Chapter 7

  The fog was thick, but it was thickest inside my head.

  The woman standing in front of me, highlighted in red, had every intention of harming me. While there were situations that could cause my Read the Room ability not to trigger, I had yet to find an example of the ability giving a false-positive.

  Whatever had happened in the short time since I'd last seen her, Tara had grown to see me as an enemy... Or at the very least, she saw harming me as a necessity.

  There were to very likely reasons for her change in character. The first had to do with the ultimatum that god made at the beginning of the investigation. All other players in this world had motivation to kill me in order to quickly complete the investigation. Technically, even Joan had motivation to pull an Ides of March on me.

  While the first reason seemed to make the most logical sense, I had a sinking suspicion that Tara's actions much more to do with the second reason. Between the time she disappeared at the end of the last investigation and now, Tara had found her way back to Raif. The two of them had been brought into this death game together, they had been on The Love Craft together, they were a couple. Unfortunately, their relationship wasn't a two-way street. Everything revolved around Raif's needs and wants. Tara's feelings were even in the mix, they were completely thrown out. To put it simply, Raif was a very skilled manipulator and a narcissist. I knew Tara well enough to understand that she was an incredibly intelligent and capable person (much more than I could say for myself), but unfortunately Raif convinced her that she owed him everything. Raif made sure she couldn't trust anyone other than him.

  So the second reason the brilliant green haired musician stood before me with a red highlight of hostility was that Raif had made it seem as if it was necessary. Maybe he had told her that I wanted to hurt her. Maybe he had told her that if she didn't kill us first, Joan and I would kill him. Or maybe he didn't even give a reason and just waved an imaginary infinite debt over her head, making her believe she owed him.

  Regardless of her reasons, my body refused to move. I couldn't bring myself to raise a hand to her. Joan was right when she said that I had a soft spot for Tara. There was too much of myself in Tara. Behind her distant eyes, I knew her look.

  Besides, even though she had the red outline, she was also clearly distraught. She wasn't happy to be facing off against me.

  "Stop that weak shit and attack already!" The disgusting snarl came from behind me. In response to Raif's words, Tara hesitantly stepped forward and took a deep breath.

  "Groupies!" Her wavering voice rang out loudly. At first, I was confused, but I quickly realized Groupies must be one of her abilities.

  In response to her call, two new figures joined the fray. The first was a heavyset man in a Toadies band shirt. The second was a woman in her thirties wearing a Justin Bieber shirt. Both figures immediately had red outlines, letting me know we had two more opponents. If I had to guess, her ability summoned two random band groupies as extra combatants.

  This new development was actually a positive for me. Now I had two more individuals to attack instead of Tara. The Toadies groupie took a boxer's stance while the Justin Bieber groupie charged at me like a maniac. I had to guess the Toadies guy was a fighter and the Belieber was some sort of berserker.

  "Dalos, you take the guy! I'll get the deranged soccer-mom!" While I had an aversion to hitting women that had been drilled into me since my childhood, I had an even bigger aversion to hurting Toadies fans. Rubberneck was one of the greatest albums of all time. I was nearly tempted to switch sides out of solidarity.

  I summoned my cursed segmented staff while my Pathfinder ability created an incredibly obvious line on the ground that led to the berserker groupie. As I charged, she suddenly seemed to hesitate as if unsure of her first move. If I had to guess, she thought she'd get to fight the cute puppy and not the otaku in the Dick Tracy hat.

  "Make up your mind!" I swung the staff at her, but she quickly dodged to the side. "Decide to walk with me. Around the lake tonight."

  "Fuck yeah!" Behind me, the Toadies groupie recognized the lyrics and was temporarily distracted from his own battle. I didn't have to look to know that the gurgling sound immediately following their outburst was the sound of Dalos doing his favorite throat attack.

  My opponent was proving to be much more nimble than I'd given her credit for. I was still clumsy with my new weapon, and my unfamiliarly low dexterity stat only added to my challenges. She managed to land a few punches as she quickly launched into an impressive series of attacks.

  "Huh..." After a few of the attacks, I let out a sound of understanding. Her attacks weren't doing much damage at all. In fact, most were barely dropping my significantly increased health bar.

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  Before I could relax, I noticed Dalos making a beeline for his next victim, Tara.

