:: Name :: - POV

:: Shiroe ::

*Boom*

I cast another fireball at the attacking slime. The slime shriveled up and evaporated into thin air, leaving behind only the slime core and a few copper.

“So creepy and disgusting.” I shivered.

The Bog of the Barons was my least favorite place to quest in the entire area surrounding Lachlin…but it was the only way to get to the Twisted Hollow without going over the mountains.

As much as I wanted to avoid the slimes and the spiders that infested the bog…I couldn’t take my chances with the Greyhorn Mountains.

The place had numerous 4th Order Rampaging Ogres that wandered around the lower half of the mountain and if you went higher up you would encounter 7th Order Sun Gryphons.

There was even a rumor that a 9th Order Winged Basilisk had made a home for itself at the peak.

I may not like spiders and slime, but I wasn’t suicidal.

I had a small magelight that floated above my head that helped to guide me through the fog. Without a light it was very easy to get lost in the Barons.

The fog soon started to clear and the ground became less muddy and denser. I was probably at the edge of the Twisted Hollow.

The smell in the air was a mix of pine and oak. It was much more satisfying than the noxious smell of the Barons.

The only thing that was missing was…monsters.

Normally you wouldn’t be able to walk twenty feet into a zone without encountering a small group or at least a single adversary, but it was eerily quiet.

“Was the information I had wrong?” I began to question the information that I had received from a well-known merchant.

He had said that he needed twenty wolf canines and that the Twisted Hollow was teeming with them, but all around me was nothing but vast empty forest.

I was starting to get scared…now don’t get me wrong just because slimes creep me out and well so do spiders…and apparently empty forests…well it doesn’t mean I’m a scaredy-cat.

The leaves rustled behind me and I almost jumped out of my skin. God, why did this game have to be so realistic?

I stopped for a minute in order to catch my breath…my heart was hammering against my ribcage.

And that’s when I heard it.

It was the most menacing growl that I had ever heard in my entire life. I turned my head slightly to the left and there it was.

The creature had to be over ten feet tall and three feet wide.

“That can’t be a standard wolf, can it?” My eyes widened as a I muttered to myself.

The large black wolf lunged towards me and I let out a high-pitched scream as I jumped away to the side.

I had never fought a creature as big as this, but I had to fight back…I had to do something.

“Fireball.”

I launched a ball of flame towards the right flank of the wolf. It tensed up for a second, but when the magic slammed into its side and disappeared it immediately relaxed and turned to face me with a menacing smirk on its face.

The wolf could smell my fear and now it knew that I wasn’t strong enough to kill it…well at least I knew that.

The fireball spell was one of my most powerful spells at the moment until I was able to advance from being a Mage to a Pyromancer at level 25.

I quickly checked the wolfs title to see what went wrong.

Black Direwolf King (Boss-M) Lvl 20

“N…No…way.” I stuttered.

I had to have the worst luck in the world. I had read on the forums that the first few boss level monsters had taken raid groups of 10-20 people to kill.

I was barely able to continue dodging the giant wolfs attacks. I was a mage who had stats mostly pumped into intelligence and wisdom, but my agility wasn’t too bad.

But what had drawn the creature away from its standard zone. Boss monsters were notorious for not leaving their spawn point unless they sensed a…

Did it consider me a threat…I mean I was flattered and all, but I was only a level 22 Mage with 1st Order spells.

I pulled myself out of my thoughts in order to dodge its attack, but I ended up getting my foot caught on a root from one of the trees.

I fell on my side into the dirt as the Direwolf loomed over me.

‘I’m gonna die.’ I thought fearfully.

The large wolf opened its maw and prepared to rip me limb from limb. I closed my eyes and waited for my death.

But I felt no pain and something splattered on face. It was warm like blood and wet like water. Was it my own blood? Is someone singing?

I opened my eyes and saw the back of a male elf. He had shoulder length black hair and he was wearing a mix of incredibly worn leather and cloth.

“What?” I exclaimed in confusion.

In the mans hand he held the large wolf up by the neck. The body of the wolf was riddled with small holes like it was shot with a gun over and over.

The wolf started to squirm, but the man merely scoffed and plunged his small pointy weapon through the beasts head.

