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TL: ALT
Chapter 92 – Retrieval
When I was aware of the Short Teleportation, a translucent blue figure was projected into my field of vision.
It is a marker that indicates the destination of the Short Teleportation.
At my current skill level, the maximum distance is 8 meters.
I’m barely moving the marker forward, but it’s still a few steps away from Haruka-san.
…What should I do?
Should I close the distance all at once before Clovis turns to face me?
I was never good at PE in school, but thanks to Escape, I can say that running ten meters is now part of my routine.
I have a lot of know-how that I have cultivated through Escape, such as irregular zigzag running, feints with a slow and steady pace, and so on.
I was confident that I could avoid a direct attack from Clovis.
However, Clovis would not move away from Haruka-san.
Even if something happens, he is able to take Haruka-san hostage right away.
He may not be expecting my attack, but he is not letting his guard down.
I wish I could divert his attention even for a moment…
But there’s only Clovis, me, and Haruka-san here.
No matter how long I wait, there will never be an accident that suits my needs.
Should I inform Haruka-san of my presence and ask her to make a move?
No, I can’t do that. If I do, Clovis will find out.
Should I summon Kudave?
But Clovis will see me summon Kudave.
If Kudave appeared, he would take Haruka-san hostage at that moment.
So maybe I could use Summon Secret Monster to summon Hobijinkai as a decoy?
But my lower-level summoned monster can’t compete with Clovis and the Thunder Gryphon in the sky above.
…No, wait.
Yes, let’s use that skill.
With that, my heart won’t hurt even if she gets hit.
I haven’t shown it to Clovis yet, so it might be a surprise.
But… it’s no use.
If I use the skill to attack, the Stealth effect will wear off.
Clovis will take Haruka-san hostage before I can take the step of summoning -> have her attack.
The performance of the skill itself is also conspicuous, so there is no doubt that it will be discovered the moment it is activated.
Or perhaps Clovis will be surprised by the state of the moment?
Although I was unable to finish him off in the Tengumine Shrine grounds, I have strengthened my skills in general, such as my Strong Strike Magic skill.
Now that Clovis hasn’t discovered me yet, I can also use the effects of Preemptive Strike and Surprise Attack.
Can the trusted and proven one-hit-kill strategy be viable?
…It’s a tricky point.
Clovis has Pride―a skill that reduces the damage of opponents whose level is lower than his by S.Lv x 10%.
His level is 5, which means he can cut the damage of all my attacks in half.
I want to summon her somehow, distract him, and use the opportunity to get Haruka-san back.
To do that, I need to suppress any sign of the skill’s activation or activate it from a distance.
But there’s no way to do that.
…No, there is a way.
There’s no guarantee it’ll work, but I have to try.
What am I going to do?
Well, you’ll see.
I took an elixir from my Item Box.
I use the Grant Skill on the elixir.
Grant Skill is a non-combat skill, so it doesn’t remove the Stealth effect.
I gave it that skill, which I had never used before.
Then, I use Appraisal on the elixir.
Item ──────────────────
Elixir with the Summon Heroic Spirits skill.
It fully restores HP and MP and removes all kinds of abnormalities.
The Summon Heroic Spirits skill is activated by using the elixir or destroying the container. The Heroic Spirit summoned is the Spirit of Junko Tozaki Lv. 2941, who is burning in the flames of hell. The elixir’s MP regeneration effect is lost by the amount of MP required to activate the skill.
────────────────────
…Okay, perfect.
I’m going to throw the elixir granted with Summon Heroic Spirit using the Throw skill―no, I’m not going to use the skill; I’m just going to throw it normally.
That’s dangerous.
If I had used the skill, the Stealth would have disappeared.
It doesn’t have to be powerful; just throw it.
The target is the ground on the opposite side of Haruka-san from Clovis’ point of view.
It hit the concrete-like ground, and the elixir cracked with a crunching sound.
“――What?”
A pillar of fire erupts from the ground in front of Clovis, who turns around in panic.
A closer look inside the pillar of fire reveals a woman in flames.
It is the spirit of Junko Tozaki being consumed by the flames of hell.
“It hooooottttt…! It huuuuurts!”
Junko Tozaki, who is struggling, lets a flaming whip fly from her hand.
She seems to be able to control the flames that are burning her.
This is an ability that is not part of her original skill set.
“Tsk!”
Clovis releases a stream of water from the front of his body, extinguishing the flames of the deceased.
He must have used Spirit Magic with Chantless.
Chantless magic requires no spells but has a lower magic power.
However, Clovis at level 5079 and the spirit of Junko Tozaki at level 2941 are too different in terms of their original Magic Power values.
“G-ghost! Why is it in a place like this…!”
Haruka-san was surprised.
“You can’t be! Ridiculous, you should be dead…!”
Clovis looked at the ghost and exclaimed in surprise.
This reaction―does he know Junko Tozaki?
I wondered, but that would have to wait for now.
“Short Teleport.”
I was unsure whether to approach and then teleport or teleport and then approach, but I teleported first to close the distance.
It would be more advantageous to be noticed after teleporting than before since I would be closer to Haruka-san.
With Clovis, who was more flustered than I expected, behind him, I slipped in front of Haruka-san.
“Yu-Yuto-san!”
“That human explorer? You mean you’re already following me?”
