This may not be one of my best chapters as you can probably guess: I am not that good at creating battle scenes and would prefer to show them as animations rather than writing them down but the problem lies with my current computer being unable to sustain its sanity with the amount of movement and special effects that are being implemented into the video causing it to shut down even when i have turned off ALL background and running programs and applications so until i get a better computer, i wont be able to make them.

Now that i am done ranting: Please do continue on with the story if you took your time to read the notes and as always: i appreciate you all for reading this somewhat successful story of mine.

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***Yuka, Sleeping Forest, Aura***

“Ame, Yuka: Stick close and prepare to run…”

Yuka never once thought that Cairne of all people would say those words but seeing as that his orders were always precise, she didn’t need to think much about his reasoning and stood up. She put away the [Boxed Lunch] and readied her Oodachi by holding it in front of her with the blade pointing towards the sky.

“An-chan: what about Roland? Wasn’t he your former guild leader?” Ame inquired as she reloaded her [Crossbow] with poison dipped rounds. “and what of the others?”

“Sadly I can’t save everyone here… at most I can plan an escape plan with the two other groups closest to us but other than them, we’ll be in too deep to even escape…” Cairne answered with a tinge of regret in his voice. Yuka knew that even with a plan, there was still a low probability to survive against three [Mutated Magmatic Wolves] even with a well-known player amongst them.

Yuka surveyed the area where they had made their temporary base. It was a somewhat small encampment with 4 corners facing the four directions of north, east, south and west. The areas where the three [Mutated Magmatic Wolves] attacked were the North, South and West points which were relatively far from their east coordinates so if they were to run now: they would at least have time to hide.

“Help!” a frightened voice called out from behind followed by what seemed to resemble a splattering sound that had become all too familiar for Yuka.

The splattering sound was followed by a few trembling steps as the temperature increased signaling that the event that Yuka did not want to happen had been triggered. Yuka turned around and stiffened when she saw the two towering monsters that were blocking their route to salvation.

“Damn…” Yuka couldn’t help but curse silently. “Cairne… You got a plan yet?” Yuka called out to the [Mage] of the group who could only make a small shake of his head. “How slim are our chances of escaping?” She inquired.

“If we sacrifice someone, then we’ll have at least a 20% chance of escape…” Cairne answered with a grim look. “If we don’t sacrifice someone… it’s barely 5%...” He added whilst getting ready for an attack.

“Boxed in huh…” Yuka couldn’t help but comment at their situation. She was caught off-guard when a blast of fire went their way which was barely deflected by the [Shield] that had been cast by their resident [Mage]. “I am so glad you are in this party…” Yuka let out a sigh of relief before getting back into her stance.

Just as the first blast of fire ended, another took its place. “They don’t let-up do they…” Yuka could see that Cairne was beginning to struggle with supplying the shield with mana. True that his [Mana pool] and [Mana Regeneration] was now better than before but under the pressure of such high damage skills, he needed all the focus he needed to maintain the barrier.

“An-chan… Can you let up the shield a little bit in between the attacks?” Yuka almost dropped her weapon when she heard the little girl’s request. She was about to question her but stopped when she saw the odd glint in the little girl’s eyes. “Blinding them wouldn’t be such a bad thing would it?”

Yuka shook her head. True, most of the time Ame would stay quiet when in battle but when it came to speeding up their pace or increasing their chances of survival: Ame was a little devil. ‘Maybe it’s a hereditary thing…’ Yuka thought with a shake of her head. These two were really experts in surviving in battles which may or may not make her feel a little bit puny.

“It’s a 2 second delay. You sure you’ll be able to get them?” Yuka questioned as she put away the [Oodachi] and took out a [tower shield] from her [Inventory]. Of course, she needn’t ask as the little girl had proven herself with her marksmanship.

“As long as you are able to shield us Yuka-nee... An-chan needs 3 seconds after the [Shield] drops to deploy another one.” Ame took out a blunt arrow with a spherical head and loaded it in place of the poison dipped arrow.

“You better be quick… Because this thing’s already in the single digits of its durability points…” Yuka stood in front of Cairne and planted the [Tower Shield] in the ground and supported it with her body.

Taking a gamble wasn’t really Yuka’s taste but… She looked towards the two siblings behind her who had the most serious face she had ever seen. “If it’s you two, then I guess I can take a risk…” She quietly mumbled and braced herself for the intense heat which was good since the shield dropped as soon as she braced herself.

AS soon as the [Shield] dropped: Ame quickly pulled the trigger, loaded another round and fired another [Blinding Arrow] towards the two [Mutated Magmatic Wolves]. The speed in which she reloaded and fired showed that she was building a speed type character.

Yuka could already feel the heat penetrating the already damaged [Tower Shield]. Yuka watched as both her [HP] and her [Tower Shield]’s life getting chipped little by little at the exposure of such intense heat. Not only that, she could hear the rumblings of one of the wolves running towards them.

“Yuka let go of the shield! We need to get out of here!” Cairne cried out as he noticed intentions of the two [Mutated Magmatic Wolves] and invoked the [Shield] spell. He turned around and began to run in the opposite direction of the wolves while barely maintaining the [Shield].

Yuka did not oppose the idea and followed their lead. She was grateful she did seeing as she saw the wolf chomping down her [Tower Shield] in one bite with its razor sharp jaws. “Did the [blind] effect not work?” She inquired as she ran behind the two siblings.

“No… apparently they have the characteristics of [Cerberus], one of the guardians to the [Nether Dungeon].” Cairne answered as he ran while maintaining the [Shield]. “We’ll need to regroup with the others seeing as we can’t escape the place. It’s better to have stacks of [Shield] rather than our single layered one.” Cairne added as he began to operate his [Player Menu].

Yuka looked towards the younger girl running slightly farther ahead than her and Cairne. She could not see the [Crossbow] she had used earlier. Did it break? Or did she find something better? Yuka had no time to be answered as they approached the main group. To say she was surprised was an understatement. From the 35 that had survived the 3-in-a-row battle against the [Mutated Magmatic Wolves] were dwindled to what seemed like 15 people including her group.

“Cairne’s group, you made it!” Roland addressed them as they approached. “I’m guessing more of them showed up?” He inquired with his gruff voice.

“Two more came from the east; they got the others that were with us at the time. You guys aren’t faring any better it seems…” Cairne answered as he took a look around.

Yuka took this opportunity to look around. 5 [Clerics], 3 [Mages], 2 [archers], 1 [scout], 2 [Guardians] and 3 [Warriors] including Roland. The amount they had were already including their group. If under normal circumstances, this would be a good composition against a [Mutated Magmatic Wolf].

“For some reason, they don’t appear to be making a move to the center of the encampment… which is good but…” Roland paused, gaining the interest of Yuka who was keeping her eyes on the southern point. “If this goes on, we won’t be able to leave the place and we might die from hunger. We don’t know what will happen after the sudden [Reset]. We don’t know if the people that were already killed had been revived. We can’t seem to be able to contact the others, that was why we had messengers amongst the [Scouts].”

Yuka then realized something odd. “Wait, you can’t make contact with the people outside the [Sleeping Forest]?” Yuka couldn’t help but chime in. Though surprised by the abrupt interruption, Roland nodded his head. “That’s impossible; I was in contact with my instructor just before the attack.”

“If anything, that’s impossible; I even tried it with Cairne here to see if we can keep in contact with anyone inside the forest but it is also not working.” Roland retorted. “And no. before you ask: we cannot use [Teleport] to get back to the [Capital] either.”

“It connected…” the sudden claim from the youngest of the group caught the attention of everyone present. “Ah, instructor…”

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***Hayato, Sleeping Forest, Aura***

“-And that’s the situation…” Ame explained her current predicament.

“I see… If that is the case, get the fastest person to go to one of the [Mutated Magmatic Wolves] and see if the others will be attracted to their position. If the others do not try to approach you, use a small party to take that one out and secure an escape route. Make sure to always deploy your [Shield] magic and to always move in groups.” Hayato gave his suggestion and advice.

“The fastest person here go and distract the [Mutated magmatic wolf] to the west and see if the others will try to intervene” Hayato smiled wryly. He didn’t think that his young student would be the one to give out the order. Hayato waited for a minute before Ame gave him her report “They don’t appear to be interested in anything outside 50 meters of their area, should we send in a small group to check?”

“Send in a group of 4 consisting of a [Guardian], [Warrior], [Healer] and [Mage]. Try fighting the wolf and see if anything changes. If the others get attracted to the fight: retreat.” Hayato listened as his student relayed the orders again. “I think I am close to your group so I should be able to distract one or two of the wolves to open up an escape route.”

“But isn’t that dangerous, instructor? All of the [MMW] have already sprouted 2 heads so they will be more dangerous than when they have one head…” Hayato smiled at his student’s worry. “It looks like they came back…”

Hayato began moving again towards the direction of the explosion he heard 20 minutes before. Since he didn’t really need to stop for the [Telepathy call] to work, he began to run towards the direction where, hopefully, Ame’s group was. He checked and saw that there now only 7 [Mutated magmatic Wolves] remaining

“The others don’t approach the fighting group but they keep a close watch on our group. They seem to be waiting for us to move in one direction to try and strike us while we are busy with fighting…”

Hayato knew that the wolves might do that. Even if they seem separated, they were still a pack and hunting in packs was their specialty. “If that is the case, the whole group: go to the two that are guarding the east point. But make sure you make [pitfalls] and other [Traps] to slow the others down.”

“Wouldn’t they know that we made traps there?”

“Smokescreen or use some kind of spell that can obscure vision. The [Scout] has a skill in which allows him to instantly make [Traps]. Unless he’s stupid enough to forget to bring a shovel-”

“He did”

“-He better make sure to distract the others while you guys open up an escape path”

Hayato smiled when he heard his student relayed the exact words he used. He waited for a few seconds before continuing. “I can see the two [Mutated Magmatic Wolves] from where I am now, if you guys can distract it, I may be able to decapitate the second heads-”

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***Ame, Sleeping Forest, Aura***

“-‘make sure that you focus all your arrows and magic on the heads and torso. Don’t target anywhere else. If you can deflect their paw swipes then do that too’ is what he said…” Ame relayed her big brother figure /instructor’s orders to the rest of the group.

“I see… if we can somehow slow down the other wolves, we’ll be able to fight off the two in the east…” Roland muttered and then looked towards their only real [scout]. “You heard the girl, go with the mages and make sure you use all of your [Traps]. Don’t worry about the cost; if we somehow defeat the two in the east, we can regroup with the other groups that had been fighting the [Mutated magmatic Wolves] so we’ll be able to hunt down the others and gain more in the process.”

With a salute, the generic looking [Scout] went with the remaining [Mages] to create the [Traps].

“So little girl, what’s with that instructor? He seems to be knowledgeable about the [Mutated Magmatic Wolves] and he said something about focusing on the heads and torso. What does he mean by that?” Ame turned from her [Crossbow] to the 30 year old looking male.

“The instructor has always been an aloof person. He gathers information on all little things and implements them into his strategies. Though that’s the only thing I can tell you…” Ame answered nonchalantly. “In fact… that’s the only thing I know about him…”

Roland smiled. “I see…” he then crossed his arms and stayed silent. Ame had no qualms about this and continued to look over her [Crossbow]. Though it was low-leveled equipment, it was the only ranged thing she had at the moment and it would be beneficial if nothing happened to it while they were still in enemy territory.

Ame sat quietly as she investigated her [Crossbow]. Neither she nor the other members of the group had anything to say at the moment as they were busy doing their own preparations. Ame took the chance and directed her gaze towards her sister-figure, Yuka.

