(T3 Reward II) My First Webnovel, Part II (Patreon)

Here's the second half of my first attempt at a web novel, for those who want to read. Unfortunately, ultimately discarded, but it was fun to write. I like the Steps.

 

Chapter 27

The spearmen to the left of the one I struck was the first to recover.

“Attack, brothers!” He stabbed towards me with the spear, and his shout appeared to awaken the rest of them. Two of them hurriedly returned to stabbing the Large Axe man, who, judging by the fear in his face, was very close to death. The remaining tribesman lurched towards me. 

My right arm already was twining around the first spear, which I pressed against my side. I raised my left hand, pushing the point of the second spear harmlessly away from me. Then my right hand yanked the first spearman towards me, and I brought my hand up in a diagonal blow to smash his nose into pieces.

<Crushing Hand>

331!

Apparently, the technique became vastly more powerful when mastered. Based on my stats, I should be doing around 120, but this was more than double. However, only a third of the Tribesman’s life was gone, and there were several others remaining. But in the pit of my stomach I only felt excitement.

The spear I brushed aside returned with a persistent sting, and I was forced to let go of other spear and hop backwards. However, the bright metal tip still glanced off the electric shields.

10!

Ha, I laughed to myself. These ones really were cannon fodder. As I had that thought, the bird above my head caw’d, and a bolt of lightning chained across the 4 remaining tribesman, doing around 40 damage to each. That wasn’t a lot of damage, but it did stun them briefly.

With a roar, the Large Axe man took a clean cut down into the shoulder of one.

1001!

The Tribesman crumpled, boneless. I was shocked. What sort of broken strength was that?

Grinning, the man turned to me. “See? I can kill one in a single blow too.”

I ignored him and assumed the First Cadence, striking the tribesman I weakened with two <Crushing Hand>s. That tribesman died as well, and we focused our combined attention on one of the remaining two, quickly killing him. As we turned our attention to the last one,

<Frost Zone>

The feeling of the skill quickly made me scan the battlefield. While we had been moderately successful over here, it appeared that aside from the young man with black hair, there were only 3 players remaining, including the axe man. This…

<Chain Lightning> struck out from Zephyr’s fingertips, stunning several of the tribesman near the other two players, who took advantage of the opportunity and finished three of them off. A Lvl Up appeared above my head, but it was only black. I turned to a large group of 6 tribesman that was running towards me, spears aimed low.

Second Cadence!

BEAT!

With a huge blow, I sent the first two sprawling backwards, tripping up the rest of them. First Step of the Gust Path, and I was among them. <Crushing Fists> flew in every direction, targeting vital points and joints. Before they knew what had hit them, the six had been killed. With a wince, I noticed that my mana was only about 30 now. With the increased power of <Crushing Fist> there was an increased cost huh…

<Frost Zone>

<Chain Lightning>

Zephyr’s spell brought me back to the real world, and I spun around and joined the rest of the adventurers in driving the Tribesman away.

------

All in all, I ended the battle with a grin. After I had finished a group of 6 at the same time and turned to help the rest, and Zephyr had started casting <Chain Lightning> as soon as it came off cooldown, the will of the tribesmen broke, and the remaining ones retreated, shouting insults over their retreating shoulders.

I had gained two levels over the course of the fighting, but unfortunately now there were only 4 of the group we had attempted to help. Although I liked to think we had saved them from complete isolation, I couldn’t be entirely sure. I hadn’t seen the Black Haired Young Man fight, and he gave me a weird feeling that I couldn’t quite pinpoint.

We were now standing behind the cart, Black Haired Young Man inside the canvas flap, rummaging around. 

The Axe wielder was introducing himself. “Thanks for the help, I’m Kalp. The Archer is Lilin, and the other axe wielder is Ken. This fellow…” He gestured at the cart’s tent flaps, which burst open, and the black haired young man emerged with a bow.

“This fellow knows how to make an entrance.” But then he straightened  and offered us a long box, which he opened. It was filled with thin vials with red and blue liquid. “And this fellow always pays his debts. Health and mana potions. Feel free to take one of each. Restores 100.”

After we took the potions, he set the box down and sat on it. He put his elbows on his knees and his hands under his chin and smiled up at us. “And you may call this fellow Tsubame, the genius who is going to break this game wide open!” His cheeky grin spread even wider. “And make a profit while doing it.”

Chapter 28

Game breaking, huh? I thought, looking at him closely. He didn’t carry a weapon, and was wearing a simple tan robe. He sort of had the look of a friar from medieval England. What about you is exceptional, I wondered.

“But in the meantime, he’s just a weak adventurer roleplaying as a merchant,” Kalp finished with a snort. Tsubame’s grin suddenly seemed a bit contrived. Kalp continued. “That’s actually we are trying to cross this godforsaken mob cesspool. Sue convinced around 30 of us that if we were the first to bring goods to another continent, we would be paid in silver, if not gold.” Kalp raised his axe and gestured around in a circle.

“But...now we are down to 4. It’s too early to cross this area. If you guys hadn’t shown up…”

Tsubame tilted his head to the side and looked up at the slowly drifting clouds above us. “Perhaps it’s bad karma for making up detestable nicknames…”

“So?” I said, hurriedly attempting to refocus the discussion. “What are you guys going to do now?”

Kalp shrugged helplessly and looked at the other warrior adventurers, who shrugged. “The amount of tribesman in this area is just too high. We could go up onto the plateau, but…”

Zephyr’s eyebrows pinched together, and I had my doubts as well whether the cart could make it up the goat path we used to come down.

Tsubame had once more disappeared in the the rear of the cart. Kalp looked after him, annoyed. “Honestly, now that we are this far, I don’t want to stop. The border city should be just to the north. If only we could…”

“There’s a way.” The voice came from within the cart, but it felt as if the voice reverberated through the vast, empty plains all around us. It was just Tsubame… right?

“The chieftain in this area is indeed powerful…” Tsubame stepped out of the cart, holder a large book. He was quickly flipping through the pages, which were filled with strange, curving symbols. Symbols that looked like blades and shooting stars. I blinked. If I didn’t know better… it seemed like everytime I looked the position of the symbols on the page changed.

“He controls a vast horde of tribesman, and the ones we faced were simply the scouts. His elite forces are much more powerful. But.” Tsubame held up a single finger. “When personally challenged to single combat, the chieftain never refuses.”

Tsubame closed the book with a snap, and his voice returned to normal. He grinned at us. “Well, its not as if he’s weak, so it won’t be easy… but if we make it within the camp, someone can challenge him, and if you defeat him, the rest of the tribe will scatter.”

We all stood around, staring at Tsubame holding the strange book. Zephyr finally spoke. “So… is someone going to volunteer, or…?”

-----

So there I was, creeping along with Kalp, Lilin, and Ken, a vein in my temple throbbing as the millionth blade of grasp rubbed up against my bare legs. The itching was driving me mad. Although what honestly made me the most annoyed was Zephyr’s attitude of immediately helping these people. To him, it was the most natural thing in the world. Is this just how people in games behaved…?

Either way, Tsubame was ecstatic at our assistance, and immediately Kalp volunteered to duel the chieftain and be the party leader. While the assault team crept closer, the support team, consisting of Tsubame and Zephyr, were circling around onto the high point of a small bluff near the tribesman main encampment. Tsubame found it on one of the maps in his book, and assured us that it was close enough for magical assistance.

As a (non-essential, I thought pessimistically to myself) member of the assault team vanguard, I was to join Lilin and Ken in clearing a path for Kalp. I was pretty sure the colloquial term for my position was ‘cannon fodder’. But we had remarkably done well sneaking through the tall grass. We were drawing closer to the sentry line, and the time between groups of scouts was becoming shorter and shorter. Although in these groups there was usually only around 10-12, I still doubted that we would be able to prevent any from escaping and bringing allies.

“Stop! Something’s coming.” Kalp’s voice came through the party voice chat, and the 4 of us settled down on our haunches, keeping our heads low.

I peered around a particularly tall tuft of grass, and saw a large group, around 40 or so tribesman, walking down the path towards us. At their head, riding a horse, was a tribesman with a bare chest. He didn’t appear to have any weapon, but I eyed the small pouches at his waist suspiciously. Above his head was Lvl 19 Raid Leader Smol.

The entirety of the company walked past us, laughing and jostling each other. From their moods, they seemed to have won some sort of skirmish with a rival tribe. But as Smol passed us, his brown horse slowed from a canter to a trot, and then stopped. Smol scratched his nose.

...You would have to be an idiot not to see what was coming. I looked at my...companions.

Kalp was pointing towards Smol and then miming holding his nose. I rolled my eyes.

The First Current… I felt the Flow of forces around us.

In a flash, Smol had drawn and launched something towards Kalp.

The Second Current!

With narrowed eyes, I saw it was a sharp metal disc. My hand flowed in a circle, striking the flat bottom and knocking it off of the trajectory. Instead of burying itself in Kalp’s forehead, it sheared off most of the hair on the left side of his head, leaving a thin line of blood.

“Brothers…” Smol’s smile was gleeful, and he was staring straight at me. “We have company.”

Chapter 29

Although most of the tribesman had passed us, upon hearing Smol’s words, he spun around and charged toward us. Smol remained seated on his horse and crossed his arms. “So the small fries first, huh?”

Luckily, my companions realized that yes, they indeed know we are here, and sprung to their feet. The two axe wielders ran forward with a bellow, heading directing towards the bulk of the tribesman. Smol just sat on his horse as they ran past. Our eyes met. Smol simply shrugged. “It is the way of things. Your time will come soon, adventurer(Brawler?).”

Lilyn was already shooting arrows into the throng. I cracked my knuckles, a smile tugging at the corner of my mouth. There was a strange appeal to these larger, scrapy battles. Using the second step I surged past Kalp and was the first one to crash into the mass of tribesman.

-----

Tsubame paused and looked back at back at Zephyr, who was struggling to disentangle his robe from a thorny bush.

“Your companion… Silver…. he’s a martial artist in real life, right?”

Zephyr looked up, surprised. “Well yea, I kinda think so. How did you know?”

Tsubame grinned and sat on a small boulder. “I consider myself something of a connoisseur of VRPGs.... and this one is no exception. Gameplay, mechanics, balancing...I usually abstain from the more typical dumb-brute gameplay to instead savor the more esoteric systems; sometimes cooking or crafting or pet breeding or becoming a merchant, trying to find the edge of what the game will let you be.”

Tsubame looked over at Zephyr, and to Zephyr’s eyes it seemed like he started blushing. “Well, that’s not the point. The point is that I watch things carefully. And based on my <Analysis> skill… Silver has around half of the Str as Kalp. Additionally, Kalp wields a weapon which raises his damage quite a bit. And yet, aside from Kalp’s lucky crits, Kalp only has a slight advantage in DPS…”

Zephyr nodded. “...And the obvious explanation is that Silver’s strikes are “better” even as his stats are worse. So you assumed…”

“Well, it was just a fanciful guess.” Tsubame grinned cheekily and bounced up onto the balls of his feet. “But doesn’t it make you intrigued? What sort of ridiculous code are we running on, that so much of reality is preserved? But we should keep going. sounds like our assault team ran into trouble.”

------- 

<Crushing Hand>

A tribesman carrying a sword crumpled without a sound.  Two more stood around me, one to my left, one to my right. Three tribesmen carrying spears were rushing to surround me. The sword tribesman were a bit faster than their spear wielding brothers, but in exchange their health was only 300, well within my ability to one hit with an improved <Crushing Hand>.

The first spearman arrived, prodding towards me with his spear. I swayed to the right and stepped towards him, grabbing the shaft of the spear. The spearman was holding on for dear life, but his Str wasn’t enough to resist as I braced the shaft against my side and jerked to the right, sending him stumbling into the second spearman. One of the swordsman rushed in from the right, preparing to slash mightily downward at me. The third spearman came from the left, jabbing wildly.

The shaft was still on the left side of my body, so I brought the spear up and knocked the wild spear jab up into the air. I twisted, continuing the motion, bringing the spear shaft up over my head and to the other side of my body. Jumping forward, I managed to impact the swordsman’s blow before he began to bring it downward, sending him stumbling back. I let go of the shaft and grabbed his throat with one hand, with landing three vicious blows against his stomach. He fell over with a cry, dead.

The First Step carried me back towards the two entangled spearmen, who had finally managed to right themselves after I dropped the spear shaft. But they were still too close, and their stance was sloppy.

Second Cadence of Destruction!

The force of my charge set them both tumbling backwards. I interlaced my fingers, preparing an improved <Crushing Hand>. The third spearman jumped towards my back, eager to seize this chance to inflict damage. But as soon as he jumped, I spun and ducked under the blow, dashing towards him and shattering his knee with my double <Crushing Hand>.

354!

Even if my damage wasn’t enough to finish him off, his knee was really broken, and he collapsed, sobbing. I used the First Step to hop over him, and used both feet to stomp down, smashing his head against a rock.

902!

I grinned a little at the damage, and looked the remaining tribesmen. Maybe they didn’t see the damage, but they did see their allies head get crushed like an egg. I wondered, briefly, looking at their horror stricken faces, if I should feel more empathy for the NPCs. 

19!

A fourth spearman had advanced behind me, and landed a blow against my back. So this is the price of empathy on the battlefield, I thought to myself, spinning away and planning my next attack.

Chapter 30

Tsubame was clambering up onto of a large stone ledge. Zephyr was panting, barely able to keep up. “We have been walking for quite a while… aren’t we going to be too far away for me to cast spells.

