44 Restriction (1/2)

Shesmu looked at the red wolf in front of them and used Inspect to find out its stats.

Red Wolf

HP: 1000/1000

Ryan dashed in, eager for a fight.

”Let me test the power of this new set. I have been dying to try it out!”

With a silver flash, he disappeared from everyone's sight before reappearing behind the wolf's back flying. He raised his dagger and performed an aerial Slash Cancel on the monster's nap. The red wolf's Hp quickly depleted before it fell on the ground dead.

Ryan was also about to land when he noticed the color of the tile he was about to fall on. It was black!

”Argh!”

An electric shock stunned Ryan for a second. Arcs of lightning zapped away at his body before dissipating. All the while, a red number appeared above his head.

-200

The damage from standing on the tile took out around 20% of Ryan's HP. After the stun duration wore off, he quickly rolled out of the black tile into the safety of the white terrain.

”Hey, Ryan, are you alright?”

Leo hopped between the white tiles before finally reaching Ryan. The latter took Leo's hand before saying, ”Thanks dude. Yeah, I'm alright.”

Shesmu hopped from one tile to another before reaching the duo.

”Oh, so there is a stun function. We should keep that in mind when fighting the boss later.”

”Yeah, you're right,” Ryan responded. ”We don't wanna get stunlocked into oblivion.”

”Mister Ryan, are you alright?” Ryuji ran as fast as he could to catch up to Shesmu's party.

”Mister Ryan?” Both Ryuji's worried eyes and his usage of the word ”Mister” surprised him. ”Ehh, yeah, don't use that. Just Ryan is fine.”

”Yeah, Ryuji. Don't use that, in fact, stop calling me Master too. You can call me Shesmu.”

”Ehh, yes, Mast-Mas-I mean, Sh-Shesmu.”

Even though it took a few tries, Ryuji was finally able to say it right. Looking at this side of him, Shesmu found it a bit less annoying, and kind of cute. At the end of the day, it was just a little kid that met his idol, he couldn't fault him too much.

Sakura followed after Ryuji. Seeing him call Shesmu by name, she was about to say something in response before she stopped herself. She looked at her childhood friend and smiled.

With Ryan now standing up, he undusted his silver wolf coat and unsheathed his dagger.

”Shes, I'm up one wolf over you. Don't fall behind too much or it won't be fun!”

Ryan once again took the lead and jumped from one tile to the next. All the while, Shesmu sighed before looking at his comrades.

”Well, since this turned into a competition, let's make use of it and kill as many of these wolves as we can.”

”Sure, that would be fun,” Sakura responded.

”Oy! If master-I mean, if Shesmu wants it, I'll kill as many of these monsters as they come!”

”That's the spirit!” said Leo.

Shesmu's gaze lingered on Sakura. It seems like she was no longer upset. He shrugged her off earlier as just another always angry, always complain person, but it seems like she had a much gentler side to her.

Now, if only that would translate to skills too…

Shesmu's first impression of the duo wasn't the brightest. He was concerned whether they'll be able to take care of themselves.