Lone And Targeted

More than twelve years have passed since the beginning of the death game, and the frontline was at 667th Stage meaning about 67% of the game had been cleared. The clearers mostly tackled the main dungeon of every stage, leaving the smaller sub-dungeons for middle-level players to tackle.

In the Egyptian 538th Stage, a group of full 10 members were clearing one of the pyramidal sub-dungeons of the Stage. The dungeon itself was a typical pyramid with well laid traps, guards and treasures. Koruko was a part of this group of well-experienced fighters, though not enough to fight in the front-lines but were considered elites amongst the mid-levelers.

Their daylong expedition was a fruitful one. Monsters were slain, treasure chests found, and many dor looted from the dungeon. As the time began showing evening, the group was running low on healing potions, so they decided to call it a day and head back to town. The other female in the group, who brandished a long, thin rapier, gave Koruko what seemed to be a competitive admonishment.

"When we get back, we'll split up the items we found. But I don't think you would require any crafting materials since you rarely use anything crafted by a blacksmith." Koruko immediately snapped back, on the defensive. "And you were just wandering around on the back line not doing anything, so you don't have any use for healing crystals, anyway."

The argument only got worse, and the leader's attempts to intervene were sadly futile. Koruko finally reached her breaking point and snapped, "I don't need your stupid items. I'm not working with you anymore. I will find my own way out." And ignoring the leader's pleas for her to stick with the group until they'd at least left the pyramid and returned to town, Koruko stomped off down a different path, steaming in anger.

Having mastered about 70 percent of the Dagger based abilities and bolstered by her extremely agile built, Koruko wasn't particularly troubled with the monsters of the dungeon, even working alone. It shouldn't have been hard for her to dispatch any foes on her way back to town…if she hadn't gotten lost.

The dungeon was a pyramid in the truest sense, only one way going out and inside was a terrible maze with innumerable ways leading to dead ends or traps and Koruko couldn't follow the path to exit. She managed to escape the traps but the repeated dead-ends frustrated her. Even after wandering for more than five hours, she couldn't find the exit and was completely lost. The normal map only showed her current position and the exit but not the way that led to the exit.

Exhausted, she sat on a block of sandstone, materialized a pouch full of nuts and began to eat them cursing the other lady. Suddenly, she straightened up and looked right in front of her, into the darkness of the unlit place. A neutral NPC cursor popped in her vision and she readied her kukri, however she didn't attack it and waited it to come in light.

Out came a small creature with human body, wolf-like head and a pharaoh-like head-gear. The cursor above it had the name, 'Baby Anubis'. The creature floated in the air and didn't attack her, instead went straight for the pouch. She tossed a nut at the creature and he ate it, as if it was his favorite item. A system menu came up in front of her 'Do you want to make this creature your pet?' and she hit YES button.

Again wandering inside the unforgiving dungeon, this time the little monster which now had a friendly NPC cursor was giving her a sweet company. After wandering for about an hour again she finally spotted a safe zone. It was inside a room and had a somewhat detailed map of the dungeon. By that time she had named her pet Ralz and had a look at his power and properties.

He had friendly buff and enemy debuff attack along with the ability to heal small HP and transport through short distances, though it was limited to only pre-visited areas. Koruko had a look at the holo-map of the dungeon and it said that she was on the third level of the pyramid. She must return to ground-level before coming out. "I wish you were able to take me down to the ground level, Ralz." Koruko sighed; Ralz looked at her and then gave a little growl.

The two stayed there hoping for someone, even anyone from her former team-mates to come looking for her. Two days passed since they started waiting and for no use, it was a cleared stage and no one would be around here. Koruko took a snapshot from a recording crystal of the map and tried to remember most of the way to the exit.

The trick worked well as she reached the stairs to the first level within a couple of hours, defeating any weak-monster that came across and transporting from strong ones. However, it seemed that Lady Luck had suddenly turned away from her. After the last transport, she found herself in a room with quite some riches. But as she tried to take them, some cursors appeared in her Search radius and they came rushing to the room. A total seven monsters identified as 'Elite Mummy Guards' ran inside the room armed with 2-H Spears. The cursors showed hostility and one of them charged on Koruko.

Elite Mummy Guards were the toughest monsters of the pyramids after the FM Akhenaten. However, since her build was speed oriented and had a ten level buffer, she should have been able to take them down easily. Despite their toughness, she was easily able to take down three of the guards but the other four attacked her simultaneously.

The Elite Mummy Guards could only use mid-level Spear arts, and while they hit hard, the speed and complexity of their combos were trivial. Koruko struck quickly and precisely, and then leaped aside to dodge the return blows. After several rounds of this hit-and-run tactic, the first guards' HP bar was significantly shorter. At regular intervals, Ralz would breathe out sands that disoriented the foes and caused debuff effects on them.

But just before she was about to finish off the first ape-man with her fourth attack—the combo Crazy Rim—a new enemy instantaneously switched in from her target's right. Koruko was forced to change tactics, and she began work on this second guard. Her original target backed away and then the locket he was wearing begun to shine.

And then, out of the corner of her eye, Koruko was shocked to notice the first Elite Mummy Guard's HP bar refilling rapidly. Apparently, whatever the locket was, it had healing properties. Koruko had fought Elite Mummy Guards once before in the pyramid. There were two of them, and she'd had little trouble. She'd eliminated them before they could try switching out, so she'd never known about this particular ability of theirs. She gritted her teeth and reapplied herself to the second guard, determined to finish this one before it could escape.

