Astral Online: Cursed by the Demon Lord to Become the Strongest Beautiful Girl, I Rapidly Grow and Dominate with Cheat Skills Despite Being the Weakest Profession - Chapter 51

Chapter 51: The Mightiest Fragile Heart

 

“Yaaawn…”

 

When I woke up and looked at the clock, it was just past 10 AM. Yesterday, after replenishing recovery items and maintaining our weapons with Aria and the others, I didn’t go to bed until around 2 AM—right when Kuro was getting lunch.

 

After learning about the antidote, I immediately shared the information with the other raid members, and everyone was delighted.

 

The poison from the “Leviathan” can severely limit even top players’ actions once it reaches Level 2. In the current environment, the only way to remove it is by using the ?Clear All? skill that priests obtain at Skill Level 5, which consumes 30 MP. Since a Heal spell that restores 200 HP also uses 30 MP, a priest, assuming they’re at Level 18, can only cast these in three sets.

 

This results in a tremendous amount of MP consumption for the priests.

 

During yesterday’s debriefing, the priests also raised concerns about their dwindling supply of magic potions, which had been troubling Shiori and the others.

 

So, for today’s “Leviathan” battle, the plan is to use potions as the main method for HP recovery, leaving the priests to focus on curing poison.

 

However, this strategy has its own issues.

 

The potions currently available restore exactly 100 HP. A Level 18 player with 360 HP would need three potions to fully recover, but the problem is, the potions are designed in such a way that they don’t take effect until the entire potion is consumed. It takes about 10 seconds to drink one, so drinking three would take 30 seconds in total.

 

These 30 seconds are, to put it bluntly, a significant amount of time.

 

Of course, there’s no way to speed things up by drinking all three at once. I wonder if we’ll be able to rotate shifts efficiently under these conditions. If anyone makes a mistake, the whole plan could fall apart…

 

Well, in any case, we won’t know until we try.

 

Sora chuckled wryly as she got up and left his room. When she went downstairs to the first floor, she found…

 

Small spirit trees had sprouted.

 

…Huh?

 

They weren’t breaking through the floor but rather seemed to have always been there, with about five small trees scattered around. They weren’t illusions either.

 

When I got closer and touched a branch, I felt a slightly rough texture, and the faint glow they emitted was unmistakably that of spirit trees.

 

“I see, so this is what happens on the second day of the event if you don’t defeat the ‘Leviathan’.”

 

If I had to describe this scene in one word, it would be like having five potted plants scattered around.

 

Will they grow, or will they stay like this? For now, I decided to consider them part of the interior decor and took a bite of the homemade sandwich I had prepared so that my little sister, Shiori, could have a quick breakfast.

 

Just then, I heard a sleepy voice behind me, “Good morning, big brother,” as Shiori descended the stairs.

 

“Good morning, Shiori. Something interesting is happening on the first floor.”

 

“Huh, something interesting…?”

 

When I pointed at the spirit trees that had turned into houseplants, Shiori, who had been half-asleep, suddenly opened her eyes wide in shock.

 

“Yeah, I wonder what will happen by tomorrow.”

 

“W-w-wha…!!!”

 

Seeing Shiori reaching her limit, I immediately took a defensive stance to protect my eardrums. And then—

 

Even though I was braced for it, a piercing scream that seemed to drill into my brain echoed throughout the house.

 

…………………………….

 

When I stepped outside to run an errand at the convenience store, the number of spirit trees had increased even more, to the point where cars couldn’t drive on the streets.

 

This situation had caused quite a stir.

 

The news I saw before leaving had a headline that read, ?The Unstoppable Greening Phenomenon?, with some adults commenting, “This is nature’s wrath against humanity!” while others were saying to the Astral Online players, “There are professionals involved, so hurry up and clear it already.”

 

But the difficulty is such that even the pros are getting wiped out.

 

These people probably can’t even imagine how hard the raid teams are working to come up with countermeasures. Well, it’s pointless to think about it.

 

Despite the spirit trees spreading all over the city, life seems to be going on as usual. The internet, electricity, water, and gas are all functioning without any issues so far.

 

So, what about logistics? The details are unclear, but it seems that the ?Guardian? is taking some sort of lead in managing it.

 

Strangely enough, the stock at the supermarkets I saw on TV didn’t seem to be affected at all.

 

Could it be that those white-haired girls are using magic to teleport the goods through space?

 

This is just my speculation, but with so many mysteries surrounding this situation, it wouldn’t be surprising if they were using some kind of supernatural power.

 

Spatial teleportation—literally moving people or objects from one place to another through space. It’s a fairly common type of magic in fantasy settings.

