8-3. Mana Stone
The snake's flank burst open. Shattered stone skin flew as blood seeped through.
The Stone Snake groaned and rolled its remaining eye, searching for whatever had hammered it,
"Eyes over here!"
The Kobold bandit stabbed the snake's remaining eye. Suhyeok went "Whoa—" and scrambled out of the way.
SHRAAAAA—!!
He'd anticipated the Stone Snake would go berserk again.
The massive creature's violent thrashing. One bandit who couldn't dodge in time was caught underneath and squashed from the world like a dried squid.
'How's Rowan doing? Did he get the young master out?'
Suhyeok suddenly remembered why he was fighting and looked around. Fighting was all well and good, but if the rescue failed, it'd be putting the cart before the horse.
Since attacking the rampaging Stone Snake was impractical anyway, Suhyeok used the opening to search for Rowan. The huts already demolished were beyond help, so he checked the ones still standing.
Rowan was in the second hut. The person who appeared to be the young master was there too—and Suhyeok clicked his tongue the moment he saw.
"How do we get this off? Sons of bitches!"
Iron shackles were clamped around the silver-haired young master's ankles. They weren't shackled prisoner-short, so it wouldn't have been too uncomfortable, but they were designed to prevent escape.
Suhyeok examined the crude lock on the shackles and thought.
'If I'd picked [Focus] instead of [Beastification], I might've been able to pick this.'
Every choice came with trade-offs.
But in a game that offered different solutions to the same {event} depending on what traits you had, Suhyeok thought less about regret and more about how to use what he already had.
"Step aside."
[Beastification] is about strength, after all.
"Hup!" Suhyeok braced his core and slammed the war hammer down on the chain. But the hammer only smashed it flat—it wouldn't break.
A hammer wasn't a cutting tool to begin with. Maybe ten or fifteen more hits would do it, but.
"Figures—[Combat Instinct] doesn't apply to objects. No good. Finding the key would be faster."
"The key?"
"Yeah. The bandits must have it. I'll bring it back, so stay here."
"Understood. I'll be waiting, sir mage."
He nodded and turned away, only to hear a puzzled "Sir mage?" from behind.
Him? A mage? The young master seemed to find it remarkable that someone of this build was a mage.
'Though it's not "young master" but "young lady," isn't it.'
Even with her hair cut short and dressed like that, you can't fool my eye.
Honestly, by appearance alone she could pass for a genuine boy, but having spent years immersed in a game world dripping with clichés, he could tell.
Medieval setting and a slightly delicate, handsome-looking boy shows up?
Ahh, one hundred percent female. If he was actually male, that'd be the real surprise.
'I'm looking forward to Juha's sense for this. I would've just made her male. Hmm, or maybe not? If it's a game, you do kind of need a female character around this point......'
Aah, so in the end I'm just another developer caving to commercial appeal. Here I am, in this situation, critiquing the heroine's entrance timing.
Suhyeok shook his head to clear the stray thoughts.
Outside, the Stone Snake's frenzy was gradually subsiding. He shouted during the lull.
"Hey! The key for the shackles on the young master in there—where is it?"
"Huh? Ah...... So you were with them."
This was probably the [Beastification] route's method for rescuing the young master.
The Kobold bandit, who'd taken a liking to Suhyeok, answered with a note of reluctance. Then he pointed at another bandit.
"He's got it. Hey, hand over the ke—"
That was when it happened.
The Stone Snake's frenzy abruptly stopped. Silence fell. Through the settling dust, an eerie sound echoed.
Hssss. Hssss.
The snake was flicking its tongue. Standing stock-still, motionless.
What's it doing? It was a puzzling moment.
"The key? Here you g—"
SKREEEE—!
The Stone Snake, which had been frozen, moved like a landslide. The bandit who'd taken a step to hand over the key didn't even have time to scream before vanishing into the snake's maw.
"MMPH— hel—! Sa—"
The scream came after the fact.
