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Chapter 22: Back on Track

Dismissing the Bounty for now he decided to wait for the rest of his party.

It didn't take long for Sanja and Lilliana to show up and soon enough everyone was back together.

They decided to take on 5 Tasks that involved killing the creatures that lived along the shore of the lake to the east, while they all looked at the Tasks Makoto made sure to cover the Bounty-Board as best as he could with his body, if they read his name here and now on a Bounty request with that much money on it...let's just say he didn't trust them when it came to an enormous sum like that.

After leaving the Inn, Makoto went to one of the Merchants to sell off some of the loot they had gathered and the others followed his example.

Both the Archer and Warrior started walking in the front and he followed behind.

Happy to finally get back to some hunting, Makoto could feel the blood surge through his entire being.

Walking a bit behind the rest he showed a vicious smile while his eyes glowed a deep red color.

While he walked behind the girls he noticed how his eyes always seemed to fall back to their lower portions and steeling his will many times he tried not to stare too much.

Telling himself over and over again that he was in love with Veronica, Makoto could not help the glance or two he showed for Lilliana's full behind that slightly jiggled with every step, or Sanja's long legs that clearly showed against the cloth of her long Priestess garb.

With another red glow of his eyes he could imagine himself just walking that one step closer and putting his hands on Lilly's behind, squeezing the live out of it, feeling every texture of her flesh.

Or pushing Sanja's legs apart, his hand traveling up her clothes, feeling those perfect legs, slowly inching closer where both connected and pressing at her groin, letting a moan escape from those luscious lips.

Immediately veering his head abruptly to the right, Makoto was able to break the incredible view and get his mind back together.

This was neither the time nor place to think about something like that.

No matter how much he tried to keep those kind of thoughts sealed in the depth of his mind they always reappeared shortly after so with a few quick steps he now walked a short distance in front of the girls.

That helped a bit but he still could feel how his head was always about to turn in their direction, to get another glance at their body or face.

It was not love that guided his thoughts or actions here no, it was just pure desire, a desire to dominate those two women, to bend their wills, make them his.

Slapping himself mentally he was finally able to break free of this spiral that was his own desire.

Slowly taking a deep breath and closing his eyes for a moment he was able to calm his mind and keep the beast inside of him in check.

"You alright Makoto?"

He could hear Lilliana's soft voice right next to his ear, without even noticing it he had actually stopped walking.

"Yeah, sorry about that.

Just had to get my head back into the game.

I gotta say your Avatars are very tempting girls, enough to make a man lose his mind I dare say."

Giving both a wink, he started walking to the east gate again, following the Archer and Warrior that had already created a bit of a lead.

Naturally Makoto did not notice how both girls blushed and the looks they gave each other after which they followed him with hurried steps.

After exiting Marahel again they could see that the gravel road they traveled on lead north alongside the lake and what a lake it was.

Its size was simply incredible, bigger than any lake he had ever seen in Real Life for sure.

Even on the far horizon he could not see the other side of it and the same applied north and south of them.

It was like looking at the ocean, a giant body of water that even had waves and a beach.

The wind was also quite strong here so Makoto's cloak fluttered around him while looking at the glistering blue water.

Following the Warrior, Makoto and the rest of the group soon enough could see familiar rocks skittering on the beach.

It was a kind of Rock Crab for sure but these seemed to be a lot bigger and had sharp edges of stone all over their bodies, enough to seriously injure someone by simply running into them.

It was one of the creatures they had to hunt and soon enough he could see the letters above each of these big creatures.

Titan Crab: lvl 16

They didn't have a crazy high level but if they resembled the Rock Crabs from Talis then they would have an incredible Defense.

It was decided that Makoto would engage 1 Titan crab together with Lilliana while the Warrior and Archer would engage another, Sanja would keep an eye on both groups and make sure no one got too low.

Taking a quick step forward he attracted the Crabs attention with a fluid stab and slice motion.

198 damage dealt!

245 Damage dealt!

His damage really was a bit lower but because of his 'Penetration' skill he was not punished too harshly and could still dish out some decent Damage.

A lance of ice shot over his shoulder and exploded on the Titan Crabs hard exterior, giving Makoto nearly a heart attack as he was not used to fighting with someone else.