Haruka-san and Clovis noticed me.
But there is no need to exchange words with Clovis anymore.
It is also dangerous to give him a chance.
I took my rapid-fire bow out of my Item Box.
It’s a Karakuri bow I got in the Kururi Castle dungeon.
I thought it was too peaky to use, but for what I’m about to do, it couldn’t be more perfect.
“――I’ll get everyone back!”
I maximized my hit rate with Sniper, Bull’s Eye, and Lock-On.
I stacked the Quick Shot sub-skill under Archery on top of the Rapid Fire sub-skill under Bow Technique to maximize the rate of consecutive shots.
Then, I added Stun Attack, Heavy Strike, and Hit Stop to extend the hardness time after the shot landed.
And, of course, I added Plunder to all arrows, which is my main goal.
I also added Knock Out in case Plunder fails.
“Gugagagagahh!”
Clovis screams in pain as arrows pierce him one by one.
With his Agility, he can’t dodge them, and he won’t get a lucky evasion.
I listen carefully to the Voice of Heaven that I should hear.
‘You stole the Elven Cloak!”
‘You stole Fuzuki Yumeno!’
‘You stole the High Potion!’
‘You stole the Thunder Staff!’
‘You stole the Ring of Protection!’
‘You stole Ishigami Shunsuke!’
‘You stole the Staff of the World Tree!’
“Tch, only two out of seven.”
Of course, that means the number of explorers I managed to retrieve.
How could I help the explorers trapped in Clovis’ Item Box?
When I thought about it, the first thing that came to mind was Plunder.
If they were made into objects through Human Objectification, wouldn’t they be subject to Steal and Plunder just like any other equipment or item?
With Treasure Hobbit’s Steal, even items in the Item Box could be stolen.
It should also be possible to use Plunder to steal the objectified explorers in his Item Box.
If this assumption had been wrong, their rescue would have been difficult.
Even if I could shut Clovis down and free him, it was unlikely that he would listen to me.
After all, the skill description says that an objectified person can be destroyed just like an object.
It is quite possible that Clovis destroyed them as a final act of harassment.
It could have influenced the Flood to fulfill Clovis’s motives.
However, repeating the Plunder one by one until all were retrieved would not accomplish anything.
He would soon realize what I was trying to do.
So, I devised the Plunder method by combining the rapid-fire bow and the bow skills.
Even with a Karakuri rapid-fire bow, the skill-based shooting correction is also effective.
Due to the effect of multiple skills that increase the speed of the rapid-fire, the ‘karakuri’ part of the bow goes haywire! And it worked like a sewing machine.
The number of shots per minute could be equal to that of an automatic rifle.
In less than a second, all the loaded arrows were ejected, and all the shots pierced Clovis’ body.
And all of those arrows have a Plunder mark on them.
However, since Clovis’ belongings and equipment were also subject to Plunder, I was only able to retrieve two of the seven people.
“Y-you bastard, when did you…!”
Clovis cannot move after the shot lands due to the rigidity.
The Stun Attack, Heavy Strike, and Hit Stop skills are in case I cannot retrieve them all in a single turn.
Stun Attack is a skill that can be acquired by default, but the SP is high, and the duration of the stun is short, so not many people acquire this skill.
Heavy Strike and Hit Stop are skills that can be obtained by using the Book of Wisdom, Scroll of Rupture, and the Book of Wisdom, Scroll of Emergency, respectively.
In this case, each of them has been increased to level 3.
“I’m sorry, but I won’t listen to you.”
It is true that the rapid-fire bow can instantly produce high firepower.
Even more so when used in conjunction with skills.
But this weapon has a fatal flaw.
It is slow to reload.
When you have shot all the arrows, you have to hold the bowstring with one foot, turn the stiff handle just a little bit, and reload the arrows one by one.
Of course, I can’t afford to do that in front of Clovis.
So what do I do?
I used Quick Draw to pull the next bow from my Item Box.
The Quick Draw effect means zero lag time in the Item Box and zero lag time when changing equipment.
“W-wait… Gubeehhhh!?”
Clovis dances with an amused shriek.
‘You stole the High Potion!’
‘You stole Nose Naoya!’
‘You stole Han Ji-won!’
‘You stole the Falcon Boots!’
‘You stole the Elixir!’
‘You stole Kanbayashi Karen!’
‘You stole the Elven Boots!’
“Y-you bastard! What have you done to me?”
Clovis is confused.
This is not an abnormal state but confusion in the normal sense of the word.
He probably has no idea what has been done to him.
It seems to me that he should have noticed the disappearance of his equipment.
Also, stealing the equipment does not make Clovis naked.
He is wearing an elf-like grass-colored robe underneath, so he is safe (?).
Anyway, that’s five out of seven.
The retrieved cubes―the objectified explorers―are in my Item Box under the Plunder specification.
I don’t like the idea of putting people in my Item Box, but I have to ask them to be patient a little longer.
“Two more to go.”
I Quick Draw the third rapid-fire bow.
“Pugegubabababa…!”
‘You stole the High Potion!’
‘You stole Louise Northstein!’
‘You stole the High Potion!’
‘You stole the Mana Potion!’
‘You stole the Elixir!’
‘You stole the Ring of Slaughter!’
‘You stole Shiina Akari!’
Alright! Everyone has been retrieved.