Chapter 14

Making Legends 101

Watching from far away, Loni and the others can’t believe their eyes. They were just leisurely hunting weaker monsters than their current ranks but they didn’t expect to come across the same person that killed all of those monsters from the Forest of Kali.

But then, the monster he was fighting against made a roaring sound different from before. It made Thorn who was usually composed anxious that he ordered for them to retreat from the place.

They all agreed, except Loni.

“What are you doing?!” Asked Fuma frantically. “A whole pack of bird monsters are going to come! We have to get out of here!”

“But…I want to watch him.”

“Is this for your book again?” Asked Henna with an understanding set of eyes. “If you stay here, you will die.”

“Loni,” Called Thorn with a worried expression. “I can‘t leave you here. Let‘s go. Please, come with us.”

Loni stood up from her position and leaned back to see the man who bumped into Henna earlier walking casually towards the birds.

He suddenly laughed and the four of them were put into silence by the act. And right that instant, Loni was the first to voice out what had just happened.

“I can‘t move.”

“Me too.”

“It was only for a moment but…”

“Him.” Thorn broke his party’s puzzlement with a finger pointed at Siva. “I think he just did that.”

“Impossible!” Shouted Fuma. “It‘s a monster skill. A player having a monster skill?! It’s insane!”

“I think its possible.” Henna’s voice echoed in the midst of their panic. “My Hawkeye is a rare skill. I put 50% of my free stat points to DEX and it changed into a stat called Constitution. After that, I got access to rare skill list.”

“But him, being able to freeze us, it‘s just…”

“I think what Henna said is right.” Thorn spoke with a hand on his bearded chin. “I got an idea. Loni, if you want to watch him, we can all do. But…”

“Thorn, no!” Fuma interrupted. “You don‘t mean to invite him over do you?”

Horn looked at him with a serious glare. That act made the usually noisy Mage silent and he knew that arguing with Thorn would only lead up to a quarrel.

Besides, you can’t argue with a superior officer of a guild, even though it was still in the process of creation.

“I agree with Fuma.” Loni replied. “We can‘t risk him going with us. We have our plans. And from what I think is right, that man is part of the Masked Group.”

After she said that, they heard a roar that snatched up their attention. When they finally saw what happened on the other side of their location, the look of worry had bade a line on Loni’s face.

“And you were saying?” Henna teased Loni but she just look at their leader with a stern expression.

“Thorn. I still don’t like the idea of him joining us in our goal. But…can we help him get out here, at least?”

“Heh. Loni. You‘re always the same.” Thorn is now wearing the same smile as Henna. “You may show your fangs but deep inside you‘re still a lamb.”

“I just don‘t want to see someone die. I‘ve seen it many times. I don‘t want to see it again.”

***

Siva never expected that his instincts were right. A whole flock of large bird monsters came with their big ol’ momma. The mother monster. And its size wasn’t the size he knew he could defeat. In just a first glance, it was something that easily reached 10 meters high.

“S-ranked monster, perhaps…?”

The smile he had after he killed the last two mobs had sunk to the bowl. Now, he was facing their revenge and it looked dire. He was surrounded.

Then, from out of nowhere, four people appeared and joined him. They were protecting him from behind while the other one who looked familiar took out some herbal medicines and applied it swiftly on his wounds.

“You?!”

“Yes me.” Henna smiled. “We‘ll explain later. Right now, we fight together.”

Then from behind Siva, a Mage with large spectacles were glaring at the big momma bird monster, wearing his robe and even brought out a wand.

“Hahaha…we meet again!”

“My name is Thorn.” Said the Mage holding a Rune Blade. “We came here to help you escape and also to settle a score with that big monster.”

“I don‘t need you.” Siva replied coldly. “I can escape on my own. I could have. Until you showed up. Now I feel responsible if I leave you all here and escape.”

Thorn looked at Loni with a chuckle. “Well, for one, I never thought you had an attitude.”

“Here they come.”

As the Archer who tended on his wounds spoke up, Siva steeled his bearing. He smelled the weird scents oozing off from the bandage and he felt better now than when he was enduring the pain of his injuries.

The big monster screamed and Siva plugged off his ears to minimize the damage but then the Mage with a wand waved his hand and the wand’s end created a big barrier. That barrier protected them from the attack and it actually became a visible bluish liquid that deflected off the magical shield.

“I see. You’re a Support Mage.”

“I am, thank you.” The Mage replied and he waved his wand again. At that, a strange set of words came out his mouth followed by a strange aura that went off like smoke out of their bodies.

