- North of Vile Peak Town -
“Please, River. I need a break. You promised,” FierceFire planted her hands on her hips, pointedly ignoring the glares of the group they abandoned moments ago.
FierceFire and her best friend, SolemnRiver stood on flat, rocky ground surrounded by high cliffs. A short distance away was the entrance of a cave. Above the aperture, their HUD's displayed the name: Devil's Defiance Dungeon. Ten other players—all level twelve—stood outside the entrance in groups of two and three.
SolemnRiver shot down her complaints, as usual, “We just had a break when the server was down…”
“That didn’t count! You made me spar the whole time and I had all of five minutes to eat before you dragged me back in here. I need a real break. Donny’s having a party tonight. Can we please go? Pleeeeease?”
SolemnRiver poked away at her interface, no doubt searching for replacement members to attempt the dungeon again, “No. grandfather has only given us a short time before the competition is to begin. I need to level up as quickly as possible.”
FierceFire changed tactics, her voice turning sweet and tempting, “I get that, but we’ve reached a point where the two of us alone can’t progress. Why not take it easy until your twenty-thousand headsets are delivered and the rest of your guild can catch up to help? You said we would relax if it got too hard, remember? Re-la-x. I’m worried about you.”
SolemnRiver huffed, rolling her eyes, “You should be worried about me! If I lose the first round of the new competition… Well, that goes without saying. I can’t let that monster get further ahead of me.”
“Your cousin’s not a threat. You got your order in first. His guild will be an entire day behind yours. Not to mention once the competition begins, you won't have a break for months. This is our only chance! You know I'm right.”
SolemnRiver paused for several seconds, relenting with a sigh, “Fine. We'll go to this party that we both know is going to be awful, right after we clear the dungeon.”
FierceFire knew that was the best she was going to get. If she pushed further, it would backfire and they might die again. Which would only lead to another non-stop leveling marathon and then she really would lose her mind. FierceFire had yet to see anyone besides her and SolemnRiver at level thirteen, so now was the perfect chance.
Despite their martial prowess and levels, they had yet to kill the first monster inside the dungeon. It took zero damage no matter how they attacked, and its offensive abilities were absurd. This was her first time playing such a difficult game, and regardless of her whining, she was having a great time. It didn’t hurt that she was finally getting some one-on-one time with the overly motivated SolemnRiver.
While she waited for SolemnRiver to find them another new team, an unfamiliar man came around the bend in the trail. He briefly swept his gaze across the gathered players without slowing his approach to the dungeon entrance. His armor shimmered in mysterious weaving patterns, obfuscating its grade and make. Even without the eye-catching effect, his composed gait managed to draw everyone's attention.
FierceFire used Identify and her brows shot up when all she got were question marks, “I can't see his name or level.”
SolemnRiver barely looked up at the stranger before tapping away at her interface again, “Obfuscating items aren't that abnormal. I really should have dragged you into more games before this.”
The new arrival raised his voice, easily heard over the whistling wind, “Accepting party members for a quick clear. Five gold per person.”
No one responded. Of course they didn't, not one of them could believe the outlandish claim after failing so many times. On top of that, paying him five gold was absolutely ridiculous. FierceFire’s father was an avid pursuer of the newest and greatest VR experiences. He even had a small guild with a few thousand members. They’d been farming non-stop for days and she could only barely afford his fee thanks to their efforts. Of course, her father’s efforts were nothing but a joke before what SolemnRiver’s family could do.
The man sighed dramatically, his voice still loud, “Don't tell me you're all standing around scratching your asses because you've got nothing better to do? You're stuck on the slimes, right? I know the trick to beating them. Last chance before I clear it solo.”
FierceFire’s heart rate picked up. She knew her fomo was kicking in and she didn’t care. This could be her best chance to get SolemnRiver out of the house. She raised her hand, swaying her hips as she swaggered toward the man, “We’ll go. Don’t expect us to pay if you’re lying though.”
A contract popped into her interface, its abrupt appearance made it clear the man was prepared long before arriving. She skimmed it, then sent a direct message to SolemnRiver, “Is this normal, too?”
SolemnRiver shook her head in the negative. She opened her mouth to reply, but an angry man in a nearby group spoke over her, “You shouldn't take those two. They abandon every group in the first fight. They can't be trusted. Why don’t you come with us, we only need one more.”
