First Weapon Strike

Tiara looked down at her feet, but then suddenly lurched backward and screamed. She turned her head around to see the Grade 2 Dramon's gigantic face gleaming down at her with his big sharp teeth. The smell was so foul that Tiara feared she would vomit right on its face. And that would only enrage it even more.

"Stay still!" The other man yelled, pulling out a huge double-bitted axe and holding it out in front of him.

"But I want to kill it!" She squealed. The Dramon shook his head violently and ran forward, holding Tiara in its hand. The other Player ran backward, gritting his teeth. "You can't do that without a weapon!"

"Then kill it for me!" She couldn't believe she was saying this, but he was right. She was nothing. She had no weapon, no skill, and an empty inventory. But to get those, she might just need to do this. "And then hand me the Core!" The grip around her waist tightened and she whimpered. They both definitely heard bones break, and it was not the Dramon's. Heck, the Dramon probably didn't even have bones to break.

The other player considered this. The Core of a Grade 2 Dramon was extremely valuable. From his experiences, he knew that one could either exchange it in The Market for tons of gold or use the Core to extract some powerful skills. But… What if this girl was actually the Carpel? Then the Core would mean nothing to him as to getting hold of the Carpel.

But what if she was lying? He can't lose this. But then his eyes landed on the thick armor of the Dramon, its glistening teeth that looked like it could cut a planet into half. And its glowering eyes that definitely contained some magic in them. The drops after killing this Grade 2 Dramon… might just be equal to the Core's value, he calculated in his head. Or maybe even more.

"Fine! I'll kill it for you, but the drops go to me!" He negotiated.

Tiara nodded. "Yes, okay!" She readily agreed, not knowing what she was doing. The other player set his jaw and ran forward at the Dramon, his axe swinging with momentum. The Dramon dodged the strike easily and screamed, before throwing Tiara on the ground and grabbing for the man. He ran around the Dramon and tried to strike at his lower back. It barely made a graze.

Tiara groaned as she got up from the fall and sat up to see the Dramon and the Player engaged in a vigorous fight of steel and claws. She felt worry bubble up inside her. The Player didn't look like he was going to win. "Should I sit here and just wait for him to kill the Dramon…" she wondered, "Or should I go help?" She buried her face in her hands. "Only if you were here, ButtBoi. You're crazy powerful for a person who can only last 15 minutes in this game." She gasped to herself and looked up at the Player thrown to the ground. He got up again and tried to fight. Tiara felt the worry just shoot up to exuberant levels now.

'If he came alone… doesn't that mean he also has a time limit?! I wonder how long it is. Gosh… if he disappears, the Dramon is going to come for me!' She stood up suddenly, survival instincts kicking in.

"Hand me one of your weapons! I'll help!" she shouted at him, over the noise of the Dramon growling. It looked like he didn't hear her as he just kept on running back and striking, then running back a bit, then striking again. Tiara was about to call out again, before the man took out something from his inventory and threw it at Tiara with his free hand.

Tiara ran forward to catch it, holding her breath. Her fingers touched the sword, but it slipped and fell on her feet. Seemed like her eye-hand coordination decided to be absent for today.

"Rghh…" she bent down and picked the sword up. This one was much heavier than the one Percy had. It felt like the sword was disagreeing with her co-ordination too.

The moment she got some kind of grip on it, a screen opened in front of her eyes.

[Would you like to know more about this weapon?]

[ Yes Skip ]

After the system finished speaking the words out loud inside her head, she chose 'Yes' and the system continued with its talking. "You have temporarily acquired the Joyeuse Sword owned by Player Karmet. The sword delivers minus 2 HP damage to the opponent. However, if swung with intent, the light emitted from the sword can blind an opponent. The holder of the sword also acquires temporary resistance to poisons."

Tiara raised her eyebrows, as if impressed. "Pretty much average in combat, but beautifully compensated by these cool powers!" She giggled and swung the sword lightly.

"What are you waiting for, you idiot!" Karmet screamed. A trail of blood dripped down from his hair. "Use it!"

Tiara jumped at his yelling and then steeled herself. 'It's okay, I've done this before. I can do this.'

She remembered how the other man, Karmet, ran forward screaming. She decided to do it exactly how he had done it. She screamed and ran forward, holding the sword down on her right side with both hands tightly curled around it. The Dramon barely noticed her, but when it did, she was already swinging the blade.

Swing with Intent, the system's word echoed in her head. Swing with Intent.

"Light!" she yelled and the steel collided with the Dramon's torso, the air around them exploding in a vision of brilliant light as if the sun itself had crashed down upon them. Tiara closed her eyes and looked away, so had Karmet.

Once the light dimmed and the two Players opened their eyes painfully, their ears flooded with terrible screams from the creature. This one was not a scream of battle, but one of sorrow. It tore at its eyes and flung its arms all around him. Karmet ducked and stabbed him in the abdomen. Finally! He made a scar. But that wasn't enough to defeat a Grade 2.

The Dramon pounded his fist on the floor and the ground shook. It might be blind, but its senses were still sharp. The mini-earthquake made Karmet and Tiara lose balance slightly.

Tiara rubbed her eyes. "Gee, you weren't kidding when you said it's better to run than fight it."

"Well there's no use lamenting now, strike again!" Karmet ordered and Tiara nodded curtly. She ran back and did the exact thing she did before and striked with an even more powerful Intent than before. She saw this Dramon in front of her. She saw it howling and making a scene.

And she wanted it gone.

"Explode!" She yelled and the moment it touched the opponent, the sword burst into light again. With every light explosion she delivered, the weaker the Dramon seemed to be getting. It left most of its defenses open and Karmet was able to understand the Dramon's movements easily now, as its options were now limited.

The double-bitted axe gloriously tore through the Dramon's skin at its lower back, the weak spot where Karmet had tried hitting before. He didn't stick the axe too deep inside, so as to not destroy the Core. But it was enough for the Dramon's legs to give in from the fatigue and injuries and collapse onto the floor. Then Karmet exchanged the axe with a handy dagger and tore the belly open before taking out the Core.

The Joyeuse sword dropped from Tiara's hands and hit the soil softly as her face tilted up to gaze at the huge Core. Her eyes shone with wonder, "It's huuuuge. And so shiny." She could almost feel her mouth water. And this time, it wasn't for candies or toys.

[HP: Health Point.

Maximum Health Points a Player has at Level 2 is 100. HP can decrease if either of the two things happen: Think about the real world, receive any sort of physical damage. The stronger the physical damage, the more the loss of HP.

HP refills automatically with rest and refill can be accelerated with the help of food, specialised potions etc.

Maximum HP differs for most Levels.]