Chapter 3: Mt. Neibelheim

After the Mapua incident, Lucas’ friends went straight home.

Some still shaken, some afraid, some were motivated to get stronger.

And it wasn’t only Zeal and Lowy that were pumped up to catch up to Lucas, Gavin and Kanin were as well.

They logged in immediately to the world of [World Gate Online], no, to the world called [Harus].

The two reappeared inside a town a few or so kilometers north of [Drachedge] that they were at before logging out.

The town was called [Materia], which is found beside a huge mountain which houses higher level monsters compared to the [Slimes] or [Wolves] in the outskirts of [Drachedge].

They arrived here 14 [Harus] days after leaving [Drachedge] and have settled for 3 more days until now.

The two have grown stronger compared to when they were having a hard time with the [Young Bear] and has gotten a bit of fame.

“Ah, there they are! The Beauty and the Beast!”

“Ughh…how long are they going to call us that? And just who’re you calling beast dammit!?” (Geeves)

“Oi, I’m supposed to be the Beauty?” (Rice)

That’s right, as Geeves has a girly appearance, many had made a mistake of seeing him as a girl, though as for him noticing this is yet to happen.

On the other hand, the werebeast Rice has an appearance of a good looking guy plus the wolf ears and canine teeth which made him a target for girls as well.

Though, sometimes, the [Beauty] doesn’t always refer to Geeves nor does the [Beast] always to Rice. Why? Because one can say that Rice is a cool beauty as well and the violent Geeves was the beast.

Hence, they were only called [The Beauty and the Beast] when they’re together.

Anyway, the two decided to grind their levels to catch up to Lucas so Geeves went to a tavern to gather informations and quests they can accept while Rice went to the marketplace to gather ingredients for travel.

Rice noticed that there was a shortage of food and supplies which made the prices higher so he asked what had happened. Turns out that there has been rampaging monsters from the nearby mountain that kept raiding the farms and storage houses.

Though they had asked many adventurers, they can only stop the raiding from happening so not everything has been lost, but every day, the raid kept happening and happening which resulted to the adventurers resupplying again and again until it turned out like this.

“When did this started?” (Rice)

“The night 3 days ago.”

It was the time where the two had most likely logged out and thus, missed the chance to see it start.

After resupplying and gritting his teeth because of the overpriced foods and supplies, Rice went to meet up with Geeves.

It seems that Geeves had also heard about the monster raids and waited for Rice so they can enlist with the other adventurers for the quest to find the source which was given by the city’s lord.

“Are you sure you want to join them?” (Rice)

“Well, it’s a quest right?” (Geeves)

“Think about it. Look how many these guys are. If we join, we can’t get stronger. In fact, I think we’ll be weaker since we’ll be relying on numbers instead of individual power.” (Rice)

That’s right, they’re goal is to catch up to Lucas and get stronger. If they were to join, they will only be going with the flow.

How about Lucas? Did he get stronger by following everybody else?

No. When everyone dived into the river to go with the flow, he got out, and walked a different way. He did things his way and went against a quest given by a King for a larger purpose.

One thing that others should learn after the announcement of the King’s treachery, is that not everything is at it seems.

“So what do you think we should do?” (Geeves)

“Hmm…they don’t seem to understand the situation and will most likely be wandering about. We need more information.” (Rice)

“Ah, I think I know of someone. I heard there is a prophet that lives at the top of the mountain. Maybe since he lives there, he can give us information about why the monsters are raiding [Materia].” (Geeves)

“Alright. Get ready. We’ll leave by sunset.” (Rice)

“At night? Are you sure?” (Geeves)

“What, are you scared? Monsters are stronger in the night so we’ll get more EXP as well. Besides, there will be few players in the night and tomorrow is when the adventurers raid against the monsters.” (Rice)

“I’m not scared! Fine, then let’s see who can kill more monsters!” (Geeves)

“It’s on!” (Rice)

+ + +

The duo set out as the sun fell and went towards the foot of the mountain.

