Wolf

No, was it a wolf? It had a broadly canine form, but also the body shape of something like a panther. Well, seeing as it was currently snarling at us, its precise taxonomy hardly mattered at the moment.

Even that ferocious goblin I created looked cute in comparison.

Time stopped for just a moment—and then both beast and girl sprang into action.

Saga rushed, swinging her sword and aiming for the wolf’s neck in one smooth motion. This time, however, it was not an opponent felled so easily; the beast actually moved its body to the side while also swiping at Saga.

She was no slouch at fighting, either. Saga not only stopped and jumped back to dodge, but even kicked at the tree right behind her to give herself a boost to land a swiping attack on the wolf’s flank.

Blood sprayed from its wound and it howled in pain.

“This is crazy,” mumbled Kai in astonishment from next to me. I, too, was transfixed to the scene, but on my side, I was more impressed than disturbed.

I wasn’t sure how this battle was going to end. I felt like Saga had the edge, but it wasn’t going to be an easy battle. If at all possible, I wanted to help her.

Therefore, I extended my hand and hoped that my power returned by now.

“Come on!” I called and felt power gushing through.

A bolt of light shot from my open palm, whereupon it hit the ground and raised a small cloud of dust. A few inches away, the wolf leapt toward Saga, possibly trying to pin her down, but she danced away expertly while adding another slashing attack. Now the wolf started dragging one of its legs, leaving a trail of blood on the ground.

I missed. I hit that slime just fine, though… then again, that was from close range and it wasn’t really an agile creature.

“How about this, then!” I called and launched another shot.

Unfortunately, it just struck a nearby tree. Dammit. I started breathing hard. Was I at my limit again?

“How did you do that?”

My ruminations were cut off by Kai’s voice. He looked at me in what seemed to be a mix of anger and shock.

Oh right. This would actually be his first time seeing my magic in action, since I failed in doing so against the goblin.

“Why didn’t you tell me there was magic in this game?” Kai grumbled.

“Sorry, with everything that happened…” I shrugged. “That being said, I don’t really know how it works. I just… did it by wishing really hard for it, I guess.”

Kai clicked his tongue but extended a hand, shaking it a few times to no avail. He grunted and even mumbled something under his breath, but nothing happened.

Meanwhile, the wolf kept yelping and growling while its body got slashed again and again. I was impressed at Saga handling it so well until the moment it finally got a hit in.

The girl managed to dodge another leap, but the wolf’s claws raked across her arm, ripping her sleeve and drawing blood. Her glasses fell from her face, something blazed in her eyes and she stabbed her sword through the beast’s leg.

Also, I might have imagined it, but she wore a smile.

Probably not. She looked as pokerfaced as ever.

Still, no matter how well she handled this, I was still annoyed about doing nothing. I couldn’t let her do all the work here! Besides, she might get seriously hurt before she finished the beast at this rate.

I started thinking and focusing. I needed something stronger than a cantrip.

Right, I had in fact programmed a few more spells before. I simply hadn’t tried using them yet.

“Feel the burn!” I called an immensely cringe line and thrust my arm again.

Just like I willed it to, a jet of flames rushed from my arm, hitting the wolf’s body. It yelped in immense pain, its brown fur now charred darker. This attack also stopped it just enough for Saga to recover and wield her sword again.

There was another roar of pain, and then a thud.

Saga used this opportunity to stab the wolf again, this time through the head, then quickly pulled her sword out. It fell, twitched for a bit on the ground dirtied by its blood and ceased all movements.

“Hah… I didn’t ask for help.” She actually had the nerve to complain.

Kai looked too stunned to do anything; he just passed his gaze between Saga and me again and again. He then looked at his hands and clenched them.

Sorry bro, but like I said—I also have no idea how this works.

Following this thought, I felt an immediate wave of fatigue and nausea that made me hold my head. It was possible that I overextended myself with this piece of magic.

Meanwhile, Kai gasped. “Wait, Saga, are you alright? You’re bleeding!”

Saga lowered her gaze as if only now noticing her wound, head tilted. “Hah, this? It’s fine,” she said dismissively, grabbed at her half-ruined sleeve and used her blade to rip it. Right in front of our eyes she started fashioning a makeshift bandage and tying it against her wound to stop the bleeding.

Fair, unblemished skin was exposed from the ripped portion of her shoulders and underarm.

I had some brief thoughts about the fact that these programmed clothes shouldn’t have any undergarments, but banished them away.

Averting my gaze, I noticed something else. Right next to the wolf’s corpse there were broken glasses, the ones that Saga always wore.

“Err, are you alright without those?” I asked, pointing at them.

“Wait, how does that even work?” mumbled Kai. “Didn’t she remove those before putting on the helmet anyway? These aren’t even our real bodies, right? Since we didn’t come here with our clothes—”

“Look, I can explain how this technology works but like I already told you, you’d just get bored,” I interjected with a wave of my hand. “But that doesn’t even matter anymore. We’re no longer inside the game, remember? Everything here is probably just like our real bodies.”

Once again, I shook off some horrible feelings about what might have happened to me back in the real world, making me shudder.

Meanwhile, Saga finally deigned to give me an answer. “Hah, they’re fake.”

“…Wait, what?”

Even Kai was shocked. “Your glasses weren’t real?”

Saga did not answer. Instead, she leaned down to examine the wolf’s body. Perhaps she didn’t view this as something interesting enough to answer.

I turned to the other boy. “Did she always wear glasses?”

“From the very first day I met her, yeah,” he answered, furrowing his brows. “Then why would she…”

Was it related to the expression she’d shown during the fight? No, but even with her glasses, her eyes were always cold.

Meanwhile, the girl herself was busy sticking her sword quite deep into the corpse and clicking her tongue. “I had the feeling it wouldn’t work…”

“What are you even doing?” I asked.

She sent me a brief glance. “Isn’t it obvious? I wanted to try harvesting its meat and skin.”

I looked quite unwillingly at the grotesque carcass again. Now that I focused on it, the stench of death made me cringe and take a step back.

No matter how realistic a game of this sort was, you’d usually just get any drops from a killed enemy straight into your inventory after looting it. But not here—because this wasn’t Divine Hunting Grounds. Or any other game for that matter.

“Why… why are you alright with all of this?” asked Kai, who looked more exasperated than bothered. “I mean about the fighting, too. Sure, I always thought you were on the weird side, but I never imagined… I didn’t know you were like this, and…” At this point he trailed off, casting an imploring gaze at Saga.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” she said dryly, finally retrieving her sword from the corpse.