Lorelei flicked through the massive number of notifications she had received when battling the Kobold. Most of them were the standard, snark-filled damage updates and various Skill activation messages she was both thoroughly used to and heartily sick.
Lingering on the updates about her plummeting health during the confrontation, she blanched a little at how close she - once again - had come to zeroing out. Lorelei had thought she had gotten through the battle largely unscathed, so she was horrified to see that - even though the Kobold had not actually laid a finger on her - she had received significant internal damage from the air turbulence of its missed punches. It seemed like her organs had been primarily turned into paste.
The Guide had not been joking when it had flagged it would have been one and done if the creature had made contact with her. Even all those repeated misses had nearly been enough to finish her off.
On the plus side, with all the XP from soloing the Kobold, she was now a Level 4 and was some distance into being a 5. True, the stat improvements were not that startling - mostly another slew of +1s - but now she realised that would generally be the case, she did not feel much disappointment there.
In fact, from all the shit she had just read - such was the depletion of her health and the range of debuffs she'd accumulated in the battle - without the level-up, she would be in a pretty dire state right now. Looking at how far she had to go until Level 5, she needed to make this the last time she relied on that to keep her alive.
She had also picked up a new skill.
Lorelei could see this was a pretty decent ability - particularly considering the battle she had just been in. If she could have pinged this onto the [Kobold Champion], she could have just gone to town on it with
In fact, remembering back to the fights where she'd accidentally managed to buff and heal her opponents with her own attacks, she could see how helpful
And all that was before considering how much a fan she was of her shiny new gloves. Not only were they soft and purple - her favourite colour - but they came with some very snazzy new stats.
So, all in all, Lorelei could feel pretty good about the outcome of her first boss battle. So, what was making her quite so pissed off? Well, for a start, there was the complete absence of any title for her heroics in her notifications.
Lorelei was still not used to speaking out loud to someone she couldn't see. "Damn right, I did. You told me I would get a title from taking on that Kobold!"
Lorelei made to answer and then bit back her initial reply. There was nothing to be achieved - other than making her feel better - in taking out her frustration at the Guide. If she wanted to get anywhere, she needed to do what she could to keep this avenue of help open. She was more considered when she finally said, "Are you seriously trying to tell me you didn't find me dropping a boss five levels above me noteworthy?"
There was a pause. Lorelei blinked a few times, wondering if the ticker tape of words had frozen in some way. "Guide, is everything okay?"
"Sorry, did you say you've 'lost' an island?"
Lorelei thought of that voice in her head just before a Dragon smacked her in the face. It hadn't exactly done all that much to help her, but she wouldn't be surprised if it had done something to stop the damage the Dragon caused going over her available HP. Also, hadn't it said something about not being allowed to be here . . . Lorelei was about to ask but then, for some reason, something prompted her to take the discussion another way. "Sorry, are you saying because I'm doing too well, I'm not allowed a title for killing that Kobold?"
Lorelei felt her teeth grind together. Part of the reason she hadn't let the people out of the mail room was that she had thought she was more likely to get a title for taking on the Kobold on her own than in a group. "And the second reason?"
Lorelei frowned down at her hands and rechecked their stats. They were good - almost great - but she didn't think anything was game-breaking in what she saw there. "Really? What's so good about them?"
Shaking her head at that rather ominous warning, Lorelei dismissed her notifications and walked over towards the mail room door. She was sure if it was not for the emotional dampening, she'd be shaking with the shock and adrenaline of what had just happened. She had just defeated a monster that had killed tens of people. On her own. With office supplies. However, instead of panicking about it, all she could think was how irritating it was to have missed out on a title.
This was all very weird.
Lorelei put her hand against the keypad to the mail room but then paused for a moment. She took several deep breaths, staring straight ahead. Did she really want a tearful reunion with a bunch of her ex-workmates? It's not like she had especially liked most of them when things had been entirely normal. Other than Vanessa - Lorelei again managed not to glance towards that sad, still body by the now devastated coffee machine - there were only one or two people she would have regretted never seeing again.
If she opened the door, there would be questions. There would be expectations. There would be a group she would feel pulled into joining. And she didn’t know why, but she was absolute certain the Prick would be one of them. Lorelei had spent so long fulfilling a role for these people that she knew she would be dragged straight back into it again. In a blink, she’d be back to being that twat’s ‘good little girl’.
And she didn't want that anymore.
Lorelei took her hand off the keypad and took a step back.
"Guide, if there's one thing I've learned in the last few hours," Lorelei said, "is that there's nothing as mundane as an 'only chance'. I'm sure they'll be fine." And she turned and walked away.
It was just as she passed through the glass doors that she noticed the new notification blinking.