TripleBatsuDance put on her mask and attacked without a moment's hesitation. Her purple glowing whip snapped through the air and cut Babibubebo in half before he could even take a step toward them. Then, his body exploded into countless spells at once, summoning a rain of fireballs, lightning bolts expanding outwards, and shards of ice flying everywhere. The sheer amount of effects would have sent anybody's graphics card into overdrive, but this was no longer a game, so it was only an amazing light show.

  When it ended, there was a portal where his body had disappeared. TripleBatsuDance's eyes widened, and she turned to her companions, "We have to get out of here, now! He's going to-"

  "Where are you going?" Babibubebo's annoying voice interrupted her, and she grimaced. He had come back through the portal in his full ugly glory, grinning like a child who found the cookie jar.

  "What are you?" AFKat asked, furrowing her brow in disgust.

  "Rich, that's what," he responded smugly, letting out a truly horrid laugh that echoed across the area.

  "He's using the [Noble Sacrifice] skill to cast a bunch of spells when he dies. Including his personal portal," TripleBatsuDance explained, covering her face in exasperation. It was a joke skill since players always tried their best to avoid dying, especially during boss fights. After all, one gained no experience when one died first and then killed monsters with the skills activated by [Noble Sacrifice]. At best, it could be used for roleplaying when one was already at max level.

  But there was a person in front of them who used it to troll other players.

  "Leave us alone. We're trying to level," AFKat demanded.

  "No. Now, what will you do about it?" Babibubebo stuck out his tongue from between his teeth and performed an aggravating dance. TripleBatsuDance swung her whip again, and he exploded into his death-activated fireworks display. But once again, there was a portal where he disappeared, and he stepped through it immediately without even stopping his dance, "I'm baaack!"

  This time, BlackKokoro was the one to attack. She cast a [Conduit of the Void] and blasted him wordlessly. The negative lightning bolt caused his bones to shine through his avatar model and hit him for half his health. He looked down at himself, then the [Mage], before grinning gleefully. The witch's eyes widened, and her face turned into a mask of cold anger as she did it again.

  And within moments, Babibubebo returned from the portal and danced on the growing gold pile left by his previous two deaths. He couldn't pick it up himself, but he didn't seem to care. He did say he was rich, so he likely had more than enough gold to drive his victims crazy before he ran out of revives.

  "Why are you doing this?" WolfGodKotaro asked.

  "Have you seen my appearance? The game turned into reality, and I see beautiful avatars all around me. But here I am, stuck in this wretched form!" For the first time, Babibubebo grew serious, speaking in a more normal male voice as he complained. His eyes, which looked in different directions and never at those he spoke to, were filled with despair.

  "So you decided to make it everybody else's problem, too, yeah?" IpponSakura wondered, and he turned his attention to her.

  "Exactly! I won't let people have fun around me! Go back to town and lament ever having met me!" His voice returned to his annoying pitch, and he danced while pointing at the samurai girl.

  "Can we afford to ignore him?" wondered AFKat with a disgusted look at him.

  "He can take out sub-bosses on his own, so he might attack us if we did that," TripleBatsuDance argued.

  "I can't ignore him either way..." BlackKokoro declared before casting a Glacial Crash on Babibubebo. The giant block of black ice fell on top of his head and shattered into a cloud of stars. He was frozen in place, and everybody exchanged hopeful looks. However, it only lasted for a few seconds before he started moving again.

  "Huh, lost consciousness there for a second. What did I miss?" Babibubebo feigned ignorance and asked, winking at them irritatingly.

  "Let's just leave..." BlackKokoro looked thoroughly defeated. She didn't even feel like fighting the Great Necromancer after all this.

  "Let me try something, yeah?" IpponSakura opened her portal, which would lead her back to Dragonheart's Sanctum, and then walked forward. "Give me your blessings."

  TripleBatsuDance understood what she wanted to do and took off her mask. Her multitude of auras affected the samurai girl again, who approached Babibubebo with a hand on her katana.

  "Oh, you're approaching me? Instead of running away, you're coming right to me?" He put on a mocking voice, striking a pose with a hand over his face and hugging his own malformed body. He was a head taller than her, even while she wore her tall tengu geta, but her stature exuded much more power.

  IpponSakura didn't respond and took on her stance before unleashing her attack. A hundred slashes cut through Babibubebo in the blink of an eye, and his health shot down visibly before reaching zero in an instant. The following explosion of spells engulfed the Oni, who had no means of shielding or defending herself against non-physical skills.

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  When the effects disappeared, she still stood tall, although her entire body was covered in blood, and her health had been reduced to a small sliver. Her Oni regeneration kicked in, and her health was almost back to full when Babibubebo returned through his portal. He stared down at IpponSakura with an inscrutable expression.

  "So, will you continue this, yeah?" she asked with a warm smile as the blood disappeared from her skin.

  "Hah, you don't scare me. You'll give up from the pain long before I-" Before he could finish his sentence, IpponSakura unleashed another blindingly fast combo that killed him on the spot. As before, she was engulfed by his explosion but barely survived and regenerated back to full right as he came back through the portal.

  "I will take you coming back here as an answer from now on, yeah," she stated before he could say a word and cut him in half with an [Iaijutsu] slash that converted all her attack speed into damage. It was enough to oneshot him.

