Preparation (?) For First Boss Fight!

Day 14

The summer break is almost there. After exhausting week in school Hotaru could finally spend some time playing. She has found the other day training dummies on which she could train to use skills, but they weren’t very helpful and she had to use traditional methods – work with moving objects. After multiple tries she somehow made it and was able to use skills like Slash without any problem. It helped her a lot with gaining levels. She reached level 24, gained new skills and upgraded those already owned. Slash now could deal damage to more than one enemy, which was handy.

At some point Hotaru started to think if she could do something more in this area. Slimes and wild animals were main threat there and they were more and more easier to defeat. Quests were either too easy or too hard for her. She has heard a rumours about a boss somewhere in the forest, but going there by herself wouldn’t be the smartest choice.

Her dilemma was soon to be solved.

„Hi Ayane, sorry for interrupting you. Are you busy right now?”

It was a message from Hachi. She didn’t expect that message, but was curious to know the reason behind it.

„Not really, something's happened?”

„It’ll take too long to explain, are you somewhere near Guild?”

She wasn’t, but it wasn’t a problem to get there in several minutes.

„No, but I’ll be there in like 10-15 minutes"

„Okay, thanks. We’ll be waiting for you then.”

‘We?’

That meant his friends will be there too. She couldn’t think of why he needs to talk with her, but had some high hopes for doing something in group.

She got there in 10 minutes and immediately noticed a familiar group of three, so she came up closer to them.

„Oh, Ayane, you’re here!” Hachi said.

„Yeah, I am.” Hotaru responded and turned to other two. „Hello.”

„Hi there!” Hiro said enthusiastically.

Maya only nodded to Hotaru as a greeting.

„So, what is it?” Hotaru asked straight away.

„We want to go for a local boss, but we need at least one more person to party and I was wondering if you’ll be interested.” Hachi explained.

‘He couldn’t said that straight away?’

„You could tell me that straight away.”

„Yeah, but, that’s not everything.”

„Huh?”

„We did actually tried beating it by ourselves, but our damage wasn’t enough to beat the reptile.” Hiro stepped in to conversation. „It would be good to have one more person or two while bastard is annoying.”

Hotaru was happy that she had an opportunity to do something more exciting than beating slimes to pulp, but she wasn’t sure of her own strength. She will accept the offer anyway.

„I actually didn’t know what to do with myself, so I’ll be happy to join you, but I’m not sure how much damage exactly I can do.”

Whole group felt happy for that.

„You don’t have to worry about that, it’ll be fine.” Hiro reassured her.

To her mind came an idea. She could ask Hato for help. It would be a perfect opportunity to gain some experience from someone with higher level and knowledge about class, but she wasn’t sure what was his role. She never asked him. He didn’t wear an armour last time she saw him. He was wearing more casual clothes. In fact, smart ones. Hotaru had to admit that they suited him very well. The only question is if he would actually help group of low-levels. Asking won’t hurt. It was around noon, so he should be at Guild anyway.

„I actually may know someone who could help too, but I’d have to ask him first.”

‘Him? A man?’ Hachi felt a bit anxious hearing that Ayane met someone; he didn’t like the fact that there was other man in his way.

„If you can give me a minute then I’ll try.”

„Sure we can!” Hiro responded. „The more, the merrier! Take your time.”

„Mhm! Thank you! I’ll be back shortly!”

Hotaru went straight to Guild to check if Hato was there. Luckily, he was.

„Hato-san?”

Man turned around. He didn’t expect to see her, so it got his attention.

„Oh? Ayane-san? Something happened?”

„Can I ask you something, if you don’t mind?”

Hotaru felt unsettled since she was certain that he won’t agree.

„I don’t, what is it?”

„Uhh... so, long story short, my acquaintance asked me for help with beating a local boss, but I’ve never done that before and I was wondering...”

That was something Hato couldn’t miss. It was a good chance to actually see her abilities in action, so he had to be there, but he couldn’t agree for that like that.

„How many people will be there? You won’t be able to do that?”

It got her more unsettled.

„Including me, there are 4 people in total. They mentioned they tried to do it by themselves, but they couldn’t. They said more damage is needed.”

‘Absolutely perfect.’ Hato thought.

„Hmm... You said local boss... I think I know which one.”

