First Battle

Naturally, this wasn’t actually my first battle. As already stated, I was the one who created this damn game, even if it seemed to have slipped away from my control for the time being. I tested it hundreds of times, including for battles like this.

However, with the circumstances being what they were, it would really become a novel experience.

Was the device simply malfunctioning, or was it some heavenly will that got me stuck here? For now, I had no way of knowing the answer, and I had to defend myself. With how these sorts of stories usually went, I might be in actual danger here.

Facing me was a single, wobbling greenish slime. It had no face, but something dark and round was floating inside its semi-translucent body.

It was approaching me. Clearly it wasn’t going to give me a hug.

Alright, now what? Without a menu, I couldn’t even equip any weapons—not that I had any in the first place, not having gone through the character creation process. Didn’t even have a chance to find any loot.

It was then that I recalled something. How silly of me. Even without a menu, there was still another way for me to log out. I wasn’t so stupid to rely on just one method.

“Debug mode, code 000!” I called out loud. “Logout!”

Nothing happened.

That was definitely the right command… so was I just fucked?

The slime stopped in place near me, but what followed was that a certain part of it swelled, lengthened and shot toward me. It was the “pseudopod whip”, one of its only two attacks.

What I didn’t know, or rather didn’t expect, was the burning pain I felt the moment the greenish tentacle hit my arm’s exposed skin.

“Gwaaah! Urgh…!?”

It reminded me a lot of the time I splashed hot oil on my arm by accident. I fell on my rear from the pain and the damn thing just kept wobbling toward me, probably preparing for another attack.

Fear grasped my heart.

This wasn’t my game anymore. It wasn’t a game, period. VR games nowadays did have some sensory feedback to represent damage, but it wasn’t anything like that. The struck area even began to redden and swell.

And I had another fear, other than the fact of getting hurt.

If I had to die, it couldn’t be against a stupid slime of all things like a complete noob. At least make it a hot girl or something!

“D-debug mode, code 000! Create weapon, code, uh, 001!”

I knew it probably wouldn’t work, but I had to try it anyway. And when I saw the green slime open a hole in its body, I knew what was coming next and somehow rolled away.

The ground I lay on sizzled, raising a faint smoke. It was struck by the green slime’s second attack, “spit acid”.

Perhaps this one really would be like that splash of oil. Not like I wanted to find out.

What was I supposed to do, though? I had no way to procure myself a weapon. I probably should have run away from the first moment, but now my legs—actually make that my body and soul—was shaking so much I’d never be able to get up and escape.

“…No, there’s one last thing to try.”

I could attack the slime physically, but I myself had designed it to be resistant to physical attacks. That meant I needed something non-physical.

Namely, magic.

“Please work…! Take this!”

While I hadn’t been able to go through the character creation process, all classes could learn magic to a certain extent and had some starting cantrips. True, I still had no access to any menu and that included the one for spells… but I just poured my entire will into my palm as I struck it forward.

To my utter but delighted shock my hand emitted a soft glow and a small sphere of light shot forward.

The slime was so close that the attack ended with a direct hit. Some green liquid splashed around and the creature was sent flying back, bouncing on the grass.

It… actually worked?

I had no idea how or why, but I knew a chance when I saw it. I turned my palm toward the slime again, concentrated and shot another ball of light (that I now recognized as the cantrip “light shot”) to blast the damn thing.

It took just a few more shots until there was nothing but small puddles of inert goo left behind.

As expected, there was no HP bar or anything, but the slime still died.

I briefly glanced at my hand again. Why did this attack even work? Yet another mystery to add to the pile.

The next moment I was suddenly assaulted by a dizziness. It could’ve been the stress from this fight (my arm still hurt like hell, too), but maybe it was from me spamming the attack? Since there was no MP bar either, I couldn’t tell.

“Right… what about the others?” I suddenly realized.

Was I here alone? If whatever affected my game happened to the others as well, it was possible that they were also trapped here and in danger.

A nearby shout provided the answer.

“Hey! Somebody there? Help!”

I perked up—finally there was someone else. I hadn’t programmed any NPCs yet, only mobs, but even without that I recognized the voice anyway.

Still feeling out of breath and in pain, I nonetheless hurried toward the source of the voice.

As I suspected, it belonged to none other than Kai. Further as suspected from his shout, he found himself in a pickle.

The tall, muscular guy who always seemed so chill and confident had climbed on top of a tree, presumably having escaped the being that was now standing at the bottom.

It was another green creature, though this time it wasn’t a slime. Instead, it had bulging yellow eyes, pointy ears and a face not even a mother could love, clad in armor made of bones and wielding a wooden club.

A goblin.

“Hey, Kai! How are things looking up there?” I called cheerfully.

“C? Shut up and do something!” Kai shouted back. This caused the goblin to stop hitting the trunk (which it persisted in for some reason) and turn its small yellow eyes to me, wearing a maddened expression.

Alright, it was time to kick some goblin ass.

I extended my hand, shot a light bolt and killed it in one shot—in my imagination, at least. The reality was that only a few sparks flickered from my fingertips.

Crap, was I still outta MP?

The goblin snickered as if realizing that as well. Its wooden club looked like it could break bones with a hit… It was a mob monster ranked above the slime, after all, and my arm was still hurt.

“S-sorry… I think you’re on your own here!” I said, then turned away so quickly I actually twisted my ankle and fell to the ground painfully.

I did not ask for this kind of karmic retribution.

I could do nothing but watch in horror as the cackling goblin raised its club high and rushed toward me—

Before its head sailed through the air, suddenly separated from the neck with a spray of blood. A shape passed next to it a moment before, and now stood above the headless corpse.

Wielding a long blade in hand was the third member of our small party, her hair blowing in the wind as she held a blade aloft.

Saga arrived just in time.