“Mt. Neibelheim huh? It’s as dark as ever. Are you sure you’re not scared Gee-bf!?” (Rice)

Geeves glared at Rice who was teasing him again and sent a straight punch to his face.

For a while, the two were engulfed in silence.

Then, Geeves ran full speed inside the forest towards the top of the mountain and Rice followed him in rage to chase him.

“Dammit Gavin! Come back here!” (Rice)

“Shut up you pervert wolf! Catch me if you can!” (Geeves)

As they race towards the top of the mountain, various monsters like [Wraiths], [Sabertooths], and other poisonous monsters intercepted them only to be thrown aside or defeated quickly by the two.

They no longer cared about the EXP they give and just chased each other in the deep sea of trees.

Midnight finally came and the two now lay on their backs, tired from running nonstop.

“Haah…haah…I’m…first…” (Geeves)

“As…if…damn…where are we?” (Rice)

Rice sat up to look at their surroundings.

“Is that…a chapel?” (Geeves)

“Looks like it. Let’s go and see.” (Rice)

The chapel looks old and run down. Based on their surroundings, it would seem that they reached a small clearing with the chapel at its center.

There are also no monsters that seemed to pass inside the clearing, only waiting inside the forest.

Inside the chapel, the altar and the chairs are all destroyed and scattered around. In fact, everything but the cross at the far end is destroyed.

Below the cross was a hooded figure wearing a tattered robe.

“Is that the prophet?” (Rice)

“Why live here? Did monsters raid this place too?” (Geeves)

“Idiot, you saw how the monsters can’t enter the clearing. There must be some sort of barrier surrounding this chapel. As for this situation…well, let’s just ask him. Go do your thing Geeves.” (Rice)

“Alright, alright…” (Geeves)

Rice urged Geeves to talk to the prophet since he is more talkative than Rice and is likely to get a quest or information from the hooded figure.

In fact, most of their quests were activated by Geeves because of his talkative nature. One second you lose sight of him, the next, you find out he already befriended the guy next to him. He was that kind of guy.

“Excuse me, are you by chance, the prophet the people in the [Materia] town spoke of?” (Geeves)

“Hm? Who are you? Eh? Prophet? How did you know I’m a prophet?” (Prophet)

“I asked some guy next to me back in [Materia]- anyway that’s not important old man. Why is this place so wrecked?” (Geeves)

“That…I do not know. It was just fine a few minutes ago…or was it yesterday?” (Prophet)

The prophet looked around appearing to be trying to remember something at the tip of his tongue.

“No good Rice. This guy’s already too old.” (Geeves)

“Yeah, I can see that…how are we going to proceed now? Should we just hunt monsters instead?” (Rice)

Since they can’t seem to get any answers from the prophet, they tried to switch plans and simply search the mountain for clues while hunting.

There’s also the choice of going back and enlisting to the monster raid quest but the two didn’t want to be restricted by others nor do they want others to lead them.

“Monsters…Yes! Monsters!” (Prophet)

Seemingly having overheard Rice, the prophet recalled something.

“Did the monsters do this? (Geeves)

“What? No, how can that be? This place is protected by a holy barrier. Monsters can’t get inside.” (Prophet)

“Then what?” (Rice)

“Hm? Was I saying something?” (Prophet)

A vein popped from Rice’s forehead.

“Let me go Geeves! This guy’s clearly messing with us! Let me punch him at least once!” (Rice)

“Calm down. He’s already old so it can’t be helped can it? (Geeves)

“Ah! Who are you guys? Since when where you here? No, it doesn’t matter. I need your help.” (Prophet)

““Huh?”” (Geeves & Rice)

Geeves, who was holding Rice back was as dumbfounded as Rice was at the prophet’s sudden change.

“U-umm, what is it that you need our help with?” (Geeves)

“The monsters! They’ve gone mad! I mean, sure, they are vicious creatures that murder people indiscriminately but they were never this violent. I’ve been watching them from inside the barrier but I can still feel their murderous intent drowning me.” (Prophet)

The two sighed since the prophet has finally come to his senses and actually gave valuable information.