As far as he understood it he just had to make sure to dish out enough Damage so that the Crab would not focus Lilliana, his role in this fight was to keep aggro and because he did not have any Skills like Tanks normally have, his only option to keep the creatures attention was to deal a lot of Damage.

Using every bit of knowledge he had about the Crab Anatomy and behavior of their patterns, Makoto got critical hit after hit while all over the Titan Crab's body a huge barrage of Fire Balls and lances of Ice exploded.

In a way it was reassuring to know that someone had your back and in another way because he knew Lilly's fiery temperament he already steeled himself to potentially evade a shot that was aimed for him but in the end it was all in vain.

It seemed she would not go that far just to get at him and he was thankful about that.

Soon enough the Titan Crab fell to the floor and a shower of experience enveloped them.

After the other fight ended too he was again showered with experience just for being in the party and Sanja walked up to him, her expression unreadable.

"I know it might be rude but can I just ask you, correct me if I am wrong but do you have a Skill that rapidly regenerates your health when you are in battle?"

She asked and the others around her all looked towards Makoto surprised.

In a way it would have been discovered anyways but he decided to be honest and nodded.

"Something along those lines, lets just say it is very hard to kill me, is that answer enough?"

He didn't mean to be rude to Sanja or the others but the more people knew about his Skill the easier it would be for them to disable it so Makoto had no intention of going into too much detail.

"Concerning your Skill, yes. I still would like to know what your Class is because judging by how quickly you pretty much shred through everything it probably is not your average Warrior profession, is it now?"

For some reason she gave him a sharp look and Lilliana threw a concerned look towards Sanja before looking back towards Makoto, also eager for an answer.

Sighing deeply he scratched his head.

"Ah fuck it, you would have probably found out anyways if you just asked around a bit about me.

I'm guessing you were not online at that point but I was the first person to get a Unique Class and the game decided to give a shout out to every player online at that point, it also mentioned my name in it so you might understand that I avoided big crowds after that.

My Class is called Crimson Warrior, I won't go into too much detail as it does have it's weaknesses and I really don't want people to find out about it too early.

I hope that is answer enough and that you can understand why I'm being secretive about it."

He decided not to mention that he had a gigantic bounty on his head currently which was the main reason he didn't want anyone to know his Skills or Class too well.

If his party heard about it, even Makoto wouldn't be surprised if they stabbed him in the back, 500 Gold was a ridiculous amount after all.

Thankfully Sanja nodded and dropped to subject so he was spared from prematurely leaving the party.

"Can I ask you guys what your Classes are then? Just so it's fair I mean."

He said, out of pure curiosity and because he thought he deserved to know that much after telling them his Class.

Sanja nodded and gave him an apologetic smile.

"My Class is just called Priestess right now but I have been looking for a Rare or Unique class so it probably won't stay the same forever."

Next up Lilliana took a step forward and spoke.

"Currently Mage Class but I want to advance or maybe change it to Summoner, if there is something like an Elemental Summoner it would be the Class I would like to get, having Elemental Spirits attack while shooting magic myself would be awesome."

The excitement was clearly visible on her face as she talked about her dream class so Makoto had no problem believing her.

The Archer and Warrior both confirmed that the also had their respective classes but Makoto was not too interested, already he had forgotten their names and they also did not seem to be too interested in him so it was a win-win situation.

After killing a few more Titan Crabs his 'Penetration' Skill leveled up for the first time in quite a while.

Penetration:Even the strongest of defenses can be broken through with effort and tenacity.Skill Type:passiveSkill Level7 (1%)Skill Effect:+ 23% Armor Penetration

Only after fighting the Titan Crabs and encountering even tougher armor plating did he actually gain experience for the Skill again.

It was a very strange and unique Skill for sure.

Their Quota of killing 20 Titan Crabs was quickly met and they traveled a bit further until they met their next targets.

Shark-Hybrid: lvl 17

Squid-Hybrid: lvl 18

Just like their name said they were a Hybrid between Shark and Human or Squid and Human.

But it was not just a simple Shark or Squid head put on a human body, instead it really was a Hybrid, a mix between both.

The Shark-Hybrid for example had a scales instead of skin, a big fin on its back and generally looked more like a shark with limbs than the other way around.

The Squid-Hybrid was even more grotesque with 4 Legs and 4 Arms, its body had a purple color and bent at very weird angles making Makoto cringe a bunch of times whenever he saw a knee cap suddenly spring the other way.

