Chapter 21

‘A magic user. And one at the third rank of mastery at that.’

The man did not hide his strength. He didn’t think it made much difference. What was the main reason people hid their powers? It was because they believed that they’d be at a disadvantage if others knew their exact strength and power level. However, even if one were to be PK’ed (player killed: the act of users killing other users), DIO would only penalize those who were killed by taking away some experience points and lowering the item drop rates on mobs and monsters. The aggressor would gain nothing by killing another user, and on top of that, DIO’s system gave a plethora of fines for users who PK. Due to these factors, the act of users killing other users was rarely seen in DIO. Since this was the case, there was no real reason why a user would want to hide their strength. Perhaps one wanted to put on an aura of mystique? That was pretty much the only reason, and in regards to that, the man had no interest in creating any mystique.

“Well, I don’t think anyone else will come if we wait longer, so let’s start. My name is Jeros. I’m a magic user and am very weak in close combat; I haven’t trained in any defensive spells. I’ve only focused on offensive spells, so keep that in mind.”

Though his manner of speaking sounded crass and informal, all he was doing was describing himself. If they had known each other beforehand, this wouldn’t necessarily have been the right approach to strike a conversation, but since they were meeting for the first time, sharing personal information like this was necessary. Adol nodded after hearing Jeros’ explanation.

“That’s good. I specialize in defense more than offense, so I’ll be able to shield against any incoming attacks, large or small.”

Hanma soon raised his hand.

“Oh! Hey! Nice to meet you. I’m Hanma. I’m a martial artist that specializes in life force, so I’m most comfortable in close combat. I’m your typical tank bruiser, and I don’t slack off when it comes to dealing damage, either. I’ll make sure to grab our opponent by the ankles.”

Finally, the blonde-haired woman wearing the black martial arts outfit spoke up.

“My name is Ilyia. I’m not too skilled at close combat, but I’m relatively quick, so I can take care of myself. My specialty is using chakra for healing and damage dealing, so my damage per second (DPS) isn’t too bad.”

Like this, users would often state their names and characteristics for others to get to know them. It wasn’t something that they’d been taught. Instead, they had developed this habit by themselves from experience in the game. Although they had only spent a week playing DIO, since time in DIO went by six times faster than in the real world, they had essentially ‘experienced’ a month within the game.

“Good, then let’s get started immediately. We’ll synergize and learn how to best work together as we go.”

“Alright. I’ll take out two pieces of equipment.”

“I’ll bring out two items as well.”

“I don’t really have any gear.”

In his left hand, Adol carried a tower shield large enough to cover nearly his entire body, and he used his other hand to wield a large bastard sword. As for Hanma and Ilyia, they did not use any gear or weapons. Ilyia would take out items hidden within her martial arts outfit whenever she wanted to conduct an attack or action, whereas Hanma utilized his whole body as a weapon.

Please select the number of users in your party.

“Four.”

Confirmed. The field has completed loading. The test shall begin.

As soon as the words materialized, their surroundings abruptly changed, and they saw that they were in a dense jungle forest. Adol shrugged as he looked at a tree whose trunk was so thick that three adults most likely couldn’t encircle it even if they held hands and stretched out.

“It’s a forest. The last time it was a desert, and before that, it was a seaside beach. Prior to the beach, it was a colosseum. How many settings does this test have?”

“Argh. Why is the landscape always randomized….”

“Anyway, let’s be careful. This is, after all, a Level 8 testing area. Moreover, since there’re four of us, the opponents will probably be two levels higher. In other words, they’ll be master-level opponents.”

The [Joint Warfare] groups consisted of either two, four, eight, or sixteen people in a party. As for the opponents a group would face, their level varied based on the number of users in the group. For instance, two people would fight opponents that were one level above theirs. Since they were currently challenging the Level 8 test, the mobs that a pair needed to face would be at Level 9. Yet, the reality was that users who were taking the Level 8 test were probably at Level 7, so to be more precise, they would be facing mobs that were two levels above them. In any case, it seemed that the system recognized that users who were challenging the Level 8 test should already possess power equivalent to the eighth level.

As such, a group of four would face monsters that were two levels higher than the users. Similarly, mobs for a group of eight would be three levels higher, and a sixteen-member group would face mobs four levels higher than themselves.

Some may wonder why the monster’s levels only increased by one for every additional two users in a group. This was because the difference of just a single level led to noticeable changes in one’s fighting ability, so the calculation was that it would take at least two users to contend against monsters that were a level higher. In reality, the system was unforgiving towards the users. Rather than increasing the monsters’ levels based on multiples of two, the more balanced approach would have been to increase the monsters’ levels each time the party grew exponentially. As an example, in place of having groups of two, four, eight, and sixteen, it would be better to increase the difficulty with groups made up of 2, 4, 8, 16.

