Chapter 347: [Vol. 6 pt. 26]

Serra glared at the ocean with murderous intent in her eyes. While Azalabulia might have been the one who was known for being the dark and edgy roleplayer, it was Serra who had an evil aura surrounding her.

Even Fenrir felt intimidated when he looked over at her and saw just how utterly disappointed she was.

Was it the fact that some of the players died during the battle? No.

Was it because the monsters dared to attack them? No.

There was only one thing that caused Serra feel as she did, and it was not because their allies died nor because of the monsters attacking – at least, not technically because of the monster’s wanting to kill them all.

Instead, it was because the monsters dared to interrupt the miniature orgy that Serra had been looking forward to.

She clenched her fists at her sides as she looked over the bloody battlefield to the ocean beyond.

There would be revenge. There would, without a doubt, come a time for Serra to obtain her revenge against the threat from the ocean for daring to interrupt her lewding session.

And whenever that time came, the monsters would regret ever existing in the first place.

“It is alright, Serra,” Nell said as she wrapped her arms around Serra’s waist from behind. She then very strategically managed to push her breasts up against the back of Serra’s head.

A wave of relief washed over Serra as she changed from looking ready to murder somebody to closing her eyes with a calm expression.

“You know, Fenny,” Oleander said, “seeing the power of boobs makes me wish I was into girls sometimes.”

“You don’t have to be into girls to experience boobs,” Fenrir replied.

“Yeah, but the stereotype about being girls’ gay friend has never been true for me. People make it sound like being a gay guy means you get to be with women while they change, can fondle them whenever you want, and all that. Nope. Never once. Fenny, can I borrow one of your girlfriends?”

“I think I’d still get jealous even if I know you’re not actually interested.”

“Don’t be selfish. Share your girlfriends’ boobs with me. Just for a couple of minutes.”

“I’d say that this is like me asking for you to share Corwin’s dick, but… both you and him would probably be fine with that.”

“If it’s to let a girl who’s not into men just poke it around to see what it’s like, sure. I’d totally let her try mine out, too.”

Fenrir shrugged and returned his attention to the sight of the battlefield before them. As interesting as their conversation was, there was a much more important matter to take care of.

They were attacked and only managed to hold the enemy back thanks to Azalabulia’s overwhelming magic and Ilo’s overpowered water jet. Had the enemy continued to arrive in number – had they arrived with even half of their full force, then there would have been no hope to defeat them. The monsters that were defeated were but only slightly more in number than those killed in the cave when helping out GG and his fellow draconic players.

And that was not even considering the implications created by seeing Ilo so injured.

That was why, even though Ilo was so injured and in desperate need of rest, Fenrir desperately had to know what happened to her.

He walked over to the river where Ilo was resting, The Shoebill now alongside her as it had returned, and beckoned for her to come closer.

“I know you’re tired and hurt, and you’re incredibly awesome and I love you for how you wrecked those monsters, but I need to know what happened to you,” Fenrir said, holding a hand out to her.

 Ilo gave him a small huff before approaching and pressing her head up against his hand. Physical contact was not needed to establish the mental link necessary to show him her memories, but she wanted to be petted. She shared this want with him, so Fenrir smiled and got to petting the scales between her eyes as she dived into her memories with his mind in tow.

 

Far below the ocean’s surface, Ilo swam alongside schools of fish as she approached the underwater army’s location. Checking up on them to make sure that they were in place had become an ordinary thing for her. It was part of her routine. After all, making sure that they weren’t on the move was important in protecting her friends. If the monsters were moving, she needed to warm them about it.

But she never got to see whether the army was on the move or not. She never got to see the small force on the way to assault her friends. Instead, she came under attack by more serpents just like her.

Five of them.

While the five serpents were not as large nor as individually powerful as her, there was no way for her to defend against their number. Their ambush of her meant that one of the serpents had its fangs dug into her neck before she even realized what was going on in the dark waters.

The rest of the serpents latched onto her body as well, each one tearing into her with deadly fangs that pierced her scales with minimal effort.

Fenrir did not want to watch, but he had to. He had to see if there was anything else.

There wasn’t.

The five serpents’ fangs were dragged through her body as she thrashed around trying to escape, causing those long gashes in her body. All of her injuries – all of the attacks that brought her so close to death were from those serpents, and she wasn’t even able to fight back against them. The most she managed to do was bite one of them on the neck, but two attacked her neck at the same time which forced her to release the serpent in her mouth.

