Chapter 28

~ A Misguided Goal ~

SW/SW/SW

A lone figure was battling against a band of orcs in a forest. The sound of lightning crackled continuously in the area, followed by series of agonized cries. As the sound died out, the lone figure stood in the middle of corpse, bathed in blood…

…with a crazed look on his face.

He lifted his hands and stared at the bloody palms, smiling like a madman.

“Stronger…” he muttered under his breath, “more power…”

Stronger. Stronger. Stronger.

Power… power… power…

He wanted to taste ‘power’ again, similar to the feeling when he punched that maggot Wawan. It was truly addictive, the taste of power. It warmed his body, gave him a sensation he’d never felt before.

He wanted to crush someone under him, someone so weak, so that he’d undergo that sinfully satisfied feeling once again.

The prideful and satisfied feelings of having defeated opponents in battle had been haunting him. Succumbing to the desire, he embraced one of human’s natural instincts—the instincts to rule, to be in power. However, the instinct was twisted along with his addiction to trample others and so he wanted power…

…so that he could beat others to pulp.

Power. Stronger.

…more power…

Yes, this must be what DPS meant by getting stronger...

He spotted several orcs in the distance, gathering some food. With a maniacal grin, he unleashed his stronger spell, Thunder Ball, to obliterate them. The surprise attack turned into a deadly critical hit, the power tripled. The orcs were electrocuted and he leveled up twice from the sheer experience.

“…ha ha…” it was faint, but slowly it turned into a mad laugh.

Yes, this was power taste like—termination, superiority, and ruthless. It was twistedly addictive, like drugs, and he couldn’t live without it.

He’d be stronger. He needed more power so he could set a foot inside Azariel’s castle and faced that succubus. He’d torture her to the point that she’d do anything for him just to be free. He’d use whatever means necessary to make her spill out the truth.

His game contained virus that allowed him to talk to NPCs and the slutty succubus was no exception. He’d have a nice, pleasant talk about her invading his dream in the real world. To reach her, he had to be stronger.

His hands then trembled as his body shook in sheer giddiness. What would it feel to have beaten a boss stronger than him? Would it feel as addictive as he was experiencing now?

0000

Ace came back to Travonka later after reaching level 16. He was definitely stronger than before, yet something seemed so off. There was no smile on his face, only a grim expression remained. Occasionally a sneer would make it to his lips.

“Tongsis,” he called the blonde mage who was reading a spellbook.

“Yuuz, Ace,” QueeN waved, a big grin on her face. “Vhat level are you?”

“Sixteen,” he answered curtly, “hey, I wanna take down a boss. Know someone who needs a Summoner?”

QueeN fiddled with her PM for a while and then shook her head, “Sorry, Ace. Ze friends I know are mostly offline. I can give you ze boss’ locations, but it’z safer vor you to be vith my friends instead ov partying vith strangers.”

“Why is that?”

“Zere are many cases ov players turned PKs during or after a boss quest. And you know vhat zat means, don’t you?”

Ace nodded. Yep, EXP reduction. The worse case would be the loss of equipment. PK system in GeaOnline was simple. The winner could take the loser’s equipment like it was nothing.

A simple, yet twisted system for a famous online game.

“Before you ask me, I’m not in ze mood to fight a boss right now. Sorry. By ze vay, vhat kind ov boss do you vant to fight?”

“Anything will do, as long as it’s strong. I want to level up faster.”

She placed an index finger on her cheek and tilted her head, “Hmm… How avout talking to Maria? Sie knows everyzing. Kind of.”

Ace flashed a small smile, “Thanks, Tongsis. See ya around.”

He waved as he made his way to Guild Master room. After knocking and indentifying himself, Ace entered the room to find Maria knitting. He arched his brow at that.

“Scarf?” he asked.

“Oh, no. A sweater. I had too much time waiting and before I knew, these hands moved by themselves.”

“Waiting for DPS?”

She shook her head, “No. My party,” she set aside her knitting needle and smiled, “now was there something you’d like to ask?”

Ace sat down on the sofa, “I want to level up faster. Do you know any strong boss that can be soloed?”

There was a slight movement on Maria’s brow before she spoke, “I do not think that there is any. Bosses in GeaOnline follow the same movesets patterns, one for melee and one for ranged, and the rest are unique to themselves. Often they would unleash melee and ranged attacks in short delay. If that happens, can you handle it? One mistake will end your life.”

No. Ace’s mind replied immediately. By the way, what the heck was moveset?

“Besides, a boss character has insanely large HP and it means to be taken down with a party.”

“What about the final boss?” Ace suddenly asked a different thing, “do you perform parties as well?”

“Oh, no. The event Dark Lord’s Crimson Nocturne, or widely known as Azariel Castle Raid, forbids us to choose our own party. We have to queue first to fight him. The system then decides the rest. Most won’t make it through the first fight and some will fall during the second battle. The victory against the final boss is always uncertain.”

“But you survived.”

“That I did,” Maria nodded, “it was a miracle that I made it along with DPS, considering how hard the battle with Etherios was.”

…because she sings, Ace…

Ace was genuinely curious about this boss. What caused the players to harbor such hatred towards her? Right, she could sing, but that’s it. He bet the effect wasn’t all that great and would fade the instant she stopped.

“What about the succubus? Who was she again?”

“Hathor.”

Yeah, right. That purple-skinned succubus he saw in his dream. It defied science when he dreamt of her, someone he’d never seen. Not to mention that she was a game character. There must be something ominous behind it.

“Say, Ace, what about joining my party? An acquaintance asked for my help,” Maria smiled, a party window appeared before her as she waited for his response. “The boss is around 86. You don’t have to do anything. Just hide until we defeat it.”

Ace secretly gritted his teeth. She cut him right at the most important part of the questioning, diverting the topic to something else. What was this woman planning?

Whatever. He’d ask someone else. For now, he had to get stronger.

“Count me in.”

0000

They departed to the southern part of the first continent, Vandarius, towards a burned forest. It was surrounded by thick mist.

The trees were all black, a horror reminder of an unknown power that caused the once lush forest to become a lifeless, horrid mass of sticks.

They departed with Maria’s pet, a two-tailed wyvern. It wasn’t a Summon Beast, just a pet gained from rare loot. From the distance, Ace saw three adventurers standing near the forest’s entrance. One of them waved at their appearance.

Once they landed, the three ran to them, all with a smile on their faces.

“Hm? Who’s this?” one of them asked. A fighter, he was, with black hair that was tied on low a ponytail. His medium armor was glowing with potent enchantments and lance shining in deep, red color.

Deep, red color.

Just like her hair.

Purple skin, red lips, wavy, crimson hair…

[KnightofDoom], he was called. Though his friendly demeanor contrasted to his name.

“This is a new member from Travonka,” Maria explained, “he is striving to become the strongest in GeaOnline. I hope you won’t mind him joining our party.”

“Well, I’m not as long as he could take care of himself,” a fairly cold voice came from the female beastgirl. She was a dog-morph, with a cute human face, and fluffy ears and tails. Her dark blue hair was tied into a twintails. They sashayed as she spoke, “I won’t help you out even if you were surrounded by monsters.”

“That’s not very nice, Asla,” a human archer, Mia, commented. She smiled apologetically to Ace, “Sorry about that, okay? She’s just a bit angry from yesterday’s quest.”

Asla the beastgirl had her arms akimbo, “We could’ve gotten rare equipment if only that stupid noob stayed quiet! The monsters got their eyes on him and our formation crumbled thanks to him! I got so mighty pissed that I PK him every time we meet!”

“Isn’t that kind of cruel…?” Mia commented, then turned to face Ace. “Don’t mind Asla, okay? But we’re very grateful if you don’t do the same thing as that noob did. If we tell you to hide, then please hide and don’t move even a muscle. Also, don’t provoke hostile monsters.”

Ace frowned, “In short, you want me to stay out of trouble, right? And do nothing to attract the monsters’ attention to myself.”

Mia nodded cheerfully, “Yep! You got it right! In turn, we will help you gain level. Oh, if you know any healing spell, feel free to use it on us. It will help you level the spell much quicker.”

“What about the reward?” Ace asked, “how to divide it evenly between us? Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude, just curious.”

Ace heard Maria giggling behind his back, “The quest reward is divided by the system, but it is a different case with the monster loot. Roughly speaking, you can scavenge the loot we don’t need and sold it in the shop or store it for later use.”

“Everything settled?” KnightofDoom asked, “right, let’s go.”

Maria dispelled her pet and followed the party to the burned forest.

Far inside the forest, there was a tree bigger than the rest, half the width of a football stadium. Behind one of its many hollow barks, a yellow eye stared menacingly at the unwary intruders...

Spoiler: Status

AceKivras

EXP Chart*

Atk: 9

HP (340/340)

Level 16

490/15312

Def: 21

MP(470/470)

Human

14822 to lv. 17

M.Atk: 166

Eiredrahl the Impure*

Summoner

4012 Coins

M. Def: 81

Travonka

4 Black Coins

Minimum piety

ATTRIBUTES

POTENTIAL

Equipment

Ancient Force

STR

7

Hopeless

Head

Ranagaad's Circlet {Rare} [4 INT, 8 M.ATK]

VIT

11

Worst

Neck

Amulet of Wisdom [2 INT]

DEX

12

Worst

Body

Valende's Runed Robe {Rare} [8 DEF, 18 M.DEF, 5 M.ATK]

PER

11

Worst

Back

-

INT

43

Normal

Arm (main)

Halcyon Staff [3 ATK, 6 M.ATK]

WIS

18

Bad

Arm

-

WILL

20

Bad

Waist

-

CHA

35

Normal

Legs

Black Pants [3 DEF]

* (tap to see)

Feet

Magician's Shoes {Rare} [2 DEF, 5 M.ATK]

(Help)

Skill

Description

Level

Healing

VIT

Lets you recover your HP over time

12.991

Staff

VIT

How proficient you are swinging your staff

5.085

Running

VIT

Affects your running speed

6.721

Light Armor

DEX

How effectively you act while wearing Light Armor

17.009

Evasion

DEX

Helps you to evade attacks easily

12.419

Casting

INT

This skill helps you power up your spells

21,553

Meditation

INT

Gradually recovers your MP

14.512

Herbology

INT

Lets you identify any herb to its fullest potential

9.012

Control Magic

WIS

Prevents your ally to get hit by your spells

8.884

Memorization

WIS

This skill slows down the decay of your unused skills

9.716

Literacy

WIS

Allows you to read more difficult spellbooks

14.591

Control Beast

CHA

Lets you control higher-level Summon Beasts

17.119