Bab 43: 8.5 Combat System?

[*AWWOOO!!!!!*]

An ominous howl echoed from the massive wolf, making the hairs on my neck stand on its end as I turned around. To my shock and horror, its fur was now shimmering with some kind of energy as it stared me down, its red eyes full of anger and fury as its teeth dripped with its own saliva... "What the hell, Guidance!?"

[*RRROOAAARR!!!!*]

Taking its roar as my cue, I ran the hell away from the center of the clearing with Shizu still in tow. I was in no condition to fight, especially since I was still carrying an unconscious princess in my arms. At best, I could probably drop her somewhere safe and continue the fight from there, but I didn't even know if this thing was close to dead!

"Guidance?! Any time now!"

I pumped my legs as I called out onto the ether. Making my way to the thick of the forest, the trees would help- "Huh?!"

I gasped. For some reason, I couldn't step foot outside of the clearing that was now ostensibly our arena. Was this some kind of invisible wall?! Really?!

[*AWWOO!!!*]

"Dammit!" I cursed as I dodged yet another one of this wolf's massive AoE attacks. "Guidance! Get in here now!"

I called out once more, hoping to god that the woman would actually appear. Surely this chick was awake by now. And even if she wasn't, then I'll make sure that she'd wake up before Shizu and I turned into minced meat! "Guidance!"

[*BOOM!*]

[*AWOO!!!*]

[*BOOM!*]

Running around the clearing like a headless chicken, I couldn't help but pant as the exertion started getting to me. Granted, I didn't feel exhausted in the slightest, but the stress of the situation was still wholly apparent as I ducked and weaved out of this thing's attacks. Shizu was still out of it, and I couldn't even fight back! Well, at least my [HP] was trickling back up from the passive regeneration. If I ever got the opportunity, I could probably make it rain on this stupid wolf!

*M-Moriya...*

I blinked. A faint voice echoed from behind me just as I ducked out of yet another swipe of this wolf's claw. Was this is? "Guidance?!"

*I-I can't talk right now,* the dev whispered, her voice barely audible through the ruckus that the wolf was causing. "I'm at work..."

"You're at work?!"

[*AWOOO!!!!*]

[*BOOM!*]

*I can't see you right now, but I can hear you,* Guidance weakly muttered out, the anxiety in her voice still palpable despite all of the chaos around me. *W-What's the problem?*

[DEAFENING HOWL: 32%]

"I'm currently being beaten by this early game boss you designed!" I screamed out loud, barely avoiding the wolf's channeled attack. "I don't even know how close I am to beating it! Why the hell are there no health bars?!- UGHGH!!" What?!

[*BOOM!*]

I missed the orange circle underneath my feet!? How?!

[*AWWWOOO!!!!*]

I grimaced as I felt a searing pain grow throughout my sides, my feet flying off the ground as Shizu and I rolled all the way to the edge of the clearing. My weapons were still somehow glued onto my hands, [Blanc and Noir] remaining at my disposal despite all of the abuse I've taken.

"Shizu!"

Screaming out loud, the unconscious princess landed a few meters away from me, too far for me to rescue her if this damn wolf ever decided to go for her.

"Dammit!"

⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛

[Moriya: Level 2]

[EXP TO NEXT LEVEL: 250/300]

[HP: 31/105]

[MP: 105/105]

[0 STAT POINTS AVAILABLE FOR ALLOCATION]

Thirty freaking one [HP]... How the hell am I supposed to fire off this gun without killing myself?!

*T-there's supposed to be health bars though?* Guidance meekly echoed from the ether. *I'm pretty sure I coded them in...*

"Well, they aren't!" I complained with a yell. "Shizu and I are about to die here, and I'm not sure if this thing's about to die before we do!"

Thanking my lucky stars that the game world seemed to ignore actual physics, I rolled myself out of the ground and ran as far away from Shizu as possible. Aiming my guns at the wolf, I fired off some shots, hoping that I'd retain this thing's aggro.

[*BANG! BANG!*]

[HP: 25/105]

I winced as I watched my [HP] go down to a measly twenty-five. If my regen wasn't as strong as I'd hoped it to be, then I'll just have to dodge for long enough that I'd recover enough health to keep on shooting at it!

[*RROAAGRGH!!*]

[DEAFENING HOWL: 46%]

Recognizing the cast bar, I immediately moved out of the cast circle surrounding the wolf as I put as much distance between me and the monster as possible. If I could just lame this thing out and keep it away from Shizu, then maybe I could just get ourselves out of this mess... And wasn't this just the third main quest?!

[*BANG! BANG!*]

[HP: 19/105]

Grimacing at my dwindling health values, I made sure that my shots actually landed on the damn thing before going back to running again. Looking back, the wolf just seemed to shrug off my rounds before making its way towards me again. Won't this thing just die already?!

[*AWWOO!!!!*]

[*BOOM!*]

Not even giving its Deafening Howl schtick the time of day, I kept my guns trained at the monster as I slowly watched my health trickle back up. I really wanted to just riddle this thing with bullets right now, but my stupid weapons just had to take [HP] with every pull of the trigger!

Then again, I designed the damn thing. That was just stupid of me in hindsight.

[*AWWOO!!!!*]

[DEAFENING HOWL: 66%]

I raised an eyebrow. Another howl? Well, I wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. I'll just let this wolf waste his time casting an attack that won't even hit me.

[*AWWOO!!!!*]

[*BOOM!*]

I almost let out a smirk. Slowly but surely, my [HP] slowly trickled back up as I kept the massive monster at bay. If I could just keep this up, then laming it out would be a piece of cake!

*Can't you just kite it?* Guidance weakly chimed in. *You have ranged weapons, right?*

"What do you think I'm doing?" I called out, watching patiently as the wolf charged yet another AoE attack. "It's stuck in some kind of attack loop, at least. I can't exactly just spit out bullets every time I want to."

[*AWWOO!!!!*]

[*BOOM!*]