01x07 - Remnant of the Divinity: The Aberrant Loser

[bunniefuu]

There are countless number

of video games in this world.

However, most of them

gets buried under many others.

Standing atop of those many titles

is this Full-Dive VR game that has

over thirty million players worldwide.

The game that earned

the reputation of being a god-tier game,

Shangri-La Frontier.

The boy who loves trash game,

Rakuro Hizutome

challenges the god-tier game,

Shangri-La Frontier!

What kind of adventure

awaits him in his path?

I throw away my defense

and put on my bird mask headgear

I'm a hustler

My point only goes to my luck stats

Parry parry

now this is my style

playing broken games all night

who's that knight?

Broken game is sickness

toxic scattered, now I'm a patient

My heart is beating almost twice as fast

The chaos wither get it bite that bug

Terrible gimmick

new game a.k.a suicide??

I don't give a damn

(Do it, Do it)

No, not yet NO it's not enough

(Do it, Do it) NO it's not enough

I still can go

Everyone looks dirty to me

Everything looks broken to me

we can go, we can go

to that mountain top, not afraid to drop

this world is going to be mine duh

(Aberrant Woodmage, The Fallen Divine)

So that game was so full of bugs!

And it only has auto saves!

I don't really get it,

but it seemed you had fun.

No, not at all.

The game crashing bug was so bad, man!

Then why did you even play it?

Cuz it's fun.

Hey!

He's always smiling.

Oh, Rakuro. Is that the latest release?

And he always seemed to be having fun.

And eventually

I started to get interested in him.

And I began looking for him everywhere.

Sup, Rakuro!

Hey.

I tried speaking to him many times, but

But someday

I wish I can have

a conversation with him

Even if it's just inside a game

Goddammit!

You guys are really making

this god-tier game into trash game!

Just give up and hand over the info!

Severing Attack

Rock-smasher!

Wh-What happened?!

Psyger-0?

They don't seem to be

one of the PK'ers.

But they should be after

my Unique Scenario, too.

This is getting nowhere!

I've gotta think of a way

to break out of here!

Think you can block

my trump card?

It require the skill "Spell Mastery"

and my HP to be within a single digit.

It's a shamanistic spell that k*ll

both myself and my target!

I used up my Karmic Straw Doll.

I can't reflect any more

shamanistic spells.

In exchange of my own life

I grant you the Insta-Death debuff!

See you in Hell, Fellow Traveler!

I messed up.

What?!

Pencilgon-san?!

Emul, get ready to cast the gate.

Yesh!

Sorry!

Wha

O-Oh no!

You guys were wide open! Idiots!

Don't let him get into town!

We'll be mobbed by bounty hunters!

I should at least remember their name.

Psyger-0.

Dammit! Attack Master!

How dare you get in our way!

You'll pay for messing

with the Ashura Kai!

Sorry.

Sorry.

Sorry.

Sorry.

H-He talked to me!

They seems to be acting weird.

What's wrong?

I'm not really sure,

but they stopped moving!

This is an opportunity!

If I k*ll them,

I'll be the top in Ashura Kai!

But

If it wasn't for these people

We could've talked for longer!

Run?

Yeah.

From now on, this is personal.

Ah, I mean

I'll make you pay!

(Rabituza Inn)

All right! We made it out!

Take that, you sweaty tryhards!

You ain't gonna get me

all the way to Rabituza!

But man, I was scared!

I wasn't expecting you to say

"I'm out of magic to open the gate!"

I used it all up to transform.

If we didn't make it here from Thirdrema,

we'd be in trouble.

This tastes good.

Good thing I bought an MP recovery item.

Well, either way,

we accomplished our goal.

Pencil Knight

Or I should say, Pencilgon

Being a sore loser, huh.

My death was entirely my own doing,

so I didn't lose to you at all.

I wasn't expecting that cutie

Attack Master to cover up for you.

You know each other?

Attack Master

She meant that Psyger-0 person?

Well, regardless

I want to talk with you,

so let's meet up in

Unite Rounds with Katzo-kun.

I'll tell you the time later.

She wants to talk?

And outside of SLF for some reason?

Something's fishy.

Oh, speak of the devil.

