by E A Hooper
“Okay,” Monika said, her tone conveying her disappointment. “Well, let’s keep going.”
The woman led Vincent deeper into the cavern, and they hopped off several more drop-offs. Eventually, the larger cavern split into four smaller tunnels, and Monika took them down one that continued to follow a spiraling path for a long time.
Vincent would intermittently pass narrow tunnels that branched from that one, and there’d be sleeping thralls crammed into the small spaces. They approached one thrall that was walking with slow steps, but it still had its eyes closed, and they went past it with no trouble.
The tunnel leveled off, leading them to a massive pit. Vincent couldn’t see the bottom because of numerous ledges that seemed to lead down into it, and it surprised him to see Monika jump onto one.
“You’re going down there?” Vincent asked. “Looks like a dangerous climb.”
“I need to pour the world sap out at the bottom,” she replied.
Vincent cast Zero Field, lifting them both off the ground. With his spell, he had them float past the ledges and continue deeper into the pit. After crossing twenty or so ledges, he finally saw a huge grub-looking creature at the very bottom. It had a circular mouth full of sharp teeth, and dozens of eyes around the mouth, but they all remained closed. Vincent heard a strange noise coming from its mouth, and it took him a few seconds to realize the creature was snoring.
What the hell is this thing? Vincent thought as he Scanned it.
[Grub Form] Orrin the Consumer (World Boss) – Monster Class: ??? | Ageless | Sex: Male | Respawn Time: ??? | Personality: ???
Monika equipped the jar of world sap, turned it over, and let it flow into the boss’s open mouth. Orrin sounded almost like it was choking at first, but then it gulped down the sap without opening its eyes. Once the jar was empty, the boss went back to snoring peacefully.
“Okay, we can leave now,” she whispered.
Vincent floated them up past the ledges, but he flashed a confused look at the NPC. “Why’d you feed that thing world sap?” he questioned.
“So he can grow up big and strong,” she answered in a happy tone.
“That’s a monster—a world boss!”
“This is his world. He’s destined to inherit it after the world blossoms. You and I are only guests, so it’s only fair we pay him back in some way.”
Vincent raised an eyebrow, but he held back all the questions brewing in his mind.
When they reached the top of the pit, he placed them on the ground, but then the tunnel began to tremble.
“An earthquake?” Vincent wondered.
“No, Orrin must be having a nightmare,” Monika replied. “I might’ve given him too much sap. That could make the trip back to the surface dangerous. The slightest tremor makes the thralls get restless.”
“You saying we’ll have to have to fight our way out?”
“No, you can’t hurt them. No matter what, you can’t kill the thralls. They’re probably still asleep, but more of them might be sleepwalking, and they’ll be more likely to slash at things close to them. We just have to be extra careful, but please, please don’t hurt them.”
Vincent sighed. “Okay, I won’t, but you’d better stay close to me.”
Monika nodded, and they backtracked up the spiraling tunnel. The thralls in the branching passages hadn’t moved, but some of them were snarling and twitching more violently than before. When they found the thrall that had been walking around earlier, they discovered him jerking his head around and swiping his claws at the air. Vincent used Zero Field to lift himself and Monika almost flat against the ceiling. They floated past the thrall, and Vincent didn’t put them down again until they were far past it.
They walked a little farther before one thrall in the branching passages reached out and grabbed Monika’s arm. She gasped in surprise, and her entire body tensed in fear.
Vincent readied Void Gun at the tip of his fingers and aimed it at the thrall, but Monika moved her body between them.
“No,” she said, barely louder than a whisper. “He’ll let go in a moment.”
The thrall tightened its grip, and Vincent suddenly heard the snap of it breaking Monika’s arm. As the NPC cried out in pain, the Ranger fired three Void Guns into the thrall’s arm, severing it from its body. The arm dropped to the ground, and Vincent grabbed Monika with Zero Field and carried them both away as the thrall let out a shrill cry.
In the nearby passages, the thralls opened their eyes and replied with similar screams, almost as if they all felt the same pain.
