Beyond Levels

Sneaky archer.

Playing the 5th installment of a certain game with plenty of available playstyles yet failing to do so and the playthrough ends up being the same.

Sneaky archers, they're pretty strong. Their arrows that fly from the shadows can hit you from a blindspot and their shots are always critical hits.

Blight, being a veteran, used that same concept and hid when he was thrown off the battle. He waited for the proper opportunity, he didn't just hide in the shadows.

He hid behind the rubble and bade his time.

'Not yet.'

[Party Member Minion is now offline.]

Minion, the first guy to get forcefully logged out. Ligma was a strong boss that had question marks all over her health bar. Blight didn't dare to make a move during Minion's execution.

[Party Leader E is now offline.]

'Not yet.'

Blight persisted. He determined that the spaces in between attacks weren't enough to catch Ligma off guard.

[Party Member Enma is now offline.]

'Shit. They're all dead.'

He could only curse inward at the death of his friends. But he couldn't move. He was determined to stay hidden until an opportunity shows itself or he gets discovered.

'What's she doing?'

Blight saw that Annera was gripped in the same manner as Bob. She floated in the air and became a huge obstacle for him to snipe Ligma.

"Nufufufufu."

Blight remained hidden. He heard Ligma's ramblings and observed the situation, not giving up on his main goal.

'You sicken me.'

He saw how Ligma was toying with Annera. He suddenly got a hard-on, sapping his brain of blood. With his less functional head, Blight now chose to do-or-die.

'Charged shot.'

He whispered and charged the arrow to the best of his abilities. But before he spent his entire mana pool, the broken doors swung inwards and Bob came waltzing in.

"You're alive!"

Blight saw how Ligma suddenly became like a young girl in love. Annera fell down and Ligma rushed in a straight line. The obstacle went away and the target was moving in a predictable manner. And Blight knew what to make of it.

'Now!'

He released his charged shot that used his entire mana pool. He banked on the fact that it was a sneak attack and hoped that it would hit a vital spot.

[Criticial Strike!]

[You dealt 4,653 damage.] + [Sneak bonus: 4,653 damage.]

As luck would have it, Blight indeed dealt a critical strike and the sneak multiplier kicked in. This was the highest number he has seen thus far and his chest swelled in pride.

"oWo? What's this?"

Ligma suddenly stopped moving. She inspected herself and saw that an arrow just shot pierced her chest and stabbed her heart deeply. In normal human conditions, this would be lethal.

But Ligma isn't a human. She's a vampire that was suspected to be of noble descent. Her stats were way over E's party's levels.

'Shit. What the hell?'

Blight complained upon seeing that Ligma's health bar barely moved. The nudge on the HP his arrow caused was filled by red pixels once more as Ligma's passive regeneration kicked in.

"Nufufufufu. Did I just get shot through the heart?" Ligma giggled.

She withheld the aura that she was releasing since earlier and used telekinesis to pull the arrow out of her chest.

"Hehe. Is this a cupid's arrow?" She said as she caressed the arrow in her hands lovingly.

Suddenly, her aura came bursting forth and Blight was sent afloat. She used another wave of telekinesis and-

Splat~

Blight became a spherical Meatwad. She compressed him so much he turned into mush with nothing other than her powers of telekinesis.

"Thank you! Oh, I thank you so much, Mr. Cupid." Ligma continued speaking in a cute voice.

But to the other people in the room, namely Bob and Annera, it sounded like the last bell's tolls. The sinister amount of power could no longer be masked by Ligma's beauty and cuteness.

'She's a monster.'

Annera and Bob had the same thought. They couldn't move as their hearts were gripped, not because Ligma used her telekinesis but because of fear.

The slight moment of courage Bob used to get back inside went into smokes. He was now just like a child lost in a shopping mall, screaming for his mother in anguish.

"Hey, hey. You're going to be mine." Ligma pointed at the static Bob with the arrow instead of her fingers.

She had a cute smile on her face but somehow Bob could tell that something bad was going to happen. Ligma, now free of distractions, continued her waltz to Bob but this time with a blood-filled arrow in her hands.

"Nee, nee. I have this cupid's arrow through my heart earlier." She said as she arrived right in front of Bob.

"Don't you think that it'll be romantic that it goes through yours as well?"

Her ever so innocent smile had a sadistic glint to it. The aura of majesty she had from earlier suddenly became like that of a child. Just cold, and cruel.

