A Legendary Korean Gamer Stuck in a Japanese Isekai – Chapter 33

—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: bchen3
—————————————————————–

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

“Um… Hey Kit-kun, do we really have to do this?”

“I told you earlier, didn’t I? We need to secure whatever advantages we can when possible.”

Kinoshita, who had somehow started calling me by that strange nickname, spoke with an overtly displeased expression.

While heading to the training grounds with an ambiguous expression, I explained about the competition to Kinoshita.

“Like Kit-kun said when we first came here, this place is dangerous, and it’s just a game anyway, right? At most we’d only get more game items, so why are you being so passionate about it?”

“In a normal situation, we would have been rescued soon after the incident occurred through external logouts and such. Besides, it’s already been 2 weeks, hasn’t it? I don’t know the circumstances, but something’s definitely wrong. While waiting for rescue might work, shouldn’t we also consider clearing the game ourselves in case that doesn’t happen?”

“Eh-.”

That was roughly how our conversation went.

Except for the first time, I wasn’t sure if Kinoshita was strong-willed or just carefree enough to skip training entirely, but from around day 5-6 after arriving here, the proportion of users participating in training had increased significantly, and at this point, probably almost 100% were receiving training, excluding Kinoshita.

The 5-6 day mark could be seen as the turning point when regular users gave up on rescue and started preparing for survival in their own ways.

Whether they thought this was a game or, like the Doraemon trio, believed it was a real other world, the conclusion they reached was the same.

First, they had to survive.

And to do that, they needed to become as strong as possible.

Whether this was a game or reality, if you died here, there was a high chance you would really die.

While heading to the training grounds, I thought I had made a convincing argument, but when we arrived and she saw other parties already sparring and our somewhat(?) lacking party, she immediately made a displeased face.

“Hey- Kit-kun. Can’t I skip this? I’ll cheer from the back.”

“That won’t work. We’re in a situation where we need every bit of fighting power we can get. If you don’t participate, you won’t get a share of the rewards even if we win.”

“Can we even win?”

“If Kinoshita-san helps, it might become easier.”

“Eh-. But it’s such a hassle. How about I let you touch my chest once if you let me off?”

“Che-che-che-che-chest!?”

Even without the overreacting fatty beside me, as a man, I couldn’t help but be considerably surprised by such a statement that would make anyone flinch.

Naturally, while this might happen in adult manga, it seemed this wasn’t a common occurrence in real-life Japan either.

The others were all showing expressions of shock that seemed to say ‘What is she saying?’

“Ahaha- Debu-kun. Your reaction is seriously funny. It was obviously a joke. Why are you taking it so seriously? Debu-kun, you’re clearly a virgin. Here, here.”

“Uuuugh-.”

What? So it was a joke.

Honestly, I was a bit disappointed.

Unable to just watch as Kinoshita poked Fatty’s stomach causing him to make strange groans, I grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and pulled her away.

“Kyah-☆”

“Please don’t tease innocent people too much.”

While Fatty’s overacting was painful to watch, he wasn’t a bad person.

It was pitiful to see him being toyed with like a plaything.

…Or was it? Looking at Fatty who somehow seemed to be wearing a happy expression, the person in question didn’t seem to mind it much.

“Anyway, let’s warm up and prepare since we have people scheduled to spar with us after the next round. Kinoshita-san, please change your clothes too.”

“Huh? No way.”

Kinoshita flatly refused with a calm expression.

“…That outfit doesn’t cover enough of your body for protection. If you fall, you’ll get severely scraped and it will really hurt.”

“But those clothes aren’t very pretty.”

Kinoshita said while looking toward Amakas and Masunaka.

It was the formal uniform worn by female warriors.

I thought it looked decent enough with its military-like design, but Kinoshita didn’t seem to like it much.

“We wear it for comfort during training and combat, not for the design.”

“You don’t understand. Girls want to look cute wherever and whenever.”

Rather than cute, it looked more provocative.

Honestly, I was ignorant about women’s fashion, so I wasn’t sure exactly what kind of fashion this was.

