Astaroth and Abaddon had been lucky enough to wind up in the same Village of Beginnings as Aris. As per the instructions of their master, they had been following the young woman, secretly protecting her. Any player stupid enough to get close with evil intentions was killed without mercy. Fortunately, not many players had bothered Aris after she bought a veil, and even fewer bothered her when she began taking quests.
To be honest, these two men were beginning to question why they were even protecting her. This woman could obviously take care of herself.
-600; -600; -300; -300; -300!
Aris was constantly dancing around the level 25 lord class [giant minotaur]. Asteroth did not know how much health it had, but with the amount of damage Aris was dealing, it wouldn’t be long before the enemy’s health was reduced to zero.
Asteroth felt a sense of awe as he watched the young woman dance along the ground with unparalleled grace, avoiding the swings of the [giant minotaur] like it was moving in slow motion. Even more than her grace, however, was the way she ruthlessly whittled away its health even as it continued to attack her with reckless and enraged swings. As the amount of health it lost dropped lower and lower, the [giant minotaur] became more and more desperate. Its swings became faster and more vicious, but that only made it easier for Aris to dodge.
Finally, with a cry of despair, the [giant minotaur] dropped onto its back.
“I did it! I defeated the [giant minotaur], and I reached level 10! Hee-hee! Wait til Adam hears about this! I’m gonna shock the pants off him!”
Aris jumped up and down, cheering excitedly and throwing her hands into the air. Asteroth glanced bemusedly at Abaddon, who looked like he didn’t know what to think either. They were both experienced gamers. However, from the moment they began watching this girl in secret to now, they had consistently been shocked by the things she had done.
“Oh?” Aris’s suddenly questioning tone made them look at her again. She was flipping through a popup screen they couldn’t see, muttering to herself. “It looks like I have some new items, but… hmm… they all seem pretty useless. I guess that means I can just sell them.”
With a shrug, the girl continued walking. Asteroth and Abaddon silently followed her.
The area they were walking through looked like an underground passage. It was dark and gloomy. The air smelled of dust. Asteroth was reminded of a story he’d once read about a young man who traveled into an underground labyrinth to rescue a queen. At least, he thought that was how the story went. It was hard to remember anything from before his time in Eden.
Aris did not run into any more monsters and eventually reached the end of the labyrinth, which only contained a small pedestal with a treasure chest sitting on it. Where experienced gamers like Asteroth and Abaddon would have been cautious, this young girl threw caution to the wind. They wanted to yell at her for being so naive. Did she not know that any treasure chest might be a [mimic]?!
However, the treasure chest was not a [mimic] and contained a pair of short swords, clothing that looked like a belly dancer’s outfit, and a scroll. Aris took each item from the chest and inspected them. While the clothing and weapons went into her inventory, she kept the scroll in her hands and studied it.
“Blade Dancer Class?” she questioned the thin air. “I wonder what this is?”
The area surrounding the magic academy was a city—a completely ruined city that had been abandoned four thousand ago, but a city nonetheless. It must have been where the people who didn’t attend the academy but helped run the place lived. He imagined tourists also stayed inside of the city.
Adam could not tell what kind of architectural style had been used in the construction of these buildings. They were all burned out. Many of them were missing walls and roofs, and a few were just piles of rubble. Even though the battle that had destroyed this place happened over four thousand years ago, the battle scoring from spells and weapons still existed. No one had ever come back to reclaim this place.
“This city reminds me a little of the towns and cities that were abandoned after World War III,” Fayte said in a soft voice.
“I didn’t know you traveled to places like that,” said Adam.
“I have only passed through them,” Fayte admitted. “Though I used to think it would be interesting if I could stay the night in one. I tried to convince Su to spend a night in a ghost town with me, but she refused.”
“S-sorry,” Susan mumbled an apology.
Fayte rubbed Susan’s head like an affectionate older sister. “There’s nothing to be sorry for. If anything, I should be sorry for trying to convince you when I know you hate anything spooky.”
