First Day Struggles

On another, smaller screen next to the main one displayed the rarity of each race.

[ Races:

Draconic: 0.05%

Angel: 0.1%

Devil: 0.1%

Elf: 20%

Human: 60% ]

While the devil race gave its own unique and powerful stats, those of said race were, like World, spawned in Hell.

Hell is exactly what it sounds like.

Demons roam around the plane, wreaking havoc and killing players. Plus, there's no civilization in sight to recuperate or take on quests.

'Hell is... Hell.

And given how there's absolutely nothing here to help me rank up, I think I'll just... Have to fight these things...'

But Hell's demons were terrifying. In fact, at the mere sight of them, World felt paralyzed.

'I'm... Supposed to fight those monsters?'

He came to this world to relax from the hell that was reality—not to enter a new one.

'I just wanted to make new friends, have fun, and forget about the stress... So why?'

However, World remembered to himself the hell he lived in the real life and began to realize that, at least in this hell, there was freedom, but more importantly, he could live as someone else besides the person who he truly was.

'I guess at the very least, this hell isn't real.'

Therefore, World would rather fight these physical demons in Live Line than the mental demons he fought in real life.

'It's times like these when I remember... Him.

Or at least, I... try to.'

Within a cave, World sat on Hell's floor in a fetal position, holding his head.

'I can't think about him.

Not right now. Not ever.

I just need to focus on beating these a**holes.'

***

World opened his stat menu, observing whatever skills the game had first given him.

[ Movement of a Doppleganger ] C

[ Knight's Honor ] B

'Well, they don't seem terrible.

Then again, I've barely played games my entire life.

...Just didn't have the time.'

Activating [ Knight's Honor ], World received a weapon—a broken sword rather.

'Why does this world seem to hate me...?'

He decided to accept his misfortune, sighing as he headed out of the cave towards the first monster he saw.

Once in the monster's presence however, the sword seemed to react to the threat as it began to transform into a shinier, more durable longsword.

Towering in front of him was a demon that resembled an almost gooey mountain. What seemed to be hundreds of human limbs swam in its entire body.

Noticing World, the demon eerily began to turn around, grinning sinisterly.

Rows of human teeth existed inside its huge mouth that spread across what was supposedly its face. Hundreds of eyes all gathered in the center of its face to look at one thing:

'Me.

It's looking... At me.'

At the sight of the demon, World's hands began to feel clammy as his grip on his weapon began to loosen.

'Every inch of my body is screaming at me to run.

Run.

Run—I need to run.'

But his feet felt rooted to the floor. He was too paralyzed by fear to move.

World inhaled, looking down to his sword which was shaking due to his own body trembling.

'This isn't real.

This is just a game.'

He then exhaled, now gripping tightly onto his weapon.

'I have to kill this bastard.'

World ran towards the demon and began slashing violently at whatever he could see. However, with every cut he made, gooey flesh would swim to refill it.

'What... The hell?

How am I supposed to beat this thing?'

The monster opened wide its mouth at World, and as a response, a wave of fear shivered down his spine.

Out of nowhere, the demon's mouth lunged at him, attempting to swallow World whole.

World dove out of the way before running towards the monster again with his sword hung high; however, the monster slammed World away with its body.

For awhile, it was the same process of either World running towards the monster and it throwing him away or the monster attempting to eat World and him barely evading its attack.

After being thrown one last time, World grew exhausted, catching his breath for a moment—thinking of what to do next.

'I can't just keep doing the same thing.'

World opened his stat window again, staring at the one skill he hadn't used yet: [ Movement of a Doppleganger ]. It was only a C tier skill which is why World refrained from using it, but given how he'd made no progress so far, he had to expend all his possibilities.

[ Movement of a Doppleganger :

Clones one replica of the current user's state in exchange of a part of the user's DNA.

Max replicas allowed to create: 5. ]

Out of curiosity, World quickly pulled out 5 strands of hair and activated the skill.

Suddenly, 5 beams of light shot towards the ground around him. After the light disappeared, duplicates of him appeared with swords in the same stance as him.

World scanned around, realizing that as he moved so did the clones.

The monster began trying to eat each clone, but World continued to dodge.

'I have to finish it off in one hit.'

World then gathered all his clones in a circle around the monster.

He began to ran at the demon with all his speed before stabbing into the monster in all directions and slicing upwards.

After the hit, the demon screeched of pain, sending a piercing noise into his ears, but World didn't stop.

He continued slashing the demon from all directions—even sometimes accidentally clashing swords with his other clones.

The blob eventually turned into a black, ashy mess, and after a few minutes of continuously stabbing that same black ash, he finally realized it died and stopped attacking it.

'Did I... Just blackout?'

World held his head as the notification appeared on his screen:

[System: Lvl. 5 Demon slain. ]

He looked up to read it, and as he did, a shocked expression appeared on his face.

'Only... Level 5?'

World reopened his stat window.

[ Worldslash (Lvl. 1 → 6)

Race: Demon

Skills:

[ Movement of a Doppleganger ] C Lvl. (1/20→7/20)

[ Knight's Honor ] B Lvl. (1/20→18/20) ]

From the exhaustion, World's legs grew numb as he fell to the floor.

'I should log out for today.'

[System: Are you sure that you want to quit Live Line?]

[Yes]

[System: Until next time, Worldslash.]