Chapter Fifteen - Surprise!

The seventh loop proved that I didn't quite have what it took to take on the boss just yet. Eight... I tried something different.

After clearing the opening room from sneaky and the other kobold, I walked through the shortcut tunnel and fetched that knife. It looked identical, so the portal didn't change whatever was given here on different time loops. That was expected, I supposed.

Anyway, that shortcut let me into the third room while skipping the second.

I went in, tossed some catfood to the back, then killed one kobold and silently dragged them back into the tunnel before going for a second.

That one didn't go down as quietly, and I was spotted, so I retreated.

They didn't follow any further than that first drop in the tunnel, which was interesting. Did kobolds suck at climbing, maybe?

In any case, I went back around to the second room, but that's where things got complicated, as halfway through the bigger kobold came barrelling in with his remaining two pals. I lost, reloaded, and tried again.

This time I fought the kobolds one-on-one as best I could. Loop nine proved that I could do it... but not without coming out of it injured.

I was pretty sure I was getting much better, however. How many kobolds had I killed by then? Fifty? That was... more than most D-rankers, I was sure. It would probably mess me up if I didn't relearn to fight people after this to relearn normal stances.

Maybe I could develop my own martial art. Kobold Killer?

Ah, no.

Reload ten--because I was too injured to try the boss--was spent eating at a nice restaurant that I couldn't afford. Not like I was planning on paying the bill in any case.

Eleven was spent running around the part of town near the laundromat, looking for another place to buy a light, and I did find one. A small corner store sold some cheap flashlights and it was an auto-store, so I didn't need to deal with a cashier.

Reload twelve had me sprinting to the store, buying everything, then setting up a new Save.

Yes, I was losing a few minutes there, but I was getting real tired of having to rebuy the same stuff over and over and over again. The new Save also meant that I didn't have to wait quite as long between portal openings.

I wasn't mentally tired yet, but I did feel like I was someone on the end of a long shift, ready to take the long bus ride home and crash on the couch for a few hours before bed. Not tired, just worn.

If I wanted this to work out, I'd either need to do shorter loops, more break loops, or... well, the best option would be to just win.

Reload thirteen had me fighting the kobolds with a lot more aggression. It actually went well. The kobolds were kind of fragile. Attacking them with wide, imprecise but hard strikes and swings of my combat knife worked.

It also left me rather open.

By the time I cleared out the third room, I was holding back tears. My nose had been smacked in, I had bites on both legs and one hand, and I was bruised in the chest at three different places.

Aggression worked. Kobolds were fast, but I could be faster.

I procrastinated trying to boss again, which is how I discovered something beautiful. A key.

It was stuck in the bigger kobold's bandoleer, the one with all the teeth and such. The key was made of whittled bone, likely a femur or something like it. Crude, but functional, and trying it in the boss room's door opened it without having to kick the door in.

Within the room, the boss was resting on a pile of dried grasses and hay. He was fiddling with a loose piece of stone in that big club of his. It was called a macuahuitl, I'd looked it up, though it didn't look like the stone blades were obsidian. More like flint.

Still dangerous. The boss glanced up, then carefully stood and raised his arms, almost inviting me to come into the arena and fight him.

I stepped in.

The fight wasn't great. I was still trying for full aggression, but the bigger kobold could brain me with that club of his if he was quick about it, and he was rather quick for his size. More mass, more reach, about equal speed.

That left technique, and that's where I was just better than the boss. It swung that club around too hard, overextending, then I was able to dip in and get a good slash or two of my knife in. The boss' coarse fur was surprisingly tough to cut through, but I could do it.

Still, I reloaded. The boss had been on its last legs when it reached out and caught me by the arm, then it bit my face.

I wasn't going to stick around and see what it felt like to have my face eaten.

I was really confident with the fourteenth loop! I almost died in the second room from that, so on the fifteenth I decided to put every trick I'd learned together.

