I had to keep moving. I hurried through the woods keeping a look out for any bulb. I grabbed a piece out of the horse pack slung over my shoulder to gnaw on while I walked quickly. I kept to around 4 miles per hour or just under that in order to not run out of SP

My SP regenerated at the same rate regardless and it was better to be moving over a longer period of time to avoid any tracking abilities rather than rush and then stop to recover. Also the shorter my recovery time the better, since I could run into another noob swarm at any time.

The big problem with a forest was that I wouldn’t be able to spot any ambushes as easily. My only hope was that the noob swarms would give themselves away like before.

The real danger lay in endurance focused players. While dexterity gave me some SP and I had tossed 50 stat points into endurance, it wouldn’t be enough. I cursed the Ichor Blood Corruption, giving me -25% endurance. SP would regenerate in full every twenty four hours.

I heard movement and stopped directly behind a large tree. My free hand gripped my sword hilt. “Come on, he has to be around here somewhere.”

“Shhhhhh. We won’t surprise him if you keep being loud.”

“What ever.” I heard two people moving. They passed by my tree headed back the way I came. I waited in absolute stillness. They missed me thankfully and I ducked around the tree to continue my trek.

I kept my speed where it had been before. If I went faster, then I was more liable to miss things and run into a group or a player. Better to keep going slow and steady and dodge patrols. I looked at my status bars and let out another internal sigh.

My MP was at rock bottom and would take a month to bring back up. My HP wasn’t much better, hovering around 600. A single hit and I would be dead. While I had bandaged my chest, back, and stump I still had wounds that could be reopened if a fight became too chaotic.

Thankfully the forest was very large and I didn’t run into anyone for the rest of the day. I didn’t see any monsters either. I had wanted to pick up a bulb. The paralysis cloud was too useful to not use.

With only one arm I had about zero chance of climbing up a tree. That left finding another place to hide in. I ended up finding a clump of pushes and lying down there. I forced my body to relax by counting my breaths and breathing deeply and slowly. Unless someone stumbled over me I should be fairly well hidden during the night.

The main issues were all those tracking skills. With Hidden Mind maxed out it appeared no one could mentally search for me anymore. That was good to know. I just needed to avoid being physically tracked. While I had tried to stay to harder surfaces, my bug foot made distinct impressions. Its novelty had finally worn off and it was a massive liability now.

I needed a way to remove the Ichor Blood Corruption. If I thought cutting off my foot would help I would have done it already. But it wasn’t foot corruption, but rather blood corruption.

I woke up the next morning still alive thankfully. I listened before getting up. There were no sounds of movement around me. I carefully got to my feet and looked around. I appeared to be in the clear. I stretched to get my blood going and set off again.

Telling the direction was difficult in the forest, without a clear view of the sun. Thankfully it wasn’t too hard to head south or south west. The main issue was that almost all the streams I came across ran perpendicular to the way I wanted to go. Water was going from the Salrin Mountains out to the Sea of Salmir.

I wanted to loop around the bottom of the mountains and then head west to get back to that mine. It should take about twenty days, which would give enough time for my HP and MP to come back up to just around fifty percent. It was tempting to stay in the forest and hide out somewhere to return to full health, but my food would not last that long.

Even twenty days was pushing it and I would need to hunt something down in the forest. It really was the circle of life. I hunted for food and players hunted for me.

I felt the back of my head tingle and spun around. I saw three people rapidly rushing towards me through the forest. All three of them had bow and arrows. My SP was two thirds full, but they were clearly endurance builds. Find a target and then run around shooting arrows.

I sped up my pace to 9.9 miles per hour. I needed to wear them out. A quick glance behind me showed they had matched my pace. I am dealing with professionals. They were content to follow me until I ran out of SP. If I stopped or slowed down they would surround me and shoot me to death. I was sure they had some bow and arrow related skills as well.

The way they had come up on me, meant they also had tracking abilities. While my reaction time was high, an arrow went around 300 feet per second or 205 miles per hour. If they managed to get a clear shot I was in trouble. Shooting while running over uneven ground with any sense of accuracy is next to impossible, thankfully.

That was the only good news. The moment I slowed down or stopped they would probably pincushion me. I didn’t have enough MP to use Burst Speed or to hide myself which meant I was about out of options. I couldn’t tank the shots either with my low health. One or two hits and I would be done for.

I leapt over a fallen tree and kept moving forward. I heard the players land fifteen seconds later. A little bit over 200 feet behind me. I could keep running for about two more hours before I ran out of SP and then I would be dead.

