They both walked in-between the trees. Gabumon hummed alongside the silent Kira. They both looked around, trying to find their next prey. They had been looking around for the past few minutes and so far hadn't met anything; man or monster.
Their exp bars were almost full; a single dead monkey would fill it, or a bear and 16 goblins. They hurried, not wanting to wait around for the monster finding them...
An hour later, they had not found anything. "Ah fuck this!" Kira threw his hands up in the air, exasperated "Let's go back to the guild and get a job until the monsters respawn."
They managed to get back without delay. Looking at the adverts, one caught his eye.
Escort a caravan to Magnolia. Prepare your own food. Reward: 20 slivers. Recommended level: 18
'Perfect.' Kira noted. He accepted the request. He approached Yukino. "Hi, do you know when this escort mission starts?" She took the advert, studied it for a second before answering "In two days. You need to buy food for the journey. Also. If you're attacked and die, not only will you not receive the reward, you will respawn here." Kira nodded. Those were acceptable risks. He looked at the time in real world. 'Ah well, after school it is.' He logged off.
The next day, after he got home, John hurriedly logged back on; he was late! He picked up the drowsy Gabumon and ran to the rendezvous point. He arrived just in time to see them pack everything up and leave. "HEY!" He shouted as he ran. "WAIT FOR ME!" The caravan stopped. Two people, a man and a woman approached him.
As they drew closer, Kira could see them clearer. The man was rather timidly scurrying behind the figure of the woman. He had a blue and orange shirt and blue shorts. He wore something akin to a pilot's goggles, except the lens were tinged orange. On his forehead he wore a silver headband, which was mostly covered up by his brown hair.
The woman, on the other hand, advanced with more confidence than her friend. Her short yet wavy hair bounced as she ran. She had two purple rectangular shapes on her cheeks and the same silver headband. She had a pink sweater tied around her waist.
Kira approached them both. "Sorry to be late. I only accepted this mission two days ago and wasn't fully prepared." The girl stopped in front of him, evidently the leader of this caravan.
"Oh alright. Make sure you protect us and our cargo. My name is Rin and this person behind me is called Obito." She introduced herself. "H-Hello." Obito nervously said his greetings. "We have to go so... Yeah. Come with us." Kira obediently followed.
He and Gabumon walked alongside the caravan. There were a total of 11 guards, including himself and the two merchants. All of the NPC guards were level 18 whilst Obito and Rin were level 20. There was one level 17 player. The caravan was just one cart covered by a piece of cloth pulled by two horses. They made good progress, and by the end of day one, they had walked 20 miles. In fact, the journey was so boring he considered logging off. It became dark and they decided to stop. "Let's camp here!" Rin, the lead merchant, shouted from the start of the caravan.
The guards worked quickly, setting up tents, starting campfires and eating. Soon, the air was filled with a relaxed atmosphere. As Kira made camp, the level 17 approached him. "Hello Kira." He tensed up. Would this be one of those annoying pricks? "My name is Krillin. Nice to meet you face-to-face."
Kira breathed a sigh of relief. This guy was a good guy. "Nice to meet you too. As you know, my name is Kira. Let's finish this job together."
A wolf's howl interrupted their friendliness. Everyone present reached for their weapons. Kira unsheathed his katana whilst Krillin went into a fighting stance. 'Fighting wolves barehanded, eh?' Kira noted. Wishing him luck they went back to back. "Make sure you are as brutal as your videos show, if you're not, I will be disappointed." Krillin teased. "You jest. I will not disappoint but if your hands start hurting I could protect you from the big bad wolves." Kira retorted. "Protect the cargo." Rin shouted. They all perked up; that was they were being paid for. They huddled against the cart. Gabumon along with Krillin's pet climbed on top of the cart, ready to provide support.
After three minutes of tension, they appeared. They looked like wolves, but at least two meters in height. Their fur was black and didn't reflect the moonlight like a normal wolf's. "Dire wolves." A NPC next to Kira breathed. "What's the difference between them and normal wolves."
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"They're like wolves, but dire."