 

As of now, Astral Online doesn’t have anything like that. Even a fixed teleportation system in the city would be great for cutting down travel time.

 

On top of all this, with the situation worsening, our parents, who are currently overseas, apparently called Shiori, the current caretaker of the house, to check if everything was okay.

 

Shiori told them that we’re fine, without mentioning my gender change… but still, it leaves me with a sense of guilt.

 

Yet, telling them the truth and shocking them isn’t something I want either. The last thing I want to see is a news story about two Japanese tourists abroad doing something reckless and getting into an accident. That would be traumatizing for sure.

 

With these thoughts running through my mind, I arrived at the convenience store.

 

Inside, it was cool, and to someone like me, who had their hoodie pulled down low over their face, it felt like heaven.

 

“Ah, this is life.”

 

Mumbling like an old man, I grabbed a basket and began tossing in dozens of energy drinks.

 

As for lunch… nothing really stood out, so I just grabbed a hamburger pilaf at random.

 

Just as I was heading to the register, I glanced back and saw—

 

Through the glass, I spotted two boys walking side by side. One had black hair and a serious expression, and the other was a handsome guy with brown hair and a kind demeanor.

 

There’s no mistaking it—they’re my best friends, Shinji and Shiro.

 

“Crap!”

 

Muttering to herself, Sora quickly hid behind a shelf.

 

Though her noticeable silver hair was hidden under a hood, there was still a high chance she could be recognized if seen directly.

 

Watching the two boys who had just entered the store, Sora moved carefully to avoid being spotted, while straining to listen in on their conversation.

 

“Man, who would have thought a Leviathan General would launch a surprise attack so late in the game?”

 

“Yeah, he wasn’t there yesterday. It was so unexpected that even ?Hell and Heaven? failed to escort him.”

 

What!?

 

If she hadn’t misheard, it meant that both ?Hunters of the Twilight? and ?Hell and Heaven? had failed to escort the spirit. This meant the raid boss, Leviathan General, had leveled up by 10.

 

As Sora stood there in shock, Shinji sighed.

 

“Sora really managed to take down that overpowered monster, huh?”

 

“Yeah, he said he got a skill that converts physical attacks into magic attacks. He mentioned that he obtained it at skill level 25, but anyone else would have to be level 50 to get it.”

 

“When you put it in numbers like that, it really shows how insane that guy is.”

 

“Sora has always had a knack for getting those unique skills, even back in the day.”

 

“True. Like in ?Sky Fantasy?, when he accidentally found a hidden passage no one else could locate, and ended up getting that unique class from ‘Susanoo’ that only one player could obtain. Everyone was shocked.”

 

The unique class ?God of War?—what a nostalgic term.

 

In Sky Fantasy, it was one of the strongest classes, the only one that could acquire non-elemental ultimate techniques. Non-elemental attacks could bypass any defensive enhancements, making even the strongest defenses useless against ?God of War?.

 

“Yeah, back in the Sky Fantasy days, Sora was literally unbeatable.”

 

“I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve beaten him one-on-one after he got ‘God of War’.”

 

Shiro chuckled as he and Shinji began tossing energy drinks into their basket in the drinks section. In no time, the shelf was empty.

 

The reason? Sora had already cleared it out by putting even more into her own basket.

 

“Huh, that’s all of them.”

 

“Maybe Sora came to buy some?”

 

“When he gets serious, he goes into shut-in mode, so it’s possible.”

 

Sora’s heart skipped a beat—they had hit the nail on the head. Her best friends had completely figured out her behavior pattern.

 

After that, the two boys moved on, grabbed a few bags of snacks from another shelf, and headed to the register.

 

I couldn’t resist listening in, so I kept myself hidden behind the shelf and crept closer.

 

Then, Shiro muttered softly.

 

“Back in Sky Fantasy, it was really rough. I hope he’s having fun now.”

 

“Yeah, he better be having fun. After all, you and I split the cost on that game.”

 

“…Right. If he doesn’t enjoy it, then our wallets took a hit for nothing.”

 

“Exactly. He needs to play to the max and become the strongest, or our wallets’ sacrifice won’t be worth it.”

 

“Heh, we can proudly say that the strongest ?Enchanter? was born thanks to us.”

 

They laughed, finished paying, and left the convenience store.

 

Watching my friends walk away from behind the shelf, I couldn’t move a single step.

 

…Shinji, Shiro.

 

I… I’m “weak.”

 

I’m scared to stand before my friends in this body.

 

Sora lowered her head and bit her lip, overwhelmed by the weakness in her own heart that she couldn’t trust.