“So you mean to say…something, or someone, is causing their outburst?” (Geeves)

“Yes, there is something that must have caused this mysterious phenomenon. If you don’t extinguish the source, the area of rampage will spread even to the humans from the city.”

Imagine a whole city driven by madness and massacre. As expected, Geeves and Rice clearly felt the danger and importance of this quest and can only gulp.

Geeves looked at Rice to reaffirm his will to accept the quest and sees him nod.

“Do you know what might be the cause?” (Rice)

“Yes. If I’m not wrong…then the source is definitely…” (Prophet)

Geeves and Rice closed in on the prophet and gulped because of the tension in the air.

“Definitely…” (Prophet)

““Definitely…?”” (Geeves & Rice)

However, what came next was the sound of a snore.

“…”

Silence engulfed the two once more with a hint of awkwardness.

“Geeves, did I just hear what I think I heard?” (Rice)

“I certainly heard it as well Rice…” (Geeves)

The two looked at each other and nodded.

““WAKE THE HELL UP YOU DAMNED GEEZER!!!”” (Geeves & Rice)

“Huwah-!!!??? Huh? Who are you? Eh? Why is the chapel so wreck!? You thieves! How dare you!” (Prophet)

Out of nowhere, the prophet seemed to have gotten an old broom and started beating the two out of the chapel while reprimanding them.

“Wha- hey! Stop it! We came here to help!” (Rice)

“That’s right! Damn, my HP’s going down fast! Just how high is this guy’s STR to be able to hurt me with a broom!?” (Geeves)

“Now stay out!” (Prophet)

The doors of the chapel were slammed right in front of their faces and silence shrouded the two once more.

“…Now what?” (Geeves)

“So much for doing your thing-gh!?” (Rice)

Geeves gave another straight punch at Rice who was trying to blame him.

Rice glared at Geeves for punching him like last time and his irritation grew more.

Meanwhile, Geeves kept a poker face and stood slowly…slowly…then ran again!

“Dammit! Just how many times are you going to pull this stunt off!?” (Rice)

“I’m pissed! I can’t punch the old man so I’m punching you!” (Geeves)

“I’m pissed too! Come back here so I can punch you as well!” (Rice)

“Like hell! You have higher STR than me so it will hurt more! Why did you think I ran!?” (Geeves)

And so began the chase once more.

Perhaps the area of rampage had affected them as well or they’re just pissed at each other, no one knows. But even the enraged monsters were cast aside in their chase.

Soon, Rice chased Geeves towards a cliff, behind them were monsters that followed but Rice ignored them.

“Haah…haah…nowhere to run now you damn trap.” (Rice)

“Haah…haah…wait…peace…white flag…whatever just uhh…” (Geeves)

“Too late for that.” (Rice)

Rice slowly walked over to Geeves not because it’s dramatic but because he wanted to catch his breath first before the massacre but, he was interrupted.

The horde of [Sabertooths], [Wraiths], [Goblins], [Trolls], and other monsters had begun their attack. Apparently, they didn’t like how they were ignored and attacked just like that. But then again, they’re enraged so that might not be the case.

“Tch- annoying! [Torque Punch]!” (Rice)

Rice gave a straight punch that seemed to possess rotation as well which made the punch stronger and blew the nearby [Goblin] back.

Rotating his body, Rice used a rotating kick to damage all the monsters around him.

“[Target] [Charge Shot]!” (Geeves)

An arrow whooshed pass Rice and struck a [Sabertooth] straight into its head.

With Rice using close combat skills and Geeves on his back, the two forgot their own fight and fought as a duo.

“[Wind Path] [Rapid Shot]!” (Geeves)

Creating a path of wind, Geeves used successive shots powered by the wind path to further strengthen the attack and instantly killing a [Wraith].

As for the [Troll], Rice circled around it and threw punches creating combos which further added damages to the number of combos.

Maneuvering himself towards the [Troll’s] back, Rice kicked at the back of its knees which made the [Troll] kneel and aligned its head within arm’s reach.

