The Yumboes ran. Victory wasn't feasible. This bat creature was on another level. Hundreds of Level 20 elves and they elected to flee. Some turned invisible. It was a mess.
An oversized bat, the Guiafairo was grey in colour with a wide, flexible wing span. Its eyes possessed a white sclera and red pupils, the tiny detail giving it a sense of rationality. Humanity, almost. Lining its grey, veiny ears were mounds of thick white fur. Standing on its two legs, the Guiafairo's hands unsheathed its black claws and struck at the villagers.
Kazi's left eye pulsed again. The creature's smell became distant.
‘So this is the future.’
His vision retreated to the present, to when he first got a glimpse of the bat creature in the sky. Legends say the Guiafairo could appear behind locked doors. With its size, Kazi found that hard to believe. He suspected the legend came from its ability to blip in and out of existence.
And now, he knew exactly where it was going to appear.
“Equip,” he muttered, Stormedge slipping into his hand. The Yumboes were already on edge from the creature's cry and seeing Kazi step onto the long table garnered few looks of confusion. He waited…
Blip.
‘There!’
Just as he envisioned, the Guiafairo appeared out of nowhere. The moment it appeared, Stormedge ripped through its skull. Feet planted on the bat's face, burning with mana, he slashed his blade to the side.
[ Critical hit landed! ]
Purple liquid gushed out. The Guiafairo toppled to the left. Thud! The African elves were still. Kazi remained on top of its skull, before setting one foot back. He pulled his sword back.
[ You defeated Boss: Guiafairo ]
[ Receive:
300,000 XP
1x Heart of the Guiafairo
1x Wing of the Guiafairo ]
‘So it's the boss, huh?’ Kazi raised his hand. ‘Lucky Break.’ From the carcass of the Guiafairo, a golden light shone and snapped to his open palm.
[ Receive:
1x Night Essence
1x Space-Time Essence
1x Brain of the Guifaro ]
The Guiafairo was dead, that much was certain. The once-per-day Lucky Break skill was the last straw for its existence. Bit by bit, it disintegrated into dark particles carried away by the wind. One by one, the Yumboes gasped. One by one, they looked to their saviour.
“T-the foreigner did it…” The female Yumbo he met said. “He did it!”
“He did it!”
Applause. Cheers. The Yumboes were ecstatic by his victory.
[ Gate 17 : Pap Village
HIDDEN OBJECTIVE: You have arrived very early! Stop the village from being attacked by the Guiafairo — Complete!
Receive:
500,000 XP
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
500,000 PP ]
[ You are the first player to complete Gate 17’s HIDDEN OBJECTIVE! ]
[ Bonus Receive:
1,000,000 XP
1,500,000 PP ]
[ Level up! ]
‘Finally.’ The flow of energy that upgraded his stats was like a rainy breeze. The smell was beautiful and the aftermath caused him to shudder and smile. Since he was in the 70s, his stats increased by seven and he gained seven distributive points too. The trade off was the increasing amount of XP required to level up after. If his calculations were correct, to get to Level 77, Kazi would need 5,909,495 XP.
The applause and whoops grew louder. Kazi kicked himself off the large creature and faced the villagers with a big smile.
“Foreigner! Foreigner! Foreigner!”
“Haha, my name is Kazi.”
“Kazi! Kazi! Kazi!”
He deactivated his Mastered Flow of Mana and let the elves circle him. Kazi smiled and waved and kneeled down to talk and shake hands. This type of crowd praise was normal to him. He experienced it hundreds of times during his travels.
“We are a peaceful people,” said the Yumbo with lace braids who called herself Coumba. She turned and raised her arms. “Ah, we should drink to our saviour.”
“Drink, drink, drink! Wine, wine, wine!”
“Er, I don’t drink.”
“Oh.”
The collective disappointment caused silence. Kazi stood there awkwardly. He summoned a fist to his mouth and cleared his throat. “But I would love to hear some drums!”
The excitement shot up again. Kazi laughed, tugged and pulled by the Yumboes. They brought him to a large straw-bale dwelling. The door was half his size so he was forced to crawl through. Once he was seated inside, the Yumboes wasted no time in fetching sabar drums, crafted from animal skins stretched over hollowed-out logs. A precursor to the modern sabar. With a nod from Coumba, who sat beside Kazi, the drumming began.
The next hour was rowdy. It was a different type of loudness and rowdiness from the factory. His shoulders relaxed. His smile became natural. Kazi wasn’t much of a dancer and tilted his head left and right. It was a lovely hour, indeed.
If only the peace lasted.
Their silvery-white hair shimmered in the firelight as they spun and twirled, their feet pounding the ground in rhythm with the drums. People were clapping. People were happy.
Until Kazi received the main objective.
[ Main Objective found! ]
[ Gate 17 : Pap Village
Main Objective: Protect the village from outside threats! Do not let more than a hundred Yumboes die!
Prize Pool: 80,000 XP, 80,000 PP
SPECIAL OBJECTIVE: ???
SPECIAL PRIZE POOL: ??? ]
Kazi didn’t so much as twitch. Instead, he closed his eyes and focused. ‘Something is coming,’ he thought. ‘Tiny dots of mana. Flying. Coming in hot.’ His left eye pulsed.
Ten seconds later and the dwelling was shot up by grey pellets. Shards of wood and straw flying in all directions. The impact was like a thunderclap and the Yumboes screamed. Two of them sprung into action. Two of the grey blurs dove at Kazi who backhanded them away. Crack! Their shell broke apart.
The new enemy attacking them were stone partridges, each Level 25. He counted up to twelve.
Kazi returned to the present. The Yumboes were neither screaming nor fighting back. They were happy. Kazi intended to keep it that way. “I have to go to the bathroom,” he told Coumba. He crawled through the door and dusted himself. The village was in a state of celebration. The Yumboes obviously lived easy-going lives to not concern themselves over another attack.
In the distance, he heard a whizzing sound. The stone birds were coming in like bullets. “Equip,” Kazi said. The locals glanced at Kazi, confused by his actions. He aimed his sword forward, one eye closed, and muttered, “Ultra Aqua Bolt.”
From the tip of his sword, a whip of water darted forward. It travelled fast and hard and exploded as it made contact with a stone partridge fifty metres away. It did not crash into the woodlands like a broken plane; the stone bird was incinerated. The sound was noted by the locals who all got behind him. They didn’t understand what was happening except that Kazi was protecting them from something.
The stone partridges slowed down from the loss of their ally. Kazi seized that opportunity and stuck his sword into the ground. “Waterfall Barrier!”
The very first skill in the Sorcerer Class’ water skill tree. The ground moistened and spread, stopping directly at the perimeter of the village and summoning a giant wall of water. Over twenty metres high and fifty metres wide, it formed a protective wall across the village and the hill. The stone partridges hurtled towards the village and met the barrier of cascading water with a violent collision. The impact was catastrophic, causing the partridges to shatter into pieces upon contact with the watery wall.
The villagers didn’t understand, not until the waterfall fell. Some cheered and applauded upon seeing the broken stone birds, grateful for their newfound protection, while others murmured in amazement at the display of divinity unfolding before their eyes.
Kazi turned to Coumba who approached him with wide eyes. Once again, he casted, “Waterfall Barrier!” She and the other villagers stumbled back. He smiled at her and softly instructed, "Stay behind the barrier and don’t touch it either. I will deal with any remaining threats. Spread the word."
“Y-yes!”
Kazi stood a distance from the barrier itself, his sword still embedded in the ground. He focused and maintained the Waterfall Barrier.
‘The mission isn’t over. More monsters are to come.’