Tsubame just shrugged. “It just seems that way because we have to walk around in circles for this rocky terrain. Trust me, we will be able to pull this plan off.”

Zephyr pouted, but threw his staff up onto the ledge and began the flailing process of pulling the rest of him up. 

----

After dispatching a gurgling spearman, I looked around. Kalp and the other axe-wielder were still standing, but both of their bodies were covered and gouges and scratches. Although we had defeated about half of the group, they appeared to be on their last legs. Due to the health gain on hit, I had managed to keep my health up around 200. I wondered idly how long until they level up, and made a mental note to ask Zephyr if there was some way to check. I had been getting around 7 experience for each tribesman I finished personally, but only 2 or 3 for the ones finished by the others.

Kalp’s heavy breathing acted as some sort of signal, and the crowd of tribesmen parted, allowing Smol to canter forward. About a dozen yards away, he hopped down off his horse, his landing kicking up a small puff of dust.

“You’ve had your fun adventures. But now it is time for you to die. Know that I am the left hand of Fafuol, greatest of the horde. Weep not on your loss, for it was inevitable.”

Flick, flick.

Two sharp discs wizzed forwards, aimed at the two axe wielders. Ken dodged by just throwing himself to the right. Although the metal disc did him no harm, the crowd of tribesmen descended, stabbing his defenseless form. The Second Step closed the distance in an instant. The First Cadence!

Beat, Beat

Beat, Beat.

The initial blow knocked a spearman to the side. The second Beat was as I launched a roundhouse kick against a swordsman's chest. Then, I descended up another swordsman standing with a sword raised above Ken, killing him with two hits. A black Lvl Up! appeared above my head. Grinning, I thought, Who says charity does pay off?

Ken managed to get back on his feet, looking ruefully over at me. “Thanks for that, I…”

But then Ken fell silent. His eyes went vacant. Then, after swaying for a moment, he fell forward, two metal discs lodged into his back. Smol was trimming his fingernails with another metal disc.

<Berserker’s Rage>!

Kalp yelled so loudly he sent a few nearby tribesmen stumbling back, and activated his skill. A red aura seethed around his body, his muscles bulging and quivering. Smol hopped back, landing in a standing position on top of his horse. He pulled out 4 more metal discs, and made the discs dance across his fingers. “Come.”

Kalp charged forward, wildly swinging his axe.

679!

543!

202!

950!

Some of his blows hit solidly, others were deflected by spears, but even still...I couldn’t help but think that the damage he could inflict with his axe was frightening. Smol stood poised on the horse, still playing with his discs. Kalp pressed through the crowd of tribesmen who threw themselves in from of their raid leader, an unstoppable force. Although very rarely did his blows finish them off, the survivors stumbled aside, haggard and bleeding heavily.

Kalp had closed the distance to about 10 yards, but there were still 6-7 tribesman with trembling spears attempting to ward him off. As he opened his mouth to yell a challenge, Smol twisted, throwing a disc, two discs, three discs, low and sidearm at Kalp. At that distance, Kalp had no chance of dodging, and the blades entered his body. He grunted and sagged forward. Through the party information screen I could tell that his life was under 30.

But as the tribesmen took a hesitant step forward, Kalp exploded towards them, his axe once more swinging wildly, cutting down the remaining spearmen.

544!

+54

791!

+79

1000!

+100

As he landed his blows, 10% of the damage dealt was coming back to him as health! I couldn’t help but be jealous. So much more efficient than my health on hit… Perhaps it was the product of that skill?

With a wide lunge, Kalp landed in front of the horse, dragging his axe along the ground and bringing it up a sharp blow towards the horse and Smol. But Smol simply laughed and hopped backwards. The horse was cleanly decapitated, its head falling and smacking against Kalp’s chest, and Smol only laughed harder. “Ah, adventurer, you are truly fearless! That fire breathing dragon is slain. Does this make me your rescued princess? How truly…”

But Smol’s face went slack. In a monstrous move, Kalp had grabbed the sliced off head and neck with his left hand, and thrown the entirety of it at Smol. The weight and momentum were such that Smol was knocked onto his ass, splattered with blood.

“To your left!” Lilyn’s voice sounded through the party chat. A large shadow was streaking towards Kalp, who was grinning and advancing towards the stunned Smol, oblivious. The warning seemed not to even phase him. The Second Step, and I was rushing towards the shadow, lowering my shoulder.

I slammed into the shadow, against metal. “Huh?” Two bushy eyebrows looked down at me, crinkling. It was a man, holding a gigantic sword. My mad slam was barely enough to throw off his course, but it was barely enough. We careened past Kalp, who blinked as we passed.

Slam!

He crashed into a small tree, for I had managed at the last moment to push away from him, rolling a few times before coming to my feet. The man stood up, at least 7 feet tall, scratching his head. His sword was at least another half a foot taller than him. 

“Smol!” The words came out as a bellow. Kalp was looking at this huge man, the red aura dissipating, leaving him panting. “These are now my prey. Leave.”

Smol shoved the head and neck of the horse off of his chest, standing up and glaring at the tall man. “Thrag! Don’t joke around. They are mine to kill.”

Thrag’s eyes took in Smol’s blood soaked chest and snorted. “This is a race you will lose, pipsqueak.” Thrag turned to me, and evil glint in his eye. Behind him, his tribesmen arrived, all of them large men with giant clubs with bits of metal embedded in them. The circled around the two of us, hooting and hollering.

Thrag straightened, lifting his huge sword as if it weighed nothing and leaning it against his shoulder. “Here I come.”

Chapter 31

True to his word, Thrag immediately rushed towards me. Well, rushed is a generous term. Although a Lvl 19 floated above his head, unlike the Grey Hunter, he was not a enemy that specialized in speed, simply strength. And since fighting the Grey Hunter, I had gained equipment that had improved my capabilities tremendously!

I spun to the side, landing a kick on Thrag’s thigh as he trundled past. Only 67 damage. He seemed to have around 500 health. I frowned. Undoubtedly I could continue to dodge and land kicks but…

With a earthshaking smash, Thrag’s sword hit the spot that I had been standing fully 3 seconds after I had dodge. He pulled his jagged sword up, point it at me.

“Men fight in straight lines. Don’t try my temper.” He trundled towards me again.

Men fight in straight lines…? What sort of ambiguous statement was that? But he seemed to take it quite to heart, and literally too. Admittedly, from the sounds of grunts and pants coming through the party chat, Kalp was either losing very badly, or his duel with Smol had turned very, very intimate. I didn’t have time to mess around with this brute.

This time as Thrag approached, I used <Crushing Hand> on both of my hands and waited for him to drag nearer. He arrived like a freight train, all metal and puffing smoke, jagged sword raised high. His eyes were wild and he was cackling. “DIE!”

Second Cadence.

BEAT

Slam.

Before the sword had begun to descend, I stepped forward and delievered a double palm strike to Thrag’s solar plexus.

159!

But the force of my blow was inferior to the force of his charge. I was sent flying backwards, and his sword descended.

CRUNCH.

Another deep gouge was made in the earth, the tip of his sword only a few inches from the inseam of my pants. Shrapnel from the blow cut a dozen small cuts around my knees and calves. I sat there, stunned. Before I could recover, Thrag dropped his sword and stepped forward. With his powerful hands he lifted me up off the ground by my shoulders.

I was held there for a second, and I wondered what to do. I still had my last trump card, I was just a bit hesitant to use it when we still had the duel with the Tribesmen leader coming up. Still, I had the mana potion, so…

But Thrag set me on the ground, brushing the dirt off my shoulders with wince inducing blows and laughing. “Good, good! Let us go again.” And then he pushed me away, grabbed the hilt of the sword, and dragged it around thirty yards away. He once more turned and raised his sword, a thin trail of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth.

Is he an idiot?

He began moving towards me again, and I settled into the preparatory stance for the Third Step. That sword blow...it was monstrous. Forget about the damage system in this game. The weight and speed would smash my digital body to a pulp. And when I met his challenge head on, Thrag had been joyous. This is how men in his world fought and died. With comradery and brutality.

But I remember on that last, and strangest lesson with Spirit Elder, right before Tian challenged me and everything went to shit, The Elder turned to me, giving me advice for the upcoming School Showcase. “It is arrogance to meet your opponent on their strongest trait and to expect victory. But it is stupidity to expect your opponents to challenge your strengths head on.”

Thrag was immediately infront of me, sword raised high, grinning like a madman. 

Third Step!

The sword was an avalanche of force. Too strong for Destruction Path, too vast to turn aside with Flow Path. And as the one ounce of respect for this wild and powerful knight, I would not dodge to the side.

CRUSH.

Once more a wide scar was torn into the earth. But Thrag blinked, confused. I was nowhere to be seen.

A sysmsg popped up. Congratulations! Due to your creative application, <Crushing Hand> has evolved into <Crushing Force>! Add 1.5x your spirit to an attack for 10 mana.

I raised my leg up high, my foot wreathed in bright spiritual fire.

But… I was not stupid. I would simply dodge straight up!

If his sword was an avalanche, my foot was a comet, and I brought it down powerfully on his shoulder in an axe kick.

449!

Thrag’s collarbone shattered, and he fell to his knees dead. The crowd of club tribesman around us fell silent. A notification appeared as I received a growth point for defeating a higher level boss. A faint light emerged from his prone body, and I approached and viewed the drop.

Sword of Thrag

Damage: +500

Agi: -20

R: Lvl 15, Str 200

....What a ridiculous hunk of iron. It could fall over and snuff my life out. How does the game explain me carrying this around in my inventory…?

Chapter 32

Apparently it was by failing to comment of the Sword’s convenient prescence in my inventory. I walked through the club tribesmen, who were simply looking at me in awe, hurrying towards the sounds of battle. Kalp was probably going to…

Ding! A sysmsg popped up saying I had received a growth point for defeating a boss higher level than me, and a black Lvl Up appeared above my head. Kalp’s victory howl could be heared very loudly through the party chat. I frowned, annoyed that I had leveled up without assigning the previous growth point. For good measure, I assigned them both now, putting them both in MP. If I didn’t start raising my mana, I would never be able to use my new <Crushing Force> or <Spiritual Overclock>. My stats now looked like this:

Silver MiChar

Lvl. 19

Fist Brawler

HP: 160 (3)          +70= 230

MP: 149 (5)

Str: 85 (5)           +40=125

Agi: 63 (3)           +40=103

PDef: 52 (2)         +20=72

MDef: 16 (0)        +25=41

Magic: 18 (0)

Spirit: 57 (4)

I sighed. Although the growth rates would undoubtedly be useful at some point, they seemed very lackluster now. My highest currently was 5, and I would soon need to begin increasing my magic defense. The flat stat gains from the class completion were so much more valuable…

Upon hearing Kalp’s shout, the rest of the tribesmen broke and ran back towards the main encampment. Kalp walked over and stood next to me, nodding.

“That was a close one. If it wasn’t for Lilyn distracting that monster at the last moment…” Kalp hesitated, then sighed. “But she died for it. Honestly, if those were just the lieutenants, can we really fight against the leader..?”

I gave him an appraising sideways glance. “...How much strength do you have?”

-----

Kalp was cackling madly, flicking Thrag’s sword left and right, smashing through spear, swords, and armor. Apparently an unlisted stat of the sword is that it inflicted incurable idiocy. Although his strikes still didn’t originate from his center of gravity, or have any spiritual force behind them, or have any sort of discernable follow through, the damage…

960!

763!

3327!

That last hit landed cleanly against a club wielding tribesmen, cutting him completely in two. The top half of the body floated in the air, tilting slightly. The eyes blinked. The we were passed it, Kalp cutting a path towards the center of the encampment.

Honestly, we were making really good time.

------

Seemingly at the 100th rock they clambered over, Tsubame smiled. “I think is it.”

Zephyr had long since lost all sense of self. He was the staff wielding climber, a machine built for one purpose, to reach the highest hill. But almost magnanimously, some inner part of the staff wielding climber remembered his past self, remembered smiling adventures with ...Bronze? Yes, that was it, he was sure. Bronze. Impossibly slowly, as if his neck was made of stone, the staff wielding climber turned, driven by a geas inherited from his previous self. Afterward, he thought woodenly, he would return to the mountains and continue to fulfill his purpose.

“Eh?” Zephyr let out a surprised gasp. Although he could clearly see the encampment, they were so far away as to make it impossible for his magic to be of any assistance. He turned to Tsubame, frowning. “We are so far away! Did you take us down the wrong path? Check the map.”

Tsubame sighed. “Zephyr, I thought you were smarter than this. There was no map. And there was no quest, and no flavor text about this tribesmen leader. I just made…”

The sounds of fighting below ceased. And through the party voice chat, Kalp’s voice: “Alright he accepted the challenge. Now let’s just hope that-” But the party suddenly disbanded.

“What? What happened…?” Zephyr looked towards Tsubame.

Tsubame giggled. “That arrogant piece of shit Kalp died, and the party disbanded. But…” Then Tsubame began to frown and read the large sysmsg that appeared in front of him. “Other than that, I have no idea.”

Chapter 33

Congratulations! You have discovered the special stat “Lore” and issued a quest! Complete the quest with your party and receive the rare class -Storyteller-.

