The Foreshadowed Obstacles

"Yeah, that’s it,” GG remarked. “Or what? Do you need more?”

“Shounen stories won’t end prematurely like this, right?” Takuto asked, bewildered.

“Well,” GG reminded, “Some men eject it prematurely.”

“Shut up, GG.”

It’s no wonder, though, because Lopopo buffed Laurel many times. That shouldn’t have been possible if it were in-game. Maybe her Rakerakes made it possible.

Laurel just grinned as she was fixing her exposed bikini. “Oh my, I can’t do a dungeon expedition tomorrow.”

“Do you need me to wash it?” Takuto said, trying to offer something sus.

But with no change in her expression, Laurel closed her eyes and replied, “No, thank you, Takuto Higashi.”

“Wash me, wash me!” Lopopo, on the other hand, jumped around. And for some reason, she started rubbing her hands. “Wash, wash, wash,” she hummed, “Soap, soap, soap!”

OK. Let’s ignore the dumb elf. She turns me off.

However, in the blink of an eye, Takuto noticed a slight movement of Laurel’s head. When he probed what was going on, he saw the Tentacle Dragon’s tail speeding up toward Laurel—and Soave, who stood right beside her.

“Soave!”

Laurel, with all of her might, pushed Soave aside to protect him, taking the damage from the tail.

BAM!

“LAUREL!!!” Screaming and worried, Soave ran and made a distance forward. He then took his shield and thrust it to the ground once again. “IDOL CHARM!!!”

Why the hell is Laurel always trying to cover him? Are they lovers?

“It’s no time to delve into someone’s love story, Takuto.” GG, glaring at nowhere, wore glasses and took a notebook. Writing something.

“Lopopo, HEAL LAUREL!” Shouting, Soave looked back, desperately trying to take the situation under control and save his party members. It wasn’t like his usual bottom demeanor, so it surprised Takuto.

“On it! On it!” And unlike her usual dumb demeanor, Lopopo sweated and genuinely looked worried.

Lopopo grabbed her staff, using it as leverage to jump, and she rushed toward Laurel. “Laurel! Eat this!” She hastily opened her shoulder bag and took out a Rakerake, but she also dropped some Rakerakes because of it. She panicked.

BAM! BAM!

The Tentacle Dragon kept whipping Soave’s shield with its tail as it regained its former stance. Now the dragon raised its head and had that smug expression again, as if everything had been reset.

What’s going on?

In a brief moment, as Takuto examined the Event Venue, he caught a glimpse of someone with red eyes in one of the entrances. The person wore a black full plate armor, reminding him of the one who stabbed him. Yukari? No, must be another SkyKnight with red eyes.

“TAKUTO!!” Looking back again, Soave reminded Takuto of what he had to do as the SkyKnight went in and a tentacle minion came out.

Bang! Bang!

Dang it. It’s going to be difficult to hold on.

Thinking about the situation, Takuto decided to walk toward Laurel. She was practically the only damage dealer to the boss, so without her, they would be fucked up.

Laurel, coughing up blood, still smiled despite everything. “Is this my punishment?” she said. “I think a ton of my bones are broken. Can Rakerake heal them?”

“DON’T GIVE UP!!” Lopopo threw her staff upward and hummed in a hurry. She probably cast some healing spells. But Laurel still leaned on the cave wall, faintly.

“GG, if a car, or a high-speed tail, hit someone wearing a full plate armor, can he survive? Wasn’t it better if Soave got hit instead?”

“Plate armor wouldn’t protect him from blunt force trauma like broken ribs and internal bleeding, Takuto. And if he got thrown, the weight of steel would make the landing worse. It also depended on the tail’s speed. If it were very fast, then it might be fatal. Judging from her conditions now, the tail might be faster than 12 miles per hour. But she chose the best decision.”

“Can you use kilometers per hour? I’m not American.”

“It’s 20 kilometers per hour.”

“Thank you, GG.”

As Takuto reached Laurel, he casually shot one tentacle’s head without looking back. He then asked her, “Feel better?”

She just chuckled. “I do. These Rakerakes are sour, Takuto Higashi. Do you want some?”

“Why are there tears on your cheeks?”

“Well, she is crying,” GG said, “Irritation like dust and wind might be the cause, too. Or allergies.”

“That’s not what I mean, GG. I’m just asking her why she is crying.”

“A, hahahaha…” Raising her chin, Laurel stared blankly at the cave ceiling. “At least… I saved him. He is a good guy… unlike me. A lot of people died in my hands.”

“Well, you are an assassin. That’s your job.”

Hearing the bad commentary, Laurel glared at him with closed eyes and a wider smile. “Do you think I deserve to die?”

“You see, Laurel,” he said, as he shot a minion. Bang!

“If you are genuinely thinking of dying because you believe you are a bad person, then at least you are not hopeless. There’s still a hero within you. And that hero manifests each time you put yourself in danger for others, even if you don’t admit it. You kill a lot of nobles, you might say. But those nobles deserve it. Assassins aren’t seeking kills. They protect. Protecting people from far more terrible consequences. No one wants to lose their cherished ones. But if they are ignorant of people’s lives, then they ask for it.”

“I heard that, and something similar, a lot. Do you have any other words?”

“Well,” Takuto reacted, thinking. “No hot woman is a bad person.”

“A, HAHAHAHA.” Holding her belly, Laurel then gripped her knife. She stood up, bathing in blood. Her sharp eyes reminded Takuto of the scene when a character would become cool. And her wide smile hinted that the former Laurel was back.

“Takuto Higashi,” Laurel said, holding his shoulder, “One thing you don’t know is that I did enjoy my killings. Better you don’t get hard. But my, I wonder what you do have there.”

Oho.

“Lopopo, my dearest, buff me again,” said Laurel, glancing at Lopopo behind her.

“On it!”

Laurel then, holding two knives, crouched once more. Currently, the Tentacle Dragon was just swinging its tail and wasn’t doing anything else. It seemed that the dragon feared the humans might attack like before, so it didn’t use its Tentacle’s Grip anymore. Unlike in-game, the Tentacle Dragon showed some intelligence, and it didn’t randomly choose an attack pattern, which made it quite chaotic and unpredictable.

However, it’s still simple attacks. Easy.

“And now the dragon is dancing, L-MAO,” GG added, as she saw the Tentacle Dragon tilt its body left and right, waving its head and enjoying the music on the stage. “UWOOO—”

Stop making a meme, GG.

“The night has come. The light has faded,” Laurel chanted, as an out-of-nowhere bloody aura encircled her. “We prey. We take lives. But we don’t atone. Because we know, we do the right thing.” She made a cross with her wrists, observing the weak spots of her prey. “Assassin Night.”

The light had gone. Everything, even the Mana stones, became dark for a moment. And blood splatters, from everywhere, could be heard.

“What an amusing, dramatic cutscene. It must have taken some lines of code,” GG commented.

“Shut up, GG.”

And when the light had returned, the Tentacle Dragon let its body fall once more, as the minions lost their balance.

The dawn had come after a terrifying night. Assassin Night.

“Laurel!!” Soave and Lopopo hurried to see the condition of their cherished friend and party leader. Kneeling, it seemed that Laurel had pushed her body to its limit. “We have won, haven’t we?” asked Laurel as she took some quick breaths.

“Yes!! Yes!!!” Soave held her arms, telling her that she did a really good job. And Lopopo just swiftly stuffed another Rakerake into Laurel’s mouth. It seemed Rakerakes vary a lot.

“Why don’t you go there and make your presence as support?” GG suggested.