Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 58 Does My Courage Come from You?
In RPG games, teammates dying is a common occurrence, and Alice has long been accustomed to it. Therefore, she should have turned a blind eye to the cold pop-up window in front of her, but what if what we are experiencing, the real world we live in, is not just a game?

He is not a piece of data without emotions, but a living person who chatted with me not long ago.

Ringer took in a person of unknown origin at the request of his sister; Ringer bought a maid outfit for Alice; Ringer kept telling them to accept reality; Ringer knew his sister was making trouble but never stopped her but silently obeyed her; Ringer took Alice to class, hoping that she could grow into a good seed; Ringer paid a huge sum of 1 shilling and 10 pence to treat the maid to a big meal while he only drank boiled water...

Lingge, who looks so indifferent, as if he doesn't care about anything and always goes with the flow, will he know that at the end of his life, all that will appear on the game console are the three cold words "killed"?

Alice didn't dare to think about it, let alone face Metien's gaze. Although she couldn't see anything clearly due to the darkness, she seemed to be able to see the sadness and pain in the girl's eyes, and hear her trembling voice coming from the depths of the night:

"Lin...Ge?"

She seemed to have taken a deep breath in her chest, pressing on her fragile heart. She wanted to breathe but couldn't, so it sounded like she was choking: "Are you okay? The prompt just now was false, right? You must... still be alive?"

I was hoping for a lucky break, so my voice sounded fragile, as if I was afraid of breaking the fragile glass.

But there was dead silence in the darkness and no one answered.

The girl stood there blankly, her heart began to sink, into the deepest ocean, and the process of sinking was the process of losing. She seemed to have returned to the day when her father died, with raindrops falling from the sky. She was held by her brother's hand, standing in the gloomy cemetery, watching the black coffin buried silently in the soil, her eyes red. There were things she wanted to say but couldn't, and things she wanted to express but couldn't, stuck in her heart, very uncomfortable, very uncomfortable.

Fialli's HP dropped to 3392/4500. Although the health bar is still very long, it does not seem out of reach.

[Courage Slash], activate!
[Heroic Pursuit], launch!
As if sensing Alice's determination, the silver blade of light cut through the darkness, sweeping past with astonishing momentum, accurately hitting Fialli who was hiding in the depths of the darkness. Immediately afterwards, Alice rushed forward along the path opened by the blade of light, slashed with a sword, and caused damage again.

She clenched her fists and said seriously, "In this case, for Lingge, we must win, Sister Alice!"

Alice is confident.

"Don't cry." A voice suddenly comforted gently: "He is still watching you."

The saddest thing is wanting to cry but not being able to.

[Dark Night Raid] is launched.

"He has never died, because the thread of the golden apple is always entangled, tying his pure soul." Saint Shallia said softly: "But if we lose this battle, there will be no room for recovery."

Fiyali's cold snort came from the darkness. Just as Alice firmly believed that she would win, she also firmly believed that she would not lose this battle, because those who embraced the darkness would also be favored by the darkness.

Guaranteed critical hit X2, ignore defense X2, ignore level X2!
【HP-376】,【HP-108】!
[Courage +18]

She was still young and didn't want to lose her brother.

"That's right!" Alice looked determined, raised the holy sword with both hands, and said word by word: "We must win!"

It seems that human will can affect the probability of the game, and the effects triggered by the destiny BUFF are the most violent.

I am only two points of courage away from unlocking the ultimate skill of the Brave Class. If I am lucky, I can end this battle in the next round.

That's when the girl understood.

Okay, it's very RPG.

The target is Metien.

It was Saint Shallia's voice. Metien heard a hint of hope in her words and quickly raised his head and asked, "Sister Saint Shallia, do you mean that Lingge is still alive?!"

Alice perked up, and Metien breathed a sigh of relief: "That's great."

During Metien's turn, she still followed her brother's instructions before his "death" and gave the recovery skill to Alice. During Saint Shallia's turn, she used [Prophecy] to give Alice the destiny BUFF and stabilize her endurance.

In other words, as long as the BOSS is killed, the dead friendly characters will be resurrected?

【HP-395】

The pink-haired girl originally had only 400 HP, but now only had 5. If Lingge hadn't given her a BUFF that increased her defense by 20% before she died, she would have been killed instantly by this attack.

When Fiali entered the second stage, her burst was too high.

Alice used [Courageous Slash] and then [Heroic Pursuit] was activated.

However, this time her luck seemed to have run out, and both of her attacks missed.

The 70% increase in evasion rate, coupled with the existing level difference, makes her hit rate become very touching.

Metien knew that he had no chance of survival, but still gave his recovery skill to Alice. Then Saint Shallia used [Sacrament of the Cross], and Alice launched [Courageous Slash] and [Heroic Pursuit] again.

The first Courageous Slash still missed, but the second additional normal attack hit, causing 56 points of damage and raising Alice's courage value to 19.

Just a little bit closer!
She gripped the hilt of her sword tightly, feeling that victory was within reach.

However, before victory, the first thing to face is the death of teammates.

