An audible banging rang throughout Hitomu's inner conciousness. Stirring, he slowly lifted himself off the ground to take in his surroundings and recollect the events that had happened the night before.
"Ah fuck.. my back.."
Granted, sleeping on the floor and waking up in an abandoned church wasn't the best places to start recalling explicit events. Dazed and discomfited, the kitsune rubbed his shoulders in an attempt to massage the pain away. More than that, he had to resort sleeping on his side, thanks to the expansive mass the 9 tails painsakenly provided. These misevents were, at most, inconvenient for the kitsune queen to say the least.
However his thoughts that followed his discomfort was soon disturbed by the resounding banging at the front entrance. Shion's alert shot up. It was a deliberate effort of the mind, like a notification entering his inner conciousness. The instinctual message told him that an enemy was trying to enter the barrier he placed earlier.
Raising himself from the still floor, the kitsune stepped fourth as his tails extended into life, fluffing out all undesired grit and dirt that was in it. Taking a better look at around him, he noticed that he still had wooden sandals with socks on, along with a perfectly clean miko dress tied up together by a large red-orange ribbon wrapped around the waist. All other aesthetics and cosmetics consisted of small inaudible silver bells hanging from her waistline. A strange set of red-violet tattoos printed were along the skin of his outer rim collarbone. Nails painted with a dark red, while his fluffy ears glown in a radiant golden hue along with each of his equally fluffy tails.
All of these presented a body of a beautiful maiden envisioned perfectly in Shion's mind. However if he had one complaint, it's that he wished he didn't make his avatar as short as he did. Having short legs was inconvenient when it came to taking long walks in the woods, even if one had unlimited stamina.
Hold on.. couldn't I just-
Another loud notification of alarm echoed throughout his thoughts. It got increasingly annoying by the second. Deciding he should finally do something about it, the Kitsune Queen traversed towards the grand entrance and creaked the door ever so slightly open. It wasn't as bright as he had originally thought it would. The barrier placed had the effect of denying a percentage of sunlight that radiated through it, acting as giant dome of shade for Shion.
A group of skeletal undead surrounded the magical force-field. Their eyes flared a hatred that directed itself towards the living. It just so happened that the closest living being resided underneath an unbreakable barrier covering a broken down chapel. They all piled themselves upon the invisible wall, pointlessly scraping the dome with their rusted bloodied swords and shields. Their flesh was already ripped away, revealing only literal bones of their former selves.
Shion became disgusted to see how realistic these undead were, but strangely enough, he felt no fear. Mostly due to them making utter fools of themselves when they tripped over each other when climbing towards the dome. This only confirmed two things to the kitsune. One, it was that undead was a definite existence in this world and two, it's that the sense of smell was definitely still in effect as they smelled horrid beyond belief.
"Uuahhgg! Hawck!"
He clenched his nostrils in a moment's agony for a some time before he continued to inspect the undead horde more closely. All of them lunged at the barrier uncoordinated with no special undead in sight.
So far it doesn't seem that they have any sort of intelligence working among them.. and none of them look powerful enough to be a leader..
This train of thought was suddenly interrupted as more undead erupted from the trees and ferns that surrounded the clearing, grouping up together as they all attempted to attack the barrier in a messily fashion.
Ah.. this is... interesting..
Normally undead only appeared in places where death was a common sight, like a graveyard or a crypt. However this was a lively forest of animals and life of all kinds, which directly contrasts to the group of skeletons that kept banging the barrier.
This meant that these undead were coming from somewhere..
After some time pondering, he declared "Alright, that's enough waiting.." and continued to proceed with the next obvious course of action.
Lifting his hand, Shion pictured the group of undead being engulfed with flames, burning into a sea of ashes and forever removed from his sight. The Kitsune Queenel envisioned the natural energies that was stored within him previously and voiced the spell out loud.
『Fireblast』!
.....
But nothing happened.
Eh?