A human-shaped bulge traveled down the snake's throat. And the key with it. Only then did Suhyeok realize why the snake had been hissing.
"Nobody move!"
Blinded in both eyes, the snake was using its tongue to locate prey.
The Kobold bandit questioned Suhyeok's order and shouted.
"What good does standing still do? Nothing's changed! We've got to beat that thing!"
"Wait! Damn it! Just listen to me!"
The instant the belligerent Kobold Human moved to engage the snake, the Stone Snake's head snapped toward him.
Because that hissing was a <Skill>. No different from the Kobold Human's Growl.
public interface IReptile {
Location Hiss();
…
Hiss(), a shared skill of the Reptile type.
The Stone Snake, inheriting the IReptile interface, could use this, and its effect was to locate and lock onto moving enemies.
A skill that made the next attack an 'auto-hit'—and sure enough, the blinded Stone Snake charged straight at the Kobold bandit with pinpoint accuracy.
"GRAOW!!"
An unavoidable charge. Having been locked by Hiss(), the attack could not miss.
Suhyeok cursed under his breath, ran in, and brought the hammer crashing down on the snake's skull. The bandit might not have meant to, but wasting the opening he'd drawn was too costly.
"KRAAAH."
Fortunately, the Kobold bandit was alive—not swallowed.
Using a Kobold's superior physique and reflexes, he'd braced against the snake's jaws, but the sheer weight difference had shoved him clear through a wooden wall, and that he couldn't help.
Hssss. Hssss. Hssss.
As the injured Kobold bandit crawled away, the Stone Snake hissed again.
This time, no one moved without Suhyeok's warning. Suhyeok, too, stood frozen like a statue and thought.
'This is a problem.'
He'd realized something when he'd struck the snake's skull just now.
His damage output was lacking.
Thanks to [Combat Instinct], his hits punched through the defense and dealt damage, but the Stone Snake's HP pool was as enormous as its size.
Keep hitting and he'd kill it eventually, but without a mobility skill or a survival skill, how long could he keep striking and dodging?
Unlike that thing, I'd go down in a single hit.
In cases like this, the only option was to overcome it with superior mechanical play. But I'm no national-level athlete or veteran gamer...... it'd be a gamble, honestly.
I need some kind of game-changer. A mana stone would be nice. While Suhyeok deliberated—
The hideout, gone quiet as no one dared move. Everyone was even holding their breath to avoid being detected by the Stone Snake,
"I'll come out. It's quiet, so they must've taken care of it. Sir mage! Did you find the ke—"
SHRAAAK—!
Rowan threw the door open and shouted.
In that instant, the Stone Snake launched like a cannon blast. Rowan screamed "AAGH!" and slammed the door shut again.
CRASH—!
Half the hut was obliterated in a single blow. Rowan, sent flying along with the door, seemed to have escaped injury by sheer luck.
Judging by the groans and him getting back up. But a moment later, he cried out in horror.
"Li—Lirian! My lady!"
"Son of a—!"
The 'young master,' shrieking in terror, had been snatched by the Stone Snake. Suhyeok rushed over and tried to draw its attention, but it was no use.
"Rowan! He-help......"
"My lady!!"
"Look here! Over here! Right here!"
His aggro wouldn't stick. The eyeless Stone Snake would rather finish off the prey already coiled in its grasp than deal with Suhyeok hammering at it from below.
"KYAAAH—!" A short death cry, and then the Stone Snake swallowed the young master whole.
"......Damn it."
Watching someone die in front of him was nothing new at this point. But Suhyeok realized the chain {event} that had begun when he'd met Rowan had just been blown to pieces.
The {rescue} quest was a failure. That had been his chance to connect with a noble family. Given how things had turned out, he'd have to salvage whatever he could.
'You snake bastard. I'm killing you for sure.'
He'd eat the Stone Snake's soul at minimum to offset the loss. And confirm what happened when you killed a monster.
Because while NPCs dropped(?) their belongings, killing a monster in KingRPG yielded something different.