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Quick and aggressive in the first room. Then I snuck around the tunnel, took out two of the weaker kobolds, and dumped their bodies before looping around. I moved through the second room quickly and efficiently, then called out for the big kobold and its remaining pals. We fought in the tunnel with the trap, and I was amused to see one of them falling into the trap. One less to fight.

I killed the big guy, but not before he got a good swipe in that left my side stinging, and his remaining pal bit me in the leg.

They really liked doing that.

Still, as far as injuries went, it wasn't all bad. Best run so far.

I got the key, then snuck silently to the boss room, but only after tossing dirt onto the fire so that I wouldn't be illuminated from behind. I brought big-guy's club too. It wasn't my preferred weapon, but it gave reach, and throwing it at the boss once had been enough to distract it for a moment, and that might be useful.

Sneaking in silently didn't alert the boss. He only noticed my approach when he sniffed at the air, and by then I was running forwards swinging my stolen club around.

I nailed him in the side of the face, and he went reeling back.

The hit had actually injured him enough that he seemed a bit stunned, and his return swings were clumsier than usual.

So I threw the club at him, tossing it hard into his chest, and when he moved to toss it aside, I darted in, lunged, and stabbed him hard in the neck.

The boss gurgled, then went down.

I paused, taking in the scene, then I cheered!

"Woo! Take that, you stupid fucking portal! Yeah! I am the boss!"

I did a bit of a dance, then realized that I'd probably pulled more than one muscle. Still, I didn't care. I'd done it! I'd succeeded. I'd soloed

a portal. There weren't that many who could claim to have done that, ever. Mostly because of pure logistical issues, and because trying it without such a cheat-y power like mine was risky and stupid, but still!

I was right to feel good about it, and it had only taken fifteen tries.

It wasn't perfect. My coat had some rips in it, my leotard was covered in dust and grime, I had a few scratches and bruises, and I was going to feel sore tomorrow, but I'd done it.

I sighed, then looked around the boss room. There was that exit portal, slowly shifting and growing more stable. Not too far from it was a chest. An old, rusty looking thing.

I kept a finger on the metaphorical trigger of my reload as I ambled over and kicked it. Not a mimic, which was expected. The chest wasn't locked, so I pulled it open and stared within.

There was a lot of dried up leaves serving as a bed onto which rested a weapon. A macuahuitl, like the one the boss had used, only this one was made of a nice, deep red wood, with crude but kind of primal carvings of snarling dogs and kobolds on it. The rocky shards on the weapon were all knapped, black stone.

"Nice," I said.

I'd never use this thing, it was... weird and unwieldy, and heavy once I took it out, but like... it would look awesome hanging off my wall.

The weapon felt weird as well. A bit tingly? But not in a literal, physical sense. Was it enchanted? That made it doubly nice, though I doubted an E-rank portal's final reward would be all that good. I'd have to find an appraiser to look it over and see what it could do.

I looked around one final time, then walked a circle around the room. Nothing else stood out. So... this was it. I felt... a bit rough, but not that bad. I think that spending time in a portal world would help my magical growth, and defeating the monsters within as well. At least, that was how the common knowledge went.

Nodding to myself, I walked over to the portal as it was finishing stabilizing. I could see a vague image of the laundromat on the other side, so I hopped through it.

I landed with a slight stumble on the linoleum of the laundromat, and behind me, the portal swirled and started to shut, filling the air with a last burst of ambient magic.

"Who in the fuck are you?"

I blinked, then looked up just in time for someone's fist to grab me by the collar.

I swung the macuahuitl I was holding around, but it was smacked out of my hand. I felt the delicate bones of my hand snap as well. I gasped, then found myself staring into angry red eyes.

Mizu? The Storm Chasers chick? Behind her was the rest of their team.

"Piece of trash!" she growled. "Who are you? Taking our portal from right under us?"

"Mizu, calm," the group's leader said. "She must have identification and permissions. No need to manhandle her."

Ah... crap.

Feeling a sullen pit in my stomach, I looked at the time. They were here a full twenty minutes earlier than I'd estimated. Had something changed? The portal... might have fluctuated in a way to alert them.

"Dammit," I said. Then I Reloaded.

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