Vincent didn’t waste any time flying himself and Monika away at superhuman speed. He wrapped one arm around the NPC as they rocketed back into the larger cavern. Despite being a good distance from the injured thrall, the ones in the cavern had all woken as well. They snarled and sprinted toward him.
Vincent carried himself and Monika to the top of the cavern, but he had to dodge left and right as thralls leapt toward them. The monsters used their long claws to cling to the ceiling, and several chased after, moving almost as quickly as he could fly. One thrall leapt from the top of a drop-off and slashed Vincent, tearing through his coat, but it only left a shallow wound. He dodged two more thralls trying the same thing, then zoomed to the end of the cavern and back through the first tunnel.
The thralls disappeared behind them, and Vincent held Monika even tighter as he continued to use Zero Field to carry them through the narrow passage. Since he had little room for error, he kept the two of them closer to his side of the wall, ignoring the occasional rocks that slammed against him when he cut a corner too closely.
When they reached the exit, Vincent sent Monika through first, giving her time to squeeze past the gap. As he followed, he could hear the high-pitched cries of thralls growing closer. Vincent made it into the well and looked back to see the first thrall reach the gap. Its claw reached out to grab him, but the Ranger moved and flew them above its reach. The two floated higher, but the thralls didn’t even try to squeeze through the gap.
Vincent brought them back to the surface, and the shrill cries disappeared once they exited the well. He placed Monika on the ground and watched as she healed her broken arm with a light spell. When she finished repairing the injury, Vincent leapt forward and hugged her, surprising both the NPC and himself.
“I’m sorry I hurt the thrall,” he told her. “I panicked when it broke your arm.”
“It’s okay,” she replied. “At least you didn’t kill it.”
Vincent pulled himself away, then stared at the well. “They won’t climb out after us, will they?”
“No, I don’t think so. They seem to know they aren’t supposed to leave that place. I’m sure they’ll be back to sleep in an hour or so.” A big smile spread across her face. “Thank you for saving me.”
“Yeah, it was… no problem.” Vincent could feel his stomach sinking as he spoke.
Something about this feels wrong. That earthquake was too coincidental. Those monsters were keeping up with my speed right until we reached that last passage, giving me just enough time to squeeze through the gap. It’s just too—
NPC Quest Completed: Tending the Garden Part 2 – You’ve received a Hero’s Boon for 72 hours.
Vincent stared at the text, and he started to feel nauseous. It was all part of the quest, wasn’t it? ARKUS played my emotions like a fiddle.
“You have a look on your face like there’s something wrong,” Monika said. She glanced down at his chest where one of the thralls had cut him. “Oh! Let me heal that.” The woman raised her hand, casting a second light spell to fix the scratches.
“It’s nothing serious,” he replied, moving away before she could finish healing it. “I’ve wasted too much time here. I need to defeat the next boss.” He started walking toward the house, even as Monika called for him.
“Hang on!” she said. “Don’t you have to refill your mana? You spent a lot in the caves.”
“It’s fine. I’ll use some of my potions.”
“By then I’ll hopefully be on another world.”
Monika grabbed his arm, trying to stop him, but Vincent shrugged her off and continued through the backdoor of the house.
“Why are you so eager to leave?” Monika asked, her voice quivering. “You hugged me only a moment ago, and now you want to leave me alone on this world?”
“That hug meant nothing,” Vincent replied sadly. “Forget it ever happened.”
“What about the next time I have to go down there?” Her voice grew fearful as she spoke. “If you’re not there to protect me, the thralls might tear me apart!”
“Earlier, you acted like it was no big deal. You said you’ve been down there before. Plus, if they kill you, you’ll just respawn. You might act like you don’t know you’re in a game, but I think on some level you understand you’ll be just fine.”
That time, Monika didn’t reply. She waited by the bedroom door as Vincent grabbed items from the daiglass shard. He downed ethers as quickly as possible to refill his mana, then he pushed past her and headed for the kitchen, where he grabbed fruits from the baskets. When he turned, he saw Monika standing at the entrance to the hall, although he hadn’t heard her follow him from the bedroom.
