VR Roguelike Game, Loop Blood.
The essence of a game where Souls-like and Roguelike elements have evolved into a virtual reality form.
Working life spinning like a hamster wheel.
Since reality was a bit dull, I had been immersed in this virtual reality game for a while.
The thrill of roaming the battlefield in heavy armor, crossing danger zones.
The biggest attraction of this game for me was the parrying system.
The excitement of barely dodging a sword strike aimed at my neck.
And the satisfaction of creating openings to slice through enemies.
The thrill of reflecting arrows with parrying and killing archers with their own arrows.
When I installed the modern warfare mode, I could even parry bullets. The joy of slicing soldiers with a sword was truly overwhelming.
“Well, there’s not much left to do.”
Except for the mods. I cleared the basic story over 90 times.
It had barely been three months since the game was released.
Among the speedrun videos floating around on YouTube, the fastest record was 42 minutes and 39 seconds.
My personal best was a smooth 39 minutes, three minutes faster.
Still, I started the game one more time.
I casually killed the final boss monster, “Immortal King,” and pressed the game exit button.
I had an email from the digital game distributor, Steam.
The sender was Miyazaki Hideo, the leading developer of Loop Blood.
==============================
Thank you, [Don’tScrewMeOver], for continuously enjoying the recently released ‘Loop Blood’ and the previous Loop series by our company.
You are the first to achieve 100 clears.
Our next project will remove the Roguelike elements that inherently limit the story, and we aim to create our very own open-world game.
I’d like to give you a special reward, since you’ve shown so much love for our game.
Once we’re ready, I’ll send you an invitation.
==============================
“Oh, that sounds fun.”
After reading the email, I was simply happy.
It felt like another masterpiece was about to drop for me to waste time on.
And a week had passed since I received this email.
Only then did I realize what it meant to get an invitation.
I could tell.
*
Swoosh────
The wind in the forest blew strongly.
A man lying in the bushes opened his eyes.
“Uh? This punk’s awake.”
Gray hair.
And blue eyes. Skin as white as snow.
An appearance that screamed ‘noble.’
“Brother, isn’t this guy a noble? He looks too posh!”
The skinny guy, Melau, remarked while the ominous-looking man, Aron, shook his head.
“Do nobles walk around in such shabby leather clothes? He’s just a good-looking commoner.”
The nobly-looking man slowly opened his eyes.
“Where is this…?”
The man didn’t even flinch at Melau and Aron aiming short swords at him.
“This guy is looking elsewhere even after regaining consciousness.”
His gaze was fixed on the void.
To be precise, he was staring at multiple spears floating right in front of him.
[‘Don’tScrewMeOver’ is welcomed.]
[You can revive after clearing the game.]
[Check out the perks for ‘Don’tScrewMeOver!’]
-Perk List-
[Skill – Parrying (★★★★★): Trust in your skill.]
[Skill – Absolute Counter (★★★★★★★★): Counterattack. Can be activated after a successful Parrying. Fires back an attack with ten times the damage of the parried strike. The attack is guided towards the target.]
[Skill – Search Eye (★★★★): Reads information about individuals. Can see their level, status, potential, and more.]
[Skill – Bullet Time (★★★★★★): Once per day, slows down time for the caster for 30 seconds. Cooldown: 24 hours.]
[Trait – Noble Dignity (★★★★★): Exudes an aura of nobility. Makes any action feel dignified. In this world, you are the most noble being and will not succumb to external pressures.]
An absurd situation suddenly arose in the game.
But was it survival instinct? Or maybe it was a kind gesture from the ones who shoved him into this game? Recognizing the immediate danger, he quickly began to think.
‘Absolute Counter.’
He was sure about the most crucial skill among the perks he received.
It was Absolute Counter. A reflection technique that could be used after parrying once.
‘I just need to let one attack through.’
He had to successfully execute [Parrying] to be able to attack. What a waste of efficiency. However, he couldn’t think of any scenarios in which Absolute Counter wouldn’t be useful.
[Name: 無]
Level 1
Personality Trait: Cold-Blooded
Strength: 10 Health: 25 Defense: 10 Agility: 30 Growth Potential: 0 – Average Joe
His status window popped up right in front of him.
A lousy stat with zero growth potential.
“Parrying.”
He was confident in his parrying skills. No matter how bad his stats were. Just like in Loop Blood. He had done it countless times in the previous virtual reality games.
He had never dropped his parrying accuracy below 100%, even while flaunting his underwear and being completely naked.
