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CHAPTER 2:
Renji blurrily opened his eyes, squinting against the bright sunlight. The first thing he noticed was he was butt-ass naked. He didn't have a shred of his starting gear.
It's funny, he thought, how his brain handled priorities because the second thing he realized was that he was laying uncomfortably in the branches of a tree. Outside of a sticky face and crotch, he was unharmed. In fact, he hadn't just regained the hit points he had lost in combat, his heat maximum had increased.
Renji Caldwell
HP:
10/10
Block:
0
Heat:
0/15
Statuses:
Exposed
Renji carefully made his way down after using his elevated position to get his bearings. He was about a ten-minute walk away from the plains, but he couldn't just walk back into the city. Even if he made it back, he didn't have any gold to purchase new gear. That, and the thought of female players seeing him naked made him extraordinarily uncomfortable. His player model had reverted to look just like him when the death game started, so he couldn't even hide behind a fake appearance.
That left one option: he had to defeat that Sylph. In the demo, slaying a monster pacified its whole species unless you were traveling in a party with members who had yet to get their kill. If that pattern held, he would just have to defeat one Sylph to make it back to the city unmolested. He would get a loot drop, maybe recover his clothes, and clear the way all in one swoop.
Renji dropped to the ground, then began walking cautiously toward the plains while reflexively covering his crotch. It felt endlessly strange to walk around in the open with his frank and beans just hangin' out. He found himself tiptoeing from tree to tree while scanning the forest for Sylphs.
On the bright side, he was so self-conscious and anxious that Berserker's Body kicked in to nullify the feeling of sticks and rocks crunching under his feet.
A breeze blew through the forest, rustling the oak canopy overhead. Renji froze and pressed himself up against a tree while glancing around. Sure enough, the blue skin of a Sylph flashing through the branches ahead of him caught his attention. If he was careful, he might be able to get a surprise round in before she had a chance to act.
Renji crept forward, doing his best to stay quiet as he followed the Air Sylph's trail. Soon Renji caught the athletic Sylph's figure squatting on a branch ten feet off the ground. He blushed as the breeze rustled her skirt to reveal her lacy white underwear. Even she had tried to kill him, it felt wrong to steal a glance up her skirt. Sure, he still could still smell her on his skin, but that didn't excuse being a lecher.
It looked like Air Sylphs stayed in the branches until they engaged in combat, so now was as good a time as ever to launch his surprise attack. Her 'heat type' was bratty submissive, so all he had to do was to... er... tame her. Right?
The world froze when Renji called up his deck.
Compliment ~ Feeble Block ~ Feeble Attack ~ Compliment ~ Strip
"Hmm..." Renji hummed. He had wanted a double compliment as the only ranged skill that would work on her, but not having strip on round two could cost him dearly.
He waved a hand to dismiss the deck, but a warning popped up.
Hint: Fleeing will give your opponent a surprise round against you, possibly re-engaging you in combat.
That gave Renji pause. He certainly didn't want the Sylph to get a free round off on him, especially if she was out for blood.
Fine. Renji took two Compliments and Feeble Block.
"Nice view from down here!" Renji called up, "but I think I prefer you without the clothes."
The Air Sylph's eyes snapped down to look at them as his double Compliment took effect. Her eyes were flat and dull, like the first time they met. With his words, though, some color flushed into her white-freckled cheeks.
Air Sylph
HP:
20/20
Block:
5+5
Heat:
4/20
Heat Type:
Bratty Submissive
Statuses:
Surprised
The rest of his deck floated up to greet him as the surprise round ended.
Feeble Attack ~ Fondle ~ Degrade ~ Dodge ~ Dodge
Even when he had double-dodged her first attack before, the Sylph had dealt two damage to him. He had put up ten Evade, so each of her two attacks did six damage. If he was ever caught with his pants down, metaphorically, he could die in one round. He had to make sure he got her pants down before that happened. Well, skirt down, but who cares about semantics?
After he selected his cards, the Air Sylph shot down at him just like before. He used Degrade immediately, "So eager to see me, aren't you... uh, such a slut!"
Air Sylph
HP:
20/20
Block:
5+5
Heat:
5/20
Heat Type:
Bratty Submissive
Statuses:
None
While Disruptive didn't activate, something interesting happened. The card had no effect, but it looked like his words alone increased her heat. That opened up a whole new world of possibilities!
Before Renji could consider the ramifications of his discovery the Air Sylph was upon him. He somersaulted out of the way of her first swing, then nearly avoided her second as she lashed forward to clip his side. He was down to 8/10 HP. Damn. His Feeble Block really didn't last more than a turn.
Dodge ~ Feeble Attack ~ Strip ~ Compliment ~ Feeble Block