by D Wolfin
“Yes, I am.” Gladox nods his head casually as if it is a minor matter. “You also seem somewhat familiar, but I can’t recall someone who had a lizardman race. But to have white scales, what kind-”
Gladox’s voice trails off as his gaze focuses on Fen. The wolf girl is basically wearing a rather revealing swimsuit top and skirt. His eyes turn murky and a faint hint of lust blooms in the recesses of his pupils.
“It’s Fen! Oh, how I always wanted to meet you!” Gladox cries out in an undignified manner, rushing toward Fen with his arms wide open to embrace her.
The wolf seems to sense the approaching danger and her attention focuses on the crazed, overpowered player. Without even a flicker of her eyes, her ice manipulation is put to use. Gladox’s foot is firmly sealed the ground, causing him to trip and fall face first toward some newly formed six inch ice spikes.
Perhaps if he was more prepared, he would have been able to raise his arms to catch himself, but the suddenness of the event didn’t give him the opportunity to prevent being impaled. Gladox falls on three ice spikes, one of which goes through his eye. I know it shouldn’t cause much pain, but just witnessing the incident makes me cringe. I can’t even imagine what it would be like for the person who suffered it.
Fen moves across and leans against me, no longer paying any attention to Gladox. The latter doesn’t stay down, but slowly climbs back to his feet. His spirits seem to have dampened slightly after suffering Fen’s resentment, but I can still see him looking at Fen with hidden desires.
“Just give it up, it’s useless,” I helplessly say to him. “By the way, are you sure you’re Gladox? I could swear that Gladox was taller.”
“You must be Lost. Fen is my ideal woman. She’s an adorable companion; screw those real life girls! And of course I am. My height? Oh, that’s all in the camera angle! With the proper techniques, I could make myself look even bigger!” Gladox proudly says while puffing out his chest.
I also realize that he is that type of person; someone who prefers girls in games over those in real life. I glance at Fen and wonder if I’m actually any different. Either way, it turns out that the most famous player in the game is a massive fan of Fen.
“Well, let’s all sit and eat.”
Our dinner feast begins shortly afterwards, now with the newcomer Gladox. Sir Laurence has a lot of questions to ask him, mostly relating to girls and a noble man’s etiquette. It is an embarrassing sight to watch, but at least the two players seem to get along. Personally, I had imagined him to be much more domineering in person, but apparently video productions can be deceiving. I secretly wonder how I was perceived by others in Mason’s videos.
Gladox sends a couple of questionable looks at Fen as we happily eat our food, which causes a flame of jealousy to sprout inside of me. It is a strange feeling I haven’t felt until today, despite all the stares we have gotten before, and the reason for that is my still growing feelings for the wolf girl.
After dinner, we set up our sleeping areas and rest for the night. The legendary player, Gladox, chooses a spot not too far from us and does the same.
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I awaken the following morning to the sunlight pouring in from the entrance. I ponder to myself about how with all the caves on the mountain, why had I picked one that would face the sunrise…
I slip out of Fen’s grasp and silently walk to the entrance of the cave. I stretch my body along the way, but it doesn’t have the same satisfaction as it does in real life.
Everyone else is beginning to wake up, but I find Gladox already awake and staring at the sunrise.
“Hey, Lost,” Gladox says when he senses me getting close to him, “Could I borrow your companion for a while? This sunrise is such a romantic moment, it would be a shame to enjoy it alone.”
“Rejected,” I blandly say, leaving no room for negotiation.
Soon everyone else is also awake and the sleeping items are placed back in our inventories. Fen seems a bit absent-minded for some reason which makes me curious. I ask her if there is anything on her mind to find out what it is, but she just shakes her head and tells me that it is nothing.
We leave the cave and continue our roundabout route up the mountain, often climbing on our hands and knees because the slope is too steep. The only difference now is that Gladox is joining us. Just like in his videos, Gladox’s expression is one of seriousness as he casually keeps an eye on the surroundings in case any enemies appear.