Fighting them was indeed a lot tougher as they had a strange mix between intelligent behavior and the occasional pattern of a monster.

Makoto had not much trouble against the Shark-Hybrids, they moved fast but clumsy so he was able to freely cut their legs until they could not walk anymore.

Killing them was pretty easy together with Lilly backing him up with an occasional Fire ball.

The Squid-Hybrids however could be considered easy for ranged and difficult for melee as they were generally slow but their arms and legs whipped around in an unpredictable pattern, making Makoto sprawl on the floor many times until his rage took over and he started chopping them down limb by limb while his party only watched his incredibly cruel actions with wide eyes.

With visible joy on his face he ripped off the first Squid-Hybrids head with his bare hands and spat on the disappearing body.

"Little fucker"

Makoto hissed while running towards the next one, Lilliana reluctantly followed while giving Sanja a pleading look which the other girl decided to ignored.

Soon enough his party got used to his unique and cruel ways of dealing with the Squid-Hybrids and helped him as best as they could, even though they occasionally turned their heads as to not watch some of his more extreme actions.

Bathed in blood and with a refreshed smile on his face, Makoto disposed of the last Squid-Hybrid and turned to his party who all seemed to have a grim expression on their faces.

"What's wrong?"

He asked them with a quizzing look and they all just shook their head frantically, a trace of fear visible in their eyes.

Still looking at them with a big question mark on his face, Makoto decided to just ignore his party's strange behavior and continued down the beach.

It took quite a bit longer to kill every single Hybrid as 4 Tasks asked for them and they all stacked up on top of each other so it was quite a big number they had to kill.

Only after the sun was about to go down and the entire sky was lit in a deep orange did they actually kill the last Shark-Hybrid.

Mentally exhausted they decided to head back for now.

The overall mood was good until a gigantic tentacle shot out of the water and hit the sand before their feet with a loud bang.

Immediately switching gears and getting ready for combat they watched in awe as a gigantic Octopus slowly emerged out of the water and onto the beach.

It had the size of a two story building and each and every one of its 8 arms was as thick as 4 trees.

Golden letters shimmered above its head spelling certain doom.

Lake Kraken: Elite Monster lvl 19

Immediately and trying not to laugh, Makoto turned towards Lilliana and Sanja.

"Girls, listen to me, you have to run away from here as fast as you can!"

Both looked at him confused and he continued trying not to grin.

"I have seen enough Hentai to know where this could go so run you fools before you feel the might of a gigantic Squid between your legs!"

Buckling over his last words he couldn't help the giggle that escaped his throat, both women looked at him as if he had just lost his mind.

"Can you actually stay serious for once you fucking Jerk?!"

Lilliana shouted while giving him an angry look and Sanja also started laughing together with Makoto, tears clearly showing in her eyes as this whole situation was just too ridiculous.

Not paying attention to the gigantic Monster behind him, Makoto tried to get as serious of an expression as possible on his face while walking towards Lilliana and grabbing her hands.

"But I am serious Lilly, after all I want to be the one to take your first tim-!"

Unable to continue, Makoto broke out into loud laughter, went on the ground and had a laughing fit during which Lilliana was completely confused but had visibly red cheeks.

Sanja soon enough joined him and started rolling on the ground while holding her stomach, her uncontrollable giggle clearly audible.

"Guys, I don't want to interrupt you from flirting, really, but we kinda have a situation here!"

The Warrior shouted from further down the beach, his sword at the ready.

It didn't take long for Makoto to get his bearings together again as he joined the man at the frontlines.

Sanja was still recovering, a giggle could be heard from time to time while a shiver ran down Makoto's spine as he was well aware of Lilliana's death glare.

With a big smile on his face and having enjoyed the little banter from before, the usual red light returned to his eyes as he faced the two story tall Kraken, a monster that normally only appeared in fairy tales.

It was the biggest opponent he had faced until now and excitement rushed through him.

With his sword in hand he ran straight towards this mythological beast and a gigantic tentacle slammed down from above, aimed for him...

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Chapter of todayyyy!

Hope you enjoyed it and see you all tomorrow.

Just a heads up for those who are interested, the actual Chapter count of Volume 2 might be a bit shorter but there will be a lot more going on with the relationships between the already known Characters so stay tuned!

:drinkT: