Chapter 99 - Dire Wolves

Cheng Xiu stepped over the golden ring into the second field.

She was pressed to the ground by a great pressure.

Cheng Xiu closed her eyes, and felt the Qi inside her circulate faster again.

The temperature of her body rose up with the increase in the Qi tempo, and she felt her muscles contract in an unpleasant throbbing.

Cheng Xiu tried not to focus on the Qi or the pain, turning her attention towards the Red-clad lady.

Unlike before, when she was completely faceless, now a small projection could be seen that hinted at a nose.

She was fascinated, and a thought appeared in her mind, that, as absurd as it should sound to her, felt logical.

The closer Cheng Xiu is to reaching her Soul Shard, the closer the woman comes to having an actual face.

Cheng Xiu curled her hand into a fist, and raised it towards her head massaged her forehead, thinking of a way that she would be able to complete the task.

Cheng Xiu was really surprised by how much she enjoyed the gameplay of The Other World. It was such a unique experience that she had in this VR than she did in others.

And it was definitely better than Gu Shu's Otome games.

She did not have to feel or face the rejections of NPCs for being too "Wooden" or "Unromantic".

Cheng Xiu felt the pressure on her body become bearable again, and stood up slowly.

The sound of growls echoed around her.

Almost like it was waiting for her to recover to throw her under the bus, the system made another announcement.

[Ding!]

[Payer Selafia has to kill the 50 Direwolves to make it to the third ring.]

Cheng Xiu frowned. That announcement was far too straightforward.

Cheng Xiu had expected more riddle ridden words from the System as it always did, but now the system was being very matter-of-fact about it.

Then again, how could the system make the "Kill Direwolves" more creative when it was the most basic quest one could get for a beginner adventure. She was surprised it was not a slime instead to make things even more basic.

Golden portals appeared around her.

Wolves loped into her field of vision from the golden portals. They had glowing blue fur, and silver claws. 

Cheng Xiu felt that they were far too beautiful.

The wolves barked at her, ferocity in their eyes, drool dripping from their mouth.

She took her thoughts back. They were not beautiful at all.

Cheng Xiu went to grab her sword and remembered that she did not have it with her.

She also did not have any bow or arrows.

Cheng Xiu was confused on what to do.

Could she use the Ghost Flames to kill them?

Cheng Xiu blinked as she realised that she could have used the Ghost Flame in the last fight as well. She had not even think of it as a possibility though.

"Ghost Flame!"

Nothing happened.

Cheng Xiu frowned. Why was it not working?

She tried again. "Ghost Flame!"

Nothing happened. Her Qi did not even move from its set path.

Cheng Xiu tried once more, but the result was the same.

"This is a Quest to find your Soul Weapon," the melodic voice said at her third failed attempt. "You will not be allowed to use anything except for your wit, and your weaponry skills for these fights."

Cheng Xiu gave the faceless woman a nod of understanding.

She thought of how she hadn't used the Ghost Flame in the first ring, like she was not even aware of its existance.

"I suppose you made me forget that I had spells at my disposal?"

"It was your first try in the Ring, there was no reason to let you waste time when you were up against Zombies," the woman said.

She looked on as the wolves jumped at her. There was no way she could win against all these Dire Wolves when she had no weapon whatsoever. It made Cheng Xiu feel far more insecure than when she had felt in her fight against Immortal Lotus.

Cheng Xiu ducked away from the few wolves that nearly bit her neck off, but two of the dire wolves dug their claws into her skin, and tore it away into pieces.

Cheng Xiu cringed as blood oozed out of her wounds, and used the momentum of the wolf that aimed for her shoulder, to turn around at the last moment, letting the beast bite into the wolf behind her.

The two canines crashed and bit each other. The one that aimed to take a bite at her had its neck torn into.

The wolf's body disintegrated, and in its place laid a dagger.

[Ding!]

[Player Selafia has killed 1/50 Dire Wolves, and gained one Wolf Dagger as Loot!]

