Chapter 13: Chapter 13- First Cooperative Battle.
Leo logged in and found himself in the same inn within Ironhaven.
He felt the sun shining through the window; it was warm.
The usual bustling and noisy market, along with the hammering sounds of the blacksmith, could be heard across the town.
Leo sat up from his bed, letting the real-world tension dissolve into the game’s atmosphere.
He knew the game was the safest place for now.
He could revive, even if he gets killed in the game.
When he logs in, his body would disappear from the real world making it such that nobody finds him until he logs out.
He pushed these thought away for now and checked his status screen.
He was already Level 5 and just 300 XP away from Level 6. Leo wanted to hunt some monsters and level up.
He adjusted his gears, checked his sword and started walking toward the hunting grounds directly.
The northern forest had no name on the map yet. It just denoted the area with grey shading with a marker that read [Uncharted Territory].
The kind of label the game put on places it wanted you to be nervous about.
This forest area with grey shading on the map was said to be crawling with corrupted monsters.
Leo walked deeper into the forest. He could feel the temperature dropping.
Even plants and parts of trees were corrupted. Black, glass-like patches fused into the barks of the pines. The soil carried a faint metallic sheen like the surface of cold iron.
Leo crouched down and pressed two fingers into the soil.
It was cold, he felt something weird, in a way he felt like he overlooked something.
This is the same vitrification I saw in the ruins, same textures.
Leo started moving again. His steps were vigilant. One hand resting on the Ember Sword’s hilt, ready to draw at any moment.
It was not even ten minutes before he entered the deep region, he encountered a group of boars, four in total.
The boars had patchy hides with a black, glassy texture and some discoloration similar to the vitrification of stone and the wrinkles he had seen on the dilapidated forge in the ruins. Its eyes were completely dark. No iris, no white. Just black all the way through.
He checked the boars’ status:
[CORRUPTED BOAR — LEVEL 6]
[HP: 120]
[A forest boar twisted by residual forge corruption. Its hide has vitrified into patches of black glass. Charges without fear.]
The boars noticed Leo.
The nearest boar charged towards him.
Leo unhurriedly sidestepped, unsheathed his Ember Sword, and drove it directly into the boar’s throat.
[-112 DAMAGE]
[(Forgefire Strike — critical)]
[CORRUPTED BOAR DEFEATED]
[+30 XP, (Level 5 → 30/300)]
The second boar was already moving towards his left side trying to ram him down. Leo saw through it and pivoted on his right foot while bringing his sword from underneath in a rising arc.
[Rising Forge.]
[-97 DAMAGE]
[Rising Forge Proficiency: +1.9% (Adept → 1.9%)]
The boar was launched into the air. Leo quickly took advantage of the opportunity and finished the boar with another simple strike before it could even land.
[-44 DAMAGE]
[CORRUPTED BOAR DEFEATED]
[+30 XP (Level 5 → 60/300)]
The remaining two boars were about to charge, but Leo leapt toward them and used Anvil Drop, striking downward with the skill’s full weight.
Booom....
The ground cracked. A shockwave rolled outwards making both boars stagger back.
[Anvil Drop!]
[-81 DAMAGE (AOE shockwave)]
[Anvil Drop Proficiency: +2.3% (Adept → 2.3%)]
Leo quickly released two quick strikes, finishing off the boars while they were still stumbling.
[CORRUPTED BOAR x2 DEFEATED]
[+60 XP (Level 5 → 120/300)]
Leo wiped his blade with satisfaction and then moved deeper.
Leo stopped thinking about his real-world problems.
His mind was fully occupied by hunting.
He began hunting pack after pack—find a pack, engage, kill, loot, and repeat.
After the boars came corrupted hyenas, then wolves.
There were many wolves, so Leo had to activate Hyperfocus.
