NOVEL NEXT Chapter 17
Claris Academy Student Council Room.
Liris was humming a tune.
Today is the day.
Lev Denec’s demonic transformation.
The rag that will be used for the freshmen’s selection test is created by Professor McClone’s illusion.
No matter how close he came to mastering illusion magic,
He’s just a senile old man soon to forget everything.
In the end, without a medium, it’s impossible for him to create countless illusions of demon creatures.
Thus, Liris sent a messenger to play some pranks.
“I wonder if they’re in chaos by now…”
If the rag reacts to the demon circuit embedded in Lev Denec’s body,
That clueless brat, yearning for power, will darken and merge with the demon.
The ending Liris desires will come to pass.
“Goodbye, useless junior…”
*
– Enchant magic is important, right?
While rummaging through a goblin’s belongings, buried memories floated up.
Was it during my first playthrough? In an unfriendly game, I was inexperienced, and when my frustration hit the roof,
At the perfect timing, a character approached me to give me a tutorial on enchants.
She was a girl with a charming smile.
‘Well, the ending wasn’t great…’
I’ll meet her soon enough.
.
.
.
After that, things proceeded smoothly.
[Aggro: 83]
Whenever encountering a goblin, Aria lights up the field of view, I snipe the spirit, and Melissa and Edwin take down the hobgoblins.
How many laps have we done?
“L-Let’s take a break…”
Edwin’s exhaustion appeared sooner than expected.
“I’ll help you recover.”
Fortunately, Aria’s divine magic was handy for managing Edwin’s and Melissa’s stamina.
Having rummaged through all of the goblin’s belongings, I checked my current registered skills:
—————————————————
Current Registered Skills
[Passive] – Recluse
[Normal Skill 1] – Magic Eye
[Normal Skill 2] – Fire
[Normal Skill 3] – (registerable)
[Ultimate Skill] – Demonic Transformation
—————————————————
Registered the first circle magic, Fire, to my gamer trait.
By the way, to Lev Denec, a water rocket magician, this could be considered high-tier magic, comparable to Meteor.
And with this casted Fire, I set the goblin corpse ablaze.
– Whoosh.
“What are you doing again?”
Melissa approached with her arms crossed.
I responded without giving her a glance.
“If you’re not going to help, stay out of it.”
“What scheme do you have this time…”
“There might be a hidden spirit. If we don’t burn the corpse, it could come back to life.”
“……”
Melissa, being meticulous, seemed to understand and didn’t argue further.
“I thought the top student princess would have noticed…”
When I said this, Melissa’s face flushed, and she shouted.
“Ah, I knew!”
– Whoosh!
“I was just asking because you couldn’t handle even the first circle magic, Fire!”
While saying that, she began using her specialty, fire magic, to burn another corpse.
Saving mana, what a steal.
At that moment, Aria, who was recovering Edwin, approached me.
“Where do you plan to go next?”
Casually leaving the tank behind, she asks me for the next destination.
The party order has already become my responsibility.
“Um…”
By the way, if speaking the truth felt like this?
I could feel that she expected something from me more than the results of this test.
As if to say, show me everything you’re hiding, even if it’s through demonic transformation.
So, to ease her suspicions, I decided to be honest.
“I’m thinking of catching the tagger.”
“The tagger…?”
We need to catch the rag to give Hazel something to work with.
That was the only way to clear the supporting role quest.
– Thud!
– Thud!
– ???!!!
There was no need to say more.
The ominous sound of footsteps started approaching.
For some reason, the rag had already come close to us.
*
The difference between a normal monster and a named monster is,
Of course, the name.
Normal monsters have types like goblin, cerberus, troll, which have external properties.
Named monsters have unique names assigned to each individual.
Rag, Hwayeomakgui, Scarface, Rocknose—
Like that.
When it comes to rank, both normal and named monsters are rated with an alphabet, so they seem similar…
But of course, a normal F-rank monster can’t be compared to a named F-rank monster.
The named ones are at least 2-3 ranks higher, I’d say.
.
.
.
– Thud!
– Shiver…
The rag, having spotted us, began to tremble all over.
– Grooooo!
With a look like it was stitched together from the skins of multiple creatures, including goblins.
Its enormous belly and giant form of about 5 meters was intimidating.
“Eeeeeek!”
I can understand Hazel’s scream this time.
The people from this academy must have strong stomachs.
“It’s supposed to be that the tagger wouldn’t move unless they’re alone…”
Just as Melissa said.
This situation was unexpected.
——————————————————
[Rag]
[Named F(E+) Rank Demon Creature]
[Composite]
[Danger Level: High]
[Feature: Enchanted by ‘Liris Larochelle’]
——————————————————
“Liris, it’s her work.”
The only information I could confirm with my Magic Eye.
As a retaliation for what happened, it was clear that she had messed with the rag.
– Groooooo!
The rag lifted the club it was holding vertically.
“Everyone, get back!”
– Whoosh!
– Boom!
Melissa’s chant speed was still fast.
It dealt damage strong enough to pass Trial 1.
– Grrr?
However, even to the well-formed fireball, the rag took no damage.
More precisely, its recovery speed was faster.
It had to be dealt in one blow.
As the rag looked at Melissa, Edwin stepped up.
“Here!”
That brat, pretending to be the protagonist, was trying to confront it with a sword.
But if he dies here, it’s game over, you know?
Reluctantly facing Edwin in his heroic pose, I said a word.
“Hey, you run…”
– Bang!
Just one hit.
– Fwoosh…
He managed to block the club, whether by his intrinsic traits or sheer will, but he was knocked back about 10 meters.
– Thud!
Immediately, Aria rushed in and used a protection spell on Edwin.
Total mayhem.
No matter how much of a seasoned player I am, it’s hard to gauge how strong this rag is, given that we’re dealing with a novel set in the game’s past with the author’s own power inflation.
The damage calculation was uncertain.
[Current Critical Hit Rate: 2% (when using a crossbow)]
[Critical Damage: 150% ~ 250%]
In [Reincarnated Hero], critical hit damage ranges from 1.5x to 2.5x.
And in sneaky mode, the critical hit rate is fixed at 100%, dealing 3 times regular damage.
Though the seasoned players have worked with sneak archers enough that they eventually nerfed that to 1.5x, it wouldn’t matter to me since I’m in the closed beta.
“Then, a rough calculation… No, no…”
The concept of critical hits means it provides additional damage when hitting a weak spot.
But with my game judgment, I receive a critical hit judgment upon hitting.
If so, what happens if I hit a weak point in addition?
The rag has a high entity value, but as an F-rank demon creature, it also has multiple weaknesses.
Since it was crafted from various demon creatures, the exposure of those weak points increases.
If I aim for that, theoretically, with compound magic, I could deal 9 times damage, as in 3×3.
What if additional enchantments are possible?
With no time to waste, I approached Hazel.
*
– Bang!
– Bang!
– Bang!
“Ah… Aria!”
Princess Melissa de Prominence was in a complete state of panic.
What’s happening?
Is this also a type of test?
There’s a monster right in front of me.
But the fire magic doesn’t work.
And Edwin is unconscious, while Aria is using a barrier to fend off the monster’s attacks.
Yet, the test doesn’t stop.
On the contrary, that monster seems intent on taking out Aria and Edwin.
– Bang!
Aria is buying time with her barrier, but even that doesn’t seem easy.
Something’s going wrong.
Looking at it with Melissa’s insight, it was not an illusion… it was a real monster.
By the time she regained some focus,
– Shiver…
Her legs had already given way, leaving her sitting down.
“Ugh…”
Next to her, Hazel was trying to stifle her scream.
‘What about that guy?’
Lev Denec was silently watching the monster before coming closer and speaking in a low voice.
“At this point, we have to catch that one.”
“How do we catch that…?”
“Eek, eek…”
When Melissa answered, his gaze was solely on Hazel.
“Hey, alchemist. Get a grip.”
“Huh…?”
“Yeah, I’m talking to you. You’re the only alchemist here.”
“Why me…?”
Lev crouched down in front of Hazel.
“If it continues like this, you’re going to get disqualified.”
“…”
“What have you done so far?”
Hazel couldn’t counter his words.
While everyone else was fulfilling their roles, she hadn’t done anything but scream.
Alchemy is hard to show in a combat scene, and it was clear she hadn’t done anything.
“Hurry up, alchemist. Listen closely from now on.”
“Uh… huh?”
“Make poison.”
“Huh?”
“Poison, whether it’s neurotoxin, healing reduction poison, or instant explosion poison, something damaging.”
“How can I make it in this situation?!”
“Just do it. You’re the alchemist, aren’t you?”
