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World: MSS - Loading...
"Speech"
"Thoughts"
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Mounds of red sand stretched as far as the eye could see, dunes that looked more like ugly red scars in this barren land. Everytime I took a step, my foot would dig into the shifting landscape causing me to expend more effort than normal. Sweat dripped down my face, clouding my vision and signaling to me that I was losing moisture fast. I tightened the sash around my head, which covered everything but my eyes. Three suns hovered in the sky, cooking us alive.
I had taken off my armor long ago, finding that I was being slowly broiled within. I looted a cloth and leather armor for my torso from one of the monsters we were currently hunting.
“I see another group in the distance!” Clover alerted us, her face wrapped in cloth as well.
She had wrapped the sashes in such a way that her horns were still visible, but if they suffered from the heat she did not complain. Lety had covered her face but because she was so tanned already, I thought it might be a moot point.
｢ You have entered a Special Field: Desolate Sands ｣
｢ Field Effect - Desolate Sands is now active ｣
｢ Field Effect - Desolate Sands: -30% Movement Speed ｣
｢ Field Effect - Desolate Sands: -1% HP when wearing Heavy Armor ｣
｢ Field Effect - Desolate Sands: Native Monsters are Immune to Negative Effects ｣
Soon the monsters that Clover warned us about made themselves known, descending the dune in a haphazard shuffling movement and heading towards us.
[ Agwi (아귀) ] - Grade 10
“Tch. These guys were disturbing even in the game, they’re just outright horrifying in real life.”
The monsters were around 7 - 8 feet tall, much taller than the orc warriors who remained behind right before entering the Desolate Sands, with gray pallid skin that seemed to absorb the light. They shuffled on the sand with stumpy feet that were way too short for their body and inconvenient for moving around anywhere except where there would be sand. Here, those stumpy feet with the wide surface area made them half-slide, half-shuffle over to us with deceptive speed. Their body and head made up the bulk of their size. The Agwi had distended bellies with long skinny arms that would be used to stuff whatever they could pick up into their oversized heads, except for the part that their mouth and throat were comically small, much smaller than even a regular humans.
There were 36 types of Agwi in MSS with differing grades between them. I was sure that the developers of MSS had based them off of the same type of mythical creature from buddhist folklore back in the real world, but lately I questioned which came first.
“Disgusting.” our newcomer commented.
He was short for an orc, probably because he was barely more than a kid in my opinion. He wore a long tan robe that hung to his ankles, revealing his braided leather sandals. My eyes were naturally drawn to the staff he carried, which had three skulls dangling from the end: a reptilian skull, a human skull and what was undoubtedly a shrunken orc head. His name was Puca, an apprentice witch doctor and was currently out on this expedition with us to gain experience on account of his master.
I had seen some other slave groups with smaller numbers such as ours be joined by the young generation of orcs. I saw young warriors, other witch doctors and even archers. It really made me wonder why the orcs had kidnapped us but now wasn’t the time to try and figure out why.
Lety and I moved to the front as the first of them reached us. Despite being the same Grade-10 Monsters, these guys seemed gave off a completely different feel when fighting, simply because of their size. The first Agwi reached its freakishly long hand towards us, the fingers ending in long yellow claws. Luckily they were slow and with Puca with us, it hadn't taken too long the last few times. I didn't think it would be any different.
I blocked the strike with my shield and hacked at the arm, my sword not quite able to cut through bone. But my job was just to hold the arm there while Lety dealt the crippling blow: she leapt from the side and sliced through the arm using her dual battle axes. Yellow pus gushed from the wound as the creature moaned and pulled its arm back, sucking greedily on its own wound and drinking the pus. Its face turned to pure bliss, a repulsive expression on a vulgar face.
Clover fired her bow and a few arrows found their mark, causing the pus-filled belly to start leaking like a jar with cracks. The other two Agwi went mad with hunger and they greedily fell to their stomachs, lapping up the dripping pus from their brethren’s skin. This was why the Agwi, despite their size and potential danger, were classified as Grade-10, they weren’t intelligent enough to control their bottomless hunger.
“Well done, slaves.” Puca slammed his staff on the ground and waved his staff, the shrunken head tapping against the skulls in constant rhythm.
Tap. Tap tap tap.
Tap. Tap tap tap.
｢ Pucaloxtl Ayidaweddo has cast [ Squishy Skin ] ｣
A cloud of black dust came into existence around the Agwi’s and I saw them get coated in the fine powder. But the monsters didn’t notice, too busy sucking greedily on the wounds. Their eyes were curved in joy, concentrating on the fact that they had something to drink.
