I looked at the blip on the screen.
Level 529 Reached!
“Yes!” I shouted, pumping my fist in the air.
A fiery blue liquid projectile exploded to my right, and I only had a second before another came spinning through the air.
Potion of Acid.
I could see the glint of dying sunlight reflected off of the smooth glass from the sunset behind me. It was a Level 40 item, and hard to find, so it was a shame that it was being wasted on trying to stop me. The bubbling blue inside the flask would eat a normal person alive, and all their work would be for naught. Not me, though.
I was the Beast of the
I was running as quickly as I could across an open plain, dozens of grassy hills grew from the horizon on the distance. That’s where I was headed.
I activated Heat Vision, and there they were.
Five shapes were huddling behind the rise of the terrain, their infrared outlines shining like the sun through the other side of the hill. I could see the radiant silhouettes clutching invisible weapons. Of course their combat tools wouldn’t show up, but I was pretty sure I could tell by their hand positions what they were carrying.
A spear, a sword, a shield, a bow, and... one seemed to not be carrying anything at all.
Magic user.
They were a pretty standard party dynamic. They were hoping to ambush me too, based on their formation. The archer’s bow was drawn, and he was the closest to the rounded side of the hill. He’d likely take a first shot, and then switch with the shield-bearer when I counter attacked. Then they’d hit me with the magic user if he was long ranged—which he would need to be if they had any chance of surviving out here. Then they'd use the shield again, and maybe, just maybe, if I hadn’t reached them in time, they were thinking I would be vulnerable to another magic shot.
Once I was in range of the spear user, he’d engage me, and keep me at a safe distance. Hopefully long enough for the magic user to debuff me, or maybe hit me with something that would keep me paralyzed while the sword user and shield user would tag team me and take me down.
I knew that would be their plan. But that wouldn’t happen. I was a much higher level than them.
I raced along the grass, the wind whistling through the openings of my light armor.
I watched as the archer took a step forward to line up his shot, but it was too late. The second he appeared behind the curve of the hill, it was over. I’d cleared over a hundred feet in less than five seconds, and he was not prepared as I jammed my scimitar into his face, killing him instantly. I hardly had time to register his horrified expression as I breezed past him and changed directions. I shot to the right, and leaped to the top of the hill.
I landed and with my Heat Vision still active, and found the cluster of party members still prepared to switch. The Tank was holding the shield at the ready as the archer suddenly fell down in front of him.
I moved.
I front flipped down into the group, deftly landing in the center and immediately slashed the magic user—a human wizard in a fancy rune-laden robe, across his clean shaven face. I saw the numerical value of my attack spring into view, but I ignored it. I knew it would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 50k. A few thousand here or there wouldn’t make a difference. None of them would survive more than one blow.
I rolled beneath the legs of the Ork Dragoon with his majestic looking spear, and cleared the eight feet to the Tank’s exposed back. He was staring, slack jawed at the archer-- with a wound for a face on the ground. In a flash of steel, he was falling forward himself with his head separate from the rest of his body. The spearman and the Elfish warrior carrying the sword were aware of me and made to advance. I hurled my scimitar right at the spearman. He brought the shaft of his polearm up to block, which forced him to take his eyes off me, while I removed a dagger and plunged it into the soft flesh of his neck between his throat and collarbone.
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I caught the scimitar before it hit the ground, and spun, clanging my blade against the warrior’s. It was lucky on his part. I was too fast for him to register my attack, but he’d still been swinging at me from his initial movement. That was all he got. His eyes widened in surprise, and I dropped my blade below his accidental parry and slammed it into his gut. I tore my weapon upward and wrenched the man's arm loose from his shoulder.
As the last body fell, I surveyed the damage around me. The whole fight had taken less than a few seconds. I praised myself on that. I flicked the blood off of my blade and sheathed it. I ignored the loot. It would be worthless to me.
Three years now I’d been dwelling in the Level 5 Hydra Fields. I’d been exploiting the loophole for that long, and now I was the strongest player in the game. It was the secret to my success, and yet, it was also my secret source of shame. I was known far and wide as Akihiro the Killmaker. I could defeat anyone in this early-Level area that was almost exclusively populated by NPCs and newbies.
But my ultimate embarrassment was just that: I’d never been beyond this area. Except to shop, and attend events, of course. Day in and day out, I fought the same enemies, used the same tactics, and other than a few minor differences--like the sword being blocked, I was relatively unsurprised. Sometimes, I felt like a fraud. But, I suppose it didn't matter anymore. Now that the game was in its final ten days, I’d retire as the most powerful player in all of the world, and I had never even fought a dungeon boss!
