brush off my seventy-six–kills claim as a lie. She took it exactly as
it was, and she was dead serious about that. She hissed, “Why the hell
did you not tell me that before?!”
“I didn’t need to!” I shot back. “And you never asked!” I kept my
voice hushed low. Yuna’s puppets were already spread ahead of us acting
as our scouts, but I had no idea how much range a fleshwolf’s hearing
actually has. I wasn’t interested in testing it.
“I wouldn’t have argued with you earlier if I’d known you killed that
many goblins in the first wave. What, did you get some insane Afterlife
Achievement or something?”
“Not exactly. I got shitty achievements and barely made it out
alive.” I paused, then added, “I would’ve died from the timer if I
hadn’t killed the goblin general in time.”
…
Yuna went silent, again. Just as I was about to turn my head and
glance at her, she suddenly poked my lower back with the tip of my spear. “Ow—! What the hell?”
“You killed a wave boss,” she said with an incredulous tone. “That’s
why you were alone earlier—because the other people in your dome
would’ve hated you for doing that. If they’re still alive, that is. And
they’re probably dead now because you stole their kills.” She rattled it
all off in one breath.
“You don’t know that! For all I know, my friends could be worried sick waiting for me out there because I’m so reliable.”
“Yeah, because a reliable asshole like you would suddenly have time
to save and team up with the damsel in distress instead of going back to
your friends.”
“The term bitch in distress
fits you much better than a damsel.” And after that, I tried to make
Yuna’s incessant comebacks enter from one ear and out into another
without responding back.
Because I was distracted the entire time bantering with this bitch, I
was now just starting to realize that we might have been going the
wrong way. Just a few meters ahead, the alley came to a dead end. A
large metal trash bin sat in the middle of the space, pressed up against
the blank rear wall of a massive building—one wider than any we’d
passed so far. To the left and right of the bin, however, narrow
passageways split off like a fork, wrapping around the building and
leading into the next block.
And as if we were on the same wavelength, which we absolutely weren’t
because we just met each other, Yuna answered the question I was asking
myself since we exited the bakery, “I don’t think we went on the right
direction.”
“That’s what I’ve been worried about,” I said. “We were supposed to go right if we exit from the bakery. I think.”
She clicked her tongue. “You’re an idiot.”
“You’re just as stupid for not telling me we were going the wrong direction this entire time.”
“Keep talking, wave boss,” she sneered. “You’re the one who said you’re so reliable. How’s that working out for you?”
I swallowed my retort just as a familiar chime echoed in my head.
[Pop
Fulfill any of the following conditions to get a special reward!
- Turn left.
- Reward: (D-Tier Potion) Potion of Moderate Healing
- Turn right.
- Reward: (D-Tier Potion) Potion of Cleanse Ailment
Expiration: 00:01:00 or when any animated object observes what is outside either of the alleyways.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
As I stared at the System panel in front of me, I asked Yuna, “…You seeing this too?”
Yuna didn’t answer right away but I could sense that she got the
quest, too. Her grip tightened on her spear, eyes flicking between the
two branching alleys. They were extremely identical alleyways with
nothing to show for it, as not even a single sound emerged from them nor
anything or anyone. We could always turn back to be safe, but the value
of a healing potion was a reward I was willing to take the risk on.
Yuna still had the wound on her thigh, too.
“So, left?” I said.
“Left,” Yuna confirmed.
And so, at the crossroads of these alleyways, we turned left.
Even as we got closer to the block on the other side of this
alleyway, the sound beyond seemed muted and distorted, as if it was
showing nothing but a fabricated illusion. Yuna’s puppets stayed close
to us as we walked. The tension was keeping our guard high, and at that
exact moment, a realization came to me.
Why were the rewards D-Tier?
I pieced together a hypothesis.
A-Tier for killing goblins.
C-Tier for their pack leader.
D-Tier for the Wave Boss.
E-Tier for a horde of fifty.
The Pop-up Quests I’ve received so far didn’t indicate the rarity or
difficulty of the conditions for completion; only its rewards do. But if
I were to assume that the rarity of the rewards also match the
difficulty of the condition…
Then whatever we’re facing here is equal to a D-Tier encounter.
But I arrived at that answer far too late.
The moment I stepped out of the alleyway, an overwhelming presence
physically froze me in place. Some distance away stood a direwolf—it was
five feet tall and was as wide as a bus, and a pitch-black fur that
seemed to devour all light around it. Ectoplasmic shadows clung to its
form, warping against its own body. Its glowing blue eyes locked onto
us, radiating with pure hostility.
The panel for below the EVENT timer updated.
[Pop~Up Quest complete!]
[You have received a reward: (D-Tier Potion) Potion of Moderate Healing]
But another quest replaced its stead.
[Elimination Quest]
Participants: Devon, Yuna
Eliminate the monster inside the Elimination Stage to get a special reward!
- (D-Tier Artifact) Magi-Silicon Sneakers
- (D-Tier Talisman) Stamina-Boosting Talisman
Expiration: 00:03:00
[Preparation time has now begun. The Elimination Quest will start in approximately one minute.]
Just the sheer presence of the monster’s existence was enough to make me regret my decision.
We didn’t need to fight this monster in the first place. I pivoted on
my heel and tried to run off but—nothing. I tried harder against, but
no matter how much I twisted my torso or lifted my legs, my legs didn’t
budge a single inch. It’s not that I couldn’t. My legs wouldn’t move at all.
“Why the hell are you struggling like that?” Yuna said in a
surprisingly casual tone. “Don’t tell me you haven’t been given an
Elimination Quest before?”
“What?” I turned to glance at her. She had her puppets and spear
ready to fight, as if running away wasn’t an option. She looked at me
with surprise, but she got ready to explain everything.
She blinked, surprised. “Shit. Okay—listen. We either kill it or wait
out the timer. Once the quest expires, the stage drops and we can
escape this place. If we aren’t dead yet, that is.”
As soon as Yuna said that, a red line burned itself across the
street, tracing from the mouth of every building and window we could
potentially hide in. After it went around the entire block, a pressuring
boom vibrated through the air. I touched the alleyway we had just
exited in; the open air leading to it felt solid to touch. We weren’t
allowed to exit, nor were others allowed to intrude inside it. That
meant escaping back to the alleyway wasn’t an option anymore.
I gripped the hilt of my longsword. We didn’t have a choice in the
matter in the first place; it’s like the System thrust us into this
stage in the hopes to entertain it. As our preparation time began
dwindling, I took a deep breath to compose myself, and I checked the
monster’s info.
[Shadowflesh Direwolf]
[LVL. 7]
The dark continent of Raven Noth
is home to a number of predators, and the Direwolf’s sheer ferocity
renders a large part of the continent prey by comparison. Despite its
five-meter length and height rivaling that of an adult human, its
agility and instinct far surpasses that of a shadow fleshwolf. It is
extremely sensitive to light and sound, so if you do manage to find one,
you better bring some stun grenades—because the moment it catches you
off guard, you’ll find yourself between its extremely valuable
magi-calcite jaws.
And with that, I relayed my instructions to Yuna, “Stay back and keep
close to me. Its sensitive to sound and light, so focus on detonating
your puppets near the Wolf’s head.”
[5… 4…]
[Goblin Mania]. [Overpower]. [Beast Attractor]. I cast all three of them simultaneously. I readied the grip on my longsword.
[2.. 1…]
[START!]
Author's Note 1: