Fifty Silver brought us back to the battle. There was another group of two rushing towards us. It may be because some mispositioning on our team, but there is no time discussing because it has already reached me within its attack range.

-578

[You have been hit by a lethal bow]

-Miss

Although I was able to roll away using the skill, the first Ferocious Gharial was too fast for me to avoid.

"Goodness Gracious! I'll be dead if that second alligator was able to hit me."

"Taunt!"

Our tank was able to gain the aggro of both of them quickly. Using that time, I took a potion and drank it immediately. The heavy feeling I got from having a chunk of my HP gone faded away instantly after I drank the potion.

I was now able to breathe deeply when I was a distance away from the clash, but the adrenaline of a near-death experience was still up and running.

After that, it was a cakewalk from there. It took longer than usual because my damage was not in the equation, but there was no problem dealing with them when they are above the ground.

When the last Gharial finally fell down, the long-awaited matter of any hunt has appeared. A single item has dropped from the vanishing remains of the Gharial. Aria picked it up and distributed its stats to the party chat.

[Dented Gauntlets]

Grade: Common

Durability: 180/210

Defence: 25

Used gauntlets with some bloodstains inside.

Condition of use: Level 24 – Strength 30

It was a boring item, and no one wanted to take it. The item was more of a liability rather than a future profit because of space it takes from the inventory.

You cannot sell an item unless you are in a city or logged out of the game. Logging out is no problem, but ETHER has implemented a rule where you cannot open your character inventory in real life if your character is not inside of a protected zone when you logged out. It was to avoid any advantages they can do outside to help the situation inside.

Nevertheless, Aria still took it because it was potential money because it is a high levelled equipment even if it has the worst stats.

Now that little complication was settled, it was back to finding monsters. The task of scouting one was usually given to range users like me however, it was instead given to ChickB because I do not have the common skills for scouting like [Eagle Eyes] that can be learnt from Captain Emily, the NPC who specialized in the bow.

From that point, our hunt was smooth sailing. There was a little bit of problem though. We were wasting more time looking for a pair of Gharials than killing them.

"I think we can handle three Ferocious Gharials at the same time. Cherry's arrows really made the fights easier that it may be more efficient if we move up the scale."

Michelle suggested attempting killing a group of three Gharials while we were having a difficult time looking for our next target. This was mainly because we passed by a lot of Gharials grouped into three or more that would be difficult not to aggro all together.

"We can try. I'm also confident we can do it comfortably."

"But first we need to deal with these people."

"What are you talking about?"

"We got company."

Seconds later after Fifty out of nowhere said something, I felt the presences behind us. I am impressed by him for noticing the group of people first. He does not have any scouting skill as much as we know off, but he was still able to sense the presence of the people observing us.

"I can see six people, but two more people are hiding slightly farther than them. They seem to be in the same group based on their pacing."

"How do you know all of these?"

"Just my guts."

Fifty Silver confidently said. Aria and the group also seem not to doubt his words. I already confirmed it to be true when the opposite party was moving closer to us. Although I am not sure about the two people he said that are hiding.

We stopped and prepared ourselves for a possible ambush. It is a common sense that there would be penalties in Player Killing.

Losing Reputation points is one of them as discovered by many people foolish enough to do so. They, in turn, have negative Reputation. But because reputation is still a mystery, they care less about that compared to the original penalty.

Unlike killing players inside a city, the punishment was quite inadequate yet it still gruelling for casual or full-time gamers. Instead of having the 24 hours ban in the game by sending you to jail if you killed someone in a city, the game would tarnish a huge part of their appearance with a red mark for 48 hours.

Of course, the city Player Killers or PKers will also have this treatment after they get released from prison, but their red marks last a day less. And for the record, marked players need to pay a huge sum to just enter the city yet the red mark remains.

This does not seem to be that bad of a condition until you die. Because when the PKers die, they drop more levels and equipment compared to the death of a normal player.

