Chapter Three
The Party’s Beginning
Blind Cave Scorpions might have been elite spawns, but they still only belonged to one of the weakest dungeons of the game, and I could defeat them with my hands tied behind my back and eyes closed.
But I would be lying if I said that I didn’t feel any fear whatsoever. Slow-moving snails were one thing. They were the sizes of dogs, but like, medium dogs, not huge dogs.
The Blind Cave Scorpion in front of me was as big as a horse. That made it bigger than me. Each one of its claws was the size of my body, and the stinger at the tip of its tail was as large as a sword with a far sharper point.
Still.
It hurt Rosie.
My mana hadn’t fully regenerated yet, but I had enough to cast Lesser Enchantment: Poison before sending another Spark flying at the scorpion.
The scorpion raised its claw to defend against the magic, but that didn’t matter.
The fire still did its full damage and inflicted the scorpion with Poisoned.
It was quick to retaliate by rushing toward me with a claw ready to swipe.
Had it not been for inheriting the reflexes and experience of my former characters, I probably would have been crushed and killed then and there.
Instead, I managed to jump backward and away from the incoming claw.
I rushed forward as soon as I landed to retaliate by striking the torch into its claw, but didn’t get a Burning proc, so I had to dodge as the next attack came my way.
There was no Burning proc on the second hit either, but my third attack finally procced it just as Poisoned was about to wear off.
Now, being an elite enemy, it worked similarly to bosses in the sense that it had weak points and breakable body parts that offered bonus loot. My torch wouldn’t be able to deal enough blunt damage to its claws to break them, but its tail was breakable—or rather, severable.
Going for the tail was high risk, high reward, but I wanted to put it in its place for hurting Rosie.
And I wanted that reward.
I swapped what I held in my hands so my sword was in my right hand and baited an attack, giving me the chance to run around the side of the scorpion to go for its tail.
“Watch out!” Rosie shouted as the tail twisted to prepare for a strike, but I knew that it would do that already. I memorized its attack patterns long ago.
The scorpion thrust its tail straight at me.
I sidestepped, let the tail go under my left arm, and then wrapped that same arm around it to grapple it as I swung down between its solid tail segments with my sword.
The section between joints was considered a weak point even if, realistically, they wouldn’t have been that much weaker.
That meant a strike from Rusty that would normally only deal between five to seven damage did ten instead without being a critical.
The scorpion pulled its tail back, but I went with it since I was still grappling it, swinging my sword into the same opening as quickly as I could without sacrificing strength.
It was still weird. My real-life combat experience was effectively nothing, and I couldn’t even move my upper body without getting exhausted.
But now, I fought like a seasoned adventurer who did this every day for a living.
I wasn’t sure I deserved the ability to move with such skill, but I was told to be selfish, so I accepted it as I swung my sword into the weak spot for the third time.
The top half of tail flew off in a dramatic fashion after that, its deadly stinger landing tip first in the ground.
My mana regenerated enough at that point to infuse my sword with poison. So, while staying grappled, I ran my left hand over the sword’s flat before stabbing it into the now-exposed interior of the scorpion’s tail.
The scorpion got staggered to the side and I finally let go of its remaining tail. It killed me the first time I played the game since I wasn’t expecting there to be such a sudden jump in difficulty after the snails, but that was the only time I ever let it kill me.
In one final attempt at turning me into its food, the scorpion turned to face me again and began its charge.
I remained perfectly still.
“Move!” Rosie shouted.
“There’s no need,” I said.
I had been calculating its health the entire time.
Three.
It almost reached me.
Two.
It raised its right claw.
One.
It swung its claw at me.
Zero.
The claw stopped right in front of my face.
[Congratulations, you have leveled up!]
[Level 3 -> 4]
[Health: 70 -> 80]
[Mana: 14 -> 16]
[3 Attribute Points Gained]
“See?” I said, looking toward Rosie with a smile.
“No problem.” I was calculating its health the entire time and knew the poison effect would finish it off.
There was technically a risk of mistiming it since I wasn’t sure how much damage Rosie inflicted before I arrived, but I made a guess based on how much health the monster started with in the game.
Since the scorpion was an elite enemy, its body would stay in place until I went to loot it, but checking on Rosie was more important.