The good news was that Ilo was wise enough to realize when she was in an unwinnable battle. Rather than try to fight them, Ilo broke free and swam away as fast as she possibly could with a trail of blood left in her wake.

Yet the other serpents pursued.

Just as it looked like the serpents were going to catch up to her, the water reverberated around Ilo and the others.

The distant roar was powerful enough to vibrate the waters even as far away from the source as the serpents were.

It was the roar of the serpent – the Eastern serpent.

The serpents in pursuit of Ilo immediately ended their pursuit to turn around and return to the Eastern serpent as Ilo continued back to the river as quickly as she could.

The rest was history.

 

“Shit,” Fenrir said, bringing his other hand up to Ilo’s head. One hand could be used to rub between her eyes while the other stroked under her jaw. “You did your best. And you survived. That’s all that matters.”

Ilo closed her eyes to relax and enjoy the comfort his hands brought her.

Unfortunately, she was the only one feeling any sort of relaxation.

Fenrir just discovered that the enemy not only has an underwater enemy led by one of the largest serpents in the world, but that there were five more serpents to worry about, too. If they had access to abilities like Ilo’s water jet while above water, then how were the players going to defend against that?

More importantly, what about the ships that were supposed to assist them from the water? Thus far, they were under the assumption that the underwater monsters were restricted to the floor of the ocean. They had to walk, climb, and so on. They could not easily swim and, if they could, fighting while swimming was not an option. They were like corpses shambling across the ocean floor rather than swimmers.

But if there are five serpents nearly as large as Ilo, they could easily rip into the hulls of any supporting ships. They could destroy all support from the ocean while not being able to get attacked back.

“Fuck,” Fenrir sighed to himself.

There was only one option that he could think of to defend against this new threat.

Fishing.

Spearfishing to be more specific.

Just like how they were supposed to catch Ilo during that fishing tournament back in Port Tugator, they could potentially use ship-mounted ballistae to defend against the serpents.

But would that be enough?

How were they going to actually hit the serpents if the serpents were fast enough to avoid the shots or careful enough to stay out of firing range?

All it would take for one of the serpents to be safe was biting onto the hull of an allied ship and keeping its body close to it. Even if it could potentially be shot at still, any attack would most likely harm the ship it was latched onto as well.

They needed a way to defend against the serpents without resorting to friendly fire during the process.

“We either need weaponized fishing or some more underwater friends,” Fenrir said with another sigh. “Weaponized fishing is harder. Underwater friends… I think you’re our only one. I’m not sure how many fish would be interested in helping anybody around here with how much fishing is done, plus I don’t think fish, even sharks, would be of much help against those serpents.”

And then Fenrir heard it.

Fenrir heard her.

Ilo… purred?

The noise she made wasn’t technically a purr, but a purr was the closest sound that Fenrir could compare whatever the noise she was making to.

That forced him out of his concerned thoughts. As important as the upcoming battle and planning a strategy for it was, right now he wanted to comfort Ilo. She deserved his attention. If he could make her feel better after everything she had been through, he was definitely going to make her purr more than she ever purred before.

 

“You okay, Azawaza?” Serra asked, crouching down in front of the exhausted Azalabulia.

“You look awfully tired,” Nell said, standing by Serra’s side. “Would you like a massage as a reward for your efforts?”

“That – that sounds nice,” Azalabulia admitted. She was hardly able to stay upright as she sat on her knees.

“Our cruel hero, fighting alongside you in battle only to abandon you for another upon its end,” Nell teased, moving back Azalabulia so that she could begin massaging her shoulders.

“It’s alright. He checked on me before you,” Azalabulia paused to hold back a moan caused from the massage, “be-before you came back.”

“I was only teasing. I have faith that he would not go with Oleander and then Ilo before checking on you. Besides… I would not be able to guilt him if he did forget to check on you.” Nell’s tone told the girls all that they needed to hear.

“How is he?” Serra asked.

“Stressed, to put it simply. Look around. Do you see any celebrations? The people are tired – exhausted. One can tell from the sight of the beach that the battle was hard-fought and not without friendly losses. Those who survived are all as our dearest Azalabulia. To have been so hard-pressed from what may only be considered a minor skirmish, it is no surprise that there is such stress in the air. And… I may not know the specifics yet, but something was shared between Ilo and my hero that caused his stress to grow only deeper. Even I am worried about whatever it is he may have learned from her. It most likely had to do with what led to her injuiries.”

