Ch.27Fortress Conquest (1)

I may have awakened a crappy psycho-robo, but now that I had one, it felt good.

Until now, I’d been a total loser without a psycho-robo. But that was goodbye now.

I was now an “Awakened One.”

Humming a song from that famous animation about toys coming to life, I put Pinocchio on my shoulders.

“You got a friend in me~ You got a friend in me!!!”

I just can’t resist this song.

“Hehehehe. This crazy bastard… Toy Story. Hahahahaha! What a throwback!”

Taiga immediately clutched his stomach, shaking with laughter.

“It’s annoyingly good singing… pfft!!”

Umi laughed too.

Laugh all you want. That won’t destroy the friendship between Pinocchio and me.

“Anyway, let’s stop fooling around and enter now.”

Sasits said.

“Right.”

I immediately picked up my sword. I wanted to test how sharp my newly purchased sword was.

This was an important mission. It was natural for everyone to be tense. We entered the fortress with somewhat serious expressions.

———–

As we entered the fortress, I checked the status window.

‘Pinocchio’

‘Level: 1’

‘Strength: 1’

‘Magic Power: 2’

The simplified stats were displayed. I didn’t expect much, so I was surprisingly calm.

‘Skills…’

Naturally, there were no basic skills.

However, there was one passive skill.

“This is…!”

‘Overwhelming Presence: Greatly increases the threat level to enemies. Enemies will prioritize attacking Pinocchio and you.’

This was quite a good passive skill even in the game. Just hard to obtain. Did they give this to me from the start?

‘Finally… a proper possession benefit. Damn.’

I muttered.

In short, it was a skill that definitively drew aggro. It was an incredibly good passive since enemies would prioritize attacking you without having to use a taunt skill. Since one person takes all the attacks, managing HP becomes much easier. It didn’t work on boss-level enemies, but it was efficient in mob fights.

“Everyone, just trust me.”

I proudly announced to everyone.

“Sorry, but… honestly, I’m not expecting much.”

Taiga looked at me with indifferent eyes.

“Hehehe. Shota. Talking nonsense again?”

Umi seemed to find everything I said funny now.

Anyway, while talking, we walked through the corridor on the first floor of the fortress.

The fortress had an overall medieval appearance. The first floor was the lobby.

“Grrraaah…!”

“Graaah!!”

Of course, monsters appeared. They were monsters dressed as knights. Beyond their armor hung what looked like tree branches.

“We fight.”

Sasits immediately drew his sword.

“All of you, save your spells!! SP is limited!! The dungeon is long!! Only use spells when necessary. I’ll handle these guys somehow!!”

I shouted as I ran toward them. Mindlessly spamming magic against mobs in a dungeon was a wipe flag in JRPGs. You’d end up with nothing to use later.

“Wait… Shota, what are you…”

Umi looked at me with worried eyes as I charged into the center of the enemy formation.

“Pinocchio!! Come out!!”

I immediately summoned Pinocchio.

“Master! Give me orders! Though there’s not much I can do.”

Pinocchio floated along, following me.

“No!! There is something you can do!!”

*Thud-!*

I grabbed Pinocchio’s head.

“Master?!!”

Pinocchio cried out in a surprised tone.

“HYAAAAH!!!”

I threw Pinocchio like a dodgeball.

And Pinocchio landed right in the middle of the enemy formation.

“GRAAAAH!!”

“GRAAAH!!!”

The passive skill “Overwhelming Presence” activated immediately. The monsters, following their instincts, were relentlessly attacking only Pinocchio.

*Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!*

The monsters began one-sidedly beating Pinocchio who had fallen in the center.

“AAAAARGH!! Master!! It hurts!!”

Pinocchio curled up and screamed. He was practically being lynched by the monsters.

“Just hang on a bit!! I’ll save you!!”

I rushed in with my sword.

Pinocchio had resistance to all elements anyway. He couldn’t defend against or reflect attacks of specific elements, but he took less damage from attacks. His endurance was top-notch.

“KIEEEEEEEE!!!!”

I swung my sword at the monster in front of me.

*Swooosh-!!!! Slash-!!!*

A clean strike honed through kendo training sliced through the monster’s body.

“Guheeeugh!!!”

With that, the monster’s body was bisected and scattered.

“HYAAAH!!!”

*Slash-!!!!*

With another swing of my sword, I cut down the one behind.

“KIYAAAAH!!!”

*Stab-!!*

After stabbing the rushing one in the stomach to subdue it, I threw myself at the last remaining monster.

“DIE!!!”

*Slaaaash-!!*

My sword cleanly sliced through the monster’s neck. With that, the monster’s head fell to the ground.

That took care of all the enemies.

“Pinocchio! Are you okay?”