“Hey, you little punk. Do you think you can treat me like this? Empty your pockets—money or no money. If you don’t have anything, you’d better take off that raggedy outfit.”
Aron pointed his sword at the man’s throat.
His personality trait, “Cold-Blooded,” granted the man composure.
“Is that sword just for show?”
He provoked calmly, laying the trap of a taunt.
“…What?”
“Why are you carrying it if you can’t even stab?”
It was a provocation based on inspecting the hidden items in the pocket at his waist.
As he fidgeted, he could see the information on the dagger right before his eyes.
[Black Dragon Bernac’s Tooth
– Dagger
– A shortsword crafted from the tooth of a Black Dragon.
– Has superior durability.]
The man’s provocation made Aron’s eyes bulge with rage.
“You look like someone who could only serve nobility!”
Swoosh!
The shortsword rushed toward the man’s upper body. The thought of using “Bullet Time” didn’t even cross his mind. [Level 10], hovered above Aron’s head.
If he were a monster, he would be nothing more than a mere lackey.
Even if it was a skill that could be used once a day, he wasn’t a worthy opponent to use it against for the sake of his life.
The trajectory of the attacking strike was clearly visible.
It was a path he had seen hundreds, thousands of times in Loop Blood.
Whoosh─!
He swung the dagger, gripping it in reverse.
Clang!
The shortsword collided with the dagger and was knocked back significantly.
The golden impact, signifying a successful parry, erupted.
And at the same time.
Swish───
A purple aura emanating from the tip of the dagger twisted like a sickle and grazed Aron’s neck.
[Absolute Counter]
Aron’s head tumbled to the ground.
Blood spurted out like a fountain.
“Uaaaaaah!”
The skinny man, Melau, screamed at the death of the man who had led him.
Step by step,
The man walked forward.
Looking down at Melau disdainfully, with his chin held high.
“Aren’t you gonna fight back?”
“I, I can’t…!”
Melau couldn’t calm his pounding heart.
He hadn’t wanted to mess with this man from the start. He just wanted to lazily lie down in the bushes and take a nap. Yet, for some reason, this guy radiated an aura that was anything but ordinary.
I didn’t want to mess with it. I was just peacefully sprawled out in the bushes, lost in sleep. Somehow, I exuded an air that was far from that of an ordinary human.
“Then I’ll take it.”
The man lifted his right arm, which held a dagger, and stretched it out at a very awkward angle.
“Shit!!”
Melau finally moved his arm. His attack trajectory was far more polished than the man’s.
Just before Melau’s shortsword reached the man’s neck…
Ka-ching!
The man successfully executed a parry once again. The movement of the “parry” surpassed that of any average Joe.
And once again, the purple aura at the tip of the dagger curved like a sickle.
[Absolute Counter]
Swoosh!
Melau’s head rolled away.
Melau’s eyes were wide open, as if he couldn’t accept his own death until the very end.
“…….”
The man stared at the decapitated corpse with an expressionless face.
“Shit.”
But he couldn’t hold back the curses rising up his throat from his hometown.
“What kind of game have you thrown me into?”
The man reopened his status window.
The name field was blank.
“I can’t use ‘Don’tScrewMeOver.’”
In a way, it fit the situation better than any name, but now that the game had turned into reality, he had to choose a name that would be appropriate here.
“Yuma.”
Yuma. He picked a name from an old nickname that sounded somewhat fitting.
Upon recognizing that he would use the name ‘Yuma,’ it was engraved in the status window.
[Name: Yuma
Lv.1
Alignment: Good (善) Personality Trait: Cold-Hearted
Strength: 10 Health: 25 Defense: 10 Agility: 30 Growth Potential: 0 – Average Joe (凡人)]
There was no change in the crummy status, but why was his alignment still stuck at Good (善) after decapitating two guys?
The man, Yuma, could easily deduce the fact.
The alignment of the two guys identified by ‘Search Eye’ was Evil (惡). Killing those with evil alignment caused no change in one’s own alignment. Yuma concluded it like that.
“I need to go to a village.”
Once the tension eased somewhat, a terrible hunger hit him.
Yuma rummaged through the two men’s pockets. He found a total of 1300 cents.
Yuma had a rough idea of how much 1300 cents was worth. The “cent” unit was also used in ‘Loop Blood.’ It was enough money to stay at an inn for about a week.
“I need to buy some decent clothes.”
He had to get rid of this old leather outfit.
Clearing his thoughts, Yuma began to slowly descend the mountain, moving with an unexpectedly dignified gait, thanks to his Noble Dignity trait.