“You two should try to be quieter,” Titania muttered in a whisper. “There is no telling what kind of monsters lurk in this place.”
Her words caused Fayte and Susan to go silent, and the group continued walking down the abandoned street.
Their formation was pretty standard. Adam once again took point, Lilith was taking up the rear, and Fayte, Susan, Titania, and Kureha were in the center.
The sound of their footsteps echoed ominously loud as they meandered through the abandoned streets, though maybe that was because they were the only people present. That was how it felt to him at least. Even Adam, who kept his senses extended in all directions, could not sense anything.
“It doesn’t look like there are any enemies,” Adam whispered.
“No. There are definitely enemies nearby,” Titania corrected him.
Adam wanted to ask her what she meant by that, but a howl echoed around them seconds later. A chill suddenly ran down his spine. Of course. Not all enemies were human. In fact, most of them were monsters.
“Everyone, be on guard!”
His orders weren’t needed. Everyone was already closing ranks. Adam and Lilith moved in close to Fayte, Susan, Kureha, and Titania. Adam did not activate [Blood Sacrifice] yet, and Titania was still waiting to see what kind of enemy they were facing before she decided on a song to sing.
Just as Adam was about to suggest they keep moving, several dozen figures rushed out from around the corner of a ruined building. These creatures raced toward them on four powerful legs. Their bodies were covered in sleek black fur the color of midnight. Only their white bellies and areas around their eyes were a different color. Adam recognized them for what they were.
[Dire wolves].
While not as powerful as the [storm wolf] they had fought before, [dire wolves] were still a serious threat, especially in large numbers like this. It looked like they were part of a pack. He didn’t know what level they were at since Titania had not cast [scan], but he imagined it would be much higher than theirs. There were also more than two dozen of them, which meant there were far too many for their group to handle.
“I… uh… I think we should run,” Fayte said.
“I second that,” Lilith agreed.
“Um… how can we?” asked Susan. “We’re trapped.”
Adam quickly considered the situation as he looked at the ring of [dire wolves] surrounding them. This encirclement was impressive. It looked like these [dire wolves] were somewhat intelligent. Not only were there a lot of them circling his party, but there was another [dire wolf] further away. It was bigger than the others and had glowing yellow eyes. It stood on the roof of a building that hadn’t collapsed and stared down at them with a triumphant snarl on its face.
That one must have been the pack leader.
“Titania, use [Song of Vigor] to increase my attack power please,” Adam began in a calm, collected voice. “I’ll carve a path for us. Once I do, I want all of you to run through that path. Don’t worry about anything else. Just run.”
Nobody said anything, but Titania started singing, and Adam suddenly felt like he could take on the entire world. The [Song of Vigor] did exactly what it sounded like, invigorating him. Taking a deep breath, he also activated [Blood Sacrifice] to further increase his attack power, then counted down from three, two, and one.
>
Pushing off the ground with his toes, Adam burst forward at a speed far quicker than his in-game stats seemed to suggest he could move. He was on the first [dire wolf] before it could attack, activating [Dance of the Sakura Blossoms] and attacking. He swung his blade with the elegance and grace expected from a dancer instead of a warrior. If someone were to look at the pattern his feet made as he shuffled across the ground, they would have noticed that it looked like he was making a giant sakura blossom.
-23,940; -71,820; -215,460; -646,380; -1,939,140!
Adam’s continuous stream of attacks flowed together. The first two attacks didn’t instantly kill a [dire wolf] in one hit, but every swing after that was a killing blow. The amount of damage he could deal was incredible. With [Blood Sacrifice] tripling the damage he did, and then Titania’s [Song of Vigor] further tripling the amount of damage he could inflict, Adam’s already high Physical Attack stat had reached a hitherto unheard-of level. He was like a one-man army.
