Luden's Dash (1)

"Now let's see which one of you had that dagger!" the NPC said as it was about to inspect the loot of the fallen players.

Upon an ordinary death in the frontier, one would lose a level, an item, and half the coins in one's pouch. So PK'ing was a valid method of farming loot. The only downside was that it'd push your Karma value into the negatives, and it was possible that good-aligned establishments would turn you away.

Karma value was something that affected NPCs as well, so it was easy to deduce that this NPC's Karma was also negative. Of course, since it was hiding its name, it was impossible to be 100% certain.

*But a Tier 1 NPC this far out on the edge?*

The "edge" of the continent, or the starter locations, were normally peaceful and full of neutral to neutral-good players and NPCs. And Tier 1 NPCs were usually Village Elders at the very least. So it was a bit strange that there was an evil-aligned NPC just sitting in an auction house of a starter hamlet.

*Unless... Meh, whatever.*

Jisha wasn't about to pry into this nonsense. Though she had an idea of what was going on, it was unlikely that interfering with this situation would yield her any benefit.

*I'll just take what I can right now! Night Walk!*

For the first time in her life, Jisha activated a legendary NPC's item's active ability. Her Presence was decreased by 99%, and though she didn't feel any different, she was undetectable to everyone at this low level.

Jisha dashed towards the loot and Coins that were lying on the ground.

*Come on!*

The NPC had already picked up one of the items. But as soon as it was done inspecting it...

"What on ~~Earth~~-!"

From its point of view, the items and Coins on the ground began to vanish!

"No! What is happening??"

*Hahaha! Mine, mine, and... mine!*

Jisha quickly assessed the value of the items of the dead Shock Collar members and switched out some items in her inventory, taking only the most valuable ones with her. She didn't have enough inventory space to take everything.

*Annoying. Gonna have to buy an inventory upgrade at Inkling.*

But fortunately, Coin pouches didn't have limited space. All the Coins on the ground were hers for the taking.

*Payday!*

After sufficiently stuffing herself on goodies, she dashed away from the NPC as quickly as she could. It could only stare at the ground in shock after what just happened.

*>Night Walk (Toggle: No cooldown): Presence -99% for up to 10 minutes. Time remaining: 9:47.80. Cooldown: 1 week.*

*Not a bad outcome.*

She had barely used any of her limited Night Walk time and had gained a decent harvest.

Though the total value she had gained wasn't close to what she already had, it was worth using Night Walk for it.

*Now, let's find where this man has escaped to.*

---

After a short death timer, 13 players appeared at Covan's respawn point.

"Sh*t, what was that thing?"

"Hell if I know... at least Luden's escaped."

"Yeah... Wonder how much he'll pay us?"

Every member of Shock Collar had died in the wild; 6 to the anonymous Slingshotter, and 13 to the mysterious NPC. After this ridiculous death, some of them were considering calling it a night and playing again tomorrow. The level they'd spent almost an hour to get was reverted just like that. However, they were bound by a strict contract. They had to play a certain amount of hours every night otherwise they'd have no chance of getting paid...

As Shock Collar agonized over this black-hearted boss they were under, they received a message from him.

*>Lujen: All of you idiots died? What are you doing?*

*>Axis Jack: Yes, we died. Fortunately, the Slingshotter didn't attack us any further after we decided to confront the NPC. However, the NPC was extremely powerful. Some of our attacks didn't even deal a single point of damage. On top of that, its attacks were devastating and team-wiped us instantly.*

*>Lujen: ... Are you serious?*

*Axis Jack: Yes. None of us have every seen anything like it.*

*>Lujen: Hmm...*

...

There was a bit of a radio silence after this message from Luden.

The members of Shock Collar were tense. Would their unreasonable boss understand their plight? But after a few more agonizing seconds, Luden responded...

*>Lujen: Well, if what you say is true, it can't be helped. Just tell me you managed to get the Slingshotter off my tail?*

... rather reasonably?

The members of Shock Collar looked at each other nervously. Was this their boss?

"Maybe he's finally gained a bit of game sense?"

"I think so. After seeing that Slingshotter's performance, I think he's changed a bit."

They weren't complaining about this positive change! But three players were a bit more nervous than the rest when the Slingshotter was mentioned...

"You three. Did you keep an eye on her? Why'd you join us in the attack on the NPC?" Axis Jack asked.

"Uh..."

"From the looks of it, she wasn't hostile during the fight. She was simply observing us."

"Yea yea that's it! She was like looking at us from behind a tree and stuff, pretty weird huh?"

"Hm..." Axis Jack contemplated what to report to Luden.

*>Axis Jack: During our fight with the NPC, she refrained from hostile actions. On top of that, she observed the entirety of our fight. It's unlikely she can catch up with you, but to be on the safe side, make sure you sprint full speed towards Inkling Village for protection.*

*>Lujen: You better not be wrong.*

"..."

Axis Jack was a bit nervous when he saw this message. But there was no chance Luden, who had over a minute's head start, would get caught, right?

"Let's hope we're not wrong..."

After all, Shock Collar wanted to get paid tomorrow.

---

*Lujen, Lujen, where are you? You'll be giving me the dagger and some Coins, too!*

Jisha was running full sprint through the sparse forest. And since Stamina didn't exist yet, she could keep 100% of her speed with no interference.

*Sprinting as fast as possible without getting tired was one of the most exhilarating things ever!*

Jisha made sure to regularly check her map to confirm her trajectory. She assumed he was headed towards the nearest Village, and that was where she was headed too. So naturally, keeping an eye on the map and maintaining heading was paramount.

As she sprinted, Jisha encountered various mobs. However, she was too fast for them, and killing these low-level mobs wouldn't yield her any benefits. The cute low-level mobs could only watch as a speedy player wearing a cloak whizzed by them.

After several minutes of sprinting, the terrain began to slightly change. The forest was still sparse and trees were still quite spread out, however, the ground began to become slightly bumpier. Small rolling hills, rocks, loose sediment, and various other subtle changes were introduced to impede one's movement. However, these trivial obstacles were nothing to the Goddess. Jisha's sprint was completely unimpeded by these changes; she continued dashing towards her target.