“Disgusting.” I had to agree with Puca’s earlier sentiment that the Agwi were a particularly nasty sort of monster.
L’teya didn’t waste her time being disgusted with the creatures like me, she ran up one of their backs and chopped off one of their heads. Clover followed suit, making another Agwi’s head into a pincushion of arrows.
“Your turn, slave.” Puca said, just loud enough for us to hear.
I didn’t need to wonder who he was referring to. For some reason the adolescent orc was intent that I ‘do my part’. In the earlier parts of the hunt, I scarcely did more than block one or two strikes of the monsters, allowing Lety and Clover to do most of the work. I think my actions must have seemed cowardly to the orc, and since then he had been urging me to finish of at least one monster in our encounters.
I couldn’t run up the back of the monsters like L’teya did or attack from afar like Clover. So instead I ran up to the remaining Agwi, still stucking on its stump of an arm, and sliced into its belly. The belly exploded into fluid but I had leapt back just in time. This time the pain must have overcome hunger, and the Agwi wailed mournfully towards the three suns and fell to the ground, wheezing for breath.
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I walked up and beheaded it in one stroke.
"You are getting better Slaveborn!" Lety cheered for me.
I grimaced, remembering how I froze up while beheading the first one a few hours ago. "Well that was then and this is now."
Either Arrosh’s training was working or I was simply getting used to killing monsters. After my experience in the tunnels combined with my time in the Desolate Sands, I felt that I was getting used to the adrenaline rush when hunting the creatures. Yet, something about our fights with the Agwi felt lacking. When I thought back meeting that first Dokkaebi in the tunnels, I remembered everything in clear detail. The feel Dokkaebi's breath on my face and its manic eyes while clawing at my face, its fangs looking to tear into my stomach. In comparison, these slow and dull witted Agwi were hardly a challenge.
A brief white light surrounded me and then disappeared while I was thinking.
“That’s the second time Slaveborn!” Lety exclaimed, slightly muffled through the cloth-mask. “Soon you will be able to Sanctify your soul!”
Initially I had been confused about what ‘Sanctifying’ my soul meant. But I soon figured it out. Due to the lack of a system window, the people of this world were unaware of levels. However they did know that once you killed enough monsters, your soul would grow stronger. In MSS, you unlocked a Core Slot every 10 levels until level 90. L’teya and Clover’s explanation that ‘Sanctifying’ my soul would let me absorb more Cores was enough for me to put the two and two together. My soul being ‘Sanctified’ referred to the levels in multiples of 10s.
“So once I hit level 10, I’ll definitely know.”
We left the Agwi corpses alone and they disappeared into dust, leaving behind various monster drops. There were dried up organs as well as a few coins, magic stones and even an arrow. Clover retrieved some of her arrows which weren’t too damaged and naturally stowed the new arrow away.
Puca took everything else.
The [Dimension Ring] on his hand glowed then opened up an invisible portal which sucked in all the useful items on the ground, transporting it to a pocket dimension.
Lety whistled.
I had yet to see another orc with a [Dimension Ring]. Perhaps this kid was special?
[Dimension Rings] served as the inventory mechanic in MSS. Without it your character could only carry so much; there were physical limitations to how much one could hold. A backpack would help but without a [Dimension Ring] to hold all the spoils of your hunt, you’d be severely limited in how much profit you could make from your hunt. After all, MSS was a game that was focused on farming. Killing monsters to get loot and Core, use those to buy better gear and get stronger, all to hunt stronger monsters.
“And this little fucker is taking everything. Though I guess I should have expected it.”
It wasn’t all bad though, there were two upsides to having Puca here. One, he was a witch doctor class meaning he balanced out our party a little. Witch doctors were basically the orc version of a mage. With him, we had an easier time with these grade-10 monsters than we ought to have. Second, just like mages, Witch Doctors couldn’t take Spirit Cores. Which meant the moment a Spirit Core dropped, we would be free to take it.
“Unless he has a [Incubator] in that dimension ring of his.” I somehow doubted it though.
An [Incubator] was a tool used to transport Cores, which would disappear after a certain amount of time or be absorbed on touch. They were extremely expensive and I doubted they’d want to use one on a grade-10 or even a grade-9 Core. It was only around grade-7 that Cores started getting expensive enough to warrant the use of a such a tool. I tried to see if Puca left something behind that might be useful.
“Let’s move.” Puca rattled his staff, gathering our attention and started walking across the bottomless sand.
He used his dimension ring again and summoned a paper map, muttering to himself and walking in front of us.
I needed that map.