Tsubame was trembling. He could issue.. quests…? When he saw that ancient “Lore Book” he had known that there was something special about it. He had a powerful feeling. But more importantly.... complete the quest with your party…

Tsubame spun around, displaying a distraught face to Zephyr. “Oh Zephyr, you were indeed correct! I have been looking at the wrong map this whole time! Quick, we must rush to the aid of brave Silver, join his party, and smite the boss!”

-----

Kalp looked up from his killing spree, panting. There, seated on a distant throne of bones, waited the final boss of these tribesmen, Fafuol.

“Fafuol!” Perhaps the sword also granted increased lung capacity, for Kalp’s yelled rang out across the encampment. “I challenge you to single combat, coward!”

The tribesmen went silent. Kalp spoke into the party chat. “Alright he accepted the challenge. Now let’s just hope that-” But before I finished, the cloak figure had crossed the distance and appeared in front of us. A brief, streaking flash of metal, and Kalp’s head tumbled to the ground, the mouth permanently fixed into an O. Above the cloaked figure’s head in green letters: Fafuol Lvl 22. The cloaked figure let out a humph, and turned away, walking back towards his throne. The tribesmen cheered. I leaned over and grabbed the Sword of Thrag, which Kalp had dropped on death, and placed it into my inventory.

Then I used the Second Step, flitting past the cloaked figure, whose eyes opened wide with surprised. I stopped by his throne of bones, leaning casually on the arm of the chair. Something I hoped wasn’t a vertebrate poked into me, making this action, though definitely necessary, very uncomfortable.

I received a party invite from Zephyr, and accepted it, grinning; Zephyr would love this too.

I spoke aloud, unsure of how to speak directly into voice chat, hoping the party could hear.“Although impressive, it was a bit petty to kill my servant Fafuol. I was the challenger all along.”

I hopped down off of the throne, a small, self-satisfied smile tugging at the edges of my face as I heard what was I assume Tsubame giggling madly, and Zephyr just murmuring, “So lame.”.

“So, are you prepared?”

Fafuol, slowly, ritualistically, reached up and pulled back his hood. His eyes were wide and pure white. His head was bald. Green, slithering tattoos covered his face. He then undid the tie around his throat, allowing the cloak to fall to the ground. He was only covered in those slithering green tattoos, a loincloth, and…

Both his feet were encased in glittering steel greaves. There was a long blade along the shin, and three more were along the left, center, and right of each foot, respectively. As he stepped forward, the interlocking plates shifted with the motion, barely making a sound. His voice was low and musical. “Then let us begin.”

A sysmsg popped up. You have accepted the quest, “Fafuol’s Challenge!

But Fafuol was already moving.

Tap, swish.

He came at me with the same technique that had left Kalp headless.

Flow Path, Second Current!

Fafuol’s kick was with his left leg, and I raised my right arm and guided his kick harmlessly up and over my head. My left arm slithered forward, intent on striking his exposed abdomen. But he used the force of my deflection to alter his own course, leaning back and slashing at my left armpit with his right leg.

I frowned, leaning back further to avoid the sharp blow, my arm twisting around and under his greaves. I knew from experience that the bladed feat were fatally sharp.

Fafuol completed his backflip, landing lightly on his toes.

He inclined his head towards me. “It appears you spoke the truth. I am sorry about your servant. But I am afraid the only way I know to repay this debt is through a swift death.”

Zephyr suddenly spoke up into the voice chat. “Wow, its a green boss? Oh, oh oh Silver. You NEED to kill it! It’s guaranteed to drop two pieces of equipment! Ah, I hope it drops an offhand…”

There was a pause, then Zephyr continued. “Oh, but needless to say it is much more powerful than a plaintext boss.”

My mouth quirked up. I had already noticed. And it wasn’t even the bosses stats, which were undoubtedly impressive but not terribly so.

It was the fact that the boss could use martial arts!

Chapter 34

Fafuol closed his eyes, and a strange light began to surround his greaves. I settled into a crouch, cautious. After a few seconds, his eyes opened wide, his white eyes glowing with power. He launched himself into the air, spinning slight. At the apex of his jump, he cut the air with a powerful kick, and a powerful crescent of energy hurtled towards me.

But then he kicked again. And again. And again. 13 in all, shooting towards my crouched figure. This wasn’t a kicking technique, I thought with narrowed eyes. This was simply a barrage of energy. But still. There were very few avenues of escape. Looks like I would be punching directly through this one.

The Second Cadence, and <Crushing Force>!

To counter a kick, what better way than with a kick, I reasoned. Red spiritual fire covered my leg, and I brought it up in a high kick to meet the energy crescent.

BEAT.

My leg ached, and a small red 9 popped up, but I appeared to have dispelled most of the blow. The rest of the kicks smashed the surrounding area, throwing up a large cloud of smoke. But before I had recovered my stance, Fafuol was before me, his white eyes no longer growing.

“Such strength. But what happened to your speed, adventurer…?” He delivered a quick round house kick to my chest, and I was sent sprawling backwards. 

91!

Jeez, he only hit me with the sole of his feet, and still it did 91 damage? God forbid I get hit with the bladed portion of the greaves…

The smoke was too thick for me to pierce with my gaze, so I remained poised on the balls of my feet.

Third Step…

Not that I should really complain, I suppose. I had only been using my fists beat enemies thus far. They certainly hadn’t received any clemency for fighting an opponent without a weapon…

Swish.

Fafuol loomed forward out of the dust cloud.

Lingering breeze!

As Fafuol came forward, aiming a powerful stomp at me, I launched myself suddenly to the side. Then I used another Third Step to halt my rapid dodge, launching a powerful kick up towards his jaw. <Crushing Force>!

Fafuol had barely turned to see the blow before it smashed against his face.

402!

He stumbled back, spitting blood. I landed light, and crossed the distance with the First Step. But Fafuol abruptly summoned that glowing light and sent a crescent kick towards me, forcing me to use the Third Step to dodge to the side.

I landed softly on the hard packed dirt. The smoke persisted around our arena. All in all, while the techniques he had displayed thus far were powerful, he didn’t seem as overwhelming an opponent. Sure, his first dodge was skillful, but perhaps that was just luck.

Suddenly, 7 crescent kicks burst through the dust cloud towards me. I gritted my teeth, knowing that I would be forced to take another one head on. 

I used <Crushing Force> on both hands and settled into a destruction path stance. The crescent strikes were a split second away.

Swish.

From the left, Fafuol burst out of the clouds, racing towards me. He was running right into the path of his own technique, but if I blocked one of them I wouldn’t be able to do anything about his bladed kick. Which was more dangerous?

But the real question, I thought to myself bitterly. Is why this guy can see so well in this smoke. Do those white eyes grant him the power of infrared vision?

Ultimately, it seemed clear that Fafuol himself was the much more dangerous of the two forces. I braced myself, turning towards the dashing Fafuol. But abruptly, he stopped, smiling at me.

“Dammit,” I muttered to no one but myself, as I twisted around, blocking the blow with my hands. “Just a feint.”

Smash!

The crescent kick hit me hard, but it wasn’t as overwhelmingly powerful, as I had feared. A red 62 floated up from my head, and I stumbled, but was able to right myself fairly quickly. But as I feared…

Fafuol appeared before me, his steel greaves gleaming!

Chapter 35

Still, my fear had prepared me well for his approach. I was already in the Second Step of the Gust path, and used it quickly get behind him.

Third Step...

But this time, it seemed as if Fafuol wasn’t even attempting to kick me, instead, energy gathered inside his body, exploding outward!

53!

This time the force sent me sprawling to the ground. I scrambled up, wheezing. The smoke, finally, was dispersing, and Fafuol turned to me.

“Strong, fast, graceful… you are all of these things adventurer. But only a single one at a time. Your stances take a second to switch. And in that second…” Energy gathered in his body, and his entire being began to glow. “You will be crushed.”

I let out a sigh. Fafuol’s initial dodge had made me remember my martial artist’s pride. Although Thrag’s straightforwardness was the more honorable but still. I wanted to crush him with just my basic moves. But if he was pulling out all the stops. I drank my one health and one mana poition, restoring both to each. I only had around half health, but my mana was once more full. At full mana, <Spiritual Overclock> would last a bit less than 3 seconds. But with a few <Crushing Forces> thrown in… probably safer to expect 2 seconds. So best to let him close in first.

I stood, waiting, hands at my sides, as the sphere of power that was Fafuol floated into the sky. As I watched, a crescent kick was thrown out of the sphere and towards me. However, it went a bit high, and I barely had to duck to avoid it. Then another was thrown out, behind, towards the watching tribesmen. The scattered with a cry, and the whole mass of watchers began to flee.

Dozens, no, hundreds of crescent kicks spread out from the ball of energy, seemingly at random. I frowned. If this lasted an extended period of time…

Instead of using the Gust Path to flit around, dodging wildly, this time I assumed the Flow Path, Second Current. I could feel the swirling, pulsing mass of energy above me that was Fafuol. In this way, I calmly and efficiently dodged the rain of energy crescents.

After about 20 seconds of this, I heard an hiss from the ball of energy. The assault stopped for a brief instant, before larger, but more slowly released Crescent Kicks were sent down towards me. Honestly… using the Second Current, these were even more simply to dodge.

Fafuol howled in fury, and once more the crescents ceased. But the surface of his globe of power bubbled and roiled.

Then an innumerable wave of regular sized crescent kicks exploded outward, leaving Fafuol panting and reassuringly human-looking. I grinned and settled in Destruction Path Stance.

Second Cadence…

Like a bird of prey, or perhaps more accurately a carrion bird, Fafuol glided down behind the crescent kicks. He would butcher the remains, Fafuol’s confident smile said.

The energy of the kicks gave off a strange humming, and as numerous as they were, it felt as if I was inside a bee colony, standing next to a pot of spilled honey. I winced, counting the number of crescent kicks and estimating the number I would need to take. This might be a matter of luck.

<Thunder Protector>!

At that moment, a familiar technique engulfed me, and I laughed out loud. Over party chat, Zephyr said. “You didn’t think we would let you kill a green boss alone, now would you? Ha, Tsubame was so desperate to help the last few hills he practically picked me up and carried me on his back.”

“Silver,” Tsubame’s voice cut in, sounding desparate. “Retreat now, and after all of techniques hit the ground we can think up a plan and…”

“No need.” I was grinning like a maniac. My mouth was starting to hurt by how wide it stretched. But...Sometimes it felt good to beat down a bully. All of the annoyance I felt toward Xavier’s blonde headed body killing me twice was bubbling up.

The Second Cadence…

The Crescent Kicks were about to land!

Chapter 36

It was more of a wave of damage, rather than a single source, rolling towards me. But at the last second, I yelled <Spiritual Overclock>!

Almost a half dozen of the Crescent Kicks hit me, but the combined power of my spiritual defense and <Thunder Protector> ensured that I only received 65 damage from them, all told.

But then Fafuol was in front of me, howling, his steel greaves gleaming as a kick that could cut the wind slid towards me. I thrust a single hand towards the blow, empowering it with <Crushing Force>. The kick was halted, and a red 29 floated up from me.

His eyes went wide. “My decapitating strike… was blocked?”

BEAT.

My other hand, also empowered with <Crushing Force> struck him in the stomach, slamming him against the ground so hard he bounced.

678!

92!

His health was half gone, but so was one of my seconds, and Fafuol was scrambling away on the ground.

<Leeching Tendrils>

Vines sprung from the ground, entangling Fafuol. He struggled, briefly and powerful, and broke free, but I was already upon him. Hands laced together, I brought a blow down like a hammer. “<Crushing Force>!”

1201!

Fafuol fell to his knees, only a sliver of health was remaining. But instead of striking a blow, I removed Thrag’s Sword from my inventory and stood it up on its hilt. Then I pushed it forward, letting it fall. The 7 ½ foot long hunk of iron teetered, then toppled over, the force of weight smashing the horrified Fafuol.

492!

….Seriously? what sort of ridiculous damage was that from falling sideways…?

But before I could finish my thought, a gold level up appeared above my head and four sysmsgs popped up in front of me. The first read:

Congratulations! Your actions were the first to reach a new milestone in “The Winding Path”. Display your name?

I frowned and clicked on the no box. Nothing happened. I pressed again harder. Still nothing. I pressed one final time, and finally the box disappeared, revealing the congratulations for finishing my current class, -Fist Brawler-. But before I could begin reading a loud gong sounded.

I looked at Zephyr and Tsubame, but they seemed just as confused as I was.

A peppy female voice began to resound through the air. “Aloha Players~! This is your voice of the world, Rita-chi! Hope you are enjoying your time in The wandering Path. Let’s take a brief break and talk a bit about this game you are playing, shall we?”

“Always remember this is a game! And you know what makes games fun! Goals, competition, Blood, and…” The announcer's voice lowered to a purr. “Dominance. A certain individual… well, he’s super duper shy, so let’s call him Redacted A-san, just was the first person to defeat a Green Tier boss above level 20! He even did it without any other Player’s doing damage to it!”

Then the announcer giggled. “As if that wasn’t enough, he finished it off with an environmental death. He dropped a giant sword on the poor guy, as he was begging for his life. So cold~~~”

The announcer's voice once more lowered to a purr. “But I don’t dislike that sort of play, Redacted A-san…” I shivered and looked around, suddenly sure I was being watched. 

Zephyr poked me with his staff, pouting. “That cute announcer voice is talking about you, isn’t she? Why do you always get-”

But the announcer continued. “Well anyway, we reward that sort of stuff here on The Wandering Path. So to the special Redacted A-san, for defeating the first Green tier boss… 100 to health and mana, and 10 to all other stats! In addition, one free level!”

