15 Battle Against An Enraged Wild Boar
Hey, Shun here!
I never thought that battling in a VR game could be so mentally draining. No I'm not mentally drained due to toxic players.
The chances for me to get tilted is low since player interactions are quite rare due to how vast this virtual world is.
I still remember the days when I used to play DOTA 2 in ranked. I was so easily tilted because of how toxic the community is.
Well, isn't it the same for all games? There's always gonna be many trolls waiting to jump on any opportunity to cause chaos.
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(Shun's POV)
Even though I defeated Goblins, Grey Rats, and Mill Birds on the way here and my level has risen by quite a lot, the average level of my Senses is still around 7.
In the guides, it is said that confronting it solo was reckless. Normally, that is…
"Now, it's time for another session of high-speed leveling. Let's see if my archery skill turned rusty."
Because I am still out of its aggro range and is hiding behind the thickets, the Big Boar didn't know where to go and continuously roamed around a specific area. I'm assuming that this is the max area of its aggro range.
"Alright. Now that I have that information, I'll see what I can do now with only a beginner set of weapons. «Enchant» — Attack, Speed."
Walking outside the thickets, I noticed that the Big Boar is at the very end of my maximum range without any boosts right now, 10m.
Seeing this as an opportunity, I once again fired shots at the boar. Just basing it on its current movement path and travel speed, I shot my arrows towards the location on which it will most likely go to.
*swish* *swish*
"PummOoooO!"
I managed to hit him once, my first shot missed by a hair's breath.
Now knowing where I'm at, the Big Boar looked at me with its eyes filled with rage. Its hind legs were scrapping the ground as it firmly stepped on it. Not long later, it started running towards me.
This is the charge that is said to have mowed all of the β players during this game's testing phase. Well, a charge from a creature with a large bulk of flesh and splendid bent tusks is something that you wouldn't want to receive, that's for sure.
While it is charging at me, I looked at its vital spots. I intend to utilize my [Vital Points Knowledge] Sense to its limit so, with absolute concentration, I fired my arrows.
"PumoOoo!"
"Oops, I can't have you hitting me so soon…" Looks like to became mad due to me hitting its vital spots.
Rather than idiotically trying to stop the assault from the front, I side stepped the mob's straightforward attack, of course not forgetting to plant a few Wooden Arrows on its behind. I mean, why not?
This boar's tough and bulky. My attacks could barely take off a percentage of this Big Boar's HP.
If I remember correctly, the guide says that you have to get the timing right. If you avoid it too early it would suddenly change its charge's direction and come to assault you with its tusks or bite you.
Since it looks like it will continue its charge for a few more meters due to its initial momentum, I took this chance to cast «Enchant» to increase my defense by a little.
I want to see how much damage it will deal on me.
Sure enough, when it recovered from its initial charge, it glared at me with murderous intent and once again began the initial movements before its charge.
It once again headed towards me, trying to attack me at full speed. Unlike what was said in the guide, I avoided a bit too late, triggering its set pattern of biting me.
Of course, I didn't let it bite me too long as, when I saw its teeth began sinking in my in-game avatar's arm, my health immediately dropped by 89%. Just by that one attack, a huge chunk of my HP was depleted.
"Ack! «Heal»—!"
I was definitely surprised at the amount of damage i received.
"As I thought, the level difference is really big."
Due to too large level difference, even during the short moment of contact during the bite, I still received a lot of damage. If the contact lasted one second longer, I would have surely died and returned to town.
"Maybe I should have raised my level more and prepared myself better? No, I'll just not get hit again."
Using a Beginner's Potion, I restored my HP to full. Meanwhile, the Big Boar ran through a dozen of metres, changed his direction and rushed in my direction again.
"This really makes me feel like a Spanish matador… En garde! Come at me!"
Since, in this game, building immunity to potions the more you use it is a thing, I didn't want to receive damage from this mob until my HP recovers to full health. Either naturally or by using «Heal» on myself.
For the mean time, I shot arrows at it while avoiding its attacks, sometimes rolling on the ground to avoid an attack from its tusks. My damage is low against it but I'm still chipping down on its HP slowly.
Whenever my HP is at 100%, I would touch the charging assault of the Big Boar from the side, earning the damage. The longer I touched the mob during the charge, the more of my HP was momentarily cut down.
Once I get hit by it, I'll cast «Heal» on myself, slowly but surely earning some exp to level it up. If others were to see it, they would see my behaviour strange.
After assessing the limit of how much I can last, I retreated and once again began firing arrows from a safe range. How could I forget to attack?
During this act of uninterrupted tension, the corners of my lips naturally raised up.
"That's right, this is it! This is what's fun! «Enchant» — Attack, Speed! «Heal»!"
I withstood and endured. I repeatedly used my newly acquired [Arts] from leveling up my [Bow] Sense to level 10, the «Rapid Fire Bow - Twin Needles». It allows me to shoot two arrows at the same time, making me deal more damage to this mob.
