Editing Skill Tree Goddess:Volume1 Chapter2 (section)

===Part 10===

“First they show off they can kill us at any time and then they stop? Are they messing with us!?”

“We still have a chance while they’re holding back, Penelope. Let’s sneak up and catch them off guard.”

Were those the boxer girls led by the whip-wielding tamer dominatrix? They looked like older girls in the 15-17 age range. Taking the vanguard with no weapons aside from their own fists seemed reckless. They were also talking loudly in the nighttime forest, so Gilbezos had no trouble hearing them from some distant bushes. …And hadn’t the goddess analyzed them already?

“(They use skills, but no magic. Their vanguard relies on physical attacks and their rear guard relies on consumable items. That’s an interesting way to use skills. I’ll have to remember it.)”

“(Stop appreciating the enemy. Those idiots don’t even realize they owe you for saving their lives. You really need to choose better who you force your kindness onto.)”

However, he couldn’t just stay quiet and let them pass.

The high elf chief wouldn’t finish preparing her Group Flight skill for another hour. The high elves would be overrun and captured if every wave of monster hunters wasn’t held back. Missing even one of them meant failure.

“Yes, I suppose so. But how exactly are you going to defeat them without killing them?”

“Lady Seliphenia, open the Skill Tree. Hurry, hurry.”



'''Status Effect Fury Magic

:'''Repeat Command

::'''Increased Odds for All Randomized Skills

:::'''Apply Magic Effect to Weapon



Relying too much on the goddess would lead him to chopping down all the humans with no guilt or stress, so Gilbezos made his own choices here.

He drew the sword at his hip.

But for once he wasn’t doing so to possibly take a life.

The sword glowed with a faint red magic light as he used it to strike the torsos of one and then another boxer with bandages wrapping the chest. There was no blood, but the effect was swift.

“Bh.”

“Ghhh…kh.”

He didn’t wait for them to collapse. He was done with them after the first hit anyway.

Gilbezos quickly moved away.

“I’m glad it’s working how I wanted.”

Fury was a status effect that caused anger within an enemy. Whether or not it took effect was up to luck and it’s only real effect was boosting physical attacks while also keeping the enemy from coordinating or using magic, so it wasn’t a very attractive option. However, it could be nasty when applied several times over and combined with other skills. ''When it had a 100% chance of success from a light touch of a weapon and it enraged them so much they passed out,'' you could either beat them up, draw on their face, or whatever else.

“Oh, no. Gilbezos is thinking naughty thoughts.”

“Stop that. A goddess shouldn’t be leading people down the path of evil!”

…Gilbezos, if you’re going to do this, why not do it in a way that makes everyone hate you? It does seem like the Skill Tree has plenty of options for some scummy detours if that’s what you want!!

But there were 5000 monster hunters. While he didn’t need to defeat them all, taking them down with his sword would take too long. Even if he used the Dual Wield Sword skill loved by samurai or the Expand Physical Attack Range skill commonly used by heavy warriors. He wouldn’t be able to keep up.

“What now?”

“''Redefine my weapon.''”

He had already seen the villagers use this to trap the high elves. And if they had used it, they couldn’t complain if he did too.

“By changing my weapon, my skills will instead apply to all the leaves in this forest!!”

Sismond Johnson had proven that simply walking through the underbrush in this deep forest would leave ''small cuts'' on your limbs. Then he would use “all of that” as his weapon.

Attack magic did not affect one’s allies, so it wasn’t a problem for his “weapon” to cover the entire area around him.

More and more people collapsed.

At a much more rapid pace than before.

…But it wasn’t all 5000 of them. Those who happened to have a fury resistance skill remained. And even though he had done something trickier than simply using Group Targeting with Magic, the hunting team would eventually realize how it worked.

“Did it fail?”

“Not yet. Lady Seliphenia, swap out the fury skill for paralysis!!”

He didn’t need to redo all of the skills. Fury wasn’t the only status effect capable of immobilizing an enemy without damaging them. He would be able to slip past the enemy’s resistance by switching to other status effects, like with the probability-based sleep and paralysis or by tearing through their stamina points to knock them out with the faint status effect.

He would frequently reshuffle it like that. That way he could mess with the enemy’s predictions.

…His biggest fear here was one of the hunters rationally ''casting status effect healing magic'' on their unresponsive allies! So he wanted to prevent that by causing as much chaos as he could!!

“Kh.”

This wasn’t all fun and games.

When he switched from fury to paralysis, Gilbezos’s MP dropped quite a bit. Had that counted as new magic that had to be recast on the entire forest? He did have plenty of MP recovery items, but he still couldn’t fight like this forever…

“Gilbezos, you’re out of variations. Want to expand your options by adding in petrification?”

“They’ll identify that on sight and know how to react, so let’s wait on that!”

This was all about deception.

He kept switching it up to keep that great army confused.

But the goddess noticed something.

“The reduction in enemies isn’t even. It’s slow, but someone is healing the others and bringing them back into the fight. You can’t just focus on taking out the priests who can use healing magic. There can be others who specialize in healing items like that tamer we saw earlier.”

“How many I defeat isn’t the issue. It’s how long I can stall them.”

Was this the end for that trick?

He had earned plenty of time for being up against 5000.

“High elf girl!!”

He shouted into the shadows.

He heard some rustling underbrush from shockingly close by and the blonde high elf emerged.

“If you need covering fire, just say the word.”

“No, it’s nearly time. I’ll hold them here, so you take your fellow elves and fall back!”

“But…I can still fight!!”

“Great, but what about that overpowered Group Flight skill your chief has? If you don’t get back in time, you’ll be left behind!”

He heard a gasp. Being all alone and surrounded by those greed-crazed humans had to be one of the last fates that high elf wanted to imagine.

“Damn, damn, goddammit! …Very well.”

“That’s more like it.”

“Also, my name is Sayuran. Sayuran Cuchanbern!”

The short boy smiled bitterly as he heard her departing footsteps.

This was goodbye, so learning her name accomplished nothing. It wasn’t as much as Sismond Johnson had, but had he created a bond with that 17-looking high elf even if it was thinner than a hair?

The goddess put a hand on her hip and filled her voice with exasperation.

“Sigh. Has it completely slipped your mind?”

“Has what?”

“Once the high elves depart with their Group Flight, you will be left here.”

…Yes, that was true.

Attacking Gilbezos wouldn’t get them anything, but those hunters would still be furious at him for ruining their chance at riches. If they surrounded and captured him…well, it wasn’t a pleasant thing to consider. In a forest this large, there had to be plenty of room to bury a body.

“But I made a promise, so I can’t back out now.”

“…”

“Lady Seliphenia, you should probably run away now. There’s no reason for you to stick with me to the end.”

“Are you trying to convince me to step on you?”

The bushes ahead of him rustled and their eyes met with terrible timing.

It was a complete coincidence. That dominatrix with the long whip was a special kind of tamer who specialized in kicking and ruling over human asses rather than monsters, wasn’t she? And if the goddess had been accurate back in the village, she had the Consumable Mastery skill that provided a 300% buff to all consumable items.

“Attention!!”

The tamer raised her voice while cracking her whip against the ground.

People immediately gathered from either side.

“Protect the tamer. After taking out so many of us, don’t let his childish appearance fool you.”

“We can just blame the elves for killing the damn brat. Crush him with everything you have!!”

The tamer was an item user, so she was his priority target.

This was perfect. Gilbezos himself charged right into the next wave.