Of course, Adam was still just one person, and he couldn’t defeat so many enemies at once. He carved a path through the [dire wolves]. Following right behind him were Titania, Kureha, Susan, Fayte, and Lilith. Thanks to his sudden surprise attack and the series of quick deaths he had inflicted, the [dire wolf] pack couldn’t respond right away, but upon seeing their prey escape, they howled and chased after him and his party.
They raced through the city, the [dire wolves] hot on their heels. Up ahead was the magic academy. It was getting closer and closer, the tower growing larger and larger in their vision. Now that he was so close to it, Adam could appreciate just how massive the magic academy was. Even the tallest skyscraper in the real world could not match up to this monstrosity.
“Ahhh!”
As they were nearing the tower, Adam heard a scream. He recognized Susan’s voice!
He spun around and ran over to Susan, who had fallen onto the ground, lifted her into his arms, and stood back up. A [dire wolf] got close and tried to snap at him, but Lilith swooped in and activated [Pinpoint Strike] to attack the [dire wolf] where it was weak. She buried her dagger into its neck. The creature howled in pain and threw her off as a large damage sign floated over its head.
-13,734!
Lilith landed on her feet, spun around, and began running right behind Adam. Her attack had done what it needed to. The [dire wolf] who had attacked him was no longer close and they were putting distance between themselves and it.
Susan, now in Adam’s arms, was blushing red as a tomato as he raced toward Fayte, Titania, and Kureha, who were already at the massive double doors to the magic academy. Fayte was waving at them to hurry up.
The doors were locked, but Adam used the [unknown key] to open them. They raced through the doors. Then Fayte and Lilith pushed them closed behind their party. A loud bang! echoed around the room and the doors shook as something struck them. Susan squeaked in fright, and for a moment, Adam thought the door might break. Several more banging noises echoed around them as the [dire wolves] slammed into the door, but then it grew silent.
Adam sighed in relief and turned to observe their new surroundings.
This room reminded him of an atrium. It looked like the central hallway to a massive building that branched off into more hallways. Far in the back was a split staircase. Columns jutted from the ground and stretched up to the ceiling. When he looked down, Adam realized the floor was made of granite and was in surprisingly decent shape for something that had not been maintained for thousands of years.
Of course, there was a lot of battle damage too. Some of the columns had been destroyed, a few sections of the ceiling had collapsed, and there were a variety of skeletons dressed either in armor or the ragged robes of mages littering the ground.
Adam set Susan on the ground and she jumped away like she’d been scalded. Her face was beet red. It was kind of cute if he was being honest, but Adam didn’t have time to focus on her because, at that moment, several announcements appeared before them.
Ding!
[Congratulations! You have killed 15 [dire wolves]. [Dire wolves] dropped the items x10 [Dire Wolf Pelt], [Speed Ring], [Wolf Pelt Gauntlets], and 150,000 gold coins. +1,150,000 experience points!]
Ding!
[Congratulations! Changing_Fayte has leveled up! She is now at level 15! +60 HP! +120 MP! +5 SP!]
Ding!
[Congratulations! Little_Su has leveled up! She is now at level 15! +125 HP! +10 MP! +5 SP!]
Ding!
[Congratulations! Lilith has leveled up! She is now at level 15! +195 HP! +10 MP! +5 SP!]
“Looks like… we made it,” Fayte said between gasps for breath.
“It was a close call.” Titania crossed her arms. “We are lucky that Adam has such a ridiculously high Physical Attack stat and that broken ability of his, or not even my [Song of Vigor] would have changed the outcome.”
While Fayte and Susan were both breathing hard, one from running and one from a combination of fear and embarrassment, Lilith stood off to the side with her arms crossed. She said nothing, but she was looking at him.
“Thank you for the quick save, Lilith,” he said.
“You’re welcome.” While Lilith’s reply was simple and her voice cold, Adam thought she sounded happy just then. For some reason that was beyond him, he thought he could see a tail wagging behind her. He was tempted to rub his eyes.
