Chapter 17: Ryo, Assassination, and the Chicken Monster
“The destination is the Golden Lake in this grassland.”
“It’s a lake that sparkles with a golden shine, and it smells really good.”
As Ryo spoke, he pushed aside grass that reached up to his knees and moved forward with a lowered posture.
[Golden lake, I get that]
[Sparkling gold, I get that]
[Good smell??]
[A lake that smells good?]
[The good smell part makes no sense]
While leaving the viewers confused, Ryo continued through the grassland.
Suddenly, Ryo stopped and signaled toward the drone with his left hand.
It was a hand signal telling it to fly a little lower.
Based on reflections from the previous stream, the two had discussed how to give instructions to the drone.
This hand signal was the result.
They had decided together that this was the best way in an environment where sound could not be used.
Receiving the signal, Kaoru lowered the drone to a position beneath Ryo’s head as he crouched.
[Moka-P’s drone control is casually amazing]
[Agreed]
[Was that a hand signal just now?]
[I can feel the strong intent not to get in Ryo’s way]
Ignoring the comments, Ryo stared intently at something.
“As I thought, it’s a Grasskokko.”
Lowering his voice, Ryo began explaining to the viewers.
“It’s a large chicken with fur the same color as the grass that grows abundantly in this grassland area.”
“In terms of pure combat power, it’s much weaker than a Sharkdile, but it uses two kinds of calls.”
“One to summon allies, and another to dull our senses, so its danger level is actually higher than a Sharkdile’s.”
[It’s bad if they gather]
[Chickens that gather and dull your senses]
[Feels like you’d get beaten to a pulp before you realize it]
“I want to avoid unnecessary combat, but if we leave that thing alone and let it make noise, it’s even more troublesome.”
“So if it’s within range to hunt, I take it out.”
Letting out a thin, long breath, Ryo drew a large dagger and gripped it in a reverse hold.
Then, without a word, he activated his skills.
Presence Concealment.
Visual Obstruction.
Auditory Obstruction.
Olfactory Obstruction.
He erased his presence.
Made himself harder to recognize visually.
Made it harder to notice the sounds he produced.
Made it harder to notice his scent.
After confirming the skills were active, Ryo dashed through the grass like he was swimming, closing in on the Grasskokko.
The drone followed Ryo through the grass.
After spotting a subtle hand signal, Kaoru halted the drone at that position.
Once Kaoru stopped the drone’s movement, Ryo circled behind the Grasskokko while keeping his presence hidden.
The next moment—
“Martial Art: Backstab.”
From behind, he drove the dagger into the Grasskokko’s throat.
It was a peculiar martial skill that increased attack power when the target had not noticed you.
When used from behind, its power increased even further.
Because of that, Ryo’s thrust, which normally should not have penetrated the Grasskokko’s thick neck muscles, pierced cleanly through.
“Ghk… ge…”
A cry mixing shock and a groan leaked from its beak.
But it was not dead yet.
Its kicks and pecks carried tremendous force, so failing to finish it here would be dangerous.
Ryo swiftly pulled out the dagger and activated his next skill.
“Martial Art: Zetsumei Ichinyo.”
First came a strengthening buff.
With Ryo’s raw strength alone, piercing the Grasskokko’s feather-and-muscle armor was difficult, so self-enhancement was essential.
While activating the next skill, he slashed the Grasskokko’s neck with the dagger.
“Martial Art: Ichirei Ittsetsu.”
A sword technique known as High Slash.
This was the dagger version, a high-power cutting attack.
The Grasskokko’s head fell, and its body tilted before collapsing to the ground.
“Phew…”
Taking a breath, Ryo signaled the drone that it was safe to come closer.
As the drone moved toward Ryo, the comment section erupted.
Thanks to Kaoru’s exquisite drone control, the scene had been captured clearly, even from a distance.
[Amazing]
[So clean]
[Oooooo]
[That’s seriously an assassin]
[So cool]
[As expected of an assassin]
[I know Backstab, but what’s Zetsumei Ichinyo?]
[That chicken really didn’t notice at all]
[Both of those skills are kind of mediocre]
[Erase presence, stab the throat to silence it, then behead it]
[The flow is so smooth you can tell he’s done this many times]
[I don’t know either of those]
[How are those mediocre?]
[Someone explain the skills in game terms]
[Moka-P’s drone work not missing any highlights]
[Zetsumei Ichinyo is a buff that boosts attack power the lower the enemy’s HP is]
[Backstab boosts attack power if the enemy hasn’t noticed you]
[Aren’t those actually pretty meh?]
[Ryo being a hardcore solo player was no exaggeration]
[His skill usage is way too good]
“There don’t seem to be any other Grasskokko around.”
“Before the smell of blood draws in unnecessary monsters, we should leave this area—”
He was speaking toward the drone when it suddenly displayed the holographic comment window on its own.
“What, all of a sudden?”
Ryo narrowed his eyes and spoke in a slightly lower voice, causing the comment section to somehow fill with thanks.
Among them, several comments caught Ryo’s eye.
[Isn’t Grasskokko basically chicken meat?]
[Can you eat Grasskokko?]
[If you drain the blood, isn’t it just chicken?]
“…That thought never occurred to me.”
[What happened all of a sudden?]
[Did you read a comment?]
“But I don’t know how to prepare it.”
[So he realized it’s chicken]
[I was wondering why you were just going to leave it]
[You didn’t think of monsters as meat?]
[Moka-P: For now, store it and ask a real-life friend?]
“Ah, Moka-P, that’s it.”
Following Kaoru’s comment, Ryo stored the Grasskokko’s corpse in his SAI.
[You have a real-life friend who can butcher that?]
[That’s an impressive acquaintance]
“I’m really looking forward to how it tastes…”
[Ryo looks happy]
[Rarely see Ryo with such a broken expression]
[Well, this is only his second stream]
As Ryo wore a rare, smug grin, the comment section began to stir again.
[Dia lol]
[She’s going wild on Warbler]
[She’s saying why wasn’t it her lol]
It seemed that Okado Dia was making a fuss on Warbler.
The real-life friend Kaoru had mentioned was Minato, so there was really no need for such a reaction, but—
[Moka-P: Ryo, don’t accidentally say your real-life friend’s name.]
[Moka-P: That person also uses a handle online.]
“…I almost did.”
[Be careful, Ryo]
[That kind of thing is dangerous]
[Sometimes weird viewers go after them instead of you]
[If they’re active online, you’d be causing trouble for them too]
“Got it.
In places like this, I shouldn’t say real names or full names.
That’s educational… though I’m basically using my real name already.”
[Moka-P: Just don’t say your full name.]
[Moka-P’s being rough too lol]
[Not exactly wrong though]
“If that’s how it works, then I’ll go with that.”
Saying that, Ryo patted the drone’s head and hid the display.
“I’ll be moving for a while with the comments hidden again, so I’ll apologize in advance for not being able to respond.”
Out of Ryo’s sight, replies like “OK” flowed through the comments.
Without actually confirming them, Ryo paused briefly, then quietly began moving again.