But after a fierce rush that sent the monster's HP bar into the red zone, she stepped back in preparation for her finishing blow, and the third guard stepped into the gap. At this point, the first guard was practically back to full health. This wasn't going well. The taste of impatience flooded her mouth.

Koruko actually had very little experience fighting monsters solo. The level-based safety margin was just a numerical buffer, but a player's actual skill was a different matter altogether. Koruko's impatience slowly began to transform into panic. Her attacks missed more and more, opening the door for enemy counters.

When she had beaten the third guard down to half health, Koruko overreached, trying to string too many combos together. The ape did not miss her brief period of paralysis and connected with a critical blow. The spear was a fine tool of gold and silver, its weight and the Elite Mummy Guard's strength stat augmented the damage done, carving away nearly a third of her HP in a single shot. A chill ran down her back.

The fact that she was out of healing potions only made Koruko's panic worse. Ralz could only recover a tenth of Koruko's total HP with his healing effect, and it wasn't an ability Ralz could use often. Even accounting for that healing, another three hits like that would kill her.

Death. Once that specter loomed over her mind, Koruko couldn't help but falter. She couldn't raise her arms. She couldn't move her legs. Until this point, battle had been a thrilling experience, something far removed from any real danger. It had never truly occurred to her that actual death could result from it.

As she helplessly watched the guard tower over her, roaring with its spear brandished high, Koruko finally came to understand battle against the monsters of BWS. The truth behind the paradox: 'You all lived your lives like a game, so now I've decided to let you live this game like your life' the words of Aya Shua on the fateful day echoed over and over.

The spear glowed bright and struck down on her, she shot sideways due to the shock. Her HP bar shot sideways reducing until it plunged into the yellow warning zone stopping only at 40%. The impact initiated a stun effect, which had a countdown of 40 secs. However, the nearest guard didn't miss the opportunity and went for a charging weapon art.

The weapon glowed red, and just as she was about to reflexively close her eyes… A small shadow leaped in front of the spear in midair. There was a heavy, percussive splash. Visual effects and brown sand flew outward, and a tiny HP bar shrank to its left edge.

Ralz took the hit directly in the heart. He raised his head, looking up at Koruko with his round black eyes. He let out a small growl…and exploded into countless fragments. Only the head-gear remained there as a mark of him.

Something within Koruko audibly snapped. The invisible threads that held her captive were gone. Before the sadness, she felt rage. Rage at herself for letting a single blow drive her to panic and paralysis. But more importantly, rage at herself for throwing a fit over a silly fight, and being arrogant enough to think she could escape the pyramid on her own.

Koruko nimbly leaped backward, evaded the monster's next swipe and then tore into the beast with a roar of her own. Her kukri flashed again and again, tearing into the mummy guard.

Upon seeing its fellow taking critical damage, the first Elite Mummy Guard tried to butt in again. Koruko stopped its spear's hilt with her left hand, not bothering to evade. Her HP didn't drop, as the blade didn't hit her. Koruko ignored the guard. She only had eyes for the third, the one who'd killed Ralz.

She used her agility to slip inside the enemy's defense, driving her kukri into the guard's chest with all of her strength. With a splashy effect signaling a critical hit, the enemy's hit points were gone. It screamed, exploded.

As the shards flew around her, Koruko turned and silently charged her new target. Her health gauge was already in the red danger zone, but she wasn't even cognizant of it anymore. Only the enemy she needed to kill filled her narrowing vision. Just as she was engaging in a reckless charge beneath the downward trajectory of a spear, all thoughts of death forgotten—

A horizontal white light lashed out and struck the three guards from behind. Instantly, their bodies were split into upper and lower halves. First one, then the others, burst into flying fragments.

Koruko stood in disbelief and then saw that a single man was standing behind the evaporating pieces. His hair was black and he donned a contrasting white coat over yellow shirt. He wasn't all that tall, but his entire body seemed to emit a predatory intensity. Koruko stumbled backward in instinctive fear. Their eyes met.

But his gaze was gentle, and as deep as the night. He slid his sword into the scabbard over his back with an audible cling and then opened his mouth to speak. "…Sorry I couldn't save your friend…"

At the tremor of his voice, the last strength from Koruko slipped away. The tears flooded out one after the other, unstoppable. The kukri fell out of her hands and she wept over the pharaoh's headgear, the one Ralz wore. The swordsman helped her to calm down and as she did and regained her HP through the healing crystal he gave her; he led her out where another person joined them. The trio only stopped at the nearest safe zone.

Though some monsters did step in the way but they were easily dispatched by the new-comer who was a sword-and-shield user. After reaching the safe-zone, she got the opportunity to thank the two swordsmen for saving her, but… "I'm sorry," the swordsman who saved her said again. Koruko desperately blinked back tears and shook her head. "…No…It's my fault…I was stupid. Thank you…for saving me…"

The other swordsman who was totally silent till now asked "About that headgear…Does it have a designated item name?" Koruko looked at the little piece of headgear that she had been carrying with her and gave a confused look. The other swordsman tapped the headgear and brought out a menu. "Hmm… Yes it does have a name. It is ANUBIS' LIFE."

The shield user thought for a while and then replied, "If it's a life-type item then it is totally possible to revive him. It's not common knowledge, since it was only just recently discovered. On the south end of the 665th Stage, there's an outdoor dungeon called the Mount Memoir. It's actually pretty difficult for a pleasant name like that, though…Anyway, there's a tree that grows on the top of the hill, and it's supposed to resurrect any pet within a week or so."