  "Dalos! No! Not her! Never her." I turned completely from my current fight to plead with my familiar. Thankfully Dalos followed my command. I breathed a sigh of relief until I felt arms grip around my waist from behind. The next moment, I was German-suplexed onto the sidewalk. I was stunned for a moment, but quickly came to my senses as I had the privilege of being showered with Type B-eiber blood. My pup had added to his kill count, making me realize just how useless I was in this fight.

  I quickly shrugged off the obsessed fangirl corpse and climbed to my feet.

  The fog grew thicker with every moment of the battle. I wondered if either Tara or Raif had an ability called Fog Machine or if the actual fog was getting this bad. I could no longer see Tara, but I could hear Joan and Raif fighting somewhere to my left.

  "Blind Rage!" Raif's voice was unmistakable as he called out the name of what I assumed was one of his abilities. It didn't take long to tell the tides of battle had turned in his favor.

  Joan's limp body flew out of the fog and collided with me. Both of us were sent toppling backward into the street. She was dazed, but not completely unconscious. I would have to hold off Raif and Tara for at least long enough for her to recover.

  "Dalos, protect Joan!" I could send Dalos into the fog to fight, but Joan's safety was a much higher priority. It might have been a stupid decision, but I never claimed to be an expert in battle tactics.

  "What's up, loser?"

  I turned to the source of Raif's voice. A red outline appeared through the fog in the direction of the voice. Without a second thought, I charged forward and swung my staff at full strength.

  It wasn't until it was too late that I realized something was wrong. Raif had an ability to block my Read the Room ability, so why did he suddenly have an outline?

  My staff connected with the temple of the target... Tara.

  Her body launched into the side of a parked delivery truck and fell completely limp to the ground. I might not have much strength, but with my staff it might have been enough to kill her in a single blow. I hadn't taken the opportunity to properly test out my segmented staff's strength, so its combat abilities were a mystery.

  The red highlight around Tara immediately went dark.

  "No!" Everything around me disappeared. Only Tara's lifeless body remained. I rushed to her and cradled her in my arms. She wasn't moving, but she was still breathing. "Please no... Tara! Please! Wake up!"

  I needed to heal her. I couldn't leave her like this.

  None of my abilities were capable of healing...

  I thought back to how I had gained my other abilities. Unlike the other players who had all of their abilities from the start, I had gained mine during times of need.

  If I didn't have an ability to heal Tara, I would will one into existence.

  "Heal! First Aid! Cure!" I held my hand on Tara's head while I shouted the name of every healing spell I had seen in a role-play game. The list was incredibly long, and with each failed spell, my heart ached more and more.

  This wasn't happening! Goddammit!

  I threw my head back and screamed into the sky.

  A notification flickered in front of my vision. My heart leapt.

  Congratulations!

  +h3 /\/u11 has unlocked a new ability!

  I did it! I willed an ability into existence!

  Cry of Desperation (Level 1)

  Once per combat.

  User lets loose an ear piercing scream.

  All targets within range are stunned for 5 seconds.

  Ability targets all individuals who hear the scream within range, friend or foe.

  Requirement: User must be in a state of total despair to use ability.

  Current range: 3 meters

  Next Ability Level: Increase range to 5 meters.

  This was a joke... This was a joke, right?!

  I desperately needed a healing spell, and instead it had created something completely useless.

  I was useless.

  I couldn't do anything to save the people who were most important to me.

  I was worse than useless... I caused much more harm than good.

  I finally understood why Tara had left and rejoined Raif. I understood why she was willing to harm me.

  I was weak. I couldn't help her. I was just in the way.

  A powerful blow to the back of my head caused the entire world to go dark.

  It was better this way...

  ...

  ...

  ... ...

  Awaken!

  ...

  ...

  My eyes flickered open.

  The battlefield swirled around me like a video taken on a smart phone by an excited toddler. Everything was a blur, but I could sense my body moving beyond my control.

  I blinked.

  Then I found myself staring at a somewhat familiar ceiling. As my eyes took in the surroundings, I recognized the office of the safe room. I was on the uncomfortable leather couch, but I wasn't alone. A goddess was resting on my chest, her hair fanned out like a silken blanket, while she knelt on the floor beside the couch. I could feel a slight tickle of her breath on my neck as she slept.

  A familiar semi-corporeal body nuzzled against the top of my head. I couldn't see its source from my current position, but I knew their identity immediately.

  For the first time in as long as I could remember, I felt content.

  There was something oddly familiar about my current state of mind, but I couldn't quite place it.

  But I also felt there was something I had forgotten.

  What could it have been? I had everything I needed right here... Right?

  This was a nice dream.