As we ascend further, several more ‘Devil Goats’ and even a single enormous ‘Demon Gorilla’ – which is equivalent to a boss-like monster on this mountain – attack us. The mountain path is slightly wider and the slope of the mountain is gentler than usual, so there is much more room to maneuver as we get into an impromptu formation.
Gladox takes the front line, fighting diligently to deflect the enemy attacks and counterattacking their sacred arts with his own. At the same time, Fen and I make use of our speed to dash about the battleground while making quick and concise attacks.
Fen uses a pair of ice daggers to save her mana for later and I use my two sacred arts that have the lowest stamina consumption, ‘Triple Thrust’ and ‘CrossX’.
At the rear of the group, Sir Laurence grows dejected over the fact that his role in the party as a tank has practically been replaced by Gladox. I consider telling him that there can be more than one tank type player in a party, but I assume he will discover that soon enough. For now he just stays next to Verde to protect her as the two take care of any enemies that manage to make it behind us.
The first battle with Gladox as the main tank takes us nearly fifteen minutes to finish, but each subsequent one is usually finished within ten minutes as our cooperation as players quickly improves.
I admire the strength Gladox displays with his massive bastard sword as he deflects nearly all attacks, even some that I would have considered to be unblockable. Though the heaviest of attacks and sacred arts he is still forced to evade, it is like almost nothing can hit him.
I also notice Gladox glancing my way when I display my maximum speed. His eyes have an excitable fighting spirit and it seems he wants to test out who is the better between us. Fen is also fast to the extreme, but Gladox only sees her with affection.
As we climb the final stretch of the mountain and are about to reach the peak, I turn to Gladox beside me and whisper to him, “Gladox, why are you so interested in Fen? There’s Verde behind us as well. She’s just as… no, almost as good looking, so why don’t you chase after her?”
“You don’t understand? I thought you did! Fen is a companion; a digital diva, one of the most perfect creations of man since the dawn of time.”
Completely out of my expectations, Gladox’s expression suddenly becomes ugly and he gives me a pained look as he pauses before continuing.
“Real girls are the worst! They lie and deceive and betray. They can be friendly one minute, and the next turn hostile. I have already given up on such things. Ah… the virtual life is the life for me!”
‘Friendly one minute, then turn hostile? Actually, I think you just gave the perfect description of Fen, rather than Verde. Fen will never betray me though, nor I her,’ I silently muse but don’t say it aloud.
Our conversation ended as we arrive at a temple at the summit of the mountain. The temple is enclosed within a deteriorated wall that is crumbling in many locations, allowing players easy entrance and exit. The walls take up an area of a hundred meters long and wide, enclosing a single large Buddhist Temple and several additional areas that could be used as prayer locations. This leads me to believe that we’ve found the location for our quest.
The only thing I am curious about is why Gladox was coming here as well. There is a chance that we met him halfway up the mountain purely by chance while he was randomly adventuring, but I believe that would be a bit too much of a coincidence. The only other possibility is that he is here for a similar quest.
&nbs
p; Rather than cautiously entering through one of the broken wall sections, Gladox takes the lead and walks straight toward the large gate at the front of the site and uses his shoulder to slowly push it open. I was concerned about monsters hiding behind the doors and waiting in ambush, though apparently that thought was unfounded.
I follow Gladox inside the walls and find everything long abandoned. The ground is cracked and tufts of grass are growing up in between. The buildings are in disrepair and some sections have even collapsed. The most notable part to me however, is that there are no enemies. My quest requires me to clear out the temple of all the occupying demons, but there are none around that I can sense.
I cautiously pay attention to the buildings around us, waiting for some form of demon to emerge and attack us, but my suspense is apparently unwarranted. Gladox leads the way as we directly enter the main temple and proceed through it. No matter where we go, there are no enemies.
