Thunderstruck
“... it's a bit cramped.” Paulina … not quite complained, but more commented.
The five of us, the GM included, had fitted ourselves into Overdrive, so we could drive outside of the city gates. I really should have just teleported us into Big Core from the guild's front door.
The three girls, Alice, Ria and Paulina had fitted themselves to the back seat, but it clearly wasn’t meant for 3 people. Two only. Even with the girls not being overly bulky, they were still shoulder to shoulder.
The GM was on the shotgun seat for obvious reasons. If he was in the back, it would be even worse for everyone. Honestly, I should have just summoned a second Overdrive and let Ria and Paulina ride that one.
“I’d heard about it, but for it to be like this…” The guild master muttered. “How does your skill actually work? It is from that … May I talk about it with the ladies present?”
“About Pack Opener, yes. They all know of it. Two of them even have Card Summoner, if you know what that is.” I answered.
“... I don’t recall anything about it in the report about you. Might I ask for the information?”
“I guess it might not be in my report as I don’t have it. Well, I kind of do, but as Pack Opener is just the higher class version of it, my Pack Opener ate mine when I got it. Anyway, it is quite simple, it just allows the holder to use my cards fully, but not make new ones like I can.”
“I see… I wonder why it wasn’t a part of the report?”
“As I said, because I don’t have it.”
“But Miss Watchman has it, correct? I don’t recall any sort of information about the skill getting published, so I was just wondering.”
“Alice? You know about that?” I asked her.
“I did show my status to the guild staff when I registered.” She answered. “But Father said they should ask for the information on Card Summoner from Mr. Zayaan.”
“So the new guild master is already keeping secrets. We might have to send an auditor to visit him then…”
… sorry Zay. I really hope that won’t cause problems for you. But at the same time, why didn’t you just report on it? Not like Card Summoner is really a secret. And if more and more people will be getting it from the dungeon, the guild should know about it. And not just your specific guild, but the organization as a whole.
“Alright, time to switch our ride.” I said as I stopped Overdrive a bit away from the city walls.
“I see. So you don’t just use this for the entire quest. I was thinking it might be a bit too slow.” The GM commented as we got out.
“Actually, Overdrive could move fast enough for us to make the trip, but it really isn’t comfortable at those speeds.” I told him. “And it would also make taking notes of the monsters a lot more difficult. But luckily I have something better. B.E.S. Big Core.” I summoned our next ride.
“... I don’t see it.” The GM commented.
“Of course you don’t. It’s in the sky and nearly invisible. I can’t just summon a giant spaceship without it being invisible.” I said as the teleportation beam came down from the ship.
“Invisible? As in cannot be seen?”
“That’s what invisible means, right? Get over here. We are going up.” I said, getting into the beam with the girls.
“... where does this light even come from?” The GM wondered, as he got in.
Then, I teleported us into the ship.
“... what was that?” He asked, looking around.
“Teleportation. It’s the easiest way to get here.” I answered. “Come on. Let’s go. I want to be home before dinner.”
We made our way to the deck. I had the GM sit in the lead navigator’s seat, as I usually do with new people. Alice got to sit on the lead weapons officer and Paulina and Ria took some of the other seats.
“... I see now. So this is how you do it…” The GM said, after we had begun to move.
“Nice, right?”
“Nice? I don’t think that does it justice. Impossible. Imaginary. Those are more like it.”
“... maybe. But what are you going to do?”
“I suppose you won’t be willing to sell this ship?”
“You couldn’t use it without Card Summoner anyway, so it would be useless to you. And how much do you think I would ask for it if I did sell it? Can the guild even afford it?”
“Our guild, most likely not. But the central guild or maybe the capital’s branch, yes. I don’t think you would ask for a sum they cannot afford. But they might say it isn’t worth it, if they can just send dedicated quests for you whenever they need to use this thing.”
“Turning me into a taxi service huh? I guess it could be worse.”
“Taxi? What is that?”