Stab!

Bob's chest was stabbed, but just like Dan, Ligma made the mistake of pointing at the right side.

"Ooops. My bad." She giggled and pulled the arrow, gouging the wound on Bob's chest in the process.

STAB!

"Argh."

The second stab had so much more force than the last one. Ligma was sure this time that she had the target locked on.

"I like that. That sound."

She was genuinely happy as Bob moaned in pain. Although it was like a soft punch in the gut because of the pain control settings, Bob couldn't help but do so. Try getting your heart stabbed, see if you wouldn't scream.

"Now then. That makes our blood as one, D.A.R.L.I. no no no, I don't like that tone." She rejected the idea of calling Bob her darling.

She pulled the arrow once more and made even more of a mess, bringing with it was a piece of Bob's virtual heart. She stared at it and had the silliest smile on her face.

"Hey. Maybe this will-" She opened her mouth wide and served the arrow right into it.

Munch!

The piece of Bob's heart that was on the arrow satisfied Ligma's palate. This was the most addictive feeling of all, the deterioration of her insides as she consumed a part of a pseudo paladin's heart.

"Yes! Yes! You're more addicting than sugar! Your heart! It's sweet nectar!"

She couldn't help but exclaim. She had found her new favorite.

"Ooooooh. How sweet is your heart, Sweetheart?"

Annera observed how much more horrifying Ligma's sweet acting was than her dominatrix role. Her moe mode was just her dominatrix personality but with a cherry on top.

Ligma's cruelty wasn't really the thing that shocked Bob the most. He didn't feel that much pain anyway so it didn't matter to him that much.

"Why are you into me?" Bob asked despite not being able to move a single muscle in his body.

It was an actual question that guys face every once in a while. Whenever they receive an act of kindness from a girl, they would feel that the act was more than what it really was.

"Because you're so sweet." Ligma answered courtly.

She twirled her fingers on a lock of her hair and played with it. Staring back and forth on Bob's face and her fingers, acting shy upon realizing how bold her statement was.

However, Bob took that comment to heart, well, to his mind, his heart had a gaping hole on it after all. His manipulated memory did not contain lots of affection.

The only source of his strength from some time ago, his mother, just died. He moved on from that, but still, he craved for affection. Ligma's allure has proven itself effective against the not-so-virgin Bob.

Not-so-virgin, remember, he got invaded by a horned rabbit early on.

"Ok. I'll be yours."

And with those words, Bob officialized his consent.

It may have only been words, but it doesn't work like that for vampires who had magic.

"I'll be taking that as an oath. YOU. ARE. MINE!" Ligma's dominatrix personality showed itself the moment Bob gave in.

She used her magic and the blood on her hands to form unbreakable vows. The vows that are bound by blood couldn't be broken by anyone other than gods.

'Wait. What about my easy time leveling up? Bob's the perfect tanker, I can't afford to lose him now.' Annera still had her priorities straight.

Laughably, she couldn't do anything. The fear was still there and the cutesy act of Ligma ended. All hope was lost for Bob's freedom.

[Don't stick it in crazy.]

A grand voice rang inside Bob's ears.

'Lavanuk?'

[Yep, you've gone cuckoo.]

The voice laughed at Bob's mistake and made light of it.

[Child. You have been corrupted. Your bloodstream now has the blood of those wretched creatures. You gave in to temptation.]

Bob couldn't say anything. The voice was right. He simped for the wrong gal.

[Tsk tsk. You, a knight of my order? You have disgraced me. You were better off as a gifted child who could not think of anything else other than the next meal.]

Bob could only hang his head low.

[Well, I'll save your soul before it gets bound. If not, then I'll just rip the chains off.]

"AAAAUGGGGH!"

Bob suddenly felt intense pain. It was as if a sensitive tooth just met ice cream. That was it, he still was under the minimal settings for pain control after all.

[Woi. You're not dying? Why are you not dying?]

Meteder was confused.

Then a prompt showed itself before Bob, displaying in fully red text.

[System Prompt: Your blood has been contaminated. Your class is temporarily change to Corrupted Gourmet's Knight until your blood is cleansed.]

[System Prompt: A vow of blood attempts to shackle you into submission.]

[System Prompt: Meteder noticed that his subject is being poached right under his nose. The shackle is forcefully removed by his anger.]