In Search of the Precious Tear III

---Chapter 23: In Search of the Precious Tear III

It was like a dance. The way Yui moved back and forth with a flowing rhythm, carefully gauging the movements of her opponent: the sea serpent Aquaticus. Quartz could only stare in awe at the sight before him. Of course, he’d seen Yui fighting many times before. Her movements weren’t that different than usual, but something about the current situation just made the beauty of her skill stand out more.

“You can do it… Yui.” Quartz whispered as he watched on from the sidelines.

At Yui’s current level, she had the skill to take down this boss solo. But simply taking it down wasn’t her goal. She had to somehow recreate the extremely specific circumstance of being KO’d at the same time she defeats the creature. Achieving this kind of double-KO should despawn Yui and take her to the core of the game, just as it had before.

“Hyah!” Yui landed a solid punch against Aquaticus.

The sea serpent bellowed in distress after the impact of the attack landed. Quartz could see that the boss monster’s HP meter took a small but solid chunk of damage. If Yui were going all-out and launching a flurry of punches like usual, she probably could’ve shaved off as much as 20% of Aquaticus’ HP right there. But that isn’t the goal right now. Yui was gauging how much damage a single punch of hers could do.

Next, Aquaticus began winding up for a counterattack. It opened its jaw and began charging energy in its mouth: it was preparing to fire some kind of laser. This was one of the boss’s more powerful destructive attacks, and it’d ordinarily be a sign to guard or prepare for a dodge. Yui, however, stood firm with her arms spread wide, prepared to take the attack directly.

She’s trying to see how much damage Aquaticus can deal to her now…

Quartz couldn’t help but feel impressed. Yui was carefully studying the boss in order to skew the pace of the fight towards the intended goal of a double-KO. She was learning the range of damage their attacks dealt to one another.

Aquaticus fired its laser, and Yui took it head-on, having about 30% of her HP shaved off in one go.

Considering her level and the buffed defense from her swimsuit, that amount of damage is a lot. I guess it’s a skill that’s pretty easy to dodge, so it makes sense to have it deal a punishing amount of damage. It is one of this boss’s strongest attacks, after all.

After taking the hit, Yui smirked, and began to move around rapidly once again, using her speed to disorient the boss. She dealt a few more hits with her various skills, all while leaving herself open to get hit by a few of Aquaticus’ regular attacks. A few minutes passed and both Yui and Aquaticus were now hovering around the 50% range of their HP.

“It’s getting down to the wire now…” Quartz whispered to himself.

Once Aquaticus’ HP crossed the 50% mark, its attack speed increased and it gained a slight boost in strength. Yui spent some time dodging attacks, trying to get into the quicker rhythm of the fight due to the increased speed. Then, she began striking back with her own attacks, continuing to whittle down Aquaticus’ HP. Their HP, which had been fairly balanced until now, had started to de-sync, with Aquaticus’ dropping lower and lower.

“She’s setting up for the finale…” Quartz tensed up as he watched on.

Yui continued to strike until Aquaticus only had a small sliver of HP remaining. With that, her movements stopped and she stood still before the beast. As if on cue, Aquaticus began charging its laser attack again. Upon firing it, Yui took the attack head-on once more, losing a big chunk of health; a little more than the 30% from before.

Yui’s health now hovered at around 15% or so. But she remained still as the beast roared and came in for a headbutt. Yui took it head-on, letting herself get knocked away. The headbutt and subsequent knockback damage weren’t a lot, so Yui quickly rose to her feet and charged at the beast again, allowing herself to get swiped aside by its tail. After intentionally taking a few more hits like this, Yui’s health had dropped to about the same level as Aquaticus’. They were both now at the point where one could finish off the other with a single strike.

“Yui… You can do it!” Quartz couldn’t help but shout.

Yui glanced his way, and gave him a nod with a smile, before she dashed toward the beast one again.

Aquaticus roared as it tried to halt the incoming threat. However, Yui dodged all of its regular attacks and continued running straight towards it. After all, Yui knew. At close range, Aquaticus had a tendency to strike its attackers from behind with its tail. That very attack was enough to finish off Yui’s remaining HP. At the same time, Yui knew that landing one last punch would be enough to defeat Aquaticus.

