End Online: Volume 4 (11 page)

It feels like several minutes pass, but it is
only a short moment before I withdraw. A strand of saliva remains on my lip,
which I hurriedly rub off while my cheeks flush with embarrassment.

I take a minute to calm my nerves and steady my
breath while facing away from her before turning around again and looking at
Fen. She remains lying on the bed just the same as before, with no signs of
waking.

'Of course that didn't work, you idiot!'

Before I can worry about the situation anymore,
four silhouettes slowly rise from the floorboards. They are the four ‘Ethereal
Ghosts’ from before.

"What? Not even my room is safe from you
guys?!" I whine.

After the kiss with Fen, my nerves have been so
completely shaken that I am no longer feeling any fear. I pick the wolf girl up
and arrange her on my back with her arms around my neck and hurry out of the
room. If there is no salvation heading down to the first floor, then I’ll move
up to the third.

Unlike when I was trying to reach the first
floor, the staircase to the third floor doesn't get any further away than it
naturally should be. It is almost beckoning me to come.

On the third floor, there are several more
rooms locked with large padlocks the same as my room, but what stands out is
the farthest room. At the end of the corridor, I can see a large door covered
in mysterious paper talismans, sealing it shut and possibly keeping something
inside.

Seeing that door as my only escape, I run to
the end of the corridor while evading twice as many ghost hands as there were
on the second floor. As soon as I touch the door, the paper talismans turn to
ash and the door slides open. Inside is a large room, slightly larger than the
common room on the first floor. The room has no exits and is completely empty.
There is a single, large window on one wall, but that is all there is.

I warily step into the room, and as soon as I
do, the door behind me slams shut with a sense of finality. I place Fen down,
sitting her against the wall next to the door, and move in front of her to
protect her.

Throughout the whole room, a thin mist shrouds
the floor. In the center, a large concentration of mist congeals into a two and
a half meter tall ethereal ghost. This ghost, however, has a fractured crown on
its head and is covered in elegant, flowing robes that connect to the mist
shrouding the floor. I cast creature analysis to see its stats.

It is the boss monster! And to make the
situation worse, I don't have a single skill that can harm it!

"H
um
an. T
h
o
u
hath
ent
er
e
d
th
i
s o
ne
's re
al
m. Pre
pare
to b
ec
o
m
e n
our
is
hme
nt
f
o
r t
hi
s o
ne
's w
ea
ry
soul
!" The ghost
king utters in a heart-stopping, chilling voice.

Proxos suddenly sinks into the floor,
disappearing in the mist. I grow nervous and start looking around, but see no
sign of the boss monster. Suddenly, a grey flash appears in my vision and an
ethereal scythe soundlessly cuts toward my neck. With my speed, I manage to
duck and dodge the blade, but only just.

I jump forward in a rush, leaving an afterimage
behind which is ruthlessly chopped down by a second attack from the assailant.
I turn around and see Proxos floating directly behind where I was standing, an
enormous double scythe in his hands.

Realizing how silently he appeared behind me,
my heart stops. He may have zero magic and stamina according to my analysis,
but his ghostly abilities are far more terrifying. The boss drifts across the
ground with a formidable speed and starts ruthlessly attacking me with his
double scythe.

One of the attacks barely grazes me, and while
the damage is negligible, the emotions drained from my body cause me to feel
sluggish, as if I am out of energy.

I try casting 'Minor Dire Flame', at the ground
and wall, wasting all my magic in an attempt to burn the inn, but the strange
mist along the floor moves to envelop and extinguish the flames.

Cursing to myself, I am forced into a cat and
mouse game with the boss as I have no means of defeating it. Occasionally,
Proxos will merge with the mist and soundlessly reappear behind me. The problem
is that there is no set time interval between when he vanishes and when he
reappears. At one point, I nervously move about and glance over my shoulder for
a total of five minutes before he appears again.

My flight lasts a full two hours, my health is
down to thirty percent, and my body is left with so little emotion that I feel
like a stone statue at this point. My only saving grace is that the boss
doesn't target Fen even once.

