Venus couldn't help but hide her disgust at the barbarian's taunts. Thankfully, most of the live footage she got was muted or put on low volume so the viewers could only see the action. Yet she wished to punch the guy who would threaten her brother in real life. Alas, she had to focus on streaming, so any signs of nepotism and bias were frowned upon as a VTuber. As much as she wanted to share her worries and support for her supposed brother, she needed to keep her reputation, and even if she did, he might call her out over her pity for him. No, she had to be a proper supporter of Lunar. Even if he might be her brother with a changed name or not, she had to trust his skills and do her own thing in the meantime.
Speaking of which, she hasn't seen Lunar and the [Beast Folk] boy after escaping. She was curious where they went, but all she could do was continue streaming and wait for the 30-minute mark to pass. Panicking won't help me move along with the event.
Damn... I'm so panicked right now that I'm worried about the event moving along!
I could tell from Ewa's face on stream that he was extra pissed at Lunar right now. Geez, I get he got some confidence after becoming a werewolf. But he seriously crossed the line now! Even if he defeats Ewa, how would he be able to escape the Viper's wrath now?!
"Uh... Why do you look like you've seen a ghost?" Nelli asked me with her innocent-looking eyes, staring at me. "Come on, you know how great Lunar-sama was when he outwitted and outmatched that brute! Have some trust in the great warrior!"
Once again, Hiromi's sister is blissfully unaware of my worries, as usual. "It's not like I have some distrust of Lunar's skills. I know Ewa, and he's too OP for him to deal with in his current level."
"Not to mention he and Savior have high chances they conspired against him before the bout," Hiromi added. "I'm not gonna be surprised if he pulls something that even some of his loyal fans call foul."
"Geez... You guys sound like that Lucas guy. Besides, I don't see him panicking when he got out of the bamboo forest. Who's to say he might plan something to turn things around?"
I raise my eyebrow at her statement. "Do you realize what you said isn't considered 'lady-like' in your eyes?"
"Uh... Because it's like cheering your favorite quarterback like a cheerleader in a football game?"
I groaned. "I don't think that's a good comparison..."
Hiromi, on the other hand, shrugged. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but Nelli has a point. I'm still shocked about the changes Lunar is having lately. But don't forget, he's not stupid, and he made his blog in [Isekai Comm] with game guides as his priority. Knowing him, he will figure out something to get himself out of his own mess."
"Yeah. I doubt anyone will give you some confidence with how you word it, Romi."
Still, they're right about Lunar. While I want to worry about my best friend, I'm not willing to let it control my trust in him. I know he will get out and defeat Ewa. I just know it. But since Qizuna is currently viewing another participant at the moment, I'm not sure where he is right now...
"Oh? Oh, oh, oh! Would you look at that?!"
We gasp at her sudden outburst and see the screen switching scenes to a seemingly abandoned town.
"I was wondering where our little underdog went after his narrow escape from that br- I mean, dashing muscle. But now, we know he's in the town biome and looks like the muscle is on his tail!"
Ewa chuckled as he looked around the area while holding his axe on his shoulder. "So, this is where you cowards are hiding, huh?" He chuckled with a sinister grin on his face. "Honestly, you could have done any better than hiding after you had the gall to burn me down with the entire forest back there. Too bad for you that this is the end of the line. I will cut down every building you're hiding in, and by the time you run out of them, you're dead meat."
Despite his declaration, he was still aware that the [Beast Folk] samurai was still alive, and there was a high chance that the guy would do everything to stop him from killing Lowry. Well, that was to be expected thanks to his leader's prediction before the tournament.
"While this is an all-out battle royale where you can hunt anyone and team up with anyone for dominance, that lousy Lowry is going to do everything to gain an advantage regardless of his [TML]. He is still our former navigator and bag boy, and I know he will use his surroundings and other players to turn the tables. Once you see him, don't underestimate him, and don't celebrate too early. Once you prune most of his resources and potential allies, then you're free to rip him to shreds."
In his honesty, Savior was a bit paranoid about a weakling like Lowry. But after his humiliating defeat in their first [Duel], he knew better than to ignore his leader's warnings. With that in mind, he had to follow him and grabbed the [Locator Beetle] to find Lowry and avoid provocations from him. It was slow and annoying for Ewa, but it was necessary for Lowry's defeat, and he would do everything to achieve it...
Still, he needed to find him first in this desolate civilization. He already used the beetle to locate him the first time, and he needed to wait for 2 hours to activate it again. His only option was the 30-minute location reveal, but he didn't have the patience to wait...