I knew of at least 2 dungeons in the Desolate Sands that could speed up my growth, in an explosive manner. But for the life of me, I just couldn’t figure out where we were. One of the most frustrating things about the desolate sands were that there were no real landmarks to discern where we were. We’d either need a map or a guide who knew how to read the stars, winds and the pattern of the sands. Of the two, Puca held the former and the latter was nowhere to be seen.
“He almost talks as much as you, Lock Slaveborn.” Lety commented and when I stared at her she shrugged. “Very little.”
It was true, the teenage orc didn’t talk much.
Clover held her hand on her mask right where her brow would be.
“I think I can see more monsters in the distance.” I could tell she was squinting by the way she leaned forward. “I feel like I can make it out if I just try…”
Puca ignored her and kept walking.
Lety was intrigued though and walked next to the sheep woman. “More monsters? I hope they’re more formidable this time!”
Clover suddenly jerked back.
“...” She was speechless.
“What the…” It was the first time I saw her like that, not knowing what to say.
Puca must have picked up on it. “What is it?”
Clover didn’t speak right away and when she did, Puca stopped in his tracks.
“Adventurers.” She half-whispered. “I see adventurers.”
The orc witch doctor ran across the sand and grabbed Clover by the front of her shirt.
“Where?! How many?! What race?!” He sputtered out, spittle flying in Clover’s face.
“I, I don’t know!” She retorted. “Four? Five? I think they were human? Or elves? I can’t be sure!”
“Shite!” Puca cursed and held onto his staff tighter, releasing Clover. “Were they coming this way?”
It was Lety who answered, leaning forward to catch a better look. “They are.”
“AGH!” Puca slid down the sand mound that the three of them were standing on, gesturing Lety and Clover to follow. “Come! We have to warn the others?”
“Warn the others?” I closed the distance between myself and Puca. “What do you mean?”
“Do not question me, slave!” He shoved me back. Hard. “Just do as I say! We are heading back! Now!”
“It’s too late. They’ve spotted us. They’re coming towards us.” Lety said calmly.
She drew her battle axes. “Less than five minutes. They’re faster than us.”
“They must have some kind of Core that lets them move across the sand.”
Puca must’ve been younger than I thought or he didn’t deal with stressful situations well. Then again, he wouldn’t be out here with us learning how to lead a party if he was an experienced orc officer.
“Get down from there! We’re going to run!” He practically screamed.
Lety frowned, genuinely curious. “And expose our backs?”
Puca opened and closed his mouth, unsure of what to say.
“Give me the map.” I grabbed the map out of Puca’s belt, and spread it open in front of me.
He snarled at my disrespect but didn’t take it back, choosing to sneer. “How the hell would you know where we are?”
How?
Because in MSS you didn’t have a nice little minimap telling you where to go and where you were at all times. MSS forced you to use manual maps until you could afford magical ones. So it wasn’t a huge deal for me to look at Puca’s map made of paper and ink, look around at my surroundings and figure out where we were.
“Good. We’re near.” I pointed a finger on the map.
“We’re going here.”
“You don’t even know where that is, human.” The orc spat the word like a curse.
For a moment, I fantasized about stabbing Puca in the neck and stopped myself.
“What the hell am I becoming?” I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. “...I saw it on the way here. A door. Maybe we can hide in there.”
Puca glowered at me but didn’t protest. It must have helped that he was so young. This time, he did snatch the map out of my hands and looked at the spot where I pointed.
“Follow me.” He muttered.
L’teya had her eyes fixed on the horizon.
“They attack.” She muttered then abruptly grabbed Clover by her waist, sliding down the sand mound.
Lightning flashed out of the clear blue sky and struck the spot they had just been at, superheating the sand into glass and sending fragments of it flying everywhere.
“Run!” L’teya yelled and Puca led the way, running in front of us.
｢ ??? has cast [ Lightning Strike ] ｣
Another bolt landed right behind us and I heard the hiss of sand turning to glass.
“Holy shit.” While running, I turned around to catch a glimpse of the aftermath.
The sand had turned into brownish-yellow glass on the outer edges but the inside was glowing an angry red, creating wisps of steam. The air in that area was so hot that it bent, blurring our pursuers in my vision.
“That looked like a standard Mage spell, [Lightning Strike]. So at least one of them is a mage.” I wasn’t entirely sure of the situation we were in, but one thing was for sure: Puca knew who they were.
His fear was unnatural for an orc, even for a Witch Doctor who typically stayed away from the front lines. If Lety and Clover were to be believed, these adventurers had spotted us and started attacking us. I could only surmise that they mistook us all for orcs, or knew that we were the orc slaves and attacked us anyways.
But now I was sure of one thing.
There were some factions out there that were hostile to the orcs to the point they would attack on sight. Storing that information into my head for later, I ran.
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