"R-really?!" Koruko shrieked, a light of hope was shining on her heart once again, which moments ago had been plunged into mourning. "…The 665th Stage…" Her shoulders slumped. That was two stages below frontline, well out of her safe range. "My name is Asrivast and this encyclopedia is Naperjet. Nice meeting you…" The familiar swordsman began the introduction and Koruko realized that she hadn't introduced herself as well. "My name is Koruko. Nice meeting you two. Well you two seem like too much high-leveled for this dungeon, what brings you here?"

The sword and shield user Naperjet began "I work as a bounty hunter and I am here because one of my customers has given me a bounty of Akhenaten, the Field Master of this dungeon. Asri is helping me as I assumed the FM to be too powerful for me." He gave a broad smile and got up on his feet "We are going deep inside the pyramid to find him and later we can devise a strategy about the journey in the 665th Stage. I think you should take this and go towards the exit." He offered a holo-map showing the routes of the dungeon and the exit, while Asri had another one.

"I'll be accompanying you, may be it would help me to pay off your debt." Koruko returned the map to Naperjet and the trio went off to find the FM. After traveling for hours, they managed to find FM inside the main burial chamber of the pyramid. The cursor identified him as 'The Pharaoh: Akhenaten' and he had a large staff as his weapon. The room was filled with Egyptian coffins all around with Akhenaten right in the center of the chamber.

Akhenaten had three full HP bars and had the same locket that the Elite Mummy Guards had. "If we retreat, then he will regain his HP very fast." Naperjet readied his sword and the star-shaped shield, while Asri took out his sword and Koruko her kukri. "Let's go!" and the trio charged upon the pharaoh. Naperjet's shield and defenses were impenetrable for the FM while Asri hammered away the majority of the HP. Koruko and her kukri was quite overwhelming for the guards that were summoned from the surrounding coffins.

Still, one of them would occasionally step in when Koruko was overpowered or if she faltered. The battle overall went smooth and first two HP bars depleted within an hour. As the last HP bar went into the red zone the FM chanted something loudly and it caused the coffins around them to summon guards at an alarming rate.

Soon, the trio were overpowered by the non-stop summoning of guards and had to cease their assault on Akhenaten who took the chance to regenerate his HP. "Damn, at this rate we are doomed." Asri shouted, however now even retreat was impossible as the guards even blocked the entrance causing everyone to panic.

"Watch out!" A shout came and a little later a shield went flying by hitting the guards and landed back in Naperjet's hand. Asri who'd now been fighting till the last strength shouted at him, "Hey Naperjet, take out these guards from me and manage the hate for a sec." He nodded and threw the shield which hit all the guards in close proximity of Asri, causing them to change the target and follow the shield.

Asri quickly called his menu and fiddled with it, "Okay! I am ready. Change out." Koruko heeded and jumped away killing the guard she was engaged with. A second sword along with a scabbard materialized on Asri's back and he reached out to it with his left hand. Hurrying up, he initiated Sunlit Flow a high-level and area effective weapon art under the 'Twin Swords' ability. Vanquishing out nearly four guards in every slash, the twenty-hit combo helped to clear the ground and now they were killing net guards.

Though the skill was so magnificent that it had Koruko watch in amazement for a while, but to Naperjet it hardly had any effect, he was busy killing his part of guards with sword while the shield flew to hit Akhenaten to prevent him from further regaining HP. Asri jumped over from pillar to pillar hitting multiple enemies with the boosted Circular Charge. "We must take out those coffins first or else it would be a pointless massacre." Koruko shouted.

Both nodded but none of the trio could advance so far away. As the cool down for Circular Charge ended, Asri initiated the art aiming for the coffin. He charged through multiple enemies and finally going to hit the coffin, blazing swords angled sharply in midair striking an invisible wall, just before it hit the wooden item. He felt a powerful impact travel up his arm. Purple sparks shot everywhere, and the space between was similarly red—the color of all system messages.

'IMMORTAL OBJECT' was displayed over the system warning. And Asri hardly managed to keep on his feet, "What in the world is…" Naperjet continued, "That thing is in the environment, so it's a system designated immortal object." Now there was an issue, given the fact that the coffins summoned too many guards for the trio it wouldn't be long before their HP runs 0.

Koruko was the lowest in terms of level amongst the three and even though the swordsmen tried to protect her they could not prevent her HP from falling. 'If I use it then Akhenaten would heal himself but…if we continue like this we would be slaughtered.' Naperjet thought unable decide his course of action. 'Don't repeat your mistake. We don't want a second Alice.' A voice echoed in his ears "Whatever happens now, happens." He shouted catching his shield in his hand and throwing it again.

"What are you doing? He will heal himself; he had only 5% HP left." Asri shouted and looked at the spinning shield go towards the coffins. Once again the system message of 'IMMORTAL OBJECT' came up but to everyone's surprise the shield went past message breaking the barrier as well as the coffin, bounced back and landed right in his hands. Both Asri and Koruko regained their composure and took out their parts of guards while Naperjet used the shield to finish off the immortal coffins.

By the time the last coffin was destroyed, the field was empty of the guards, Akhenaten had two full HP bars, Asri and Koruko's HP bars were red and they were taking healing potions. "Now it's just you and me, bandages." He smirked at the FM and charged; his own health being at 25%. The ensuing battle lasted for 30 mins and Naperjet took the final attack defeating the FM with his own HP remaining at 7%.