Day finally dawns, and the morning sun shines
in through the single window and floods the entire room with warmth and light.
The mist along the floor is instantly dispelled, and Proxos bellows in rage as
his body is slowly banished by the sun.

"No! H
ow
c
a
n t
hi
s
be
!?
I c
a
n f
ee
l t
hi
s o
ne
's p
ow
er f
aili
ng t
oo
fast
. T
hi
s o
ne
ne
eds
t
o
h
id
e! T
hi
s
o
ne
n
eeds
a
vessel
!" Proxos's voice rasps out as his
sight lands on me.

Before I can react, the boss rushes toward me
at a speed even I can’t hope to match. I don't even have the chance to dodge as
he collides with my body and, rather than causing a physical blow, is rapidly
absorbed.

I stand there dumbfounded at the whole
incident. At the same time, I hear a faint grumble and yawn and see Fen slowly
waking up.

"Fen! You're alright!" I shout out in
relief.

"Mufu... yes," She mumbles still half
asleep.

"I am so glad! And now that it is day
time, we need to get out of here!"

Fen gives me a confused look, but doesn't
question me. She shakily stands up and follows alongside me as I head out of
the inn as fast as possible.

I don't
notice it, but as we are leaving the inn, Fen casually touches her lips, and
her face flushes crimson to an extent unlike ever before.

-Lost-

“Ouch!”

I hazily wake up to a cry
of pain as the early morning sunlight begins filtering in through the window.
My mind is still a little sluggish from just waking up, so it takes a moment to
comprehend whose voice it is. After a few seconds, I realize it belongs to
Matrix.

“Brother? What happened?”
Mason asks, seemingly as confused as I am.

“I was just stretching
when my arm touched Fen, and she stabbed me!”

The wolf girl is still
resting half her body on top of mine, in the same position as when I fell
asleep. Disturbing her as I sit up, she slides off me and manages to wrap her
slender arms around my waist at the same time.

Looking to the person on
the other side of Fen, I see Matrix holding his arm which has a small dagger of
ice embedded into it.

“Hey, cut it out.” I say,
poking my finger into Fen’s temple.

The girl needlessly pulls
herself close against my body as the crystal clear dagger evaporates. I furrow
my brows, feeling helpless against her actions. I consider trying to explain
that she is just an NPC, but decide that explanation wouldn’t help matters.

“Lost,” Mason begins,
“just what in the world is she? I have noticed before that there is something
strange about your companion.”

“How would I know? She is
just a companion that I picked up during my journey.”

“What quest did she join
you for? All other companions are part of a quest, yet she has been with you
since we met. I haven’t heard her complain or remind you of the quest once.”

He is right, companions
are known to be quest-specific NPCs. Such as a NPC guard for an escort mission,
or the quest-giver joining the player to exterminate a particular group of
monsters they hold a grudge against. The latter of these two scenarios is the
most common quest where a companion will join the player; like Shai’en and the
liberation of Eltreant.

“It was a quest to find
her missing father, or find out what happened to him at least. It isn’t that I
am avoiding finishing the quest; travelling throughout the continent is a part
of looking for leads on information.”

A complete lie, but I
don’t know how else I would explain it to him.

‘Oh, Mason, she is
technically a boss monster who can morph into a girl and joined me on a whim
after a week of fighting each other. Oh, that can’t be right? But I still
haven’t told you how this crazy girl has somehow left the game and invaded my
V-Link.’

Had I not been part of
this bizarre situation, I know I would never believe it myself.

“That makes sense, why
didn’t I think of that? Although, I have never seen you gathering information.”

“You’re not always with me
you know. I do it on my own time.”

“Haha, of course.”

Cursing at how nosey this
guy is, I look down at Fen who is still nonchalantly clinging to me half asleep
like this has nothing to do with her.

The others slowly awaken
and we all start stretching ourselves. It isn’t that the game leaves us feeling
sore, but stretching after waking has a euphoric effect on the joints and
muscles.

