Chapter 9

Because of how dark it was in the dungeon, Liberty had been keeping herself close to Hiro as the two walked further into the forest area. The distance between the trees was almost nonexistent, so the two had to walk on roots that spread to cover the ground.

“How further is it?” Liberty asked in a choked voice.

“I don’t know, but what I do know is there’s still a boss to fight.”

Hiro sighed. His head was still throbbing from Liberty’s merciless punch, this time because of his unrestrained hands. He did not expect that those wolf ears were actually a part of her body and not an accessory.

Ding!

[You are now in a safe zone.]

[You are safe from monster attacks.]

“I want to rest,” Liberty expressed when she saw the notification.

After looking around the safe zone for a bit, they soon found an area with a flat surface. Coincidentally, a huge, seemingly old tree stood near the area, giving them a nice spot to lean on.

The two sat with their backs to the tree, their shoulders touching.

“I’m going to sleep first, NightFall.”

“Hiro. My name’s Hiro,” Hiro interjected. Although that was indeed his in-game name, it felt weird being called that by a girl he had been calling with her real name.

“Wait, you mean your real name?”

“Huh? Isn’t Liberty your name?”

The girl looked at Hiro’s eyes for a few moments before nodding as if she was answering with her mind, “Of course that’s my name, are you dumb or what?”

“Well then, I’m going to sleep now,” she said while adjusting her position to find the most comfortable one.

Hiro looked at the girl with astonishment.

‘Is she really going to sleep here? Why not just log out? The logout option is obviously available in this area.’

‘What a strange girl.’

To his surprise, Liberty fell asleep unbelievably fast. It had been less than a minute, yet her head had leaned on his shoulder. He was startled by the sudden touch, but he did not say a word. He thought back to the two words ‘Legendary Weapon’.

He had a lot of things he wanted to know about it. Furthermore, after seeing the girl’s weapon, the desire to obtain an SSS-tier weapon grew in him. Besides, who wouldn’t want an SSS-tier weapon?

[System Call]

While checking the available features, Hiro found a menu for [CBT Players], something he had not checked since the first time he entered the game. And as he expected when he read the menu title, information regarding things he had been wondering about was on the page.

[CBT players are given a limited amount of time to find hidden, limited-time privileged items including weapons and armor before the official game is released on December 8, 2028.]

[All privileged items will be bound to the player’s avatar.]

As if he was exercising, Hiro’s heart rate sped up to 133 BPM when he read the information. He was eager to find out more about these players with privileges.

Unfortunately, after reading and searching for half an hour, he only reached a dead end. There was no clear information about how players could obtain these privileged weapons and armor in the given time.

It seems that the detailed information is currently unavailable.

“There’s still enough time, I’ll definitely get them!” Hiro muttered to cheer himself up.

A moment after, he turned to look at Liberty’s beautiful, peacefully sleeping face, and seeing her sleep so comfortably, he also felt sleepy.

Before Hiro knew it, he fell asleep.

…

“Wake up!”

Liberty harshly shook Hiro’s body to wake him up, and Hiro instantly opened his eyes from the shock.

“What are you doing?” Hiro grumbled in annoyance.

“Let’s go, we have to hurry! Look at the remaining time!” Liberty panickedly said while still holding his arm.

Hiro quickly checked as the girl asked. Upon seeing the time they had left, his sleepiness instantly vanished and his eyes widened in disbelief.

[Time remaining to complete [Lost Girl]: 15 minutes]

“Damn it! How long was I asleep for?” he hastily stood up. “Let’s hurry!”

Hence, they hurriedly continued to head toward their destination. Even though his head was still throbbing a little from being woken up so suddenly, he did not slow down his pace.

However, just as the two exited the safe zone, a growl entered their ears.

Goahh—

Three human skeletons slowly walked out from the west. All three of them held a rusty short sword in their right hand and a round shield with their left. One of them had an arrow stuck in its empty eye socket to the space between its two jaws.

Ding!

[You have unlocked a New monster information]

[Skeleton Warrior (Level 15)]

[Race: Demon]

Hiro could not contain his smile when he saw the level of those monsters. He was confident that he could beat them easily now that he was level 14.

“S-Skeletons!?” Liberty exclaimed and quickly jumped to hide behind Hiro’s back, her legs trembling from fear.

