Zoom!

The world blurs. With an abrupt turn, I shot like a bullet, dashing like a mad shark that had caught a single whiff of blood.

Crash! Crack! Splat!

Carrying all that momentum, my mace swung true, getting intimate with the face of the enemy warrior!

The blood spread like fireworks beautifully, dancing in a beutiful display. The splashing sounds it made, along with the loud thud of the main attack... It is all comparable to the greatest of music, the greatest of theater, the greatest of performances!

[Proficiency Acquired]

[The [Sprint] Skill has been acquired!]

[The [Fast Impact] Skill has been acquired!]

Oh sweet! Got some good skills out of that!

No one saw my sudden change of target coming! Not at all! Ah, such skill!

Anyway, a quick assessment and-- sprint is an active skill that raises my leg speed for a short while. And fast impact increases my melee damage if I'm running fast towards my target. Not bad!

Following up on my unexpected strike, Valkjure capitalized and sliced at the warrior's neck!

His HP went down hard, far lower than when I attacked, but it's fine. It's just because of my stats. They'll get better, I promise!

Seeing as to how she's now got this area under control, I went back to facing the shadow summoner. They were fast approaching me, using their own summons as a shield against Bereo's bullets.

The shadow summons come in a variety of sizes, some being as tall as regular humans. these taller shadows are made to stand in front, while the player and their other summons huddle behind, allowing them to be unaffected by the knockback.

How exciting! Is this the "War Crimes" I've heard so many stories about? So cool! I wanna do a War Crime too! Let me join! Let me in!

Alright, shit. I gotta focus. Does the summoner fuck their shadowy summons--- No not that! How to beat the summoner, that's what I oughtta figure out!

Seems like simple aggro cannot handle summons with an actual player behind them, but both I and Bereo still got a whole boatload of surprises in store.

[Corpse Dimension]

Opening up a rift in space, I threw several corpses onto the ground, just as I readied my mace to face the oncoming onslaught.

"GOTHRA!"

Then came Valkjure's voice in my head. One glance and it seemed clear that she wanted Bereo.

My, so bold!

Okay, seriously, she wanted Bereo's barrage to focus on her enemy.

That request would honestly really put me in a tight spot... but so be it!

Trtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrt!

At my command, Bereo instantly turned his big long rifle gun and focused it solely on the enemy Warrior!

Clash!

in this little window of time, two small shadow people-- shadow gremlins as I'll now call them-- jumped right at me, raising their knives made of shadow!

Flash!

Their attacks hit nothing but air as I swiftly reacted, moving back, and even swinging my mace mid-jump, throwing the two away in the process!

They weren't dead, I would've loved to finish the job, but Bereo's support fire was gone, and there were more little gremlins swarming up to me.

Clash!

They made no sound, their steps silent and deadly, as if they were weightless.

Two came at me from below, utilizing their small sizes to try and catch me unawares, but they're gonna have to do a little better than that!

Crash!

They were sent away, on a time-out, only to be replaced by another three!

Clash, crash, slam!

In one fluid motion, I hit one of them, continuing on, and then slamming down on the remaining one!

Four more came, two at each side. I fell back and pulled their aggro, letting them clutter just right!

Bash!

I sent them flying away like I was playing golf, taking care to step away once more from the new little gremlins wanting to get a little nibble.

I kept them at a distance and threw them away, utilizing my advantage in reach. Wave after wave came, without regard for how they haven't even gotten a single hit on me yet.

They have been afflicted with charm! It's not on their status, it's more about my natural disposition. Ah, such a sinful woman I am!

I took stock of the situation once more, seeing the taller bigger shadows making their way ever closer towards me even as I repeatedly lured them away, falling back. There were also some of the shadows separating from the group, a lot of whom were going the opposite direction, deeper into the forest.

Who the fuck is there...?

To begin with, they should be aggroed by Bereo just because of the loud trtrtrtrtrt! sound. Being summons must make them react very differently from normal monsters, but more importantly...

The summoner has full control over them!?

"Fira! Valkjure! They're circling around! The shadow summons! Don't get caught off guard, you dorks!" I quickly shot them a warning via telepathy.