Whenever my HP or MP was low, I would avoid the Big Boar's attacks, creating opportunity for my natural recovery to restore them. Sometimes I would do some emergency avoidance to use a Beginner's Potions.
If it can be avoided, I tried not to use them as much as possible. I have [Recovery Magic] so sustain is not really that much of a problem to me.
I've long memorized the Big Boar's movements so it's no longer a problem for me to keep avoiding his nearly-linear attacks. This gave me the confidence to buy time as much as I can.
That fight, continuing for a long time eventually wore me out mentally. Moreover, since I felt my body become dull after purposefully taking damages, I have focused even further.
"Next one, come!"
The moment I said that, I reached out for another arrow on my quiver.
"Eh? There's only one arrow left?"
Noticing this detail, I looked at the HP of my enemy. I've been chipping down on its HP for a long time so its HP only have 1% left.
"Haa, haa, haa... nhh, this should be the last stand! I'll kill you now for sure!"
I slowly retreated backwards, aiming the tip of my arrow at the Big Boar. However, it seems like, because of our numerous clashes, the boar learned what it meant for me to point my arrow at him.
"PuUMoO!"
The boar continuously charged at me as i tried to avoid its attacks with optimal timings, making sure that his attacks are unable to reach me.
Then, just when it was in the middle of its charge, I aim my bow at it and took the shot. Unexpectedly, it forcefully stopped itself midway through its charge and avoided my attack.
"Hee… I already noticed the change in your behavioral pattern so I half expected you to try and dodge it. «Rapid Fire Bow - Twin Needles»!"
The boar's eyes widened in surprise when the single arrow in my hand transformed into two arrows. Yes, I've used [Alchemy's] [Lower Matter Conversion] on my 'Wooden Arrow +2'.
"PUKkyaa—! BuMoo! BummwoOoo!"
The Big Boar, seemingly frustrated at itself for its defeat, let out a frustrated wail as it lost vitality and slowly turned into digital particles.
「You gained 2x Big Boar's Fur」
「You gained 5x Big Boar's Meat」
「You gained 2x Big Boar's Tusks」
「You gained 4x Big Boar's Fangs」
"Pheeew, that was fun! I gotta do that often until I reach level 20 or so…"
Since I'm really exhausted mentally, I laid my back on the trunk of a nearby tree to rest.
My HP is now full after that long cops and robbers-like chase, but my MP is very low due to my continuous use of [Arts] and [Enchant]. More importantly, I tired myself out mentally due to focusing for long periods of time.
"I should rest up and contact my sisters. Searching for the required items to make arrows every time will take too much time so I'll ask them if they collected some…" Of course, I'll search for those items later, too.
"But before all of that, I want to check my progress…"
While saying so, I checked my status.
Possessed SP: 8
[Bow Lv16](↑ 7)
[Physical Attack Increase Lv15](↑7)
[Speed Increase Lv12](↑6)
[Vital Points Knowledge Lv14](↑7)
[Synthesis Lv4](-)
[Alchemy Lv3](-)
[Enchant Lv16](↑8)
[Recovery Lv12](↑7)
[Magic Talent Lv13](↑6)
[Magic Power Lv19](↑10)
Confirming the results of high-speed leveling have properly appeared, I desperately suppressed my sh**-eating grin from forming.
In fact, even if, for example, I didn't manage to defeat the Big Boar I faced, the levels of my Senses would still increase tremendously. The trick to that lies in [OSO's] system.
"There's experience bonus for defeating enemies, but experience can also be gained through any actions…"
When a mob is defeated, the experience gained corresponds to the actions taken to defeat it. Normally, players repeatedly battle mobs, gaining experience to raise their Sense levels.
However, there were other ways to raise levels other than combat.
For example, weapon Senses, starting with [Sword] Sense receives experience from practice swings, even though the efficiency was bad. Crafting Senses earned experience by crafting, rather than combat.
In conclusion, performing an action that corresponds to the Sense gives you experience.
"Well, this was definitely a fruitful trip."
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※~To be continued~※
Author's Remarks:
※ I hope that you guys are enjoying the story so far. I've already thought of two [Arts] that he could learn later. I'm just thinking about what monster he should face to gain these…
※ Before I forget, I'll write out the drops for Grey Rats and Mill Birds, some of them have no use as of yet, let me think of a use for them.
Grey Rats: Grey Rat's Fur(Fur), Herb, Wildflower, Random Seed.
Mill Birds: Crow Feathers, Mill Bird's Beak, Mill Bird's Sharp Talons, Random Seed(very low percentage).
※ I don't fully know how [OSO] categorize nor name their items but I'll proceed like this. I've seen in some parts of the novel that a (Fur) was able to be converted into (Big Fur) by [Alchemy] so I think it has something to do with an items general classification. Ten of Grey Rat's Fur could turn into a Big Fur through alchemy.