There was silence between the girls for a few moments before Serra spoke up to say, “I’m annoyed.”

“Is something wrong?”

“The monsters are ruining our fun. I want to kill them.”

“I am sure most if not all here feel the same.”

“But… I’m weak. I don’t know how to fight.”

“You excel with stationary firearms, do you not?”

“But I’m useless without them.”

“Not a single soul would call you useless, my dearest Serra.”

“But I am. I’m weak. Cass Cass can fight and heal. Azawaza can blow stuff up. You can fight and protect. Eva is really strong. Fen always fights his hardest and is smart. All I can do is use weapons where all I do is aim them. It’s not fair to the rest of you.”

“You are not obligated to be powerful, Serra. Many who play this game are those who simply wish to live second lives. They do not fight, they do not partake in epic battles nor grand quests – they simply live out their virtual lives. There is no shame in how you have helped us thus far.”

“But I want to get stronger. I want to help more.”

“Well, if that is what you truly wish for, there is plenty of opportunity for you to grow stronger. Whether it be with blades or arrows, magic or crafting, support or explosions – there are many options available to you. You must simply choose one for yourself.”

“I – I can teach you explosions,” Azalabulia said. “Do you want to learn explosions?”

“I… don’t know how I want to help,” Serra said. “ I know I want to help but I don’t know how.”

“You already provide a boost to morale in a way, for what it is worth,” Nell said.

“Lewd things don’t count.”

“Then you will have to think about what you would like to do in greater detail. Perhaps you could try out various routes to see which you are most interested in? Cassiel could teach you swordswomanship and healing. Azalabulia may teach you how to cause the grandest of explosions. My hero could teach you how to brawl and strategize. Tabitha could turn you into another engineer. Oleander and I could both teach you our own variations of magic. Perhaps Eva could enlighten you in the ways of body transfiguration. Whatever it is that you are interested in, we are here to assist you.”

“I know, but… I don’t know.”

“That is alright, my dearest Serra. Take some time to think about this.”

“But there isn’t any time. We don’t know when we might be attacked again.”

“Fortunately for us, this world is a virtual one. Even if something is to happen – even if we lose and die, we will still be alive the next day. We—”

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“But it’s important to Fen. Fen doesn’t want anybody to get hurt. If the NPCs die then they die. I want to help him protect them but there isn’t enough time to get stronger. I always let everybody else do all the work.”

“A-ah… you are right, my apologies. I should not take my hero’s wishes for the safety of artificial lives so lightly, even if I do not quite see them the same way that he does. It is important to him, so we should do our best to support him.”

“Yeah. I don’t want to see him sad.”

“Neither do I, so we must do our best.”

“I – I’ll do my best, too,” Azalabulia said before standing up and away from Nell’s rubbing hands. “I need to get stronger.”

“Is that even possible?” Nell asked. “You already have the most destructive magic out of us all.”

“I’ll get stronger. Fenrir… h-he may be my sworn rival, but I wish to protect his dream as well! I will obtain an even greater mastery over Bahamut’s twisted flames! My magic will grow deadlier than ever before and I will train my body to handle even greater stores of mana! If I do, then – then… I’ll be able to protect his smile. A-and by protecting his smile, I’ll… I-I’ll protect yours, too…”

“A simple, ‘I will protect all of your smiles,’ would suffice.”

“Fi-fine! I, Azalabulia, vow that I – I will protect all of your smiles!”

“Azalabulia, Wielder of the Cursed Flame of Bahamut, Protector of Smiles. I do like how those work together.”

“It – it is not a title that I ever expected to obtain… but I will wear it with pri-pride!”

Nell clapped for Azalabulia as the roleplaying woman struck somewhat of a triumphant and determined pose.

Meanwhile, Serra looked over at Fenrir and thought about what she could do to help more.

If she could try to change in real life to stick up for those who she cared about, why couldn’t she do the same in a virtual reality? Shouldn’t changing be even easier in a virtual world?

Yet being able to fight on her own – being able to protect herself without a giant cannon or repeating turret seemed impossible. She was not even able to imagine it no matter how hard she tried to. Every attempt at visualizing it within her mind was met with failure and being saved by the others.