“However, that’s just the beginning. For finishing the boss in such an interesting manner… a passive 15% crit chance, and as a super special bonus, the very ordinary, completely cosmetic., mysterious sigil!”

A sharp pain spiked into my hand and I looked down at it. A curving, spiking sigil covered the back of my left hand. As I watched, it glowed slightly. Then it burned hot, then cold.

Completely cosmetic, huh…?

“Oh Redacted A-san, you were involved in this too…?” Rita-chi sighed. “Well, a party consisting of Redacted A-san, then another boring shy person, and Tsubame Ptolemy discovered the system that allows players to create quests and affect the world. Woo.” Her cheer was halfhearted. “Yea well, that’s kinda cool I guess. For that you all get a level. Woo~~”

“And finally...player rankings! You are all too puny to participate in the arena yet, so we don’t have any battle rankings… so just levels…”

“First, we have… oh come ON GUYS.” Rita was abruptly yelling. “ANOTHER REDACTED UGH.”

“But anyway,” Her voice was once again sunny. “We have an anonymous player at level 24. For being first on these initial power rankings,.. access to the class path -Asura of War-! Oh my… you are going to be so powerful someday~~”

“Ranked Second at 22 and a half~~… Captain Tigerstrip! For you, access to the class path -Deity of the Sun-.” The answer sighed. “Someday the two of you are going to have those classes and you will clash~~ Oh my, I’m salivating…”

“Finally...ugh.” The announcer blew out a loud breath. “Once again we have Redacted A-san. For being third… 25 stat growth points. Yes, your reward is lame. and you should feel lame too, for hiding your name.”

The gong sounded twice more. “Okay! That’s all for today! How long until the next ranking rewards, I wonder~~~ Play hard heroes!”
“And Redacted A-san… when you reveal yourself to the world... I promise you a special, personal reward <3” With a kissing sound, the world went silent once more.

Chapter 37

I looked at Zephyr and Tsubame, who had pulled the hoods over their heads, and were wrapping themselves tightly in the body of their robes.

“Hohoho,” Tsubame had a hand to his chin and was looking towards the horizon. “I, too, remember a youth spent dallying with beautiful women, being showered with rewards…”

Zephyr was crawling on the ground towards Tsubame, his skin suddenly path and drawn. “I was a fool… Why did I not click yes?!?!? The Party of Redacted A-san, Zephyr, and Tsubame could have lived on in infamy…!”

Tsubame kneeled next to Zephyr, putting a hand on his shoulder. “True. My connection with the mythic Redacted A-san was recorded in the annals of history. And yet…” Tsubame sighed. “I can’t help but feel that Redacted A-san sounds like a dick and a poser. True men don’t seek glory or beautiful women. True men seek the company of more men! Come, my male companion, join me, for over the horizon lies nirvana!”

Zephyr stood up, eyes shining. He was deeply moved by the towering figure of Tsubame, framed by the setting sun, offering a hand to him. “Yes, there is no greater reward than this.”

“Well…” Tsubame eyes became gleeful, and his grin stretched so wide it went from ear to ear. “Perhaps becoming the game’s first to unlock the stat “Lore”. Being able to create my own quests. That’s a minor bonus.” Tsubame began to wiggle back and forth and hum to himself. Zephyr collapsed into the dirt, crushed by the weight of his anonymity. 

I turned to my level up screen. Luckily it seemed like my growth points paused the Lvl Up rewards, so I was Lvl 20 with two more Levels pending. But first…

Congratulations! For finishing the -Fist Brawler- class, you receive 100 health, 10 Str, and 10 Agi! In addition, you learn the skill <Flurry of Blows> and encounter a Path decision!

Which caused another box to pop up. ….Seriously…?

You have thus far only used your fists. Continue down this path, forsaking all other weapons?

I paused, thinking. The Sword of Thrag did give +500 damage. Enough damage that it falling over broke a record. But still… I had gotten this far by using only my fists. Might as well use this game as mental training, sharpening my martial arts. 

I clicked yes. Congratulations! You now unlock the class -Martial Artist-. Choose a new class?

I selected the -Spiritual Initiate- class, and my levels go through. I walked over to dead body of Fafuol, picking up two items. The first was Fafuol’s Loin Cloth, which, while disgusting, gave 30 P.Def and M. Def. So… I would take that. The other was a hat that gave increased magic find, which I handed to a still wiggling Tsubame.

He smiled at me, all was right with the world. “I have just the thing to pay you back in the cart. Let me go fetch it.” He skipped off.

I equipped my new loincloth and my stats looked like this:

Silver MiChar

Lvl. 22

Spiritual Initiate

HP: 277 (7)          +70= 347

MP: 274 (10)

Str: 124 (12)           +40= 164

Agi: 92 (8)           +40= 132

PDef: 68 (2)         +50= 118

MDef: 32 (3)        +55= 87

Magic: 28 (0)

Spirit: 85 (7)

Crit Rate 15%

Growth 1

I wanted to ask Zephyr for his stats, but the combination of the dreary atmosphere around him and fear of what I would find convinced me otherwise. With these growth rates, I would catch up eventually.

Suddenly, a rumbling reached my ears. Tsubame was running back towards us, desparate. “Guys! There’s a boss!”

Over the horizon, he came. We saw the Lvl 20 before we saw its large body. It was majestic, the shadow it cast. It was…

Zephyr began giggling. Then, with an effort of will, he stilled his face and turned to me. “Silver… So even here you track down boars. You truly are a Boar Enthusiast!”

The Lvl 20 Boar Charger snorted.

Chapter 38

The boar died quickly, and we collected the cart and began heading north towards the border city. I looked at my left hand, pondering. The <Flurry of Blows> skill was pretty basic; it allowed you to possess incredible attack speed for 8 attacks. Still, it felt… strange. Artificial, almost, allowing only a single body part the increased speed. Additionally… the boar didn’t have a chance to fight back, but the skill also left you completely open to a counter-attack. 

Tsubame was still humming, sitting in the driver’s seat of the cart, wearing his new feathered hat. Zephyr patted my shoulder. “No wait, I have a better one. How about, You were in such a bad mood lately, I had suspected that you were getting ‘Boar’d’.”

I shoved him off the back of the cart and then leaned back with a sigh. He landed with a thump. Within a second, he had bounced up to his feet again and was hurrying to catch up with the cart. 

“Wait, Silver. Give me a hand. We have to talk anyway.” Sourly, I pulled him back up on the cart. He hiccuped slightly, and gave me a mournful look. “I was just having fun, no reason to be rude. But we have to log out. It’s almost time for dinner.”

We talked briefly to Tsubame, informing him of our plans. He just waved us off, adding us as friend and saying to look him up when we logged back into the game.

We logged out.

I took off my helmet with a sigh. What a ridiculous amount of virtual fighting. My stomach felt nauseous, and my spirit energy felt a little queasy again too. I was probably unconsciously using it during fights, draining my energy pointless.

Zephyr hopped off of his chair, spry as a fox. “Quick! We are late. If we hurry we can make it before…”

But as he was talking, the door slowly creeped open, without making a sound. With her arms dropped to her sides, framed in the doorway was Kimiko. We hadn’t turned on a light when we came here after breakfast, so the only light was from the hallway. Her face, slumped to the side, was shrouded in shadow. All of power she had displayed at breakfast was gone, she appeared hollow.

She looked… she looked like a puppet with cut strings. But as I watched, still with her head slumped, her chin began to twitch, then twist in small, jerking motions. Soon, her face was directly sideways, a dark void, sucking in all life and light.

The cold hit me then. The creeping chill emanating from her form. Finally, the puppeteer recovered, and her arms were pulled upward under someone else’s power.

“Ah~ how pitiable. A mother, forgotten by her children…” She spoke, but the words were distant, echoing. She took a shuddering step towards us. “My eyes, once filled love, are now blinded by loneliness… But I will never stop seeking the warmth of love I lost…!”

Suddenly, she was a flitting shadow, tackling Zephyr to the ground, rubbing her face against her hair. “Zeffy! Mama was so worried! You know that some people have played that game so long that when they log out they collapse and have to be hospitalized. If that were to happen to you, I would be so worr…” 

Then she paused. And then her smile stretched until she looked like a creepy cheshire cat. “You are big-boy Zeffy, you can handle it I’m sure. But if you did collapse, Mama would have to work a little bit at the hospital, but the rest of the time she would take such good care of you~~~”

....This family was too weird.

But then Kimiko turned to me. “Oh, Nathaniel, Calla woke back up. She might have to stay in the hospital for a while to recover, but she should be fine for you to visit.”

I let out a sigh I had held so long I had forgotten about it. Calla would be alright. I also took a moment to glance at Kimiko out of the corner of my eye. She was rubbing her face furiously in her son’s hair. And she learned my name from Calla, too, and slipped it into conversation without missing a beat.

Not that it was anything impressive on its own, but more...This woman absorbed and digested information immediately, using those nuggets to leverage more. What exactly did she do at the hospital?

I walked downstairs first, and found Kim waiting by the front door. As I approached, she gave me a conspiratorial wink. “If we hurry, we can sneak out to visit your niece, and dodge another boring dinner.”

She called up the stairs in a low voice. “Okay mama, we’re heading to visit Calla. Enjoy dinner without us.” Then Kim turned and ushered me out the door. I heard a Banshee’s wail behind, upstairs, slowly growing closer.

We scrambled into the car, Kim slamming on the gas as soon as she could, and we sped away. A soft rain began to fall.

Chapter 39

I was still shivering. Right as we were pulling out of the driveway to the Schweiss mansion, I saw a dark, jagged figure with glowing red eyes framed in the window by the front door. But then it was gone. All of this over a missed meal…?

The rain began to pour harder, but Kim still stayed at a reasonably high rate of speed, hurtling down the mountain roads. Helicopter travel was much more convenient. And although I had said I had confidence in my physical body. Careening off the mountain would still be a bit difficult to survive…

Kim turned to me. “There is more good news. If you are willing to humor me for a bit, I know someone who needs a big, strong man like you.”

----

We arrived at a dive-bar, Kim simply smiling at the bouncer and getting us waved into the dingy, poorly lit room. The bar ran along the right side of the interior, and Kim walked over towards the boothes that ran along the left wall. Beside the farthest, corner booth, Kim stopped.

“Hullo Ethan. Have you lost weight?”

A portly man, Ethan, chuckled. “If anyone else said that to me, I would knock some of their teeth in. But from you Kim…” Ethan sighed and glanced to each of his two male companions in turn.“Just makes me want to drink more.”

But then he chuckled again, and gestured towards us. “Sit down, sit down! I thought you were going to stand me up, honestly. It’s so rare for the fiery maiden to ask a man out on a date.”
Kim rolled her eyes. “For the last time, it’s not a date. I have a fiance now. But you always seem to be breaking the boys that work for you, so I figured you might be interested in a sturdy candidate.” Kim slapped my back, encouragingly.

Ethan had dark eyes, which gleamed as he smiled. “The distant fiance, always away on business in the West? Of course, of course… But let me take a look at this young man.” I felt a spiritual probe touch me briefly, the softest I’d ever encountered. It possessed the weight of a landing butterfly.

Ethan nodded, satisfied. Then his expression turned serious. “Youngster. Do not turn around. Aside from those at this table, how many people did you see in this bar.”

“9.” I answered immediately. But Ethan smiled slightly, and I checked again with my spiritual energy. “No… 10. There is someone watching down through the ceiling.”

This time Ethan grinned, he body vibrating with his glee. “Good, good. I’ll take Kim’s word on your sturdiness, the last thing is…” He reached out a palm and pressed it against my shoulder.

I felt nothing for a moment, then the hammering of a powerful spiritual blow. Although I was still strangely drained from playing the game, my spirit shuddered, but was unharmed.

Ethan looked at me, shocked. But then he began to laugh. “To think you would have already mastered the Third Dream of the Spirit Path, Internal Castle! The job is yours, if you want it. We leave tomorrow morning. I’m sure Kim can explain the details.”

He stood, and his two companions stood with him. Now that I saw them standing, from the shape of their bodies, I guessed that they were hired muscle. Likely without martial art training, but effective at defending against more mundane attacks. 

They walked towards the door, but at the last moment, Ethan turned around. “Oh, the job involves a lot of down time in enclosed spaces, so bring something to occupy yourself. Meditation is possible, but after a bit it begins to be… tedious.”

Kim grinned, and once more slapped my shoulder. “Actually, this guy is addicted to that new “Winding Path” game. He will be bringing his helmet along.” 

I opened my mouth, and then closed it. Kim whispered to me. “You didn’t think that taking a new job would mean you could stop doing your old one, did you? My brother needs his precious friend.”

Shrugged my shoulders helplessly. I didn’t even know how much the gaming equipment costed, but with it being a neural uplink it couldn’t be cheap. What favor did they owe the Spirit Path Elder that they were so willing to give me so much?

Ethan laughed. “Really? That’s great! I, as well as your new employer, plays as well. We are from the Southern Country, so if you are in area, stop by and we can party up.” With a wave, they left the bar.

Chapter 40

We were walking through the hospital corridors towards Calla’s room. Frowning, I listened to Kim’s explanation. “Basically, you would be roadcrew/bodyguard for a pop idol! She’s your age, too, so you know what that means…” She looked at me expectantly. I just looked blankly back.