Long leather boots that went past the knees to the thighs, shoe-like footwear with high heels.

And tight leather pants, along with what looked like either a swimsuit or underwear that only covered the chest area.

Except for the leather boots that covered the longest area on the legs, unless she had some special skill where exposure was proportional to defense, it was an outfit that made it difficult to expect any defensive capabilities.

Since Kinoshita’s class didn’t seem to be a berserker-aspiring barbarian warrior, she probably couldn’t expect much in terms of defense.

Seeing her disgust at the dust being kicked up by the fighting parties nearby, she definitely wasn’t a close-combat character.

“…I understand for now.”

I gave up trying to persuade her with words.

She would have to experience and suffer for herself to understand.

“What are Kinoshita-san’s rank and class?”

“Mage. Rank is secret!”

A mage, huh.

While ranks were usually disclosed, there were quite a few users who kept them hidden from the start, like the school lunch kid.

Even among those who disclosed their ranks, there were probably some who stated different ranks like me.

I nodded in understanding.

Still, when they learned that Kinoshita was a mage, the rest of the party members’ faces brightened.

While the kunoichi had ranged skills, since Amakas was D-rank and didn’t have proper skills yet, we had been in a situation where we completely lacked someone to handle ranged combat.

Moreover, although she didn’t reveal her rank, everyone expected Kinoshita to be at least B-rank or higher.

That was natural since the rest of the members were all between C and E rank.

“The balance is good.”

“That’s really true!”

Fatty, who had been dazedly swooning as if under a charm until just moments ago, had somehow recovered and chimed in.

For the front line, we had a Defender with high tanking ability and a reliable class.

Plus with my buffs and healing, they shouldn’t get wiped out at this point.

Added to that, we had a Samurai for nuking, and though different types, a Vanguard and Kunoichi to handle the middle role.

We had sufficient resources to handle the front and middle positions.

Of course, it was true that all these people’s ranks were low.

‘I can make up for lacking stats with my buffs.’

Of course, it would just increase raw stats, so actual combat performance would be somewhat different.

Still, with abundant resources in the front line like this, and now having gained a resource for ranged attack support from the rear like an archer or mage which we had been most lacking, our balance was complete in one go.

‘It was good to bring her along.’

Of course, it didn’t even take a few hours for that thought to change.

◈ ◈ ◈

Our party’s scheduled sparring opponents were a party led by Fujikake Shogo, an A-rank Samurai who had been in [Golden Apple] led by Shoenji.

Besides him, they had one B-rank and four C-ranks.

While Fujikake, who served as their ace, didn’t particularly stand out compared to other A-ranks, he had a balanced party where the average of his other party members wasn’t bad, excluding himself.

I thought they would be perfect practice opponents since they were an orthodox, average-type party in many ways, but…

“Eeeeeek!”

The huge body of Fatty, our Defender and main tanker, curled up like a pill bug.

In a different sense, that was also a good posture for tanking.

The problem was that it wasn’t an appropriate posture for a tank who needed to lock down the front line to prevent enemies from breaking through.

As evidence, the enemy was pushing through, moving past Fatty who had become a pill bug.

I let out a sigh watching our front line collapse and begin to get picked off individually when we had barely even started.

The twenty minutes spent drilling their roles into their heads during rehearsal had been completely meaningless.

As soon as the actual battle began, everything we had discussed beforehand seemed to have been wiped blank from their minds as they all acted independently.

‘…This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.’

Fujikake, the enemy’s ace and main attacker, was a Samurai, meaning while his attack power was top-tier, he had no skills or bonuses favorable for defense.

Therefore, rather than standing at the front to break through the enemy’s tanking line, he was more like a shell waiting to be fired at the right moment, charging through when the enemy’s defense was breached to cut down their middle resources.

Since being high-ranked didn’t make one invincible, Fujikake also stayed behind his party’s tank line, supporting the tank while watching for the right timing to launch himself at the enemy’s main force.

‘Most A-ranks seem to have some basic strategic sense.’

Moreover, since they were all gamers who liked games enough to come to a game showcase, it wasn’t strange that there were users with quick understanding of positioning, even if their depth varied.