While they all trained to better themselves in-game, she hung around and watched, seduced them into doing lewd things, or helped with trivial labor.

She did nothing that others could not replace her in and most likely do even better. It seemed like everybody around her was incredible and unique. They all fought in their own styles, they worked hard to improve themselves even if it didn’t always seem like it – they were strong. They were motivated. They were determined.

But Serra only just felt motivated for the first time and it was out of guilt. Not only that, but she was already so behind everybody else.

Being able to fire cannons and ballistae and other long-range weapons like those was fine and all… but what if the enemies got too close to use those? What if they were being overrun and nobody was there to protect her?

Even with the latest battle, she was sent to stay on The Shoebill rather than asked to help and defend everybody. Somebody else could have easily steered The Shoebill to safety. That was just one more thing that anybody could do.

Before Serra realized it, she was already away from everybody else. She was so lost in her self-conscious thoughts that she just walked and walked until she was all alone.

Well, all alone except for one other.

Serra looked up at the figure standing before her.

A pair of soulless, black eyes on a yellow mask with an artificial smile below them looked right back at her.

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Meanwhile aboard The Shoebill, Cassiel and Eva were still lying down in hammocks right next to each other. They positioned themselves in a such a way so that their heads  were right behind each other, making talking between them easier.

“I… I can’t believe we did that,” Cassiel said. The realization of what happened during the battle finally hit her.

“Do you regret it?” Eva asked.

“No, I… I don’t regret it or anything. I just… can’t believe I actually did that.”

“I guess I feel the same.”

“I don’t know how you’re so calm about this. After what we did in front of everybody…”

“Oh, I don’t care if we were watched.”

“How can you not care about something like that?”

“I don’t care about what most people think. The only people whose opinions I care about can be counted on two hands. It used to be one hand before I met all of you.”

“I’d like to not care, but it’s not that easy. I was raised to always think about what everybody else thinks. I was always supposed to be presentable and respectful and never act out of line… probably why I rebelled so much by dating assholes.”

“You dated other people before this?”

“Yeah, unfortunately.”

“I’ve had lots of guys want to date me before… but it never worked out.”

“That’s surprising. I thought guys loved girls like you.”

“Why?”

“You know. You’re… quirky and stuff.”

“I think that’s why it didn’t work out. When I was a kid, my neighbor said he wanted to marry me when we got older. He stopped talking to me when I picked up a spider bigger than my hand and let it walk on me. I think he cried.”

“Oh.”

“I had another friend who said he liked me, but he stopped talking to me after he came to my house after school. All I did was show him my rock and bug collection.”

“Bastard.”

“There was another time in high school where a guy I had multiple classes with always tried to talk to me… but he was… vapid. He just… wasn’t interesting. He claimed to like science and philosophy and politics and everything, but his opinions were always the same as the majority and he never took more than a sentence to explain his beliefs. His personality wasn’t shallow but his mind was.”

“I – I feel kind of bad for him. Sorry, but I’m not exactly… you know, that smart either. You’d be better off talking to Fen or Aza about smart stuff. Maybe Nell for political and philosophical stuff.” A heavy sigh left Cassiel’s lips. “I just realized I’m the dumbest one here.”

“You’re not dumb. Even if you are, I don’t care.”

“Didn’t you just finish talking about how all the guys who were interested in you were lame or dumb?”

“Yeah, but they were guys. I think my standards are higher for them.”

“That’s… kind of insulting.”

“Wa-wait, I didn’t mean it to be insulting. It’s not that my standards are higher, it’s that… I guess I’ve realized that I’m more interested in women than men? You could say that my standards are technically higher for men, but that’s because I think they’re less interesting by default. I only never realized until recently that my preference for women extended beyond intelligence.”

“With how you’re explaining things, I’m surprised you fell for Fen in the first place. No offense to him, but it’s not like you ever had any deep and interesting conversations with him, right?”

“I didn’t understand why I was so interested in him either. That was why I watched and studied all of you.”

“You need to find a less creepy way of saying that.”