The trio healed themselves and then came out of the pyramid. Setting her feet under the open sky after full four days, Koruko was at her height of joy and remorse. They took out a transport crystal each and commanded: "Transport Friedan". They were engulfed by a white light and disappeared, re-appearing at the main square of Friedan; the main city of 538th Stage.

They move towards an inn of Koruko's choice when Koruko asked them "By the way where do you stay?" The swordsmen who were hardly escaping the glares the passersby, uncomfortable with the attention they attracted; were surprised and answered "I live in 65th Stage." "I live in 230th Stage. It would be quite a journey to go back so guess we'll stay here in any inn."

"I stay in inns only so why don't we stay there. That's the best inn in this stage." Koruko pointed out towards an inn on their right. The duo looked at each other and nodded. But just as she was pulling the duo into the inn, a group of eight or nine people emerged from the armory next door. It was the party she'd been working with for the previous two weeks. The men in front headed toward the square, oblivious, but the woman in the back just happened to turn around, and Koruko looked straight into her eyes out of reflex.

It was the very last person she wanted to see: the fencer she'd squabbled with, leading to her breakup with the party in the pyramid. She hid her face and tried to sneak into the inn without comment. "Oh, is that Koruko?" She had no choice but to stop now. "…Hello again."

"Well well, you made it out of the pyramid. How fortunate of you." The woman with flashy red curls of hair, whose name was something like Rosalina, chuckled with a sneer. "No use crawling back to us now, though. We already divided up the items."

"I told you I didn't want any! Excuse me, I'm busy." She tried to cut the conversation off short, but the woman wouldn't let her go. "Why don't you tell me how you got out of the pyramid? Oh, did these weaklings help you?" Koruko was fuming in rage "Yeah! That's none of your business." Rosalina sighed and turned away, about to leave. She walked a few steps and turned to call her.

Koruko who had almost entered the inn spun around irritated but her expression changed on what she heard. "Your cursor has a special mark. You made a pet didn't you? So introduce it to me." Koruko bit her lip. A pet couldn't be placed in item storage or kept elsewhere. If she didn't see Koruko's friend around, there was only one explanation. Rosalina knew that, of course, but she played dumb, a smile sneaking across her lips. "Uh-oh, does that mean what I think it does…?"

"He died…but—!" Koruko glared at the fencer. "I'm going to bring Ralz back to life!" Rosalina's smug eyes widened slightly. She gave a soft whistle. "Oh, so you're going to visit the Mount Memoir. Can you actually handle it at your level?" "She can," Asri cut in. He stepped forward, with Naperjet behind him. "It's not that hard of a place."

Rosalina gave the duo an appraising look, and her red lips twisted into another sneer. "Oh, did she lure you into working with her, too? You don't look all that tough." "Let's go." Naperjet put a hand on her shoulder and guided her into the inn. "Good luck, I guess." Rosalina chuckled after them, but they didn't turn around.

The trio booked adjacent rooms and came down to the restaurant for dinner. The waiter came with two steaming mugs. They were filled with a curiously scented clear liquid. Naperjet gave a toast to the formation of their new party, and Koruko took a sip of the hot beverage. "…Tasty…" The spiced scent and sweetly sour flavor reminded her of the hot wine her father had let her taste ages ago. "What is this?"

Naperjet gave her a wry smile. "NPC restaurants let you bring in your own bottles. This is an item of mine called Diamond Mauve. A cup of it will raise your agility, strength and vitality stats by one." "B-but that must be so valuable…" Koruko worried. "Hey, keeping liquor stuffed in your inventory doesn't make it taste better with age. Besides, I got about three bottles of these in my last bounty."

He shrugged theatrically. Koruko giggled and took another sip. The strangely familiar flavor seemed to loosen her heart, shrunken and hard after a day of much sadness. Even after the cup was empty, she kept it clutched to her chest, trying to savor its warmth. She looked down at the table and muttered, "Asrivast! What was the thing you used back there?"

Asri who was hardly expecting a question about that; was totally unprepared and after a menacing stare from the duo, he broke up "I guess my greatest secret was out before time. It was a special ability called 'The Twin Swords' it happened to pop-up in my available abilities about six years ago." "That was so coo…" The swordsmen put their hands in front of her mouth to prevent her from gathering attention.

Naperjet wondered for a while, "Hmm… The Twin Swords; that's a GM level skill. Well I guess you are going to be quite famous Asri." He grinned and before Asri could find a meaning to his words, he tossed a cork towards an empty looking wall. The cork hit something about a foot away from the wall and a shriek came out, along with it came out a girl who had been using Hiding ability to hide and eavesdrop on them.

It was Chi the Cat; the oldest and most trusted information broker of Arcadian who had a single motto 'Any information can be bought or sold, if the cost is paid'. "Hey! Not fair, how do you catch me despite my mastery in hiding." The Cat moaned and the swordsmen sighed. "I see why she is called 'The Cat'. No doubt most of her information must be collected like this. Anyways, what brings you here?"

"Well I was not after you, but him. He has something that I need desperately but keeps ditching me, so I had to resort to eavesdropping to get that thing out." Chi gazed at Naperjet but turned towards Asri, "But your info seems to be quite fascinating. You got yourself a GM level skill; you want to share it now?" Naperjet smirked at Asri, "I think you should or else she would publish hyped up news in the newspaper."

"No, thanks but I'm really not interested now. Moreover she already has more than enough info to make a fortune out of it." Asri sighed; The Cat gave them a sour look and went away. Asri turned to Naperjet, "Now you tell me, how you destroyed those coffins back there. They were designated system level 'IMMORTAL OBJECT'."

"Since you gave up your info, I will share mine. It wasn't any ability, my shield has a bonus that whenever it leaves my hand, it is designated as an immortal object and so it can do damage to other immortal objects except for walls." He took a toothpick from the table, "I don't know what these are supposed to do. Our teeth don't get dirty here." He lifted it to his shoulder and initiated a throwing knives weapon art, Slingshot.

Again, while going towards the wall it hit someone hiding. It was The Cat again, "You better tell me how you find me or else…" she threatened Naperjet with her knuckle like weapon. He sighed off and said, "I have mastered both Meditation and Searching abilities. So I used the Meditation to boost the Searching ability."

Koruko was totally impressed by the skills the swordsmen shared and the fact that they had mastered a lot of skills. Chi left at last and once they'd finished all their meals, they all departed for their rooms. Koruko flung herself on the bed of her room; she was missing the comfy of beds for four full days. She unequipped her gear, weapons and armor and switched to her nightwear. She thought she'd sink right to sleep, given her fatigue, but for some reason, that relief did not come.

After endless rolling back and forth, Koruko finally gave up and rose to a sitting position. She looked at the wall on the left that separated her room from Asri's. 'I want to talk to him some more.' She was slightly alarmed at the realization. She'd only known him for about a day, and he was a boy.

She'd always been careful not to get too close to them, so what made this enigmatic swordsman any different? Koruko couldn't explain how her own mind worked.

She glanced at the menu to see that it was nearly ten o'clock now. The footsteps of players passing through the street below her window had died out, and the only sound from outside were the distant howling of a dog. 'That would be silly. I should just go to sleep.' But contrary to her thought process, Koruko silently slipped out of her bed. 'I'll just knock real quietly', she told herself.

A few steps into the candle-lit hallway, she hesitated before his door. Many moments later, Koruko finally raised her right hand and gave two hesitant knocks. By default, all doors in the game are completely soundproof and do not let voices in or out. The only exception is within thirty seconds of a knock, and Asri's response came almost immediately. The door opened.

Asri had taken off his equipment and was wearing a simple shirt. His eyes grew wide when he saw her. "Is something wrong?" "Um…" Koruko panicked, just now realizing that she had no good excuse for coming over. "Um, well, uhh…you see…I w-wanted to ask about the 665th Stage!"

Fortunately, he accepted her reason without further question. "Oh, sure. Come in, then." and opened the door wide to let her in. His room was exactly the same as hers: The bed was on the right, and a single tea table and chair were on the other side of it. Seated on the chair was Naperjet, "What are you doing here?" Koruko snapped up and began blushing.

"Ah, good thing you're here. We were discussing about Mt. Memoir and how to get you there without getting you killed." Naperjet had an eccentric smile on his face. There were no other fixtures in the room. The lantern built into the left-hand wall was giving off an orange light. The trio sat down on the table and Asri pulled out a holo-map projector and set it to 665th Stage.

Since Koruko never went that close to the frontlines, she had no idea how it was. The projector filled the room with a blue light and showed the Stage in detail finer than usual. Naperjet looked at Koruko who was amazed at the details "It's not any special projector. Since the surrounding light is dim and we are opening it in the safety of town, we are able to see the map in finer details. Anyways, getting back to topic – This is the main town and here is Mount Memoir, we can take two routes for travel. This one and this one."

He pointed towards two routes. "This one goes through the Misty Forest, and the other one is more direct. Usually it would have been better to take the direct one, but since you are under-leveled we should take…" He stopped abruptly "Shh…" Naperjet had a finger to his lips, his face stern. He cast a sharp glance at the door. Like a bolt of lightning, he burst off the chair and to the door, wrenching it open. "Who's there?!"

Koruko heard thumping footsteps racing away. She hurried to the doorway, sticking her face around the frame beneath Naperjet's body, and saw a figure just before it rushed down the staircase at the far end of the hall. "Wh-what…?" Koruko couldn't make the ends meet Asri helped her "I think we were overheard…"

"B-but…I thought you couldn't hear voices through doors…" Asri sighed "If your Eavesdropping ability is good enough, you can. But few people bother to level it up that high…" Naperjet walked back inside and closed the door. He sat down on the bed, lost in thought. Koruko seated herself next to Asri, her arms wrapped around her body. She was plagued by looming unease. "But why would someone eavesdrop on—"

"I think we'll find out soon enough. Hang on; I'm going to write a message." Naperjet gave her a dry grin, put away the map and then opened a message window. His fingers flew over the holo-keyboard. Koruko curled into a ball on the bed behind him.

Her fear was gone now. As she gazed at the side of Asri's face, Koruko was wrapped in long-forgotten warmth and was asleep before she knew it.

Koruko slowly opened her eyes at the sound of the ringing chime in her ears. The morning alarm was only audible to her. It was seven o'clock.

She pushed the covers off and sat up. Koruko was not a morning person, but she was in a surprisingly good mood today. Her mind felt cleansed and clear in the way that only a good, deep sleep could provide. Yawning widely, she turned to step out of the bed and then stopped with a jolt.

The morning light streaming through the window illuminated a sleeping figure, seated on the chair with his head hung down. She was about to scream, thinking it was an intruder, only to remember where she had fallen asleep last night. 'I dozed off in Asri's room and never left…' With that realization, her face grew hot.

