Tridente 15

Time for your triweekly chapter

Small Village Tridente – Chapter 015

 

rawr: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n8908ek/15/

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June, 2XX7

Soar!

 

To the face that appeared from beneath the mask, I was unable to hide my agitation and trembled.

 

The kind smile from the time we first met is gone.

The reliable back from the time he invited us to make a village is also gone.

The brave figure from the time we formed the Death Scythe Mantis subjugation party is also gone.

 

What was there was just a demonic face, focused only on PKing me.

 

「Why… are you? Why did you do such a thing!?」

 

Why is that Tsurugi-san going around PKing those who are enjoying their time playing NW? I forced out my shaky voice to ask the question.

 

「To protect. Everything.」

「Protect…?」

 

「Ahh, that’s right. Mari-jouchan, you saw that interview right? The demise, the new world, and all that. Due to that worthless delusion, we were treated like test subjects. Treated like guinea pigs.」

 

「B-but still… how did that come to PK…」

「I said it, didn’t I? It’s to protect.」

 

Tsurugi-san took off his hood and, as he swept back his slightly long forelocks, started talking about it.

 

「After the NW Company’s interview, shaking in anger, I strongly wished. I want the power to protect everyone. The ones being deceived by NW Company…The people being deceived by this world, I wished for the power to save them. And then, God responded. I was granted the power to save everyone from this world. Special Skill 【Account Break】, a skill that appeared to answer my desire to protect.」

 

【Account Break】…that’s the truth behind the enforcer forcibly expelling players… is it?

 

「Didn’t Mari-jouchan’s partner say it. Her desire to protect you took shape and appeared… I’m also the same. She isn’t the only one who’s special!」

 

You’re wrong……You’re not the same. Tsurugi-san, your skill appeared from a different emotion.

 

「The players who enjoy playing NW even after that interview are abnormal. That’s why, with this power, I gave them salvation.」

 

The first one that was killed was probably a person from this village. The one who was killed… I don’t know. But, the other cross cut I saw earlier was…

 

「Tsurugi-san, just one thing, can I ask you something?」

「What? If you agree with me then, anytime I w-…」

「Seira-san, did you PK her?」

 

I interrupted Tsurugi-san’s words, and hit him with the question that had been on my mind the whole time. Right now, the spear that Tsurugi-san has equipped is Seira-san’s weapon.

When I saw the enforcer wielding the Tridente, I thought of three possibilities.

 

The first was the possibility that another party had defeated Death Scythe Mantis.

The second was the possibility that the enforcer was Seira-san.

The third was the possibility that the enforcer stole the weapon by PKing Seira-san.

 

The first choice.

The possibility that another party had defeated Death Scythe Mantis is low. It looks like it’s a really rare monster. After defeating it once, there weren’t any reports of sightings on the boards or on SNS.

 

The second choice. The possibility that it might be Seira-san.

Someone who purposefully wore a mask in order to hide their identity wouldn’t use a rare weapon whose owner could easily be identified. And most of all, I wanted to believe in Seira-san.

 

And so, the possibility that Seira-san was PKd and her weapons was stolen was high. And to make sure of the identity of the enforcer, I decided to destroy their mask.

 

「Ah, this thing? It was hard to PK Seira-san, you know. She’d heard the rumors concerning account break and she was always vigilant of her surroundings.」

 

「Where is she!? If we revive her, we might still make it… tell me!!!」

 

When the HP gauge reaches 0, there’s still one hour for revival. There’s still a chance that I can make it in time…

 

「Ahh, so the reason you were desperately trying to end the fight so quickly was for that? Are you dreaming? Or maybe escaping from reality? That woman’s weapon is in my hands. In other words, she’s no longer in NW!」

 

That’s… a lie… that’s a lie. I mean, I still haven’t said my goodbyes to Seira-san. I still want to go on adventures with her. I want to get excited during our random conversations.

 

And then you say she’s no longer here…

 

「I won’t forgive you… Seira-san, she was living in this world. Those feelings, her smiling face, my important comrade… you stole them because of your selfish ideals.」

 

My feelings of anger exploded and I readied my weapon.

 

「So annoying, you guys and your wannabe hero attitude! I will destroy it! Come!」

 

Tsurugi-san’s remaining HP is at 10% and mine is at 30%…

If I take the initiative, it’s my victory!

 

I prepared to fire 【Scatter Shot】, aiming at Tsurugi-san, but his attack motion was faster than before.

 

「Destroy everything! 【Account Break】!」

 

Tsurugi-san crossed his arms and swung them like swords, firing a crimson light towards me at the speed of light. It cut down my HP until only 3% remained and the impact blew me away.

 

「Ugh…」

 

Barely enduring it, I somehow stood up.

 

「Tsk, I meant that to be the finishing blow, but I guess I hurried too much and wasn’t able to damage more.」

 

It seems that, if it’s not used as the finishing skill, it won’t activate its forced expulsion effect. Somehow, I was able to endure right until the limit.

 

「What was that, that skill… it’s not normal」

「Who knows. Maybe NW has actually been taking our souls. Hey, Mari-jouchan. It’ll be easier if you just admit defeat now, you know.」

 

As if I will lose.

Until I stop you, I won’t lose.

I won’t give up.

 

So please, let the kind Tsurugi-san come back!

 

I mustered up my strength and entered a fighting stance, preparing my bow and staring at Tsurugi-san.