Fen woozily gets up when I
stand, resting herself on my back until we begin to leave the room. A few of
the others give the wolf girl curious looks after overhearing the conversation
between Mason and I.

The downstairs common room
still has a large amount of players in it, but only half as many compared to
last night’s full house. I notice a few familiar faces that have clearly been
here since last night, but most of the players appear to have come in
throughout the night.

Some of the players who
witnessed us last night call out some lewd comments that shock us all and cause
our faces to flush with embarrassment. Even the noble Prince Charming suddenly
breaks character as his cheeks turn pink. The only one of us that doesn’t seem
to be fazed is Fen.

Feeling quite embarrassed,
we leave the inn and head out into the street.

The morning sun shines on
me and I can feel its warmth reach all the way down to my bones. The air is
quite humid, but this is what summer is like in the real world so it isn’t
unbearable. Looking up at the sky, I can see a few storm clouds on the horizon,
but they appear to be quite far away still. I estimate that they won’t reach us
before nightfall.

We join a small crowd of
people filtering out the town’s western gate. There are a few groups of people,
but most seem to be solo players vying to find a good spot to hunt for
themselves.

West of Firz is a boggy
area devoid of trees. Knee high tufts of luscious green grass sprout up from
random locations while loose infertile soil covers the rest of the ground.
Large, blue and black, meter high water strider-like creatures awkwardly move
about; sometimes walking sideways with their four thin, two meter long,
spider-like legs while other times jumping distances of up to fifteen meters.

The entire area is
enormous, stretching to a group of hills near the horizon. I take note of how
few players there are in this area compared to everywhere else I have been.

‘Strange, why is the
grass so green in this area? Everywhere else it is dry and yellow.’

My first step into the
area answers my question as my boot sinks a full inch into the ground. The
ground is full of moisture from past rains. There is possibly a large deposit
of clay under the ground which holds the moisture close to the surface. The
moist dirt clings to our shoes and actually has an effect of slowing down our
movement speed.

I now understand why there
are so few players in this area. With movement speed slowed and the water
striders having no such detriment, it would make fighting them incredibly
difficult.

We make our way over toward
the nearest water strider, where I use ‘Creature Analysis’ to gather
information about it.

The low level strider
doesn’t seem very attractive to hunt. With my level slightly over 200, I would
have to hunt these for days without rest before I could gain another level.
Although I may gain another point in one of my stats if I am lucky.

As I approach, my
intimidating aura envelops the water strider. It seems the skill doesn’t take
effect at first, but almost without notice, the creature leaps toward me. Its
legs lift up, poised to thrust at me as soon as I am within the attack range.

I lunge to the side to
avoid the strider’s attempt to pierce me with its long legs. The soft ground
causes my feet to sink in and have my leap fall short. Thankfully, it is still
far enough to avoid the attack. I stand up and get ready to initiate my counter
attack, but Fen’s ice bolts make short work of the ‘Fierce Strider’ before I
get a chance.

‘Well, that was a
little anti-climactic.’ 
I think
to myself.

We begin passing through
the plain at a steady pace, at least until lunch. By noon, the storm clouds I
saw on the horizon earlier have completely covered the sky. The once blue sky
is now dark grey, some parts appearing almost black, and the wind  has
gradually picked up to become a fierce howl.

If only I had known that
the clouds would travel much faster than those in real life. Every time it had
rained in the game before, I didn’t pay attention to how fast the clouds
travel.

With the sky looking full
of menace, it is only moments before the first drop of rain falls. It is only a
light drizzle at first, but suddenly the rain comes down like a hammer blow as
the volume of falling water triples.

All our clothes begin to
weigh down and cling to our bodies. Everyone except for Prince Charming, at
least. The prince is in full armour so the rain makes heavy pitter-patter
sounds as it collides with the metal. For once, I am feeling envious of the
heavy armoured players.

The next concern is the
ground. The already moist dirt can only hold so much water, so the downpour of
water starts to sit on top of the dirt. As far as the eye can see, the dirt
disappears and is replaced by an ankle-deep lake.