“Why won’t you give this world a chance?” she asked him. “Why won’t you give me a chance?”
“I never consented to being trapped on the World-Tree,” Vincent told her. “I don’t want to live an extended life without my wife. I just want to find my friends and see how they’re doing. They’re the only thing that’s made all my time here worth it.”
“You mean—” Monika paused, looking like she was thinking. “You don’t care about reaching the top? The Voice of the World-Tree said you’d leave the Garden and try to reach the final world.”
“If my friends still want to, I might just do that,” he replied. “I like to think I’ve learned my lesson about obsessing over challenges too much, but if that’s what they want, then I’ll back them one hundred percent.”
“What’s even the point? What will you do once you’ve seen the top?”
“I don’t know, but it’ll be a fun journey regardless,” Vincent said with a smile. His mouth hung open a second as he recalled the rumors all those years ago. “Plus, there’s gossip that people can escape the World-Tree if they reach the top. No one has made it yet, so I’m sure it was nothing more than a hopeful thought, but there’s nothing wrong with staying optimistic. I guess I’ll see when I get there.”
Monika remained quiet and still. Her face softened with a listless gaze that even Vincent couldn’t read.
“Anyways,” Vincent said, feeling unnerved by her blank expression. “I’m heading out.” He walked into the living room, but when he glanced back he saw Monika hadn’t moved from that spot.
Vincent tried to take his mind off her and headed outside. As he journeyed back to the valley where Eferia had twice cut him down, he practiced the breathing exercises his wife had taught him. Focusing on his breathing helped clear his mind of his worries about the NPC Monika, ARKUS, and Rosaria.
When he approached Eferia, the fireflies scattered as if they knew another battle would happen. The boss rose to her feet, but she hesitated to draw her blade.
Eferia senses your aggression. Do you want to challenge her or meditate? (Challenge/Meditate)
Instead of replying, Vincent took the stat-boosting fruits from his inventory. After eating them all, he equipped his Specter’s Pendant and summoned an astral knight to aid him. “When she attacks me, you intercept her,” he told the ghost.
The specter nodded in reply.
Vincent summoned a Voidfire in each of his hands, and Eferia took off at supersonic speed. His specter barely had time to move, and the boss cut the ghost down in an instant. Vincent hurled his first spell at the two of them, but the boss tossed the top half of the specter’s body into the path of his Voidfire.
With his superhuman reflexes, Vincent watched Eferia take off toward him. He knew she’d dodge his next Voidfire, so he did the only thing he could think in that split-second: he dropped Voidfire at his own feet before Eferia could swing her blade.
The explosion of black flames knocked them both back, but Vincent regained his footing. His Density Shield had kept him from getting tossed aside like a ragdoll, and even mitigated a lot of the damage to himself, although his coat had been torn to shreds. He managed to draw mana from the remains of the runes and held a Void Gun on the tip of his fingers.
The flames died down, revealing Eferia slumped on the ground a few meters from the blast. She’d lost both her legs, one arm, and—most importantly—her mithril katana. Branches grew lightning fast from her remaining arm, hoisting her off the ground. Vincent fired his spell, but the branches tossed Eferia aside and let her avoid it. When she landed, she scurried forward on her branches like a spider.
Vincent equipped a basteel sword, cast Density Field on it to increase the rating, and then sliced through a branch as Eferia began to send them at him one at a time. He cut through several in a single second, but by then the boss had already grown more from her arm.
Despite the opponent’s speed and aggression, he remained calm as he fended off the branches and continued to focus on his breathing. Finally, he saw an opening and sliced off Eferia’s remaining arm. The boss fell to the ground, writhing as tiny branches began to sprout across the remainder of her body. Before she could finish, Vincent stabbed his blade through her helm.
Eferia fell still, and then the branches across her body began to bud and blossom into flowers. A hundred different colored flowers formed, but then she and her florae crumbled into ashes.