“Come on! You, defending her life, her, an emotional and compelling and beautiful singer/songwriter/dancer? THERE IS BOUND TO BE CHARMING AND CUTE EVENTS.” Kim’s eyes took on a dark hue, and her fingers began wiggling in a sinister manner. “When you catch her as she falls after an exhausting show. When you rescue her from a stalker kidnapping. When you pick her up and use your martial arts to jump up to the roof of a building, escaping the horde of fans…! Long will undoubtedly bloom. It is written, yanno.”

I sighed, glancing at her. “...well, setting aside your fantasies, this job will take me on the road a lot, right? But even after she’s healed, Calla can’t…”

Kim stopped and turned to me, her face suddenly serious. “Not to alarm you, but we have done a bit of digging about you and Calla since I brought you home last night.”

I nodded internally. A sane person doesn’t just bring a stranger into their own home without any questions, favor or no.

“We don’t really know where you came from, but we know some other interesting facts.” She held up a finger.

“First, you were personally recruited by Cassandra during your sophomore year of high school. Although being a student of the School on the Mountain includes a large stipend, you spent most of that… “ She raised a second finger. “On repairs to a violin, and then on violin lessons for Calla. That’s why you were so worried about her hand, right? Honestly, that violin is a work of art, probably worth about 10 years of rent in that shit hole you were living in.” I took a step back, shocked. How did she..?

“And third, Calla is smart. We spoke to her school. Although it’s the worst school in the district, she’s the best they have. Smarter than some of her teachers even. Considering all that…”

Kim turned away from me and began walking down the hall. I hurried after her. “And considering that in this Schweiss hospital, she will definitely regain the use of her hand...The Altenheimer School is willing to offer her a tuition scholarship to their music school.”

Kim’s pace increased. “But the living costs in the area are quite high… if only she had some sort of family member sending her money…” Then Kim sighed. “I won’t lie to you. Originally I had wanted to support you in that too, and you could just find something simple in the area… but Mother forbade it. And when Mother is like that…” Kim’s face tightened. “Someone else is calling in a favor against you.”

“Although it will be hard, being away from Calla, Ethan’s job pays really well. Well enough that you should be able to cover the costs of Calla living near the school and eating enough to stay healthy. In the meantime…”I could see Kim’s hands curl into fists. “I’ll figure out who is moving against you.”

My heart sank. I pictured the sneering Gust Path Master, and Tian. I could guess who was behind this. 

But then I resolved myself, and nodded. “Alright, I’ll do it for now. And thanks, Kim.”

She blushed, and we rounded a corner. “Now now, don’t like at me so earnestly like that, it makes me…” But then we both stopped, because there, standing on crutches in the hallway, was Calla. Beside her was Papa, well, Dr. Schweiss here, taking small notes on the clipboard as he watched Calla walk. Calla’s hand was in a cast, which made things difficult.

An attractive brunette nurse with a swaying walk passed Calla, and at that moment, Calla stumbled with a cry, falling at the nurse’s feet.
Calla looked up at the nurse, tears welling in her eyes. “I’m so sorry, so clumsy of me, baka-Calla…”

The nurse, with a horrified expression, crouched down and began to assist Calla up, calming her down. I took a step forward, but Kim raised a hand to my chest, stopping me. “Why is she using crutches…?” Kim’s eyes narrowed.

The nurse walked away, past us and around the corner. Immediately, Dr. Schweiss folded his arms, and barked out. “Report, recruit.”

Calla dropped the crutches, and went on one knee before Dr. Schweiss. “Shishou! This worthless one has failed in the mission you have given her!. I cannot tell you the color…”

“Hmm?!?!” Dr. Schweiss’ continence went stormy, his ire clear. But Calla continued.

“Because that nurse was not wearing any panties!” 

...Papa’s face immediately settled into a stupid grin, and he lay himself on the floor and began rolling around. “N-no-no panties you say!?!?”

Smash.

Kim stomped Papa’s head, face first, into the ground. The tiles shattered, his head completely penetrating into the floor.

I walked over too, unsure of whether to laugh or cry.

Calla looked up at me, eyes bright. “Nat!”

Chapter 41

I wasn’t sure if my voice was trembling, or it was just my imagination. “Heya Cat. Doing well?”

How could I tell her that I had to leave her, just like everyone else…?

She skipped towards me, her feet making soft sounds on the tiles, and squishy sounds as she clambered over Papa’s twitching form. Calla threw her arms around me and gave me a warm hug, burying her face against my body.

She answered into my stomach. “It’s not so bad. They say my hand will be good as new, and I will be able to keep playing music, too.” The she giggled. “And Dr. Schweiss has been playing with me.”

But then she pushed away from me, and looked up, her eyes solemn. “Nat, I’m so sorry I caused so much trouble. It’s gonna cost a lot of money for the medicine right? So...so…”

Tears formed in the corners of Calla’s eyes, and she looked away from me. “If I’m too much a burden…”

But then Kim was between us, crouching down and putting a hand on Calla’s shoulder. “Your Uncle Silver will be with you, always. Even now, he’s working super hard to pay for everything you need to fix that hand right up, and keep making beautiful music. He got you into a pretty famous music school, yanno.”

Calla looked up at me with sparkling eyes. “Really?! How did you do that while getting this pretty onee-chan to be your wife, Nat?”

The hallway was silent after Calla’s innocent question. Kim’s face went red. But then Papa, no, Dr. Schweiss, was standing behind me, killing intent emanating from his body.

“Haha, that’s a funny joke, Calla.” He gave me a hateful look, and than another, more threatening look towards Calla. “Besides, I’m so busy with your treatment, it isn’t good to burden my mind with impossibilities. While I’m measuring out medicine, my hand might…”

Crunch.

Once more, Papa’s face was buried into the ground.

-----

After introducing Calla to Kim and saying I would visit later in the week, we left a glaring Papa and Calla to their games.

Kim gave me a sidelong look. “What are you going to do?”

I shrugged. “I’ll go on this job, hoping I can make it back soon enough that she doesn’t notice. She still has to focus on her own recovery, after all.” I sighed. I remembered Calla years ago, crouching in an alley, her hair matted from rainwater. Eyes on the ground, seemingly empty.

Punching me in the back, Kim said, “Don’t be too hard on yourself. She knows how much you care about her. And Papa might be a bit of a creep, but he’s the best doctor we have.”

“For now…” She continued. “Go to bed and get some rest. The tour bus leaves at 4:30 tomorrow. I’ve already had everything of yours packed up.”

-----

That night, I dreamed.

I was laying sleepless on my pallet at the School on the Mountain. I couldn’t move.

The door swung open, soundlessly, and a figure filled the doorway. She walked forward, and I saw that it was the Spirit Path Elder. With a slight step, she floated into the air, descending softly onto my pallet, straddling me.

She put her hand against my chest and smashed my spirit with a powerful spiritual force. The pain was immense, and I could barely breathe. Without changing her expression, she did it again, and again, and again. Too many times to count. And while she continued her spiritual assault, she spoke, softly.

Almost to herself. “The spirit is the core of all of the Paths. Without a powerful spiritual center, a martial artist cannot either walk someone else's path, or blaze their own. My own Spiritual Path was someone else’s that I chose to walk. I respect this path’s founder very much, and have stayed true to his understanding, strange as though it may be.”

Slam. My spirit shuddered.

“In his mind, the different spiritual levels were dreams. The first is the hardest, for it requires not strength, but luck. You must be lucky enough to be in a situation where you move your spirit of your own will.”

Slam.

“The First Dream, Lucidity. The thought that this is real, and I control it. The next two are easy. The Second Dream, Ghost Palm, and the Third Dream, Internal Castle, are basic offensive and defensive spiritual moves. They are simply a matter of spiritual power. And to help you along…”

Slam.

Her eyes were dark, but she was smiling down at me. “These...extra-curricular training sessions. But remember, the most important is the First Dream, Lucidity. Control.”

She laughed, and removed her hand from my chest, holding it against her breast. When she spoke, her voice was distant and wispy, like dissipating morning fog. “Which is why he called these, ‘dreams’ I supose. Because the ultimate conceit of this life is control.”

Then she lowered her hand to my chest once more, and the assault resumed.

Chapter 42

Once more, I woke early. It was 3:45, and the night sky was still powerfully overhead. But my spirit was once more burning. I started meditating, pondering my dream.

Was that real? Had that really happened? I started circulating the spiritual energy through my body. Was this the first dream? 

No, I decided. I was simply turning a faucet inside my body. The spiritual energy was simply flowing like water through me. The first dream was control. I frowned. Had it simply been a body part, I could see it, and try and understand how to move it. Actually…

I closed my eyes, and let go of all senses save my spiritual sense. I felt the bright fire flowing within me, purple black. Once more, I frowned. A coincidence that it was the same color as my <Spiritual Overclock> in game? Or was I just picturing it that way now that the game planted the idea into my head?

Then I tried to direct it, to form an orb outside of my body. And it felt...thick and slippery at the same time. Just like..

Just like it did in the game. I opened my eyes with a start, gasping. It felt like I hadn’t been breathing for hours. I looked at the clock. 

4:19! I needed to hurry.

-----

At the base of the Schweiss’ driveway they were waiting, 3 large busses in all. Ethan watched me impassively as I hurried over, with a bag slung over my back and carrying a box filled with game equipment. As I arrived, he looked at his watch.

“Ha! Exactly 4:30. I appreciate the punctuality. And you brought your Winding Path gear? Good. We will be on the road all of today.”

He took me into the middle bus. I could hear snores from the back. There were two reclining chairs, similar to the ones that Zephyr had, in the front part of the bus. There was a small table, between the chairs at which a slim man with blonde hair was playing go with himself. He looked up at our entry, nodded, and turned back to the board.

Ethan spoke in a low voice. “Feel free to set up here; only the two of us have Path helmets. This middle bus is where you will be spending most of your time between shows. The back bus is equipment and the tech people, middle is us, the odd-jobbers, and front is the hime-sama.”

He sat down, reaching for his helmet. “Oh, and before I forget.” He gave me his in game name, Elnisso Raidor. “Also, bunks are in the back for sleeping. Bathrooms past the bunks, up here there is a fridge with frozen stuff and a microwave if you get hungry. Settle in, because it’s a long hall.”

The slim man set a go token down with a click.

------

In game, I immediately sent Ethan, well Elnisso, a friend request. Then I found a message had been left from Zephyr.

“Hey, since you were busy with other things, I went into town. They are currently giving out story based quests for a huge, in-game event! I already accepted mine, and joined a Quest Group. Sorry about that, I just don’t want to miss out on the cool event~~~ Anyway, feel free to do whatever you want.

P.S. It isn’t all fun and games here, though. Xavier, that bully from before, is in my Quest Group.”

I let out a low chuckle. Had to take a night off for family matters, and instantly left behind huh. So this was the fast past world of video gaming.

Still, I was in a good mood. I didn’t mind wandering off to find Elnisso, beating up on mobs along the way. But for now… I should probably head into the town, and see if I could get my first tier class.

The town was called Itor, and it was the Easternmost town of the Western country, serving as the main mercantile hub for the area, and also as the first line of defense against tribesmen incursions. From the outside, it looked huge, with large stone walls manned by Lvl 30 NPCs. As I approached the gates, I passed a group of adventurers. One, with long dark hair and a midnight colored sword, sneered at the surrounding adventurers.

“Yes, you heard me. I am Redacted A-san.”

I snorted, and kept walking. So now there were imposters…?

The other adventurers seemed to share my skepticism.

I approached the gates, and was hailed by an NPC in steel armor. “Welcome, traveler. I am sorry, but the city of Itor is closed to non-westerners for now, in preparation for the peace summit event.”

Frowning, I said. “But I am a westerner.”

He looked contemptuously and spat to the side, his attitude suddenly souring. “Move along, riff-raff. Every adventure, upon completing their first quest and receiving their first class, is given a sigil indicating their allegiance. You…” He frowned at me, and raised his weapon uncertainly.

“Your sigil indicates you finished your first quest in the plains? How is this possible. I thought there were no adventurers among the tribesmen.”

Seriously…? Another stupid, stupid disadvantage because I didn’t get a class at the beginning…? But there was no reason to pick a fight with the city guards. I raised my hands and backed away. He let me go, still staring uncertainly after me. 

I stomped past the group of adventurers, still arguing with “Redacted A-san”. I clenched my fists, a hot fire burning in my heart.

Well fine, if none of the civilized countries wanted me, so be it. I had a new mission; All glory to the central plains! They would spread to cover this stupid game world, if it had to be the last thing I do.

Chapter 43

But.. for now, I started wandering east, back into the plains, a little unsure of how to proceed. Although I couldn’t be sure the tribesmen WEREN’T amenable to talking, they seemed rather warlike the last time I encountered them…

After a few minutes of walking, I saw a familiar looking cart by a campfire.

I grinned, hit suddenly by an idea. “Lore,” the stat that allows players to create quests, right? Perhaps with that, I could…

It was a small sound, a sigh as if weight were suddenly lifted off a tree branch, but it was enough. I rolled to the side hastily, caring more for immediate safety rather than grace.

<Shadow Spike>

In the spot where I had been standing, dozens of jagged blades made of shadows rose from the earth. I narrowed my eyes and assumed a Gust Path stance. A woman was walking towards me, well, honestly it looked like she was floating, a cloak covering her smooth steps. She had short, spikey purple hair. In each hand she held a long knife. 

As I was facing her, she cocked her head at me. “You… I do not know.”