“Alright.” Thorn spoke up. “Fuma, you focus on our recovery. Henna, you take out their eyes. And Loni, you use magical arrows and cause some damage on their defenses. And Mister Slayer…”

“Slayer?” Siva curled his brows. “If you want to call me a name, then call me The Destroyer. Aside from that, I will not accept any other title.”

“Very well. Have it your way. Kill as many as you like but give us the big mother.”

“Guys, they‘re here!” Fuma shouted.

“Deal.” Siva replied and he pulled out a small silver box from his inventory and put it on his knuckles “Fix.”

The small silver box melted into tiny particles and it merged with his leg and arm weapon. The durability went back to 100% and for the next 10 fights more, he could fight without worrying anything else.

And at that, the monsters and them started the brawl.

Henna released his arrows and it hit the monster’s eyes with precision. The big monster roared painfully and she stomped the ground trying to shake off the small implanted arrow.

Loni’s arrows dealt magical damage. When it hit the monster’s scaled body, it exploded and made a red line of wound.

Those two focused their attacks on the big monster while Thorn focused on defending Fuma.

And upon seeing that they already had their own set of fighting style, Siva fixed his Cassius Clay and began his assault. His focus were the small fries. But even the small C-ranked monsters are no easy picks so he had to be careful and aware of his surroundings while actually dealing the greatest damage he could inflict.

Air Shot is a technological technique that he can use once every 20 seconds on each limb. Its science revolve around air compressors releasing its compressed air within a sensed speculated distance.

Once the user had designated its target on his mind, its relative distance is remembered by the weapon and it will release the air only when the laser designator are certain on the distance of the fist to the point of impact.

And at that, he released a punch that shattered the defense of a shielded bird monster.

The wing flew up and Siva stepped in to finish the monster. But there are more than one and all of them are balled in their iron defenses. And so what he did is to threw in rocks at their heads and all of them released their defenses, giving opening time to attack.

He did that for the next five monsters, it was very effective to the point that it was funny.

“These birds hate rocks?” Siva murmured and smiles as he threw more rocks towards their direction.

For every rock he threw, one monster fell down from his attack, and until he knocked half of their numbers, that’s where he noticed that the other side is having a hard time.

When he faced up front, the bird monsters were in their assault towards his direction. He met them all with a smile. He tested his theory, throwing rocks at them as he dodged their beaks and their claws.

The Cleopas all roared angrily and their movements became rigid and straight forward, easy to read, with a lot of openings for counter attacks.

And so he continued on and on, he even reverted to his old ways of a painful punishment of punching their eyes, hugging them and pulling their tongues, stabbing their throats with sticks and stones, and even a new art at which he smashed their brains off their heads.

When he was finished, a smile would always be seen on his blood filled face.

The sight was enough to scare off the smaller birds and he enjoyed it when easy pickings are there, being frozen and all.

Siva began to laugh and it overpowered the monsters and even the players there with him. His laughter was a sign of something else, an omen that put everything in his immediate surroundings frozen in a momentary laps of time.

“It‘s here again.” Loni murmured and she looked at his direction to see his earlier silver polo became red from all the blood of the monsters he killed.

“What a sight.” Fuma commented behind her. “It‘s like I‘m looking at a slaughter house, only without the systematic procedures.”

And although he had been alone, with his pace and his style, the C-ranked monsters and their numbers are diminishing one by one. In a steady pace, the man who called himself The Destroyer exchanged from using his fist to using his feet every ten monsters he killed.

And it all happened in just a few minutes.

No one but Thorn had watched it happen as he was also facing his direction while protecting Fuma with his sword and the magic he wielded with it.

“I can‘t believe there are people like him.”

Suddenly, Thorn noticed that no monsters have been coming after their healer for the past few minutes. It’s because when he looked around them, dead monsters were piled one after another like small mounds of land.

And he did it alone?!

He couldn’t believe his eyes. He looked around more and the proof was evident. Earlier, he spent much effort just to defend from three attackers simultaneously but now, he could only watch from how he killed the last one with just his bare hands.

How he killed it was even something to remember in a far away place. Even for Thorn who already can hunt down A-ranked monsters with his team mates, dealing with C-ranked monsters, alone, and in these numbers, is something that was actually never heard of. He could only look at him with astonishment.

At the moment he killed the last C-ranked monster, Siva stood up while holding its head. He stared at its dead eyes and then turned towards his surroundings.

His temple was aching, his vision was blurry, his body screaming for rest, his throat dry, and his injuries were telling him to stop the chase for more violence. He had no qualms for his body in this state, he was used to this kind of pain. How many times had he ever put his life in the line for his family? Putting those in line with this kind of pain now, it wouldn’t even be in par.