 

「Oh ho, so you can make that kind of face. In that woman’s shadows, you who were just cowering behind her.」

 

He’s right. The one who’s been beside me, it’s always been Saya.

I’ve become spoiled from Saya protecting me.

But…

 

「I can’t stay this way… always being protected.」

 

Not behind Saya’s back, I want to stand side by side with her!

 

【Scatter Shot】!!!

The scatter shot that I failed to fire earlier, I took the initiative to activate it this time. The arrows that rained down from the skies fell towards Tsurugi-san.

This time, it will be the end-…
However, the rain of arrows that he wasn’t able to evade before, he was barely able to evade them all.

He avoided it!? And moreover, all of it…

 

I see… earlier, he was focused on protecting his mask, and he was also focused on it during the second wave…
After evading it, he immediately fired【Account Break】. Its attack speed isn’t something you can evade with just simple evasion, so I used 【Instant Movement】 to avoid it, and then used the momentum to go around Tsurugi-san’s side and fired 【Silent Arrow -Type Zero-】.

 

Because he had already experienced silent arrow type zero once before, he easily avoided it with an evasive action. Tsurugi-san and I, the skills we had burned into our memory after seeing them once, we tried to figure out how to evade them. Neither of our attacks hit the other, and the equilibrium continued.


「Strong, huh… Honestly, I’m surprised. Mari-jouchan, I didn’t think you had such potential. When I approached to PK you, I attacked thinking you were just a sitting duck… that was a real miscalculation.」



「I’m not strong… you’re just weak.」


「Kuku… Hahaha… No way, I didn’t think that someone like you would provoke me… You fucking brat! I will end this.」

 

Tsurugi-san used the skill 【Wild Release】 to reduce his cooldown by half. He entered the stance for 【Account Break】 and confronted me.

 

If 【Account Break】 turns into a barrage, it’ll be bad. The cooldown for 【Instant Movement】 is 10 seconds. If the cooldown doesn’t make it… then I won’t be able to evade 【Account Break】.


「This is the end! 【Account Break】」


It’s here!


「【Instant Movement】!」

I used instant movement to avoid account break, just like before. The ground was scarred with a shining red cross, showing how much power it had.


Before I could get into an attack motion, Tsurugi-san crossed his arms once again, taking a stance to fire account break continuously.

That difficult to evade high-powered skill, firing repeatedly with a cooldown of just about 5 seconds, it’s basically cheating!


「This is the end! Fall dooooooooooooown!!!」


【Account Break】 was released with great speed, and together with the sound of a large impact a cloud of dust swirled upwards.

「Phew, that do it?」

 

However, what appeared from the cloud of dust wasn’t my incapacitated body but… a stone wall.

It was the emergency defense that I used during the battle against Death Scythe Mantis. The building stones that I collected during yesterday’s hunt, I still had them so I used them as materials for a wall.



「Aahh, that’s right… you’re the type that’s good with those little tricks, right! But you don’t have any chance of winning!」

 

Tsurugi-san repeatedly fired 【Account Break】 again, single-mindedly destroying the walls I created.

What I had gathered together with Seira-san… these materials had become my lifeline now. Using all of the materials, I created a blind spot within the walls and went out with my final gamble. Tsurugi-san, who had continued to do nothing but attack, destroyed the final one, but I was no longer there.

「Stealth!? Where are you!?」

 

He evaded all of the skills he had seen once… so that’s why!

「Soar! 【Aerial Arrow】!」

 

With my skill’s effect, I soared high into the sky and from up in the air, I aimed my arrow wrapped in wind at Tsurugi-san and fired.

「The sky!? Shit! The Fuujin Bow’s exclusive skill!!!」

 

Faced with a skill he was seeing for the first time, Tsurugi-san was slow to react and didn’t evade in time. The aerial arrow that I fired was a direct hit.


Tsurugi HP 0%
Mari HP 3%


Haa… Haa… I won.

Against the Enforcer… Tsurugi-san, I won.



◇



Victorious, I slowly walked towards Tsurugi-san.

「Please stop destroying accounts. Please don’t involve other players who are having fun playing.」

「Shut up… I, I’m just using my power. My salvation isn’t a mistake.」


The NW Company, have they noticed the existence of this skill?

An ordinary person having the power to restrict others from logging in is just, no matter what I don’t think that it was a skill prepared by NW.

 

 

In any case, I now knew the enforcer’s true identity. I opened the menu screen and from the help, I selected the inquiry page and sent a report about a violator.

 

With that, Tsurugi-san’s punishment should have been entrusted to NW… as I thought about that, I returned my gaze to Tsurugi-san who was incapacitated… his player character was being covered in light.

Eh, this is revival magic!!!
Who in the world is this from!?


The moment Tsurugi-san stood up, he was already in the motion for 【Account Break】.


This is bad, I can’t evade it!

 

The 【Account Break】 that Tsurugi-san fired immediately after reviving hit me directly, shaving off the little remaining HP that I had.

Just like that, I fell forwards as I ended up incapacitated.


「This is surprising. I didn’t even imagine that you’d come help.」

 

Tsurugi-san threw words of gratitude towards the person that used revival magic on him. The figure that slowly approached, stopped besides Tsurugi-san and used healing magic to heal him.

「That really helped. Karma.」
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Chapter 15 END
9: Yet another cliffhanger.

B: I legitimately kept getting mad at KUZUrugi while editing this. Put all the blame on him for the delay.

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Goddess bless