Abigail watched the increasing number of bugs crawling in from the forests and yelled to Saki. "Saki! There's even more coming in! We need to withdraw from the forest!" She then looked back inside the village and saw many youths and men taking arms. "Look! They're readying themselves! You can't take these numbers alone, you need to retreat so they can fight with you!" She added.
"Got it! Let me just take care of these few!" Saki yells back as she initiates a battle with another two beetle-like bugs. Just like before, Saki attacks first, swinging her sword against the first bug. 'Saki attacks Bug A!' 'Bug A takes 13 damage!'. At this point, Saki is now more focused on the battle ahead and less on reading the interface.
Bug B lunges and attempts to bite Saki's arm and fails. She jumps to the side just in time to avoid its bite. "I'm not gonna let you keep biting me!" However, Bug A lunges and bites her left arm, causing her to bleed as it scurries back to its spot as soon as it can bite her. 'Saki takes 16 damage!' Saki let out a painful grunt as she gritted her teeth to fight the pain. "Damn it... These hurt so much!" She looked down on the bite. The jaws of the bug clearly shaped the bite and blood continued to trickle down to the ground.
Nonetheless, she focused on the battle at hand. Saki raised her sword above and swung down on Bug A, burying its blade deep into the bug, dealing 15 damage. The bug loudly cried as it slowly lost its life under her blade. 'Bug A has been defeated!' Saki pulls her sword out of the bug and swings her sword to the side to clean the blade. A small smirk forms on her face as she imagines herself doing it.
As she faces the last bug, Abigail interrupts and yells. "Saki! You have a skill, right?! Isn't it easier to deal with these pests with that combo of yours?!". Hearing her words, Saki got into her skill set and read 'Slime-splitting Slashes' and then glanced over her shoulder to Abigail. "B-but it's for slimes" She replied timidly.
"Huh?! Are you an idiot? You're only swinging your sword in a succession with that skill! Swinging your sword at a slime is no different than striking a bug!" Abigail yells in disbelief. Saki felt a rush of heat on her face as she heard her. She was right, it's a combo packed into a skill that involves her swinging her sword in succession. Despite its name, she was only swinging her sword. Saki shook off her embarrassment and performed the skill. The text 'Slime-splitting Slashes' appears in the interface.
"Strike true against the bodies of gel!" She yells as she performs her combo of slash and thrust, her movement feels natural in her arms against Bug B. She swings her sword to slash the bug, then quickly points the tip of her blade and thrusts into the bug, dealing 27 damage. Bug B stumbles back. Receiving heavy damage, it was momentarily disoriented. Saki yells in triumph. "Hah! The damage was good! And I seem to deal more damage than before!" She grins proudly as she watches the bug trying to get a hold of itself.
"It might be because it's a bug, not a slime, which is less tough, or it's because of your village militia rank" Abigail speaks from behind and Saki quickly speaks after. "Or both! These bugs are nothing!" Her grin spreads even more as she decides to finish the battle. "Haah...!" She raised her sword above and swung down at Bug B, burying its blade deep into its body. The bug lets out a withering cry and falls motionless on the ground.
"Oh my... so violent..." Abigail covers her mouth in amusement as she watches Saki finish the bug and pull out her sword covered in green blood. 'Saki earned 50 exp!' Saki won the battle and the victory text of the battle was displayed on her interface. However, the repel against the invading bugs isn't done yet. Numerous bugs are now approaching the two. "Here! Let me heal you first!" Abigail steps in and slaps some herbs into Saki's mouth. "Mmph...?!" 'Saki recovers 50 hp!' Along with the recovered vigor, Saki felt annoyed as she felt a stinging pain in the form of Abigail's palm on her face. She darts at Abigail as she gulped down the herbs.
"Why don't you just use your spell?!" She yells out loud, wondering why she was using herbs and not her healing spell. "Are you afraid of the greens, Saki?" Abigail's voice sounded a mix of annoyance and amusement. Saki yells a bit louder. "Of course not! I could use your healing spell instead of you hitting my face like that!" She grits her teeth at Abigail.
"Come on, let's retreat inside!" Abigail runs away before Saki could speak any further. They both withdrew to the village, where the youths and some adult men were waiting. As fast as they retreated, the bugs entered the village from the forest. The path they went through quickly became a battlefield of villagers and bugs.
