章節 11: 2.7 Hello World?

*I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!*

I tuned out Guidance profusely trying her best to apologize to me as I felt my body tense up at the newly-returned threat. With the damn thing being indestructible, I had little choice beyond running away from the walking trope despite being backed by a literal cliff behind me. Aaand it's starting to sink in that I actually had no exit strategy readily available right now.

"Any ideas, Guidance?!" I shouted out as I trained my [Manifest] on the damn thing.

*I-I think you can kill it,* she weakly suggested. *You should be out of the starting area, I think...*

I raised an eyebrow, noting the annoying prompt still present atop the monster trying to kill me, "Really!? It still says 'Invulnerable' above it!"

Unless something changed or it crossed some sort of invisible threshold, then I'm sure as hell that the damn thing was still unkillable. It might look like it's cowering under the gaze of my weapons at the ready, but it was still effectively immortal without an actual health bar appearing above it. Meanwhile, my own poor health was still reading just above fifty. My [MP] was still immaculately untouched, but I didn't even know if a spell system even existed here for me to even use them!

*H-huh? But you can already see [Kotosa] though,* the woman asked, sounding absolutely puzzled. *You're well beyond the starting area...*

"Well, the prompt's still floating above its head," I sarcastically pointed out as the monster slowly advanced towards me. "I'm gonna have to jump off the cliff if you can't help me, Guidance!"

*W-what?! D-do- No!* The woman's shouts rang in my ear. *J-just trust me! You're out of the starting area!*

"O-Okay?!"

My trigger fingers itched as I poised [Blanc and Noire] straight at the monster. It was still flinching at my weapons' gaze, but I knew it was only a matter of time before it got close enough for it to ignore the veiled threat of my supposed superpower. My eyes followed the thing's tentacle appendages as they waved around unfeelingly, its non-existent head making it look like a pitch-black amoeba with how erratic it moved. The foreboding prompt above its head was still present, but Guidance kept insisting that we were out of the starting area... wait...

How the hell was being outside the starting area going to change this thing's parameters?!

[*RRROAOOAAGGHHG!!!*]

I took a deep breath as I braced myself for the monster's attack. It was still invulnerable, but what else was I supposed to do except try and shoot at it in a last-ditch effort to not jump off a cliff? If I didn't, then I was practically dead either way, right? I might as well die in style..

[*BANG! BANG! BANG!*]

[HP: 40/100]

Three shots. My [HP Bar] read at [40/100] as I felt my vision start to blur again. So each shot took at least three points out of my health. Heh, at least I knew that tidbit of information before I died..

[*RROROAAAGAHAAH!!*]

What?

I was shaken out of my reverie as the monster seemed to cry out in pain. The prompt above it still said 'Invulnerable,' but as opposed to my earlier attempt at trying to kill it, there was actually some form of superficial damage appearing in the thing's body. A few pieces of severed tentacles littered the ground around it, still writhing for a few seconds before disappearing into motes of light as the main body of the monster just looked absolutely lost.

[*RROAAHGH RROAGHAHG*]

I found myself staring at my two pistols. I actually did damage.... I actually managed to make the damn thing stop in its tracks... I was playing the game...

I was actually playing the game now!

*Don't stop!*

Hearing Guidance cheer me on, I quickly retrained my weapons back at the monster. I'd have to keep an eye on my health, but with a few well placed shots, I could probably kill this thing before it actually managed to get close and kill me.

[HP: 34/100]

[*BANG! BANG!*]

Two shots rang, one from each pistol as it took six points of health from me with each bullet that escaped the barrel. Hitting the monster both times on its main body, the moist-like surface of the tentacle creature seemed to shimmer as it undulated erratically. It was acting like a single-celled amoeba at this point; moving as if its membrane had been pierced and it's struggling to keep itself stable. Still no health bar above it, but it was clear that it was suffering some severe damage with how it's moving.

Checking my health, my [34/100] hitpoints were probably more than enough to riddle this thing with enough bullets to completely destroy the damn thing. I might get left with just a sliver of health, but it was a small price to pay for my relative safety.

Twirling my guns like a bonafide gangster, I held both pistols on their sides as I posed like a madman. It might've been cringe-worthy to do or see, but goddamn it did I want to feel cool!

"Eat lead, scum."

[HP: 22/100]

*BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!*

My health dropped to a mere [22] as I fired off four more of my blood bullets. A small tooltip flashed above my bars for a brief second, but I couldn't pay attention to such a thing as I watched the menace in front of me explode into a fine black mist. Goop and appendages rained in front of me as the monster popped like an overripe cherry; motes of light slowly eating away at its corpse as it seemed to disappear into the ether.

All the while, the 'Invulnerable' prompt actually managed to stay above the spot it died in for about five more seconds before disappearing along with it.

"Huh. I guess you weren't lying," I shrugged as I holstered my weapons again. "Then again, you're the dev, so..."

*Y-yeah... It didn't have that much health and armor,* Guidance meekly chimed in. *It wasn't supposed to be killed, so I put all its stats into offense...*

{CHIME!}

[LEVEL UP!]