[box border=1 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=3 width=80% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]Three weeks earlier[/col][/box]

Zayvin had logged back in next to her dragon, Kra. Apparently he had gotten used to his new body and was napping peacefully on the ground.

She smiled and thought back to a year ago, when she had first met him.

Ever since Zayvin started the game, she had been obsessed with magic. It was beautiful, wondrous and most of all – fun.

Ever since she learned magic she was sure that she would never want to do anything else.

She loved learning more about her powers, experimenting with the wonder that was magic and holed herself up inside the library for weeks to gather knowledge and raise her various statuses and skills.

NeoPangea was unique in the way that you could create skills through your own actions. You could also raise your status points through hard work and diligence in training.

Another unique feature was, that time flowed differently in NPO. One hour in reality equalled 5 hours within the game. This was so everyone was able to play during both day and night time of the game.

However, Zayvin wasn’t very comfortable with moving normally so she had chosen to play as a Devil. Due to her winged race she was able to fly, something she increasingly loved. Quickly flying was like second nature to her and she never walked anywhere anymore.

Soon she had reached the limit of what one can do without real combat experience.

Zayvin had created and discovered various skills and combat tactics during this time and one year in reality after she had started the game she began her journey through the continent. She clashed with various other races and players on the way, but her growth progressed smoothly and steadily. Soon she reached lvl 200 and unlocked her subclass. Unwilling to be anything but a magician, she chose to take the path of a sorcerer for her secondary class and training her new skills she moved deeper and deeper into the depths of unexplored territory of the game.

She started experimenting with her magic more, infusing it into inanimate objects and controlling them. Then one day she had found a weird energy source. A lot of magic was infused in it and upon closer examination she had found out it contained a sealed soul. The soul had started talking to her, revealing its history and pleading for help. It was an ancient soul of a demon that had been imprisoned in solitude for a long time, sealed within the core of an ancient tree.

She extracted the core and after many failed attempts managed to grant a body to the soul. After that she had unlocked her current class – the Demon Queen.

She could summon demons by channeling energy through spirit cores. If those demons yielded to her and were willing to serve her she would form a contract with them, reviving them into another body. They would be under her command from that moment on. But rather than as servants, Zayvin saw them as her friends and partners.

They were imposing creatures, emitting a dark aura continuously and she had to keep them supplied with enough energy to keep their forms, but it was well worth it. They possessed cunning and finesse, but were loyal to her and protected her. Unfortunately they spread a panic wherever they appeared even if they weren’t hostile. But when they were attacked they could wipe out whole parties of players.

Some of them excelled in their use of elemental magic, some used darkness and illusion magic and some weren’t able to use magic at all and instead excelled in physical attacks.

By this point the legend of ‘Zayvin the Demon’ had already spread around the continent. She continued her journey, finding new comrades as soon as she got her hands on new spirit cores. They grew stronger with her and she shared all the experience she got by killing monsters with them, but so did they. And thus, Zayvin soon reached lvl 399, just one step below the highest level you could reach within the game. And then her research had finally paid off and she started on a new journey.

The girl stretched and looked at her reflection in the small lake they were resting at. The long travel had made her look weary, her clothes looked dirty and there were dark circles under her eyes. The search for the hideout had taken longer than she thought. Two leathery wings grew out of her back, as well as a long tail that ended in a small spike. She kept her wings in a shrunken state when she wasn’t flying, so they wouldn’t get into her way. Right now they were barely long enough to reach her elbows. She sat down next to her partner, leaning on his body for support.

Suddenly she got a distressed call of one of her smaller demons. She could converse with any of them telepathically regardless of where they were.

[k]“Master! Please help me!”[/k]

He quickly explained his situation. The ground fox had been trapped in the opening of a volcano and couldn’t get out. She quickly got up and revealed the true size of her wings. Then she took to the sky and flew to free him. Zayvin floated above the bubbling lava, completely ignoring the heat, and surveyed the area. Having found her companion she quickly descended and freed the small demon that had been stuck between huge boulders.

Normally boulders like that wouldn’t have been a problem for him, but the boulders had a strength draining properties, leaving anyone touching it unable to move or cast magic.

As she had pulled the small fox out of the trap, her gaze fell onto a hidden opening in the cliff close to them.

She flew towards it, planning to examine it and put her small companion on the ground within the opening. There was a limit to what one can do in the air after all.

That was when she found it.

As her feet touched the ground a loud ding! Reached her ears and a transparent system window appeared before her eyes.

First player to discover the Great Cyclop’s Hideout!

Do you wish to register this achievement on the bulletin board?

Newly found dungeons could be registered on the bulletin board. The discoverer would be listed next to the dungeon and would receive many fame points. Adventurers would also get quests to clear the dungeon. If you refused to register it, the system gave you 2 months to keep it to yourself. If you hadn’t managed to clear it by then, it would automatically be registered anyways, just without your name next to it.

Due to the high level of realism in NPO once a dungeon has been completely cleared, monsters wouldn’t respawn there anymore for a long time and the same boss monster would not appear again either.

“No” she simply said and the message disappeared. But soon afterwards another message popped up.

The Dungeon on the Great Cyclops has been discovered! The time for the Escapee to pay for its sins against the races of NeoPangea has come!

This green box was… A world notice… just her luck…

“….”

“YESSSS!!!!” Ignoring the fact the whole world would be looking for the hideout now she cried loudly. It was as if all her excitement burst out with that shout.

Actually her supplies were close to running out, but she still had enough to survive for a month under normal

circumstances. But honestly she had been half prepared to return to resupply. That was before she found it. She was confident she could clear the dungeon by the time they ran out.

Making up her determination in that way, her eyes started to glow with emotion and she sent a telepathic message calling for her companions. It was show-time.

Zayvin was currently sustaining thirteen demons. On her telepathic command they all made their way towards her location, the ones that could fly assisted the ones who couldn’t and after just one hour her group would be ready.

In the meantime Zayvin sat down calmly, examining the small demon fox by her side. His complexion already looked much better so she fed it some of her blood to replenish its energy. Nothing else seemed to be wrong with it.

It just seemed a bit exhausted, curled up next to her and took a short nap.

Having fed her companion, Zayvin took out various items from her inventory and started her preparations. She made some food for herself and created various potions for her companions, to increase their fighting potential to a maximum. She also took out her Cores. The ones her companions had been sealed in. Over the last few weeks she had continuously infused them with magical power. After using them for summoning once, no other demon could be summoned through them, making them quite useful as storages for magic. She placed them on the ground and took out some mithril ore she had found. She heated the ore to the right temperature, substituting the heat of a furnace with magically created one and formed the ore into a simple but elegant necklace. The necklace had 13 openings where she inserted the cores.

She would probably find herself in need to use magic quickly. This way she wouldn’t have to meditate or gather magic first and could release the stored up energy in the cores in emergencies.

When she had finished her work and wanted to put on the necklace, she noticed it was too long. Sighing she changed her mind and used it as a belt, putting it on without even checking its properties. She wasn’t a crafter so there wouldn’t be any options worth mentioning on the accessory. She also quickly ate some of the soup she had made for herself and gathered the finished potions around her feet.

[box border=1 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=3 width=80% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]Meanwhile on the NeoPangea forums[/col][/box]

A new thread had been made a few moments ago and was already flooded with replies. The topic was simply ‘Cyclops raid’.

Whoever discovered the dungeon, please let me in on the raid!

Where is the hideout???

Let me know if you need any help in clearing the place!

Please please, let me join!

Me too, me too~

Post like this were made en masse. But no matter how long they waited, nobody answered.

What the hell, man, at least say no!!

It’s not registered, so they are obviously going to try clearing it, but none of the big guilds have made a move… What’s going on?

[td]You’re saying no one knows anything about this?

The players couldn’t contain their curiosity. Various inquiries were made to media stations as well as to Furan Corp itself. But the media hadn’t been able to get any information either and Furan Corp had made clear that they wouldn’t divulge player information.

[box border=1 cellpadding=0 cellspacing=3 width=80% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5][col colspan=4 valign=top width=100% bordercolor=#202020 bgcolor=#f5f5f5]At the same time back in the game[/col][/box]

“Master…”

At the quiet voice coming from the cave entrance Zayvin smiled warmly.

Her companions had all arrived.

Zayvin would have to leave some of them behind, simply because their bodies were too huge to fit into the entrance and there were no good materials nearby that would provide suitable bodies for them. So she had decided to summon merely 9 of her companions. Kra would also have to wait for them outside.

Zayvin smiled and gave each one of them 4 different potions. She also readied several healing items just in case. Then she asked Kra to wait for them close by and gave him some free time to rest or hunt. After surveying her party and smiling at them calmly, as a sign of her trust, she picked up the small fox and then lead the way into the dungeon.

The space was rather narrow at first and Zayvin was tempted to walk normally, but then changed her mind. She just wasn’t used to walking.

After some time the path opened up a little and flying got easier.

They progressed rather quickly, slaying the Cyclops’ minions one group after the other. The fights themselves weren’t even worth mentioning. Relying on their teamwork and keeping their minds on alert was enough to overcome all of the enemies that stood in their way. But the dungeon was deeper than she first expected… but the group kept on moving.

No matter what the enemy, she and her loyal companions slew them all. Even some Minotaurs or Chimeras couldn’t keep them from progressing.

After a few weeks of exploration they had finally reached the boss room. A majestic gate of bones and jewels was the final wall between them and their enemy.

An undefinable green light source gave the area a particular atmosphere that screamed danger and caused everyone to squirm uncomfortably.

After a short rest for everyone to relax and get accustomed to the strange air around the place, Zayvin walked up to the gate and poured magic into it. The huge double door swung open, revealing the Great Cyclops and its minions eating a feast made of humans in what she could only assume to be the throne room. On the walls, treasure upon treasure was lined up into a display of war trophies.

Disgusted, Zayvin focused on the monsters themselves.

The Cyclops, greatly angered to have its meal interrupted let out an angered roar as it got to its feet, toppling the tables in the progress and throwing its minions into chaos as they fled out of its reach.

Zayvin and her party of course didn’t plan to watch idly as they regrouped and so her companions split up, keeping the Cyclops’ reinforcements busy on both sides while Zayvin and one of her demons walked straight up to the Giant. He stared down at them with his bloodshot eye and raised his arm, a huge spiked iron club in his hand to blow away the insolent creature that dared to challenge him.

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And with that epilite cliffhanger I shall excuse myself for the day! *bows*

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EDIT: Check for my writing progress as well as interesting bits about my world here