Everyone ran when they caught sight of me. Even now, I could see a Level 3 Bard of Spring making a hasty retreat behind one of the hills. I was the king of grinding, and no one would ever know my motivations.
How could they?
It made me kind of sad. I remembered when I'd first started playing Hi no Ishi Online, how excited I'd been to find out that there were giants to slay, epic beasts to tame, and most of all, that there was one indomitable dragon boss. He was called Shinoiki—“Death Breath”, and was said to be impossible to kill except at the highest levels. It had always been my goal to fight him. To destroy him. But here I was, a little over one week from the end of the game, and still in the Hydra Fields.
With a sigh, I made my way back to the Level Entrance. I knew that by tomorrow, the GMs would reset this whole stage, and make it as though I’d never been here. But each day I'd return, to reap the benefits of having spent all of my time here. I knew everything about it. It was my second home.
I crossed the barrier into the Hallways. The neverending corridors of bright white were empty, which was depressing even knowing the late hour. Back in the good old days, these passages would be teeming with players traveling to different cities and levels. Now...
I found the command console and selected
In an instant, I materialized in the streets. It was 01:22 GMT +9 on a Friday. A year ago, this would have been the most vibrant and active time in Baraja City. But other than the usual host of NPCs, it was a barren wasteland. I saw one player walking to a guildhall, likely to drop off a late bounty, but she didn’t pay me any notice.
I couldn’t believe this was it. All those years of blood, sweat and tears, for it to go quietly into the still night without so much as a groan. I was sure to some it felt like a waste. All the grinding, leveling, questing, and raiding—pillars of any community, all rendered meaningless by the next Sunday.
I looked at my Friendship List.
All the names were dark, but that wasn’t a surprise. I hadn’t seen any of my former comrades online in over a year, and I knew that that had been largely because of a lack of interest in the game in general. Everyone had either jumped over to other platforms, or just grown into something else.
I’d heard there was a new game being developed. It was said to be a super-immersive SimDive, and the buzz all over the boards was that it was going to be a masterpiece. The Beta was open now, and a lot of Hi no Ishi players had been given the access key. It promised to be an experience like no other.
As the top player in Ishi, I was offered a first look before anyone else, but I hadn’t been interested. Ishi was the only place I felt I belonged. Perhaps the other game would induce the same sense of nostalgia and "rightness" that Ishi did, but I doubted it.
I headed home.
Near the eastern wall of Baraja City was a cluster of mansions built in a traditional Japanese style. They were made of wood, and were elevated slightly off the ground, with various shades of red and brown and gray that made up the tile or thatched roofs. My home was here, clumped with the rest of the high-level players. It was the only one that hadn’t been decked out with flames, or cool kabuki masks, or decals reminiscent of the Yakuza. It was just a solid barn-red.
I slid open the door and immediately moved up the stairs to my bedroom.
There were a couple of NPC servants walking about, and they greeted me cheerily upon my entrance, but I ignored them and went to my room.
Ten Days.
That was all the time that I had left here. I suppose it didn’t matter too much what I did with what remained. I stretched my limbs, and prepared to power down and head back to “real life”. I let my thoughts wander while I lay, making sure I wasn’t forgetting anything. I thought about how many times I’d been in this position, waiting for the clock to reset so I could start anew.
What was it all for? I’d labored so intensely to be the best, but here I was, waiting for the sun to go down one final time on the only world that truly made me feel alive. For what? To have the highest level?
That was ridiculous, it meant nothing once the game expired. So now I was going to lose everything with little to show for it. It was pointless. I’d been coming to terms with my feelings lately, and everything just seemed so... empty. This game was truly the only thing that helped me deal with—well, everything in my waking life. But now…
Now, I would be done. Would I just have to figure out how to live a meaningful life in the real world? That was a joke. I would be better off getting a head start now, and just logging out at this very moment forever. There was nothing to be gained from staying around for the dying of the light.
Unless.
It was said that whomever defeated Shinoiki would be memorialized forever on the official Hi no Ishi website. The creators were working on another game now, and whomever's name was there on the front page was going to be the person who got something in the new game named after them.
It wasn’t much. But it wasn’t nothing either.
I smiled and sat up. I wouldn’t need to sleep. I had business to attend to.
I stood and made my way through the mansion again. As I reached the front sliding door my butler stopped me.
“Sir Akihiro, where are you going at this hour?”
I couldn’t remember what I’d called him. He’d been in my NPC bank for two years now, but even the first letter of his name escaped me. But it wouldn’t matter.
“I’m off,” I said, opening the door and looking back at his boring NPC face.
“I’m going to kill Shinoiki.”