And players who are basically murderers who killed more than one will have redder marks and dropped more levels and equipment according to people in the forum who have encountered and killed some.

That is why Player Killing is scary because you will become a target by many and even being inside a city cannot help them because the reddest marks are a feast for the greedy players who are waiting for you to go outside the safe city.

However, even with all of that, you cannot take the crazy people out of the equation. There are and will always be people who will find joy in killing players rather than monsters. And ETHER does not seem to care about this style of living in New World.

"Ohoho~ Someone is also having a good time here."

They boldly showed themselves like saying they can deal with whatever they face. Actually, not quite because the two people presences, which I have already felt, are still hiding.

"Hey, you! Where did I see you?"

The person who was leading the talk and looks like their leader pointed at me. Now that he says it, I saw him a while back. Unlike ChickB whose appearance was quite pitiable and forgetable, I remembered straight away those faces.

His name is Smiling Hound, but he does not know that I know that. I should keep quiet about it or he might get the wrong idea.

"You're that girl in the Goblin forest."

"Aha! Now I remember. Thanks to you, we decided to tone down the gore setting a little bit because your impression was quite shocking that time."

"You know these guys Cherry?"

"Met them one time during my first hunt. It is a small world after all even in this game."

Michelle was quite astonished by my strange encounter with these people. I cannot blame her because even though the tone of his voice was quite friendly, their eyes cannot hide the hostility.

"Where's the woman who you were with last time?"

"Oho~ You're talking about Ice Princess. She's busy handling guild matters. Now that I met Miss again, I want you to invite in our guild, but it looks like I am late. Although the offer is still available if you want to leave your guild. It looks like you need to have a change of scenery anyway."

He was talking to me in a casual manner, but every one of us can hear the disdain in those words.

Yet I was trying to entertain him. It was because besides us being outnumbered, their equipment has outclassed ours. My companions also know this and that is why they are being quiet.

"Well, it's a nice a reunion, but we're off to hunt here. So if you excuse us."

Smiling Hound proceed to pass us with a smile. His party completely ignored the fact that we were here first and began fighting the Gharials around us. The gazes left by Smiling Hound and his company was clearly asking us not to think about stealing or sabotaging them.

We know that all we can do is bite the bullet and leave the area. Aria was the most affected by it and it can be seen on her face when we left.

"..."

The group was quiet when we left the scene. However, instead of retreating back to the lower level hunting grounds, we proceeded deeper into the Marsh where we are far away from Smiling Hound's group.

No one within us wants to just leave with our faces just slapped. Even Fifty Silver who has no connection besides being a guildmate of ours only followed us quietly.

"I recognize those badges. If I am not mistaken, they are an infamous guild situated in the Twilight City from the very first-day guilds was formally introduced. Their members are known for forcing new players and casual players out of the common hunting ground to monopolize the experience."

He was also the first one to talk when we were down from the event that just transpired. He was quite calm compared to us who were visibly frustrated. I guess we are still too young for handling situations like these in this game.

"You have met them, mister?"

"No. There's a lot of people in our guild complaining about them, so I assume LadyQueen Blade, Michi Mochi, and Cherry Winter knows about them. Maybe your guild is also sharing the rumours."

"Ah, you're right. They are pretty well-known assholes, and it seems the players who are most affected are low levelled people or people who are playing solo."

"That's why there's no reason to be upset. Rather, we should be thankful that we left there in one piece thanks to Miss Cherry Winter. Revenge can always come later when we are much stronger than them."

He tried cheering us through his ways, but it was difficult because of our age difference. However, it seems to be effective because I see light back to the faces of both Aria and Michelle. Life has returned to their gestures once again.

They do not need to talk to show their eagerness since their whole focus was on finding monsters to kill.

I, who has more experience in games know very well what Fifty Silver said is true. My impression towards him is now better after that encounter.

As someone who plays this game more on the casual side, Smiling Hound's provocation has inspired me to put more care about New World. And to start it off, these translucent snakes in front of us will be the first prey of our quest to improve ourselves.