Chapter 22: The Ruins of Hillcrest
The trio—
"GLOOB!"
The quartet, walked towards the ruins of Hillcrest—a kingdom sprawling for miles and protected by a massive and imposing wall—but with every step they took, it seemed as if their destination grew farther away.
Solol asked incessantly, "Are we there yet?"
Tired of hearing the same question dozens of times, Alice sighed deeply. "For the last time, Solol, USE YOUR EYES! Do you see us there?! No? THEN WE'RE NOT THERE YET!"
"Don't you think it's strange we haven't encountered any monsters so far?" Sophie looked around, "I mean, in the Lazuli Forest, it was a monster per square meter."
"Well, why would they come here in the first place? There's nothing here worth their time, no water, no fruits, the grass is as fragile as plastic, there's not even a tree they can use to hide. If you were a monster, would you like to live in a place like this?" the necromancer responded.
His point made sense, as much as everything was a game, the NPCs were as real as they were. Even without the influence of a player, they still had their lives.
"Yeah, almost forgot how smart the NPCs are here." Alice looked down disappointed. "This could be one hell of a game. And he threw everything away."
...
Breaking the silence, Solol asked, "Are we there yet?"
Alice turned with a fiery look, "I SWEAR FOR ALL EXISTING GODS, I WILL—"
"Oh look! I see the gate!" the elf pointed enthusiastically.
Arriving at the massive gate—which, even after centuries of abandonment, covered in moss, still stood tall—the swordswoman approached and gently knocked twice on the gate, "Someone home?"
*Oooooooooooooooomph… BAM!*
The gate fell violently to the ground. Sophie and Solol looked at Alice, who casually walked ahead whistling, trying to ignore what had just happened.
<...>
"Okay, the top priority is to find any clues related to the Whispers. So, Solol and I will look for a library around here. Alice and Fedora will search for resources."
However, as he vocalized his plan, his friend was already 15 meters away, "Way ahead of you!" and disappeared among the countless ruined houses.
"Wait, why can she go alone?" he spoke in a lower tone, "... Do you want to spend time with me or..."
"No, airhead. Remember, scar?"
"Oh..." he was embarrassed, "Forget what I said."
"Besides, you are not my type, sorry."
"N-No, it's okay. I just misunderstood."
<...>
Alice and Fedora ran through the new area—various houses infested with moss, broken doors, shattered windows, it was hard to visualize that kingdom in its prime—but the player moved forward with a smile on her face, eager to find any new equipment, the Viscous Web was a cool weapon, but after what happened against the Whisper, she needed something more real.
"Just us both again, Fedora! Like the old times! (AKA: 2 days ago)"
"Gloob! Gloob!"
After several uninteresting houses, she saw a property with a flag—or rather, what was left of it—with the symbol of a sword on an anvil. "Blacksmith! There must be some weapon there!"
She jumped into the house, stepping on moss, "Ew..." and the property was an armory in a sad state: the anvil that once forged the tools of warriors was now split in half, several broken weapons were scattered on the ground, neglected and unappreciated. On a chair was the corpse of the apparent owner of that forge.
"Damn..." her heart broke at the sight of the depressing state of that place, "It's almost like I could feel the good memories this place had." She checked the environment, finding only bent or unusable swords. There was no armor there, the only decent thing was a wooden bow with metal details.
She took the weapon and stored it in her inventory. "You owe me one, Sophie."
Seeing that there was nothing else there, Alice started to leave. However, a low sound, *crunch*, was emitted beneath her. She bent down and saw under her foot a small dusty letter, with no recipient or sender. She wondered if it would be morally right to open someone else's correspondence.
Fedora made a judging noise, and Alice retorted, trying to justify herself, "Well, no one has read it until now." She sat on the floor, leaned against the wall, and read the letter carefully, holding it gently so as not to damage it.
<...>
*My dear store was robbed once again, they took Lord Fiddel's order. He was my last client. It's over. I don't know how much longer this store will stand...*
*Damn Aerion, I thought they cared about us. Before everything, my store was the largest in the kingdom, it was easier to count how many ants I stepped on in my entire life than to count how many clients I had daily.*
*My apprentice left me to join Aerion, but I don't blame him. He had potential and deserved a good life. I just wish he had said goodbye to me...*
*I know I will leave soon. But I can't leave this world without a last masterpiece...*
*I spent all the gold I had left, burned the best resources I had, and created an unbreakable blade, with a will of its own, capable of cutting through the sky and hell at the same time. I call it 'Angelic Hellfire: Purgatory'.*
*I hid it in the place where Aerion was born and my life ended. But only those she deems worthy will be able to obtain its power, if she denies you, accept it. Forcing will only invoke the incomprehensible fury of a Purgatory.*
*Signed, Joseph Bydorn.*
<...>
"A sword, how convenient."
