Endzone: Simulated Apocalypse

Silent and cold, Cyanide charged his Hydra's Fang up with Lightning Affinity power, creating a powerful purple aura around himself, before slicing the space across in front of him.

A thunderous slash of lightning energy shot out of his blade, tearing apart a minor rift in space and flying towards the Crystalpedes. The attack was extremely wide and traveled far too fast to dodge—the Crystalpedes stood no chance.

All of them were struck by this ability, but unfortunately, it didn't do much damage since they had such high DEF stats.

That was fine, though.

With the Thunder God's armor set, any Lightning Affinity skills who could inflict stun had an 100% success chance—and this, was no exception.

The Crystalpedes all spasmed briefly before falling to the ground, electricity sparking from their bodies. Their countless legs twitched and bodies squirmed, but they could do nothing—they would be stuck in this form for about another few seconds.

And that was all Ragnar needed to catch up.

Rushing forward with a flaming greatsword in his hand, he let out a loud battle cry.

"I'M BACK, FUCKERS!"

He swung his sword forward with all his might, shooting out a crescent-shaped attack that was just as wide as Cyanide's, but instead of Lightning, it was Fire. The flames swept through all the Stunned Crystalpedes, invoking the Overload Technical effect on each one. A series of satisfying explosions ensued, each Crystalpede unleashing a powerful blast of energy around themselves that did insane DMG to their now DEF-less friends thanks to the Stun status ailment. Within seconds, their bodies were no more, and they turned into EXP for both Ragnar and Cyanide.

[Level 38 -> 39.]

[You gained 10 CP and 1 SP.]

[Obtained Crystal Exoskeleton x19.]

[Obtained Crystal Shell x32.]

[Obtained Arthropod Blood x31.]

"Whew… now that was satisfying," Ragnar chuckled, heaving his greatsword back over his back. "Bastards really thought they were going to get away with taking my sword, eh? Hmph."

"That should be everything on the list," Cyanide said, checking over the herb list assigned to them one last time, before glancing up at the star-filled night sky. "It's getting late. I'm heading back. You do you."

With those brisk words, he left, so completely unimpressed by what just happened that it honestly stunned Ragnar.

"Geez… it's not like he doesn't have emotions, but… it's more like he only has a set few," the greatsword user muttered, before shaking his head. "Ah, whatever. No use trying to understand that guy anyway."

With a sigh, he followed after the assassin, also planning to head back because—well, there really wasn't much else to do.

******

After regrouping with the others back at Envy's lair, Cyanide and Ragnar discovered that they were the last and slowest group. Ragnar didn't care about that, however. He only cared about how many herbs Cyanide and him each had in their inventory, and the results were…

Cyanide: 134 (total)

Ragnar: 35 (total)

"Agh, goddammit!" Ragnar yelled, slamming his greatsword into the ground. "I lost again!"

"Relax," Cyanide said, folding his arms. "I collected most of the herbs since you were always busy fighting something. It only makes sense that you lost… by a landslide."

"Okay, you don't gotta rub it in, ass-man," Ragnar rolled his eyes, using the term 'ass-man' as a play on 'assassin'. "But truth to be told, today was pretty fun. The most fun I've had yet, since coming to this world. You sure make things interesting, eh?"

"I do?" Cyanide asked, and Ragnar nodded.

"Yep. For better or worse."

"Hm." Cyanide then turned to Envy, hovering a short distance away, and showed her his inventory screen along with the herb list she had written him. "Take a look. See if I missed anything."

"…" Envy fell into a short lapse of silence as she examined his inventory, switching between the list in his hand and the inventory screen in front of him. Then, after a few seconds, she moved away.

"You have obtained all the herbs I listed. However, it would seem my handwriting requires some improvement."

"Huh?" Ragnar arched an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"On the list, the 'cl' looks like a b. The proper name of that herb is Yobenclover."

"Ohhhh… well damn did I get a good laugh outta that one," Ragnar said with a chuckle.

"… So that's why they looked like clovers from back on Earth…" Cyanide muttered, closing his eyes briefly before opening his eyes again. "In any case. Our business here in the rainforest is done. Let's rest up here for tonight, then return to Lumina tomorrow morning."

"Why not just go now?" Luna asked. "We have a teleport waypoint set at home camp. We can reach there instantly."

"Yes," Cyanide agreed. "However, there are several places you all need to go to first still, just to unlock their locations. Ragnar will show you the way tomorrow morning."

"Wait, what?" Ragnar, who had been busy cleaning his sword with the pool water, suddenly looked up. "Why me?"

"Because I have something to do," Cyanide said, and left it at that. "Luna, come with me tomorrow."

Luna, who was more than happy to hear this, smiled slightly and gave a curtsy. "Understood. By the way… what are you doing?"

She asked Ragnar, who was still busy pouring the pool water over his «Fury's Edge».

"Oh, this. Well, you see, earlier, my sword got captured by a bunch of insects, and now it has this weird stench all over it from their body. Don't worry, there aren't shit stains or anything—I double-checked."

"Let me guess," Dianna interjected, a wry grin on her face. "They were Crystalpedes?"

"Uh… yeah. Why?"

"Well, since their bodies are made of crystal… so are their excrements. In other words, their waste is invisible."

Ragnar blinked.

"Wait, then…"

He recalled when he had kissed his sword right after getting it back, and that weird taste in his mouth that didn't taste quite like stone.

"… Oh, god. Oh god no, no, no!"

Screaming at the top of his lungs, Ragnar buried his face into the pool water below him, only to remember he'd just cleaned his sword using that same pool.

"FUCK!"

Hearing his cries of desperation and rage, both Dianna and Kirika laughed, while Cyanide merely sighed and Ivy leaned against a tree a short ways off, still as distant as ever.