I did a mental inventory of what I had. I only had one flame sword, one regular blade, leather harness with four throwing daggers, burnt meat, bread, cloak, clothes, Cube of Etherion, and nothing else. I was about to fight and make a last stand when I was hit by an idea.

The problem was I only had one hand. Life sucks with one hand. I put the flame sword in my mouth and it kept going. I then grabbed a branch from the ground and put it in my mouth. As long as I took a breath through my nose every couple of seconds I wasn’t hindered. While the game replicated internal organs and systems, they didn’t actually function. It was all simulated. Trying to mirror the entire processes of the body was incredibly difficult and resource intensive. That was why there was SP instead of muscle fatigue.

I then pulled out my flame sword a got to work on lighting the branch on fire. I tossed it into a pile of dry leaves. I adjusted my course to curve slightly to the right in order to make a large loop. I then kept grabbing up branches, lighting them on fire and throwing them behind me.

My max carry weight was 165 pounds do the stat points I had tossed into strength. The main limiting factor was the size of the branch and if I could get a good grip. If it was covered by debris or too large I didn’t dare grab it. After fifteen minutes I came across the perfect log. It was about two feet long with a one foot diameter. It also had a perfect hand hold for me to grip it with.

I then got to work lighting the log on fire. I was horribly off balance to my right but the bug foot finally came through by providing the stability I needed to perform this insane task.

Once the log was really going I tossed it into a clump of dead branches. I quick glance showed I had only lost about ten feet so far between me and my pursuers. I continued my running away and throwing burning branches tactic.

Half an hour after I had started I had circled around to where I had begun throwing burning branches. Most of them didn’t cause the surrounding foliage to catch fire with how wet it had been. But there were a couple places where the fire had taken and was slowly spreading.

The large log I had set on fire had quickly spread and a number of trees had gone up. The heat was immense, but not crippling. A fire resistance translated into a heat resistance. Fire was just combustion that released heat. It did nothing in regards to the smoke, but I ran through the flames as quickly as I could. This meant I couldn’t just camp out in the flames. Also all my clothes and gear would go up if I did that.

I kept traveling in my loop and setting things on fire. My pursuit had broken off thank fully. Now was the tricky part. They knew what direction I had been heading in and could easily move ahead and attempt to intercept me.

I changed course and began moving east, lightening fires as I went. There was the port town of Devos there. I would attempt to steal a ship and travel south down the coast a ways. That should hopefully throw off any trackers. This entire thing was a mental battle of the highest caliber.

My only chance was evading my superior opponents and being smarter than they were. Starting a forest fire while running had been a massive stroke of luck. If something is going wrong, just set things on fire. I saw a bulb in my path and stopped.

I only had the one pack, which was full. I put away my sword and grabbed the bulb. No need to start more fires. I grabbed the bulb with my free hand and slowed my pace down. It wouldn’t be good to get too far ahead of the fire I had started. The rest of the day was actually relaxing since I didn’t have to worry about people chasing me.

I underestimated the magnitude of what I had done. The fire soon caught up with me and I had a choice. I could either keep moving away, but my SP would run out, or I could try to circle around it. I opted for choice three and found a decent sized stream. I traveled along it until I came to a portion where there was a slight rocky overhang over the water.

I went into the water and hid under the overhang. I kept the bulb under the water and made sure my pack was just above the surface along with my head. It was a delicate balancing act, but I needed to recover my SP.

As night hit the fire caught up and swept over the area. The water level began to drop as the water evaporated and ash mixed in with it. It was a long half an hour, but I managed to escape with my supplies and the bulb intact. I slept on the rock overhanging the stream.

I woke up before the sun came up and started off again. I traveled through the destruction that was my forest fire. I was honestly surprised a player hadn’t started one already. This area seemed to get rain on and off and most people probably didn’t have the tools to make fire. Once they got the tools they probably didn’t want to burn themselves up and start again.

Burning alive was one of the things I had struggled with during my pain training. It was not pleasant and even the strongest individuals would crack from being burned alive.

The fire had swept east and then curved south. I was content following its path. Nothing happened all day and that night I slept fairly well. The next morning I set off again. It was another uneventful day as I walked through the ash covered landscape.

The following day I finally reached the coast about mid-day. I came across a fishing village that had burnt to the ground as the flames raced out of the forest and across the grass. The people who had been here apparently had sailed out in their fishing boats to survive.

I rested until nightfall and then stole a boat and supplies. I finally had a satchel to keep the bulb in. While I could have killed them all off, that would give a clue to any one tracking me. I took the boat and sailed south. I had escaped. “I am alive!” I shouted into the wind. “I will win! Hahahahaha!” I laughed in the face of death, adversity, and all the other nonsense I had run into.