I just got an incredibly

fishy invite from Pencil.

What did you do?

It is as suspicious as it can get,

but I'm honestly just as curious too.

It sounds pretty interesting,

so I figure I could at least hear it out.

And of course,

you'll be coming too, right?

If I got Katzo saying this to me,

I guess there's no running now.

But I got something

more important to do right now.

Thank you for the drink.

Kept you waiting, Emul.

Let's kick off

this Unique Scenario for real!

Finally!

Yay! Yay! Yay!

So, how do we do this?

That Vash

I mean, your rabbit boss talked

about training me or something.

Well then, I'll take you to the arena

we use for practical combat training!

Arena?

(Vorpal Colosseum)

The Vorpal Colosseum!

Whoa, this place's pretty big.

Dad

My boss said he wants to you

to fight ten monsters here.

Okay!

So I just have to beat

each one of them down in a row?

Oh, by the way, you may only

use Vorpal weapons.

Sure thing!

All right!

I'll train real hard, raise my level,

and make sure Pencilgon can't act

all smug towards me every again!

I'm ready!

(Vorpal Choppers

Equipped)

Bring out the first one!

Aye-aye!

Here it comes!

I'm not expecting to make it

through all ten on my first try.

I'll learn their movement patterns

through trail-and-errors, and steadily

Huh?

Practical Combat Training First Opponent,

Packhound.

They always come in a pack

of five or more.

Average level 65.

Don't they look kinda strong?

Wait, wait, wait!

There are multiple level 65 enemies!

Well, of course.

They're the first opponent, after all.

A-At least call it "the first battle"!

I talked with Hizutome-kun!

Sorry!

N-Next time I meet him,

I should be bold

and send him a friend request?

Will he accept?

Friend request?

Yes, of course!

Psyger-0.

Thank you for saving me the other day!

Let's walk to school together

every morning!

Maybe?

I looked for him in Thirdrema

after that, but

I couldn't find him.

Did he logged out?

I wonder what he's doing right now

These guys

clearly only think of me as food!

Sunraku-san! This is your seventh try!

You can do it this time!

At least I don't get penalized

for dying in this arena

But the trouble with them

isn't their numbers, or their level

It's their perfectly refined

team coordination!

Repel Counter!

And this teamwork comes

with a commander giving out the orders!

Slide Move!

After fighting them so many times

I can tell!

The one monster that only bark

from a safe spot and never attack!

You must be the commander!

Spiral Edge!

(Spiral Edge)

Looks like I hit the jackpot!

You guys are so stiff!

Now that I know who's the commander,

I can just ignore the other guys!

I'll focus on taking down the commander

before he gives out any more orders!

You're not getting away!

You're mine!

Well done, Sunraku-san!

A pack of isolated monsters

without their leader

are nothing to fear!

Once the cat's out of the bag,

they're just tough-skinned dogs!

Wonderfully done, Sunraku-san!

Practical Combat Training First Opponent,

Packhound. Complete.

Good work, Sunraku-san!

There better be no more

than one next time.

No, it's just one monster next!

I really hope so, for real.

Practical Combat Training Second Opponent,

Parasite Tentacle.

Oh come on! It's practically a pack!

As its name imply, the main one

is the tentacle, not the bear.

I repeatedly attacked and dodged

the tentacles,

and when I cut off the seventh one,

the bear stopped moving, and I won.

A very strong goblin.

That's honestly the only thing

I can say about it.

But no matter how strong they are,

a goblin is a goblin.

It was easier than

the dogs and tentacles.

I hate this boar.

Its ability to explode when you touch

its snout when it charges was still fine.

But its stamina is just ridiculous.

I measured it, and a single charge

can go on for around twenty seconds.

If I didn't have experience in rodeo,

it probably would've taken a lot longer.

Well, rodeo experience

in video game, that is.

You, little!

I'm never gonna forgive you!

Sunraku-san!

Compared to that bird b*stard

from earlier that drops poison turd

from the sky and stays too high up

to attack, this was nothing!

Have fun crawling around

wingless your whole life!

Fast, strong, but not tough.

Once you learn its habit to circle around

and attack from outside your field of vision,

it's just way too easy to handle.

