The Encounter with the Jack

I asked him a few more questions, nothing too heavy, but I'd learned a lot.

The world that I was in I had a brief understanding from the administrator. But once I got done talking to Matthew, I learned that I was in a world called "Mayhem Amusement Park," this was just one of the many worlds that encompassed this game that we're now playing.

The name for the world was fitting, so far all I had seen were clown-like monsters. I'm sure that there would be even more madness and horror.

Matthew had soon fallen asleep; it seems like the shock and fatigue had finally caught up to him.

He was sleeping soundly against the wall of the cave, and I was left to my own. I don't know how long we'd been talking but the outside was darkening, and it looks like this minigame was nearing night.

Not to be wasteful, I decided to open up my status, I'd leveled up three more times and a new skill had been added to my list.

「Level: Six」

「Skill Points: 60」

「Intelligence (MP): 190(+120) (+60)

Strength:20

Luck: 25

Health: 445(+450) (+60)

Agility: 5」

I'd gotten the twenty skills points for each level reaching a grand total of sixty points. Like before, twenty HP and MP points for each level had been added to my basic stats.

The new basic stat of agility had been added as well to my list. It was sitting at a simple five, this was something completely, new but assuming that agility meant what it did. It might not be bad to invest some skill points into it.

From Matthew's comment, I seemed to be stronger than normal. I suppose that meant that my strength stat was at a suitable level to do enough damage to an almost advanced monster. But it might not be bad to invest some points into that as well.

The glowing fiery numbers looked me in the face, almost as if they were saying use me.

「Skill Points: 5」

「Intelligence (MP): 190(+120) (+60)

Strength:20 (15+)

Luck: 25 (10)

Health: 445(+450) (+60) (60+)

Agility: 5 (10+) 」

I'd used a total of fifty-five skill points out of sixty leaving me with just five skill points left over. For now, I'd just leave them, I didn't want to invest in Intelligence, right now.

Now it was onto the newly acquired skill.

It was just below my other skill 「Hecate's Boon」. Reaching my hand out, I tap the screen and open the skill menu up.

「Samurai's Determination」

「Flavor Text: Like any great warrior, one has to have determination. None had greater determination than the Samurai's that server their masters. Harness the powers and determination of these great warriors. 」

At times this really felt like I was playing a game. It felt like I had done this before, or rather, I used to game because a sense of nostalgia rose up as I read the information. However, I still couldn't remember anything about my past.

Taking a deep breath, I look down at the actual description of the skill.

「Increased focus and accuracy due to this state of mind. This skill is passive and activated when the player reaches a hyper-focused state of mind. 」

It was pretty much the same as what I'd been told when it first appeared. I still remember that hyper-focus it had described at that moment, I felt like I could do anything.

Lowering my hand, I lean my head back against the wall of the cave. Closing my eyes, my brain was spinning.

When it hit me all of a sudden, I remember that my other skill「Hecate's Boon」. Had a bit about obtaining slain monsters, I wonder if I'd acquired one of that 「Clown Rider」?!

Without wasting a heartbeat, I quickly flipped my way to that menu.

「Special Skill:

1. Summon Familiars

a. Serpent of Night

2. Acquired Monsters

a. Basic Clown (new) (8)

b. Clown Rider (new) (17) 」

And sure enough, there were two new names listed under my special skill. The word new floated beside them as well, just beside that was a number, which seemed to be how much MP it cost to summon them.

That means that I'd gotten a monster soul when I was killing those children clowns or either when I was saving Matthew. I felt like I'd really lucked out when I obtained the soul of the Clown Rider.

I'd only killed one, which meant that it was a really lucky break to have obtained its soul.

I felt really excited as I looked at the glowing letters.

A greedy thought surfaced in my head, if I managed to kill the clown court and snag one of their souls. That would give me an even better chance of surviving the 「Clown King」. I knew that he was going to be a challenge.

Waving a hand, I close the skill menu and close my eyes. Drawing in a deep breath, I try to relax, I felt abuzz with energy.

Looking towards Matthew, I begin to stand up. I want to wake him up so we can discuss a plan of attack.

When a deafening boom, shake the very earth.

I also topple over at the vibration that rattles the cave.

Matthew fly's upwards, ready and awake, and I turn to look towards the entrance of the cave. At the mouth of the cave, I see Royal viciously looking at someone.

The thick scent of blood permeates the cave, and I notice that vibrant purple blood, is running out of Royal's body. An ugly gash has been carved into part of his body.

Without waiting, I dash towards the entrance of the cave. About ten feet away from Royal is a clown that's dressed in all red, a wicked smile on his mouth.