Due to this unforgiving system calibration, most users tended to fight in groups of two. Could sixteen users really fight monsters that were four levels higher than themselves? Unlikely. Did it make sense to have sixteen users who were only level six go up against master-level monsters? Although strength in numbers was an appropriate phrase that applied to most situations, fighting monsters that were four levels higher was essentially suicide, even if the proportion was 16:1.

This was why battle formations existed. Much like the martial art and magic pathways, DIO had approved and completed battle formations available for use.

Whoosh.

“It’s coming.”

As a massive figure loomed above them, the four users prepared for the coming battle. Adol raised his shield and started gathering his internal energy, Jeros started chanting spells, and Hanma and Ilyia were readying themselves at the front of the group. Suddenly, the soft light emanating from the large figure disappeared, and in its place, a new mob showed itself.

Bam!

A three-and-a-half-meter monster swung its hammer at the users. The weapon’s size was equal to the monster’s height, and the aftershock of the swing caused a strong gust of wind to pass by. The reach and effectiveness of the attack were deadly, as it seemed to surpass the potency of any existing martial arts form. However, all four users were unaffected by the attack. From the start, Jeros had placed himself outside the strike’s range while the remaining three users had easily avoided the attack.

“It’s an Ogre Warrior!”

“It’s a real, tangible creature! Well, I prefer this type of enemy over a ghost or other paranormal monsters!”

After avoiding the ogre’s initial attack by staying low to the ground, Hanma flung himself towards the Ogre Warrior. With little delay, he stood right before the monster. Despite the Ogre Warrior continuously swinging its hammer as Hanma approached, Hanma had kept himself extremely low, his chin almost touching the ground. Since Hanma had essentially closed in on the Ogre Warrior by keeping himself flat along the ground, the Ogre Warrior had lost sight of him.

Boom.

Once he reached the Ogre Warrior, Hanma slammed his hands and feet against the ground and quickly shot up. The way Hanma moved and acted made it seem as if this wasn’t the first time he’d fought against a sizable foe. His movements were quick, precise, and full of purpose. With monstrous force and a shout, Hanma threw out a punch. This attack was based on the principles of Fighter’s Eight Consciousness, an Earthly Thunder strike.

Crack!

Hanma smiled as he felt the sensation of the punch landing directly on his foe. He felt bones cracking. If that were from his hand, it would’ve been a problem, but Hanma’s bones were reinforced with life force, so it was stronger than most reinforced iron. Moreover, he had been the one who initiated the attack, not the defender who was on the receiving end.

“Yes! This guy won’t be able to use his right leg anymore….”

Bam!

Without any wasted movement, the Ogre Warrior had swung its great hammer in a full circle, smoothly transitioning from its latest attack and striking Hanma. The force of the hit was immense. It seemed as if the Ogre Warrior was strong enough to pull an entire tree from the ground, and the monster had concentrated and focused that monstrous power on its attack. If Hanma had not utilized life force, rather than being flung away, his body would have exploded into bits.

“Open the gates of Flame.”

While Hanma was conducting his attack, Ilyia had moved around to the Ogre Warrior’s rear, and at that moment, she placed the red ruby that she’d made in the waiting room into her mouth. Then, Ilyia started making complex gestures with both of her hands. These movements were a common chakra practice known as handprint that chakra users employed to manifest a skill.

“Flame Mark!”

Immediately after she spoke, an unbelievably large flame rushed out of Ilyia’s mouth and covered the Ogre Warrior. The size and power of the flame were bigger and greater than what one would consider humanly possible. In addition, the flame was so intense that it wouldn’t seem out of place if the Ogre Warrior’s skin had been incinerated and instantly turned to ash.

Boom!

Yet, as if the flames that were burning its skin were nothing, the Ogre Warrior stamped its feet on the ground and bounded towards Ilyia. It performed three hammer movements in the air, and while doing so, the Ogre Warrior utilized eight unique martial art moves.

“What the hell! Why is that monster so formidable?”

As he stood in front of Jeros with his shield held high, Adol was left dumbfounded and speechless at the Ogre Warrior’s movements and skill level. The Ogre Warrior possessed a tremendous level of martial arts skill. Even without accounting for the Ogre Warrior’s monstrous strength, if Adol were to go up against the Ogre Warrior one-on-one based on martial arts alone, Adol was certain that he would lose to the Ogre Warrior within thirty moves.