Nothing particularly noteworthy.

It was quite strong.

That's all.

Let's call an attack with its right hand "A"

and an attack from its left hand "B."

When connecting a strike from A to A,

it'll do so with little to no time lag.

However, when it go from A to B or vice versa,

the core flashes for just a moment.

This lets you predict its attacks

to a certain extent.

Taking account of the height difference

between me and the golem,

there is certain regularity

of A and B attacks.

As such, the moment I dodge an attack

or when its hit box disappears,

I theorized I can climb up its arm

and approaches the core.

Upon trying, an energy field knocked

me away and took 70% of my HP,

forcing me to change my strategy.

As a result, I opted to strip away its armor

to expose its weak point, and

Argh, what a pain!

I dodged it, I peeled it,

I beat it, I won!

Woohoo!

Only one more left!

Practical Combat Training

Ninth Opponent Complete.

Also

I fought this much and I only

went up two levels? Seriously?

Thank you, Vorpal Soul Collar,

for cutting off half of the EXP I earned!

Sunraku-san! You should take a rest!

You got a scary look on your eyes!

What are you talking about?

In fact, I'm in my peak condition,

optimized to the max!

Now, hurry up and

bring out the last monster!

Oh, what do we have here?

Ya defeated the ninth guy already?

That's pretty good timing.

Vash?

Dad, uhm, Boss!

"Good timing"?

I bet he just showed up because I set

some flag after defeating the ninth one.

Um, Aniki.

So about the last monster

I was thinkin' 'bout havin' ya fight

the guy I caught for yer tenth opponent.

So I went travelin' a bit!

Th-That not a human, right?

A sorcerer type?

This is one of the morons

who tried merging with a tree

to extend their life a long, long time ago.

I ain't expectin' you

to beat this guy anytime now,

so I'll set the clear condition fer ya.

And what's that?

Stay alive for five minutes.

Unique Scenario: Invitation from Rabituza.

Practical Combat Training Tenth Opponent,

Aberrant Woodmage

Victory conditions renewed.

Survive for five minutes.

Endurance battle, eh?

You sure just five minutes?

I can just run around, and

Was there even any

lead-in animation?

You can brag all ya want

But try ta back it up with action, eh?

Heh! I see!

Five minutes might be a while!

Among over thirty million players in SLF,

Sunraku was the first one

to ever fight this monster.

However, it is still long before

Sunraku learn about that.

I scream in envy so much it hurts

I cry that this is where it ends

It's going to change, I'll change it

I don't want to think

it's impossible anymore

The goal I set up is now

the starting line for me to run again

Hit me with that despiar, it excites me

Telling me give it a go

I should be able to go as far as I want,

yet I mistake this to be my limit

Is getting an easy win

sometimes necessary?

It exhilarate me,

telling me to give it a go

I have a dream,

so even my complaints is not a joke

I scream in envy so much it hurts

I cry that this is where it ends

It's going to change, I'll change it,

I don't want to think

it's impossible anymore

I don't mind breaking if I can move on

I hate giving up even more

I'm going to make it come true,

make it a reality, I'm always serious

Make it so I'm only

a little away from obtaining it

Let me ace this even if it burns me

SLF theater!

Mini!

(Unique Scenario "Invitation from Rabituza"

Practical Combat Training Fifth Opponent "Toxic Eagle")

(Total Attempts: 45th Attempt)

None of my attack will reach

from the ground

which means!

Got 'cha!

You, little!

Sunraku-san!

I'm never gonna forgive you!

Sunraku-san!

Sunraku-san!

SLF Theater!

Mini!

Yes, I'm Rakuro Hizutome.

Yes, that's right.

I'm a Trash Game Hunter.

Why I like playing trash games?

There's a proverb that goes;

"Endure Hardship in Youth."

My name is Rakuro with

the character "Easy" in it,

but I don't like to take

the easy path in life.

By intentionally choosing

the harsh path,

and climbing the steep mountain using

one's own imagination and ingenuity

I wish to enjoy the beautiful sight

that lies before it,

and ultimately the life that unfolds.

(This delusion is fiction, any resemblance to actual

person or trash game player is purely coincidental.)