The undead was still pointlessly attempting to get through the dome. The only thing that changed at this moment was that he stood in a position with his palm in the air, effectively doing nothing as more undead continued to erupt from the trees.
....Was that not the right command?
He rose his hand once again and attempted to retry it, but with a different take on it.
『Summon: Flames』!
.....nothing.
『Cinderblast』!
....still nothing.
『Burn』!
『Scorching Erruption』!
『Heatblast』!
『FUCK』!
...still no result..
He could only scratch his head with a single hand in great disappointment that he couldn't even remember something so simple. Shion incredibly utterly dissatisfied that even though he was level 100 player, he couldn't even cast a simple 3rd tier spell, something that was considered the most basic in Yggdrasil. It took a moment to calm his mind as most undead noisily banged on the magical barrier in deathly moans and incoherent screams.
"God damn it! What's so hard about casting a ball of fire?-"
Then it hit him. The answer was so obvious. Looking back at the group of flesh and bones, he lifted his palms once more, with a serious gaze within his narrowed eyes.
『Fireball』!
Suddenly a mass of energy collected around the tip of his finger, as it all compiled together and discharged upon absorbing the right amount of mana. It manifested into a sphere of flames as it shot out into the group of undead, causing the entire group to erupt in a consuming light of heat and smoke. The smell became way worse than what he had anticipated.
The kitsune coughed and wafted the smell away from his sensitive nose. Opening his eyes once again through the dispersing smoke, all that remains was a field of scorched grounds and a pile of ash that scattered off within the forest winds. Leaving behind only a mass of discarded broken burnt equipment and swords that laid upon the dirt.
"Well at least it worked!" Shion spoke to herself in a delightful tone before entering another coughing fit from the ashes and black air.
As soon as the it finally cleared, he headed past the protection of the barrier, greeting the luscious green forest as it thanked him with breathable air. Nothing else in the forest stirred except for the queen. Glancing downwards at his feet, he could see the same worthless scattered equipment laying on the dirt. He kneeled down to clench the nearby blade to examine whatever quality it had, but when he tried wielding it, it suddenly fell out of his grasp.
Huh? What..?
Confusion was soon replaced by curiosity as Shion bent down to pick up the sword once more. The same result happened as he ended up dropping the blade upon swinging, having the blade dig underneath the ground upon impact.
"....."
There was only two conclusions that the kitsune could provide. It was that either he apperently suck at wielding swords... or that he couldn't. Shion recalled the job levels he had. Most of which was really for spellcasting, and it so happened that none of which allowed access to combat with wielding a sword. At most all he could only do simple hand-to-hand combat and a series simple of spells. That was when Shion realized another law of this new world. It was that this world still held game restrictions...
Wait...wasn't this real life?
More questions continued to pop up in the kitsune's head as he continued to ponder more deep in thought. He couldn't answer any of his questions as of now due to the lack of information he had access to. Realizing it's pointless to think about this any longer, the queen left the useless blade abandoned in the burnt ground. Before he left, he also used 『Appraisal Magic Item』to make sure of it's lowly value. This spell allowed anyone to identify the item the spell was casted on. Shion liked using this spell frequently during his trading days, so the informant was at least familiar with his own trading skills and anything else related to it, such as identification spells.
"Eh.. can't be helped." He shrugged as he instinctively pushed his hand into a pocket of dark space. He reeled his arm back out of the void to reveal a map from his inventory. It was a 4-inch diameter glass sphere that had a fully functional screen-like hologram that was projected above it. This item was 'The Seer's All-Seeing Eye', a magic item of the high-class category. It allowed a user to automatically map areas they have been to previously, along with pinpoints and coordinates to where the player was. Terrain information was priceless among players. Usually players had to map out areas manually or use a special skill to produce an idea of where they were in Yggdrasil. It was easy to get lost in the multiple worlds, and there were also many secret areas and dungeons yet to he discovered in each of said worlds.