So she ran. As she reached the front of the beast, she took a mighty leap into the air. Yui glanced over her shoulder, and saw the familiar movement pattern of Aquaticus preparing its tail to strike.

Yui clenched her fist.

She didn’t have the luxury of being too slow or too fast. She had to land the hit at the exact perfect timing. The final damage calculation had to be simultaneous for both her and Aquaticus to cause the glitch.

But Yui had one thing on her side: Experience. Over the past several months, she’d fought enemies in this game more than she could’ve ever dreamed. As an existence who spent such a long period of time within this game, she’d grown instinctively aware of the pace of combat, and the way opponents moved. It wasn’t a logical knowledge gained from studying her opponents, but just a ‘feeling’ gained from repetitive combat. Even Aquaticus itself… she had fought several times before.

So she knew… Whenever she’d tried this move before, if Aquaticus struck back, she knew when that hit would land.

And so, Yui launched her punch. Her fist flew straight towards the beast’s face. Meanwhile, behind her back, Aquaticus’ ferocious tail was swinging directly at Yui’s back.

Quartz looked on in awe, as if time had slowed down.

Yui’s first had landed, and at the exact same time, Aquaticus’ tail had struck Yui’s back. Their HP bars hit zero in unison.

“Unbelievable… she really did it. On the first attempt, too…” Quartz was stunned.

At that moment, both Yui and Aquaticus began to digitize. Their bodies distorted in an awkward way.

Yui’s body was still flying through the air after the impact of the tail, but slowly, it turned toward Quartz, and for just a second, he could see…

He could see Yui smiling at him as she made a peace sign with her hand.

“Oh, Yui…” Quartz chuckled, before thrusting out his own hand and giving her a peace sign of his own. “Amazing battle! You did well!”

And one second later, both Yui and Aquaticus had popped out of existence, as if they were never there to begin with.

Quartz now stood alone on the large ocean-top arena.

---

Yui found herself in a white void. It was the same place she’d seen on that day; the day she found herself trapped within this game world. This time, instead of panicking and warping out of here, Yui chose to merely stay put and calmly look around.

After a few moments, a blue-ish light appeared before her. It resembled some kind of blue flame, but its aura sometimes distorted into an array of pixels. It hovered quietly in front of Yui.

She took a moment to stare at it, before she reached out her hand and grabbed it. In the corner of Yui’s vision, she saw a message.

Item obtained! “Mermaid’s Tear” x1

“So this is it… The Mermaid’s Tear.” Yui whispered, staring at the object she held.

Just then, another message popped up in her vision.

Quest Completed! “In Search of the Precious Tear”

“It’s finally done…” Yui couldn’t help but smile as she checked the quest subscreen in her menu.

Yui then navigated to a different part of her menu, to check the most important thing. However, just as she was about to do so, she heard an odd sound from somewhere behind her.

Yui turned around to see what it was…

---

Quartz’s trek back through the Water Cathedral was a quiet one. Most of the monsters still hadn’t respawned, so it was more of a leisurely walk. As he made his way back through it, Quartz’s thoughts were filled with Yui.

Had this been the right answer? Was Yui okay? Did she wake up in the real world?

At the moment, Quartz had no way of knowing the answer to these questions. So his mind drifted to all of the fun times the two had spent together. The time he got to know her and the way her infectious positivity rubbed off on him. The silly things they’d attempted trying to find the Mermaid’s Tear. The teamwork they exhibited during the Arena of Couples tournament. And of course, the affection he felt for her that slowly bloomed amidst all of it.

As he neared the exit of the dungeon, Quartz finally gathered the courage to check his friend list. And there, he saw it…

YUI-YUI: Offline

“She did it… She finally managed to log out…” Quartz smiled. In his heart, he prayed for the health and safety of Yui in real life.

As Quartz exited the dungeon, the morning sunlight illuminated the field before him, and there…

“You guys…!”

There waiting for him were his friends. Rokugo, Striker, and Mint… Quartz figured they must’ve heard from Chronos.

“… We did it.” Quartz smiled.

“Yeah, we could tell.” Mint spoke up first. “After all, Yui’s finally offline.”

“You really did it, man!” Striker cheered.

“Well, we still have much to confirm. But we’ve taken the first step.” Rokugo nodded proudly.

“Yeah…” Quartz nodded as he dashed up to his friends.

At last, their long quest had finally concluded.

[To be continued…]