Truthfully, Hazel had only chosen alchemy because she was scared.
She didn’t have any real talent in it.
“I can’t! With the materials I have now… Plus, I have to make the base first…”
She couldn’t say that she had broken all her prepared reagents when she fell earlier.
That would be too much of a nuisance.
Lev then pulled out a leather pouch.
“This was from the goblins. You can use this as a medium to make something, right?”
These were the items I found while rummaging through the corpse earlier.
“Maybe this could work…”
“Good, hurry.”
For some reason, Melissa, having been passed around to Lev, felt a strange confusion at his calm behavior.
‘Why isn’t he panicking?’
At first, she thought he was putting on an act.
That he was unfazed because he thought it was a trick.
But as he spoke, he seemed determined to navigate through the situation.
‘Seriously… what the hell…?’
*
The seasoned players of [Reincarnated Hero] often made a meta of using ranged attack classes to sneak or hide without exception.
Of course, after one attack, the aggro meter would explode, making it clear that there’s only one chance to deliver the critical hit.
However, switching could unleash a merciless one-punch style on single bosses through compound magic.
A setup full of entertaining mechanics that involves slamming all enchantments onto a single shot.
Thus, seasoned players fully farmed their gear and always played as sneak archers at least once.
[Aggro: 82]
In other words, there was only one chance, and failing could mean I’d be the only one to die, so I needed to be cautious.
“Alright… done… but this is all I could make…”
——————————————————
[Hobgoblin’s Poor Poison]
[Rarity: D-]
[Poison re-manufactured through alchemy. Reduces the target’s healing effect by 30% and inflicts fixed damage for 5 seconds.]
[Useable]
——————————————————
The poison Hazel made was a complete mishmash, combining three vague effects.
“Even dot damage applies critical damage, but…”
According to game knowledge, once the dot hits, the aggro explodes.
Naturally, it means the sneak status will be dropped, so long-lasting damage skills don’t fit with a sneak archer’s playstyle; it forces the use of explosive bolts instead.
What good is it to debate now?
The important thing is that there’s only one chance.
“Alright. Enchant it onto my arrow.”
“It might be a bit rough since it’s my first time…”
“I’m fine with that. Hurry. Do you want to see everyone dead?”
“Y-Yes!”
It didn’t take long.
As she chanted the ancient script, light began to emanate from my arrow.
For a support class, it was quite fast.
With all preparations done, I took aim at the rag without delay.
– Bang!
Aria seemed to have reached her limit, her lovely face frowning as she closed her eyes.
“Hey, Princess.”
“Uh… what?”
“Show me your top student skills.”
“W-What…?”
“Shoot the fire magic.”
Dazed and turned into my puppet, Melissa generated and released a fireball.
– Wheeeesh…
– Bang!
Of course, the damage was woefully insufficient.
But it was enough to grab the attention of the dimwitted rag.
– Roooor!!
– Thud! Thud!
It shook its head and began charging toward us.
“What? Huh? Huh?”
Melissa, not realizing what she just did,
“Eeeeeek!”
Hazel started screaming with her head down.
– Thud! Thud! Thud!
I steadied my breath.
It’s fine. I’m not casting magic; it’s just a simple hand gesture.
The most obvious weakness of the rag was its clearly defined chest seam.
– Thud! Thud! Thud!
With the sound getting closer and closer.
The easiest way to target a weak spot is…
“What are you doing?!!!”
“Eeeeeek!!”
Indeed, it would be a close shot.
At this distance, it’s harder to miss.
– Whoosh!
Just like always, it was one single arrow.
– Fwoosh!!!
[Critical Hit!]
[Weak Spot Hit!]
[900%]
[Aggro: +57]
[Aggro: 100]
[The enemy now recognizes you.]
– Groooo…
– Ku-whooo…
The rag, pierced by the arrow, stopped just three steps away from us.
The status window showed that dot damage was effectively applied.
[Aggro + 11]
[Aggro + 14]
[Aggro + 13]
[Aggro + 11]
[Aggro + 12]
– Groooo…oooh!
It exploded.
– Boom!
– Cha-ching!
[Achievement Cleared!]
[Named: Rag defeated.]
[Remaining named monsters: 143 units.]
[You can obtain a Demon Hunting Reward!]
“Whew…”
“I thought I was going to die…”
Hazel and Melissa collapsed among the shards of rag.
And for the first time, I faced the state window for reward acquisition.