She rose from the bed and moved towards him, his sleeping face was so childish that it made her giggle. The usual glare on his face made him look like an elder brotherly figure but now he didn't seem much older than her. She patted him on his shoulder "Good morning Asri." His eyes instantly snapped open, then blinked rapidly for several seconds as he stared at her. His dazed expression suddenly turned to alarm.

"Oh…s-sorry!" He bowed. "He was going to wake you up, but you were sleeping so peacefully. We tried to carry you back to your room, but the door was locked, so…" The game ensured that it was impossible to break into a room rented out by another player, so if you weren't on the guest's friend list, there was no way to force your way inside. Koruko hurriedly waved her hands. "N-no, it's my fault! I'm sorry, I shouldn't have fell asleep in your room…"

"Don't worry about it. You don't wake up with aches and pains here, no matter how you fall asleep." Asri rose to his feet, cracking his neck in seeming contradiction to what he'd just said. He raised his hands and stretched, then looked down at Koruko as though remembering something. "Well, first off…good morning."

"Oh! Good morning." Together, they laughed and went down to the restaurant for breakfast. "Shouldn't you check on him first." She asked just when they passed through Naperjet's room. "Oh I guess I should." And he opened the door of his room to find him missing. "Where would he be now?"

"He's a bounty hunter, so maybe he went to take his payment from the client. By the way, why would someone be a bounty hunter?" Koruko asked Asri as they walked in the corridor. The pair went to the restaurant ordered a hearty meal before Asri began his explanation.

"Do you know about the C-players and H-players?" Koruko nodded in affirmative, "Well, when they commit crime the system recognizes them in the category according to their severity of crime. Theft and loot from other players would land one in the group of C-players while murder in H-players. Imagine if someone is attacked by them and he manages to get a relic from anyone from the group of players. It can be anything, a ring, a discarded throwing knife or a piece of cloth. Now the player takes them inspection and records the data."

In the mean time, the NPC waiter brought up their order; after a brief 'Thank You' to the waiter Asri continued, "Then comes the bounty hunters. The player takes the data to a bounty hunter and asks him to finish the attackers. Since the system doesn't differentiate them from other hunting mobs, the hunter would not be labeled as a Criminal if he kills them and he would get EXP, items and currency just like usual monster hunting. According to the power of the opponent the hunter asks for payment from the customer and asks him to see the result at the Available Player Log."

As he finished his explanation, he noticed that Koruko was looking a bit afraid. Sensing that he went a little too far, he apologized from her. Then the restaurant's door opened and Naperjet came inside. Looking at the changed expression of her face "Ah… Seriously! You have been telling those horrific rumors about bounty hunters. You don't have to worry; bounty hunters have a strict code specific to each one. I have the code to not kill any C-player, I only kill H-players and not everyone could afford that. So most kill contracts for bounty hunters are NPC monsters, that way too powerful for any particular Stage. You saw Akhenaten; tell me if you had a full assault team to attack him; would you have been able to take him down easily at your level?"

Koruko understood his point and nodded. The trio had the breakfast and left for the quest to revive Ralz. They went to the central transportation portal of the city and commanded, "Transport: Mt. Memoir" and came up at the bottom of a hill. "Wow! We are right at the bottom of the hill; I thought we would be going through the main city." Koruko wondered and the swordsmen grinned, "Yeah that was the plan, but since we were eavesdropped I placed a transportation marker here in the morning to ensure that we don't get ambushed here."

The trio began their summit of the hill. Though they were attacked by tough monsters, the duo let Koruko handle them; only interfering to manage the hate and deflect incoming blows. By the time they reached the top, Koruko had leveled up a dozen times from the huge EXP points she got. BWS had a basic EXP stat allotted to every monster and bonuses were issued based on level difference, percentage of damage dealt and percentage of hate managed.

Since she was quite low on level according the Stage, she got massive level difference bonus. The top of the hill was a giant garden with countless trees and there were many people wandering over there. "Are they all picnickers?" Koruko wondered about the people who were there without weapons.

"Yep, this is a famous picnic spot. And moreover this area is totally extinguished and even the monsters that spawn around here are killed at first sight by players before they can reach this place." Naperjet explained and pointed towards the southern end of the hill "It's there."

The trio went on to desolated southern end of the hill right till the edge of the Stage. There were only small shrubs and no trees. Naperjet pointed towards a small tree that was standing at the very edge of the stage "Go, you should claim it." Koruko went near the tree and a bud on the tree bloomed into a flower. She was about to pluck it when Asri stopped her and asked her to watch. The flower shed its petals and a small gem-like fruit grew up, Koruko looked at the swordsmen who nodded asking her to proceed.

She plucked the fruit up and tapped on it; 'AVALONIAN RUBY' came up the name. Naperjet came from behind, "To use it just double-tap it and place it on the headgear." Koruko nodded and suppressed the urge to use a transport crystal back home. She opened her inventory and placed the fruit inside the inventory. Once it appeared in the list, she closed the window and moved along with the two swordsmen on the journey to the main city of the Stage, since they used a transportation marker to aid their journey in the first hand and now they must walk their way back.

Fortunately, they met far fewer monsters on the return trip. Combined with the increased pace of the downward slope, they were back at the foot of the hill in no time at all. 'Another hour on the road to town, and I'll see Ralz again…' thinking this Koruko was about to enter the forest that lay in the safest route to town when a hand stopped her. It was Asri and then Naperjet called out in a commanding voice. "Whoever's waiting for an ambush should better come out at once."