“Sorry. But now, I think… maybe I was interested in him because my subconscious knew that the rest of you came with him? Wait, that makes it sound like I’m only using him to get to you. Th-that’s not what’s happening. I mean… my subconscious knew that the rest of you were with him, but he was also kind, and funny, and I could tell how much he cared about all of you and tried to treat you all equally while not forgetting his friends either, he was confident and strategic, and… I don’t think we’ve ever had a really interesting discussion, but he makes up for that with everything else.”

“Well, lucky for you, I think he’s the type who you could have an interesting talk with. He might not talk much about serious things around us, but I… I might have looked through one of his profile’s comments when he left his computer once and I was curious. I… found out that he’s the kind of guy I’d normally ignore online because he types too much to read. Paragraph after paragraph of discussing and debating all sorts of topics. I was expecting to see some memes or pictures of 2D girls in sweaters or something. All I got to see was him debating with anybody who was willing to actually read everything he typed.”

“Really?” Eva asked with a tone that expressed just how much more suddenly interested she was.

“Yeah. Plus he’s had a few debates with Nell about stuff. I remember one time they were playing with the ferrets, and I went to check on them to see what they wanted for dinner. I was expecting to walk in on them making out or something since… that’s probably what would’ve happened if it was me instead. What I walked in on was a debate on monarchy that made my head hurt trying to follow it. I know that Nell usually only talks about her fantasies, but she’s actually crazy smart. She’s probably the smartest out of us. Then Aza since she’s, you know, a teacher. She might be smarter than Nell but I don’t know. For Fen… I don’t know if he’s smart or just loves to debate stuff without really understanding it. His comments were too long to read and Nell kept on correcting him on things.”

“What about Serra?”

“I think Serra’s with me but she’s actually willing to listen to and read confusing things that would make my head hurt trying to pay attention to. Yeah, I really am the dumbest. That’s a realization I would have been happier not making today.” Another sigh left Cassiel’s lips.

“But… hypothetically, if I wanted to talk about my collections or something… would you be interested?”

“Sure. I can’t promise that I’m going to understand but I’ll try my best. I won’t be like those assholes who never talked to you again after you tried to share your hobbies with them.”

“That… makes me happy. Thanks, Cassiel.”

“Just call me Cass.”

“C-Cass. Got it.”

“Try again.”

“It’s… kind of embarrassing calling you a nickname for some reason, Cass.”

“There you go.”

“Oh, I wanted to ask. I told you about some of my hobbies, so… do you have any?”

An awkward moment of silence passed before a third sigh left Cassiel’s lips. “God, I’m boring, aren’t I? I don’t even have any hobbies other than playing this game.”

“There’s nothing you like?”

“Being a girlfriend and playing a video game. That’s… that’s all I do. Great. First I make out with you in front of a crowd of people, then I realize that I’m not only the dumbest person I know but probably the least interesting as well. Great, Cass. You go.”

“What about interests? Is there anything you want to do? Or used to want to do?”

“Not really. Maybe… when I was younger I used to want to learn to play guitar. That was part of my rebellious phase I guess. I thought it’d be cool to learn to play guitar or bass or something, maybe drums.”

Eva rolled over in her hammock so that she was on her front and facing Cassiel. “You should learn one of them. Maybe all three. Learning multiple instruments simultaneously actually isn’t that much harder than only learning one at a time. Lots of people even say that learning different instruments improves your ability with all of them. You start off with learning music theory and maybe just one instrument for a couple of months, and then you introduce the others. As long as you know music theory, the rest is just memorizing how to hit the notes.”

“Did you used to play an instrument or something?”

“Trumpet. I was in band. Also the chess club.”

“You’re like the queen of nerds.”

“Heh, proudly. Fenrir said the same thing.”

“For some reason, it’s embarrassing thinking that we both said the same thing about you.”

“You’re really similar. Anyways, you should play an instrument. I can help you learn.”

“Maybe, but definitely not all three.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not a masochist.” Cassiel’s cheeks turned a shade of red when she remembered that she was, in fact, a masochist. “That just sounds like too much.”

“I know you can do it if you apply yourself.”

“I don’t know. Maybe. Learning how to play at least one does sound kind of nice… plus then I might not be the least interesting person I know anymore.”

“If you learn one of them then we can do duets.”

“You said you played trumpet. I’m interested in a guitar, bass, or drums. Do any of those even mix with the trumpet?”

Eva, in the most serious tone that Cassiel had ever heard from her, said, “Never underestimate the trumpet.”

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