The bird head's body seemed to blur for a moment.
Immediately after—the entire body of the bird head changed color.
It turned purple.
Pop pop...
Popoo...
Translucent purple bubbles rose from the bird head's skin.
Powa...
Powa, powa...
They looked like tiny soap bubbles.
The bubbles floated upward into the air.
Halfway up, they dissolved into the air.
That was how it appeared.
"This is probably..."
The poison-bestowed state.
It took effect.
It succeeded...
Mimori Touka's status abnormality skill.
So far, the success rate is one hundred percent.
Except against that shitty goddess, of course.
Because it is paralyzed, the bird head remains in a half-crouched standing posture.
It is somewhat eerie.
The yellow gauge for [Paralyze] is still visible.
I do not see any kind of poison gauge.
I thought a purple gauge might appear or something.
"..."
There was one concern with this use of [Poison].
There was the possibility that bestowing poison would overwrite and cancel the paralysis effect.
But poison and paralysis can be stacked.
Combo complete.
The combination technique of paralysis and poison.
This works.
I make a modest fist pump at my side.
Yes...
Joy surges up.
Pure delight.
All I have to do now is wait.
Wait while praying.
If this thing dies from the poison like this,
If I can defeat it,
My level might go up.
On the other hand, there are uncertainties.
Even if there is a concept of damage, will it be enough to drive it to death?
With poison, the last 1 HP often remains in games from my original world.
It does not reach zero.
To finish it off, I need direct damage.
I saw this pattern quite a lot in games back home.
Also... is the poison damage a fixed value?
Or does it vary depending on the opponent's strength?
Fixed value or percentage?
That difference will greatly affect its usefulness...
"Pi, go, po. Po, pi, ko... koe..."
Its voice sounds a little weaker?
It is weakening.
Probably.
But I cannot tell whether it is fixed damage or percentage damage.
It is possible the fixed damage is ridiculously high.
"But either way, it is weakening."
A grin naturally forms at the corner of my mouth.
I am probably wearing a strange smile right now.
A smile mixed with joy and prayer, while my face is drenched in sweat.
"I might be able to kill it."
These monsters in the discard ruins.
▽
I kept staring at the gauge.
I was waiting for the monster's death.
Sitting cross-legged in front of the bird head.
It remains under continuous paralysis and poison.
I have to keep watching closely.
When the yellow gauge disappears, the paralysis will probably end...
Before the gauge runs out, I will stack [Paralyze] again...
Before the gauge runs out, I will stack [Paralyze] again...
Before the gauge runs out, I will stack [Paralyze] again...
I mutter to myself like self-hypnosis.
"By the way."
I had forgotten because of the stacking success, but...
What about my MP?
I display my status.
MP +0 / 33
The correction value is already depleted.
If I keep using status abnormality skills in this state, what happens?
The likely effects are dizziness or impact on consciousness.
And eventually, fainting...
Like the pattern in manga where someone exhausts their mental strength.
I must avoid fainting at all costs.
If I faint in a place like this, death is guaranteed.
The bird head's bulging eyes meet mine.
"What are you looking at? You're trying to kill me too— I can feel that piercing killing intent... So we're even, aren't we..."
You try to kill me.
I try to kill you.
To survive.
We're even.
Die.
Die.
Die.
Being in the darkness is making me strange.
I feel like I'm going crazy.
I can sense it peeling away.
Compassion.
Ethics.
Killing is wrong.
Sure, it might be wrong.
But if I do not kill, I die.
If I do not kill, I die.
Here, I have to kill.
Meaningless killing is certainly something to despise.
But taking life here has a clear meaning.
Survival competition.
Killing to live.
Hmm?
What exactly is "here" to me?
These discard ruins?
This other world itself?
...
Who cares.
Right now, I just need to witness it.
The death of the monster in front of me.
"..."
I observe while wishing for a living creature's death.
For a long time.
It felt like my sanity might snap.
I stand up.
I try to crush the bird head's eyeball with a sharp stone.
It was impossible.
The eyeball is covered by a thin, hard, transparent membrane.
Time passes.
The gauge is almost gone.
The [Paralyze] effect is about to expire...
Time to stack.
"[Paralyze]"
[Duplicate bestowal of the same skill on the same target is not permitted]
"...Huh?"
I cannot stack it?
Ah, I see.
It probably cannot be applied until the effect ends.
That means I have to time it precisely for the moment it expires.
My reflexes will be the key...
The instant it ends, the bird head might attack.
I raise my arm.
It's about to end...
Soon.
...
The gauge disappears.
"Go, ko, e, e— Papigu gyoe ee!"
"[Paralyze]!"
The bird head is spinning its four arms around...
It seems to be checking if it can move.
Wait,
"It didn't... work...?"
No way,
"No..."
Am I out of MP?
[Continuous bestowal of the same skill on the same target is not permitted]
That's not it!
It's not MP depletion!
It simply cannot be used!
On the same target!
Even after the effect ends, continuous bestowal of the same skill is impossible.
I take one step back.
The bird head plants its feet on the ground.
Thud...
Thanks to the poison effect.
Its body looks heavy.
It is weakened.
The poison is definitely working.
But the current situation is critical.
Using [Paralyze] again has no meaning.
What do I do?
No—wait.
Calm down.
That's right.
There is one more—
"Sl—[Sleep (Sleep Bestowal)]!"