Koruko hurriedly focused on the grove, but she couldn't see anyone. After a few tense seconds, the leaves rustled. A player cursor sprang into being— a P-cursor, so it wasn't a criminal. To her shock, Koruko recognized the figure that appeared. Hair as red as fire, lips the same shade, black leather armor that gleamed like enamel, and a thin cross-hilted rapier in her hand—

"R…Rosalina? What're you doing here?!" Rosalina ignored Koruko's bewilderment and simply smirked. "Your Searching ability must be pretty impressive to see through my Hiding attempt, swordsman. Have I underestimated you?" It was then that she at last turned to Koruko. "I'm guessing that you succeeded in procuring the Avalonian Ruby, Koruko. Congratulations."

Koruko took several steps backward, suspicious of Rosalina's motive. She had a bad feeling about this, and a second later, that fear was confirmed. "And now, I need you to hand over that flower." "Wh…what for…?" Now Naperjet stepped forward to speak again. "That's not going to happen, Rosalina. Or perhaps I should refer to you by your proper title: leader of the criminal guild, 'The Titans'." Her eyebrows shot upward and the smirk disappeared.

"But she's not a criminal, she has…" Koruko was bewildered when Asri continued, "Not everyone in a criminal guild is criminal. The normal players mark their prey, blend into groups and lead them into an ambush. The eavesdropper was someone from her guild." Rosalina leered "After he told me that you were going to take this route to the hill, I thought of ambushing you here and force her to take the fruit for me. However, it seems that you bypassed this route anticipating the ambush."

Koruko looked at Rosalina, stunned. "Th-then…the entire two weeks you were in our group, it was just…" Rosalina flashed that venomous smile again. "That's right. I was gauging the strength of the party, waiting for you to fatten your purses with more gold for the taking. Today was supposed to be my collection day, but…." she licked her lips "I had to change my plans when you said that you had a dead pet and were about to revive it. The Avalonian Ruby's quite a rare item, and demand is high. Good intelligence is worth its weight in gold!"

She stopped there, looking at the swordsmen, and shrugged. "And knowing all that, you still went along with her little act. Are you really that dense? Or were you so drawn out to her innocent face?" Koruko saw red rage at Rosalina's insult. She was about to draw her dagger when Naperjet grabbed her shoulder. "Neither." He was still calm. "I've been looking for you, Rosalina."

"And what does that mean?" Naperjet continued to dispel Rosalina's doubts "Ten days ago, you attacked a guild called The Moon Cats and robbed them of all their items in 434th Stage. All of them were killed; only the leader escaped." "Oh… that bankrupt lot." She didn't even raise an eyebrow. "Well, their leader hung around the transportation gates of different stages, tearfully begging anyone who came by to help him get revenge." Naperjet's voice was cold now; a sharpened blade of ice that threatened to cut anything it touched.

"But when I decided to take up his request, he didn't ask me to kill you. He wanted me to put you and your cohorts into the jail beneath Volintron Palace. Can you understand what he's going through?" "Not really," Rosalina said, uninterested. "What are you getting so worked up about, anyway? It's pathetic. There's no proof that the people you kill here are actually dead. Even if it's true, they can't try us in court when we get back. And don't get me started on how silly it is to preach about justice and laws when we don't even know if we can get back. People like you are the worst—the ones who bring all their logic with them into a world like this."

Her eyes flashed menacingly. "So you took that weakling at his word and tracked us down, did you? You must not have anything better to do. Well, I'll admit that I took your bait…but what do you think you're going to accomplish, just the three of you?" Naperjet didn't budge and brandished his sword and shield. "I am a bounty hunter. And I took the guy's request as a bounty. That's my job you know." A sadistic leer spread across her lips. Twice, she waved her extended finger high in the air.

The next instant, the overgrowth at the sides of the path beyond the bridge rustled wildly as numerous figures emerged from hiding. Several cursors popped into Koruko's view. Nearly all of them were malevolently criminal. There were twenty in all. If the duo hadn't noticed the ambush, she would have skipped right over the bridge and into their trap. The only other normal cursor among that entire criminal belonged to a man with the exact same spiky hair she'd seen vanishing around the corner of the inn hallway the previous night.

The twenty new bandits were all men wearing outlandish clothes. They clinked and jangled with a variety of silver accessories. Most unpleasant of all, they were leering at Koruko, their gazes lingering on her rare equipment that she got from the relentless monster-hunt. Koruko hid behind Asri's coat, trying to swallow her disgust. She whispered to him, "There are too many of them. We should transport!"

"It's all right. Keep your crystal ready, but don't use it until I give the command. Asri take care of any secondaries." Naperjet said calmly, patted her on the head and then started walking towards the bandits. Koruko could only stand there. It was crazy. He was going to get himself killed. "Don't do it Naperjet!" she shouted after him. The sound rang out across the field.

"Naperjet?" One of the bandits lost his smile and began recollecting various fragments of information from his mind. "A sword too long for a one-handed one, along with a strange shield. Light armor, dark outfit. The Rogue Swordsman…" and he took several steps backwards until he reached the leader. "I don't think it's a good idea. He is the highest leveled player in here and he solos even on the frontlines."

The rest of the group froze at that. Koruko was just as shocked. She could only stare out at Naperjet's back, which was hardly very big. She'd had a suspicion from their fights that he was a very high-level player. But she could never have dreamed that he was a "clearer," one of the top players in the game who took it upon themselves to venture into unexplored dungeons and beat SMs to advance the progress of the game. But she'd heard that clearers only used their strength to push the front line forward and were almost never seen on the mid-level stages where she first met him.