With my feet sinking into
the soil below and the water dragging on my feet, my movement speed is cut in
half. At this point, a nearby ‘Fierce Strider’ approaches us.

I don’t wait for the
strider to arrive, but move to engage it. While my movement speed is halved, it
is no different from when my hood is on. My boots easily tear through the
water, sending water cascading in all directions. It feels like there is no
resistance from the liquid as it parts to allow me to pass through.

The strider jumps five
meters in the air, aiming its legs to pierce through me. Ignoring the spray
around me, I launch half of my throwing knives at the underside of its body,
four of which hit. My aim is helped by being underneath the monster as its body
stops the rain from falling into my eyes. The force of my attack causes the
strider to lose balance and fall back in a large, messy splash.

Upon closer inspection,
the strider has only lost ten percent of its health. My knives are too weak if
this is all the damage they will do. Drawing my shortswords, I close the
distance between us and begin to engage in close combat with the strider. While
the strider recovers from the fall, one of its two meter long legs thrusts out
at me with inhuman reflexes, catching my shoulder as I attempt to dodge.

The blade of my scramasax,
the stronger of the two swords, sizzles with every drop of rain that falls on
it. I use the steaming blade to cut through the extended leg and cause it to
recoil away from me. This allows me to cross the final gap between me and the
strider.

Cutting into the other
legs causes them to buckle and the strider’s main body falls to the ground. Not
missing the golden opportunity, I activate ‘Backstab’ to instantly appear
behind the creature and deal the fatal blow.

Checking my experience
points, I see that I did receive a decent amount, but it still isn’t even
enough to put me one percent closer to the next level. If I am to level up, I
will need to find higher-levelled creatures which give more experience points.

I turn back to the others,
hesitating the moment I see them. They all have bitter expressions and are
dripping wet from head to toe, and not from the rain. Even Fen is sporting a
sour expression.

“Lost, you are not to
attack anything else while we are in this area. We will deal with it.” Prince
Charming says with a vein on his forehead ready to burst.

“Sorry… I should have been
more careful.” I say shamefully.

I understood from the
moment I saw them. When I took off to attack the ‘Fierce Strider’, I kicked up
an enormous amount of water from my speed. I didn’t realize at the time because
I was at the front of the party, but they clearly fell prey to the onslaught of
the water.

From then on, during each
strider attack the water around my feet would freeze, locking me in place while
the others moved to engage the threat.

Night falls on us by the
time Swordbreak comes into view. Standing on top of a small hill, we can see
the capital of Dalbe in the middle of a dusty plain. The scene is too dark to
make out any fine details of the ground below, but there are an insurmountable
amount of players in the plains with swords and torches lighting up the area
like fireflies.

“Even at night it is still
packed. How on earth do they play if all the hunting grounds are picked clean?”
I ask dejectedly after looking at the sight.

“Dalbe has the lowest
average level thanks to overpopulation,” Mason explains. “But there is some
form of stubborn competition where all the players are constantly trying to
come out on top of others. People keep playing simply because of the large
numbers. Perhaps the challenge interests them.”

I shrug my shoulders,
unwilling to concern myself with it any more.

The capital city itself is
dimly lit in the distance, but still acting like a beacon for the countless,
minuscule fireflies around it. Swordbreak is shaped like a pyramid, with the
outer perimeter on the ground level, and every subsequent section raised one
height above the rest.

At the pinnacle of the
capital, a large stone castle pierces the sky. Each turret of the castle is
well lit and has a flag with the symbol of Dalbe: a ring around two swords
crossing blades.

I take the lead while we
descend the hill and make our path toward one of the city gates. Upon entering
the plain full of players, I am struck with a familiar feeling. The players are
battling a myriad of wolves, warthogs, and a few other vicious and spiked
creatures. In one hand they have poor quality iron swords which are chipped and
battered, and in the other they hold a wooden stick with one end tightly
wrapped with an oiled rag and set on fire. The large number of players and
flickering lights around me give me the impression of being at a festival, only
without the music.