Chapter 6 - Reason to Fight

Human nation—the Reneruth Kingdom, on the outskirts of a poor fishing city, Atlean, there was a rundown inn owned by an elderly couple. With only simple straw beds inside the rooms, the inn offered little comfort to the guests. Due to that, only poor people would stay in the inn and most of its rooms remained vacant throughout the year.

In one of those barely furnished rooms, a single shadow moved.

“...Aika… are you awake?” The shadow sat up from the bed and whispered to its neighbor— Aika who was curled up cozily— who was taking up most of the space on the small bed. Her long, black hair was splayed out on the small pillow that they were sharing and one of her delicate hands clutched onto the arm of the shadow.

The shadow was, of course, Yuu—now Karna. He wasn’t awake in the middle of the night because he wanted to perform sagely duties that most young men his age liked to do before sleeping. It was just that he couldn’t fall asleep.

Considering what he was going through, it would be weird if he could sleep soundly. He tapped on the air in front of him.

Karna

Level 15

HP:1500/1500 MP:1500/1500

STR:10

DEX:110

AGI:10

INT:10

VIT:10

FREE ATTRIBUTE POINTS: 50

That was the strangest part of the whole ordeal; the fact that the game system had remained. Apart from the main menu, everything else was still the same as in Xion Online. But the smell of his sweat coming from under his clothes told him that he was no longer inside the game.

Karna allocated all fifty free attribute points into DEX. He needed to find out if statuses and levels affected his combat abilities in this world. And if it did, leveling up would become a top priority. After he gained enough strength, he could look for a way to go back to Earth.

Not that he had decided if he wanted to even go back or not. However, unlike a loser like him, Aika had a bright future ahead on Earth. He had to at least send her back. It was his fault that she was stuck there after all. She would have never played the game if he hadn’t persuaded her.

Well, it’s not like I want to stay here without her. I guess the goal in the meantime would be to find a way to get back to Earth.

Karna glanced at his little sister who was still in deep sleep. He had become so dependent on her without even realizing it.

Suddenly the loud sound of bells ringing pierced the night.

Karna got up from the bed in surprise.

What is happening?

“Brother, can you turn off your alarm?” said Aika as she woke up.

Karna ignored the half-awake Aika and opened the window. A cold breeze blew in, making him shiver in his thin clothes. It was the clothes underneath the beginner equipment of Xion Online. He had taken the armor off and put it in his inventory before going to bed.

All the items they had gotten from Xion Online were proving to be useful. The siblings could also stay in the inn thanks to the bronze coins they had in their inventory. Just like in the game, by pressing a particular slot in the inventory, they could retrieve or store items.

Karna looked out from the window. There were a lot of people on the street below. Most of them were shouting and running; they seemed to be in a hurry. Some men were holding torches and various garden equipment such as shovels, axes, and rakes.

“What is going on? A festival?” Aika stood on tiptoe and peeked out from over Karna’s shoulder.

Karna might have also thought the same thing if he couldn’t hear the snippets of conversation from below.

“— A thousand merman

—surrounding the city walls

—no escape—”

“Mermen?” Aika tilted her head adorably.

As if answering her question, a scream echoed through the street below the window. A merman entered their view at the very next moment, sending people fleeing in all directions. Pushing against each other to get away, some people fell to the ground. It was utter chaos.

The merman was technically a fish head on a man’s body. Blood and drool dripped from its mouth filled with jagged teeth as it scanned the area to look for its prey. It wore a simple metallic armor and in one of its hands was a huge halberd that was drenched in blood. A second later, it found its target— a person who had tripped and fell while trying to run.

The creature lunged, webby hands outstretched to reach for the unfortunate person. It was fast, much faster than a regular human being.

“Yuu…” Aika said from the side. She had called his name unconsciously but it wasn’t to get his attention. It was more like a plea.

Without even thinking, Karna jumped out of the window.

The ground came up to him at a dizzying pace. He landed on his feet, right between the merman and its prey.

The merman and its soon-to-be-victim were surprised of course but Karna even more so.

It was a height that would have possibly broken his legs back on earth. He wondered if it was the effect of DEX. Within a split second, he had managed to judge his landing position and had braced his body right before the impact. His senses also felt extremely sharp, even though he was supposed to be tired from fatigue and lack of sleep.

Karna turned his attention to the fish-like creature. It was eyeing him with its brown spherical eyes.

Mermen [HP: 4400/4400]

“Sorry, but my little sister doesn’t want you to kill people.”

The merman did not reply.

Instead, it swung the halberd at him. Karna jumped back, dodging the sharp edge of the swinging weapon by a hair’s breadth. He would have been cleaved in half if he had even taken a second longer to react.

By this point, the whole street was already devoid of people. All of them had run away at the monstrous sight of the huge merman.

But it was perfect for Karna. Now he could go all out in testing his abilities.

The merman seemed annoyed after realizing that its first attack didn’t land.

It swung the halberd again. This time a horizontal sweep using its body weight to increase the momentum.

The merman was over six feet tall, its scaly body was bulging with muscles. The halberd it had swung with full force tore through the air and blasted Karna away. At least that was what it looked like.

