"Uwaaa… sister Jezebeth…"
Hic hic-
Sniff Sniff.
I stared at the bunch of grey-skinned ogres. They were creatures that had always been seen as 'monsters' throughout the history of fiction and mythologies. But right now, they were all crying.
Kris was crying as he hugged the freshly cemented grave, underneath which rested Jeze.
[In loving memory of Jezebeth, a good daughter, a good sister, a good person, a good friend.]
I saw the text that I had ingrained on the tombstone myself.
"How did this…kuhk…. My daughter… she was the only person that I had in the world… how… *hic*."
Kai asked, his eyes red from all the crying as no more tears came out of them. The whole bunch of villagers were crying, sobbing and couldn't believe what had happened.
I wasn't crying, I had already cried my share and the pain inside my heart just kept on increasing. I didn't want to cry more and be forced to log out. I held back my tears, my eyes as hollow as they could be.
"S-Shura… h-how could such a thing happen…? You promised you'll protect her….my daughter… What did she ever do to deserve this…? Just what….?"
Kai came to me as he looked at me horrifyingly. His eyes looked at me as his trembling hands touched my shoulder.
"I-I am… sor…khufk."
I tried to apologise but as soon as I opened my mouth, that lump in my throat made me unable to speak again.
Kai immediately hugged me and started crying again. Sniffing continuously as he kept on crying without saying anything. His giant hands gripped my face, my horns sticking to his cheeks. I didn't hug him back or say any words of consolation, I just stood where I was without saying anything.
After a while, Kai released me and apologised to me.
"I-I am sorry. I am really sorry… I just… You weren't obliged to save my daughter, yet you still tried. You gave your all, you gave hope to the whole village…. And her… I am really sorry for saying what I said."
He looked at my pained expression and probably guessed that I wasn't any less saddened than him.
"But… What happened to you…? Weren't you a human…? What exactly happened back there?"
Kai asked. He didn't even know what had happened and how his daughter died.
"I… when we reached the waterfall…."
I slowly started explaining to Kai. As much as I was hurt, Jeze was Kai's daughter and he deserved to know the truth.
"So I killed Grivantula… but it was already too late…"
"You did your best. I am sure Jezebeth would be so proud of you. Her sacrifice has saved the whole village."
Kai consoled me as he held my shoulders.
"Not so fast. What makes you think there won't be another Grivantula just because you killed one."
A chilling voice entered my ears as I instinctively looked back. A beautiful woman with dark skin, dark silver hair, silver eyes, big pointy ears, and a vine-patterned golden crown on her head was sitting on a huge lion-like creature as she looked down at everyone with deadpan eyes.
"Summoner General Felice!!"
An ogre shouted and the others immediately went on their knees as they put their head on the ground, not daring to look up. Even Kai was prostrating.
"Look at you. I still don't understand how you turned the way you are right now, after all, I had clearly seen a human scum when you came here. Anyways, don't get carried away after killing a mere pet, we can just get another one placed around you know?"
Felice said in an intimidating voice, looking at my eyes as if wanting me to prostrate too.
[Felice Scar Lazovic]
[Level 189]
[122,000/122,000]
"What did you just say?"
A chilling voice escaped my mouth. Whoever this person was, they had decided the worst time to make their entrance and try to play the villain.
Felice flinched hearing my voice and immediately hid her surprise behind a cruel smile.
"I just said that we don't lack pets, we can just leave another one here to keep these lowlives in check."
"Don't even dare to think about it, unless you feel like you have lived enough."
I said calmly. I didn't want to create a scene at the place where Jeze was resting.
"You are funny. But only until I entertain you. The Grivantula is one of our weakest pets you know? Go and finish this guy."
Felice commanded her lion-like creature to go and attack me as she jumped off of its back. It had a lion's face but black-coloured, with two huge horns sprouting out of its body. It was as big as an elephant, and its eyes looked like they were made out of lava.
GRRRRRHHHH!
The lion roared loudly and I checked his level.
[Abyss Gortia]
[Mini boss, Level 170]
[899,765/899,765]
I took out Eclipse and started channelling my mana inside it. An artificial blue layer started seeping out of it and formed the shape of a longsword.
[You have learnt 'Mana Sword' through mana manipulation.]
[Mana Sword
Type: Active Skill
Cooldown: None
Cost: Depending on the size and structure of the sword.
You can form a blade out of mana. You can enhance an already existing weapon for a great deal of additional damage to the opponent.]