Fialli launched a fatal [Night Raid] against Metien.

The pink-haired girl seemed to have sensed something. Before [Dark Night Assault] hit her, she turned her head to look in Alice's direction with a smile of trust and expectation on her face: "Sister Alice, I'm counting on you..."

【HP-543】

[Your teammate Metien has died]

"Don't worry, Metien."

"We will definitely win."

Alice took a deep breath, grasped the hilt with both hands, raised the holy sword above her head, swung it hard, cut out a silver blade of light, and then stared at it without blinking as it flew into the darkness. As long as this blow hit, the battle would be over.

However, things in the world often go against people's wishes. The silver blade of light was swallowed up by the black ocean and disappeared silently.

【MISS】

Alice was a little disappointed, but it didn't matter. She launched another normal attack. She rushed forward and slashed with her sword, but it landed in the air.

Still [MISS].

This evasion rate is too annoying.

Calm down, Alice, there's still a chance.

Saint Shallia used the [Sacrament of the Cross], and Alice swung the holy sword in her hand and slashed with all her might!
【MISS】

【MISS】

Four consecutive misses made Alice stand there in a daze. She never thought her luck could be so bad. In comparison, Fialli, who was avoiding the opponent continuously, was more powerful. She sneered at the distraught hero, and her body followed him in the darkness like a shadow, quickly passing through the depths of the night, like a nightmare passing through the edge of a person's memory, bringing death and fear.

[Dark Night Raid]

[Magic Shield -150, HP -447]

Alice's HP dropped from full to 303 in an instant, and she was unable to withstand Fialli's next attack. After Lingge and Metien died one after another, no one could restore her HP. The continuous HP recovery BUFF that Metien gave her before her death was simply a drop in the bucket and did not help.

If Alice were to die as well, the battle would be lost.

In other words, the next round will be the final round.

Is there anything worse than this?
Of course there was, that is, when Alice opened her skill bar, she found that [Courage Slash] was sealed by Fialli's [Dark Night Raid]. Without [Courage Slash], [Heroic Pursuit] could not be activated, and the originally limited trial and error opportunities became even less.

One normal attack, plus one action given by Saint Shallia, she only has two chances to try.

The lives of Linger and Metien depended on these two attacks.

She suddenly felt an enormous pressure on her shoulders and a chill on her back, as if there was a ferocious beast in the darkness, staring at her coldly and mercilessly, sharpening its claws and fangs, eager to attack.

Those grey eyes were the eyes of a night terror. Human beings’ fear of darkness lasted longer than instinct. However, it was not a fear of colour, but because darkness symbolised the unknown: they did not know what they would encounter, nor what they could do, so they were at a loss, and retreated in fear.

Therefore, we can conclude that human beings’ fear of darkness is actually a fear of fate.

Alice raised her sword, but she found that her hands were no longer so firm, and were shaking instead. She tried her best to calm down, then took a deep breath and attacked the enemy in the dark.

However, it is obvious what the final result will be if you swing the sword with such an uneasy heart.

【MISS】

"It's a pity." Someone told her, a whisper from the night, piercing the fear in people's hearts: "You failed."

If you can’t succeed this time, why do you think you will succeed next time?

So failure is natural.

"Failed……"

Alice murmured, she stood there blankly, not even noticing that Saint Shallia had used the [Sacrament of the Cross] on her. She felt as if her body was falling into an endless abyss, surrounded by darkness, occasionally seeing a ray of light, but it quickly disappeared. She closed her eyes with difficulty, and in front of her was a black tide, and she also merged into it.

but.

"Are you going to give up, Alice?" An ethereal and gentle voice said to her, "There is still one last possibility, but you are unwilling to try?"

"A brave man is one who has courage."

"And courage value is the reward for the brave."

"Do you feel that you are brave enough when you swing the sword?"

"If not, it's not time to give up yet."

If this is a game, then its probability is indeed random. But this is not just a game, so its probability actually depends on your courage.

At the same time, another voice came calmly: "Do it, Alice."

"It'd be better if you let me know that you're not just talking about being a talented player."

That's right.

Alice is the best and most talented gamer on Earth in the 28th century.

This will be her greatest courage.

The girl got his courage, her body trembled, and then slowly opened her eyes, looking straight into the depths of darkness. She no longer hesitated, no longer confused, and firmly raised the sword in her hand. The golden hilt and the silver blade complemented each other, like a shining star in the deep night. There were no skills to use, no attribute bonuses to rely on. When the hero was deprived of everything, the most ordinary sword that she once regarded as a burden would change the ending of this story.

He exerted force with both hands and lightly slashed at the darkness in front of him.

It seemed as if it wanted to tear apart everything that stood in the way of destiny.

【HP-36】

[Courage +20]

The last skill in the skill bar lights up.

Hiding in the darkness, Fialli was somewhat surprised at how quickly the girl broke free from her confusion, but she did not take it to heart. On the contrary, she sneered, "I can only make you happy for a while, so what? When it's my turn, you can only face death..."

"Do not."

Alice's calm voice came: "You have already--"

“There is no next round.”

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)