“Who are you?” I stood up slowly, a hint of caution in my voice. Anyone who could easily kill a boss monster was most likely an NPC…but was he here to protect me or to harm me.

:: Kai ::

I had just finished putting the finishing touches on my disguise when I heard a high-pitched scream from the distance.

I was able to cast a thin veil of mana over myself in order to hide the gem on my forehead. I hadn’t been able to add armor to my disguise yet, because it required much more practice and a higher level of detail.

It would be easier to craft illusional armor once I had a better picture of what I wanted it to look like, but for now…the scream

I left the safety of the wall of direwolf corpses that I stacked around myself. I thought it was a little sick at first, but I managed to convince myself that it would keep the other wolves away or at least caution them against approaching.

Climbing over the wall of corpses I followed the direction that I thought the scream had come from…being a bard I had a fairly good sense of sound…well no not really, but it would be cool if I did.

I weaved through the tree’s as I ran. The trek was much faster than before when I first entered the forest, because I managed to kill the majority of the creatures that lived here.

I had gained two more levels last night from farming direwolves. I was hoping to eventually find the boss of the forest, but it seems he didn’t want to come out and play.

A few blurs were dancing in the distance, but they were two far away from me for me to be able to figure out what was going on.

Putting some strength into my leg I picked up my speed and leapt up to one of the lower branches of a nearby tree in order to get a better view.

I could see them better now…there were two figures. One was a larger black wolf. He was either an elite type I hadn’t yet seen or the boss.

The other one was either a player or a really stupid NPC. I could see the flash of as it brushed against the wolfs side.

Direwolves had a higher resistance against magic. It was why some of them were able to resist my Song of the Slumbering even though they were two orders below mine.

I jumped back down to the ground and made my way closer to them. It wasn’t until I was about twenty feet away that I saw adventurer that was fighting the wolf.

She was a very beautiful girl. Some type of elf with flowing blue hair and light azure eyes. She had a long black wand that she used to cast her fire magic from.

The girl seemed to be distracted and barely holding it together. I looked at the title above the direwolfs head and realized why she was in such a panic.

At first I wasn’t going to intervene, because I thought she might be mad if I took her kill, but she seemed to desperately need help.

The moment I saw her trip…I gathered mana into my throat and burst out into song.

“I will be your hero, baby.”

I knew it was a little cheesy, but it was the first song that came to mind and I was a bit short on time.

It was the first time that I activated the Song of Sorrow since my master’s funeral. It was a skill that I didn’t want to use since it held a lot of sentimental value, but it was perfect for my current situation.

The Song of Sorrow increased the effectiveness of all my skill and stats by 15% for five minutes as long as I was in a situation that was emotionally affecting me in a negative way.

I forcibly increased my strength and luck with my Willpower and caught the animal by the neck, as it was about to attack the girl.

Pumping a massive amount of mana into my arm I released a flurry of rapid thrusts into the beasts stomach.

Because of my boost in luck and my song I was able to get quite a few critical hits and the direwolfs body lost most of its health.

I heard a soft voice coming from behind me and the beast started to squirm. Getting annoyed that the creature wasn’t dead. I plunged my rapier through the bottom of its head and straight through to the top.

The wolf fell limp as I lowered it to the ground.

Even though it was a boss monster its strength was probably at around the 2nd order, which made it a relatively easy kill for me.

Level Up +2

For being the first to solo a boss monster +5 to all stats.

I was admiring the nifty blue boxes when I felt a light tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see that the girl was staring at me intently.

“Um…thank you kind Sir for saving me.” She exclaimed softly.

“No need to be formal…I’m one of the fallen like you.” I figured she wasn’t an NPC by the way she was acting.

The fallen was the way the people of this world called us. I wasn’t used to it, because people either referred to me as stupid baby or young Thak.

We fell from the sky on the orders of the gods and were incarnated into the bodies of the dead in order to help the land and its people and make it prosper.

“B…But that’s impossible. The strongest user in the game is a level 28…2nd Order Knight and even he couldn’t solo a 2nd Order boss…”

She seemed flustered so I decided to ignore her while I pilfered the bosses body for anything that might be useful.

Necklace of the Black KingType:AccessoryDurability:25 / 25Quality:RareA powerful magic accessory made from the teeth of the legendary boss of the Twisted Hollow. +10% Magic Resistance and increased fame with animal type monsters.

‘This is the only drop…’ I thought dissapointedly.

I equipped the necklace and picked up the small pile of gold that was dropped by the creature.

“Here love…some gold for your valiant effort.” I tossed her two gold pieces from the pile.

She looked at me angrily for a second, but then she seemed to let it go when she looked at the gold.

“Level isn’t everything in this game.” I exclaimed nonchalantly as I tried to look cool.

“I g…guess so.” She still seemed to be stuttering. I began to wonder if I made her uncomfortable.

“Is there anything I can ggg…get you or give you for helping me.” She stuttered less…I think she was starting to get her confidence back after the fight.

“Directions to Lachlin would be nice. I’m supposed to meet up with a girl I know in real life and a few of her friends.”

“I can guide you there after I get some wolf teeth for my quest…wait it can’t be…Gideon?” A light bulb seemed to go off in her head when I mentioned meeting up with people.

“Huh? How do you know my name?” I asked quickly as I reached for my rapier.

“I sit two seats behind you in history class. We were waiting for you to arrive, but you took forever so we decided to quest some more.” She replied and I calmed down quite a bit.

“Oh…two seats behind me. That means your name is Sarah…no wait Sylvie.” I took a guess, because I knew it started with an S.

“Baka…we’ve been in the same class for two years.” She smacked me in the head with her wand. “It’s Savannah, but call me Shiroe here.”

As soon as he heard the name it clicked in his head. “Savannah Maritel…one of the schools three beauties along with Guinevere Hastings and Jillian White.” I muttered the words out loud as I remembered them.

I looked up to see Sava…no Shiroe’s face and it was beat red like a tomatoe. “Baka.” She hit me again, but it wasn’t as hard as before.

‘What the hell is she hitting me for…I practically called her beautiful.’ I thought to myself.

“Lets just go find some wolf teeth and get back to the party.” She stammered. A slight hint of red still blushing her cheeks.

“If its wolf teeth you need…have at it.” I said as I dumped out a few hundred sets of sharp teeth.

The look on her face was…priceless.

Chapter 16: Status

Status WindowName:KaiAlignment:NeutralLevel:19Class:BardRace:CherubGender:MaleTitlesSongscryerFame:120Infamy:950-Health:400 / 400Health Regen:3.5 / SecMana:500 / 500Mana Regen:4.5 / SecStamina:550 / 550Stamina Regen:6.0 / Sec-Strength:44 (+47)Agility:53Vitality:58Intelligence:59 (+5)Wisdom:69 (+5)Endurance:73Luck:37 (+47)-Attack:10-15Defense:25 (+65)Physical ResistancesSlashing:15 (+39)Piercing:15 (+39)Crushing:20 (+39)Elemental ResistancesFire:10%Water:10%Wind:10%Earth:10%Light:10%Darkness:10%

Skills/Abilities:

Spoiler : Iron Skin: Intermediate Lvl 3 (78%)

Willpower III: Intermediate Lvl 3 (6%)

Seven Pathways Meditation: Novice Lvl 9 (88%)

Mana Manipulation: Intermediate Lvl 1 (64%)

Voice Manipulation: Novice Lvl 6 (13%)

Music Mastery: Novice Lvl 7 (21%)

-Song of Renewal: Intermediate Lvl 2 (4%)

-Song of the Slumbering: Novice Lvl 6 (45%)

-Song of Sorrow: Novice Lvl 3 (26%)

Sword Mastery: Novice Lvl 6 (15%)

-Rapier Mastery: Intermediate Lvl 2 (23%)

+Rapid Thrust: Novice Lvl 4 (32%)

Illusion Magic Mastery: Novice Lvl 3 (47%)

-Disguise: Novice Lvl 2 (6%)

-Glamour: Novice Lvl 3 (17%)

-Clone: Novice Lvl 1 (0%)

Equipment:

Spoiler : Swift Iron Rapier (10-15) Atk – (16/30) Durability

Torn Leather Vest (+10) Defense (-2) Luck – (11/15) Durability

Mangled Cloth Pants (+5) Defense (-1) Luck - (5/10) Durability

Rugged Leather Boots (+7) Defense (+3) Agility – (9/12) Durability

Necklace of the Black King (+10%) Magic Resistance – (25/25) Durability