"HEY!"
Startled by a familiar voice, the barbarian turned around and saw a familiar [Insignis] man in leather clothing.
"I heard you were looking for me," he said with a smirk. "Though I didn't expect you to escape from a burning forest that fast."
"Tch... And whose fault is that? Ugh. whatever..." Ewa grumbled. "Regardless, you have nowhere to hide, Lowry. Wherever you go, I will find you. And if you want to know how, that's for you to find out in your virtual grave."
"You know, I'm still alive even after you put me in one," "Lowry" groaned. "But I'm not planning on running for long. Because you're going to be eliminated right here before the location reveal."
The barbarian smirked. "And what makes you think you're going to win again, Lowsy Lowry? Don't forget that [Duel] was a fluke, and things will be different here."
"Hmph... Different? Honestly, the more we meet like this, the more I'm reminded how think-headed you are than Savior," "Lowry" chuckled. "Unless the only thing you're good at is 'smashing stuff without a plan' like always."
Ewa flinched as if a rope snapped in his mind. "What the f**k are you saying?"
"I'm saying you're an idiot and your stupidity will be your downfall. As for me, I think I should take a jog. Try to keep up if you can."
"Lowry" ran in the opposite direction, leaving the barbarian fuming in rage.
"F**k it. That b*st*rd is DEAD!"
Ewa the Barbarian. AKA Travis Quinn.
Unlike the other goons, Travis didn't attend my high school and recently took a scholarship thanks to David's influence. Even before [Isekai] was announced or launched, Travis always had a reason to treat me like his personal punching bag compared to the musclehead goons. The simple reason is that out of all of them, he's the most aggressive, yet calculating, fighter of the group. While he loves to torture the newbies and geeks, he is never without a plan and creates a sliver of hope just to crush it beneath his feet. It's his ruthless personality that caused Jared to be trapped under David's control, and it's also his fault for pulling me under his thumb despite being in different high schools.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
However, everyone isn't perfect, and Travis is no exception. For once, poking fun at his intelligence and strength would drop his IQ a bit and do anything to screw his offender without resorting to his cruel strategies. And while he can recover from it, screwing him over is enough to drive his rage into overtime at the risk of broken bones and ribs. It's not my favorite strategy when it comes to him, but it's still effective if you're prepared for it. And I made sure I wouldn't stay unprepared once I push his buttons.
Although I may have pissed him off too much after making that bluff. But it's better than nothing since that's part of my final plan. If it all goes well, we might deal a checkmate in our favor. However, there are some factors I'm concerned about as I ran back to the restaurant. How did he locate me so easily without waiting for the second location reveal? It wouldn't be impossible without a third-party program, which was forbidden in this game. But more importantly, there's a chance Save and the others would know my location as well and won't hesitate to join Ewa if they wanted to. There are too many factors to figure out, but I need to focus on the first situation before dealing with the latter. I would do the latter so badly, but I can't do much thanks to the New Moon debuffing most of my abilities for today. That's why I had a little help this time.
<
<
Right. I do have a habit of acting out my plans sometimes. I know he wasn't aware of it, but that comment hurts me a bit. Regardless, I raced towards the doors and jumped behind one of the tables near the counter. Once I managed to catch my breath, a notification pinged in front of me.
Perfect timing. I was hoping to use my [Bluster Wind's] remaining time to outpunch and outkick him. But I had to use almost all of the time to set up our trap so we can incapacitate Ewa once and for all. Regardless, I'm prepared for his arrival, and all that's left is to put him in his place.
"Hah! A restaurant?! Don't tell me you're too hungry to hide and run from me, Lowry?" Ewa's voice rang out. "Too bad I'm going to catch and kill you before you even think of eating a hamburger!"
Snarky guy, ain't he? But he's already caught the moment he stepped inside the building.
<
With my telepathic signal, I see several flour bags flying towards Ewa, and the moment he sees them, he takes out his axe and slashes them down before they can hit them. While they didn't hit their mark, they did their job by creating a cloud of flour around the area, obscuring his vision as I hear him coughing from our improv smokescreen. And I know how to spread it wide to cover more visibility in the restaurant.
“Spirit of Sylph, hear our call. Trap our enemies into the gale of storms and imbue our weaponry with your blessings!" I shouted while keeping my eyes closed to prevent the flour from blinding me. "[Tempest Blow]!"