FierceFire shot back, “We leave when it's clear we won't win. Sticking around and losing a level was your own fault.”
The man prepared a retort but someone else in his group stopped him with a hand on his arm, “Cut it out. You know who they are. You trying to get killed back to zero?” The angry guy jerked his arm away, muttering curses under his breath.
The newcomer ran his piercing gaze over each group in turn, ignoring the angry man’s offer, “Only these two? Once you know the trick to the dungeon, think how much you can earn by running it repeatedly and selling the drops… No? Oh well, your loss.”
“W-wait! We’ll go,” a pair of sinewy young men raised their hands.
FierceFire watched their eyes move left and right as they reviewed the same contract she had yet to sign. The contents were simple enough; the promisor vowed to pay each member twenty gold if he failed to complete the dungeon within two hours. If he was successful, the promisees would owe him a system debt of five gold. Death on their part would not exonerate them from the contract, and if they abandoned the dungeon before he died, or betrayed him by deed or avoidance, they would instead owe him twenty gold and two million credits. Lastly, all skill book drops would go to him and the rest of the gear would be split by the party via loot roles.
SolemnRiver elbowed her, eliciting a grunt, “What are you waiting for? We either learn how to clear this and pass it on to our guilds, or make twenty gold. Weren’t you in a hurry? Don’t tell me your fear of commitment is stronger than the prospect of twenty gold.”
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“Shush! I didn’t expect him to actually force us to sign a contract is all,” FierceFire signed and she was automatically added to the man’s party. Even then, his name appeared as question marks. A little scroll notification annoyingly appeared in the corner of her HUD, reminding her of what she’d been forced to sign. Grumbling, she followed the rest of the party to the cave.
Suddenly, the flat darkness of the entrance turned a sickly amethyst and a large floating skull appeared. The man walked into the skull’s mouth without hesitating, vanishing into the dungeon. FierceFire stopped in her tracks, her eyes shooting wide, “W-what did he do?! That didn’t happen when we went in before!”
“I think he set the difficulty to nightmare,” one of the men responded disbelievingly.
“Is he insane?! Don’t tell me his plan all along was to get us to back out!”
“Quick, follow him before we’re in breach! A death isn’t worth owing this bastard twenty gold!”
With pounding hearts, the group filed into the hellish portal. They appeared in a familiar, poorly lit cave, the man nowhere in sight. Cursing, SolemnRiver charged ahead, FierceFire on her heels. They rounded the bend where they encountered the first enemy on their normal difficulty attempts, finding nothing except more darkly-lit tunnel leading into the bowels of the mountain.
They dashed ahead, dreading every step while eyeing the little symbol in their HUD’s, begging it not to flicker off and seal their financial fates. Explosions, crumbling stones, and the crashing of combat tickled their ears just before they burst into a small chamber. Shockingly, the man was battling against five slimes. When FierceFire saw their health was five times higher than the normal version, her legs seized up, refusing to carry her another step.
The monsters were tall and skinny. Glowing spheres inside their bodies, like eyes watching her in the dark, sent shivers up her spine. Dark rocks could be seen inside their gelatinous forms as they undulated in weaving patterns, attempting to dodge with frightening speed. The normal one hadn’t even tried to evade, relying on its impenetrable defenses to ward them off. They moved so fast, FierceFire wasn’t confident in hitting them at melee range, let alone with her finicky Blast ability.
In terms of health, speed, size, and the sense of danger emanating from them, there was no comparison to the normal slime they failed to do even a single damage to. She instinctively retreated a step, knowing that if she was hit once, it would lead to a painful game over.
[Elite Bullet Slime - level 13 - HP 4,600/4,600 (A mysterious monster immune to all known damage types)]
image [https://i.imgur.com/UxndXyd.jpg]
When their pinpoints of inner light glowed, she shouted a warning, “Watch out!” Before the words finished leaving her mouth, they were drowned out by sonic booms that rattled her skull. The slime around the orbs elongated explosively, leaving afterimages in her eyes. Like bullets fired from within, long and thin spikes of slime shot at the man.
Miraculously, he evaded them all by twisting his body and extending his limbs at odd angles. The slime spears blazed past, some of them missing by mere millimeters. They crashed into the wall, penetrating deep into the rock and sending shrapnel in all directions.
As quickly as they fired, the deadly rods of slime were sucked back into their forms. The man was on them in an instant, his spear darting into their bodies with zero effect. [-0] [-0] FierceFire shook her head, retreating another step.