His chest has a scratch on it, red blood with sparkles began to pour out of his chest. But the clown didn't seem to mind.

Within his hand was an ugly looking broad sword that was jagged a sawtooth.

The clown wore an eyepatch that was in the shape of a clown. Little golden inverted hearts had been pasted onto his ghostly grey skin. A mess mop of red hair grew out of his hair.

A dangerous aura radiated from his body.

Royal and this mysterious clown were locked in a brutal staring contest. It appears that they'd both exchanged blows and been evenly matched, both of them sustaining damage.

"Fuck! They've already found us, and this time it's a full-fledged advanced monster," Matthew appears at my side, a dark look on his face.

"It's not going to let us leave, so all we can do is kill it," I growl.

I felt a good deal of anger, Royal had been injured and this clown was the reason for it.

"You're right," he quickly assents.

The calm is broken as the clown charges forwards towards me. Without delay, Royal moves in to intercept the incoming attack.

I throw my body to the side to avoid the impact of the two rampaging monsters.

Tumbling to the ground, I manage to dodge the two. Matthew had also followed suit and moved out of the way of those two.

"Your monster is strong," he breathes from his position on the ground.

I can't help but agree.

"I'll support him from a distance and try to hit the clown with a magic attack. You do your best to support your monster, with your skills. We should be able to take this clown down, let's just hope none of his friends show up before that," he tells me quickly.

I nod my head and push myself up and draw my sword. Matthew quickly scurries away, soon it's just me Royal and the clown.

Royal's doing his best to hold the clown off with his tail, but I can tell that the clown is gaining momentum.

I charge forward towards the clown, sensing my approach. He slams Royal's tail away and turns his attention to me. Bring my sword forwards, I swing in an upward arch, aiming to slice his stomach.

But at the last second, I abandon that approach and sidestep. At that same moment, the clown's sword came down where my body was.

Cold sweat drips down my face, I'd only seen the attack at the last second. Without even thinking my body moved to the side of avoid… death.

A confused expression crosses the clown's face as he yanks his sword from the ground. The earth where his sword had landed was a mess. It looked crunched and destroyed.

I could only imagine what would have happened if that blow had collided with my body, instead of the earth being in such a sorry state, it would have been my body.

This didn't stop the clown, locking onto me, it began to wildly wield its sword. All that I could manage was to dodge the violent blows that rain down on me.

Slowly I began to parry the blows. The gap was slowly shrinking as I got used to the rhythm of the attacks. This clown was just madly attacking me without much thought, other than to whale down on me with all its strength.

Although, I still wasn't able to block all the blows that were coming at me. New cuts were slowly beginning to appear on my body. But the frequency of them began to lessen and lessen.

But that didn't mean that I didn't feel the earlier wounds, they were bleeding steadily.

Royal would try his best to interject and help, but the battle was too heated for him to completely interject.

The more time that passed, the more focused I got, and I soon felt that same sense of focus as when I activated my skill.

「Activated Samurai's Determination」

With the activation of the skill, I felt a breath of cool float around my mind. It was as if the movement of the clown were in slow motion.

At that moment, I saw the opening that I'd been waiting for appeared. My blade arches with a perfect circle and falls down like a petal in the wind to cut through one of the clowns' arms.

Red blood blooms like a rose and sprays my arm slightly.

It was surprisingly warm.

The clown looked appalled by the removal of its arm.

"Ahhhh~~"

It sounded like a dying animal. The sound was enough to make my eardrums feel like they were exploding.

The clown's body actually started to grow in size slightly, the bloodied stump of an arm was still pouring blood. Due to the lapse of focus, I couldn't dodge the next blow from the clown. With it's still attached arm, it swung its fist at me.

Slamming into my body, and launching me backward, my body canters into the ground. Before slamming into a tree. I felt warm sticky hot blood pour down the top of my face, coating my eyes.

My mind was spinning from the sudden impact. My stomach was also in knots from the sudden pain, I wanted nothing more than to vomit.

「-304 HP」

The clown began to move towards me, with slow deliberate steps, Royal was shot forward and bite into the clown, but that didn't stop its forward advance. It pressed onwards with a ferocity. My stomach began to drop.

Was this it?

My brain felt fuzzy.

The clown had arrived in front of me.

It's hulking body, blotting out the last rays of sunlight.

The expression on its face was a mixture of anger, and utter ecstasy. Like it relished in this moment of my completely helplessness.

Yet, that moment was short lived. As the whistling sound of an arrow entered my ears. The arrow plunged into the side of the clown head, ripping through it with a savage force. The light in the clown's eyes almost completely vanished as its body went limp and crumpled to the ground, like a sack of potatoes.