“What are you doing?”

“Hiro, they’re creepy! I’m scared!” Liberty even covered her face, unwilling to look at the skeletons in front of her.

“All right then, close your eyes and wait here.”

“Eh, you’re leaving?

“…”

Hiro pulled out his greatsword and swiftly dashed forward.

These Skeleton Warriors’ movements were very slow; he did not have any time to wait for them to approach him. However, just as he heavily swung his sword toward the skeleton, the skeleton suddenly moved its round shield in the direction of his attack.

Nevertheless, his physical strength was far stronger.

Stab!

[Fatal Damage]

[health 0/750]

Hiro swung his greatsword again. He had begun to get used to its weight. He could even use one hand to swing now, though the strength of the swing was obviously less than when he swung with both hands.

And with opponents this slow, wasn’t this the perfect chance to experiment?

Splat!

[Health -50]

Splat!!

[Health -100]

Using the same weapon, the damage inflicted by an attack done with one hand was half as powerful as an attack done with both hands.

Quite a significant difference.

“Hup!”

Hiro jumped about two meters into the air and swung his greatsword horizontally toward the two Skeleton Warriors standing side-by-side. His aim was to behead the two skeletons simultaneously.

Splat!!

[Fatal Damage]

“Easy.”

Ding!

[Base Level Up 1x (Level 15)]

Ding!

[Job Class Level Up 1x (Level 9)]

‘Not bad!’

“All right, let’s-”

“KYAAA!”

A monster with wide bat-like wings had flown down from the air and grabbed Liberty’s shoulders before she could dodge.

“Dammit!”

Hiro hastily ran to catch up to the monster, but it was in vain as it had flown back into the air and went even higher to a height impossible for him to reach.

[Unknown Creature (Level ???)]

He looked at the information in disbelief before looking back at the unknown creature.

“Get down here, you ugly monster!”

It was futile.

Hiro reached into his holster to take out his [Uzi Submachine Gun (Level 3) Tier D].

Ratatatatatatatatata—

The bullets rapidly fired at the flying monster with almost no space between them. Despite that, it easily dodged every 9mm ammo that came out of the firearm while carrying a person. Moreover, it was looking down on him with a mocking laugh.

“Kekekeke.”

Even until the firearm ran out of ammunition, Hiro could not land a bullet on the monster.

When the unknown creature saw that he had no more ammo, it laughed at him again before flying away.

“That fucking…!”

Hiro quickly ran after it while checking on his party status to check Liberty’s condition.

The girl’s HP had gone down by about 10%.

He kept running as fast as he could following the unidentified monster’s flying direction while continuously checking his party member screen.

He had to make sure Liberty wouldn’t lose any more HP.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Hiro felt to feel his body starting to heavily sweat whenever he jumped over a bent tree trunk or roots that spread all over the ground around.

Ding!

[You have entered the boss area.]

Hiro did not waver when he saw the notification and kept running. Either way, his goal was to finish the quest in this dungeon, and if that flying creature was the boss, he was going to finish it off without mercy.

“Kekekeke.”

“…”

“Hiro, we’re here!”

He didn’t know how that thing did it, but Liberty’s body was tied with a black rope that seemed like a whip at first glance.

And the girl was not alone. Near her, a little girl about 5 years old was also tied up the same way. The little girl’s mouth was even tied so she couldn’t make a sound.

She was the girl Liberty wanted to save.

The lost girl. The girl in their mission.

The two girls were left kneeling on the ground in front of a giant old tree with ends out of their sight’s reach, and the flying monster was standing with its two legs not far from the tree.

It kept making that strange laughing sound.

“Kekekeke.”

And then…

A spectacular transformation occurred.

The creature’s two bat-like wings shrank and were replaced by a pair of dirty muscular arms with pitch-black long, sharp nails. Its bat-like face melted and dripped to the ground, leaving an unsightly skull akin to a skinless mask. Its oral cavity was so wide it almost reached its ears, and inside was a row of dirty, sharp fangs that were visibly yellowish and uneven.

Ding!

[You have unlocked a New monster information]

[Boss: Desmodus the Vampire Bat (Level Undefined)]

[Race: Demon/Beast]