“Oh? You don’t use that word here? It was basically this carriage service from where my parents are from. Well then again, I never used it myself, I just heard about it.” I said, trying to match up my explanation with my original lie of where I’m from. Alice and Ria might realize what I meant, as they know of the … my history, but luckily they didn’t comment on it.
“Wow. What is that doing here?” I asked, looking at the moving … not quite mountain, but still. A very large animal. Beast-monster, actually.
“Wh-why is something like that here?” The GM asked, seeming to panic a bit. “We … we need to head back and come up with a plan to deal with this thing.”
“Why? I’ll just deal with it myself.” I said.
“What!?” The guild master yelled out. “No way! That thing is a …”
“Sword-horn bull. An A-rank monster. I know. Been there, done that. I beat one previously.”
“You did? When? Where? Why hasn’t there been a report about that?”
“In the TinaWood dungeon, a couple weeks ago. And it didn’t get reported because … I actually don’t know. I just didn’t, as the dungeon absorbed the corpse anyway, so there was nothing to sell.”
“a-Are you certain you can take on it?” The GM asked.
“We are talking about Brian.” Alice said. “He can take on anything.”
Oh Alice. You know me so well. Even if I’m not sure if that is true. I do want to test fighting a SS or S-rank monster though. Well, thinking about it, I’m decently sure Exodia can take on anything. And if there is something he can't take, then that thing shouldn't exist.
“As she said. Alice, come take over the captain’s seat. I’ll go take that thing down.”
“Sure, but can’t I come help?” Alice asked.
“... I think this might be a bit much.” I said. “And I have a few things I want to test out, so I don’t want you on the firing line.”
“Test?! You are planning on testing things on an A-rank monster?!” The GM half yelled.
“Sure. Why would I not? They are sturdy enough to make for good targets. The other monsters die too easily.” I said as I left the bridge.
“... I guess I’ll need some wings…” I muttered as I got to the ground.
I wasn’t in any actual danger yet, as I had landed far enough away from the giant bull. And the bull was also just hanging around, eating trees and all other vegetation in the area.
“Well, might as well. I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to summon him…” I kept speaking to myself, as I got out three cards. “I activate Shinato's Ark! I tribute Archlord Zerato to ritual summon Shinato, King of a Higher Plane!”
Spoiler
From my ritual came a giant man, well an angel. Standing at little over 10 meters tall, and with his six massive wings, he was quite the sight to behold.1 Add to that his mechanical appearance, and he definitely looks like someone’s attempt at creating a god. Or at least an archangel.
“Master. I have been waiting for your call. How may I be of service?” The angel asked.
“Lift me up please. I want to fly. We have a bull to take down.” I told him.
He did as ordered and took me into his arms.
“Hey, who told you to carry me like a princess?” Yes, he took me into a princess carry.
“It is the most comfortable way I can hold you, Master. And you deserve nothing less.” Shinato said.
“... fine. Just take us so I can see the bull. If it survives the test, you can take it down.”
“As you wish.” He said, before flapping his wings and taking us into the air.
Re-seeing this beast, but this time outside really reaffirmed just how large it is. About 17 meters tall and just under 30 from butt to face.
“Master, are you certain I can’t do this? I would be more than happy to.” Shinato offered.
“Not just yet. I want to test out a spell card first. If it doesn’t kill it, you can take over.” I said.
And considering that comically large hammer to the head didn’t work last time, I’m not sure this will work either. But mostly, I just want to test this thing out.
As I held the card in my hand, preparing to activate it, I saw something that looked like a targeter appear in my field of vision. A large circular area. I could move it around and I even figured I could change it from one large circle to five smaller circles which form a line. I guess a multi targeting spell has an option for multiple hit places. But as I only have one target, I went with the single large circle.
“Raigeki!” I yelled out to activate the card.
Spoiler
A massive lighting bolt appeared out of nowhere and struck the targeted area, with the bull at the center of it. I instinctively covered my eyes, as I felt like I might go blind if I didn’t.
When my vision returned, I saw the bull where it had been, except with a large char mark on its back where the lightning bolt had connected. But it seems that it really didn’t go down this time either. A-rank monster be built different.