"Oh."Kira sighed at the explanation. He readied his weapon as an entire pack of eight appeared. They circled the cart, looking out for the frightened; the weakest. 'This is taking too long.' He said to himself after a minute. 'Lighting spear.' He threw the spear at the closest wolf.
It was like a signal, with NPC guards and dire wolves attacking each other. Wolves jumped, biting faces off; guards disembowelling stomachs.
Kira ran at the wolf he had fried. Surprisingly, it was still alive. Kira stabbed into its head, piercing the brain. With a cry, it fell down. He turned to face the next wolf.
The closest wolf looked back at Kira. It was one of the deadlier one; it was feasting on the body of the NPC that was next to Kira. He glanced at the corpse. The guard's face was twisted into a look of horror. "I will avenge you." He told the man.
"BLUE BLASTER!"
Blue fire hit the wolf, burning the fur pelt of the wolf. It snarled in irritation, it faced the pets; they huddled in fright. 'Aw hell naw.'
Kira dismembered the wolf's front paw. It yelped in pain. It yelped in pain once more as he sliced the other paw off. It fell on its jaw, stunned from the fall and pain. Kira walked up to it. He raised his katana above the wolf's head, point down.
He brought it down. A yelp of pain. Silence.
Kira looked around. The rest of the pack had been brought down, but not without casualties: Only 6 NPC guards remained. 'Better result than I thought it'd be.'
*Ding* Congratulations on leveling up! Please assign stat points stat points available: 8
"Please put 2 into strength and agility, and one for every other." Kira answered. He looked at Gabumon. "Oi, Gabumon, come here and eat these two cores. You might level up."
Gabumon obeyed. He trotted over to the dire wolf drops. He picked up two cores. Opening his mouth, he swallowed one, and then the other. Kira looked at Gabumon's level: 18
He widened his eyes. Gabumon had increased by three levels! He smiled, ignoring the fact that he looked like a maniac standing in between corpses. A few guards uncomfortably shuffled away.
'Oh yeah. The drops.' He looked at what he had earned; 6 silvers, a few wolf teeth and curiously, another pelt. 'How did it skin itself?' He asked himself incredulously. 'Oh well.' He compared his red bear pelt and the dire wolf pelt. 'Black is my favourite colour and it goes along with the mask.' He said to himself, equipping the black dire wolf pelt.
"So how did it go on your side?" Krillin approached Kira. Kira glanced at Krillin's bloodied hands before replying "Not bad, but over quite quickly. You?" Krillin showed his hands.
"They didn't even put up a fight." Kira snorted. "Please, your stamina sucks. That fight took a lot from you."
"How did you know?" His fellow martial artist asked. "You're breathing irregularly. The programmers coded the game well for it to be so realistic."
Kira smirked and then noticed Krillin's pet: A small puppy. "What's is the name of it?" He pointed at the small white dog. "This guy? He's called Akamaru."
"Can you two love-birds stopped flirting?" Rin suddenly shouted from the sidelines. They both glanced at Rin then at each other. They burst out laughing.
Walking towards the center of the camp, Kira saw Obito trying to impress Rin. "Hey Rin, look. I took out one wolf by myself!" He excitedly exclaimed. "That's nice. Well done." She brushed him off. Crestfallen, Obito went to get rid of the bodies.
An hour later, Kira and Krillin sat around a fire. Akamaru and Gabunon were playing tag with each other a couple meters away from their masters. They both ate and chatted about their pasts.
Krillin was apparently a martial artist in real life as well as in-game. His family ran a dojo and Krillin was supposed to inherit it at a later date. His favourite style of fighting was apparently Taekwondo.
Kira told him his past. His parents were also martial artists but often put their skills into practical uses. He liked to fight using a mixture of Taekwondo and judo. However, neither of them told each other their real life name. Why would they?
"Oi. Kira. Since you were late, you have first watch. Wake Krillin up in three hours. Then he will wake up the next guy. Go to sleep, we have a long day ahead of us!" Rin shouted. Sighing in acceptance, Kira stood to go on guard.