The Anime Trope System: Stone Vs. The Viper, A LitRPG Novel. Chapter 386

Ring City, Terravon…

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Crusader Secret House…

Tiffia, crusader researcher, laughed and cheered at the news her subordinates delivered. They gave her a confused look then shrugged, wisely deciding to stay out of researcher business. She stretched on the couch, secretly pleased at the blushes of the two men. Despite her devotion to the organization, the woman still wanted to look good. Sure, she could pull off a s.e.xy scientist look, but all it would take is one day of losing track of time while in the lab to end up with the mad scientist appearance instead.

Why did they order her to go after this Terrance, anyway? He was no bigger a con than every man in charge of a marketing department. And that sweet ma.s.sage he gave her.

It's a shame he didn't recognize his customer from the day before. She giggled. Such skillful hands.

Tiffia felt bored. The two men were tasked to stand by the door and beat the life out of anyone that walked in without her permission. Grunts with hopes that they could rise up. Hopeless. Muscles like those were useful hitting things, nothing more, nothing less. She was seconds from teasing them by showing a little bit of the panties beneath her short dress when her new phone rang.

"What? Can't you see I'm busy?" she said to the person on the other line.

"It is preposterous that you speak to me this way, Tiffy, for I have news about Chizuru and her group, mind you," said the sn.o.bby-sounding man.

"Well it's about flipping time, Raoul," Tiffia said, standing.

"The Lion Continent," Raoul said. "She's in the northern nation of Knubs. Is she heading to where I'm thinking she is?"

Tiffia blinked. "Strange. Who gave you this information?"

"That I'm afraid is none of your concern," Raoul replied. "You were looking for her and as a fellow researcher who secretly supports your project, I found her in good faith. Why do you need her?"

"Well, to use your own words against you, I'm afraid it's none of your concern," Tiffia said.

"Harsh," Raoul said. "Shall I send some….quarantine people after her?"

"Get her and the entire crew here," Tiffia said. "I can't reach any of them by phone."

"You do know their movements are strange," Raoul said. "And it looks as if they're heading to…Wait, you don't think they're headed to Lead Researcher Tizen's lab? He hates them—I can't imagine that antisocial sonofab.i.t.c.h actually calling for anyone. Even if he—"

"Have them followed," Tiffia said. "If Tizen actually called for them, I want to know why." The unspoken words resonated with every crusader researcher and that was Tizen being the reason why they held so much power.

"Consider this done," Raoul said. "And in the meantime, why don't you explore Ring City a bit. Maybe you can do something about the dragons?"

"Are you out of your mind?" Tiffia scoffed. "I'm not about to take on a dragon. That's the job of a knight in s.h.i.+ning armor." She hung up on the crazy man. Exploring did sound like a good idea. Maybe a quick bite to eat.

She winked at the grunts on her way out and made sure to brush against an arm as she pa.s.sed by.

Afternoon…

Lot City, Yaponiya…

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"Nyyyaaaa. Not sure about that one."

"Neko if you don't get out of my ear," Clyde said as he pulled a wooden block from beneath the tower on the table. Somehow Natalia brought up the game Jenga and a glistening-eyed Alice convinced him to play. Tear took the maidens to the meeting room in the back to bring them up to par, reluctantly taking Asu along. The young man sent Kaguya, Dera, and Amina too. He offered to explain everything himself, but the succubus insisted on doing the talking.

And half an hour later, they were killing time. Clyde, Natalia, Harumi, and Kanako. Neko decided to backseat play his turns, which he attempted to ignore to the best of his ability.

And of course, within a few plays, he was the one to bring the tower down.

"Nyan, that's a sign that you should not ignore my advice," Neko said, still draped over him, b.r.e.a.s.t.s pressed against his back.

"Or I could enjoy the game without being told how to play it," Clyde said, grabbing Neko's tail. He completely forgot the implications of doing such a thing because she let out a small moan then covered her mouth. Ako facepalmed. The rest of the women shot Clyde a blank stare. Tetra laughed.

"And that's why sharing is caring." The dark elf took a sip of her tea and sighed, smiling in happiness and bliss. "Harumi, you are the best. Period. I don't know what magic you used to make this tea taste so good, but I love you for it."

Natalia sighed, then walked over to pull out a deck of playing cards. "It's time to play Opals."

"Opals?" Clyde said.

"Ah, they don't know about this game in your old world, pervy husbando," Natalia said.

"Uh oh," Alice said. "You can't play Opals without a wager. What are you up to, Nattie?"

"Oh, it's not pervy-nii I'm aiming to beat," Natalia said. "It's Harumi. If I beat her, she has to teach me how to make that tea. And allow me to use her b.o.o.bies as a pillow tonight."

"You know, I don't mind showing—"

"Let me get in on this," Kitome interrupted Harumi. "If I win, Alice has to give me some of her chocolate."

Alice scoffed. "Are you mad, woman?" Her voice was incredulous. Kitome grinned.

"I've always wanted to try some of your stash," Kitome said. "I don't know what kind of deal you made with Toru to supply you with the world's best chocolates like some kind of drug deal, but he won't even give me one."

Toru shrugged. "That chocolate's really hard and costly to get. Alice has money and a ton of businesses under her control that can help supply my father with the things he needs."

"I should've known it was a business deal," Kitome said, folding her arms.

"I want in this too," Kiko cheered. "If I win, then Clyde has to let me taste his blood."

Clyde shot her a blank glare. "Yeah, no."

"Nyaaa, It's Opals Clyde," Neko said. "If she wants to poison herself, then you are not responsible."

"It's not poison," Kiko said, almost pouting.

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"If I win, Clyde has to give me kittens," Neko said, causing everyone to turn to her. "What? I want a kitten. They're cute and cuddly."

"Ohhh," everyone said at the same time.

"Nya, what else could I be talking about?" Neko said.

Something about that didn't sit right with the young man. She had on an innocent smile. Even Alice looked at her suspiciously.

"So can anyone explain to me how this game works?" Clyde said. They grinned.

"Now why would we do that?" Kiko said, licking her lips.

"I'm in too," Kanako cheered, "though I never played Opals. If I win, Master sleeps with me for the night."

Matsume laughed. "Yuki, I know you want in too." The demoness stared at her flatly.

"Whoa whoa whoa," Clyde said, "what the h.e.l.l do you mean why would we do that. Explain the game—there are some huge bets going on. And I didn't even say mine yet."

"That's the beginner's rule," Chika said as she came out of the hall. A familiar s.h.i.+ning in her eyes made the young man gulp. "And I'm definitely getting in on this. If I win, Clyde will be with me for the rest of the night. And no less than five rounds."

Matsume laughed again. "I see someone's not afraid to speak about her s.e.xual cravings. I want the same deal too. Clyde's mine."

"No way," Natalia snapped. "No s.e.xual demands—you don't have a ring." The loli held up her hand, showing the jewelry off. "Pervy b.o.o.by cow."

Matsume smirked. "It's Opals and all wagers are fair. And besides, no one's forcing him to play."

"But if he doesn't, he'll look quite weak," Seth said.

"Are you joining the game?" Yusuke said to the blond.

Seth shook his head. "Nope, I've been dying to tease the magical girls at Clare's. There's no way I'm going to miss that." He lowered his voice. "I don't want to be the guy who f.u.c.ks with a G.o.d's harem. Let him have the bonding time."

"I never said I was joining," Yusuke said, laughing. "I'm going to pick up a game I preordered. It's waiting for me at Ziko's."

"I shall accompany you," Undine said. "You owe me ice cream."

Yusuke smiled at the super-beautiful reaperess. Sometimes Clyde couldn't help but feel like Undine was wasted on the ninja. Sometimes.

"I've got to pick up a few things from home," Toru said.

"Where'd my umbrella go?" Nina said, searching nearly frantically.

"We'll get you a new one," Toru told the gothic loli-vampire.

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"I don't want to go out into the sun without it," Nina said.

While everyone was distracted, Clyde pulled out his phone to do his research on the game, Opals. That's when his phone rang, the incoming call being from Chiyo. He answered.

"Clyde, we need Harumi really fast," the dragon girl cried. "My healing magic isn't good enough."

"What's going on? Are your sisters hurt? Where are you?"

"At Liru's house. She left us a key," Chiyo said. "And it's not my sisters. Hurry!"

"You guys wait here," Clyde announced to everyone in the room. "Let's go Harumi."

"I'm coming too," Alice said.

Clyde hurried outside, Alice and Harumi following. He initiated the Jump.

"Wait for me, Pervy husbando," Natalia said, hopping on his back at the last second.