It was recovering from the impact and was trying to get back to its feet, but it was struggling to get up.
“Master? Shall I?” Shinato asked.
“No. Just a second. I want to try a second copy.” I said as I traded the grayed out Raigeki for a fresh one from my collection. “Again, the large single circle, good. Raigeki!”
Another bolt of lightning hit the bull. This time, Shinato had used his wings to cover my eyes, so I didn’t get that blinded. He must have also used some kind of spell to protect us from the sound, as the sound of thunder didn’t hurt my ears either time.
The bull fell down on the ground again, and stayed there, unmoving.
“... did it die?” I asked.
“Do you want me to confirm?” Shinato asked.
“... depends on how you do it. Don’t make a new hole in the body. Actually, just take us closer. I’ll try to put it into storage. If it is still alive, I can’t place it in there.” … Unless that rule changed when inventory became storage.
Shinato carefully brought us to the downed bull, making sure there was a barrier of light between us and the monster. We kept approaching, and I kept trying to put the monster into storage, but it just wouldn’t go. We were definitely close enough, as the distance at which I can store an item is related to the size of said item. For something small, I have to be quite close and have good visual contact with it, whereas with something large I can be a bit further away. At least that is how it was when I was testing out inventory, and storage seems to be the same.
“Definitely still alive.” I said as my hand touched the monster. I could feel the mana moving inside its body. It was likely trying to heal all of the damage caused by the two Raigeki.
“Master? May I?” Shinato asked.
“Yeah. Go for it. We need to bring it down.” I answered Shinato.
He flapped his wings to take some distance from the bull. I looked as six purple spheres, each with a Japanese symbol appeared. They then began to rotate at high speed, and their afterimages made them look like one solid ring.
Spoiler
“Divine Ring.” Shinato said coldly, before sending the ring flying towards the bull.
It struck the bull in the neck, severing its head from its body.
“... well, now it is dead.” At least I hope so. If it can take having its head cut off, I want to know how anyone normal is supposed to beat one of these. Well then again, either time that I fought one of these things, they didn’t really fight back. Sure the first time was because I held it in place with a Spellbinding Circle and this time I took the initiative with a super strong attack, which stunned the monster. So maybe it would be more threatening if it actually got to do anything. And honestly, just existing at that size is a threat. This thing could literally just walk over a house and crush said house under foot. Or under its belly.
Anyway, let’s get that thing into storage, unsummon Shinato and get back into Big Core.
“... you really took it down. And in no time at all…” The guild master was muttering.
“See. I told you so.” Alice tried to bloat.
“Hey everyone. I’m back.” I announced.
“Welcome back, Brian. That didn’t seem too difficult.” Ria greeted.
“Well, I suppose. But I’m surprised that it could take two Raigeki and not die. A-rank monsters really just are built different.”
“What about that … angel?” Paulina asked.
“He is called Shinato. And he is the strongest fairy I can summon.”
“Fairy? Not an angel?” Alice asked.
“Well, it falls under the category of fairy. Technically you could also call it the angel category, because of reasons I won’t get into, but I call them fairies.” I explained. Or didn’t really explain. “But honestly, calling Shinato an archangel isn’t wrong.” I admitted.
“... How can someone summon an archangel..? How will I report on this..?” The guild master asked.
Wow. Yeah. I could see that being an issue. But really. Has no one summoned an angel with this world's summoning magic? Or maybe it would fall under holy magic? Holy summoning magic? Whatever.
“Just figure something out.” I told him. “Or just conveniently leave it out of the report and just say I used lightning magic to kill the bull. Anyway, Alice move over. We still have a quest to finish.”
“Sure.” Alice said as she swapped back to the lead weapons officers seat, freeing my captain’s seat.
I sat down, and guided the ship so that we could keep the quest going. We still have some ground to cover and we also have to hunt down any monsters too close to the road.
But that will be for Alice and Ria. And Paulina if she wants to join. I think this is still trying to be some sort of rank up exam for Alice, after all. And if the GM doesn’t rank her up, I’ll Mind Wipe him. Or Mind Crush. That should work as well.
