[【ShootingStar!】 A fan game made by viewers?! Thank you so much for the love!!! So, I’m challenging it right now! The goal is, of course, to clear it on the first try!!! #Star’sFlow#IzumiKainoh]
While I was playing the game, breaking through Izutomo’s sincerity without hesitation.
I didn’t want to admit it until the very end, but I ultimately had no choice but to accept it.
“This game… is, incredibly difficult!”
The first enemies and those pesky Izutomos were easy to defeat.
They’d go down after about two attacks.
With that, I leveled up by defeating them, gaining experience to enhance my attacks and skills, and I thought, “Isn’t Izutomo’s sincerity something I don’t even need to eat?”
Moreover, this game didn’t just allow you to strengthen your attack and skills upon leveling up; you could also obtain new weapons and items.
Of course, those weapons and items could be further enhanced, and everything I obtained activated automatically, so there was no need to worry about complicated controls.
In other words, I just thought, as I moved around shooting water guns, that hitting special moves in danger would be enough… at least at first.
The feeling of oddness began around the 10-minute mark in the stage.
The opponent monsters got faster.
And sturdier.
They even developed strange patterns.
In addition, the types of enemy increased in variety… though about half of them were still Izutomo.
In any case, the enemies were at a level where I barely caught one after hitting it five times with my water gun, while I needed to hit an Izutomo ten times to take it down.
Fortunately, I managed to dodge encirclement with movement, and the newly acquired weapons and items were said to be quite good by the Izutomos, leaving more than half of my HP intact…
But no matter how I thought about it, lasting until 30 minutes was not easy… No, honestly, it felt impossible.
Of course, I had to consider that it was my first round and my understanding of the game was still low, but even with that in mind, wasn’t it just too hard?
“Is, is this… really something I can clear…?”
– You can definitely clear it
– You’re not even halfway there…
– I think it’s all Mei-chan’s fault right now…
Even if the Izutomos told me it was possible, I couldn’t wrap my head around it.
And before I knew it, the stage time passed 15 minutes, and then… a much larger Izutomo approached from the left.
It was the mini-boss that appeared every certain amount of time in the stage.
Until now, Izutomo had never appeared as a mini-boss…
“Ugh…”
The giant Izutomo’s eyes sparkled, and suddenly, it marked a circular area around itself in red.
It looked undeniably like a declaration of “Don’t step in here.”
After about 2 seconds passed.
When the Izutomo slammed its tail down, an immense surge of water shot up from the marked area.
“…If that hits, it will kill, right?”
– With current HP, there’s no way to survive
– 100% death
“But isn’t it strange…? For a water avatar to die from getting hit by water…”
Shouldn’t getting hit by that actually make me stronger?
– That might be logical
– I think it would be classic Mei-chan to die like that, haha
“What, what does it mean to be ‘me’?!”
– Mei-chan, are you still suffering from a mid-teen crisis?
“Uugh…”
I thought I was asking a reasonable question, but all I got back were mockeries that seemed mid-teenish.
“You guys…! This is why I have no choice but to crush your sincerity!”
– Hundreds have already been broken, so it doesn’t matter…
– My heart has already shattered
– There must have been opportunities to atone
– The one who squandered the opportunity is Mei-chan ( ・ˍ・)
Why am I the one to blame here…?
No, let’s not let that slide.
They’ve done that a million times, after all.
“Hmph… I-It doesn’t matter, right? Anyway, it’s not like I can’t clear it at all…”
– We’ll see…
– That’s a death flag, Mei-chan!!!
Though the giant Izutomo’s attack had a fairly wide range, I could still keep my distance and attack if I wanted.
So I foolishly thought that if I just kept hitting from a distance, it would eventually go down…
What I had to do wasn’t just distancing and attacking the giant Izutomo.
I had to avoid the other enemies approaching as well, and after taking them down, I also needed to maximize experience so I could get stronger.
Of course, I couldn’t forget about breaking [Izutomo’s Sincerity].
Trying to do all of that tangled my movements, and eventually, I had to succumb to a combined attack from another mini-boss appearing at the 20-minute mark and the giant Izutomo I couldn’t defeat.
– Didn’t you say it wasn’t an unbeatable level?
– Is this where it led, huh…
– You’re quick to retrieve flags, haha
“It’s not my fault… The game is just too har—difficult!”
Yeah. This mini-boss being this strong doesn’t make sense!
– But in the first place, it was Mei-chan who wasted character growth opportunities, wasn’t it?
– Starting from the first game with a self-imposed hard mode too…
– The one who trampled Izutomo’s sincerity was Mei-chan
Oh, so this is what being rationally countered feels like, and now I have nothing to say…
“Uugh…”
In the end, I just couldn’t refute anything and gazed at the result window flashing [Defeat] on the screen.
Retry… I obviously should.
It hadn’t even been 30 minutes since the broadcast started.
In that situation, ending the broadcast without seeing the final boss would…
No, ending the broadcast without defeating that giant Izutomo was something my soul as a gamer couldn’t allow.