As the two watched the battles happening around them, Abigail quickly saw a group of bugs entering from the direction of the houses to their left. She points in that direction. "They're attempting to surround us!" She yells. Saki quickly looked in the direction of her finger and saw the bugs emerging from the houses. "Damn! Come on! Everyone is fending off the entrance! Let's hold them off until they can spread out to defend this side!" Saki ran to the bugs coming from the houses.
Abigail followed closely behind as they approached the bugs. "Here we go!" Saki stops and raises her sword, initiating a battle. She carefully chose a small pair of bugs to fight. "Strike true against the bodies of gel!" She yells as she slashes and thrusts into Bug A, dealing 29 damage and sending it into a concussion. Bug B lunges and bites Saki's arm. 'Saki takes 15 damage!' She grunts as she fights the pain.
"Saki! How about you dodge their attack instead of taking them like that?!" Abigail noticed how Saki was just standing there and letting her arm get bit. "Hey, it's not like I wanted to get bit! Their movement is so fast I couldn't see them jumping in!" Saki yelled back. "Can't you read their attack from the interface?!" Abigail asked and Saki shook her head. "No! The text and their attack happen almost the same time!"
'BugAisconfused!' The first bug remained concussed and couldn't attack, Saki took advantage and finished it off by thrusting her sword into its body. 'Bug A has been defeated!' The bug lies motionless on the ground. Bug B lunges and bites into Saki's arms then quickly hurries back to its spot. 'Saki takes 17 damage!' Saki grunted in pain and grew a bit weaker taking a total damage of 32, which drops her to 18 health remaining.
Abigail steps into the battle and slaps some herb into Saki's mouth. "Mmph...!" 'Saki recovers 50 hp!' 'Saki attempts to bite Abigail's fingers through the herbs!' 'Abigail pulls out her hand just in time!'. Saki quickly darts to Abigail with an irritated expression while crunching down the herbs. "Stop that!" She yelled. "I'm healing you!" Abigail felt offended as she yelled back.
Seeing Saki distracted, Bug B lunges to bite Saki's arm, but Saki quickly looks at it and swings her sword. 'Critical hit!' 'Saki defeated the bugs!''Saki earned 50 exp!' The last bug died as its body flew to the side by the impact of her sword. Saki quickly looks back at Abigail, keeping her annoyed tone. "Your healing spell! Why can't you use that?!" She stomps hard on the ground.
Abigail looks away with a pout momentarily before returning her gaze to Saki. "You sent that bug flying and won the battle... Should I keep annoying you so you can easily win battles from now on?" She said with a pouty voice. "Definitely not! And answer me first!" Saki yells in response.
"More bugs!" Abigail points to the approaching bug monsters and ignores her yelling. Saki annoyingly turned her attention back to the invading bugs and initiated a battle against four of them. Abigail's eyes widened a bit as she faced four enemies at once. "H-hey, I know you're angry, but there's no need to get reckless!" She commented.
"What are you saying?! Four of them faced me at once! I can't do anything against it!" Saki made clear of the situation as she readied her sword again. "Strike true against the bodies of gel!" Saki executed her combo of slash and thrust against Bug A and dealt 28 damage. Just like earlier, using her skills deals heavy damage and puts the bug into some state of stun. Bug A stumbles backward as it tries to get a hold of itself.
Bug B lunges and bites into Saki's arm. 'Saki takes 18 damage!' Saki grunts in pain as she readies for the next attack. Bug C lunges and bites into Saki's arm. 'Saki takes 16 damage!' Saki's grip on her sword wavers slightly, her arms shaking in pain. Bug D lunges to bite, but Saki swings her sword, sending it back to the ground while dealing 10 damage.
Sustaining great damage, Abigail saw her need to be healed again. She walks into the battle and attempts to slap some herbs into Saki's mouth, but Saki immediately catches her arm and snatches the herbs from her palm then eats them while glaring at her. 'Saki recovers 50hp!' Returning to battle, she swings her sword from above and finishes off Bug A. 'Bug A has been defeated!' The bug let out a cry as its life withers away.
It was one small victory. There were three more bugs in the battle and more to join in. Saki felt a bit overwhelmed and took a few steps back, thinking of a strategy.