01x14 - Squish

[bunniefuu]

There are countless number

of video games in this world.

However, most of them

gets buried under many others.

Standing atop of those many titles

is this Full-Dive VR game that has

over thirty million players worldwide.

The game that earned

the reputation of being a god-tier game,

Shangri-La Frontier.

The boy who loves trash game,

Rakuro Hizutome

challenges the god-tier game,

Shangri-La Frontier!

What kind of adventure

awaits him in his path?

Putting an end to eternity

it's danger, danger

The dots and lines connect

I just wanna know what lies beyond

outta the concrete jungle

The dungeon I race through

is a sea of trees

let's get ready to rumble, we can go

A-I-Ya-I-Ya

All right, you know this isn't a game

Twisting strategies, covering up the bugs

You gotta know pain to break the limit

A-I-Ya-I-Ya

oklet's get it

it's time to fly

I'm gonna die in my hype

Nothing bothers me anymore

moving your body

Light shining through the ground

They're hysteric

Our faint dream

But who do you fight for?

A-I-Ya-I-Ya A-I-Ya-I-Ya

The scene passing by, it's danger, danger

Now you're,

A-I-Ya-I-Ya A-I-Ya-I-Ya

Facing the stopped clock

we are the game changer

Keep going, even if

there's nothing at the end

A-I-Ya-I-Ya

if it's danger, danger

Oh, Sunraku's here again.

Who is he fighting with?

Never seen him before.

Wait, a new player?

Yeah! I can't believe it either,

but seems like it.

I want to at least win one round!

Quick-Draw Fist!

What?!

You lose!

I-I keep on trying, but I can't

win even a single round!

Quick-Draw Fist style is invincible!

This is the last.

One more match, please!

Best of three!

All right, but this is it, okay?

Thank you very much!

And the rule is, of course

Bug tudo!

All right!

Battle start!

Round one!

Fight!

You're doing that again?

Take this!

Whoa!

You finally figured how to use Yo-Yo

in response to your opponent, eh?

Yes! I'm getting used to this!

But man, I came here to train

for Wethermon battle,

but I ended up training

a beginner instead.

To be honest, I'd like to fight someone

tougher for my own training

Flying Smash!

He used the speed of his bugged leg

snapping back to close in

and attacking at the same time.

You're getting pretty good

to be able to use it like that.

But you chose to do a normal

Flying Smash instead of bugged one.

You still don't get the essence of BERP.

Flying Smash deal a lot of damage,

but it leave you open for a while.

You earned your chance to pressure,

but it makes landing extra hits harder.

You should use

Pile Bunker!

T-Too fast!

If I can't get out of this anyway

You're still doing a frontal rush?

I'll just counter you

with my Quick-Draw Fist.

What's that?!

Flying Smash!

He triggered two smashes

at the same time?!

I don't know this one!

Looks like I can counter it

with my Quick-Draw Fist

But let's try taking them!

You win!

I did it!

I got my first round win!

What was that?!

He did multiple Flying Smashes

simultaneously, didn't he?

Yeah, I've never seen it done like that.

What do you guys think?

Both of them had hitboxes.

Fundamentally speaking,

it's a Pile Bunker

But you shouldn't be able

to do two gauged moves at once.

Maybe it's a bug related

to Doppelganger?

That wouldn't let him create

a double on the same coordinates.

Someone already verified that.

Plus, you can't execute

a Chimera from a Doppelganger.

Which means

Yeah.

If the bug testers can replicate it,

it's sealed.

Dragonfly-san.

Y-Yes?

Congratulations!

It's still not confirmed, but you're

the first one to discover that bug.

What?

- Congratulations!

- Wonderful!

- Bravo!

- Congratz!

Th-Thank you.

The one who discovered

a new bug gets to name them.

What'll it be?

W-Well, this is kind of sudden, so

Hmm A move name

Um

You don't have to name it right away.

Just take your time with that.

More importantly, we still have

some more rounds left.

In exchange for showing us that new bug,

let me show you a bug of my own.

Really?!

It's a pretty difficult bug you can only

trigger at the start of a round.

Battle start!

Round two!

Fight!

What?!

Doppelganger, succeed!

There are two of you?

When I first discovered this,

I struggled to come out with a name.

Like "Shadow Clone" or "Swamp-man."

Cool, isn't it?

Right when you thought you know it all,

people keep on finding new things.

What a game!

That's why no matter how

deserted the server is,

I'd always want to pay a visit

every once in a while.

That's what BERP is

Berserk Online Passion!

You okay?

You beat me twice in a row in no time.

You grab hold of me from behind

and your clone attack me head-on.

That's not fair!

Yeah, when you leave the clone alone,

the AI takes over for some reason.

So unfair.

Thank you so much for putting up

with a beginner like me today!

Sure thing!

I really learned a lot!

I'll come up with a cool name

for the bug move soon!

Oh, that reminds me.

There is this one really gross bug

my friend discovered a while ago.

Hm?

I don't know if I can pull it off,

but wanna try it out?

Yes! Please do!

All right!

Meanwhile

His aforementioned friend is

Dammit! Why I'm the only one

still doing this?!

You're still level 47?!

You ain't no tuna,

you're a freaking ricefish!

Sunraku! Hurry up and get back here!

You g*dd*mn scrub!

Behold!

(Palace of Rabituza)

Alright!

Time to play SLF all day!

W-Wait for me!

Let's test out this skill combo thing

Katzo talked about, Emul!

Y-Yessir!

So, is this the right way?

You ran off without even knowing

the way to Skill Garden?

But wow, Sunraku-san,

you're really enthusiastic today.

You seemed really exhausted when you

sleep last night, so I was worried.

Yeah, I was pretty tired out.

But when I discover something new,

it just excites me, you know?

Especially if it's something

I can really sink my teeth into.

S-Stop!

What?

The Skill Garden is this way.

Here, to the left.

Still, I didn't know there's really one

of those Skill Gardens in this palace.

Oh, of course.

And the Skill Garden in the palace

has a better selection

than the one down in the city.

Just between you and me.

A secret bonus, huh? Nice!

(Skill Garden)

Welcome.

Oh, dear.

It's Emul and the bird-man.

(Elke)

Do everyone here recognize me

as bird-man at this point?

This is Elke, my older sister.

I have two sisters,

so we're all triplets.

Nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you.

Well, she does have the lop ears,

I guess they kinda look similar.

Since they're triplets,

that means there's one more of them?

So, how can I help you?

I heard I can combine my skills here

Yes, of course.

I'm good at that sort of stuff.

It's why my father asked me

to run this store here.

Oh, did he?

Hey, you're catching my sister's accent!

All right, then,

let's start combining skills.

Leave it to me.

I leveled up a bunch,

so I've got a whole mess of them.

Many of them changed

from what I'm familiar with, too.

By the way, if you combine

higher-level skills with each other,

you will get better skills.

Oh, really? That makes me want

to max out all of them.

But I need to organize them, too.

Let's just keep going.

Well then, let's do it.

That should do it.

Are these all the skills I can combine?

These are the recipes you want?

Six links will cost 6,000 mahni.

Got it.

6,000

I'll make it now, so hang on.

Please do!

Please do!

Hey, no copying me!

I should check my stats too

while I wait.

Although I'm level 51 now,

to equip my new Moonblades means

I won't have much left to increase my VIT.

So my defense is still paper-thin.

Nah, tissue-thin at this point.

Okay, all set to go.

Wow, it really didn't too long.

It's complete.

It's six links worth,

so it's quite a lot.

But you'll learn all the linked skills

at once after you finish this.

I have to chug this whole

suspicious-looking thing?

There's a twig in it too.

Come on, bottoms up!

If this is not a game,

I definitely won't drink this.

Go, bottoms up!

Go!

Go!

Whoa! I learned all of them at once!

Now I've got six new skills

from linking skills together.

That, plus nine more I got from

leveling up and old skills evolving.

I hope some of the pack a punch.

Congratulations!

Good for you.

Oh, that's right.

If you like

Would you like some skill grimoires

you can only purchase here in Rabituza?

Grimoires?

Since Emul likes you so much,

I'll give you a special deal.

Really?! That's cool!

Watch out, Sunraku-san!

She might not like it,

but Elke-oneechan is a moneygru

Wow, you sure are Emul's sister.

You move so fast.

Don't worry, Emul.

This palace is a special

event zone, after all.

I'm sure they'd spike up the prices.

You're a smart bird-man.

By the way, what's your budget?

I sold a ton of materials a while ago,

so I've got around 80,000 mahni to spare.

Oh, my. You have quite

a few options, then!

Excuse me?!

And this is with the discount?!

You sure this is the right rate?!

You're not ripping me off, are you?

Well? Would you like to purchase?

You are not going to tell me

that you're foolish enough

to miss out on this big chance, are you?

Th-Then

I'll take the Vorpal Blade Skill

Moon Reflection, please

Thank you!

That will be 80,000 mahni!

Thank you for your purchase!

I couldn't say no

Are you okay, Sunraku-san?

I thought she was gonna pull out

all the feathers on my head.

She might be a little forceful,

but she won't

actually, maybe she would.

I was actually hoping to buy some

mid-body armor I saw in Thirdrema.

Guess I'll have to farm money again

until the Wethermon fight.

What time is it now?

Whoa, it's almost time!

If I'm late again, who knows

what those two will do to me.

Emul, open the gate!

Yessir!

(The Serpant's Apple)

In a good mood, eh?

Oh, Sunraku-kun.

Rare to see you come in on time.

Did something good happen?

Well, not exactly, but

I've decided.

On what?

So we will be fighting Wethermon

two weeks from now.

But we got a problem.

A problem?

But both of us are already level 50.

Currently, the only other people who

knows how to encounter Wethermon

are the members of the clan I'm in,

the Ashura Kai.

They've been taking advantage

on the fact you get EXP

simply from encountering a Unique Monster.

They're using him to level up

and practice for PVP battles.

Ashura Kai

Those guys, huh.

Unlike Lycagon, you can just meet him

at a set time and place.

I guess he sure makes

for a great grinding spot.

So the problem is

At this rate, on the day of the battle

on the next new moon,

we will run into other Ashura Kai members

who've taken the same scenario, eh?

Right.

Aren't you guys from the same clan?

Can't we just work things out with them?

You know, like asking them

to sit this one out or something.

Not a chance. They're actually

against beating the boss.

I'm not seeing the picture here.

So what exactly you've decided to do?

Ashura Kai, you know

They do pretty much nothing

but k*lling other players,

so everyone hates their guts.

Figures.

So, with the last update, PK'ers gets

applied with a certain special condition.

Special condition?

So when a PK'er gets k*lled

by another player,

not just the bounty, but the items

and equipment the Pk'er has

gets transferred

to the one who k*lled them.

That includes everything

they have in storage. All of it.

Oh?

And if you're a top PK'er in Ashura Kai,

that means you've got a lot of rare items.

In a sense, we PK'ers are like

a walking treasure troves.

That's why there are even those

who becomes PK'er K*llers.

Of course, we've got some countermeasures

against this using loopholes and so on.

But if our hideout gets attacked,

that won't mean much.

Hideout?

Whoa, wait. So when you said

you've decided, that means

You serious?

Yeah.

And of course,

I know where their hideout are.

I don't need them anymore.

Those cowards are nothing

but an hindrance now.

That's why

I've decided to crush Ashura Kai!

If I have a lingering regret

That would be

the "farewell" I couldn't say

This regret alone knows no end

Is it because I ran away,

from the eventual end?

The seed you planted

Has turned into a giant banyan tree

And now crying as it hangs its branches

"I love you"

Just that one thing

Just that simple phrase

I wish I could have said that

This eternal seperation,

melted by the rain

A fragrant Rain Tree

Memories are overflowing

I want to meet you

Heaven in the Rain

(About two weeks later)

(Constant Progress)

The Full-Dive VR game,

Shangri-La Frontier

is finally having their

massive summer update today.

That's right.

Tonight, on this day

Sunraku and his friends will challenge

Wethermon the Tombguard.

SLF Theater!

(#19 Each Respective's New Year)

Mini!

(#19 Each Respective's New Year)

(#19 Each Respective's New Year)

Happy New Year.

Thank you for everything last year.

May we can get along this year as well.

Likewise, it is a pleasure

to be with you this year as well.

Well, Sunraku-kun.

What's that hand for?

Gimme New Year's gift.

Hell no!

Stingy.

Then

I'm not giving you any.

But you earn a lot of money!

Look at a mirror!

You're a supermodel!

Don't play dumb!

Sunraku-san, Sunraku-san,

what's "New Year's gift"?

Oh, in short

This.

New Year's gift!

This is the best!

So easy

I didn't have the courage to send

Hizutome-kun a New Year's card

Happy New Year!