TRPG Rule Breaker

Chapter 7 : First Battle - 2

Chapter 7: First Battle - 2

[Target’s dice … … … Misses the hit.]

Splaash-!

"Uwahk! What the hell was that all of a sudden?!"

"You said you trusted me, so why did you dodge?"

"What are you talking about…!"

"Hahaha! What’s this? Infighting?"

In the original game, experience points were calculated only after the ongoing event ended.

It was too complicated to calculate every moment, and it took a lot of time.

But here, where the system had become reality, experience points were increasing in real time.

So, after just taking down that group of beggars, my current EXP was—

§§…

EXP: 91 / 100

…§§

—just short of the next level.

Since they were barely even small fry, I hadn’t gained much EXP.

But if I could take down someone with a higher overall level than mine, I’d earn more than enough EXP to level up.

Judging by the skills he had shown, Shion Jian was at least level 3.

The perfect sacrifice for my first level-up.

"This is the only way to save Shelly. Trust me, and this time, don’t dodge."

If I leveled up and learned the new skill I had in mind, I would have a way to resolve this situation.

I swung my staff toward my ally once again.

"Ughhh! You rotten son of a b—!"

Shion Jian glared and spat curses, but in the end, he didn’t dodge my staff.

[Target’s dice: 50, 8]

[Notice. Target difficulty is 58.]

[Player’s dice: 30, 7]

[Notice. Adding modifier according to the situation. +40]

[Notice. Adding modifier according to difference in Perception score between player and target. -5]

[Notice. Adding modifier according to player’s Dexterity score. +5]

[Notice. Adding modifier from the effect of . -10]

[Notice. Dice roll result: 9, Success.]

[Notice. Attack successfully hits.]

[Notice. Attack damage is 38 points.]

[Notice. Adding modifier from previous dice roll result. ×0.6]

[Notice. Subtracting target’s defense. -20]

[Notice. Target takes 2 points of damage.]

Thud.

"…Ah."

"Huh…? Did you even hit me just now? That didn’t hurt at all."

Because of the penalty trait , my attack power was pitifully low, resulting in miserable damage.

"Sorry, but this alone won’t cut it. Even if it hurts, don’t move."

If I attacked with , I could end it in one blow, but my goal wasn’t to kill Shion Jian—just to get the “defeated” status. I had no choice.

So—

Bubble!

The water spirit surged out from the Spirit Stone and used around Shion Jian’s face.

"If we still can’t save Shelly after this, I’ll kill you myse—guhk."

Shion Jian choked, lost consciousness, and collapsed.

With that, I achieved my first level-up.

§§{Character}

Name: Dicendel Lio

Overall Level: 2

…

Class: Cleric (World Tree) Lv.1 [1]

EXP: 51 / 300

HP: 280 / 280

AP: 23 / 47

MP: 107 / 199

…§§

"Uhuhahaha! I thoroughly enjoyed your little comedy show. Worth the wait!"

"Right. This mess happened because of the gold coins you gave Shelly, so you should take responsibility."

Whenever I made a move, I liked to set things up so that multiple effects triggered at once.

The first purpose of that statement was to keep him from questioning my sudden actions earlier—a deception tactic.

As I expected, the gang leader just smirked at us without suspicion.

Of course, the real reason he had “waited” wasn’t to watch a comedy show, but because he was wary of my and didn’t dare approach carelessly.

"Shion Jian!"

"Silence, woman! Anyway, you over there—I like your personality and your skills. How about we forget our little grudge and join hands? If you do, I’ll even let the kid go."

"Hmm… Will you treat me as an equal? What about profits? Do you have a long-term plan?"

And the second purpose was stalling for time.

The time it took to raise my class level, find a new skill, and invest bonus points—just one second.

On top of that, I had bought enough time to use this skill to its full effect.

"Our main source of income is… No, wait, you’re just stalling, aren’t you? No matter how long you wait, no reinforcements will come! That’s the rule here. Since you don’t seem interested in joining forces with me, just die."

The gang leader belatedly caught on and tried to step toward me—

"Huh? Wha—! What the hell is this?"

Both his feet were glued to the floor, unable to move an inch.

What I had just learned was , a skill that a Cleric of the World Tree could acquire at class level 2.