Fire Storm-1 MaxThe world burns, while you laugh+10 Fate+20% Fire Resistance

ExperienceA maximum of 100,000 EXP has been applied for a calamity you have caused

I finally had enough stat points to raise dexterity to 150 which unlocked Dexterity Focus at level three. I tossed up a dagger and noted that my reaction time had dropped from a tenth of a second to around half a tenth of a second. While it might seem like a small improvement it was huge.

An arrow traveling at 300 feet per second, would leave me reacting after it had gone 30 feet. Now I could react after it had gone 15 feet. If I got up my dexterity to 200 then I would probably have a reaction time of 0.01 seconds. This meant I would react to the same arrow after it had only traveled 3 feet.

I wouldn’t have had to worry about that group of archers then since I could easily deflect or avoid their attacks. I had already invested so many stat points there was nothing else but to remain committed. I had put enough points elsewhere so I wasn’t completely useless, but dexterity and increasing my reaction time would remain my focus.

Another screen suddenly popped up while I was reviewing my status tables.

Quest Completed-HardDefeat Sir DavosKill the mighty Sir Davos, Hero of Mendal+1000 EXP

+1 Stat Point

I blinked at that. Apparently starting fires does kill off a lot of things. Based on the town name Davos, the knight had probably retreated there after Breckley crumbled. If the fires swept through, he could have been killed. It was the only explanation that made sense and I wasn’t going to question it.

Quest-HardKill Tracking Team EpsilonKill your pursuers, by turning the hunters into the hunted+1000 EXP

+1 Stat PointAccept (Yes/No)

Well that resolved what those players called themselves. I didn’t want to mess with professions and rejected the quest. Like last time the screen closed and then reopened with the exact same quest.

“Yes, thank you for the illusion of choice.” I said aloud and accepted it. I was coming for you Tafe. This just adds to your punishment.

I sailed during the night and slept during the day. I was able to move the boat up small streams and out of sight of any passing ships. I also took the chance to check on what people were saying. I was listed as somewhere in the forest between Salrin and Davos.

The fire had thrown off the entire pursuit and was still going. The entire southern portion of what had once been the kingdom of Breckley was engulfed. Thousands of players had been cooked alive who had been after me.

The city of Breckley was still a warzone. Both the Order and Galmore kept pouring in troops and resources to take control of the city. Both sides were unable to force the other out without risking defeat themselves.

The Order had brought in one of their heavy hitters. She went by the nickname Loli-chan. She really played the young girl aspect over the top with the short skirts and a tight black maid looking outfit with lots of ruffles. I thought I was popular, when she began posting videos up with her wielding that massive scythe I had sold, people were hooked.

While she appeared completely off the hook, the two videos I watched showed she actually knew how to use a scythe. There was something to be said about embracing stereotypes. Based on her public bio, she had been a former model slash cos-player and made her own clothes in game. My thoughts drifted to Tor and if she did things like that.

I had tried messaging Tor to stay in touch but she had stopped responding. I was concerned but there was nothing I could do. I had my next couple of steps planned out. After that I might go looking for her. The way things were going, she would probably come after me to kill me.

The other thing of note was The Encasement. Apparently the guy in the black armor with the ball and chain was hard core. He killed everything in his path and had a number of fans slash slaves acting as mages to empower him even further. I wasn’t able to see the video of the one video since it had been removed, but from the comments he was good and relentless.

That was a problem for another year or month since I figured if he was using a portal to come after me, he was nowhere close to me. His sheer presence alone was disturbing.

I had looked up information on Team Epsilon but there was nothing. No information for sale from the info brokers either. My bounty had increased to two hundred thousand USD. The combination of hate from getting a bonus quest centered on me and the massive fire had not made me any friends.

After three days of sailing I beached the boat and began my journey inland. I just needed to head west for about a month and then when I hit the mountains I would turn north. This area of the continent was all trees and monsters. Online it was joked as the Deep Gloomwood.

All the better to deter people chasing after me. At least Tafe did something useful by making monsters ignore me. The crawling vines, giant frogs, various colored slimes, drop bears, and every other horrid thing ignored me. The fact that they were a lower level meant it just wasn’t worth fighting them anyways.

I traveled like I had done after the desert. Rush for two and a half hours at 9.9 miles per hour and the Meditate and work on other skills. I managed to get Piercing Throw which would cause a thrown weapon to pierce a quarter of an inch per level at a cost of 1000 SP.

