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The fangs of the Rat Man pierced Lanpeach mercilessly.
When the Rat Man put strength into its jaw to close its mouth, thick and sharp fangs that were like stakes were driven deeper into Lanpeach.
At his collarbone.
Lanpeach moved from standing upright to lowering his waist and shooting his gun when time stopped.
Thanks to that, the attack of the Rat Man that was aiming for his head ended up deviating, and it changed into an attack towards his collarbone.
“Guwaa! Y-You rat bastard! Let go, you…! Keep those thick fangs for when defeating a vampire or something.” (Lanpeach)
He may not have died, but his face warped in extreme pain, and he was groaning. He survived, but it is still quite the pain.
It is unbearable for Lanpeach who is overflowing in the minor villain role to his core.
“Tch.”
The happy voice of the Rat Man from having food reached the ears of Lanpeach, and the sensation of biting into the collarbone to shave it away resonated into his body.
Blood flowed and the Rat Man moved its mouth, drinking it happily.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it! I-If I attack…” (Lanpeach)
He pushed the assault rifle’s muzzle onto the Rat Man’s head and pulled the trigger even when his face warped in pain.
The Rat Man was so concentrated on its meal that it didn’t evade. A gunshot rang and a hole opened in its forehead and it died powerlessly.
“You should be taking distance! Why are you just sticking and not moving away?! Are you a soft-shelled turtle?!” (Lanpeach)
The Rat Man’s attack pattern in the game was to attack once, and then take distance to search for an opportunity for the next attack.
And yet, it grabbed onto its prey in reality and didn’t let go which annoyed him.
He felt like he was all over the place here, but he believed in the game pattern.
Moreover, it is not letting go even when dead. It has died with its fangs still in, and even when he tried to push it away, the part that has the fang lodged in was simply injecting copious amounts of pain and he couldn’t get it out.
The weight of the corpse weighed on his shoulder adding extra pain to the lodged in fangs.
[Soldier, it seems there’s still more enemies. You have to regain your posture quickly or you will become a banquet for rats!] (Libra)
“I know, I know. There’s no way there’s only Rat 1 and 2. I should have known after the Big Rats showed up, but kuh, it hurts…” (Lanpeach)
Libra was waving her silver twin tails while getting all agitated. She pointed at the pitch black floor and you could see thick concrete pillars with the illumination of the flashlight, but there was something moving from behind its shadow.
Rat Man.
Moreover, it is not only one. There’s probably 10 or so.
Several glaring red eyes shone in the darkness with the light of the flashlight, squeezing the heart of Lanpeach with fear.
(No good… No good, no good, no good. At this rate… At this rate…) (Lanpeach)
“Chi chi.”
“Chi chi.”
The cries of the Rat Men melded and sounded like a chorus. They know they are weakened.
There’s no telling where the enemies will be coming. He won’t be able to properly utilize his Presence Detection.
Lanpeach’s body trembled. He gritted his teeth…
(Space Library is not working properly. Its trait should be that you can change from your 1st person perspective to an overhead perspective, right?!) (Lanpeach)
He decided to shout in anger at how the game isn’t working as intended.
In Powder of Elements, there was your own perspective and then the perspective where you can see yourself.
And so, you could fight with an omniscient point of view. Just how advantageous do you think it is to be able to have such a perspective in a fight against many enemies?
Powder of Elements is a TPSRPG. <Third-Person Shooter Roleplaying Game>
He was sure this was not working as intended and shouted out internally in a panic from the fear of death, lashing out his anger.
It is a messed up shout from the foolish minor villain. That would normally be the case.
Dry was trying to get back up from the shock of the surprise attack, but she is still not in a state where she can join the battle. She would be attacked by several Rat Men, panic, and die.
That’s how it should have been…
[Granted permission to be promoted to a 2nd Class Soldier.]
But Lanpeach is a player.
An extraterrestrial.
A soldier of the Human Galactic Alliance Army.
He -Lanpeach Kouza- is a person that received the support of the humanity strengthening system from the Space Library after 1,260 years.
Space Library accepted the promotion of Lanpeach and responded with a simple display.
(Wa, this is…!) (Lanpeach)
His vision blurred.
He opened his eyes wide, gulped his breath from the shock, and raised his voice from the sudden overhead view that entered his vision.
There’s his own perspective and also the one overhead inside his head.
Lanpeach who is being illuminated by the flashlight, Libra who is flailing her shrine maiden clothes from the panic, and Dry who is finally managing to stand.
He could also see the basement within the range that the flashlight illuminated.
He could tell now.
Even if they are hidden with Stealth, the air was somewhat hazy, and if you look carefully, you can tell the Rat Men are hidden there.
“I can see… I can see the enemies, Libra! I can somewhat tell where they are hidden. I can tell which ones approach at a glance!” (Lanpeach)
He obtained the overhead perspective, so he is now in a mix of both overhead and 1st person, but he didn’t panic.
Lanpeach was wild in joy at the sudden ability to utilize this information that entered his head.
He readied his assault rifle while enduring the pain.
“Peach-oniichan, Dry will save you!” (Dry)
“Don’t use attack magic! There’s only numbers, so there’s not enough mana. Use Snow Powder, Dry!” (Lanpeach)
Dry stood up and was about to use magic, but he could somewhat tell what spell she was using with her raised mana, and told her to stop.
“Muh, I can defeat an enemy of this level. Easy. Freeze them.” (Dry)
“They have Stealth. Their evasion is high in Stealth Mode, so there’s a high chance that the spell won’t land. Use it already, Dry. They are coming!” (Lanpeach)
“Muh. Peach-oniichan only makes me use plain magic. But Dry is an adult, so will yield here.” (Dry)
[Snow Powder].