Smash! Bash! Bam! Chash! Kick! Punch! RAAAHHH!

More and more gremlins came, some of them finally started dying, probably fools that went for a return trip after I'd already knocked them down once, thinking it'd all work out this time.

And then, the taller shadows finally made it to me. They donned swords of normal length, instead of the tiny shadow knives the gremlins held. Their swords were still made of shadow.

Slash!

A slash came from above, I twisted around to evade it, and in that same motion, I hit the shadow person on the side with my return swing.

It, of course, didn't die from just that, they had more health than the gremlins.

Another tall shadow stepped up, I quickly jumped away from its range, evading its strike, before then jumping back in to capitalize!

Slam!

The tall shadow reeled back from the damage, but then I felt the uncomfortable sensation of my own HP dropping right after!

Stab!

The gremlins chose this time to attack me, 8 of them at once! One had made it to my foot and stabbed me right in the leg with its weightless shadow knife!

The others were hard at work, surrounding me and blocking off any avenue of escape!

GGGRRRRRR!!!

[Corpse Dimension!]

I summoned a corpse right to my side and then promptly hit it away!

Using this opportunity, I smashed away an opening in the gremlin encirclement to fall back--

STAB!

--when suddenly, an avatar of shadow came right up and stabbed me right in the neck!

"Guuh...!"

I looked over to find the summoner themself already turning tail and running away before I could even retaliate!

"Fucking coward!"

But of course, they're not stupid enough to fall for such playground provocation. They simply kept on running, passing through their shadow summons as if they weren't even there.

Another trick...!

Ignoring collision for their own summons... Must be part of their Unique Skill.

I looked at my HP bar, only to find that my HP hadn't really gone down all that much. Around a 10% decrease at best.

So that's fine. Did they just see an opening and decided to go for it?

Pushing aside these thoughts, I turned to get some more distance between me in the shadow creatures, only to find my body feeling... sluggish.

I looked at my status once again and saw a peculiar icon... Slow!

Crap, I'm being slowed, and my senses feel quite out of whack. A shadow sword made its way to me, I side-stepped to avoid it, but I was not able to dodge all the way and it grazed me a little.

Just a tiny drop of damage, no big deal, but some of the gremlins are circling around me, surrounding me from all sides.

Mmm... this could be bad! Ahahahaha!

But still. This is the best they could do against someone virtually left without a unique skill? Pathetic.

"Valkjure! I'm taking back Bereo! Hope you had fun with him!"

"Ah, yeah! I mean, I just finished...! No, not like that! Ahhh... He was a great help in the battle!"

Her and Bereo... No, no. Stop thinking about that! Battles to fight! Battles to win! FOCUS!

"Okay!"

Having told her my plan, I promptly had Bereo turn back his line of fire onto the shadow summons.

Trtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrttrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrtrttrtrtrtrtrtrtrt!

Under the constant spray, they slow down and stagger, some even breathing their last as their HP was already critically low.

The little gremlins were most affected by this, so I turned my attention on to the big ones, pushing them back and getting myself some space to breathe, but I'm still quite surrounded.

So I summoned up another corpse and dropped it to the ground, kicking it away.

The shadows all froze in fear, and I took that opportunity to carve open a path, running away in quite the brilliant show of a tactical retreat.

Looking over my shoulder, sure enough, the player behind all these summons came rushing in, passing through the shadow people as if they weren't even there.

Stab!

Her dagger implanted deep into my back and she immediately pivoted to turn back around, but alas, this all happened according to my master plan!

BEREO!

[Instant Protection!]

Bereo suddenly appeared right beside me, just as I took the opportunity to grab my enemy's arm with both my hands, abandoning my mace to the ground!

Grrr...!

They struggled, but my grasp was barely allowing them to budge, and they just don't have the time...

My strength is actually pretty low, so a strategy like this wouldn't normally work. However, when the shadow person, err... Dark Binger, attacked me earlier, I instantly noticed the meager amount of damage that they did, and concluded that they didn't have the strength either!

