13 Vol 1. pt. 13 Patch 3.0: To the City of Pirates! (1/2)
”Hey, Fenny, doesn't this remind you of that time we kicked the hornet's nest by killing Ultimatum's girlfriend?” Oleander asks as an arrow flies by him.
”Nothing else was going to get under that prick's skin than killing his crybaby streamer of a girlfriend. I still get people trying to dox me from that,” Fenrir replies.
”I still laugh whenever I remember him making that huge blog post begging for her to come back!”
Serra can only listen in and jump every single time an arrow is shot their way. She has no idea what they're talking about, but it does sound like her crush has a side to him that she knows nothing about. Something about that is… exciting. Him caring for her and helping her out right after meeting her is what originally drew her interest, but with what little pieces of information she's gathering now, it's beginning to sound more like he's got some dark and mysterious past to him!
Really, he's just spent too much time playing video games.
”What's the plan? Battle Master?” Fenrir asks, looking over to Oleander.
”I don't think we can beat them all, but they don't know our strength, so let's try to trick them so we can escape. You better hope they're gullible!” Oleander explains.
Fenrir looks back. Just as he figured, the group of players chasing after them is catching up with ease. The only reason they're not here yet is because of the head start the party got. Then he notices something. Bonekraka is ahead of him despite running at the same time and starting from the same spot. Did carrying Oleander increase his speed and endurance? ”Bone, you'll be able to outrun those guys as long as me and Olly buy you some time. Take Serra and go hide! We'll catch up later,” Fenrir orders.
Serra looks surprised and makes some confused hand signs when she sees the giant orc approach her all of a sudden, but he picks her up regardless and tosses her over his shoulder. ”Thanks, Bone, good luck!” Fenrir says. Bonekraka nods, gains some distance, and then splits off from Fenrir and Oleander.
”I don't know how I feel about a giant orc being faster than a deer and wolf,” Oleander says.
”Yeah, we're going to need to do something about that. Alright, you ready?”
Rather than give a spoken response, Oleander stops in his tracks when he sees a flower sticking up from the ground. He places his hands on it while keeping his eyes on the approaching enemies. From a single flower sprouts nearly a dozen viny tendrils that lash out towards the enemies! ”It worked! They're really weak, but let's hope they don't reali—”
A burst of flame engulfs all of the tendrils at once.
”I, uhh, Fenny? They can use magic too.”
”Yeah, I figured it was going to end like this the moment I punched that kid. This is when being an OP main character of some anime would come in handy. What do you think?” Fenrir asks.
”Are we still doing that thing where we never let anybody get the satisfaction of killing us?”
Fenrir looks back and sees Bonekraka disappearing into the darkness of night with Serra. Good, they should be safe. ”You know it. You first since you have the spear.”
”Alright! See you on the other side!” Oleander says with a smile much too large for what he's about to do. Fenrir notices hesitation in his movements, but it doesn't stop Oleander. Aiming the spear toward his heart, he pulls it forward with as much strength as he can muster to tear right through his chest.
He falls to the ground.
An arrow flies by Fenrir's head. ”Alright, gotta be quick. I'll be back for you, Rock.” With that, Fenrir takes the spear out from Oleander's chest, aims it against his own heart, and... hesitates. Killing himself in games was never a problem before, so why now? He feels like if he kills himself then he's going to actually die.
No, this is just a game. He repeats that several times in his head right up until he impales himself.
The last things he sees and hears before his vision goes to black are the angered shouts of his pursuers catching up just seconds too late.
Fenrir jumps and hits the table when he realizes that he's sitting in the café from his childhood once more. Saya is sitting across from him with a mocking expression and a half-eaten sundae. ”Such a cowardly way to go out, Onii-chan,” she teases.
He looks around. No more field, no more angry pursuers, and no spear in his chest. His hands are shaking from leftover adrenaline. ”You say cowardly, I say stubbornly! I mean, come on. We killed three of their friends, stole two of their swords, they didn't get to kill us, and it's not like there's any good loot to get from our bodies. We also just started playing, so it's not like we're going to lose much progress either. Me and Olly went out in proper Divine Brigade style,” Fenrir explains, a smug look of satisfaction on his own face now that he's relaxing.
Saya raises her hands and shrugs. ”It does seem to work pretty well based off of your memories.”
”Oh, I have a question.”
”Of course you do, Onii-chan. I'm assuming it is the question that 92.74% of players ask after their first death.”
”How does death and respawning work?”
”Knew it!”
”You know what I'm going to ask before I even ask it in the first place, so that's not really fair.”
Saya does an innocent little whistle while looking to the side. ”Anyways, you're not able to play the game for twenty-four hours after dying, and you will either respawn where you first spawned after making your character, or where you last slept.”