Fuyoyo~,
Powaan
The bird head's eyelids begin to droop.
"Po? Ko oo... o?"
It sways.
The black-skinned giant staggers.
Thud!
The bird head's body falls forward.
"It... worked...?"
Because it's a different skill from [Paralyze]?
What is displayed is—a blue gauge.
"Fu—fuh, fuh... fuuuu..."
I exhale with trembling lips.
Sweat pours out in a gush.
—This works.
Alternating bestowal of paralysis and sleep.
As long as my MP lasts, an infinite combo is possible.
Yes...
Next, before the [Sleep] gauge runs out, I should test whether I can stack [Paralyze] on it here.
Powa...
Powa, powa...
Good.
The poison effect has not worn off either.
From the fact that the effect persists, I can infer that [Poison] is treated as a separate category among the three skills.
There are categories within status abnormality skills.
But... the amount of sweat is increasing...
I wipe the sweat from my forehead.
"Ah, right."
This sweat.
It might be the effect of consuming my own MP...
"But—"
I look down at the bird head.
It has weakened considerably.
Compared to before, its sense of life feels faint.
Poco...
Popopoo...
Kopoo...
[Paralyze],
[Poison],
[Sleep].
With these three skills, I will survive.
My breathing is rough.
"...Huh?"
Rough... breathing?
But it's not mine...?
I turn around.
"Ah—"
"Buru ruuu!"
"Minotaur...!"
The effect expired.
The first [Paralyze] I used.
And it came looking for me.
Probably furious.
Seething with rage.
It moves.
The Minotaur takes one step toward me.
Continuous bestowal of the same skill is not allowed.
So,
"Sl—[Sleep]!"
"Bu, gu, o? Ou~..."
Thud!
"Gugoo..."
The Minotaur collapses.
A blue gauge appears.
"Haa! Haa! U, aa—"
Ah, this is bad.
I just felt a little dizzy.
The effect of using my own MP...
Now, what do I do?
Should I use my own MP on the Minotaur too and bestow poison?
"Yeah..."
I look down at the bull head lying face-down.
My heart feels hollow.
Just kill the enemy.
No mercy.
Unnecessary.
Yes.
In that case,
This one too—
"...?"
What is this presence?
Footsteps.
Splash,
Sizzle sizzle...
The sound of the ground melting...
"You're kidding—"
In the darkness ahead and behind, multiple golden eyes glint and writhe.
Golden murderous eyes.
Faint orange lines emerge from the dark.
"Don't fuck with me..."
I see.
"Papiko, popikorin, puchikoro kko—"
"Kwe kwe ko kko, koromi ruku—!"
"Porpiko, puchi, puchikorokoro kko"
"Buru ru gia aa—! Bura! Buru oo aaa aaa!"
"Bufun bufun! Buru ruu!"
"Oga aaa aaa—!"
A grand chorus of bird heads and Minotaurs crying out.
They were drawn here.
Their comrades.
"Give me a break—"
It was not just one at a time.
"How many of these things are there?"
Drip, drip, drip, drip...
Sweat runs down.
A dry smile forms.
Or perhaps it was escapism from reality.
Irrelevant thoughts cover my mind.
The ground is melting too much from the acid.
It's becoming full of craters.
Ah, right.
Maybe the acid creates unevenness in the ground...
So that fleeing prey trips and falls more easily?
Bird head in front.
Bull head behind.
Absolute desperation—this is exactly what it means.
The visible safe-zone MP in my status is long gone.
My low stats go without saying.
I look up at the ceiling.
"——"
I did pretty well, huh.
I mean.
Normally, isn't this the point where someone comes to help in stories?
Like some badass discarded hero who's survived in these ruins forever.
Or since it's another world... maybe a super cool elf lives here and saves me.
...Yeah, no way.
"..."
I played every card I had, didn't I.
I really did well.
In a hellish place like this.
If this were a manga, I'd be the mob character destined to die early on.
Air.
E-class.
Discarded hero.
'You should at least die pathetically, Touka Mimori.'
Fuck you, goddess.
I press my back against the rock wall.
I,
"Don't fuck with me—"
Clench both fists tightly.
There's no way someone will conveniently come to save me.
I am not
A hero.
Not a heroine.
Air mob.
No one is coming to help.
That's why I have to save myself.
I—have to—save—myself.
Do not rely on anyone.
Do not cling.
Do not expect.
The "someone" in those expectations is just an illusion.
— I—will—trample—everything—
All of it.
Air?
E-class?
Bottom-feeder?
Yeah, bring it on.
"Even in a harsh environment, struggling desperately to survive... that's the way of a weed, isn't it..."
I get it.
I'll bet everything.
Myself, all of it.
Whether my MP runs out first.
Or whether every last one of you gets hit with a status abnormality first.
I check left and right.
I raise my arms and thrust them out to both sides.
Toward the leading monsters in the swarm, I release.
"[Paralyze]"
Crack—,
Snap,
Creak, creak
"Pi, ko, ro?"
"Bu, gu, o?"
The leading bird head and Minotaur stop.
Paralysis bestowal—success.
Dizziness hits.
But I hold firm.
Drip,
Drip drip
It does not stop.
The sweat.
"Kh... Ka, kakaka! Now then—"
I glare wide-eyed and laugh.
"Shall we begin?"
The survival competition.