Chapter 5: Neutering the Big Hachimi Cat

The monster finally awakened.

In the narrow cave, Xue La and Luo Yi could hear its footsteps…

“Get ready…”

Xue La pressed the last piece of cookie into Luo Yi’s palm.

“We’re dealing with something even the Lord couldn’t handle.”

In a way, that statement wasn’t wrong.

Maybe Xue La was recalling parts of the game’s plot, or maybe it was some muscle memory from this body…

In any case, the reason Lady Xue La Linde was trapped in a Manticore’s cave finally came to light.

At the foot of the mountain, golden wheat fields stretched under the harvest sun.

The fief of House Linde—an ordinary noble estate in the countryside of the Kingdom of Norsenia.

The Harvest Festival was a celebration meant for nobles to join the commoners in joy…

But it invited a Manticore’s invasion.

Perhaps it was her Lord father’s mistake, perhaps the guards’ incompetence…

Or maybe Xue La, as a sheltered lady, had simply been dazzled by the various trinkets at the festival.

So Xue La slipped out of her parents’ sight and the guards’ protection, mingling with the children in the streets…

Then, she was snatched away by a Manticore dropping from the sky!

Fearing for his daughter’s safety and the danger of archers firing recklessly into the streets… in short, at that critical moment, her proud noble father lost to the cunning Manticore.

Had enough time passed?

Was her father already preparing a rescue?

Honestly, Xue La worried that all her and Luo Yi’s efforts were just moths flying into a flame.

If this were a game, she could save, reload, and start over.

But she had already crossed over into the stage of the game—the Continent of Patagonia.

Xue La couldn’t be sure.

She could only do her best.

The more she let her mind wander, the more the cookie on her tongue lost its flavor…

Xue La unconsciously tightened her grip on the dagger.

She looked into Luo Yi’s silver-gray eyes.

He, too, tightened his grip on the greatsword, like a drowning man clutching a piece of driftwood.

“We… go!”

Xue La didn’t speak; she just nodded, but Luo Yi accepted the fact gladly.

In the dim cave, a pair of crimson eyes locked onto its “food.”

It wasn’t so much food as it was Kai Dong, whom Xue La and Luo Yi had beaten half to death—this bastard preyed on the weak, thinking only of survival of the fittest.

He had broken an innocent girl’s limbs and thrown her before the Manticore… a shameless little beast.

So Xue La and Luo Yi decided to use him as bait to draw the Manticore’s attention.

“Help me… Mom!”

Kai Dong cried even more miserably than the girl earlier, but Xue La felt no sympathy.

Do you know how great a crime you’ve committed?!

That girl…

Xue La didn’t want to recall.

Her throat had gone hoarse from crying, and then she died of sheer terror.

Betrayed, beaten, and sent to die by someone her own age… Do you know how cruel that is?!

If this were a game, Xue La could go to X Bo, X Bar, or XGA and write long rants cursing the game designers for their dark minds—but she was already “inside the mountain.”

Words alone wouldn’t help.

As the saying goes: The weapon of criticism cannot replace the criticism of weapons.

So Xue La had only one choice.

Do it herself…

The Manticore’s outline drew closer—in terms of size, it was indeed a robust lion, but its fur was far from the golden hue of Earth; it was a shabby gray-yellow, like withered grass, like the color of jaundice.

When the Manticore opened its gaping maw, rows of sharp fangs lined up in unison, aiming directly at Kai Dong’s neck as he lay on the ground, about to bite down…

Ah—

Xue La still closed her eyes.

Playing a game was one thing; being there in person was another…

Why did it have to be this way?

Something inside Xue La seemed to break, and it hurt.

But she had no time to reflect.

Luo Yi had already launched his ambush.

The beast breathed hot air, sinking its fangs into the sacrificial victim’s throat, drinking the scalding blood…

And that sword strike, though powerful and heavy, seemed like it could shatter the Manticore’s skull.

But the monster was unhurried.

Its flexible and cruel scorpion tail shot out with a swish, hooking onto the greatsword.

Luo Yi was trapped.

His gray eyes desperately looked at something behind the Manticore.

Xue La herself!

It was her turn.

The young blue-haired girl took a deep breath, leaped out from behind a stalactite, and aimed at the Manticore’s lower rear—delivering that move.

Backstab.

This time, it wasn’t human blood that flowed in the cave, but monster blood!

Darker, fouler…

Xue La looked at the panel in surprise—good, the Manticore was wounded, bleeding.

Its combat power…

Why wasn’t it decreasing?

The data on the panel was very strange.

The Manticore’s current status was enraged, which increased its attack speed and critical hit rate, but correspondingly, its weakness probability increased, as did the chance of being critically hit.

Surprise quickly turned to shock.

Xue La trembled as she found the reason.

Because the panel also listed the wound location on the Manticore…

Well, how to put it?

Back when she lived on Blue Star, her friend’s cat had also been neutered.

A kitten’s fury… could last over a month.

And now what Xue La faced was a creature at least ten times larger than a Blue Star kitten.

With wings and a stinging tail.

This time, it really was game over.

Xue La closed her eyes, trying to accept the outcome.

The enraged Manticore finally abandoned its battle with Luo Yi, turned around, and lunged at Xue La, ready to tear her apart…

Sure enough, crossing over into a game world was just terrible.

All blame goes to those damn game designers!

Yet, after a long moment, Xue La still felt no pain.

Her heart was still beating.

Her breath was still flowing.

So she chose to open her eyes.

Luo Yi’s strength exceeded her imagination.

The Manticore had indeed turned to face Xue La—but in doing so, it had also released its poisonous tail.

The enraged monster, in its confusion, had handed the attack opportunity back to Luo Yi.

And Luo Yi was an impeccable Brave.

He seized this powerful opening and struck down in one fell swoop!

Critical Hit.

Xue La should have known.

As long as the attack met “not the primary target or undetected,” the backstab damage formula always applied—it’s just that the Assassin skill “Backstab” uses an 8.5 multiplier in the damage formula, while a normal weapon deals 4x damage.

Yes, as a Brave, Luo Yi turned out to be a lucky dog at the critical moment!

Because the greatsword’s base stats were far stronger than the dagger, his 4x damage… was indisputably more impressive and substantial than her little dagger’s damage numbers.

So Xue La’s contribution was merely performing a painless neutering surgery on this oversized Manticore, inviting its hisses and swipes.

But Luo Yi was the one who, with a single strike, ended the monster’s life—the Brave.

The blow cut deep, splitting the Manticore into front and back halves.

Xue La’s tears turned to laughter.

Luo Yi, you did it!

The girl’s golden eyes met the boy’s gray eyes—two pairs of eyes filled with hope!

They had survived!

However, the Brave’s gray eyes lasted only a brief moment.

Luo Yi collapsed before Xue La.

The Manticore had used its last bit of strength on its stinging tail.

The red-haired, gray-eyed boy had to kneel, barely propping his upper body with the greatsword…

His face was grim.

That stinging tail had coiled around his calf, and without hesitation, it drove its lethal venom into his body!