With a gust of wind created by my spell, the cloud completely spreads throughout the dining area. While I still can't see since I kept my eyes closed, it should be enough to cover our tracks. I already went ahead and told Kamiro to escape once I completed the chant, so all that's left for me to do is change positions and prepare for my counterattack.
"Ack! What the h*ll is this?! Lowry, did you do this?!" Ewa screamed while coughing from the flour. "If you do, you are so dead!"
Well, he was the one who cut the flour bags, so other than my spell, it's technically not my fault. But either way, while he's busy dusting off flour from his eyes, I slowly make my way around the cloud and quietly set up my buffs by whispering the incantations to myself. It's a bit rough since I need to be loud enough to make my spells work as well as waiting for the cooldowns between them, but I managed to set up my Gifts of Strength, Protection, Magic, and Speed for myself. After that, I slowly open my eyes once the cloud slowly disperses and take out my claw gauntlets just as Ewa turns his back from me.
"Come on, Lowry! Where are you?! Or are you too scared to face me in a real fight?!"
I smirked once I had everything ready. "Funny story... [Claw Sharpening]!"
My gauntlets glow red once I successfully activate the said skill. But since I yell it out loud, Ewa finally turns to me. Too bad for him, it's already too late.
"[Claw Grab]!"
I quickly lunge at him, grab his whole face before he can try swinging his axe. "Y-You mother-!"
"[Wild Barrage]!"
I tightened my grip around his face to deal some damage to complete my last skill. Then, once I let out my next one, I deal the next one by swiping my claws at him 3 times before finishing off the combo with a basic uppercut kick to his chin, before I land back on the ground with a three-point landing. I had to endure flinching from Ewa's screams of pain when I dealt those attacks. But thankfully, everything went well as planned. Not only that, I noticed Kamiro's silhouette about to emerge from the flour dust behind him. So I jump away and let him strike him down with his few sword combo attacks of his own.
"[Cross Slash]!"
He then swings his blade twice to create an X-shaped slash to Ewa's back and jumps away to my side as I watch his [HP] going down by half. While this barbarian built his character to be tanky, he didn't consider his current defenses from his equipment and the lack of defensive [Masteries] that would suit his ability to endure our attacks. At least that
His attacks were enough to inflict several status conditions, weakening his strength even further.
"ACK!!! W-What the h*ll... did you put in that blade?!" Ewa coughed as he dropped his axe and held onto his stomach. "I feel like something is coming out!"
Ew... No.
I quickly kick him away with [Power Attack] and ran to Kamiro as some of the black slime covering his blade disappeared in data. Judging by his grin while staring at his katana, it seems like he's satisfied with the results of my plan so far.
"Huh? I thought using the expired food from the pantry as poison ingredients was a bit far-fetched. But I didn't expect it to work," Kamiro mentioned. "Looks like siding with you wasn't a bad decision after all."
I thought the same, too. While there were preserved foods such as canned goods and honey, there were some that would give a random status ailment if a player is desperate and dumb enough to eat them without checking. So if I mix them all together with my [Alchemy] skills, I might make an improvised poison for Ewa. What I didn't expect was how many ailments he took from a few attacks of his katana, dosed with the said poison. If it isn't an event craft item, it would become too OP in the main gameplay.
But enough of my ramblings. We only have a few minutes until the ailments expire. It's time for our counterattack.
"Kamiro, we need to lure Ewa out of the restaurant next. I need to make final preparations here before I join you," I instructed.
"What happens if I fail to do it? He looked dumb, but he's still smart enough to know what we're going to do next."
I smirked. "True. But while he's aware, he's not much of a know-it-all." Before I could continue, I heard groaning behind the flour dust. "Hurry! Before he turns to me next."
"Alright." The [Beast Folk] then ran out of the restaurant and waved his katana with a smirk. "Hey, you! I bet you can catch a wolf on the run!"
"Grrr... You're asking for a death wish, punk!"
While Kamiro gets his attention, I rush behind the restaurant towards the back door. There, I find myself back in the kitchen with more flour bags waiting near the door. I gather all of the bags I can carry in my event inventory and rush out again. When I did, I saw Kamiro and Ewa were gone from the dining area. Nice. I quickly took out some of the bags and punched them to release the flour inside. Then, I use my [Wind] spells to spread them around the restaurant and repeat the process. It's a bit tedious, but it's necessary to use one stone on two threats. Plus, I'm still wondering how we should stop Ewa in our current levels and the Savior's goons afterward.
Regardless, this is the final step of my plan. Let's hope a miracle happens so we can end this nightmare for now.