Mebius World Online – Mari’s VRMMO Diary, Embarking on a Laid-back Adventure as a Novice - Chapter 47

I think I chaught a cold, it was so cold recently and rains still pouring down.

47. Mari-nee and the First Official Event (The Clown’s Expertise)

As the distance between us and Nemesis closed in, the pressure from its size and eerie appearance was much heavier than I had anticipated.

Riding on Cougar made it bearable, but if I had to stand on my own, my knees might have been trembling, making it difficult to move properly.

Facing such an opponent, I couldn’t help but admire how Leon and his team faced it without hesitation. There are various factors to consider, but in that regard, I genuinely thought they were amazing.

Thanks to their battle, I could confront Nemesis with my own thoughts and ideas.

Fortunately, there was no one around. I could use the space freely without causing any inconvenience, and at this moment, the only things I needed to worry about were Nero and Cougar.

“Nero, Cougar… It might get really tough, but lend me your strength.”

“Nyan-nyan!”

“Gaoooooooo!”

Encouraged by the reassuring sounds of the two, we finally entered the attack range of Nemesis’s halberd.

The first attack was a long-reaching thrust. However, with the current straight and distant situation, I could easily dodge it with Cougar’s speed.

The sharp blade passed by us, sinking into the ground with a thunderous impact. The pressure from the wind caused my body to sway.

Holding firmly onto Cougar to stabilize myself, the second and third strikes came.

Activating ?Clown? on Nero and me, I guided the attacks away from Cougar to a slightly distant position.

The margin for evasion was small, but with Cougar’s speed, it was sufficient.

While dodging the consecutive attacks, I observed Nemesis, which had stopped advancing. It prioritized eliminating us.

“Just as I thought, even if we can’t defeat it, there are things we can do.”

We continued to run in a circular motion with Cougar.

The key was not to be too far or too close.

If we were too far, there might be a long-range attack from its wings. Gillan managed to endure it, but there was zero chance I could.

And if we got too close, the variety of attacks from the halberd would increase. Avoiding the vertical swings was one thing, but the horizontal swings were troublesome.

If this were a forest, I might have been able to handle it with three-dimensional movements using threads. But in the current situation where that was impossible, it was difficult for us to dodge.

Jumping with Cougar wouldn’t help much either; we could only jump a moderate distance.

I didn’t want to imagine what would happen afterward.

So, we kept moving without stopping. I only let Nemesis thrust, and I supported Cougar with ?Clown? making it easier to evade.

Come to think of it, since Nero and Cougar came, I’ve only been supporting them, haven’t I?

…Yeah, let’s not think too much about my purpose here.

“Nyan!”

In the midst of the battle, Nero warned me with a meow. Looking, I saw Nemesis attempting to open its mouth.

That was the area-of-effect attack that led to Leon’s party’s complete defeat.

If it were just these movements, someone specialized in AGI might be able to do it.

In fact, they might do it better than us.

However, that alone wouldn’t prevent this area-of-effect attack.

Arx had already proven that.

From here on, it was something only we could do.

“Cougar!”

“Gaooooo!”

In response to my command, Cougar tilted its head, and a wind barrier spread out on its side.

The impact of the sound caused by Nemesis’s song clashed against the deployed wind wall. Shrill noises echoed, eventually fading away.

I’ve never really taken risks, but winning at gambling feels like this, maybe? A sudden surge of excitement bursts in my mind, lifting my mood significantly.

To be honest, if we couldn’t completely block that area-of-effect attack with Wind Roar, we would have been in a very difficult situation. Especially if Cougar were injured, and its speed had dropped, we wouldn’t have a way to dodge Nemesis’s halberd.

And Nero and Cougar can’t be healed by magic.

In other words, there’s no room for a second chance.

But with this, my biggest concern has been dispelled.

Now, all we need to do is repeat this, stop Nemesis’s movements for as long as possible, even if it’s just for a minute or a second.

Ah, am I a true clown now? Is this where I shine?

All I have to do is entertain the audience Nemesis with attacks. The moments of tension continued, but the three of us continued to withstand Nemesis’s fierce attacks.

…After dodging the attacks for the umpteenth time, something abnormal began to happen.

Not Nemesis.

Me.

The uncomfortable feeling I had vaguely sensed had unmistakably worsened.

This familiar feeling…

Looking at the MP gauge, it was about to drop below 10%.

“Only this far, huh?”

I instructed Cougar to keep a distance from Nemesis. Nemesis, which had not shown this before, began the motion for long-range attacks using its wings.

I quickly brought Cougar and Nero back and changed my equipment.

Just when I thought I made it in time, a rain of feathers approached.

“Ughhh!”

Countless pains pierced through my body, and unintentionally, a voice leaked out.

In an instant, my HP became zero, and at the moment of collapse, I could no longer see anything.

…When I realized it, I was standing in the middle of Eden, just like the time I returned after dying.

I safely returned after death.

“This is tougher than I thought.”

The discomfort from MP depletion and the pain from Nemesis’s attacks.

If I let my guard down, it feels like my spirit will break, but… Yeah, I’ll be fine. I can do it.

As announced, there was no death penalty.

Instead, as Graham-san’s guild member mentioned, my fullness had greatly decreased.

I hastily ate a piece of jerky and summoned Cougar and Nero.

Petting the two who approached with a worried look, I, once again, headed towards Nemesis.

When sprinting through the town, I could see the anxious expressions of the residents.

Having Cougar run at full speed, we challenged Nemesis again.

Aggro the attacks, stopping its advance, and pinning it down.

When MP was about to run out, I returned by dying.

By dying, my HP and MP recovered by 30%.

The MP consumed by Wind Roar was 10%.

Even if I took it easy, the calculation was that we could endure Nemesis’s area-of-effect attack twice.

From there, we just repeated the flow of immobilizing and getting defeated, then returning by dying.

Over and over again.

…Again and again.

…And again.

…How many times have I returned after dying?

I wonder how much time we managed to buy.

And how much longer do we need to endure…

The repeated agony of death, the extreme tension of not making mistakes, and hunger.

I had already eaten up all the jerky and portable rations.

In the hazy consciousness, I somehow changed my equipment and summoned Nero and Cougar using movements remembered by my body.

“Ah…”

I tried to climb onto Cougar’s back, but my body lacked strength, and I fell from its back in the middle of climbing.

I reached out, but there was nothing to grab onto.

In the slow flow of time, within the dimming consciousness, I anticipated the hard impact of hitting the ground.

…Yet, what awaited me was an enveloping, soft sensation.

What is this, incredibly warm…

I felt like I was about to fall asleep like this.

In the narrowing field of view, there were Estelle-san and the children, gazing at me with worried expressions.