With the skill at level 1, the only sap I could synthesize—and thus the only subskill I could use for —was .

Its effect was a powerful adhesive that lasted as long as mana was infused.

"What is this?!"

"My feet won’t come off!"

Not just the gang leader, but everyone in the room had their feet stuck in the sticky sap.

It was the result of pouring my MP into the staff aimed at the floor until I was nearly out of mana, all while drawing out time and attention.

Since there were no windows and the only light came from sunlight seeping through the planks, and since the enemies were all low-level, not a single one of them noticed until their feet were already glued to the ground.

By the way, with one more skill learned, my MP had increased by 30 points, making it even more effective.

"Heh heh, but aren’t you an idiot?"

The flustered gang leader suddenly smirked as if he had realized something.

"Tying up so many of us was good, but you’ve tied up your own feet too, haven’t you?"

"That’s true, boss!"

"Kyakak! The bastard’s a complete moron!"

Yeah—“everyone in the room” included me.

To be precise, I was the first one stuck.

After all, I was closest to the staff pouring out the sap.

"Looks like you’re trying to stall again. I told you, no reinforcements can come here. And besides, with this—!"

"Uh, b-boss?"

The gang leader suddenly grabbed a subordinate next to him.

Only a pair of old shoes stuck in sap remained on the floor.

Whoosh—!

[Target’s dice … … … Takes damage.]

Crash!

"Ugh!"

I was struck by the body of the beggar underling he had hurled at me.

Even without , I wouldn’t have been able to dodge since my feet were glued to the ground.

"I can still attack you."

With my feet fixed, I collapsed to the floor, and now even my backside was stuck to it.

Still, I was better off than that underling beggar, who, after crashing into me, ended up face-first in the sap and unable to breathe.

"Did you think we’d be fine because we couldn’t take off our shoes? Even barefoot, you’d just get stuck again. You’re sloppy—pathetic! Heh heh."

The moment the gang leader reached for another victim—

I used on Shelly, who had slipped from the beggars’ attention.

[Target’s dice … … … Successfully used.]

‘Flatten yourself, Shelly!’

At the same time, I gave an order to .

Right after Shelly threw herself to the floor, smashed through a thin wall and darted outside the building.

"What the—? Hey! Grab that girl!"

"Too late, idiot."

Rumble—Crack!

As if an earthquake had struck, the building shook and then rose into the air.

had grabbed the ground with its ends and lifted the building it had rooted into.

If it were a normal building, maybe it could have withstood it—but this shabby structure, built without proper foundations, couldn’t endure ’s monstrous strength.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

"Aaaagh!"

"Uuugh!"

Splat! Crack!

began to violently shake the building in midair.

Enemies were flung off, leaving only their shoes behind.

Some hit the ground and shattered their lower bodies, while others collided with buildings and broke their necks.

A few, like Shion Jian and Shelly, avoided falling because their bodies were stuck to the floor, but they still suffered from dizziness due to the sudden acceleration.

"Ughhh—!"

"Put it down, please!"

Only one person—

I alone—remained completely fine amid the chaos.

Thanks to the penalty trait .

The trait lowered my Perception stat, dulling all sensory organs—including the vestibular system that caused dizziness.

Once I judged that all enemies were disarmed—when some of them even started passing out one by one—I ordered to stop.

Thud!

Now only the wooden frame of the ragged building remained as it touched back down to the ground.

"Uweegh! You… son of a—!"

The gang leader lay sprawled on the floor, vomiting.

As expected of a boss, he still retained his consciousness unlike the other beggars.

I was still restrained, and I had no MP left.

But I still had the water spirit I had summoned earlier.

In other words, there was no problem in delivering the finishing blow.

"Glurk! Glrrrk!"

I placed a mass of water, created with , onto the gang leader’s vomit-covered face.

The water mass poured into his airways, shrinking in size as it went.

Since his limbs and the back of his head were stuck in the sap, he couldn’t resist and simply suffocated.

I didn’t stop until the large water mass had completely disappeared.

If I didn’t want future trouble, I had to make sure at least the leader was dealt with for good.

Ssshh—

By the time I was certain the gang leader was dead, the effect of ended, and the sap that had been holding me firmly vanished as if evaporating.