For someone who was confident in his sword skills, Adol received a shock after observing the Ogre Warrior. Furthermore, the Ogre Warrior’s frightening power and abilities were currently being focused on Ilyia, who inevitably seemed like she was about to suffer tremendous physical damage.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

The Ogre Warrior’s great hammer swung down in an attack that made it seem as if tens of different hammer strikes were being shot out at the same time. To add to this, Ilyia felt as though the attacks were coming from every direction. At that instant, Ilyia knew she couldn’t avoid the attack. This wasn’t just a difference in strength; it was a difference in level. However, Ilyia did not panic.

“Open the gates of Body.”

As she quietly chanted those words, the inner universe of her body opened.

“Accelerate.”

Unlike magic power and internal energy, chakra users did not gather magic or energy to be used in a skill. Thus, chakra did not have a set of martial arts forms or spells. Chakra users derived their power from becoming one with the world, and they interacted and utilized the different components of the world to manifest action.

Based on one’s unceasing desire for further understanding and connection to a part of the world, a chakra user would make deeper connections into their own inner world. Once chakra users delved into the extreme aspects of one of the world’s components, they could control and derive power from that component, essentially providing them with near limitless power. In order to reach this omnipotent state, chakra users developed an eight-stage process, which they called the Eight Gates, and they expressed each chakra practitioner’s progress within a gate as a step. They referred to these processes as the Virtuous Eight Gates and Weightless Nine Steps.

“Phew…”

Ilyia quietly took a breath. Currently, Ilyia was ‘aware’ of three different worldly ‘components.’ Her first was what most chakra users initially succeeded in opening a channel to, their own body. After doing this, Ilyia then opened a channel into flame, followed by the sword.

Ilyia looked towards the Ogre Warrior. Its body was fully engulfed in flames. The fire that she had shot out from her mouth wasn’t made of normal flames; they wouldn’t be put out even if one dunked oneself completely in water.

“Ugh!” Screech!

As the Ogre Warrior looked at the target that had escaped from its range, it screamed loudly and instantly put out the flames that had covered its body.

Looking at the Ogre Warrior’s body with just a mere singe from her recent attack, Ilyia thought, ‘This is going to be dangerous. I don’t think I can output a stronger attack.’

Within the Virtuous Eight Gates, Ilyia’s aptitude was at the third gate, the Giant Gate.

When one first comprehended a component, one would open the first gate, Connecting Gate. Once one delved deeper into the component and [Understood] it, they would open the second gate, Weighted Gate. The third gate was called Giant Gate, and the fourth gate was called Exchange Gate. As for the gates after the fourth one, this was where many users hit a barrier. The fifth gate, Virtuous Gate, was only reached when one fully understood the ‘meaning’ of a worldly component. In martial arts terms, this level would be comparable to a martial arts user who could manifest inner qi onto one’s weapon. This was considered the highest level within martial arts.

Past the fifth gate was the sixth gate, Human Gate, and the seventh gate, Earthly Gate. The final gate, which would be considered the ultimate of the Virtuous Eight Gates, was the eighth gate, Heavenly Gate. Users who reached Heavenly Gate would be able to ‘rule over’ the worldly components.

Whoosh!

Though the Ogre Warrior had swung its hammer just once, Ilyia knew that the simple move contained ten different martial arts formations. Quickly, Ilyia pulled out a short sword that was fifty centimeters in length from her outfit. It seemed absurd to use such a pitiful sword to defend against a three-and-a-half-meter tall Ogre Warrior, and this was especially true considering it was wielding a three-meter long great hammer. Yet, at that moment, Jeros had finished chanting his magic spell.

“Fireball.”

Hearing such a basic spell being shouted out, Adol could not help but feel disappointed. Jeros had taken all this time just to finish chanting a simple Fireball spell? However, before Adol could voice out his frustration, a fist-sized fireball shot out from Jeros’ hand.

“Type One.”

Ping!

The fireball flew as fast as a bullet. No, it was faster than a bullet. Regardless of the actual speed, the fireball shot out so swiftly that the Ogre Warrior had no time to react. And after being hit by the representative skill of a second-class magic user, the fireball, the Ogre Warrior flew back about five meters and struck a large tree, instantly breaking it.

Boom!

“Wo… wow!”

“Damn! Is this the power of a magic user who only focused on a single thing…”

Adol gave off an appreciative whistle after observing the destructive effect of the simple skill. Yet, Adol knew that an ogre could operate for seven minutes even after having its heart pierced. More importantly, they weren’t up against any ogre; they were facing a Warrior-Class ogre.