“Oh, thats right Zeta, you haven’t met him. This is Silver, and his conversational prowess is only surpassed by his usefulness in quests, so please don’t kill him.” Tsubame came forward smiling , riding a large yak. The yak chewed on grass and looked at me, unimpressed.

Zeta bowed, “Yes master.” She turned and hopped back into the nearby tree, settling down with her eyes closed.

I looked at Tsubame. He just waved airily. “Come friend, join me by the fire, and all will be explained.” 

I sighed, answering. “I really wish someone in this world would be above relying on cliches.” Tsubame just ignored me, so I followed him to the fire. I explained to him about the guards refusal of entrance into the city. Tsubame nodded.

“The same thing happened to me. But...I begin to suspect it was fate!” He threw his hands to the sky and gazed soulfully out towards the horizon. I just waited, resigned.

“After being rejected, I wandered, inconsolable. But then I happened upon a group of adventurers on a very special quest to… liberate certain minerals from a tribesmen owned mine. With my planning and their bodies, we completed it successfully, and they excitedly talked about returning to Itor...apparently this was a large story quest!”

Alligator tears welled in Tsubame’s eyes. “I felt so left out, so abandoned…” Yea, sounds like you coveted the valuable resources and quest rewards…

“So, I resolved myself to get revenge. At night, as we sat and rested, I mixed a poisonous herb inside the food.” I frowned. “You can eat in this game?”

Tsubame still ignored me. “About a dozen died from the poison before they understood what was happening, but that was only about half the company. I went to the other side of the camp, preparing to do what I had to for the sake of what was rightfully mine…”

What exactly was rightfully yours again?

“But I found the other members murdered. I was shocked. Who could have done this, who could have committed such a heinous crime?!?” Aside from you, you mean.

“I turned around and saw her...Zeta, beautifully framed in the moonlight, innocent and stunning. Her knives were wet with their blood, her face confused. Our eyes met, and we knew…”

Tsubame clapped his hands together, sighing. “It was love at first sight. We instantly understood we were meant for each other, each deciding to betray the company at the same time. And thus… she became my maidservant.” Zeta appeared beside him, bowing.

...Wait what? Was this story supposed to make any sense at all? And why a maidservant, with Tsubame as the superior? Zeta was remaining bowed next to Tsubame, and I narrowed my eyes, remembering the soft sound before she moved. Most people cannot do something so similar to the First Step of the Gust path. With her eyes modestly pointing towards the ground, I couldn’t help but wonder whether she was a martial arts practitioner in real life.

“Well,” Tsubame said, finally calling my attention away from Zeta. “I still owe you for helping me accomplish my Lore quest. Any ideas what I can do to pay you back.” He gestured towards the cart, grinning. “I was rejected from Itor too, so I still have all the potions. Oh, and the minerals they took from the tribesman? Some sort of dynamite hybrid. God only knows why the western nation wanted that…”

I thought for a moment and then said. “There are two things that I want. First and easiest, take me to the southern Nation. There is someone there I want to meet. Also..”

I tapped my fingers against my cheek thoughtfully. “This peace summit that they are holding in a week. I want to mess it up.”

Chapter 44

Tsubame’s eyes lit up and he immediately ordered Zeta to pack up camp.
“So… you will help me?” He just nodded vigorously and went to collect his yak. Once we were on the road, he turned to me. From his expression… it honestly seemed like he had been thinking about this a lot.

“Of course! We go way back. There is no way that I would refuse such a heartfelt  request from a boon companion.” ...I think Tsubame was drooling a bit. He had definitely planned on doing this, with or without me.

Zeta kneeled quietly on the back of the Yak, head bowed, listening to Tsubame. “Alright, what do you know about the World Event that is about to happen?” I just shrugged.

Tsubame’s eyes were gleaming as he continued. “Okay okay. Let’s go back a bit. There are four main countries in this world yes? North, South, East, and West. The central plains is probably the largest area, but the tribesmen are independent, and they don’t really count. In order to maintain a peaceful balance, every year a ‘Peace Summit’ is held in one of the countries, This year, the West is hosting. It’s occurring at Itor, and is probably the reason why no outsiders are being turned away.”

Tsubame took a moment to breathe before continuing. “However, each country has a series of World Event quests that they are issuing to improve their political position. Like the Western country is gathering materials for something.” But then Tsubame frowned. “Although, without someone who was able to move freely inside of Itor, it would be hard to foil the West’s preparations. Maybe Zephyr…?”

I hesitated, but then shook my head. “It seemed like he was really excited about the World Event quest. Honestly, I would prefer not to ruin it for him. is there any other-”

Tsubame was nodding vigorously. Zeta hadn’t moved from her position kneeling on the Yak’s back, and it was beginning to turn around and give her baleful looks. “That’s quite all right. We can interfere with one of the other countries plans. Based on some information gathering I was doing on the forums, both the North and East countries gave quests to a small number of carefully selected individuals. Finding out what they were out to accomplish might be difficult.” 

Some information gathering you did when, exactly?

“...Which makes the obvious target the South. The South’s easy. It’s been having its adventurers gather Gems dropped by boss mobs over lvl 20. No one has figured out what you do with them, but NPCs are willing to buy them for a pretty good price, so its interesting. They are apparently gathering up all of the gems players collect and are going to present them at the peace summit in a display of wealth. A giant caravan, complete with a boss level leader is going to escort the ? to Itor.”

“So all we need to do…” Tsubame finished with a flourish. “Is relieve them of all of that wealth.”

-----

Part 1 of Tsubame’s plan involved gathering a couple more people to grind for gems, so I sent Elnisso Raider a friend request, which was almost immediately accepted. I explained that I was looking for a few party members to go on a… unique sort of quest.

“Unique huh? I’m listening.”

I wasn’t sure really where to start. Well, simplest is probably best. “You know the convoy that the Southern Nation is sending to the Peace Summit? We want to rob it.”

Elnisso laughed a long time. When he finally calmed down, he said. “Oh definitely, you can count me in. Also, is it fine if I bring someone along for the ride? She’s a mage. You should meet her anyway.”

I was a little confused about the last comment, but told Tsubame that we had two more party members. He opened his mouth to reply, when he was interrupted by Zeta jumping to her feet and hopping off the Yak. “Care.”

Lvl 20 bandits rushed forward, about 10 of them. With a savage blow, a female bandit cut the harness on the Yak, and smacked its behind with the flat of her sword, yelling. “Hyah!”

The Yak turned and gave the bandit a withering look, then trotted off, settling down to lay in the sun. Ignoring the lazy Yak, the rest of the bandits rushed towards us.

Second Step.

The Second Cadence.

BEAT.

I smashed into three bandits, sending them sprawling backwards.

First Step. <Crushing Force>

I landed lightly atop one of the fallen bandits and brought my hand down in a blow to the temple. His eyes glazed over as he died.

A female bandit rushed towards my side, slashing downwards towards me. But I stepped back and let the blow sail harmlessly past. I used <Crushing Force> on my elbow and smashed her nose. She dropped her sword and clutched desperately at her face, trying to stem the flow of blood. A regular blow to the back of her neck finished her off.

<Shadow Spike>

I jumped, turning around. A bandit who had been creeping up behind me had several blades of shadow impaling his feet. He growled in frustration and pain.

<Flurry of Blows>

After only 4 hits, the impaled bandit died. I glanced at Zeta, who was surrounded by the dead bodies of 3 bandits. A shadowy aura surrounded her even in the bright daylight, adding the oppressive feel of her twin long knives covered in blood. The bandits all froze in front of her display of force, and I used the opportunity to jump among them.

The First Cadence.

Beat Beat.

Beat Beat.

Beat Beat.

Beat Beat.

Using a combination of <Crushing Force> and <Flurry of Blows> the rest fell quickly.

Chapter 45

After that brief encounter with bandits, the rest of the journey to the Southern country passed uneventfully. I spent most of the time watching my MP slowly creep back up. Keeping time in my mind, it seemed like I recovered 13 MP a minute, or about 5%. It took 20 minutes of inactivity to return to full. HP regen was much slower, only 1% a minute.

With a sigh, I looked at my hands, frowning. Even after using it a bit more in battle, <Flurry of Blows> still felt strangely like cheating. So many hits so quickly was just too powerful. But I supposed other players had just as broken, if not more so, skills by this point…

It just reminded me that this was a game, and not real life.

We crested a hill, and I blinked. Instead of a plateau, like existed in the boundary to the West of the Great plains, to the South…

To the South was the sea.

A medium sized port town lay before us, with hundreds, if not thousands, of boats bobbing and floating in the area around the port. Tsubame spread his hands wide.

“This is the smallest of the Three Ports that connects the Southern Isles to the rest of the world. Welcome to Verde, home of merchants.”

“Yea well, as beautiful as it looks from here, it smells something pretty fierce down by the fish market.” I turned to the mysterious voice, to find an extremely muscled man grinning towards me. Over his head was the name Elnisso Raider.

Aside from a pair of purple shorts, the only clothes he appeared to be wearing were.. chains. Around his neck, criss-crossing his chest, connecting to tight iron bracelets around each arm. His entire torso was covered in a tangled mess of chains.

To his side was standing a female figure wearing a billowing tan cloak. Her face was hidden in the shadows of the hood. Elnisso gestured towards her. “This is Rachel. Treat her respect, because…” Then he ducked his head, ashamed, and finished lamely. “Because it’s the polite thing to do.”

Alright…? Rachel was carrying a feathered spear, but she must be the mage. “Nice to meet you, call me Silver.” The hood simply nodded.

I turned back to Tsubame, who was humming to himself happily and looking at Verde. “So now what? What’s step 2 of the plan?”

Tsubame raised two fingers. “Step 2 has two parts. The first, I have to go take care of a sticky hurdle, but I think Zeta and I will be sufficient. The second part is gems. The ones the Southern Country is gathering. We need at least two. So you three, go fight some  Lvl 20 bosses until they drop gems, okay?

----

Unfortunately, the entirety of the Adventurers for the Southern Nation, were doing the same thing, so the lvl 20 areas near the Southern ports had throngs of people, jostling and PKing when the boss timers reset, only to go back to simmering when some lucky fool claimed the boss. 

God forbid the boss actually dropped the sought after gems, or the mass of people rioted, and around 60-70 people would die in the mad rush after the idiot who picked it up.

After watching just that situation occur at a nearby swamp area, Elnisso said, “Well, waiting here won’t do anything. Let’s try some higher level areas. These peoples are all between 16-18. I’m 20, and Rachel is almost there. What about you, Silver.”

Unsure of whether it would be strange to say my true level, I just nodded and said. “Yea, I’ve reached 20, too.”

Elnisso gave me a thumbs up, his chains jangling. “Then there is an actual level 25 dungeon I know of that we can go.”

He lead the way, Rachel following, me bringing up the rear. I watched Rachel walk, curious. She would pause for an amount of time, then hop forward, landing and hopping on that foot for a while, before leaping forward again. What was she doing…?

After a small amount of time, we arrived at a mouth of a cave, the wind causing an eerie moaning to be heard from within the cave.

As we approached, a sysmsg popped up.

You are approaching “Moaning Caves, Lvl 25” Enter as party?

We all reached forward and pressed yes simultaneously.

Chapter 46

We walked through an area dominated by darkness and stalagmites, carefully staying to the path. Rachel was producing a low, red light that illuminated the surroundings, if tinging the whole world with a hint of madness.

Suddenly, with a plop, a slimy green fog man, Lvl 25,  landed before us. He had green bulbous eyes and a small trident. He turned and called behind him in a strange language. “Kekeki!”

The sound of several more plops could be heard in the darkness. Without waiting for us to be surrounded, I lunged forward to the half-turned frog man.

<Crushing Force>

BEAT.

I used the Second Cadence combined with <Crushing Force> to deliver a powerful kick directly to the frogs midsection.

402!

The frogman stumbled back, shocked. I was a bit miffed too, seeing as a little less than ¼ of the Frogman’s health disappeared. This was going to be trouble. Luckily, the Frogman seemed to be more enraged than anything else, and aimed an awkward kick back at me.

I swayed to the side, easily dodging, and stepped forward, bringing my knee up and my elbow down, smashing the soft tissue of the frogman’s leg. The Frogman squealed, and I felt the bones shatter.

597!

Elnisso was beside me, a palm surrounded by Dominating Wind rushing towards the Frogman’s side. The impact had no knockback, but I could tell the force by how the Frogman’s body shuddered. To think that Ethan was such a skilled martial artist in real life…

311!

Our eyes met, and we nodded. At the same time, Elnisso threw another palm, and I used <Crushing Force> on a high kick against the Frogman’s jaw.

949!

302!

The frogman expired and fell to the floor. Elnisso shook his head and looked at me. “Wow Silver, you certainly have been putting some stats into Strength, haven’t you? I can’t match that damage output.”

I smiled, but then I heard a giggling behind us.  I turned to Rachel, curious. A golden Lvl Up! had appeared above her head. Ah, she had completed a class. I opened my mouth to ask what she had gotten, but before I could speak, I heard the sound of a skill from the darkness.

<Bubble>

As I was turning to look, a large group of bubbles flew out the darkness, striking me directly in the chest!

299!

I tumbled over, helpless. My health was reduced to less than 50 in an instant. I drank one of Tsubame’s potions and stood back up, weary.

Elnisso glanced at me. “What’s your M.Def?”

“ 87.”

Elnisso paled and sighed. “I was hoping you just had extremely low M.Def, but… Mine is only 111. My Hp is 600 though, so I might be able to take two hit. Christ, that’s why they were so bad at melee combat, they are mages!”