Thunderstruck
“... it's a bit cramped.” Paulina … not quite complained, but more commented.
The five of us, the GM included, had fitted ourselves into Overdrive, so we could drive outside of the city gates. I really should have just teleported us into Big Core from the guild's front door.
The three girls, Alice, Ria and Paulina had fitted themselves to the back seat, but it clearly wasn’t meant for 3 people. Two only. Even with the girls not being overly bulky, they were still shoulder to shoulder.
The GM was on the shotgun seat for obvious reasons. If he was in the back, it would be even worse for everyone. Honestly, I should have just summoned a second Overdrive and let Ria and Paulina ride that one.
“I’d heard about it, but for it to be like this…” The guild master muttered. “How does your skill actually work? It is from that … May I talk about it with the ladies present?”
“About Pack Opener, yes. They all know of it. Two of them even have Card Summoner, if you know what that is.” I answered.
“... I don’t recall anything about it in the report about you. Might I ask for the information?”
“I guess it might not be in my report as I don’t have it. Well, I kind of do, but as Pack Opener is just the higher class version of it, my Pack Opener ate mine when I got it. Anyway, it is quite simple, it just allows the holder to use my cards fully, but not make new ones like I can.”
“I see… I wonder why it wasn’t a part of the report?”
“As I said, because I don’t have it.”
“But Miss Watchman has it, correct? I don’t recall any sort of information about the skill getting published, so I was just wondering.”
“Alice? You know about that?” I asked her.
“I did show my status to the guild staff when I registered.” She answered. “But Father said they should ask for the information on Card Summoner from Mr. Zayaan.”
“So the new guild master is already keeping secrets. We might have to send an auditor to visit him then…”
… sorry Zay. I really hope that won’t cause problems for you. But at the same time, why didn’t you just report on it? Not like Card Summoner is really a secret. And if more and more people will be getting it from the dungeon, the guild should know about it. And not just your specific guild, but the organization as a whole.
“Alright, time to switch our ride.” I said as I stopped Overdrive a bit away from the city walls.
“I see. So you don’t just use this for the entire quest. I was thinking it might be a bit too slow.” The GM commented as we got out.
“Actually, Overdrive could move fast enough for us to make the trip, but it really isn’t comfortable at those speeds.” I told him. “And it would also make taking notes of the monsters a lot more difficult. But luckily I have something better. B.E.S. Big Core.” I summoned our next ride.
“... I don’t see it.” The GM commented.
“Of course you don’t. It’s in the sky and nearly invisible. I can’t just summon a giant spaceship without it being invisible.” I said as the teleportation beam came down from the ship.
“Invisible? As in cannot be seen?”
“That’s what invisible means, right? Get over here. We are going up.” I said, getting into the beam with the girls.
“... where does this light even come from?” The GM wondered, as he got in.
Then, I teleported us into the ship.
“... what was that?” He asked, looking around.
“Teleportation. It’s the easiest way to get here.” I answered. “Come on. Let’s go. I want to be home before dinner.”
We made our way to the deck. I had the GM sit in the lead navigator’s seat, as I usually do with new people. Alice got to sit on the lead weapons officer and Paulina and Ria took some of the other seats.
“... I see now. So this is how you do it…” The GM said, after we had begun to move.
“Nice, right?”
“Nice? I don’t think that does it justice. Impossible. Imaginary. Those are more like it.”
“... maybe. But what are you going to do?”
“I suppose you won’t be willing to sell this ship?”
“You couldn’t use it without Card Summoner anyway, so it would be useless to you. And how much do you think I would ask for it if I did sell it? Can the guild even afford it?”
“Our guild, most likely not. But the central guild or maybe the capital’s branch, yes. I don’t think you would ask for a sum they cannot afford. But they might say it isn’t worth it, if they can just send dedicated quests for you whenever they need to use this thing.”
“Turning me into a taxi service huh? I guess it could be worse.”
“Taxi? What is that?”