Grabbing the head of the weakened [Troll], Rice used his skill.

“[Skull Grab]!” (Rice)

Like popping a balloon, the [Troll’s] head was clenched and ‘popped’. Normally, this skill won’t work when the opponent still has a lot of HP but to those who are within 5% of their HP, it was an instant kill skill. That is, if you manage to grab the opponent’s head.

It was not a popular skill but nonetheless, Rice found it awesome to crush someone’s head with a simple grab so he unlocked it.

The fight raged on for an hour, maybe two. At the end, both of them had nearly depleted their health and are now catching their breath.

“Hah! I killed 53!” (Geeves)

“That’s because you’re targeting from afar and stealing my kills! Half of those were mine!” (Rice)

“Yeah, yeah. Anyway, all that fighting made me hungry. Sanji, food~” (Geeves)

“Don’t bring a manga character here! And I use my fists not my feet!” (Rice)

“I saw you do a rotating kick. How about it, rotate and use the friction to burn your feet then-” (Geeves)

“That would hurt! Here! Eat and be done with it!” (Rice)

Rice shoved the food he was currently cooking to Geeves who was still going on and on about using feet instead of fists.

Since Rice has [Ingredient Curing], even if the monster was poisonous, once he cooks it, that poison is immediately dissolved unless the monster holds a strong poison.

“Ugh, stop giving me rice, I feel like I’m eating you.” (Geeves)

“That’s disgusting, don’t say that with that girly face of yours. Are you done?” (Rice)

Confirming that Geeves had finished his meal, Rice nodded and stood up.

“Alright, we should get moving.” (Rice)

“Nnnnh…now that I’ve eaten, I feel sleepy. Hey, how long are we gonna-AAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!” (Geeves)

The reason why Geeves shouted was because of Rice. Specifically, because of Rice kicking him off the cliff.

“Hmph! If you think I’ve forgiven you for earlier then you’re wrong!” (Rice)

With a satisfied face, Rice began his walk down the mountain to find Geeves.

A few minutes passed, Rice noticed he was in trouble.

He was lost.

Completely lost.

“Damn, where the hell am I?” (Rice)

Since he was already lost, he decided to just go with the flow and continue to walk.

Finding a cave, he decided to go in thinking Geeves might’ve gone inside as well for cover but as soon as he entered, Rice felt dizzy.

“N-nngggggg…!?” (Rice)

His head ached, when he closed his eyes, instead of darkness, he saw a demonic figure. A figure that seemed to wear a cloak made of darkness, holding a scythe that seemed to hurt him as he saw the figure swing it.

It was his first time feeling pain.

After all, due to the system, pain is controlled in [Harus] and he never had a [World Key] so he had not felt real pain.

Soon, the pain ended and his mind calmed down again.

“Damn…what was that?” (Rice)

Rice looked at his HP to see if there as any actual damage and found out there was none, however, an icon that shouldn’t have been there was there.

The icon looked like a popped vein you often see in mangas.

“If I’m right…that is the enraged status?” (Rice)

The enraged status is an abnormal status that enrages those that has it. Which means that the player would abnormally be easily affected to taunts and would not be able to properly control his emotions.

“Well, it shouldn’t be a problem if no one pisses me off. But what was that vision? Could that be the source?” (Rice)

[“That’s right. What you saw was [Death]. A monster that has been haunting this mountain for centuries and was sealed until now. But you won’t hear me anyway…it’s been a while since I saw a human so I just talked…and I’m still talking…”] (???)

A sigh can be heard from inside the cave.

“Huh? Who’s there? Is that you Geeves?” (Rice)

[“!? You can hear me!?”] (???)

+ + +

“Ughh…that damned Rice. He actually kicked me off a cliff!” (Geeves)

Geeves, who fell from a rather high cliff was only able to still be alive because he dropped into lake and is not being washed away in a stream.

“Tch- now I’m all wet…” (Geeves)

Geeves swam to the shore and got up to find a cave he can take cover to.

