JoaV Omake: Less is More

The fight wasn’t going very well. I was just slightly too slow to move, too slow to dodge or block. My offense wasn’t making up for my lack of defense. I needed something that would give me an edge. I’d already wasted my EXE and most of my mana. What I needed was equipment with better stats. A faint blush started to dust my cheeks, invisible compared to the flush of exertion, as I considered my most powerful piece of armour. My blush deepened until my whole face was red as I remembered that Blanc was also here and would see ‘it’. The boss was visibly taken aback when I slapped my own cheek to concentrate properly but that didn't stop it from continuing its onslaught.
There was no choice, if we wanted to get out of this intact sacrifices had to be made. I leapt back from the fight with Blanc seamlessly moving to cover for me. This would need to be quick, she wouldn't last too long by herself. Taking a deep breath I accessed my inventory and selected my best armour.
With a fizzling sound, my hoodie and leggings disappeared in a rainbow of light. Before the light could fade, another piece of clothing replaced it. The light popped like a broken bulb and the new armour was revealed to the world.
Readying my sword again I shot forward much faster than I had retreated. The jackal-like boss was performing an overhead swing when I crashed into it like a freight train. The beast staggered back several steps, roaring in anger. Before it could recover I had already glided over to its left flank and scored a deep gash along the back of its knee, forcing it to kneel on the dirty cavern floor as a scream of pain tore itself from its lips.
Blanc stares in shock at me, a faint blush now starting to arise on her.
“Valky, you-?”
“NOT. A. WORD!” I gritted out, punctuating each word with an attack on the boss. My face was burning worse than any wound could. With the boss still recovering from the damage I had inflicted on it, I took the chance to glance down at my armour.
Well, calling it armour would be a stretch. Adorning my body was a simple light blue one piece swimsuit. Relatively simple in design, it was nonetheless not something you would expect to see someone wearing in a boss fight (unless it was a beach episode). What’s worse was that it felt annoying comfortable as well, enough that I wouldn’t mind just wearing it around the house. This piece of swimwear had almost offensively high stats, twice as big as my next strongest set. All it cost to use was my pride.
With my new stats, the boss was now completely on the back foot when confronted with the teamwork between me and Blanc. Wounds started to quickly accrue across its body and it started to slow down, the battle taking its toll on the boss. It wasn’t long before the outcome was all but guaranteed. The boss could sense this and fought all the harder, yet it was all in vain. It was too tired and hurt to change the flow of the battle. With one last defiant cry, the beast shattered into pixels as we, one after the other, cut it in half and then half again. Stepping forward, I retrieved the loot it had dropped, some fangs and a claw, and we started to make our way out of the cavernous dungeon. I switched back into my normal clothes as we reached the entrance and stepped out into the hot midday sun. The snow covered mountain rocks reflected the glare of the unforgiving sun and meant the pair had to squint slightly.
As we started our trek down the mountain back to the guild Blanc couldn't contain herself any longer and finally asked another question.
“Do you have a weapon to go with it?”
A large ice lolly shaped sword immediately popped into my head, a glistening melon slice with seeds that you could lick and actually taste melon, with damage that could have easily dealt with that boss. I had acquired it at about the same time as the swimsuit. Who knew fishermen could make such strong equipment?
“No. I do not.” I said, my voice completely monotone. I did my best to ignore the faint snickering I could hear from her direction and started power walking to get ahead. This mission could not end soon enough.