Chapter 11:

Moth to the Blaze

Warpainter: From Office Workers to World Warriors


“You remember this, boss?” She asks.

“How could I not? The hero couldn’t get this stench out of his clothes for weeks. Now I know why.” He says, pinching his nose. “It’s sickeningly sweet, but gross too.”

The roots began cracking as more light escaped, until they exploded, spraying fragments and splinters everywhere. Just before it exploded, they casually hid behind one of the nearby vines.

“This boss was infamous in the community among beginners.” She added.

“No kidding, especially since each of the fragments does like 2 damage a hit when it starts.” He admitted. “I had to waste potions before the fight even started.”
“That’s just because you weren’t paying attention.” She replied. “You’re too careless.”

The creature appeared from flashing lights and let out a roar. Its body is white and covered in purple patterns. Its wings have an elegant air about them, soft yet powerful, creating powerful beats as the creature flew.

“This thing did always have a long cutscene…” He muttered.

“Come on, let's go,” Arte says while getting up from behind the roots.

The two of them stood before the moth and held on as its wings whipped up powerful winds.

“This boss pretty much marks the end of the game’s intro. Let's show Sky how much we’ve grown!” He thought.

The moth flew high into the air and sprinkled dust down by rapidly flapping its wings. The dust was fine and sparkled in the beams of light, filling the entire room. They entered Arte and Leo’s lungs.

“Here it is. It’s a unique parasite. In the game, this battle had a time limit of 5 minutes. The scale dust it emits parasitizes its prey and eats the host’s anima to grow, killing them after the time is up.” Arte thought.

“So we’re going with that strategy?” Leo asks.

“Yeah, it’s probably the only one we can use.” She admitted.

“Got it!” Leo immediately took off running to the other side of the room as Gigantomothia floated downward.

Before it fully descended, Arte rushed forward and jumped into the air, both hands on the sword. She twisted her body in midair, and she felt the pain of her wounds, but used the momentum to slash the moth as it stopped at its normal battle height.

With a single powerful blow, she cut off one of its antennae, causing it to fall to the floor. Gigantomothia used its leg to slam her into the ground, like a fly.

Ironic.

Leo snuck from the back using the wall to gain height and jumped off of it, appearing higher than Gigantomothia and jamming his dagger into its wing and carving a large chunk out of it. With his left hand glowing, he motioned as though he was grabbing something.

“Pilfer!” He shouted. He motioned as though he was grabbing something from the beast. When the glowing stopped, his hand was still empty. “No dice!”

The moth flitted its wings, pushing him back; the force sent him careening into the wall.

Arte got up from the ground and slid underneath it. Gigantomothia began roaring. The room shook from the roar, causing rocks to break away from the ceiling and collapse into the boss arena. Leo was dodging each of the rocks as they came down, and Arte did a leaping stab from beneath the beast. The moment the shaking stopped, Leo was quickly up the wall again, and Arte slipped out from underneath the beast.

Gigantomothia slammed down onto the ground, causing the puddles of Ichor to bubble up and explode skyward like erupting geysers. One of the geysers nearly scorched her face as she stepped back. Leo was already on its back by that point and stabbed it a few times before his hand glowed once more.

“Pilfer!” He shouted. “No luck!”

“The steal rate was 20% in the game… I guess we are still under odds.” Arte mutters.

The moth flew up into the air and began to glow. The creature split apart into ten separate copies, and each of them began bouncing around the room. Arte was parrying some of them as they passed by, but others slammed into her from behind and knocked her over. Leo was dodging them before getting his leg swept by one and then being slammed into the ground by another charging into him.

“Ouch…”

The moths began to slowly gather in the air as their main form reappeared, its mouth drawing energy. While Arte and Leo recovered, the beast finished its charge and fired a beam at the center of the arena. Causing a massive explosion that engulfed the entire room in white light. Leo came rolling out of the explosion, covered in scorches. His entire body ached as she coughed from the cloud of smoke and dirt. The explosion caused more of the ceiling to collapse on them. He quickly rose to his feet and saw Arte across the arena, sword in the ground as she tried to get up. A rock was falling toward her, and there was no time to hesitate.

He dashed forward, weaving through the falling boulders. The moth tried to land on him, but he ran along its back, hand glowing in an attempt to use pilfer. Finishing the motion before he left its back and diving into Arte, and grabbing her. This caused the two to roll away and dodge the falling boulder.

“You alright?” He asks.

“Yeah, thanks.” She says.

While lying on the left side of his body, she peered over to his closed hand, now holding a new dagger. The hilt was made of white fur, much like the moth, and had its purple patterns decorating the side of it. The dagger had a curved blade much like a jambiya, but had distinct notches in its side.

“I got it.” He smirked.

She rolls off of him and jumps to her feet, then helps him up.

“Then it’s our turn now.” She says.

Leo drew the blade from its sheath, now wielding two daggers, one in each hand.

This little guy is only obtainable by a thief. But since thieves never existed in the intro, It meant you could only get it in New Game Plus. The problem being, it’d be relatively useless since you’d have a strong party already, but it’s gonna make a world of difference our first time here.” He thought.

The moth began to fly upward while vomiting ichor at them, and Leo chased after it. He ran up a wall, avoiding its constant stream, and jumped toward it with a horizontal slice. A sparkle of light appeared at the beast’s wing, causing it to come clean off.

“Crit hit, baby! Wooo!” He exclaimed.

The beast fell from the air, and Arte took the chance to lop off its other antenna. Gigantomothia crashed into the ground, causing it to shake.

“That dagger doubles crit rate when the target has been stolen from. The perfect tool for any would-be thief, since they don’t cause high damage.” She thought.

The moth watched its wing fall to the ground, and the white fur covering its body turned blood red.

Time left until the parasites awaken: One minute and thirty seconds.