Hoku thought back to the words he would hear throughout his life. "Man up".
But that was impossible; any man would crumble in this hellhole.
He was lost in a cave, in a place he didn't know, being chased by a demon, and being further kicked down by the very thing that's supposed to help him.
He was just about ready to close his eyes; all he could see were the pebbles bouncing from the approaching beast and the countless buds decorating the floor.
Hoku mumbled to himself.
"He could probably stomp on them all he wants, huh? lucky bastard..."
"This goddamn system penalty"
He sighed.
Hoku thought back to the difficulty mod he was working on, how he never got to finish it.
'Damn'
"I get messed up by the system if I engage in combat," he stated, then paused to think. "But… what even counts as combat?"
"Do I have to touch them for it to register?"
He lay there for a moment longer, eyes drifting to the scattered pebbles dancing across the floor from the tremors.
then he stared more intently, looking at the gaps beneath. He saw a bud on the floor, and he stretched his hand out.
"If I dropped one of these rocks on their heads... would it count as combat?"
"Would throwing a pebble into them from far away change anything?"
He chuckled, retrieving his water and kicking his shoes back.
"What if I caused some kind of chain reaction, like a domino effect with a massive rock? I could get rid of a whole bunch of them"
"Okay, that's the plan!" He proclaimed, stretching and rising to his feet.
Hoku pushed back his legs and forced himself to move again. Swing in his arms, propelling himself forwards until he finally entered the passage on the right. He turns the corner, which leads to more open space, and to his despair, the buds are truly everywhere. On the bright side, his stalker might get a little confused by the split path, or so he hoped at least.
He gracefully skips across the sea of landmines, grenades strapped to his body, and warheads raining from above.
The ones falling and bouncing around on the floor weren't his concern; they just needed to be avoided.
But removing the ones that were latching onto his body, calling his pursuer to his location, was of far greater importance. Additionally, removing them recklessly would also inevitably cause a penalty, which wouldn't be ideal in a chase, to say the least.
Speaking of which, as if Hoku's new determination suddenly spurred a sliver of good luck, the rumbling of the beast from behind him was getting further away.
"Left or centre, typical normie"
In all seriousness, this proved a theory Hoku had concocted. At this moment, his pursuer couldn't rely on the sounds the buds made to guide him.
From what he observed, the buds only sing and drop down in his vicinity. When he stayed in that one spot by the intersection, the buds must have built up at that point, drowning out the sounds in his current location. 'Totally planned.' It wasn't. This meant that the beast had to choose which path to take. "Assuming he went for one of the middle paths, he'll have at most 1 more path to check before he's on top of me."
'Okay, getting to a safe spot away from these little bastards is first on the list'
'In the meantime, I don't mind doing a couple of tests'
As he runs through the open space, Hoku scoops up a small pebble and throws it aimlessly in the air.
He doesn't look back, unsure if he should hope for any feedback.
[You Have Defeated A Trivial Unbound: Singing Bud]
'So that's off the table, ' he sighs, but continues strong.
[Penalty Issued]
A burning pain possesses his body. But he's unstoppable, letting his momentum carry him forward.
He scans the area.
Just off centre from the direction he's running in, nestled in the rock wall, was a narrow entryway flanked by two large, stacked stone formations., The area surrounding it was already being littered with falling buds.
"Alright! If I can knock 'em over with without triggering the system, I can kill three frickin' birds."
"I'll smash any buds that try to follow me, block off the path, and dampen the sounds from the ones that are on me.
"That big bastard will get totally confused and back turn around!"
'But, if smashing the ones in front with the rock counts as combat-' Hoku thinks shivering at the idea of killing a whole group of buds at once.
He looks to his left and spots a slightly smaller group of rocks.
'found it'
He meticulously removes one of the buds that had landed on his head, carefully cradling it in his hand. Then he slides towards the small group of rocks, making sure he doesn't kill any on the floor. Next, he places the bud down in front of the rocks.
He then steps back, grabs a pebble and assumes a pitcher's stance.
"Please Please Please Please Please"
As though he were a natural-born prodigy, he throws the pebble towards the formation and closes his eyes.
[You Have Defeated A Trivial Unbound: Singing Bud]
"Shit"
He reluctantly opens his eyes
He missed and hit a random bud behind it.
Both relieved and embarrassed, He grits his teeth bearing through the pain.
He picks up another pebble, fully concentrates this time and throws it, this time staring squarely at his target.
It hits the stone, which consequently drops on the unsuspecting creature.
SPLAT.
nothing?
"NOTHING!"
'It's a miracle'
He waits a little for any chance that what he saw might've been an illusion.
Then he rushed to the entry point.
He realized it might be easer to push the stone formation instead, letting them drop down, but he was tired of all the pain and didn't think of testing that on a smaller scale, and he didn't have time to either: Hoku had been neglecting to remove any of the buds from his body; as a consequence, He couldn't hear the footsteps of the beast anymore, which concerned him.
Besides, if throwing a stone at the buds triggered the system, then it's logically consistent that pushing a stone would too.
So despite its difficulty, Hoku was intent on throwing a projectile to collapse the large formation.
To succeed, he needed to prepare. So he kicked and grabbed any pebbles in the area and moved them towards his exit point. Then he approached the formation, avoiding the landmines, and carefully changed the positioning, shifting the upper parts of the rock slightly closer to the exit, making sure not to let them fall.
'Perfect'
Hoku buried his head in thought, "If touch is a factor in system recognition, maybe there's a history like cache or something" Following this theory, he started repeatedly touching the floor as a precaution.
He glared at the singing crowd that was growing at the entry point just beneath the stone formation
"To think the final boss is a bunch of little rascals," he laughed.
"If this doesn't work, the pain might actually kill me..."