Three grinning frogmen walked out of the darkness.

<Bubble>

<Bubble>

<Bubble>

Two of the attacks were directed at me, one at Elnisso. Ignoring the third attack, I used the Second Step to dash forward, squeezing between the two <Bubbles> and heading towards the Frogmen. Even if they were powerful mages, if I simply closed the distance…

<Bubble>

<Bubble>

Two more techniques rushed out of the darkness to intercept me as I rushed for the frogmen.

The Third Step, Lulling Breeze!

I dodged backwards, landing around where I had started. Two more frogmen came into the light, surrounding us. I bit my lip, and exchanged a glance with Elnisso, who also seemed worried.

But Rachel simply continued to giggle, her laughter finally spilling out in wild, body racking guffaws. Suddenly, she straightened, sweeping her hood back, revealing sapphire hair and bright, golden eyes. Her beauty was shocking, even as her face was twisted in a mad grin. She raised her feathered spear, and shouted. “<Rain of Blood>!”

The red light intensified, and around a dozen blood colored shard of energy formed above her raised spear in a halo. Then, without warning, they rushed outward towards the curious frogmen. The frogmen’s expressions turned to horror, and the blood shards struck them, throwing off damage numbers in the low 100s. 

Rachel tsk’d her annoyance. “High M.Def, huh? Well, I’ll just rain hell down unto fall crying to your knees. <Rain of Blood>.”

Once more the technique formed Rachel’s head, but this time the Frogmen understood what was coming. Five <Bubbles> rushed out, all heading towards Rachel!

Chapter 47

Elnisso sighed, exasperatedly, “Reika, if you just keep gobbling up all aggro, you are going to die so quickly. Do you even have 300 HP…?” But he hopped back towards Rachel (wait, Reika?), picking her up and launching himself to the side. One of the <Bubbles> hit him, and a 243 floated up.

But taking advantage of the distraction that Rachel caused, I rushed towards the leftmost frogman. His already bulging eyes went even wider, and he stumbled backwards, desperate to buy some time before his skill went off cooldown. But judging by the previous interval… the cooldown should be at least 6 seconds. And that time was plenty for me.

I smiled brightly, lacing my fingers together and bringing down an hammer blow on the frogman’s skull, empowered by <Crushing Force>. 

1321!

The Frogman fell to his knees, stunned. Another two sharp blows and he died.

“E!” Rachel’s voice rang out in the cavern, echoing strangely in the darkness. “Take me to that dead frogman. I want to show you something interesting.

<Bubble>

<Bubble>

<Bubble>

Elnisso rushed over towards me, standing uncertainly over the Frogman body. One of the <Bubbles> smashed against Elnisso’s side, even as he tried to dodge to the side.

303! 

He gasped, a pained expression on his face, but he stayed on his feet, and arrived. Rachel hopped down and raised her staff. But then she Tsk’d again, saying. “A bit short, huh?” and looked speculatively over at me, head tilted to the side and golden eyes flashing. “Silver right? Give me your hand.”

There was something about her thick sapphire hair tilted to the side, a richness to her golden gaze, something expectant in the way the corner of her mouth twisted up in a small smirk, that made me feel helpless. Who was this girl?

I held up my hand, uncertainly, which she promptly grabbed and bit directly down into my wrist. “Ah?!? Fuck, stop it, it hurts!” I watched, slightly horrified, slightly mystified, as 100 of my HP disappeared. 

She raised her head and looked at me, amused and beautiful. Her head tilted, her golden eyes glowing. Her lips stained red with my blood. “Don’t whine so much. But wow, has anyone ever told you that your blood is really sweet? I suppose not. Anyway, <Blood Puppet>!”

She raised her staff above the dead body, but two more <Bubbles> were heading towards us. I still had a few more seconds until I could drink another health potion. And although I gained some health off life syphon, it wasn’t enough to survive a magical attack. What should I…

The, previously, dead Frogman hopped up in front of me. 

<Bubble>!

His <Bubble> collided with another, oncoming one, and they canceled out. The remaining <Bubble> smashed against him, but only did 99 damage. 

“Yep, keeps the M.Def of the original creature. Only has ¼ the HP of the original though, so he can’t tank through these forever.” Rachel said, raising a HP potion to her lips and giving us an expectant look. “And the cooldown is 7 seconds between <Bubble>. With this, the rest won’t be a problem for you, right?”

----

I finished off another Frogman, a black Lvl Up appearing above my head. This was my second Lvl Up since entering the cave, and Elnisso and Rachel already had reached 23 and 22, respectively. Additionally, the 8th and 17th Frogman dropped a Frogskin Jerkin.

Frogskin Jerkin

Torso

HP: +50

MP: +100

P. Def: +20

M. Def: +100

The first went to Elnisso, as the tank, but when I offered the second one to Rachel, she just wrinkled her nose and pulled the hood over her head, muttering. “I dislike slimy things.”

So now my stats were

Silver MiChar

Lvl. 24

Spiritual Initiate

HP: 291 (7)          +110= 401

MP: 294 (10)  +100= 394

Str: 148 (12)           +40= 188

Agi: 108 (8)           +40= 148

PDef: 72 (2)         +55= 127

MDef: 38 (3)        +145= 183

Magic: 28 (0)

Spirit: 85 (7)

Crit Rate 15%

Growth 1

I grinned, appreciating the vastly increased M. Def from the item. Although gear in this game seemed to drop very sparingly, just like finishing a class, the stat bonuses you received were quite high.

Elnisso poked Rachel’s <Blood Puppet> suspiciously. Rachel herself was laying on the ground, whistling. Apparently her blood techniques used health instead of mana, and we were waiting for her HP to regenerate  a sufficient amount to continue.

Elnisso turned to me, apparently bored with playing with the reanimated Frogman. “Silver, you said you were already 20, but… what level were you when we started this? You just turned 24, and I just became 23.”

I smiled, embarrassed. “22.” I also had the extra experience from Monster Hunter, so it really wasn’t that surprising...

“Ha.” He said, grinning over at Rachel. “I told you it would be worth questing with this guy for a while, he always seems to surround himself with interesting people.”

Rachel rolled over and began drawing in the dirt on the cave floor. “Which explains why I’m here, but then what about you?”

Elnisso gave her a hurt look but then pounded his chained chest. “I’m the valuable tank. Besides, I think my character is pretty interesting…” He shared his stats in the party chat.

Elnisso Raider

Lvl 23

The Chained Man

HP: 632           

MP: 299

Str: 101         

Agi: 56         

PDef: 222        

MDef: 211 

Magic: 39

I raised my eyebrows, impressed. In terms of HP and Defense, I couldn’t compete. Still…

But Rachel voiced my concerns before I did. “-The Chained Man-? What is up with that freaky class? What sort of activities did you experience to unlock…” But then she hopped to her feet, eyes wide. “All those guys who quit, complaining about how sore they were from sleeping on that second bus, could it have been because of~?!?!”

Strangely, before finishing, her eyes flitted to me, and she blushed, falling silent. Rachel dragged her toe across the floor, then said. “...Well maybe you’ve guessed it, but I’m… I also work on the tour with you guys.”

Chapter 48

I nodded. “Reika right? Ethan said your name earlier. This is kinda my first day, so if you have time, could you show me the ropes? I don’t have the faintest idea what I’m supposed to be doing… I don’t even really understand what it is that we do.”

I turned to Elnisso. “We are on tour with someone famous right? I didn’t really get any details from Kim aside from her talking about “Love Events” and “Adorable Pop Idol.” So what’s the deal?”

Elnisso coughed, and said lightly. “...Adorable Pop Idol, huh…?”

A vein throbbed on Rachel’s forehead. “Love Events…?” A small chuckle escaped Elnisso’s mouth, but a searing glare from Rachel silenced him.

She crossed her arms and turned away. “Ah~~ It looks like our tour buses are coming to a stop for lunch. We better log out. Silver, you wouldn’t mind getting my food and bringing it to me, right?” And abruptly, she logged off, winking out of the cave.

Elnisso guffaw’d slapping me on the back. “Oh, to be young and hotheaded again. I’m quite jealous. Log out, and I’ll explain it to you. I probably should have done it to begin with.”

------

We were standing to the side at a fast-food burger joint waiting for our order to be finished. Ethan was still chuckling, his large belly quivering with his laughter. “Rachel, or Reika Thorne, her real name, is the “Adorable Pop Idol” that we are touring with. You really haven’t heard of her at all?”

I shrugged. I hadn’t really had time for anything but martial arts in five years. The closest I came to music was when I snuck out of the School on the Mountain to help Calla get to and from recitals.

“Well, her music is surprisingly compelling for pop. And she writes all her own lyrics and music. But…” Ethan grinned at me. “She is something of a hermit, apart from concerts. I mean, a young girl like that, crawling dungeons with a geezer like me? Although she seems to relish the break from the attention. So, Nathaniel, was it?”

He handed me a greasy bag, still smirking at me. “Take the order to our Hime-sama.”

I walked towards the first bus, rethinking all the conversations I had had with Rachel up to this point. It didn’t really seem like, aside from my comments at the end, I had said anything to offend her. She was my boss, after all. It probably would be a bad idea to antagonize her…

Honestly, it seemed like she had been purposefully concealing her identity as my boss in game. Was it just a coincidence, or was something else at play here?

I knocked the bus door. A “Come in” could be faintly heard. I walked up the stairs and inside, carrying the bag of fast food.

I was impressed by the interior. Where our bus was all cramped space and utility, this bus was built for comfort, with large cushioned chairs, what looked like a full kitchen, and through a door in the back I could see a large bed covered in fluffy looking pillows. 

Rachel, well, Reika I supposed. Was standing off to the side in front of the mirror, her long brown hair cascading down her back. She wore a black T-shirt and a flowing, cream colored skirt. She turned to me, and her eyes were as bright blue as the morning sky. 

“Hello. I’m Reika, an adorable Idol.” She smiled brightly at me. I rolled my eyes inwardly, walking past her and setting the bag down on the table next to her Winding Path equipment.

“You can call me Nat, errand-boy.” I walked back past her, pointedly not noticing how her tight T shirt emphasized her body. “If that’s all…?”

“Actually,” She reached up and touched my shoulder, turning me around. Her eyes were wide and they were doing their best at appearing innocent. “I’ve been soooo lonely lately… maybe you could help me with a Love Event or two?”

Her voice turned extra cutsy and she winked at me. “I have heard that they can be quite...doki-doki. Would you like that? To hold me close and feel like you possess me?”

I frowned. This was getting a bit weird. There was a moment of silence, and then I said“Look, I’m sorr-”

“No, I apologize.” Reika turned away, looking instead at the bag of food. “That was a bit weird, huh? But now I’m fine. Now go enjoy your meal. Even Idols deserve a moment alone with a cheeseburger.”

As I was walking down the steps, a strange madness overtook me, and over my shoulder I yelled. “Okay Ms. Adorable Idol, but who is going to be spending time with the second and third cheeseburger?” I hurried back to my bus, grinning to myself. But then I forced myself to calm down. Honestly, I can’t keep doing things like this. It’s just going to end with me being fired.

-------

Rachel was the last to log back into the game, and as soon as she did she leveled a cold stare at me. Elnisso did his best to turn his snort into a coughing fit, and then said. “Well, shall we continue?”

The logout had lost us Rachel’s <Blood Puppet>, but we were confident that we could deal with more Frogmen.

And pretty typically, they had a new friend when we eventually found them.

We walked out of a tunnel into a large chamber. In the center of the chamber was a shallow pool, about 5 Frogmen speaking in their strange language around the edges. At the center was a creature with a thick, red carapace. Lvl 25 Crab Lord boss mob.

It’s eyes flicked to us as we entered, and it stood up jerkily. Its body was roughly human shaped, with pincers instead of arms and thick red crab shell armor. It clicked its claws together menacingly.

Chapter 49

Rachel raised a hand to her head and sighed. “Why must they all be nasty sea creatures…? Elnisso, distract it. Silver, run around the outside and engage the Frogmen. We need to kill one for me to <Blood Puppet> as quickly as possible. So… can you distract it for 10 seconds, E?”

Elnisso, stepped forward, nodding. He ran towards the Crab Lord. The Boss Mob bellowed, and swung a claw down towards him. But Elnisso just stepped forward and into the blow, looping a chain around the crab arm. He then hip checked the Crab Lord, causing it to stumble, pulling the arm forward and throwing the Crab Lord into the air.

It landed with a crash outside the pool, quite near to Rachel, causing her to hop backwards with a scowl. A 72 floated up from the prone form, and the tiniest bit of his health turned red.

I had already hopped across the pool and was dashing towards the Frogmen. A couple <Bubbles> were flying towards me, and I snorted. 10 Seconds? Time to show off a bit.
My main problem with <Flurry of Blows> is that martial arts are based on using every muscle as a cohesive unit, generating force in your pinky toe and releasing it in your fist. But it felt like the technique cut off the chain of force, and the power from my blows became unnatural.

But, perhaps counter-intuitively, it was simply the expression of the force. If that was so, if I viewed it simply as a follow through…

I easily dodged around the first <Bubble>, and landed a kick against the Frogman’s stomach, knocking him back into another Frogman and disrupting the channeling of another <Bubble>.

The Second Cadence.

BEAT.

<Flurry of Blows>!

Using The Second Cadence as the preparation, the powerful BEAT was my skill, <Flurry of Blows>. My hand lashed out at the two entangled Frogmen, landing four blows on each. They died instantly.

