Chinese ones, so I really need to see how they are going to behave with that attack of mine that I was going to perform, especially when it comes to critical hits. I run the tip of the knife alongside the serpent’s long side, opening up a long wound full of erupting red polygons. The serpent suddenly stops and turns towards me to attack, but it was already too late for it. I have already come to understand its attack patterns! I use the “Tap Step” at that moment to avoid the serpent’s attack and stick to the open wound, raining down attacks on it! And once it was completely wide open at the end of its attack I attack it some more! 「Stamina! Five points per hit!」 I had to take a little break every three hits, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to evade if need be. And since the wound that I continuously kept open on the serpent’s body was going to stay there for a few seconds after each strike, I couldn’t allow myself to be left out of stamina, because that would considerably slow down my movements and attack speed. Opening a deep wound on an opponent’s body counted as a critical hit, and striking such an open wound was also counted as a critical hit. The serpent just continued to try to attack me in his set patterns, only confirming what I already knew and letting me recharge my stamina. 「Eat this!!」 Enough stamina to attack with both knives…… Check. I attack with both of my knives at once…… Both of them score a critical hit. Another geyser of red polygons splash from the wound on the serpent’s side, raining down onto my knives. Then, in the next moment, the serpent’s body begins to shake, only to explode in a huge geyser of white polygons all over the place. 「Y, YEAH!!! TAKE THAT!!!」 I somehow felt really tired upon winning the battle…… No! What am I thinking! Drop items takes priority! HP! Stamina! No time, no time, NO TIME! I take all of the items that dropped from the boss without even confirming what they were, see if my stamina bar was replenished enough and break into a frantic run. Not good, not good, NOT GOOD! Another digit disappears from my HP pool! By the way, isn’t that poison effect awfully long for a beginner-level Boss!? 「Run, run, run, run, RUN……!!!」 The scenery around the suspension bridge was really beautiful, and under any normal circumstances I would have stopped myself and take a look (as well as some screenshots), but now was not the time for mere pleasantries! I run through the bridge with all of my might! I have merely six HP left! Approximately fifty seconds left until I get to the town! …… Will I even be able to buy an antidote in time!? No, no, no! It’s better than having to suffer a penalty for dying! Sh*t, I may not have enough stamina to pull this off in the end! It was so frustrating that you needed to stop in place to replenish your stamina. At this rate I was sure to die before I even reach the…… Wait just a moment. 「Defeating the Area Boss solo should give enough EXP to…… Yes! Bingo! Jackpot!」 I gained a level! I was able to distribute points to my stats again! I was able to allocate around thirty points to my stats, and without even thinking about it I allocated half of said points into STM (Stamina) and another half in AGI (Agility). 「UUUUUUUUUOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!」 With my HP and Stamina bar doubled, I broke into a run again and dove head-first into Sekandill. As a side note, Bosses like this “Giant Serpent Orochi” will have a chance to drop very rare items upon defeat, so it is not unusual to see players retaking the battle when they grow stronger in order to obtain said items in greater quantities. There are also players who hunt snakes like that purely for their potential as a cooking ingredient. Imagine that.