That was just under half my total SP reserves. Unfortunately that was my only major progress while I spent most of my time bringing back up my MP reserves and waiting for my HP to recover. I was gaining around 30 MP per day. While I was tempted to use it to train up my skills I wanted it near full before I started anything.

While starting forest fires was good in a pinch, it wasn’t going to save me all the time. Having Burst Speed maxed out and a lot of MP would mean that I could keep it up for quite a while in a combat situation. I wouldn’t need to commit to high speed movements all the time.

This wasn’t truly a vacation but it was relaxing after all the recent stress. I was probably sleeping twelve hours at a time, but it was worth it to get my head back on straight. The fact that I didn’t have to worry about monsters and that I had lost my pursuit made the entire trip calm.

I reached the mountains and began making my way to the north. Thankfully this area while not tropical didn’t have true winter. Snow was almost as much of a pain as sand to travel in. The cold and wet just made things miserable. It had taken a month and a half but I finally reached the entrance to the mine.

Unfortunately outside was swarming with players. Everything a couple hundred feet of the mine had been cut down and used to build houses and a palisade. Looking at the uniforms and outfits, they clearly were a part of Solid Steel. Right now our relationship was to ignore each other.

They had priced tracking me down as incredibly high while asking that I refrain from causing them trouble. I waited until nightfall and then snuck over the palisade and into the camp. There were patrols but it appeared things were fairly laid back. That made no sense if they were poking at an eldritch horror that was the Endolgon.

I made my way towards the mine entrance. Four guards sat outside at a table playing cards. I ducked into the entrance and began making through the mine. The wood wall had been completely removed and replaced with a steel reinforced wall. The door had a heavy steel bar across it. I moved the bar and opened the door.

I could see the guards at their table in the moon light and activating my flame blade would give me away. On the other hand I really didn’t want to go through that door into the darkness without seeing what was there.

The patrols passed by often enough that killing the guards would raise the alarm in under a minute most likely. I opened the steel door a crack and it swung easily on its hinges without a squeak. I then noticed a piece of string from the top of the door to a metal object.

I cut the string and checked the door for any more traps. There were none that I could find. I opened up the door more and slipped in and to the side. I moved the door back so it was almost closed. “Flame on.”

The tunnel lit up. I carefully advanced and saw the holes in the wall from before. There were no monsters in them and I made my way to the main chamber. The hole in the ground had been covered with a wood platform. Looking straight up from the platform I couldn’t make out much, but I could tell that way was left open. I turned towards my left and saw what they had been doing.

The vault door from before was being excavated around. Probably couldn’t retrieve the key from the boss, so they decided to bypass it. The other two tunnels leading off from the main chamber had wood walls and doors in place. Nothing overly strong, but enough to give warning if something crashed through. I began exploring the first floor.

I walked past the place where the Reaper of Skulls had been. There was nothing left in the room. The first floor was large, incredibly large. I didn’t find a way down though. The few monsters I had run across just gave me a look but remained where they were. It was incredibly disturbing.

I then made my way back to the first chamber with the pit. I had more than enough rope and could lower myself, but there was no way I would be able to get back up easily. With only one arm it just wasn’t feasible.

I had come all this way and I was not leaving without something. I tied off the rope to two support pillars and then pried up some of the wood boards. Once that was done I went through the hole I had made and began to lower myself, using my feet to slow my descent.

I heard scurrying beneath me, the sound of a thousand legs and the lower I went the more my fear increased.

***

BloodHound: He is tricky

BurnBaby: Burn!

Bouncer: Only you can start forest fires!

UltimataSecret: I barely escaped. I give up. That guy is insane. Let the Encasement handle him.

GambleMan: Keep placing your bets, when will Blood Rain bite the dust

6996: I want his videos

Tafe: No videos from my lover

GODHAXLOL: FORESTYYYYY!!!!

Guts: The challenge makes the final victory all the more sweet

Worm: What I want to know is how he keeps escaping so easily, the fire should have burned him up

TheWinzKid: He is part demon, fire powers for the win

UltimataSecret: Breckley is now officially declared a burnt shit hole

Loli-chan: Hehehe, more chances for me to have fun

Bouncer: Loli-chan with Blood Rain, shipping them off with a child

6996: No. Just no. I like living.

PowerOfFaith: That would be an abomination, we must prevent such a union

***

Author’s Note: You don’t know how close I was to killing off Rain of Blood. I literally could not think of a way out for ten minutes when it hit me on what he could do.

Please write an advanced review, or Loli-chan is coming for you!