"Shelly!"

Without the slightest delay, I ran to her.

Her face was pale, and vomit stained the corners of her mouth, but her breathing and pulse were normal.

When I took Shelly into my arms, my level rose once again.

It was the result of defeating the boss and clearing all the events.

I had thought it would take at least a month, yet I was already level 3 in less than a week.

It was an absurd speed.

"Ghhkk—cough!"

Shion Jian woke up at just the right time.

I had been wondering how to carry both him and Shelly.

"Shelly? What happened—wait, what the hell happened here?"

Shion Jian was visibly shocked at the scene before him upon waking.

"As promised, I saved Shelly. It’s thanks to your sacrifice. Let’s go back now. You carry Shelly—she’s just sleeping."

"I feel like I just came back from the dead. And she’s covered in vomit, you know?"

We couldn’t stop by the original destination—the forge—but my heart was filled with powerful emotions.

To summarize what happened afterward—

Shelly ended up working at the temple near the northern plaza, where today’s healing class had been held.

It was a precaution so she wouldn’t be targeted for retaliation if she returned to the slums she used to live in.

For reference, this result had a lot to do with my and Shion Jian’s background.

"…That is everything we went through today."

Using to barely suppress my anger, I looked at the middle-aged man before me with a shaved head of white hair.

Of course, my anger was somewhat misplaced.

"You have my sympathy. The Mother World Tree herself would be proud of you."

Shion Jian and I had gone to the city guard immediately upon returning to school to report the incident and handle the aftermath.

The one who summoned us was ‘Lotendar Melbien,’ a human male and the captain of the paladin order that oversaw the defense and security of Alvheim.

"I’m sorry, but this is all I can say. Alvheimton is, in name, a free city not under the rule of any power. And above all, it bears the history and pride of being founded by those who gathered from among the poor."

Lotendar paused and scratched his short beard.

“Therefore, in Alvheim it was hard to intervene recklessly. At best, we could do no more than express our regret to the vigilante corps. The reality was that even knowing children were being abused, we had to leave it be. As a paladin serving the Mother, I was truly ashamed to say this.”

Lotendar, having said so, bowed his head deeply.

“It was hardly a substitute, but if you ever needed my help, please tell me. I would do my utmost to assist.”

“…As it happened, I had something to ask.”

I suppressed my anger and laid out what I wanted.

It was because I had felt someone watching me lately.

Today, with the first weekend upon me, I came to the central library on campus.

Over the past few days of classes, a big question had formed.

Who on earth had created all the fine details that weren’t even in the rulebook?

Perhaps I could find some leads in this library.

Rustle-rustle-rustle. Rustle-rustle.

After I had swiftly read seventy-two books from various fields like that, I realized one thing.

‘This world wasn’t some fake made by the AaA developer.’

Among the hypotheses I had built since being dragged into this world, the most plausible one was discarded.

Namely, the hypothesis that this place was virtual reality and I was being subjected to some kind of experiment.

Because the seventy-two randomly selected books contained information that didn’t exist in the original world, rendered with exquisite precision.

By probability, the hundreds of thousands of volumes in this library would all be the same.

“Hey, junior.”

At the sudden call, I snapped out of my thoughts.

I had been so absorbed in thinking that I hadn’t even noticed someone approaching.

“…Galanuel?”

“I heard you were at the library. We hadn’t really talked before, right? I’ll buy your time. One silver per minute.”

Clink.

Galanuel set a coin pouch down in front of me.

For reference, in this region’s currency, twenty copper coins equaled one silver, and twenty silvers equaled one gold.

And one gold was a poor family’s monthly living expenses in Alvheimton.

“Fine. But about the last incident, it was because of the Mana Rampage-.”

[Notification. Persuasion was blocked by the opponent’s ability.]

“Ah— I know that, too. You fainted before I could even counterattack, and the room’s condition had been a wreck. But what should I do? I’m the type who insists on thorough accounting. It was a fact that I took a loss because of you, so I wasn’t going to just let it pass.”

Right.

The personality and abilities I had set for that guy were like this.

I had actually acted this way, too.

‘Wait, acting?’

“Are you another player? Or the game master?”