“A-Adam,” Susan said suddenly, clutching the fabric of her clothes and biting her lower lip. “Th-thank you very much for saving me. And... sorry for being such a burden to you.”
“Silly girl.” Adam flicked her forehead, though he didn’t apply any force. “Why are you apologizing? The only thing you need to do when someone helps you is say, ‘Thank you’. That’s what people want to hear. Not apologies.”
Susan’s cheeks grew even redder, until it looked like they might explode with fire, but she was still somehow able to find her voice and say, “Uh, right. Th-then... thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“What should we do now?” asked Fayte.
“It’s getting pretty late, so we should probably—”
Just as Adam was about to speak, a ringing noise let him know that someone was calling him. Since there was only one person on his friend’s list who wasn’t with them, Adam already knew who it was.
“Aris?” he asked after activating the player chat function.
“Adam! Guess what! I reached level 10!” came the excited voice of Aris.
“Wait. Already? That’s amazing!” Adam said, and he meant it. “I think you’ve managed to reach level 10 in the same number of days that I did!”
And to think she had played fewer hours each day than he had. If she’d been allowed to play twenty hours a day like him, it wouldn’t have taken more than maybe two days for her to reach level 10 at her pace.
“Hee-hee. I’m awesome, right? I just did what you told me to and took on lots of quests. Also, listen to this. When I was on my last quest, I went into this labyrinth that had all kinds of treasures. Not only did I pick up some really cute clothes that increase my speed, but I also got two new weapons and a hidden class scroll.”
Adam was not the only one shocked by what Aris was saying. The others could all hear her as well, though they were unable to speak back. Members of his party could listen, but unless Aris was also a part of their party, they could not speak to her. All of them were gazing at Adam with wide eyes.
“What is the class name?” he asked.
“It’s called Blade Dancer,” Aris answered. “It’s an amazing hidden class that increases my Speed and Movement and lets me use two weapons at the same time. Just watch, Adam! I’m gonna become the best dual-wielding badass this game has ever seen!”
Another dual-wielding class, huh? Adam glanced at Lilith, who possessed a class that let her use two weapons as well. Hers was an assassin class, though, which had a heavy focus on attack power. It sounded like a class focused on speed.
“Anyway,” Ar
is continued, “I’m about to leave the Village of Beginnings.”
“Ah. Wait.” Adam knew he needed to stop her before she did that. “I’m actually in the middle of something right now. Could you hold off on leaving the Village of Beginnings until I’m finished? Then I can meet you when you arrive in Watershore.”
“Hmm… okay. I can do that. In that case, I’ll log off for now.”
“Thanks, Aris.”
“Hee-hee. You’re welcome. Get off the game soon so I can kiss you.”
Adam ended the call and spoke with Fayte, Susan, Lilith, and Titania. They decided to end their session here. It didn’t look like there were any enemies in this atrium, so while it was certainly creepy, Titania and Kureha shouldn’t be in any danger.
Before he logged off, Adam decided to check the stats of his party, and, just as he suspected, they needed to get Fayte a better class.
Name: Lilith
Class: Demon Knight AssassinsLvl: 15
SP: 0
AP: 17,020
Experience: 1,025,500/2,2457,600
Reputation: 63,000
Strength: +110
Constitution: +60
Dexterity: +125
Intelligence: +5
Speed: +100
Physical Attack: +1,170
Health: 595/595
Hit-rate: ???
MP: 85/85
Movement: +200
Defense: +405
Magic Defense: +405
Dodge-Rate: 5,000%
Magic Attack: +10
Name: Little_Su
Clas: Fairy Archer
Lvl: 15
SP: 0
AP: 15,150
Experience: 1,017,460/ 2,457,600
Reputation: 70,000
Strength: +35
Constitution: +30
Dexterity: +20
Intelligence: +5
Speed: +50
Physical Attack: +195
Health: 720/720
Hit-rate: 400%
MP: 90/90
Movement: +200
Luck: +1
Defense: +185
Man Made God 003 Page 8