“Oh? You don’t use that word here? It was basically this carriage service from where my parents are from. Well then again, I never used it myself, I just heard about it.” I said, trying to match up my explanation with my original lie of where I’m from. Alice and Ria might realize what I meant, as they know of the … my history, but luckily they didn’t comment on it.
“Wow. What is that doing here?” I asked, looking at the moving … not quite mountain, but still. A very large animal. Beast-monster, actually.
“Wh-why is something like that here?” The GM asked, seeming to panic a bit. “We … we need to head back and come up with a plan to deal with this thing.”
“Why? I’ll just deal with it myself.” I said.
“What!?” The guild master yelled out. “No way! That thing is a …”
“Sword-horn bull. An A-rank monster. I know. Been there, done that. I beat one previously.”
“You did? When? Where? Why hasn’t there been a report about that?”
“In the TinaWood dungeon, a couple weeks ago. And it didn’t get reported because … I actually don’t know. I just didn’t, as the dungeon absorbed the corpse anyway, so there was nothing to sell.”
“a-Are you certain you can take on it?” The GM asked.
“We are talking about Brian.” Alice said. “He can take on anything.”
Oh Alice. You know me so well. Even if I’m not sure if that is true. I do want to test fighting a SS or S-rank monster though. Well, thinking about it, I’m decently sure Exodia can take on anything. And if there is something he can't take, then that thing shouldn't exist.
“As she said. Alice, come take over the captain’s seat. I’ll go take that thing down.”
“Sure, but can’t I come help?” Alice asked.
“... I think this might be a bit much.” I said. “And I have a few things I want to test out, so I don’t want you on the firing line.”
“Test?! You are planning on testing things on an A-rank monster?!” The GM half yelled.
“Sure. Why would I not? They are sturdy enough to make for good targets. The other monsters die too easily.” I said as I left the bridge.
“... I guess I’ll need some wings…” I muttered as I got to the ground.
I wasn’t in any actual danger yet, as I had landed far enough away from the giant bull. And the bull was also just hanging around, eating trees and all other vegetation in the area.
“Well, might as well. I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to summon him…” I kept speaking to myself, as I got out three cards. “I activate Shinato's Ark! I tribute Archlord Zerato to ritual summon Shinato, King of a Higher Plane!”
Spoiler
From my ritual came a giant man, well an angel. Standing at little over 10 meters tall, and with his six massive wings, he was quite the sight to behold.1 Add to that his mechanical appearance, and he definitely looks like someone’s attempt at creating a god. Or at least an archangel.
“Master. I have been waiting for your call. How may I be of service?” The angel asked.
“Lift me up please. I want to fly. We have a bull to take down.” I told him.
He did as ordered and took me into his arms.
“Hey, who told you to carry me like a princess?” Yes, he took me into a princess carry.
“It is the most comfortable way I can hold you, Master. And you deserve nothing less.” Shinato said.
“... fine. Just take us so I can see the bull. If it survives the test, you can take it down.”
“As you wish.” He said, before flapping his wings and taking us into the air.
Re-seeing this beast, but this time outside really reaffirmed just how large it is. About 17 meters tall and just under 30 from butt to face.
“Master, are you certain I can’t do this? I would be more than happy to.” Shinato offered.
“Not just yet. I want to test out a spell card first. If it doesn’t kill it, you can take over.” I said.
And considering that comically large hammer to the head didn’t work last time, I’m not sure this will work either. But mostly, I just want to test this thing out.
As I held the card in my hand, preparing to activate it, I saw something that looked like a targeter appear in my field of vision. A large circular area. I could move it around and I even figured I could change it from one large circle to five smaller circles which form a line. I guess a multi targeting spell has an option for multiple hit places. But as I only have one target, I went with the single large circle.
“Raigeki!” I yelled out to activate the card.
Spoiler
A massive lighting bolt appeared out of nowhere and struck the targeted area, with the bull at the center of it. I instinctively covered my eyes, as I felt like I might go blind if I didn’t.
When my vision returned, I saw the bull where it had been, except with a large char mark on its back where the lightning bolt had connected. But it seems that it really didn’t go down this time either. A-rank monster be built different.