Bereo. [Bear Roar!] [Hateful Roar!] "VALKJURE!" [Bear Hug!]

"RAAAAAARRRRRRR!!! Roooowwwaaaarrrr!!!" he shouted, answering my call!

Bear Roar is a skill that can cause fear to a target, just like my corpse tricks, but a bit longer lasting. It still doesn't last all that long though.

Hateful Roar is for taunting. Lasts a bit longer but still not enough.

Valkjure is for keeping the shadow creatures at bay when the CC(crowd control) runs out. She's my friend, and she's not actually a skill of Bereo nor mine. Hahahaha!

And finally, Bear Hug is for ensnaring Dark Binger. It lets Bereo hug someone with greater strength, entrapping them in place, and perhaps even causing damage over time. This move lasts indefinitely. It doesn't end unless you break free of it.

Which might sound like such an OP skill, but grabbing someone and not letting them go is already something you can do without skills. Bear Hug simply increases the strength of the Bereo while doing it, but with the caveats that he can't move at all from his position, AND he is completely silenced. He'll need to let go once in order to cancel the Bear Hug skill.

But now my target is ensared right in front of me, helpless within Bereo's hug, thrashing about.

...

Okay, I have something to confess. I actually got another new skilll. It's called [Delayed Casting]. I couldn't help myself when we went to the Skill Shop earlier, despite having to save up for a gun. I am weak. But then, Mommy Valkjure to the rescue, offered to buy it for me.

I really meant to turn her down, okay!? But she insisted. Repeatedly, repeatedly. Until I gave in. Fira gave me a 'Wow...' look... But he's just jealous! You saw how much I tried to deny the offer! It's all on Valkjure okay! All on her!

But enough about that. I picked my mace back up as Dark Binger is now safely captured.

[Delayed Casting.]

This skill allowed me to cast a skill and then have it take effect up to 5 seconds later, though the time lag cannot exceed the skill's cooldown, unless the skill has less than 1-second cd, in which case the skill can be invoked up to a 1-second delay.

[Sadistic Slaughter.]

This is the skill I am delaying, by the safe amount of 2 seconds. It usually has a minute cooldown.

[Berserk.]

And finally, this is the last piece of the puzzle. The casting was not delayed as [Delayed Casting] had a ten-second cooldown.

The berserk activated, but was promptly washed over by the self-inflicted taunt. The messy targetting of the berserk state was overwritten, allowing me to focus all this force into one singular target.

I looked straight into the Dark Binger's eyes, red and black effects clouding my gaze.

Oh hey, the Dark Binger looked very shadowy and hazy from afar, but like this, I can see that they've got a proper body underneath that, and honestly not quite bad of a face.

Though well, you'd have to choose to be ugly with The System here to change your face for you.

"Let me go!" they cried, struggling to break free, but failing miserably.

"Huh?" I said with derision, "What a smart idea. What didn't I thunk of that!?"

Smash!

The mace smashed right into their face!

BASH!

I swung it again, right into their head once more!

Splat!!

Another head shot! This is the power of [Sadistic Slaughter!] Limited control over taunt!

CRACK!

I have achieved greater control over the taunt debuff, and I can aim my shots decently even in this state!

SPLATTER!

Their head exploded with that last attack, scattering blood and brain matter everywhere!

Oh wow. Holy shit. 5 hits? No, not even... I think their HP must've reached 0 a few strikes ago already...

Clash! Smash! Bash! Bam! Paw! Scatter! Splatter! Thud! Plat! Klat! Dick!

And I'm still not done it seems! Hahahaha!

The shadow summons disappeared after Dark Binger died, and now Valkure, free from her role of taking care of them, was staring at me with gravely squinted eyes as I beat repeatedly on a dead corpse.

"Taunt! It's taunt!" I desperately tried to explain myself!

"Right..." Valkjure seemed to be inching away ever so slightly.

Okay, not so slightly.

In fact, she's running away!!

"Wait! Valkjure-chan! We can talk this out!"

But my taunt had still not expired so I couldn't give chase quite yet!

"PLEASE BELIEVE ME! WWAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"