Terrain information like this was criminally scarce among other players since information like this wasnt widely available. This made maps like these insanely valuable to have in possession. Some PKer parties would ambush other worldly groups just to acquire them. When Shion first discovered the item, he could only be disappointed that this was a quest item that could only be completed once. As a result, it couldn't be repeatedly farmed and exploited by mass selling them on the market for real in-game currency. Of course that didn't mean he couldn't profit off of it. The meer information that such a quest existed could cost a hefty price for others. The informant business was risky, yet undeniably profitable when presented with the right circumstances.
However this map Shion had in possession was more valuable in terms of progression. He had previously used a strategy to equip this in a shared inventory system among his NPCs so he could scour the world and record a good portion of the terrain Yggdrasil provided. It could also be said that such exploit allowed him to have the most completed map in the game among other players. However the map had showed no such thing. It was blank, completely devoid of any travelling progress he had previously, aside from the path and church he woke up from. The kitsune attempted to zoom out of the map, similar to how people would zoom out on the console. It certainly made the terrain view smaller, but it showed no familiar places as no other areas from the 9 worlds of Yggdrasil revealed themselves.
...So it really is another world...
This was the only conclusion Shion could think of. All his wavering thoughts of whether it was reality ceased upon confirmation. Previously the queen wasn't sure whether or not this world was simply an expansion to Yggdrasil before he was transported. Like a sudden 10th world or something, but the fact that Yggdrasil doesn't even show on the world map confirms that this wasn't even Yggdrasil anymore. What truly mattered in this case was that this place still held certain restrictions on his new body. Magic was still in effect, along with two new senses, and mobs were also an occurence just like in Yggdrasil.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Even if this is a new world, it's just as unpredictable and dangerous as the next.
It took Shion a couple moments to comprehend all this and ingest the facts. He knew couldn't simply deny the facts that stood right before him. Choosing to walk in a random direction, he fiddled away with his theories in private. What proved to be the most troubling for the kitsune was that if the undead existed in this world, the living existed as well. Whether or not these "living" beings are a threat has yet to be determined.
Swat.
Those girls said that everything in the forest was no higher than level 30.. so it should be safe to wander around right? No it's already been a day, should I summon them again?
Swat.
Then the traumatized queen recalled the events that unfolded right before he slept. All the stress that built up ever since he came into this world, and the newly intake of knowledge that presented itself all strained on him. Right along with the ridiculous events that was committed by said girls.
Swat.
...Yeah..let's not.
He decided in full certainty.
Swat.
Continuing to dwindle along a path that he followed unconsciously, Shion realized that the path he followed had the stench of death surrounding it. Glancing behind himself, his eyes revealed a trail of crushed skulls and undead corpses that laid upon the trudged dirt along the kitsune's recent footsteps.
Wait.. those weren't flies?
It was just then the queen realized that these so called bugs were in fact, undead, and that they were incredibly weak. They only had barely even registered as a threat to his inner subconscious. Unknowingly, he swatted them away with his hands and tails with pure strength alone. The fact that his attacks were also registered as bludgeoning attacks makes it's effectiveness even more absurdly so.
"So weak!" He couldn't hide his inner surprise at the information learned from this. In the past, Shion would avoid confrontation with any mob if at all possible, since mobs could easily spell death to those that traveled alone. But this... this was a joke compared to the enemies in Yggdrasil.
Slowly pulling himself back together, Shion determined that the level cap for the creatures here was to be safely assumed to be nothing of a threat to him. He initially thought it wouldn't hurt to have additional protection by trying out a couple defensive spells to see if it worked.
". . . Maybe it wasn't necessary after all. . ."
He began to have second thoughts. After all, if he could kill creatures like these with a single tap in this area, then perhaps using magic was a little overkill and uneeded. The kitsune turned back to view the trail Shion was initially following, only to see an ominous cave that lured infront across from him. Bones, pickaxes, and helmets were scattered throughout the cave shaft. The stench of death wafted towards me in the form of a small fog that surrounded it. All signs obviously pointed to more undead.
