Chapter 5 : Make your choice.
A group of men showed up from behind a tree, they were four, wearing different sort of weapons. The voice originated from the one who leaded them, a bulky man with a shaved head. His eyes were glowing with greed as he looked at the treasure chest, not giving any attention to Sig'.
The young man kept his knife unsheathed and stood between them and his treasure chest. For the first time until their arrival, the group of men seems to notice him.
"Scram kid, this treasure chest is ours, we saw him first" The baldy said, but Sig' didn't move.
"I killed the bear alone, so it is mine", he said with a calm tone. He was used to this type of people, the sort of guys who show up only when the battle is already over.
In jail, they were called "vultures", and there were plenty of them.
"Boss, we are four and he's alone, let's not waste our time and just kill him", one of them suggested.
The boss raised his hand to shut him up and displayed a victorious smile.
"Tell me kid, haven't heard about the Black Beard Company ?" He asked, and Sig' understood that he waited for a "yes".
And surely a respectful fear.
"Nop, and honestly I don't care. You have the choice, either your scram, and you keep your life, or you stay, and I don't mind killing you all".
The baldy blushed from shame and his comrades started to writhe. This overconfident brat made them feel unease.
Sig' looked calmly at them, the leader wielded a two-handed axe, it was a powerful but slow weapon. The three others held a bow, a dagger like him, and a staff, so it was either a believer, either a wizard.
"I'm gonna carve our name in your head with my axe, little piece of shit" the leader rumbled, and Sig' knew their answer.
Fine, let's play then.
Without waiting anymore Sig' waded in, starting with the Baldy. He slashed at him, aiming for his head. The knife cut his cheek and the baldy let a miserable scream out, but Sig' was ruthless, he dealt one strike after another and used his vicious strike.
Normal blow!
-9!
-8!
-10!
Vicious Strike!
-15!
In just a few seconds his opponents had already lost half of his HP and was unable to strike back because of the sudden pain while his comrades were still in shock.
"Heeeeeelp me" The leader screamed, frightened.
But by the time they took to react he collapsed before them, his HP bar completely depleted. His body shone with a bright light before disappearing.
They immediately looked at the young man with their eyes full of terror, he was like a demon, standing there with his bloody knife, gazing at them before slowly walking in their direction.
The wizard was the first to react, he began to chant a spell, but he made a mistake, and when he tried again, it was already too late.
Sig' thrusted his weapon in his belly, catching him off guard, the poor man took a few steps back while crying from the pain, but the young man wasn't moved, he kept slashing until his second victim felt before him.
Sig' couldn't help but smirk, he was level 1, with only one spell, if they had band together, they could have easily kill him. It wasn't the real life, Sig' had never fight against a hunter, or a wizard, he would have been done for sure.
But the hunter was actually busy shivering from head to toes, he finally chose to flee, imitated by his last comrades, as the corpse of the wizard ended shining.
Sig' sighed, it was finally over. He turned toward the treasure chest and opened it.
There was a few items inside, a book, a piece of fur, and some coins.
It was the first time since the beginning of the game that he get money, he looked at his bag and saw the information message:
[You have 95 copper coins (when you reach 100, your copper coin is automatically transformed into 1 silver coin).]
Smiling, he then looked at the fur.
[Silver bear fur, quality: unusual, material]
Sig' frowned, he would look for information about those material soon.
And finally, the book, it was a spell book, with a cross carved on the cover.
[Basic heal, spell book, class required: Believer. No level requirement.]
Sig' was dumbfounded, it wasn't even for him! After all he has done for this treasure chest, the only reward was for Morgana!
The young man sighed, dispirited, he decided to contact the young lady to know her thoughts.
"Morgana" he called, "I laid hands on a spell book for you, a spell named Basic heal, is it useful?"
He just heard Morgana giggled before answering.
"Sig', your luck is truly extraordinary, you…."
She was interrupted by a system announcement.
[System announcement: The player Black Beard declare war on the player Siegfried, more information on the forum. End of the system announcement]
Sig' frowned, what was that?
"Tell me my lovely Siggy', what have you done?" Morgana asked playfully.
"I found a treasure chest in the forest, and a group of players tried to rob it from me. They said that they were from the Black Beard Company, so I killed them", the young man explained.
Morgana didn't answer, she seemed to take her time thinking. After a minute the young man began to feel unease.
"Morgana, have I done a mistake?"
"Sorry I was looking at the forum, they made a post, saying that you have ambushed and stolen them. They put a bounty on your head and have told everyone that whoever tried to protect you will be hunted down with you" Morgana said.
Sig' frowned, he didn't thought earlier that it would end like this.
"What should I do Morgana?"
"You have two options, either you fight, or you surrender, it's pretty simple"
"It's unfair!" Sig' exclaimed, angry "They were the ones who did all of this, not me!"
"Sig', in the past, when you were wronged and someone tried to hurt you, how did you solve the problem?" Morgana calmly asked.
The young man clenched his fists.
"I founded them, and hit them until they begged for mercy".
The young lady smiled.
"Then listen carefully Sig'." She said with an enticing tone. "I want you to fight against the Black Bear Company, I want them to fear your name and endlessly regretting what they have done today, make all of them pay!"
Sig' nodded, look like morgana knew exactly how to speak to him.
"You are the brain of the team, tell me how to proceed."
"Before that let me give you some information. The Black Beard Company is a guild created by the player Black Beard – yes, a big megalomaniac – with a few hundred players. They come from others VR games and are quite popular among the community. To give you a better understanding, actually to create a guild you need ten players and 30 silver coins, but each player only has 10 copper coins when he begins, so it means that their guild has actually at least 300 players" She explained.
Sig' took his time to assimilate everything, it seems that he encountered a powerful opponent.
"Plus, with the bounty a lot of unknown players are going to hunt you, that's why you need to send a striking message: don't mess with me. You have to slaughter each people who tries to take you down Sig', show no mercy."
"Any advice?"
"Use the forest to make a guerilla warfare, play hide and seek, don't let them surround you, drive them to powerful monsters for example." Morgana advised.
Sig' was impressed by her knowledge, it didn't seem to be the first time she was in this sort of situation.
He thanked her and decided to sink more deeply in the forest. The young man was too weak for the moment and players could come anytime now.
Sig' started to run. The hunt had just begin, but who will be the hunter, and who will be the hunted?