  AFKat and the others watched anxiously as this repeated itself seven more times before there was a pause. Babibubebo's portal was still there, but he didn't come through immediately like before. Maybe he finally had enough upon realizing that she would continue wordlessly until all of his respawns were depleted. And there was no question that she would; she was just that kind of player.

  "Hey, can we call a timeout?" he suddenly stuck his head through the portal and asked. But in doing so, he was pulled through completely and stood before IpponSakura, who didn't even respond and simply cut him down again.

  "He's faltering. You can do it!" Her friends cheered her on. After all, she felt the pain of his explosion every time, and it hurt like hell. Luckily, her Oni constitution meant it wasn't as intense as it could have been. Still, she had the perseverance to withstand it so that BlackKokor wouldn't lose the will to continue. Players who ruined the experience for others for their own entertainment were the worst.

  But this time, Babibubebo took much longer to return, to the point everybody thought he had given up. However, he jumped back through the portal when they were discussing whether they should continue already, surprising everybody. "Did you miss me, everybody!"

  "No," was all IpponSakura said as she unleashed another flurry of slashes. It didn't look like anything had changed, as he died as quickly as before.

  But when he exploded, IpponSakura's health dropped more rapidly than before. She tried to jump back and escape the area of effect, but it was already too late. Her health hit zero, and she blacked out. Only a text box filled her vision: Respawn in town? And the options were yes or no. She wondered what would happen if she chose no, but didn't want to test it right now when her friends were waiting.

  She appeared in Dragonheart's Sanctum on the main square and found her portal, which she had placed earlier in her foresight, right beside her. The Oni took a second to scan the area, noticing [Paladins] of the Order of Justice patrolling everywhere. One of them noticed her presence and gestured for his companion to take a look. Before they could call out to her, she stepped through the portal and appeared in the Crawling Mausoleum again.

  "How about this? You wanna go again?" Babibubebo asked with a gleeful grin that made him look even uglier than he already was. They had returned at roughly the same time.

  "I'll take care of this then," TripleBatsuDance put on her mask again and cracked her whip. But Babibubebo dodged it this time by avoiding it physically. The attack windup of her ranged attack was more predictable, so a good player could step out of its area of effect. But only the best players in the world could avoid IpponSakura's attack speed.

  "Heh, you're not getting rid of me that eas-" he started to taunt them, but was interrupted by BlackKokoro casting an [Unlimited Power] on him. The spell needed to be channeled and didn't do as much damage as [Conduit of the Void], but its shocking effect could stunlock enemies who weren't immune to it. It seemed Babibubebo was one of those. "Ababababababa-"

  He lost control over his voice as his skeleton showed through his skin. It took longer than before to take his health down to zero, but at least he was far enough away from anybody that his increased damage didn't matter. Once again, he disappeared into an explosion of spells and emerged from his portal a moment later.

  "Ooh, that was a new sensation! I like it!" he stated with an irritating grin, posing like an absolute buffoon to mock BlackKokoro's effort. She exchanged a pleading look with her friends; her will would shatter before she could break his. They had to give up and leave.

  "No, I'm not going to give up," declared TripleBatsuDance as she swung her whip. Her attack speed was fast, but Babibubebo still managed to dodge it all because the patterns were limited. And he did so while pulling grimaces and slapping his own ass to make fun of her. "Stop moving!"

  "When you get angry, you lose," WolfGodKotaro muttered with a tired expression. In his heart, he had already given up. Their journey to the west would end here, and they would have to go elsewhere in hopes of escaping this madman. Maybe they could return to town, then travel to the Undead Wastes waypoint at the top of the Jagged Pass. By the time they returned to this point, this guy had hopefully grown tired of sticking around and left to bother other people.

  The party watched TripleBatsuDance struggling to hit Babibubebo until a stray attack finally connected. When he exploded, she celebrated her victory as if she had forgotten that this was not the end. And her mood, elated to new heights, plummeted into the abyss when he appeared from his portal and wiggled his hips. "Oops, I guess. But I can do this all day~"

  "AAAARGH!" the dancer screamed.

  "What's going on here?" MANhera asked as she came around the corner of the corridor with KuroYasha.

  Babibubebo turned around to her and saw her name. He stared at her blankly for a moment, and his mind raced. Everybody in the game knew MANhera. Her build was legendary, and many had tried to replicate it, to no avail. He had been one of them, but he had given up despite having near unlimited money. The items necessary to reach her heights were simply not available on the market because they were uniquely crafted gear.

  "To think I get the chance to face a legend. Today must be my lucky day!" he declared and ran toward her with the most obnoxious gait a human being could possibly have. Everything about him was an affront to good sense. "You'll be my vict-"

  MANhera didn't miss a beat and punched Babibubebo. The impact was such that his model seemed to distort before he was sent flying over the ziggurat's wall and into the distance. He exploded in midair, leaving a portal high above the ground. The half-giant exchanged a confused look with KuroYasha. "What was that all about?"

  "You saved us!" TripleBatsuDance and BlackKokoro hugged MANhera and cried in unison.

  "So we could have just thrown him?" IpponSakura wondered with a flabbergasted look at AFKat, who looked done with the day and covered her eyes.

  "I hope we never see him again," said WolfGodKotaro, not knowing that they would meet Babibubebo again quite soon.