Dry was not satisfied with this, but she obediently nodded at Lanpeach who saved her without caring for his life.
She placed her palm to the front and used the spell she was told to use.
The spell activated and a massive amount of powder snow gushed out from her palm, dyeing the surroundings into white.
It came out with the force of a blizzard, but the spell ended in a few seconds, and it resulted in just a few centimeters of fallen snow.
Even if a child were to use it, they would simply be excited about seeing the snow, and would just wet their clothes a bit.
But its range is wide. Snow piled up on the concrete for around 20 meters and…
“Chi?!”
All the Rat Men that were using Stealth showed up.
“You are found with just this much when using a low level Stealth! Eat this!” (Lanpeach)
Lanpeach saw this as a chance, made an evil-looking grin, directed his gun at the Rat Men, got them in his vision, and pulled the trigger.
“Chi chi!”
The Rat Men that were silently approaching were bathed in a shower of bullets, turning them into swiss cheese as they collapsed.
Snow Powder is a Level 2 spell. Its effect is simple, and it can find low level Stealth with the snow flying around. It has the same effect as throwing paint balls towards robbers.
“Chichichichi.”
The Rat Men realized that they couldn’t hide anymore, so they attacked from all directions.
There’s most likely around 20.
“Dry, use Ice Field on both of my sides. Around 2 meters.” (Lanpeach)
“Got it!” (Dry)
[Ice Floor].
He tore away the first Rat Man that bit him, and broke its fangs with his foot on top of it while shooting the Rat Men that showed up one after the other.
Lanpeach was concentrating on defeating the Rat Men that were coming out in droves from the darkness, and Dry created an ice floor on both sides of Lanpeach.
They saw that the shots were being concentrated on the front, so they silently moved to the sides and jumped out from the pillars of the building, but the unstable slippery ice floor killed their momentum, and slowed their pace.
[Telekinesis].
Lanpeach was watching this from his overhead view, and with cold eyes, he activated his supernatural power as planned.
Telekinesis allows you to lift weight equal to your own physical strength. He lifted the fang he broke, shot it towards the Rat Men who slowed their speed, and pierced their bodies.
“I have no blindspots. Libra, lure the other enemies!” (Lanpeach)
[Got it, Soldier. My time to shine has come. I will show you the power of a hidden weapon. Now then, bam!] (Libra)
The silver twin tailed beauty with shrine maiden clothes materialized with a cheer and rushed towards the horde of Rat Men.
The support character Libra was happy to have an opportunity to do something and made a reliable smile as she charged in.
The Rat Men were surprised at how Libra appeared all of a sudden, and she punched them.
[Ei! Ultra Libra Punch!] (Libra)
The punch of Libra is special. All of her stats are 1 and she is not using an attack skill after all.
Libra unleashed a punch so weak you could feel it sounding like a ploop.
Her HP is 3.
[Uuh, this is bad. This rat is all slimy. Waah, I have to take a bath afterwards.] (Libra)
She touched a literal slimy rat, and faced back, looking extremely displeased.
The carefree support character was swarmed by the hidden Rat Men in an instant and disappeared.
She is not useful in combat, but she still worked hard.
Libra disappeared after reaching the limit of acceptable damage, and the Rat Men, who had their food disappear, looked around in wonder, and stopped in place.
That’s the limit of the Rat Men’s intelligence.
“Thanks, Libra. Now then, all that’s left is to pull the trigger!” (Lanpeach)
He changed magazines swiftly, went on a knee, and rained bullets on the Rat Men.
“Jiuu.”
“Jiji.”
“Kii!”
The screams of the Rat Men echoed.
A number of Rat Men regained their bearings and rushed towards him, but the Gunmanship Level 2 told him which ones were the highest threat like a veteran soldier and shot them to death.
Even when they tried to pincer him from the sides, the ice floor hampered their approach.
The Rat Men were happy about having food after so long, so they didn’t know the word retreat and rushed at him.
Lanpeach continued shooting even when the recoil was resonating on his wounded shoulder.
The emptied magazines fall to the ground one after the other.
Lanpeach can use the overhead view, so no matter how many enemies try to circle him, they won’t be creating blindspots, and he eventually defeated them all.
“Yay, Peach-oniichan. Won without using mana at all! You a genius?” (Dry)
[Congratulations, Soldier. Nicely done defeating these many enemies~. You~ you~.] (Libra)
“Thanks.” (Lanpeach)
They were excited about having defeated more enemies than expected, directed smiles of happiness, and congratulated him, so he responded with a wry smile.
Also, Libra recovered way too fast.
And then, Lanpeach realized that this unexpected battle was a boss battle.
That’s because a golden window showed up in midair.
[Tutorial: Cleared Your First Dungeon. Obtained 5,000 Exp.]
“Ha…haha… That was a tutorial…? I see. Right, I was an explorer that should have died before the protagonists showed up…” (Lanpeach)
Lanpeach laughed powerlessly.
He almost died.
Lanpeach noticed something bad behind the unbelievably high difficulty of this tutorial quest.
10 people went to the basement and didn’t return. Can the protagonist go to the basement to check what happened? -This is a quest you find often in games.
Lanpeach would be one of those 10 people that would be eaten by the Rat Men.
The quest of the protagonists would come after the explorers defeated a number of them before dying, so there’s no doubt the numbers would be less and the difficulty would be lower in turn.
“You really are versatile, fodder Lanpeach-san.” (Lanpeach)
Lanpeach sat down flat onto the floor, and let out a deep and sad sigh.
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