Seeing a cave, Geeves started to feel dizy.

His head felt like its being pricked by hundreds of needles and also saw the same vision as Rice when he closed his eyes.

“Ughh, damn! It hurts! What the hell was that!?” (Geeves)

[“That was [Death].”] (???)

“Huh!? Who’s there!?” (Geeves)

[“!? So you can hear me…look like it wasn’t a waste trying to talk to everyone I met.”] (???)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NameGeevesLevel75GenderMaleMoney360 G 79 S 47 CJobMarksman LVL 64

Magician LVL 58RaceHumanHealth7640Mana8000STR20INT100SPD80DEX200VIT28LUK100TitleMonster ExterminatorFame540Wind47Passive Skills[Far Sight] Master LVL 5 (23.63%)

[Multiple Shot] Intermediate LVL 3 (07.34%)

[Bow Mastery] Intermediate LVL 4 (56.97%)Active Skills[Punch] Master LVL 5 (13.52%)

[Kick] Master LVL 4 (23.46%) [Bash] Master LVL 3 (76.34%)

[Target] Intermediate LVL 6 (74.63%)

[Charge Shot] Intermediate LVL 2 (24.52%)

[Rapid Shot] Intermediate LVL 2 (84.46%)

[Mien] Master LVL 4 (46.76%)

[Wind Shield] Master LVL 7 (87.36%)

[Wind Wall] Intermediate LVL 8 (85.23%)

[Wind Blade] Intermediate LVL 2 (62.35%)

[Wind Path] Master LVL 1 (75.34%)

[Whirlwind] Beginner LVL 9 (86.46%)

[Wind Shot] Intermediate LVL 3 (97.58%)PopularityDrachedge +500

NameRiceLevel77[/tds]

JobBrawler LVL 71

Cook LVL 53RaceWerebeastHealth8190Mana8000STR205INT60SPD68DEX33VIT98LUK11TitleMonster ExterminatorFame540Passive Skills[Heighten Senses] Master LVL 7(74.46%)

[Brawling] Master LVL 3(24.56%)

[Gauntlet Mastery] Master LVL 1(78.65%)

[Combo] Intermediate LVL 7(54.23%)

[Ingredient Appraisal] Intermediate LVL 7(09.45%)

[Food Appraisal] Intermediate LVL 7(24.58%)Active Skills[Punch] Master LVL 10 (100.00%)

[Kick] Master LVL 10 (100.00%)

[Bash] Master LVL 10 (100.00%)

[Knock-out] Intermediate LVL 8(52.34%)

[Canon Punch] Intermediate LVL 7(43.67%)

[Cooking] Master LVL 2(34.65%)

[Bone Crusher] Intermediate LVL 6(87.56%)

[Torque Punch] Intermediate LVL 5(65.32%)

[Windmill] Intermediate LVL 4(67.98%)

[Ingredient Curing] Intermediate LVL 6(45.76%)

[Skull Grab] Intermediate LVL 3(86.24%)PopularityDrachedge +500

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Author's Notes

Sorry this chapter took a long time despite being this short. I was actually busy (first time in a long while) in school and when I do get time, the internet freezes and sometimes I would even wait for hours just to open google so yeah...can't even get to the submit a new chapter page until now -_-'''

As for this chapter, I apologize if this looked...weird? I feel like it wasn't as good as my normal chapters.....well anyway, if it seemed like that then I'm sorry...I feel something is wrong, but I can't point it out...maybe I'm just no longer used to 3rd person POVs...

Oh, and new illustration at [V3] Chapter 3 :3 Not really good with armors and monsters yet so I hope it satisfies most of you :3

So! Nothing much to say here really so I won't write a long AN.

How will the two cope with the sudden weight of the event? Will their enraged status cause something? Just who exactly is the prophet? What is [Death] and it's aim? Who was the two mysterious voices the two met? (Though I think it's really pretty obvious what they are but I doubt you know who they are.)

Also, sorry if there's that [/tds] between their statuses...can't find what's wrong atm -_-

Japtem Version

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