‘And it seems they definitely support such people.’

The enemy’s priest was a C-rank woman.

I didn’t know which god’s priest she was, but her holy magic rank was low.

Since party-wide buffs were impossible, all buffs were poured into Fujikake.

It was natural to focus everything on the user responsible for carrying.

In that state, he could probably expect performance around A+ rank compared to other A-ranks.

We absolutely couldn’t let him break through the line and run wild.

In contrast, our Samurai couldn’t charge toward the enemy even if their tank was breached.

Our Samurai was Masunaka Toka, D-rank.

Besides being rather timid about jumping into enemy lines alone, even with my buffs, we couldn’t expect performance above B-rank capability-wise.

Even if she broke through their tank, unlike Fujikake who was showing A+ performance, there was almost no one she could win against in a 1:1 fight.

Far from disrupting their formation, she would likely get isolated instead.

Therefore, since proactive attacks were difficult, our strategy was to have our front line hold and endure.

As a team with a priest as the ace, I was confident in our sustainability.

Unlike their priest, I could also give buffs to all six members.

In my head, I assessed that if the enemy’s front line was around A+, B, C, C rank, our side was around B+, B, B, C+ rank, so I thought we could definitely hold out.

Plus we had Kinoshita’s magic support.

Since both sides had orthodox compositions, win or lose, I had hoped we could learn something from holding out for a while and getting a feel for things.

‘…I underestimated the abyss.’

Fatty was sturdy.

That was natural. Defender had the highest tanking ability after all.

Moreover, since most warriors were still inexperienced and might have trouble controlling their strength, everyone was using wooden weapons.

Mages used wands that greatly suppressed the power of dangerous attacks, and arrows had cloth bundles attached to their tips.

With my buffs and healing magic on top of that, plus people supporting from behind, there was no way we should have been pushed back easily.

‘In theory.’

Unlike the enemy tank who gritted their teeth and endured the attacks, after taking a few hits, Fatty screamed, lost his balance, and eventually curled up like a pill bug.

If he had endured, there was no way he would have fallen, but no matter how much HP he had, there was no way he could endure without the will to do so.

As soon as the barrier that was Fatty disappeared, the enemy ignored him and headed for the rear.

My healing that was directed at Fatty became wasted as overheal, and the three who suddenly became directly exposed to attacks started to panic.

It changed to 4:3, and while the enemy still had their barrier intact, our barrier had already crumbled and we started getting picked off one by one.

Before Fatty fell at super speed, unexpectedly skillfully, Kinoshita fired a [Thunderbolt] at Fujikake so fast it was nearly invisible, but Fujikake only staggered briefly and seemed to target her first as soon as Fatty gave up tanking.

“I surrender.”

She quickly raised both hands.

And I…

‘Rushed forward to try to salvage the situation and ended up fighting 5 vs 1.’

If this competition had been like the Chase I did with the knights, where you had to take down the enemy priest, maybe I would have won since the opponent would have had to fight until the end.

But the rules of this competition were ultimately about destroying the opponent formation’s Flower Turtle fruit.

While I had sustainability, I didn’t have the stopping power needed to prevent people from ignoring me and going to destroy the fruit.

When they couldn’t take me down initially in the 5 vs 1, it ended with 4 people binding my feet while the remaining 1 destroyed the fruit.

“It was truly a good match, Kid-nim.”

Looking both pleased with his victory and somewhat drained, Fujikake offered his hand for a handshake.

It was an empty defeat.

◈ ◈ ◈

This was why Fatty was clearing his throat awkwardly in front of me while the others bowed their heads and watched my reaction.

“Hey~ Kit-kun~ Can’t you hear me? I’m asking if you can heal this~”

…Of course, one person seemed completely unconcerned with such atmosphere, complaining about her artificial nails that had been scorched when [Thunderbolt] was cast and asking for healing.

Right.

Honestly, this party would have no connection to me after the competition ended.

If I was with a proper party, something like what just happened wouldn’t occur.

But… it was the first time I regretted choosing Priest, a class that had difficulty with proactive plays.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