After the technique ended, I rolled forward as a follow through, landing among the final three frogmen. If I could do the same with my body as I could do with the skill…

I paused for a moment, my spiritual strength swirling within my body.

Beat Beat Beat, BEAT.

The Third Cadence!

One <Crushing Force> blow against each, and with the final, huge BEAT, I expelled the spiritual force, creating a powerful explosion in a small vicinity around me, sending the three frogmen flying backwards.

I checked my mana, and was shocked to discover that over half was missing. Frowning, I checked the skills. There is no way I should have used that much. I drank a mana potion, pondering. Could that wave of spiritual force costed mana…? But it wasn’t a skill. How…

<Bubble>

I was hit from behind a 157 popping up. The Frogmen I knocked back still had some health back, and were struggling to their feet.

<Rain of Blood>

The shard of blood struck the three, and even with their increased M. Def, they perished. Rachel poked me with her feathered spear. I could hear Elnisso throwing the roaring Crab Lord around in the background.

“Eh~~So impressed with yourself that you forgot we were still battling? What a vain little errand boy. Feel my heat filling your veins and rise, <Blood Puppet>.” But as she cast the spell, a Lvl Up appeared over her head. Her expression immediately brightened.

“Ohoho~ what’s this? Skill mastery?” She was suddenly yelling. “Hey, E. Just a few more seconds okay? But when I call out my skill, get back!” I raised a mana potion to my lips and drank it, preparing to assist.

Then she raised her spear horizontally and began to chant. “Oh wandering souls of the crimson sea, raise your spears at my call!  Drown the living in the endless tide, <Bloody Agony>.”

Elnisso hopped back, a glowing red circle  surrounding The Crab Lord. A crimson spear shot up from the ground, but the mob leaned back dodging it. But then 4 more spears pierced upwards, stabbing through its body!

592!

633!

444!

701!

The crimson spears disappeared and The Crab Lord fell to his knees, wheezing. That technique did over half of the boss’s health.

“Silver.” She didn’t even look at me, just held out her hand, expectant. I sighed, and offered her my hand. Still without looking, she bit into my wrist, and it felt like she was grinding her teeth over my tendons. It was immensely more painful this time. After around 250 of my health was drained, she released me with a smile. “Ah, sorry about that. My teeth went a bit deeper than I had intended.

-----

After another <Bloody Agony>, The Crab Lord expired, dropping some gold, and white gem, and a pair of boots that we gave to Elnisso, for playing around with it so long. 

A golden Lvl Up, appeared above my head, and I took care of that.

Congratulations! You have successfully completed -Spiritual Initiate-. Gain 200 MP, 25 Spirit, and gain the passive, Spiritualist I. Also, gain -Spirit Adept-.

Spiritualist I: Spirit skills do 5% more damage, and cost 10% less.

After a bit of thought, I immediately clicked on -Spiritual Adept- as my next class. Hopefully I would get another significant MP gain on completing it, enabling me to use more of my skills. The Spiritualist was a nice passive too. I assigned the two growth points I had to M.Def, just in case, and turned to Elnisso and Rachel.

“That’s one gem,” I said, looking at the two of them, and then at the looming green doors at the other end of the room. “So do we go back and wait for the crab to respawn, or go through that door?”

Chapter 50

Elnisso frowned at the door. “I don’t know for sure how doors work in this game, but I would guess… beyond that door is a green tier boss.”

Rachel sighed, and put a hand up against her head, evidently distraught. The whole image was somewhat ruined by the fact that her <Blood Puppet> Frogman was carrying her. “You two need me to defeat another boss? Please boys, a girl can only do so much. At least allow me to catch my breath between sessions~”

I rolled my eyes, but Rachel’s face then turned serious. “But it’s just usually a boss encounter behind doors like that right? If Crabby was just a guardian, who is behind the Green Door? Perhaps the legendary Redacted A-san?”

My stomach felt sick, but Elnisso just laughed. “That would be a lucky day indeed! What I wouldn’t give to trade blow with the upper-tier of this game… just to see where I stand.”

Nodding, a teasing smile grew on Rachel’s face. “And what I wouldn’t give to see Redacted A-san slaughter the two of you.” She gave me a dismissive look. “Probably at the same time.”

Regardless of insults, we reached an agreement; we would proceed through the door. It was better than waiting around an hour for the boss to respawn. And besides, who knew when another party would enter the dungeon. 

After opening the green door, there was a long series of steps. We followed them to the bottom, Elnisso leading, Rachel bringing up the rear. At the bottom, we went through and opening and appearing on a long, thin bridge, about 6 feet across. To either side was simply darkness.

I went to the edge and crouched down. It seemed as if falling was not an option here.

“Hey, frontlines, keep going forward how else are we going to…” As Rachel was speaking, two forms loomed out of of the darkness. A Lvl 26 Crab Lord, and a Lvl 27 Crab Lord. They didn’t have the boss designation, so there health was lower, but they also wouldn’t drop the gems we needed. And they looked much bigger and meaner than the one we had defeated upstairs.

With a low hiss, the Lvl 26 charged towards us, spreading its arms and taking up the whole of the path.

<Bubble> shot out from the Frogman, smashing against his chest. a 300 floated up, but the crab heedlessly charged forward.

Elnisso stepped up, assuming a low stance. When the crab was only a foot away, he shifted his leg back and thrust his palm forward.

<Stalwart Strike>. Only 252 damage was done to the crab, but the strike knocked all the force of out its body, sending it stumbling back. He stepped forward to deliver another below, and I heard Rachel begin her chant. “Oh wandering souls of the crimson sea, raise your arms to my call!  Crave their heartbeat, and-”

Whoosh.

Before she finished, the Lvl 27 Crab Lord jumped over its brother and Elnisso, landing behind Rachel. 

<Bubble> hit the Crab Lord directly in the face, dealing 559 damage. But the Crab Lord simply swept across with its pincer, splitting the Frogman’s body in half. The Crab Lord raised its other claw, preparing to swipe at Rachel.

<Spiritual Overclock>!

The Second Step.

I gathered all of my spiritual energy into my right foot, propelling my body forward at an unbelievable speed. I shot past Rachel, her face betraying a hint of worry. I smirked, and used <Crushing Force> on my elbow, simply content to slam into its body like a bullet.

Crunch.

1199!

The force of my charge punched directly through his chest, spreading cracks through the rest of the carapace covering his torso. I quickly shifted, placing my feet against its chest and using my hands to grab a large crack, and pulled. With a loud, wet noise, I split open his crab armor, revealing his soft and oddly pulsing insides. I released the <Spiritual Overclock>, the purple-black fire falling away. Instead, after my feet touched the ground, I released a <Flurry of Blows> against his vulnerable insides.

1467!

1990!

1335!

4626!

The final hit was a critical blow, delivered to its struggling heart. The body stilled, its head drooping over to the side.

I turned around in time to see Elnisso flip the other crab off the edge. Rachel was staring at me, speechless. “Oh? So impressed with me that you are forgetting to <Blood Puppet> this crab? What an adorable Pop Idol.” As I walked past her, I reached out and patted her shoulder. “I’ll try not to hold you back so much from now on.”

Chapter 51

Rachel was riding her new Lvl 27 Crab Lord, refusing to speak to me. I drank a mana potion, satisfied. Although I had only used around half of my mana to beat the mob, who knew what we would encounter further in the boss’s den.

Elnisso, however, was very impressed. “That damage was unbelievable! What was that technique you used? Ha, if only something like that existed in real life, eh? Imagine what you could accomplish with it..?” He seemed content to mutter excitedly to himself.

We continued along the thin bridge extending into the abyss. As we walked further and further, the temperature dropped, and small, 10 yard diameter islands began to loom out of the darkness, some distance away from our bridge. Some were a bit higher, some were a bit lower, but they seemed to be solid enough to stand on, should I be forced to jump onto them.

We also encountered about 10 more Lvl 26 Crab Lords. Fortunately, they only came in groups of two or three, and with Elnisso and I, as well as Rachel’s <Blood Puppet>, they fell rather quickly. As the 10th Crab Lord died, a black Lvl Up appeared above my head; I had reached 26.

After moving forward for quite some time, our thin bridge split, the two paths arcing around and meeting about 50 yards away from the split, forming a circle. In the middle, there was a large, slightly sloping boulder. Although there was a bit of a hill, it wouldn’t be impossible to stand on the boulder.

And on the apex of the boulder…

A soft, fleshy pink figure was dancing. I couldn’t see her legs, but her arms twirled, her torso spun to and fro. Above her floated an intimidating Lvl 29 Pink Crustacean Queen.

“Seems like you guys just need to hop on the boulder and punch her a few times. Simple right? I’ll be here, using magic.” Rachel shooed us forward. “Go on, I’ll be supporting you from here.”

Elnisso winked at me, and leapt forward onto the boulder. With a sigh, I jumped after him. When we landed, he huddled close to me, his chains clicking. “Hime-sama is sometimes a bit strict, but it’s not so bad being tortured by a young girl like this.”

I gave him an aghast look. So this was Elnisso’s true, twisted nature: the chained man~!

Walking forward next to Elnisso, I gave him a birth of a few yards, disturbed by his off key whistling and improved mood. We approached the pink figure, Elnisso clutching at his chains to keep them quiet, sneaking forward. What had originally appeared to be a relatively uniform surface of the boulder turned out to be criss cross will small divets and cracks, as well as strange, long-running humps.

I narrowed my eyes, stepping over one such hump carefully, and continued forward.

We were finally only a small distance away, and what I saw caused me to suck in a breath. The Pink Queen didn’t have any legs, her lower half spread and joined into the ground, a fleshy area about 10 steps wide. She almost seemed to have the lower half of a snake, wandering back and forth across the area. At least she didn’t seem to be able to leave, but what…

Clink.

The sound of the chains echoed in the vast area. The Pink Queen turned, curious. Elnisso, realizing that we would soon be discovered, instantly crossed the distance to the Pink Queen, using <Stalwart Strike> to impact the fleshy pink material of her body. 

792!

The Pink Queen shuddered and flopped on the ground, almost a third of her health is gone.

I opened my mouth, shocked. Was this enemy really that weak?

But as if to reassure me, the pink, fleshy ground the Queen was on began to glow, and with a roar, thousands of bubbles shot out and in different directions. While most of the bubbles flew up and there was no chance of hitting us, some were angled outward, towards us.

Elnisso reacted quickly to the pink glow, hopping backwards, but he was slammed by a few bubbles.

192!

80!

113!

Stumbling, he regained his balance quickly onto of one of the winding humps. But with a groaning, shaking force, the hump lifted, resolving its shape into a giant, grey tentacle. Elnisso fell backwards, scrambling on his hands and knees to get away.

“Strong is the pull of the crimson sea, warriors, raise your flags!  Drown the living in the endless tide, <Bloody-”

But before Rachel could finish, the Pink Queen, waved her hand, dispelling the magic. I gritted my teeth. Looks like we had to do this the hard way.

The Pink Queen gestured grandly, and the tentacles rushes forward towards us. I side stepped swiftly, settling into the Third Step, but there was no need to dodge. In retrospect, it didn’t even seem like the tentacles were concerned with us, they simply slithered off into the darkness.

But a few seconds, they returned from the depths, bearing dozens of Lvl 27 Crab Lords. Some were dropped around the pink area, but the vast majority were thrown onto the upper circle, and they begin walking towards Rachel. Among the multitude of Crab people, green letters caught my eye. At other side of the circle, where the branching paths met, opposite Rachel, an imposing, 4 armed creature stood. A Green Tier’d Boss, Lvl 31 The Red Prince. It’s carapace was bright red. The upper arm on each side ended in a hugeclaw, more like a hammer than anything else. The lower arms were much smaller, only ¾ as long, but the claw on those arms was curved and wickedly sharp.

I let out a breath I had been holding as the tentacles moved, and smiled. This was more like it.

Rachel began barking out orders. “Elnisso! Get back here and show our companion what true martial arts are. Silver. Play with the crabs by the queen for a while alright? And don’t be an idiot and attack the queen. She’s mine.”

I just rolled my eyes, but Elnisso was already hopping back towards the circle. There were around 20 Crab Lords already running along the path towards Rachel. She was backing up away from the branching point, narrowing the directions that they could approach from. Elnisso, spun, and smashed his shoulder into the closest Crab Lord, sending it off the edge. He grinned and began to drag his fingertips through the air, strange ripples following from the space he touched. 

Settling down into a deep squat, he said, “Come little crabby’s. Let Uncle teach you to fear our great mother earth.”

Chapter 52

Although I wanted to continue watching, several crab lords were rushing at me, as well the probing tentacles, looking for weakness.

I ducked under a tentacle, cursing to myself. No matter how powerful Elnisso was, how long could he last. Before something unfortunate happened, I needed to break through. Sure, Rachel wanted the Pink Queen herself, but if I beat her to it, could she really complain?

I side stepped past a Crab Lord, and it lashed out with its right claw. I used the First Step, landing lightly on his claw. I stepped forward, red fire covering my left foot.

The Second Cadence.

BEAT.

2111! 

My foot hand smashed down through his joint, only a few tendons and flecks of meat keeping it attached to the body. It howled in agony, stumbling backwards. But unfortunately, two of its peers stepped forward, swinging their claws, and I was forced to hop backwards, avoiding the blows.

Frowning, I punched my fists together in front of my chest. Perhaps a different strategy was in order.