Karna had jumped back just as the halberd passed by him. The swing missed and went wide, exposing the unguarded side of the merman. This was Karna’s true aim.

He threw a quick punch. A thunderous crash resounded as the impact shook the air. A shockwave pulsed out and slammed into the merman, throwing it off its feet. Blood and guts scattered as it turned into flattened meat and crashed into a building.

Needless to say, it had been killed in one hit.

Karna stared at his fist in shock. The shockwave seemed a lot more powerful than inside Xion Online. It had crushed the merman, armor and all.

And the fact that he could gain EXP points would mean that he could level up and get stronger.

“Ugh… Why did you have to squash him to death? Disgusting… as expected of big brother.” Aika came out of the inn wearing her beginner armor.

“You’re making it sound like I’m disgusting.”

“Exactly. That’s what I’m trying to say.”

Karna sighed.

“Party up with me Aika. It’s time for a seafood buffet.”

“I prefer chicken but okay.” Aika accepted the party invite.

Thirty minutes later, Karna was already panting furiously.

“Come on brother. That’s why I keep telling you to train your stamina.”

“And how... are you... not tired after all that?” Karna said through labored breaths. Aika didn’t seem the least bit tired even though she had been running alongside him.

They had been going around the city hunting mermen. All of those they encountered had only been around level 8~12 and Karna had easily defeated them with one shockwave each. Thanks to that, the siblings have both gotten to level 20.

Karna had also gained a new skill.

Skill Menu

Shockwave - Hit the air to create a shockwave. The type of shockwave depends on the hand movement.

Barrier - Produces an air barrier around self. Able to nullify attacks.

Karna had already tried to activate the barrier but nothing had happened. He decided to think about the new skill later.

At the moment, the shockwave skill was enough. He had also discovered some interesting variations of shockwaves. By flicking his finger, he could create something like an air bullet; a mini shockwave. So there were three kinds of attacks he could use at the moment: palm strikes, punches, and finger flicks.

Palm strikes had the most knockback power but dealt the least damage. Punches, on the other hand, had the most power and could also knock back enemies. Finger flicks were the least noticeable and dealt damage depending on the body part hit.

“Brother… I see a group of people approaching us.”

Karna looked up and saw a bunch of men coming up to them.

Wearing simple breastplates over chainmail and holding various weapons, the men this time looked better equipped than the group with gardening tools.

-They must be soldiers or guards- Karna surmised.

“You two! What happened here?!” asked the man leading the group as they got to the two siblings. The man looked rough. His face was like a craggy boulder and his blonde hair was cut extremely short. He was a few inches taller than Karna.

“Hm? We were just hunting mermen.” Karna scratched his head.

“Hunting?! What happened to all the other civilians?”

“We don’t know. Didn’t they run away?”

“No that’s impossible! We saw no one leaving the city.” said the man.

Karna had seen some corpses while going around the city but he didn’t know where the rest of the city’s residents were.

“Sorry. We really don’t know.”

The man took a deep breath and seemed to calm down.

“No. I’m sorry. It’s fine. I was just panicking because I saw all those mermen inside the city when I got back. You said you were hunting those monsters too?”

-Even though he looks rough he seems like a nice person.- thought Karna.

“We were just sleeping when we woke up to the sound of bells ringing. After that, we saw people running outside and mermen attacking people… We didn’t meet anyone after that.”

“Hm… Is that so? Are you two adventurers?”

“Yes… something like that.” Players in Xion Online were indeed called adventurers.

“Oh! Your rank must be very high to be able to kill mermen with just two of you. My name is Rayrich. I’m the captain of the Orthus squad. These guys are my squad members.” Rayrich pointed at the group of ten men behind him. The other men were also rough-looking fellows just like him. Some of them smiled or nodded at Karna.

“My name is Karna. And this is my little sister Aika.”

Aika turned to Karna looking like she wanted to complain.

-Sorry, sis. But I’m not interested in pretending to be a couple again-

“Karna and Aika? I’ve never heard of your names before. Are you two from outside the country?”

Karna didn’t know what to say. He was from Earth so that was technically out of the country.

Aika was the one who replied in his stead. “Yea.”

“No wonder I’ve never heard of you two. If you don’t mind, would you like to accompany us? We’re going to get out of this city but there are still a lot of mermen around. Our chances will improve if we go together. What do you say?”

“I don’t mind. Brother?”

“Sure.”

The chapter is over. Here is Aika’s Status Menu and Skill Menu.

Aika

Level 20

HP:8800/8800 MP:2000/2000

STR:10

DEX:10

AGI:10

INT:10

VIT:210

FREE ATTRIBUTE POINTS: 0

Skill Menu

Vampire Progenitor - origin of all vampires +10% HP

Blood Collector - heals self by 5% of max HP when an enemy unit dies nearby

Bloodfallen Night - AoE skill that draws the aggro of enemy targets within range to self

True Form - transform into vampire form. Gain 50% damage reduction and 50% additional HP. All skills will be improved. Can switch forms without restrictions.