Chapter 34

Hiro jolted awake from his sleep.

It was a nightmare.

His body was drenched in cold sweat. His heart was beating fast and his throat was dry.

Hiro immediately took a sip of mineral water which was always ready on the wooden table near his bed before immediately checking his android bracelet.

From the window in the room, the sunlight was back.

9 AM.

“A nightmare.” Hiro pulled his hair to ensure that he was fully awake from that scary yet weird dream.

He was trying his best to control his breath after waking up like a madman.

He felt really bad. His feelings were chaotic, the image of Yuujin with his face covered in blood kept haunting him.

At that moment, Hiro thought about one thing that might help him free from the nightmare.

And without further ado, he stuffed his head into his VR helmet.

[System linked]

[Welcome to Last Shelter Online – Closed Beta Test Version]

Hiro’s avatar spawned inside Liberty’s house, still sitting on the same couch as before he logged out of the game.

He still couldn’t think clearly. It felt like Yuujin’s shadow was still trying to reach over him even though he moved to another world.

Hiro’s eyes stared blankly at the room inside Liberty’s house.

The light in the room had been extinguished, assuming that the girl had fallen asleep.

At a glance, Hiro thought of knocking on the girl’s bedroom space to wake her up.

However, that wasn’t the only option he had.

BANG!

Hiro slammed the door of Liberty’s house hard enough to make a noise.

He ran out with a feeling he couldn’t even understand.

The housing area for the CBT players was already dark. There were no players walking around.

Hiro decided to run away towards the nearest gate from the Beginner Town area. He ran with a confused mind. Ignoring the confused looks of the NPCs who saw him.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

At night, in a certain spot, some monsters turned into night creatures.

In the morning, the monsters Hiro could encounter were mostly beast-type.

Meanwhile, when night falls, the monsters that roam outside the Beginner Town area are dominated by them, the night creatures. The unholy, the devil. They were strong. Their strength was doubled in the night time.

KIYEK!

[Death Branchman (Level 24)]

A monster resembling a leafless tree with blackened branches had gathered in the grass area right in front of the exit gate of Beginner Town towards the South. The cursed trees were moving and attacking each other.

They have eyes, nose slits, and a wide mouth cavity that emitted light resembling a blazing fire.

Hiro dashed towards the monsters, his sword already raised and ready to slash.

His pointed eyes flashed with anger. He will use the monsters as an object to release his stress.

WING!!

SPLAT!!

SPLAT!!

He continued to slash the monsters that were scrambling to reach him with their long-spreading branches.

Even though his heart was in turmoil and his mind distracted, Hiro could still focus on eliminating the monsters with his greatsword.

SPLAT!!

The sticky slime from the tree monster had stained Hiro’s body and his sword. However, Hiro still didn’t stop. His heart still ached. He still couldn’t understand the nightmare he had just had.

SPLAT!

KIYEEK!

His jaw clenched, his eyes flashed intimidatingly, his gaze looked like an assassin.

“Hiro!” someone was trying to call him by his name.

But his hearing system seemed to not work at that moment. Even though his body continued to move, slaughtering tree monsters that spawned in just 0.5 seconds every time it got killed.

It was Liberty who was trying to call him.

She saw Hiro from a distance. She was reorganizing her gasping breath as she leaned back on her knees.

The sound of the door slamming by Hiro had awakened the girl from her deep sleep.

She had been shouting for Hiro all along, ordering him to stop. However, Hiro didn’t hear her and instead ran faster, making it difficult for Liberty to reach him.

Liberty didn’t even have time to change her pajama dress before running out after Hiro.

SPLAT!

“Hiro!!”

Liberty ran back to Hiro because he didn’t hear her call at all.

Hiro’s eyes looked like someone who was being possessed by a demon. It kept slashing non-stop.

The tree monsters can be defeated with a single slash of Hiro’s greatsword.

“Hiro,” Liberty lowered her voice, feeling sorry for Hiro. She felt that the man in front of her was not Hiro, she remembered.

“Hiro, what happened?” Liberty tried to dodge the monster slime that was gushing at her, she was standing right behind Hiro’s back, only a meter away from him. But still, Hiro couldn’t feel her presence.

His body might be going raged and slaughtering [Death Branchman], but his soul and brain weren’t there.

“Why?” Hiro muttered to himself, his body covered in sweat.

“Why?”

Liberty was silent when suddenly Hiro mumbled unclearly. She was increasingly worried about Hiro’s current condition.

“What the hell is really going on with you, Yuujin!?”

Suddenly Hiro turned his body backwards while swinging his greatsword with all his might. He thought behind him was a [Death Branchman] preparing an ambush.

He didn’t know that behind him was Liberty standing, waiting for him to turn his back.

And—

BANG!

Both Hiro and Liberty were shocked.

An invisible barrier suddenly appeared in front of Liberty as Hiro’s greatsword swung at her.

[Combo has been stopped]

“L—Libe?”

He fell to his knees in front of Liberty.

His unstable conditions really almost hurted Liberty.

Shrug!

Liberty rushed forward, embracing Hiro’s body. Catched him and hugged him tight.

“Warm…” Hiro had a hard time catching his breath.

Even so, the sweet smell of Liberty, her soft and warm skin’s touch calmed him a bit.

“What happened?”

Before answering Hiro’s question, Liberty took out a crystal from her inventory.

And before the [Death Branchman] came swarming him for revenge, Liberty activated the crystal.

[Portkey Crystal]

POOF!

The two of them instantly vanished, leaving behind a strong gust of air in just one second.

Hiro no longer cared about the strange sensation every time he teleported in the game.

What kept him still in his current conscious state was the sound of her heart beating right in his ears.

Liberty’s heartbeat was hypnotizing him like a beautiful instrument.

[Portkey Crystal] is a magic crystal. When activated by its owner, it will take the person who activated it and other people in contact to teleport somewhere.

[Note: The choice of destination must be clearly stated by the person who activates [Portkey Crystal], otherwise they will be teleported to nowhere.]

Thud!

All Liberty had in mind was her room.

The two of them landed intact on Liberty’s bedroom, which was warm and smelled of soothing lavender.

“Hiro, did something happen to you?” Liberty stroked Hiro’s hair which was wet with his sweat. The pure girl knew very well how to calm someone who looked in despair.

“Libe… what if they were right…?”

“Hmm?”

“What if it’s true? Someone has killed my brother.”