She was smart, strong and had great intuition when it came to battle. Even better than her older brother who had been playing the game before she even heard of the game. Though when it came to human interaction; she was almost like an alien. Other than her, she couldn’t talk to another person normally; though she was showing a bit of openness with brother and instructor.

Ame then directed her gaze towards the leader of [Kaen Ryuu] Roland; A well renowned player for being the leader of one of the top combat guild in [Kismet Online]. Even if Ame was a new player in the world of [Kismet Online] she heard of the guild several times from both the [NPC] and [Adventurers]. Calmly leading [Dungeon Raids] and bringing home victory, he was a very respected player in the game world of [Kismet Online] though now he was just a normal player who had been reset.

Ame turned back to her [Crossbow]. ‘Then there was An-chan and Big brother Hayato…’ Ame procured her knowledge on the two people.

Cairne, real life name Ryuu Ryuzoji, was her brother. In the real world, he was only 19 just like her instructor and joined a training program to serve the country as part of the SDF. He had been in the program since he was 17 and it has been roughly two years since he joined the program which also implemented the use of [VR training]. He was a former student of the [Ichiharu Style Dojo] but quit after a certain incident that Ame had no idea about. He was a great tactician in terms defensive and disruptive combat but he lacks the aggressiveness to allow him to become a real tactician.

Hayato Ichiharu: second child of the Ichiharu family and a new instructor of the Ichiharu Dojo. He was a kind person but at the same time he was merciless. Ame doesn’t know what but something about him seemed off. He seemed almost fake; She had no idea what was in his mind nor what his real self was like but… he makes her feel safe.

“Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad!”

Ame was startled out of her thoughts when a familiar voice entered her ears. She looked up from her [Crossbow] towards the owner of the voice, which apparently was her older brother. He was running quickly. What was going on?

Stopping breathless in front of Roland, her brother breathed in deeply to calm his breathing. “The [Mutated Magmatic Wolves] suddenly stopped their passive nature and are suddenly advancing towards us!” He suddenly cried out causing the leader of [Kaen Ryuu] to abruptly stand up from his sitting position whilst ordering the others to get ready.

“Hey little girl, contact your instructor and tell him we have a change of-” Roland stopped his sentence when a large pained howl cut him off.

Ame looked towards the source of the howl and was surprised to see the two [Mutated Magmatic Wolves] in the east headless. She blinked once then twice. A mutated monster had its two heads cut off like nothing by a white blur. It was then she realized that the white blur was her instructor’s tails.

Ame directed her gaze towards the space behind the two headless monsters at the beckon of the scared voice. She saw two much larger [Mutated Magmatic Wolves] strutting into the field. It towered over the two, now with one head each, [Mutated Magmatic Wolves]. Their furs were much thicker and much bristly than the ones they had been fighting.

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***Hayato, Sleeping Forest, Aura***

Hayato turned around to look at the two [Mutated magmatic Wolves] that he had decapitated. They had begun to move towards his student’s group and seeing that the others were also making their moves, Hayato took the chance and executed the skill [Collapsing Blade] of his 2 new blades and cut off the 4 heads from their necks.

He stared as the bodies of the monsters began to grow another head. But what Hayato was staring at was not the two [Mutated Magmatic Wolves] he had just decapitated but the OTHER two [Mutated Magmatic Wolves] that decided to show up late to the party.

They stood a meter above the rest of the [Mutated Magmatic Wolves] and were probably the parents of the mutated beasts. Their furs were thicker and much more worn than the others and their mouths were bloody after their feast of either monsters or unlucky [Adventurers].

“Well…” Hayato did not miss the re-growth of the heads of the two [Mutated Magmatic Wolves]. “Can I believe that you will only attack in pairs?” Of course, he did not expect the wolves to do that because as soon as he finished his sentences, they all began charging up their [Fire Breath] as he calls it. “Didn’t think so…”

-Chapter end-