So this was where they all came from...
His theory soon proved to be correct as more undead spawned. As soon as he drew close within proximity of the entrance of the mines, the entrance erupted with enemies of flesh and bone. Multiple eyes of red hatred for the living locked on with the Kitsune Queen's glowing green eyes. Her fingers parted away from themselves as her palms extended. Her succulent lips parted to silently mutter the words that would spell death's utter end.
『Maximize Magic: Fireball』
A small bit of fatigue gripped the beauty's consiousness as she felt something being consumed within her, a mass of energy forming a physical shape between her palms. Grasping it, the energy gathered at her fingertips swirled into a ball of fire to shine brilliantly. Both flames flickered intensely as it radiated from blue, to red, then to a blinding white light of obscure heat that spelt utter complete vaporization.
"I might as well use this chance to practice." Her voice resounded across the igniting atmosphere. A delightful smile creeped between her cheeks, stretching from side to side. A smile that even the horde of undead could waver upon such sight.
Thus the undead mine would soon later be found to be the world's first 10,340 degree oven.
----------------------------------------
『Shield Wall』!
A feminine voice casted, reinforcing a barrier placed within the entrance of a dead end in the mines. It was a magic caster that prevented any hostiles from entering. The smell of sweat and fear wafted from her as the groans of undead kept pounding against the magical force field. Their spastic sounds of banging kept shooting within her ears as she concentrated solely on her survival.
"Shit! How's that tunnel going Marcus?" Another voice called out. It was a male of an adventurer. This one wore the typical leather lightweight armor along with a shortsword attached to his belt.
"Not so good Alex.. these rusty pick axes can't even leave a dent in these walls." Someone else responded. It was another adventurer of the same party. A mace was placed along the back of his belt as he continued hacking away at a nearby stone wall. His muscles strained in painstaking agony as he desperately abused it in attempts of pure self-preservation.
"Shit! First our cleric is down, and now we have hordes of undead up our asses! Shit! Shit!" Alex cursed under his breath. This group of adventurers was sent to investigate a recent problems in the mines. The requested minerals weren't showing up on schedule and therefore the Adventurer's Guild had sent them to question the miners at the site. What they didn't know, was that the mines already belonged to the undead.
Needless to say, they were in an unfavorable situation. Backed against one of the underground labyrinth's dead ends, they had to barricade themselves off from the entrance to prevent the hundreds of undead that ruled these mines. "Lucy! How many mana potions do we have left!"
The magic caster was a cryomancer, and as a result she wasn't entirely confident in her abilities in barrier-type magic. This effort to maintain the barrier that could very well mean life and death required a considerable amount of concentration and mana. "Boss.. I don't think I can't hold it any longer..."
"What!? We ran out!?" Alex shouted in horror. He knew that his party would be overwhelmed by the incoming horde. Undead were known to be weak against bludgeoning attacks, fire, and holy magic. However their cleric was soon met with her end upon first entering the hell hole this mine was. Rapidly it went downhill from there, both literally and figuratively as the party ended up at the very bottom levels of the endless maze of death.
Considering that their hired wizard only specialized in ice magic and their holy caster was dead, Alex could only determine that if that barrier broke they were throughly and absolutely fucked beyond compare. Sure they had a mace-user, but that was an abysmally undermined by the endless undead that streamed across the tunnels.
"No! We still have 7 more mana potions left." The wizard shouted back to the leader of the party. It gave him a slight glimmer of hope that could give him a chance to get out of this mess. "What are you waiting for!? Drink it!" He exasperated outloud.
"I can't!"
"What do you mean you can't!?"
"I already drank 4, I think this is my limit..."
"Oh for fucks sakes!"
Of course there was the problem of hyponatremia upon consuming liters of the stuff. Normally when magic casters or anyone else consumed more potions than they should have, they would have horrible experiences regarding it. It led them unable to drink anymore fluids until a specified amount of time has passed.