Can’t believe I thought he might actually know what he was doing after that dodge. They’re obviously immune, so why does he keep attacking?
Still, she couldn’t help but be impressed by his ability to repeatedly hit them. All six were a blur of movement that she only dream of matching. Controlling the avatar’s in ZionLine was no simple feat, and if not for the discipline and bodily control that came with being a peak class three martial, she never would have reached level thirteen in only eight days.
“How odd,” SolemnRiver pondered the man’s movements as well, her head tilted, sharp eyes squinted appraisingly. “His fine muscle control is superb, possibly better than mine. But his spearmanship is amateurish at best,” SolemnRiver was considered a genius; a class four martial at nineteen, and already capable of accessing her inner force. FierceFire wouldn’t dare doubt her expertise.
“Does it matter? He’s not hurti—” FierceFire’s critique died on her lips as the next stab of his spear somehow caused the slime to shudder in agony. [-161]
“What?!” One of the two guys exclaimed the word they all wanted to shout.
The man moved onto another slime. His spear darted forward in rapid succession, once more doing no damage. Without looking back, he spoke loud enough to be heard over the pitched battle, “Go ahead and attack that one. I’ll keep aggro so don’t worry about dying.”
SolemnRiver was the first to move, darting in and spinning. Her greataxe cut through the creature twice in rapid succession. [-62] [-62] Its body folded to the side. Expecting it to be off balance from the weight behind her friend's attacks, FierceFire followed up with a Blast that narrowly connected. [-49] If she hadn’t been so used to fighting with SolemnRiver, she definitely would have missed. Quick as lightning, the man’s spear whipped out to the side and grazed their slime. [-161]
His damage is so much higher. What level is he? Sixteen? Did he dump everything into Potency? No, he’s too fast. Wait! He’s using a weapon he’s not good at, is he trying to max out his spear affinity for extra attributes? We decided not to do that once we noticed the excess affinity going into a pool for later use. Were we wrong?
FierceFire caught SolemnRiver’s subtle glance. They shared a nod, coming to the same conclusion. After this eye-opening experience, they would definitely be getting their hands on every type of weapon they could find.
The slimes’ eyes glowed again, and more bullets of slime shot out to pierce the walls. The man dodged them all again. After SolemnRiver’s observation, it was clear to FierceFire that his ability to evade so many blindingly swift attacks simultaneously had nothing to do with luck. He recovered in a fluid twist of momentum, his spear darting deep into the second slime to deal damage for the first time.
He immediately moved on to the third, and she gasped, realizing what he was doing when one of the stones inside the slime's body was struck. It popped out the back of the beast and clacked against the floor.
N-no way. I can barely follow their movements and he’s accurately hitting the little rocks inside their bodies?! Amateurish, huh? Her family's standards are ridiculous.
Hearing her gasp, one of the guys released a chortle, “Did it seriously take you this long to figure it out? And you’re both level thirteen? Wow, your friend must work in the sanitation department with how good she is at carrying trash.”
His friend bellowed and FierceFire's skin burned with embarrassment. SolemnRiver scowled while continuing to hack at their slime. FierceFire did her best to ignore his words while sliding in Blasts whenever there was an opening. She missed several times, distracted by their mysterious leader.
Sure enough, each of his attacks struck another rock, some of them smaller than a knuckle. When the last one fell free, his next stab caused the Bullet Slime to recoil in pain. He dodged another round of deadly bullets, then jumped back. His spear clanged off thin air as though it were a solid church bell. Two waves of force shot forward in a cone, enveloping all five slimes for a truly ridiculous amount of damage. [-855] The slime they had been working so hard to kill wobbled, losing cohesion and sloshing into a puddle on the ground.
[Obtained 1,600 Group Superiority (100% bonus for defeating an elite monster of equal level)]
[Obtained 4% Group Attunement (100% bonus for defeating an elite monster of equal level)]
Why is there a bonus for equal level? Is it because we’re in a nightmare dungeon, or—
A loot bubble containing multiple copper, and one silver coin dropped. They vanished, swept up by a hand that moved so fast she barely perceived it. It was her first time seeing anything other than copper drop from a monster, and it was gone before she realized what she was looking at. There was no way any of them could compete with the man’s speed, and FierceFire’s stomach sank upon realizing their contract had said nothing about what happened to the currency that dropped in the dungeon.