The scene blurred for half a second until the group found themselves at Liru's open front door. They rushed into the building, guards up. In the living room, they saw the dragon sisters tending to the aid of two familiar people. The thunderbird looked panicked, rightfully so. Selkie….was solid stone with a crack in her center. On the floor next to her laid Dark, face blue, holding his stomach, covered in sweat. Trace amounts of black blood ooze from his mouth.

"What the f.u.c.k is going on," Clyde said then turned to Harumi. "Please help them. This is…"

Harumi was already on it, surrounded by enough magic to power a nation, as she cast. However, when her magic touched the duo, nothing happened. The kitsune's eyes widened.

"One second," Alice said, placing both of her hands forward. "I smell a curse meant to block all healing attempts. Whoever did this is someone we'd seriously have to be careful and concerned about."

[Alice activated Special Tier skill: All Calm Curse Eater.]

"Curses are the only thing that healing magic can't easily remove," Alice told Harumi.

"I've never dealt with curses," the fox girl admitted as she once again charged her magic.

"Let me doublecheck," Natalia said, waving her staff over the two gravely injured. After a few seconds, she nodded. "I don't know how you were able to do that, Highness. It takes true talent to make curses this powerful vanish completely."

"Didn't seem that hard to me," Alice said. "Anyway, let Harumi take it from here."

Harumi unleashed the healing magic. At everyone's relief, Selkie immediately changed back to normal without a single injury on her. Dark's bizarre condition vanished, returning his proper color. He opened his eyes, surprised. Myriad dove into them both, hugging the h.e.l.l out of the duo.

"Wow, am I glad to see you," Selkie said to Harumi as she gently moved the thunderbird to the side, petting her as she came back in for an extended embrace. Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"What the h.e.l.l happened to you two?" Clyde asked. "Those were the most aggressive status alignments I've seen in a while. Alice even had to remove curses."

"To think that curses actually blocked a dragon's healing," Chiyo said.

"They were incredibly powerful," Natalia said.

"To answer your question," Selkie said, "I was here to visit Chiyo, get some advice. She's one of my best friends. She let us know about the Falcon, who turned out to be surprisingly hostile. We set up a trap in hopes to capture him—after explaining how the stone-viper games are more serious than he thinks. Let's just say the bird disagreed."

"You mean HE did all of this?" Clyde said.

"He's still targeting my sister," Harumi said.

"Your Onee-san," Natalia said, as if correcting her. The loli earned a proper paper fan from the half-demoness.

"Well f.u.c.k," Clyde said, "I wanted to give the team a short break from the fighting in favor of just relaxing and training, but—"

"Trouble seems to come to you," Kimiko finished. Aimi grimaced.

"And here I thought I could return to my library and get away from the violence of men."

"I'm guessing she's a feminist?" Clyde said. He waved off the dark-pink haired dragon girl's protest. "Anyway, Charles—"

"It's Dark," Dark said. "Just Dark. I always knew I had no right to actually call myself the great lord of the dark…not after Aunder. But even after facing the Falcon. Well, he has some kind of transformation, a little similar to yours. He finished us off without even healing himself. He was so confident in his victory that going for a healing potion would only delay the inevitable."

"Oh quit your whining," Selkie snapped. "We don't need to sit through three weeks of you going emo like some low-quality TV arc. I was f.u.c.king turned to Stone. Petrification is one of the most terrifying experiences ever." She shook herself.

"Where is he? The Falcon that is," Clyde said. "I think it's time we've done something about him. We can't let someone that dangerous roam around, doing whatever the f.u.c.k he wants."

"I honestly don't know where he lives," Selkie said. "I sure want to kill the b.a.s.t.a.r.d for what he did, but the only thing I can say is that maybe he'll come back."

"I'll ask around for someone who can track him," Clyde said.

"If only we had some of his blood or a hair," Natalia said. "I'd easily find him."

Clyde petted the loli as he contemplated his next move.

"I'd highly recommend leaving this city for a while, by Jump," Clyde said. "Liru's going to be staying with us for a while until we got rid of the threat."

"Did you go back to Lot City?" Selkie asked.

"Yeah, but that's for an entirely different…threat," Clyde told her.

Selkie tilted her head. "Who?"

"The Supreme Demon Lord," Clyde said. And watched as everyone, but Clyde's group paled.

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