However Alex didn't care. Running up to Lucy, grabbing the satchel of priceless potions off the ground, he uncapped one of them and forced the bottle between her lips as she choked down on the blue liquid. The magic caster struggled as she attempted to push Alex away to save herself from asphyxiation, but Alex persisted. He continued to empty the bottle down her throat until the magical fluids overflowed from her mouth.
"Fuck! Swallow God damn it!"
He released her as she started to vomiting out an excess amount of blueish-brown fluids splattering across the ground. Marcus could only stare in turmoil as he watched his friend continue to empty the other bottles of suffering down Lucy's esophagus and stomach. She continued to hurl back up the disgusting liquids through the same hole she was forced to drank it with. Marcus wanted this to stop.
"Alex! This isn't going to work!"
"For fucks sakes Mark! If we don't do this we're all going to die with rusted blades up out asses! And I'm not going to let it happen!" He retored in full blazing desperation. The undead would soon be able to break through the ethereal wall. Cracks started to disperse across the magic shell as the undead grew eager to have their blood-rusted blades taste flesh once more.
The magic caster continued coughing up whatever Alex continued downing down her throat. Both the fear of drowning and the fear of being gutted by rotten corpses could only help one's grip on life.
"Please.. sto-"
Of course her painful pleas would be interrupted by the continued emptying of more bottles and stomach with whatever liquids her intestines had.
"Alex!"
"WHAT MARK!?"
"The barrier's gone!"
"Wha- Aww shit!"
Alex discontinued torturing the girl as he left her to collapse on the ground, leaving her to lay in the liquidy mess and lose her conciousness. He gritted his teeth as he unseathed his shortsword and stood at the ready, expecting waves of death to charge right at him.
But the corridor was empty..
"...W-What?!"
But then he could feel it. The earth above him was vibrating ever so slightly at random intervals, only to increase in intensity as time went on. More earth and rubble would shake as the undead fog slowly turned into a crisper black smoke. The atmosphere shifted both literally and figuratively. The smell of rotting corpses wafted towards the ceiling as footsteps drew closer at the entrance.
Someone's there..
Something..huge..
His instincts practically screamed as shadow soon loomed overhead through the passing black smog of burnt corpses. A small figure with 9 tentacle-like shadows emerged from the smoke. The pressure was intense unlike any other experience. Even the undead wasn't as unsettling as this.
A beastman. A being that was known to have the strength of 30 men. A creature that could devour a human whole like it was an afternoon snack. A race that considered human babies as simple delicacy. It was a fearsome creature that could wipe an entire village by itself. A monster that held terrifying animalistic traits, claws that could shred iron armor like paper, teeth that could crush a child's head like a small grape, a pelt that were as thick as enchanted iron. A terrifying monster that could only see humans as food, with little to no regard for human life.
However this being in front of him almost had none of those distinct features. This maiden wore a beautiful foreign dress, entrancing him with her stunning green eyes. Her skin didn't have a patch of fur anywhere, just the glow of her pure delicate skin. Her lips seemed pink and soft, unlike any other human he had met. Yet this girl was a beastman. Two tufts of gorgeous glowing hair pointed directly outwards, as 9 impossibly stunning tails wringed out behind her. An impossibly beautiful existence that trumps any human in a contest of stunning perfection. A beastman that made any other human girl seem pale in comparison. A maiden that could move the hearts of both males and females all together.
This maiden was a beastman, an unknown existence that could only frighten him further.
"Ara? A couple humans? This is suprising."
It could talk.
This fucking thing could talk.
"W-Who the hell are you?"
Alex could only steady his blade infront of him, making sure his eyes were locked on hers. He knew he had no chance at winning, but perhaps negotiations could take effect. Granted, past human negotiations with other beastmen ended up getting the messenger gruesomely mauled and devoured mercilessly, but even he could tell this beastman wasn't like another 'other' beastmen.