I immediately helped Pinocchio up.

“Hehehe…”

Pinocchio seemed dazed from all the beating.

“Damn… how much did they hit you for your nose to swell up this big… those bastards.”

I stroked Pinocchio’s long nose.

“MY NOSE IS NATURALLY BIG!!!!”

Pinocchio immediately protested.

Anyway, the mobs were cleared.

“Good. Let’s keep going like this.”

I said to my party members.

“Well… he’s an idiot, but he is strong. I forgot because of his usual antics.”

Taiga said, scratching his head.

“Impressive swordsmanship.”

Sasits said with a slight smile.

“Well… you are the ace of our kendo dojo. But what technique did you use? They were only attacking Pinocchio.”

Umi asked.

“Ah… it seems monsters intentionally attack this guy first when they see him. Must be some kind of trait.”

I said.

“Hehehehe. Like master, like puppet—a punching bag?”

Taiga chuckled.

“Hey!! A punching bag?!”

I immediately tried to charge at Taiga. Taiga dodged my rush and countered with a headlock to discipline me. I could feel the softness of Taiga’s chest against my cheek. Whoa… it was an addictive feeling.

“Ah! Shota’s making a perverted face!!”

Umi immediately made a sad face and tried to pull me away.

Anyway, we decided to proceed with this strategy. If things got tough, my companions would provide fire support by unleashing magic.

——–

*Growl-! Growl-!!!*

As expected of a dungeon, the inside was crawling with monsters.

“Here I go!! Pinocchio!! Tighten your stomach and endure it!!!”

I threw Pinocchio.

“It doesn’t hurt at all!!!”

Pinocchio shouted confidently as he threw himself among the monsters.

*Stretch-!*

With those words, Pinocchio’s nose grew longer. Ah… he lied. It actually hurts. I felt a bit guilty about that.

Anyway, Pinocchio landed in the center of the enemy formation like a mortar shell.

“GRRRRRR!!”

“GRRRRRR!!”

With that, the monsters immediately focused on attacking only Pinocchio.

“I’m coming to save you!!”

I charged in with my sword.

The battle was easy thanks to the enemies’ attention being focused on Pinocchio. All I had to do was approach from behind and strike with my sword.

*Slaaaash-!*

After getting behind an enemy, I put my blade to its neck. I cut down any that broke aggro. It was simple. I might have been level 5, but there’s such a thing as practical experience that can’t be measured by levels. Thanks to my sword training, I knew how to fight and could strike enemies more effectively.

*Slash-!*

After swinging my sword to take off a monster’s head, I looked around. Hmm. All clear.

“Alright. Let’s go, everyone.”

I waved to my companions. They followed behind me. We had completely saved our mana and spells. At this pace, we could clear all the way to the final floor. There was almost no damage to the party members.

Taking responsibility for the team’s health!!! Wooden puppet Pinocchio!!!! So reliable!!!

———

Anyway.

We cleared through the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th floors in order.

Since there were so many enemies, our levels rose steadily.

I reached level 6. It was definitely more efficient than fighting monsters encountered randomly outside.

Sasits reached level 10.

Taiga reached level 8.

Umi reached level 7.

Great. I became the weakest again.

“Shota. Got surpassed, huh?”

Umi said with a grin.

“Th-there’s a strength that can’t be explained by levels…!!”

I protested.

“Hmm? I can’t hear what this level 6 loser is saying?”

Umi teased me, exaggeratedly cupping her ear.

“ARRRGH!! So annoying!!!”

It was even more frustrating because I couldn’t argue back.

“Does this mean I can make Shota my lackey now?”

Umi said with a somewhat creepy smile.

“Hey. He’s my lackey, you know?”

At that moment, Taiga spoke with an uncomfortable expression. Somehow, Umi and Taiga exchanged burning glances.

What dispelled this useless argument was Sasits.

“Hey. We’re at the 5th floor now. I sense a powerful presence.”

Sasits said.

“Yeah. The boss is on the final floor. That’s the rule in games.”

I said.

“Honestly, everyone’s in good condition. SP is fine too. Let’s go.”

Sasits said.

“Alright!! Let’s go!!”

I immediately let out a battle cry.

“KIEEEEEEEE!!!!!”

I smashed the huge gate blocking the 5th floor with my sword. No one can stop me!!!!

Inside the 5th floor, as expected, there was a boss. It was a humanoid monster wearing a green uniform.

“Guooooh….guooh…..”

The monster immediately spotted me.

And in a cage in the corner of the wall, people were trapped. To be precise, they were the souls of people. Only their souls had been extracted. This was the principle behind humans becoming vegetables when their souls were taken.

*Bababababa-!!!*

After a brief exchange of glances, the monster charged at me. The battle began like that.