The reason he never played Terroa was this scene in itself. Why would he put himself in more hurt than the one he was already going through to fight all of those bastards who died because of their weakness?

But now, if he had said those words to himself now, he would have to answer straight to his face.

I’m doing this for Baron…for family.

And so he felt anger swell in his chest once more and he crushed the monster’s head with an Air Shot attack in point black range.

The blood splattered all over him and his clothes.

In the surrounding area, he looked around and saw the piles of dead monsters scattered everywhere.

He then saw Thorn looking at him wide eyed. After that, he pointed his sight on the big monster. He then recalled the deal. So, he started to pile up his trophies on a certain place somewhere far away from them.

Swaying his body on every step, he looked like a real zombie pulling his food and piling them for use later.

“Help us!” Screamed Thorn and he started to focus his attention on the fight on the big mother’s side.

Siva only glanced at them, and then turned back to piling up his dead bodies. He then saw a few monsters approaching the area, attracted to something invisible in which he actually felt glad it happened.

Not wasting anymore time, he initiated the attack and slaughtered them the same way as he killed all the bird monsters.

And when he had finally killed all of them, the big mother monster was also defeated.

Seeing him piling up all the bodies, Thorn went to him with blood all over his light armor clothing.

“I asked you for help!” He yelled angrily.

Siva only looked at him with blank eyes and a face with no expression then turned towards the activity he’d been doing earlier. At that, Thorn was about to yell at him again but was pulled by Loni who shook her head.

“It‘s no use.” She told him. “He‘s unconscious.”

At her words, Thorn could only look at Siva with a pair of nursing eyes. “How could that be possible?”

His question made the rest of the team look at Loni and waited for answers. While watching the man who‘s like a zombie, doing the same thing over and over, Loni told them that it was an effect of extreme concentration.

“It’s a state of human consciousness that acts like a computer, programming the body to do one thing and one thing alone. After programming the body, the mind concentrates on bodily functions, rejecting any kind of third party input that tries to put a stimulus to change the body’s assigned course.”

“What happens to him now?” Henna asked uneasily.

Loni stared at Siva who was now hauling new kinds of dead monsters into his pile of stash.

“He‘ll only stop when the program finished its task or if his projected body reaches the limit of his fatigue.”

And after saying that, the things actually happened.

Siva stopped and dropped like dead, face first on the ground.

Loni and Henna ran towards him first and wiped his face off of the blood and dirt. Then they applied first aid on his wounds and Fuma even helped by applying magic on whatever wound looked grave. Unfortunately for him, Siva’s level of injuries had reached the limit that his manna couldn’t keep up. And that itself was also a kind of surprise to him. So instead of his wounds that was impossibly too many too severe, he focused to ease him off of his fatigue.

“Just who is he…?”

As Loni asked the question, she stared at his face that seemed to attract not only him but also Henna. For an unknown reason, his face seemed to be brighter, a bit more…pleasing to their girly eyes. Sure the Apollo are people with extraordinary charm but him, he has this something that could attract them.

Then, Thorn stood up and looked at the piles of dead monsters that he had gathered and to the ones he has yet to gather in his pile.

“He killed all of this. Alone….”

“Weren‘t you helping him?” Asked Fuma who bid to begin his meditation to gather manna.

“Yes but…” Thorn pointed at the direction where he came from. “That’s my share of kills.”

From that direction, there were more than 10 dead birds with red and orange feathered scales in there but here, the numbers from the piles alone could easily reach triple that number, or even more, adding up the blue skinned monsters that the man was in the middle of his delivery.

What’s his goal?

Loni wondered why he would be willing to risk his life this way? Sure this is just a game, but the pain and the hurt in this world is still bothersome to the point that it could become nightmarish. Some noobs at the very beginning even stopped playing the game when they experienced how real the pain is.

But this man in front of her, even if we say that he was rushing to gather money in the shortest time that could be possible, still, doesn’t every human at least have a limit to how much pain they can endure?

“This is too much.” Henna stole the words she was about to say. “He‘s pushing himself too much…”

“What do you think his goal is?” Asked Fuma.

“Money?” Thorn shrugged and Henna added.

“Fame perhaps?”

“No.” Loni butted in as she continued to wipe the dirt and blood on Siva’s face. “It‘s too shallow to be in this kind of state. To be able to reach the point where he could lose consciousness during the battle, there is a deeper reason for him to go this far.”

“Love?” To Thorn’s words, Henna blushed and Loni averted her gaze and hid on the activity she’s been doing all these time.

“I don‘t know.” Loni could only say. “But no matter what it is, I think not one of us would understand that.”