Cheng Xiu gasped. Loot! There was an actual loot!

Loots were rewards given by the system to players after they had killed their enemy. So far, Cheng Xiu had not seen such things happening in the Other World and had thought it followed some niche games that did not give out loots for killing their NPCs in the name of making the game more "Realistic."

But now, here it was. She had found loot. Or the game had started give her loot.

Cheng Xiu lunged forwards, and grabbed the dagger.

The Force of supression was greater this time because the Wolf Dagger was a few steps from the ring, unlike her current position, which put her right at the edge of the ring.

Cheng Xiu coughed out blood, and stood up slowly, observing the dagger in her hand.

It was a blue crystaline blade, held in a silver handle. There were intricate patterns all over the blade, and on the handle was a thinly etched Word.

"Selafia."

She assumed that the name in the dagger belonged to the one who killed the Dire Wolf.

The other wolves growled as they approached her slowly.

Cheng Xiu looked up, but remained still for a moment to observe their pattern of attack.

They saw her immobile figure, and dashed towards her at top speed.

Cheng Xiu spun the dagger in her hands, and then plunged it into the head of wolf closest to her.

The wolf whelped and died.

Two of the other wolves tried to bit her arms and legs.

Cheng Xiu hauled the dead wolf stuck to her blade at them sending the two away from her.

The dead wolf disintegrated and turned into another dagger.

[Ding!]

[Player Selafia has killed 2/50 Dire Wolves, and received the Wolf Dagger as loot.]

Cheng Xiu grabbed the bloody dagger off the floor, took a deep breath, and walked towards the two wolves that had attacked her.

The two wolves howled and dashed towards her.

The Qi in her body warned her against the one from behind that nearly tore off her neck.

Cheng Xiu stepped away from its trajectory.

The wolf bit into her shoulder instead of her neck.

Cheng Xiu let out a scream of pain at that , and then kicked the wolf that was still in the air, anger clouding her thought process.

The extra movement made her lose her balance and fall onto the rock-cut, debris filled floor from the Qi Pressure of the Ring. There might have been a few chips of stones where she landed, as Cheng Xiu felt something dig into her ribs.

Cheng Xiu rolled away from the wolf that still tried to take a bite off her.

Cheng Xiu coughed out more blood as she got up to her feet.

The Qi Pressure was stronger in the second ring, and yet, she did not seem to have the reprieve between that she did in the Zombie fight making it hard for Cheng Xiu to recover from the battle.

The wolf tried to take a bite off her again.

Cheng Xiu rolled away once more, and landed right next to the Wolf Dagger that the second Dire Wolf had left behind.

She grabbed the dagger in a hurry and plunged it into the heart of the wolf.

Cheng Xiu spit out more blood.

She looked on with a grim expression as the Dire Wolf body disintegrated and left behind another dagger.

[Ding!]

[Player Selafia has killed 3/50 Dire Wolves, and gained a Wolf Dagger.]

Her heart felt cold.

She had killed a lot more in this world than she thought she would so early. And the moments before their body disintegrated was so realistic that Cheng Xiu felt sick of herself.

Why was the Other World graphics so realistic?

Realistic games with blood and splatter was unpopular to the general public, so why was the Other World so loved?

Cheng Xiu frowned at her grim thoughts. Now was not the time to ask such philosophical questions. Right now, she only had one thing that she had to do. Try her best to gain a Soul Weapon Shard. She later should not feel guilty that she did not give her 100% before she was defeated.

She would think of the moral dilemmas that the Other World put her through later on, in the real world.

With that thought, Cheng Xiu proceeded to try to kill the wolves one by one as her movements in the ring became smoother and smoother.

The Kill Count started to go up as she made her way through the Dire Wolf waves.

5/50 kills.

10/50 Kills.

26/50 Kills.

38/50 kills.

49/50 kills.

As she made her 50th kill, instead of a 50/50 notice that she should get, Cheng Xiu got a different notification that had her cursing the Devs once more.. This time cursing their ancestors while she was at it.