[HYPERFOCUS ACTIVE]
[+30% DEX | –60% stamina cost | 3× perception]
[CORRUPTED WOLF PACK — LEVEL 7 ×5]
-67 damage
-52 damage
-71 damage
-44 damage
-58 damage
[ALL DEFEATED]
[+180 XP]
[(Level 5 → 120 → Level 6 achieved!)]
[Rising Forge proficiency: +2.8% (Adept → 4.7%)]
[Hyperfocus proficiency: +3.1% (Adept → 3.1%)]
Leo finished the wolves.
He had just used Hyperfocus so the after effects took a toll on him. He supported himself on a tree, his back against the tree, gasping for breath.
Then, He felt movements in the bushes.
Something moved at the edge of his vision.
A pair of corrupted deer attacked aggressively. Their antlers had a black-colored sheen, the same as the vitrified stone, and they were as sharp as iron.
The two deer attacked Leo out of the blue.
Normally he would not have been so helpless against the attack, but his hyperfocus was was ending soon and the aftereffects were kicking in already, but he could still see them coming from far away.
Even when he saw it coming, he was in bad shape to dodge it completely. He parried one of the deer’s attacks while he tried to dodge another deer, but the deer’s antler still managed to catch Leo’s shoulder.
Tsk... I was careless.
Pain flared through his arms.
He suppressed the urge to shout in pain, and brought his sword at the deer whose antler had pierced his shoulder, finishing it off.
Another deer was already getting back up, charging towards him.
Leo held the sword inclined towards the ground. An invisible pressure emitted from him, his eyes shone with gold color and he slashed his sword lightly in upward diagonal direction.
A raging fire erupted from his sword engulfing the deer. But the fire wasn’t the terrifying part. It was the invisible blade following the fire, the blade cut through the fire and deer like tofu, bisecting it cleanly.
[CORRUPTED DEER ×2 — LEVEL 6]
-83 damage -
91 damage
[BOTH DEFEATED]
[+60 XP (Level 6 → 60/400)]
Leo’s hyperfocus wore off, and he was tired.
He collected the loot... corrupted hides, a shard of vitrified bone.... and sat on a fallen log.
Tired....
He let his stamina recover and checked his status panel.
[LEVEL 6 ACHIEVED]
[Level 6 → 7: 60 / 400]
[STR: 99, VIT: 82, DEX: 65]
[INT: 31, WIS: 30, CHA: 35]
[MFT: 35, STM: 40, LCK: 50]
[HP: 1640/1640, MP: 620/620, STM: 400/400]
[Free Attribute Points: 12]
He rolled his shoulder where the deer’s antler had pierced him.
After resting for a while and making sure his MP, HP, and stamina were back to full, he continued his journey in search of other beasts to hunt.
As he was walking around, he heard a sound of fighting coming from ahead.
Pushing through the dense tree branches and sky-high grasses, he arrived at a clearing. There were patches of circular scorched marks in the ground. All the marks were in circular ring shapes.
As he followed the marks, the fighting sound became even more pronounced.
Leo took cover behind a large tree and peeked at the fight.
A figure stood at the center of scorched ring marks. With a palm placed flat against the ground and one hand raised in a gesture that looked less like fighting and more like pleading.
His HP and MP bars were visibly decreasing at an astonishing rate.
On the other side stood a gigantic creature two times their height.
The bear’s body was almost fully vitrified. Its whole body was like metal emitting a terrifying aura. Its dark vitrified skin shined under the light like a shiny metal.
Its one eye had turned completely black while the right eye was still normal.
The bear roared at the person across it.
From the looks of it the man and bear had already fought a few rounds based on the surroundings.
Leo stayed hidden, watching.
The man was holding his own... barely.
Leo already saw the man use numerous talismans. Each time in critical moments, the man took out a talisman, thwarting the bear’s lethal attacks.
Upon closer look, Leo saw that the man’s whole armor and robes were plastered with glowing talisman strips.
But, he was miserable at fighting.
From time to time, the man turned towards Leo’s direction.
This guy already noticed me?
Leo watched for a while. He found the man could not hold much longer so he stepped forward.
Both the bear and man turned to Leo.
The man gave a quick look over Leo and seemed to relax slightly.
"Don’t get hit." he called out, voice stiff. "This bastard hits hard."
Leo nodded and drew his ember touched sword, golden fire blazing along the blade.
He closed the distance, the bear’s true size was finally in front of Leo. Up close, the bear was even more monstrous, it was giant.
[CINDERHIDE URSA]
[Level 8 — Elite]
[A bear consumed by corrupted forge-fire. Its fur smolders from within. Patches of its hide have vitrified into black glass armor. Claws leave molten gouges in the earth.]
[Fire-Resistant.]
[HP: ???]
Fire-Resistant? Hmph.., let’s see if you can withstand eternal fire.
Leo slashed the sword at the bear.
The bear was faster than what its giant build suggested. It pivoted and lashed out at Leo, its forepaw sweeping in downward aim targeting his chest.
Leo was dumbfounded by the bear’s reaction speed despite its massive body.
Leo saw the attack coming and twisted his body trying to pull back and dodge the bear’s attack.
Shit, Not fast enough.
The claw caught him across his upper chest and he was blasted off to the side.
[-41 HP]
[Forge-Born Body: –12% incoming physical damage applied.]
Thankfully, his passive skill mitigated some damage.
Leo braved the pain and quickly found his balance and charged over again. The bear was dealing with the man.
Leo slashed his sword through the bear’s forelegs.
[-67 HP]
The sword didn’t manage to cut deep through its vitrified skin.
The bear roared... not in pain, but in anger.
"Fuck....!!, its hide is too thick, except the joints" Leo spoke while dodging the bear’s another strike.
"Those vitrified patches are basically plate armor and its fire resistance." Leo added.
He circled the bear and tried to find the blind spot.
The man called out "I can weaken it. I can negate its fire resistance." He was already moving—cutting his thumb, drawing a symbol with blood on a fresh talisman slip. "I need you to buy me thirty seconds."
"Okay I’ll keep it busy. You do what you have to." Leo answered and charged towards the bear.
Leo lunged at the bear with forge fire strike. A downward cut trailing golden flame crashed into the bear’s shoulder.
[-84 HP] (Reduced — Fire Resistance)
[Forge Fire Strike Proficiency: +2.1%]
The damage points were embarrassing.
Leo dodged the bear retaliation and cycled through his skills slowly.
The bear didn’t even bother dodging his attacks anymore and charged at him. He barely managed to avoid its claws.
For the first time since logging in he felt the limitation of production class.
Even though its mythic class. It’s still production class after all.
Leo had the bear’s attention, let it chase him around the clearing, dodging and redirecting, buying time.
The robed man finally finished what he was doing.
He drove a talisman he had just completed into his own chest.
His stance dropped and his shoulders squared.
[Ink Chains]
He pressed his palm against the ground and a pool of ink slowly began to form. They surged forward like a shadow.
Soon, it enveloped the bear freezing it in place.
"Attack now, its fire resistance has been weakened, I can’t keep it restrained for long."
Leo calmed down, eyes closed, he took a deep breath and released it.
His eyes opened wide, Sharp and focused.
He stopped thinking and let his instinct take over.
The world fell silent in his vision. And the bear’s body became clearly visible, each nook and cranny of its body.
His body moved fast. He was already beside the bear.
Around the bear’s left side, past the vitrified shoulder plate. A gap where the black glass ended and smoldering fur began, just about the base of the spine.
He had noticed this spot previously during the fight, but he was never able to get close to it.
But now in its restrained state, Leo targeted it perfectly.
[Forge fire strike.]
KAANG!
[-247 HP]
[Critical strike triggered]
The bear let out a final, pained whimper and collapsed.
[CINDERHIDE URSA — DEFEATED]
[+340 XP — Elite Kill Bonus Applied]
[Ding!]
[Level 6 → Level 7]