“You alright, Rosie?” I asked once I reached her, holding my hand out to her to help her up.
Rosie accepted my hand and stood up as I struggled with only looking at her eyes. “I am, thanks to you. That was… really impressive fighting. What are you doing in a dungeon like this?”
“Well, I’m only level three—no, four now, so this is where I belong right now.”
“You’re only level four?! But that—I’ve seen pros in their thirties and forties who couldn’t fight like that!”
“Well, thirties and forties are pretty low, but still, I’m sure what I did wasn’t that special.”
“Thirties and forties… are low?”
“Yeah? That’s not even a fourth of the level cap.”
“You—what… wait. Before anything else, how do you know my name? And also… what was that about calling me your wife back there?”
“Ah.” I froze. I made a couple of big mistakes there, didn’t I? “Well, uh. You see. About that. How should I put this…”
Rosie narrowed her eyes at me. She was obviously suspicious.
What was I supposed to do? Tell her that this world was originally a video game and that, not only was it made real, but that I got transported to it by a god just because I played tens of thousands of hours of it when it was only a game?
That would make me sound like an insane person.
… but I hated liars and didn’t want to lie to someone who I cared about. Even if I only ever got a chance to care about the game her rather than the real her, she was still important to me, and I wouldn’t be able to respect myself if I lied to her.
Not only that, but I always hated when protagonists in isekai stories never told their trusted and beloved companions about the truth.
“This is going to sound crazy,” I told Rosie.
And then I told her everything.
I explained the game. I explained spending so many hours in it. I explained Seth. I even explained how she was one of my favorite companions who I always romanced, and how that was why I still thought of her as my wife even now despite only just meeting for real.
Part of me was worried I would stutter and sound like some suspicious, creepy guy while saying all of that, but I didn’t.
Telling the truth, especially to someone who I felt so close to, made me feel better and more confident if anything. It made me happy.
Even if she thought I was crazy for it, I was a little proud of myself and knew that I did the right thing.
“So,” Rosie said, causing me to jump since that was the first she talked since I finished explaining everything. “You know that sounds totally insane, right?”
“If it makes you feel any better, I’m not entirely convinced I haven’t gone insane and am locked up in a mental asylum right now banging my head against padded walls,” I replied. “… nah, I know this is real despite how insane it is. I’m lying if I say that I’m not convinced.”
“Hmm… oh well.” Rosie shrugged before holding her hand out to me. “Sorry if I don’t live up to your expectations, but it’s nice to meet you! And thanks again for saving me!”
I blinked a couple of times. “You don’t think I’m lying or some creepy stalker making up a story just to get close to you?”
Rosie narrowed her eyes again. “Should I?”
“No! It’s just—I wouldn’t judge you at all if you didn’t believe a single word I said.
If someone said anything like this back on Earth—where I’m from, then nobody would believe them.
Not even myself. I’d probably think, ‘Wow, look at this guy who thinks he’s the main character.
He needs some serious psychiatric help before he hurts someone or himself.
He’s either got serious issues with his brain or is lying for attention. Probably both.’”
“Do you want me to believe you or not?”
“I do.”
“Then don’t be so hard on yourself. I like to think I’m a pretty good judge of character.
Besides, when you were talking about the ‘game,’ you got totally lost in the details and couldn’t stop smiling the whole time.
That kind of love for something is really nice, and I don’t think someone who can so genuinely love something could ever be a bad guy. ”
I should have known better.
Of course Rosie would feel that way if she was anything like she was as a game character.
She was the kind of girl who always stood up for what was right, wanted to protect others, and accepted everyone for who they were as long as they didn’t hurt others. The world would have been a far better place if everyone was like her.
Of course she believed me.
“Hey, don’t start crying on me over something as simple as that,” Rosie said, her eyes betraying her words to show genuine worry over me.
“Hah, sorry, my bad,” I replied. “I’m just—so happy. You really are the Rosie I know.”
“Except I’m real, alright?”
“Right. And uh, sorry in advance if I get flirty or anything with you, and I’ll try not to call you my wife again.”
A hint of red colored Rosie’s cheeks as she turned her head away. “It… wasn’t that bad, so don’t worry about it.”
Was I a virgin in real life who never even dated a girl before? Yes. Being stuck in bed most of my life had that effect on me.