“Gladox, isn’t it strange that it is so quiet?” I ask the four-eared wolf man curiously.
“Not really. There are a bunch of these temples on the mountain tops, most of them are empty. Perhaps we might find a stray monster or two if we inspect every part of this place, but that would be all.”
A depressing realization dawns upon me as I realize that this temple is only one of many, and the one we need could be any one of them.
Following Gladox, we arrive at a small isolated garden in the center of the main temple. The roof in this area is open and sunlight pours down onto the stones and plants, causing such a transcendent scene that I almost forget to question why this area is so well kept while the rest of the grounds are in shambles.
In the center of the garden, with a pebble path leading up to it, are three graves with several bouquets of flowers placed in front of it. Gladox signals for us to wait as he walks up to the gravestones, taking out a bouquet and placing it among with the rest.
Apart from placing his offering, I am close enough to hear him speak in a quiet voice. “Your descendant pays her respects to her ancestors, and hopes you may remain in peace, undisturbed in your slumber.”
A milky white light seems to rise from the ground, swirling around Gladox before slowly entering him. I would guess that it is giving him an amount of experience, or boosting stats.
“Is your quest done?” I ask him once he returns to the group.
Gladox nods, affirming my thoughts on this being the location for his quest.
“Yes, this is a popular quest that many players have been taking lately. I’ve heard that if the quest goes a month without being completed, the temple will no longer be pure and the lovely quest giver won’t offer it to players. More importantly, it will randomly give two stat points to the one who completes it.”
“Not pure anymore? That sounds like what we need, a Buddhist temple in this area that needs investigating and any demons removed. Essentially, a temple with demons should be the place we are looking for.”
“That sounds interesting, perhaps we should stay together for a while. I will help you complete this quest.”
Gladox appears to have good intentions, but I notice his gaze occasionally flickering over toward Fen, which inherently makes me protective and intend to deny him.
“Your help is more than welcome,” Sir Laurence says before I have a chance to reply. The silver knight shows a strange camaraderie with the famous player which I somehow find unsettling.
“Great!” Gladox says, slapping a large hand on my shoulder and not leaving me, the party leader, a chance to deny him.
Deciding to give up on my selfish rejection, I take the lead with Fen and lead us out of the temple and back down the mountain.
I don’t pick any particular mountain among the several I can see next, just creating an imaginary path connecting them and systematically choosing which mountain is “next” on that path.
Gladox, Sir Laurence, Verde, Fen and I spend two days and manage to reach the summits of four more mountains. With the distance between them and the amount of enemies, our travel between the temples is too slow. I try to avoid as many monsters as possible, but there is almost nowhere to avoid them along the winding mountain paths.
It’s on the third day that I cry out in relief when we find what we have been looking for. On the fifth mountain top the Buddhist temple is completely full of demonic beasts. I can tell before I entered due to there being not only an increased amount of enemies while ascending the mountain, but several dozen ‘Devil Goats’ patrolling the perimeter of the temple.
“And I was beginning to think we wouldn’t find the right temple until the very last mountain. Now then, let us go clean up these demons!”
Without worrying about strategy I lead our party toward a group of five ‘Devil Goats’ and throw some daggers at them to initiate the combat. The goats let out a hideous noise that quickly grabs the attention of two other nearby patrols and they quickly center their attention on us.
“Fen, slow down the extra two packs for a while,” I say while focusing my attention on the initial troupe of demonic beasts.
While the goats still have some distance to reach us, I cast ‘Dire Starburst’, sending almost a hundred minor wisps of dire flame at the group. The goats possess more intelligence than the golems (the last creatures I rained devastation upon with this spell) and break their formation to dodge. Their efforts are not completely in vain, but about half of the flaming wisps still hit them to cause considerable damage to the group as a whole.