It was recovering from the impact and was trying to get back to its feet, but it was struggling to get up.
“Master? Shall I?” Shinato asked.
“No. Just a second. I want to try a second copy.” I said as I traded the grayed out Raigeki for a fresh one from my collection. “Again, the large single circle, good. Raigeki!”
Another bolt of lightning hit the bull. This time, Shinato had used his wings to cover my eyes, so I didn’t get that blinded. He must have also used some kind of spell to protect us from the sound, as the sound of thunder didn’t hurt my ears either time.
The bull fell down on the ground again, and stayed there, unmoving.
“... did it die?” I asked.
“Do you want me to confirm?” Shinato asked.
“... depends on how you do it. Don’t make a new hole in the body. Actually, just take us closer. I’ll try to put it into storage. If it is still alive, I can’t place it in there.” … Unless that rule changed when inventory became storage.
Shinato carefully brought us to the downed bull, making sure there was a barrier of light between us and the monster. We kept approaching, and I kept trying to put the monster into storage, but it just wouldn’t go. We were definitely close enough, as the distance at which I can store an item is related to the size of said item. For something small, I have to be quite close and have good visual contact with it, whereas with something large I can be a bit further away. At least that is how it was when I was testing out inventory, and storage seems to be the same.
“Definitely still alive.” I said as my hand touched the monster. I could feel the mana moving inside its body. It was likely trying to heal all of the damage caused by the two Raigeki.
“Master? May I?” Shinato asked.
“Yeah. Go for it. We need to bring it down.” I answered Shinato.
He flapped his wings to take some distance from the bull. I looked as six purple spheres, each with a Japanese symbol appeared. They then began to rotate at high speed, and their afterimages made them look like one solid ring.
Spoiler
“Divine Ring.” Shinato said coldly, before sending the ring flying towards the bull.
It struck the bull in the neck, severing its head from its body.
“... well, now it is dead.” At least I hope so. If it can take having its head cut off, I want to know how anyone normal is supposed to beat one of these. Well then again, either time that I fought one of these things, they didn’t really fight back. Sure the first time was because I held it in place with a Spellbinding Circle and this time I took the initiative with a super strong attack, which stunned the monster. So maybe it would be more threatening if it actually got to do anything. And honestly, just existing at that size is a threat. This thing could literally just walk over a house and crush said house under foot. Or under its belly.
Anyway, let’s get that thing into storage, unsummon Shinato and get back into Big Core.
“... you really took it down. And in no time at all…” The guild master was muttering.
“See. I told you so.” Alice tried to bloat.
“Hey everyone. I’m back.” I announced.
“Welcome back, Brian. That didn’t seem too difficult.” Ria greeted.
“Well, I suppose. But I’m surprised that it could take two Raigeki and not die. A-rank monsters really just are built different.”
“What about that … angel?” Paulina asked.
“He is called Shinato. And he is the strongest fairy I can summon.”
“Fairy? Not an angel?” Alice asked.
“Well, it falls under the category of fairy. Technically you could also call it the angel category, because of reasons I won’t get into, but I call them fairies.” I explained. Or didn’t really explain. “But honestly, calling Shinato an archangel isn’t wrong.” I admitted.
“... How can someone summon an archangel..? How will I report on this..?” The guild master asked.
Wow. Yeah. I could see that being an issue. But really. Has no one summoned an angel with this world's summoning magic? Or maybe it would fall under holy magic? Holy summoning magic? Whatever.
“Just figure something out.” I told him. “Or just conveniently leave it out of the report and just say I used lightning magic to kill the bull. Anyway, Alice move over. We still have a quest to finish.”
“Sure.” Alice said as she swapped back to the lead weapons officers seat, freeing my captain’s seat.
I sat down, and guided the ship so that we could keep the quest going. We still have some ground to cover and we also have to hunt down any monsters too close to the road.
But that will be for Alice and Ria. And Paulina if she wants to join. I think this is still trying to be some sort of rank up exam for Alice, after all. And if the GM doesn’t rank her up, I’ll Mind Wipe him. Or Mind Crush. That should work as well.