Vitality Level Up: 373>376
Spirit Level Up: 401>404
Resolve Level Up: 374>377
Perception Level Up: 398>401
Agility Level Up: 372>375
Strength Level Up: 371>374
Oh man, I’m going to miss seeing stat increases like this when I’m done with this world.
Congratulations on defeating a boss on this Challenge World. You may choose one soulbound item as a reward.
Eferia’s Boots (Soulbound) – Material Rating: 600 | Samurai boots plated with ceremonial wood. This type of wood was created in ancient times by compressing different kinds of wood with world magic. Normally, it’s very dense, but these feel strangely light. | Weightless – When wearing these sandals, the user may spend a minuscule amount of mana to adjust their body weight anywhere between 10 and 100 percent.
Endless Edge (Soulbound) – Material Rating: 700 | A legendary katana from a faraway world. You feel the wind part around you when you wield it. | Agility Boost: This blade fills the user with an invigorating light, raising their Agility by thirty levels. Stat potions will have no effect on Agility while wielding this sword.
Florist’s Tome (Soulbound) – An ancient tome created in the earliest days of the World-Tree. The user can power this item by sacrificing florae to it. Any plant given to this tome will be catalogued. The user may spend Florist Points to summon anything that has been catalogued.
“Oh, you have to be kidding me,” Vincent said. “How am I supposed to choose between items this good?”
He sighed and tried to think. The boots might cancel out the speed reduction from my Density Shield. The ability to change my weight on the go would be useful too. I can be light when I need to be faster, and I could make myself heavy again when I’m getting tossed around—which happens way too often in this game. That’d be the obvious choice.
Vincent almost accepted it, but he took a second glance at the other two. The sword would make me faster. Maybe not as fast as I’d be with the effects of Density Shield negated, but it’d be an improvement. Plus, I’d always respawn with a mithril weapon. For most players that’d be too good to pass up.
His eyes fell on the Florist’s Tome. No one on the World-Tree would take this over the other two items. I’d have to b
e a madman to pick it. I mean, yeah, I could use this to acquire ingredients for good potions, since they’ve always been my bottleneck in this game. Also, if this can really recreate any type of florae, I could catalogue all the rare fruits that grow here—maybe even those square apples.
“No, no, just take the boots,” Vincent groaned to himself.
He hesitated for several seconds, then finally accepted Eferia’s Boots. As expected, they didn’t disable his Density Shield since their ability made them so light. He practiced switching his weight back and forth, finding it relatively easy, and then set it to thirty percent so that he wouldn’t be too light.
Vincent looked around for several seconds before finding the gild dropped by Eferia, then fed it to his tome.
Builder Points: 115,203
Well, that was less than Silpher, but I’m almost halfway there. If the other two give me as much as Eferia, then I’ll be close enough to sacrifice items from storage and make it the rest of the way.
Vincent started to head back toward the Garden, but then he paused.
The next boss will likely kill me on my first try anyway, and I have more than enough ethers to refill my reserve. I might as well find it and see what I’ll be facing. The north has a big Viking dude. The east had a samurai. The south had a pirate. So the west is probably something cliché like a cowboy. If I were a betting man, and someone were here to take the bet, I’d put a thousand gild on it.
Chapter 5
Vincent trekked across the world, eventually finding the overlap between two petals in the western hemisphere. There didn’t seem to be any noticeable strips of land, so he ventured north until he saw the world’s stem, then turned around and headed the other way. After following the divide for quite a while, he found a small gap between the petals that dropped into a dark abyss. Even with his Darkeye upgrade, Vincent couldn’t see how far down it went.
Not wanting to waste mana on a source of light, Vincent dropped in blind and landed about five seconds later. Instead of continually using Darkeye to look around, which would require him to spend mana every second, Vincent used it every five seconds to catch glimpses of the cavern. He spotted several large tunnels, and he made sure not to hit stalagmites as he walked around. Just in case he needed to make a quick escape, he used Eferia’s Boots to lower his weight.