Sir Laurence and Gladox step out front next as the squad of ‘Devil Goats’ finally reach us. Then the predictable Prince Charming shouts, “My lady, I shall protect you from these demons,” raising his shield while rapidly casting a holy spell to increase his defense and greatly reduce damage from the dark element.
Verde rolls her eyes as she stands behind his protection, waiting for the right moment to attack. I had expected this from everyone, but to my surprise Gladox approves of Sir Laurence’s words.
“So bold! Such an admirable quality to have, perhaps I should try it as well.”
I notice the four-eared wolf man stealing looks at Fen and can’t help but glare at him. He doesn’t seem to notice my look however, or at least he pretends not to.
Clearing my head of everyone’s useless quirks, I charge forward to strike the enemy once they have been blocked. I take note of Fen, who is currently manipulating small ice shards to form a minor blizzard that is blowing against the enemies. The two groups of ‘Devil Goats’ only take a small amount of damage over time, but their speed is instantly halved by the icy storm.
The first ‘Devil Goats’ collide with Sir Laurence’s shield, pushing him back over a meter and nearly causing him to collide with Verde. Verde quickly leaps out from behind him and slashes the goat twice before retreating. She tries to cut the back of its legs with a Sacred Art, but her attack misses.
Gladox’s large two-handed sword swings diagonally down gracefully, deflecting the attack of one enemy and attacking a second before it can hit him. I secretly praise the attack for its perfection and wonder if I would have been able to do it.
My attack comes next, supporting Gladox as I rapidly attack the already injured ‘Devil Goat’. Despite the enormous damage Gladox’s weapon does, I find that my Divine rarity twin short swords, the ‘Twin Nightingale’, is capable of keeping up over time. It may take five of my faster attacks against one of his, but they both are similar in damage.
I don’t get to keep attacking blindly with my speed for very long. Three of the goats come under the effect of my aggravation and change targets to blindly attack me. In order to conserve my stamina and mana for the two other groups that are slowly getting closer, I take a leaf from Verde’s book and hide behind Gladox, using him as my personal meat shield.
The three ‘Devil Goats’ try to charge past Gladox and attack me. The top-tier player easily prevents them with a few short movements and a simple slashing Sacred Art. I have seen videos on the internet of
him fending off four attacking enemies at once, so blocking three that aren’t even trying to attack him is effortless.
I take the opportunity to use my lesser Sacred Arts, striking them with ‘Triple Thrust’ and ‘CrossX’ consecutively. I also lead Gladox away from Sir Laurence and Verde to prevent my auto-aggravation from pulling their enemies too quickly.
The battle is finished before we even get a chance to get warmed up. The ‘Devil Goats’ have a high attack and a few troublesome dark magic spells, but their level and health aren’t overly high. The whole process goes quite smoothly.
The entirety of the other ‘Devil Goats’ arrive just after the first group is annihilated. They instantly open up with their dark spells, binding our shadows to slow us down, and attack with dark energy bursts. I take the most damage from the barrage, but I think of it as slowly training my Mind stat and shrug it off.
We have Fen’s help this time, so the second wave of enemies becomes entangled in ice attacks that come from unpredictable angles and throw the goats into disarray. I praise Fen’s tactics, approving of her yet growing skill. The only thing I worry about with Fen is making sure that she continues to improve her power so she can protect herself if somehow I am not there to do it myself.
I understand Fen is already incredibly strong, but players are extremely crafty and can easily bridge this gap. It is the experience of those who kill other players for fun that would be the deciding factor.
The ‘Devil Goats’ have poor coordination and cooperation, so we systematically take them down one after another. I lose about half of my health during the battle, but that was only from the wide-area darkness spell the beasts released periodically.
Sir Laurence, Verde, Fen, and I are all still around the early 200’s for our levels, and that is fifty or more levels above the ‘Devil Goats’. Most any other party of four would have a much more difficult time in killing them. Gladox himself is apparently nearly level 500, so he probably could have dealt with them all on his own in the first place.