I formed a replica of Eclipse on my other hand and used 'Mana Sword' on it too. In the next movement, I used [Camouflage] and slid down the beast's neck.
I jumped a bit and rolled a bit in the air, gaining momentum as I slashed Eclipse straight at its neck, followed by another hit from the Eclipse sword in my other hand, as I fell to the ground on my legs.
Thud!
Just like that, a mini boss's head fell to the ground like a watermelon.
[Camouflage has been cancelled.]
[You've hit a weak spot, damage dealt is dramatically increased.]
[You got lucky, additional 150% damage is added from Camouflage skill.]
[Dual wielding is activated, and half of the damage will be replicated from the original weapon.]
[You've achieved a critical hit, damage dealt is dramatically increased.]
[The target has frozen for 0.5 seconds]
[You've dealt 1,262,968 damage to Gortia.]
[You have defeated the mini-boss, Gortia.]
[Rewards for defeating the mini-boss:
1) 800,000 gold coins.
2) Unknown Egg.]
[2,752,231,960 experience points have been acquired.]
"What…?!!"
Felice cried out in alarm as she looked at the head of her favourite mount rolling on the ground.
She backed off a bit as she looked at me with flickering eyes. After all, her mount that she was proud of had died in one hit. She herself wasn't much stronger than her mount.
"Go back and tell all your generals to beware. I don't give a fuck about what you do, but don't even think about laying your eyes on Rewan village, otherwise, I would ruin your whole Empire sooner or later."
Chills ran down Felice's spine as she didn't think of me as someone that could be this threatening.
"C-calm down. I was just saying earlier. I had been sent by his majesty, the emperor, to come and invite you to the palace."
Felice's attitude took a 180-degree turn as soon as her little mount died. She was most probably trying to test my patience and skills with the earlier provocation, but she chose the worst of times.
"I don't have any business with your emperor or the empire. Retreat now or your head would be rolling beside your little 'pet'."
I said bluntly as Felice immediately gathered her wits and ran away.
"W-what just happened?"
Kai asked with uncertainty. He couldn't believe what he had just seen.
"Nothing, you guys should go and get some rest. I have to… deal with a few personal things."
I replied to him and told everyone to go back first. Everyone went back except Kai. After a while, he muttered 'take care' as he went back to the village. On his way, he would keep looking back at Jeze's grave, but after the fifth time, he resolved his heart and ran away.
'Hang on, old man, your daughter wouldn't like to see you all sad.'
I said as I started to think about all the positive things that happened between me and Jeze, as I didn't want this incident to turn into a trauma too.
~ "At least someone's trying to grow." ~
I felt like I just heard Jeze's voice but I just shook my head at that.
***
Kibea Corporation Head Office
Terry Corbyn looked at the various translucent screens in front of him, all of which were currently occupied with the clips of one player.
"Interesting…"
He rubbed his chin as he saw through the videos.
"What interesting? The whole game's balance is going to break because of one person. He has already discovered the concept of no cooldown."
Jacob commented sarcastically. He didn't know how someone could get as lucky as this Shura guy. The powerups and encounters that he had till now were world-changing.
"Which balance are you talking about? We never promised a fair game for everyone. But don't worry, it won't be so unrealistically fair for just one guy either."
Terry said as he changed the screen in front of him, and a player's video started playing. The player was currently fighting in a hidden zone, which was considerably smaller in size and rewards when compared to a hidden dimension.
"Isn't that… Abel? Where is he right now? Is that a hidden zone?"
Jacob asked, clearly confused.
"He has entered the den of Crocatize. If he defeats the monster, he might end up becoming the first 'ruler' instead of Shura."
"Den of Crocatize…. The events really did rush up, huh? He is very close to Abyss now."
Jacob commented on Terry's reply. The game's plot, which should have come three to four years later at least, was fast-forwarded due to some extremely talented or lucky people.
"Yes he is, there are even more players like him. This game is played by billions of people, so it's not a surprise that there are people like them, who could potentially become the kings and queens of this game."
Terry commented as he restarted playing Shura's videos.
"Now look at this guy. He is the epitome of how a player should treat an NPC."
The whole world and game idea was created by Terry, so he obviously wanted players to treat NPCs more like real people than just coded programs.
"Wait, chairman… Are you crying?"
Jacob asked, trying to search for his eyes. He had gotten so happy about his game's characters being recognised and people actually treating them like humans instead of NPCs. After seeing all this, he couldn't hold back his tears.
"No…? What are you talking about? Just some dust entered my eyes."
"This place has dust protection though….."
"....."
...
//DreamNote//
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