‘Uh... I still don’t know if he will agree or no...’

„What will I have in exchange?”

‘Right, he won’t do that for free... Hey! He actually wants to agree?!’ Hotaru’s hope was getting restored.

„Uhh, well, this is something to discuss...”

‘I don’t really need anything, but need to play it out.’ Hato said to himself.

„All right.” he stood up from chair. „I want to have a talk with them as well before I’ll make a decision.”

„Sure! Thank you!”

„Don’t thank me now, I haven’t done anything yet.”

They left the Guild's building and was heading to the group. All three noticed a mysterious man Hotaru mentioned. They were wondering from where she caught this guy.

„So, this is the person I mentioned to you-" Hotaru pointed out by hand on Hato.

„Sorry for interrupting you,” Hato turned to her. „but I want to hear more details first.”

„What do you want to know?” Hachi asked.

„We’re talking about lizard one, aren’t we?”

„Have you done it before?” Hiro asked.

„Most likely.” Hato answered. „I remember that there was an overgrown reptile.”

„Guess there’s no need for further explanation...” Hiro said.

„More or less I remember it while some time has passed since I saw it last time. Now, more important question – what will I have from it?”

All three of them look at themselves, Hiro decided to answer that.

„Well, whatever you want, I guess.”

„To be honest, I don’t really need anything from it since items that drops are for much lower level.”

That makes everyone puzzled since they couldn’t offer anything else. Hachi got curious about Hato's level.

„What level are you, if you don’t mind telling?”

‘What level was I anyway?’ Hato forgot about that detail.

„It was 40-ish, wasn’t it?” Hotaru asked; it helped Hato a lot.

„Yeah, it was.”

Men were a bit surprised by hearing that number.

„40-ish in 2 weeks? Not bad.” Hiro admitted.

„I had loads of free time, now I’m doing other stuff.” Hato said.

It was a bit weird to have such high level for Hiro, but it wasn’t something impossible since he saw one guy with such level after short amount of time spent on game.

„Right, so if you don’t want anything from boss... What else do you want?”

There wasn’t really anything that Hato could want, but he got an idea.

„Hmm...” he turned to Ayane. „Since you asked me for help, it will be your problem.”

„Huh? But I don’t have anything to offer!”

„You’ll think of something.” he said that with a smirk on his face.

‘Ugh... Another problematic person...’

„Does it mean you agree?” Hiro asked.

„I don’t mind helping to be honest, but I won’t do more than it’s expected from me."

„Of course. Well then, welcome abroad!” Hiro said and introduced the group. „Name’s Hiro. Here’s Hachi and Maya.”

„Hato. Pleasure to meet you all.”

„Likewise. Are you a warrior as well, Hato-san?”

„Yeah.”

„Right...”

„Hiro-san?” Hotaru interrupted. „You want to do it now or later?”

„Uh... We’ve been thinking to go right now.”

„Will it be okay to go in like 30 minutes? I need to buy stuff and we could do a short break, just in case. If you’re okay with it, of course.”

„Well, it’s fine with me. I don’t know how about you guys.” he turned to the rest of the group.

„It’s fine.” Hachi said.

Maya just nodded that she’s fine with it as well.

„I’m fine with it myself.” Hato responded.

„Thank you everyone! Should we meet here later or...?”

„Boss is outside of town, so wouldn’t it be better to wait at the entrance to Nagato?” Hato suggested.

„Yeah. Let’s meet there.”

Everyone agreed for that. Hachi, Hiro and Maya logged out, Hotaru went to town and Hato stayed and was thinking what to do with himself.

‘*sigh* Guess I’ll just change clothes to armor and head to the meeting place.’

Around half an hour has passed. Hato was the first person that came. Not long after Hotaru joined him.

“Oh, Hato-san? You’re already here?”

“It’s almost time, isn’t it?”

“It is. So, we are just waiting for them-”

At the same time Hato noticed the group going in their direction.

“There they are.”

“Hey! Sorry to make you wait for us!” Hiro said. “Hope you didn’t wait long.”

“It’s fine, I just came myself.” Hotaru responded.

“Ahh, that’s fine then. So, everybody’s ready?”

Without further delay, they set out at once. Lizard’s cavern was around 20 minutes by walk from Nagato, inside the forest.

Meanwhile Hato was thinking about his further plan.

‘I can beat this guy by myself, but I need to see this girl in action. I’d have to use one of my rusty weapons to not overdo it. Uhh... Hope it’ll be enough. Same as I hope she will actually do something.’

“Hato-san?”

Hotaru shook him out of mediation.

“Hm?”

“Since you’re same class as mine, I was wondering what weapon are you using...”

“A spear.”

“So double-handed one, huh...”

“Yeah, and what’s with it?” he didn’t get slight awe heard in her voice.

„Ahh, it’s just... I have a problem with holding my longsword, let alone a spear or claymore...”

„It’s a matter of training, you'd use it few times and got used to it eventually.”

‘If it would be easy thing to do...’

Hotaru came up with an idea while Hato was near.

„Hato-san, you wouldn’t mind if I could have a look on your spear?”

„My spear?”

„Yes, your spear, whose else?”

„Well, if you insist.”

He smiled and reached his bag.

‘Where was it again... Not this one... Oh, that one, if I remember correctly.’

He pulled out a long spear from his bag that was almost as tall as him. It was his old weapon, currently not used, but in this situation was needed.

„Eehhh?!” Hotaru didn’t expect it to be that tall.

He handed it to her.

„Careful, it can be heavy for you.” spear slowly was given to girl; she could already feel the weight of it.

‘Ayayaya, heavyy-! Heavier than my long sword before using Lightweight!’

She got used to weight of her weapon, so having something in hand of different weight was a bit problematic, but she somehow was able to carry it.

‘It doesn’t look very special, but I think it doesn’t matter. As long as it’s doing its job... Hmm... It’s really tall... I wonder where I’d ended up if I’d have been impaled on it.’

„Are you okay with it?” Hato asked with concern.

„Ah, yeah, here you go.” she gave it back to him. „Not my cup of tea, too heavy.”

„Even with your skill?”

„It’s just too big.”

„Well, too bad then.”

Meanwhile Hachi was observing them from behind. He tried to hide his resentment caused by that, but Hiro had an idea what was going on with him.

“Hmm? Someone’s stealing your girl?”

“Shut it.” Hachi said harshly.

“Oho, someone’s angry... That’s something new.”

“Pff...”

Hiro knew that Hachi wasn’t an easy person to make angry, that’s why he was wondering if Hachi was serious about her since he acted like that. Hiro also had in mind Maya's feelings towards Hachi. He wasn’t very happy with that while he knew him and his attitude towards everything.

Maya was going behind them. She noticed that Hachi was acting off, but she didn’t have enough courage to do something with it.

Soon after they were at the entrance to cavern.

So far, no one has spoken about how they will deal with monsters there. What’s more, they haven’t even spoken about anything in detail at all. Hato had it in mind, but, as he was there only to “help”, he would rather to see Ayane actually doing something. He agreed for that just to confirm his assumption.

“By the way, do we have any plan?” he asked.

“Uhh, well...” Hiro began; it seemed for Hato that they had no detailed plan for it whatsoever. “I’ll be having ugly on me, Maya will be healing and you’ll take care of beating down the lizard.”

‘I don’t think he will be able to keep it on himself...’

“Are you sure you’ll be able to?” Hato asked him with doubt.

“I guess so? You’ll give me 10 seconds to play with it and it should be good!”

‘It’s way too optimistic attitude...’

“Are you sure, Hiro-san? He’s 20 levels above you, if not more...” Hotaru interjected; she also wasn’t convinced with that, but didn’t want to say anything as she was afraid that they’ll mistook her intention.

“To be frank, I have no clue how good he is.” Hiro began. “No offence, of course.” he turned to Hato, then back to Ayane. “Same thing with you. I’m taking that both of you aren’t weak, but I have some confidence in my skills. If it’ll work, it’ll work. If not, then we’ll think of something else.”

Both Hato and Hotaru thought that this is not how it was supposed to be. Maya kept quiet and Hachi just wanted to end this quickly.

“Well,” Hotaru just shrugged. “your party, your rules.”

Hato started losing his hope to actually see Ayane’s abilities in action. If nothing happens today, he will have to look for someone else, which will be troublesome for him. Besides, he has taken a liking to her.

“Well then, shall we go?” Hiro said.