“Haah… Haa…”
First, I took a breath and cleared my mind.
Then I should slowly organize why I lost without even getting to see the final boss.
The biggest reason for my defeat was definitely the damage. My basic attack was too weak to take down monsters.
Even after leveling up my passive to increase attack power by 50%, it still wasn’t enough.
Also, the damage from the weapons obtained and activated was also affected by basic attack power.
“My character… What’s the basic ability level in this game…?”
I asked the Izutomos, who had already experienced the game, for answers.
– Initially, it would make you say it was unreasonable
– The weakest
– The weakest among all characters
As expected, those were the answers I received.
Since the concept is that by consuming Izutomo’s sincerity, you grow overall stats, it’s only natural to have such penalties at the start.
– Mei-chan, since you haven’t eaten a dedicated weapon either
Moreover, as they say, not having obtained a dedicated weapon made gameplay inherently difficult.
If during my retry I kept up the hard gameplay of breaking Izutomo’s sincerity… what I needed right now might not be skill, but luck.
– But Mei-chan, don’t you rarely succeed when saying you’ll clear it on your first try?
“Shut up?!”
I’m already feeling embarrassed about it after hearing that from Koga recently!
★
Am I really glad about this?
When I started the next round, I was able to get a dedicated weapon on my first level-up.
[Tablet Pen – Kainoh Izumi’s Dedicated Weapon]
[Basic attack changed from ‘Water Gun’ (Ranged) to ‘Pen Stabbing’ (Melee)]
[Increases damage of ultimate move ‘Yeo-sang’ and adds a movement speed reduction effect]
“…Why does the damage of Yeo-sang increase when I’m holding a tablet pen…?”
I had some complaints about that, but it wasn’t a big deal.
What mattered right now was that the possibility of clearing easily had emerged.
The changed basic attack ‘Pen Stabbing’ had a range reduced by more than half, but the damage increased beyond measure.
And even though it was a melee attack, I didn’t have to be very close to land a hit.
I could attack from a reasonable distance, so distance regulation wouldn’t cause any issues.
“Uugh…”
But that didn’t mean the game got significantly easier.
Even though my basic attack became stronger with the dedicated weapon, I was still crushing all the Izutomo’s sincerity.
In the end, I was only a little stronger than before, not at a level that was a completely different dimension.
– This feels dangerous
– Let’s focus a bit more
“I’m already focusing as much as I can…!”
Thus, as the game continued and the time passed beyond 15 minutes, the giant Izutomo appeared.
“You…! I will definitely not forgive you…!”
If you’re my fan, you should just willingly help me!
Like that nice person standing behind my character right now!
– Please don’t hate Izutomo
– That kid probably didn’t want to bother Mei-chan either
“That’s not convincing!”
Saying that, I immediately activated my ultimate move ‘Yeo-sang’.
All enemies within my surrounding range lit up with fiery effects.
– It’s hot…
– This is Mei-chan’s heat…!
– This is Yeo-sang…
Yeo-sang lasts for 10 seconds.
For 10 seconds, I deal 20% of the enemy’s max HP as damage while reducing their movement speed.
That means this is the best opportunity to attack…!
“I’m going for it…!”
I maintained my distance to back away as soon as the giant Izutomo’s technique activated while continuously attacking.
Other enemies approaching from around were indeed a nuisance, but overall enemy movement speeds were reduced, so it wasn’t a big problem.
Thanks to my passive, sometimes my movement speed increased, making it easy to shake them off.
Of course, I didn’t think I could take down the giant Izutomo in just 10 seconds.
Because it meant I’d have to whittle down 80% of its HP with my attacks.
After concentrating, I found the mini-boss that appeared at 20 minutes appearing 30 seconds later.
“It… has fallen…!”
The giant Izutomo ultimately fell to my last basic attack.
And what dropped was a weapon and item box, along with 5 Izutomo’s sincerity.
“H-Hard fight, but… it was still fun…”
– But the game isn’t over yet
– There’s still more, Mei-chan
“I know…”
Let me just momentarily enjoy this aftertaste.
– Then, is this Izutomo’s sincerity going to be consumed?
“Of course, I’m going to crush it, right?!”
Saying that, I immediately aimed my attacks at the 5 Izutomo’s sincerity.
How could you ask sådan a pointless question? Don’t you still know me?
– Ah
– It’s broken…
– That Izutomo just needed some attention…
– So mean, Mei-chan
– You said it was fun after all
– My heart’s broken too
“No… That and this are obviously separate matters…”
If you hadn’t bothered me in the first place, none of this would have happened.
Yeah, I’m not the bad one here!
And even after that, I ended up defeated by the mini-boss that appeared 20 minutes later…
“But since I defeated that guy earlier, I’m satisfied!”
– You’re being too harsh on Izutomo
– Were they not friends…?
– Mei-chan, sometimes I feel you have the talent of a trashy brat
– Thinking about it, the Izutomos trailing behind me gained nothing in the end…
…That’s true, right?
– Shouldn’t there be no need to treat Mei-chan kindly?
Huh.
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