Sensing their hesitation, Naperjet moved his shield behind him and it glowed red. The shield flew out of his hands and bumped against the bandits' one after the other and flew back to him. All of them lost 25 to 30 percent of their HP. Rosalina was stunned by the performance for several seconds before recovering and shouting, "What if he is the Rogue Swordsman, he can't possibly take on twenty of you all together."

Emboldened by her argument, the large ax-wielder at the head of the orange players bellowed "Th-that's right! If he's a clearer, it means he's got tons of money and items! It just means he's an even juicier target!" The rest of the bandits echoed his sentiments, drawing their weapons. The numerous blades glinted wickedly.

"We can't do this, we've got to run!" Koruko pleaded, squeezing her crystal. Rosalina was right; no matter how tough he was, he couldn't beat two dozen opponents. But he didn't budge. He didn't even swing his sword. The nineteen criminal players aside from Rosalina and the spiky-haired man plunged forward, screeching war cries. Their boots pounded on the land.

They formed a semicircle around the motionless Naperjet, hacking and jabbing his body with their swords and spears all at once. He wobbled and lurched with the impact of nineteen weapons. "Noooo!" Koruko screamed, covering her face with her hands. "Stop! Stop it! He…he's going to die!!" But of course the men were deaf to her pleas. They were drunk with violence, some laughing maniacally, some jeering insults, but they all continued raining down blows on him.

Even Rosalina, who had walked up to the middle of the road, wore a look of unbridled glee, sucking on her finger as she took in the slaughter. Koruko wiped her tears and gripped the hilt of her kukri. She knew that jumping into the fight would do absolutely nothing, but she couldn't watch it any longer. But just as she was about to leap forward, she noticed something and pulled up short.

Naperjet's HP bar hadn't moved a bit. No, that wasn't quite accurate. The ceaseless blows were doing damage, but only a few tiny pixels were coming off his bar, and every few seconds, it would shoot back to full again. Eventually, the bandits realized that their assault was having no effect and stopped, confused. "What are you doing? Hurry up and kill him!" At Rosalina's irritated order, the rain of blows began anew, but again there was no apparent effect.

"Wh…what's going on with this guy…?" One of the bandits stumbled backwards with fatigue and soon others too gave up. A silence fell upon the place and soon Naperjet spoke up, his voice low and soft. "Your DPS lies at five thousand points, all nineteen of you. My level is 690 and I've got five hundred thousand HP. My battle healing ability raises twenty thousand HP every 10 secs and my defense blocks four thousand DPS. If you want we can go on for eternity and no one will move an inch."

Rosalina clicked her tongue and grabbed a transport crystal from her waist. She held it high and said, "Transport—" But before she could finish, the air rippled audibly, and Naperjet was standing right next to her. "Aaah!" He snatched the crystal out of her tensed fingers, grabbed her collar, and started dragging her back to the other side of the bridge.

"L-let me go! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Naperjet silently tossed Rosalina into the midst of the frozen men, then jammed his hand into the pouch on his waist. He pulled out a crystal from his pouch, it was however different from normal transportation crystals. "This is a corridor crystal, which took all the money my client had. It's set to exit into the prison of Volintron Palace. You're all going to jail."

Rosalina bit her lip for several seconds and then spoke up, a confident smirk on her red lips. "And if I say no?" "I'll kill every last one of you." Her smile froze.

"At least, I'd want to…but in reality, I'll have to use this." Naperjet pulled a small dagger out from under his shield. On closer look, it seemed to be coated in some light green substance. "It's a paralysis poison. Level 8, so you won't be moving for quite some time. It'll certainly last long enough for me to toss every one of you into the corridor. So there's your choice: walk in on your own or get thrown in."

There was no bravado left in the group. They hung their heads silently, so Naperjet put the dagger away and held up the deep blue crystal. "Corridor open!" The crystal shattered and a vortex of blue-white light appeared. "Damn it…" The tall ax-wielder slumped his shoulders and stepped in first. The remaining orange players followed him, some spitting a final curse before they went.

Only the two non-criminal players remained, sensing that there is no turning back Rosalina and the guy stood up and attacked Naperjet, "If we'll go to prison, then we'll go after killing you." The swords glowed bright and charged towards him. Instead of taking the attack head-on, Naperjet used his shield to block them and then stabbed the duo with the dagger to paralyze them and then threw the duo into the vortex.

A few moments after that, the vortex disappeared from existence. After a few minutes of silence, Asri looked at the cursor above him, "Naperjet, your cursor's Criminal." He turned around, "I am sorry about that, actually my bounty was not for Akhenaten, but the reason we were there was the fact that Rosalina's last known location was inside the pyramid. And now since I am a criminal I must undergo the Corrective Quests before I can enter the city."

Saying this he left and Asri along with Koruko transported to the city.

A few days later, Asri and Koruko had registered themselves as an official couple in the game. The duo along with Ralz was going through the dungeon in 200th Stage when Ralz growled declaring the presence of a Criminal cursor nearby. "It's okay Ralz. He was the one who helped us save you." Koruko patted Ralz on his back and they continued till they reached the safe zone of the dungeon. A lone man was camping out there with a criminal cursor, just as they saw him they rushed in the safe zone.

It was Naperjet who still undergoing his corrective quests who change his cursor from Criminal to normal. He had asked Asri to tell no one about what happened that day and had been camping here so that no one can trace him through maps, however Asri knew his hideout and now so did Koruko.