"Were you the one that dealt with those undead?"
The maiden looked at me strangely, like she had been asked something highly unusual. Her eyes looked as if she's attempting to pierce me with her gaze. Examining me.
"Alex! What do we do now?"
"Just! Shut up!" Alex snapped at his friend Marcus. "Just leave the talking to me alright?" He stated calmly. The adventurer couldn't lose his cool now. It was life or death here. It always has been. The mace-wielder could only stay silent as he could see the party's leader slowly straining himself.
The foxgirl came out of her thoughts as she spoke once more. "So you all can speak the same language as me.. or maybe that's just the law of this world.. I'm learning a lot from this encounter."
"What?" Alex could only state in confusion. It was common sense this world automatically translates all of the languages, including the nuance and details. It was also a fact that mouth movements of a speaker may not match with the sound that the listener hears.
But, how could this girl only know that now? Unless...
"Is this your first time meeting a human?" He dared to ask.
The beastman starred at me with a cold expression. Her piercing gaze turned ice.
Shit.
The adventurer had overextended himself. He nearly forgot he wasn't in a position to ask such ridiculous questions. He only had one priority. To get out of there alive, and the chances of that significantly decreased because of his mistake.
"I've met your kind before.. it's just that I didn't expect you to be capable of talking, but in hindsight I should have expected that."
This bitch! She really was underestimating humans. She really is a beastman... Only thinking us as livestock and nothing else.
Alex hardened his gaze as he continued to stare into the girl's eyes.
Those eyes..
It was like how a butcher analyse an animal to determine the best way to start cutting up a slab of meat. This confirms it. This beastman was dangerous, and there's no chance for negotiations.
The adventurer stepped forward as he desperately gripped his blade before going for a charge. The shortsword's weight maneuvered within the swing of his arm, pulling the force required to draw blood within his grasp.
She's full of openings.
Alex didn't have the luxury or time to worry about such things. He needed to kill her now, or run when he had the chance. Swinging the sword from his side, he directed the blade towards the beastman's neck. He was ready to shift his body into a faint if she attempted to deflect it. However it didn't happen.
"Gotcha!"
『Mindblast』
A pile of bricks impacted the leader's mind. His mental strain and desperate efforts only managed to make this pain be inflicted tenfold.
It hurt.
It was like being slammed with an iron sledgehammer directly in the forehead. His weak mental fortitude succumbed to the spell. His body collapsed on the ground, like a puppet who has it's strings cut. He continued to twitch on the ground as his saliva drooled on the following dirt.
"Ah.. so fragile.. are all humans like this?"
The horrid fluffy existence smiled at the sight. Marcus could only shout the name of his friend in vain. "ALLEEXX!" He abandoned his rusty pickaxe to fall to the ground and unbuckled his mace at his waist. Blinded with fury, he rushed in to save his friend, only to succumb to the same fate.
He felt his steel mace impacting the enemy, but rather than inflicting a massive force, it halted completely. Marcus couldn't believe his eyes when he saw the girl simply holding the end of the weapon with a single arm. Her smile still lingered as she continued playing with the warrior as a toy.
『Break Item』
The mace shattered. Marcus couldn't comprehend what was happening to him. This was a monster. This was a monster in every sense of the word. He could only let out a wailed scream as the beatman's many tails extended to him. Her tails wrapped around him like iron, squeezing like how a snake would constrict it's prey. What horrified him the most was how fluffy it was. It was irresistible. He couldn't fight against it. His mind was sent into an irreversable euphoria as his body continued to get crushed by the kitsune. She smiled as the man pitifully screamed in pleasure and agony.
"What an interesting face you have there.. here.. allow me to grant you a passage to heaven~" the kitsune grinned sadistically as she continued to break him.
The man's screams echoes throughout the caverns, and now no one would ever know that the band of adventuerers met their fluffy end.