"My lady! My lady! Ah...... AAAAAAGH!!"
He'd been planning to kill it anyway, so the loss was still a loss, but...... the least he could do was avenge Rowan.
PTOO—Suhyeok spat into both palms and gripped the war hammer tight. I'm killing it no matter what! He was steeling himself when.
SHRAA—?
The Stone Snake that had swallowed the young master was behaving oddly. Its head was raised, and it sat there squirming vacantly.
Did it get...... slightly bigger?
Suhyeok had been staring in bewilderment when his eyes shot wide.
"Hck!"
And so did the Stone Snake's eyes—the same ones the Kobold bandit had gouged out. Meeting the snake's gaze, Suhyeok murmured before he could stop himself.
Restored eyes.
Fangs longer than before.
And a sinister dark-red aura radiating from its body.
"Vampire...... This is the worst. A bloodline of the vampire house."
public class Vampire : Character, IUndead { …
public override float HitStunMultiplier => 0.0f;
public Vampire(string name, JobClass job) : base(name, job) {
this._traits.Add(new LifeSteal(rate: 0.1f));
this.Agi *= 2.0f;
this.Int *= 3.0f;
…
Just as the bandit had transformed into a Kobold Human, the people of this KingRPG world carried various 'bloodlines' within them. With the king's assassination still so recent, most people didn't know this secret.
But the king was dead, and bloodlines were now freed from that seal and blooming.
The young master had undoubtedly been born with a vampire bloodline.
The Stone Snake that had swallowed her had inherited the vampire's traits—just as Suhyeok had gained [Beastification].
Suhyeok groaned as he thought.
'A Vampiric Stone Snake. What a godforsaken combination.'
Now that armored thing had regeneration.
It was already a struggle to bring down with its massive HP pool, and now it has regenerated? Running was the smart play.
'I'll have to come back and kill it later.' Suhyeok was about to cut his losses and turn away.
The Kobold bandit was reading the mood and creeping backward too—when someone charged forward alone.
"Give her back—give back my lady!!"
Rowan.
He'd snatched up a sword and was charging before anyone could stop him. Suhyeok reached out to grab him—But then came the flare of an <Aura Blade>.
Suhyeok, who'd been reaching for the scruff of his neck, flinched in surprise and missed. Something faint and red was rippling along the blade in Rowan's hand.
'Wh-what? He was actually an SSR-tier character?'
An Aura Blade was no common skill.
By lore, it was something that transcended the category of <Skills> entirely, a supreme combat art requiring [Enlightenment].
And the one who honed that enlightenment to stand at the pinnacle of the sword was a 'Sword Master.' Suhyeok, the Kobold Human, and the two surviving bandits watched Rowan's charge with eyes wide as saucers.
They might be witnessing the birth of a young Sword Master who would one day lord over this world.
And the moment Rowan raised his blade high and leapt.
THWACK—!
The Stone Snake's tail came crashing down.
Overwhelming force. Rowan's body burst apart without a trace, and CLINK, CLATTER— a small stone rolled toward Suhyeok.
He looked down, and it was,
"......"
A mana stone. Small and red.
'What the......'
His mind went blank.
Suhyeok bent down and picked it up. At his feet were scattered the blood and flesh that had been Rowan's until moments ago, so he had to wipe clean what he'd picked up.
But the slightly firm texture, the something rippling inside—it was no different from every mana stone he'd seen.
A chill ran through Suhyeok's entire body.
The game Juha and I made was a dark fantasy.
He'd confess: they'd chosen dark fantasy because it was a genre that sold well with today's audience, nothing more. They'd thought as long as it was fun, that was enough.
But a dark fantasy world made real...... might be more horrifying than he'd imagined.
Shaken but now understanding where mana stones came from, Suhyeok clenched his fist. Rowan's mana stone trembled faintly even in death, bleeding fury.
'......Revenge. I promise.'
Suhyeok drew his quill pen. Dismissing him as just another NPC felt wrong—there was a small bond, however brief.