"Gloob!"
Alice stood up excitedly, "You're right, let's get that sword!"
Fedora made another noise, but this time louder and clearly alerting something. "GLOOB! GLOOB!"
She turned and saw a bandit running towards her—clearly an adult man, with a slender build, wearing an iron helmet, carrying two daggers in his hands. "RHINO CHARGE!" the man shouted, crossing his arms and charging with an attack.
[Perfect Block]
[Stamina 110/120]
The bandit was propelled out of the store, falling and dragging himself on the ground covered in ashes. Alice ran, already extending her hand, her gelatinous companion already taking the shape of a sword handle, and she pulled the spider leg from her inventory.
"Where did that sword come from?" the bandit wondered mentally, soon propelled by rage and envy. "Give me everything you have," he spun the daggers in his fingers, showing good mastery of the weapons, "or I will make you suffer so much you won't have the strength to scream."
She held her sword with both hands and said without intimidation, "I would love to see you try."
The man, still recovering from the initial impact, smiled arrogantly, believing she had just been lucky so far. "You think you can beat me with those cheap tricks?" he taunted, spinning his daggers again and advancing with a new attack.
[Flurry Strike]
Holding his daggers firmly, he launched and retracted them several times, as if throwing dozens of spears at Alice.
She responded with a series of quick and precise strikes, her speed and precision clearly at a superior level. Fedora assisted, vibrating in her hands, adapting to the rhythm of the fight.
The bandit growled, realizing he was at a disadvantage. "If you think that's all I got, you are pretty—"
However, what he didn't expect was that while she defended his [Flurry Strike], she would take advantage of the lack of defense to kick him in the weak point of every man. Obviously, he felt such intense pain that his body instinctively fell to his knees.
"Finish Him!" the player shouted while delivering another kick from top to bottom to his chin. Her strike was so strong that it broke his helmet, and he fainted instantly—leaving her surprised by her own strength.
With the opponent unconscious, she decided to immobilize him, launching two [Web Swing] at his hands, pinning him to the wall. Even if he woke up, he wouldn't be strong enough to break the webs.
[Mana: 30/50]
Alice said sarcastically, "Of course an inconvenient NPC would appear at the exact same place I was. Look at my surprised face."
But, was he the only one? This thought worried Alice, who used the arcane bracelet and tried to see mana signals in the area. And she felt... An inhuman amount of Mana above the clouds, the concentration was so high that it felt like she was facing the surface of the sun, burning her small head—forcing her to deactivate the [Mana Vision].
Breathing heavily and with a sudden headache, she questioned herself, "What was that? It was like the sun entered my head... Urgh, it still burns!"
Suddenly, she felt something thin pressing behind her head. "Don't get ahead of yourself, darling," said a masculine voice, "or you may feel something much worse than burns."
Like rats emerging from the sewers, a group of 7 bandits came out of their hiding places—the abandoned houses—all wearing random pieces of armor they had found but refused to share with each other. 3 of them
wielded swords, 2 carried daggers, and the last 2 carried staffs.
"How long have you guys been following me?" Alice asked, irritated and frustrated—not letting go of her sword.
But the whole group laughed at her, mocking her stupidity and audacity, "HAHAHAHAHA! WHAT AN IDIOT!"
And then the bandit behind her said, "Thinking quite high of yourself, aren't you? This is our home." He walked around her, showing his appearance—a young man with blond hair, purple eyes, wearing a leather jacket over his armor, pointing his wooden wand at Alice's face. "But if you behave nicely, you can be my pet."
"Look, I—" she sighed tiredly, "Let me guess... You aren't going to let me go and will try to kill me?"
He gave a small laugh, "Please, we are professionals. We won't try." And he looked dead-eyed, his voice turning more aggressive. "We will."
*SLASH!*
The sound of a slash was accompanied by the sound of something soft falling to the ground. The leader looked at his arm, but it was no longer there—in the blink of an eye, his limb had been severed. "Here's a tip, jerks. Next time, don't get too close to an armed enemy."
"AAAAAHHHH! MY... MY..." the once calm and composed leader now writhed on the ground, crying in pain, "KILL HER! KILL THIS BITCH!"
Keeping a cold face, the player held the weapon with one hand. "Listen, you—"
"YOU WILL PAY!" shouted one of the bandits with a sword, jumping with an extremely predictable strike towards Alice—who stepped aside, dodging the attack. The swordsman bandit planned a second strike, only to realize his sword was no longer in his hands.
"Not only must your stats be sadly low but also your mastery in swordsmanship surely is below zero," the player taunted while spinning the bandit's sword.
The mage bandits raised their staffs and began to cast a spell, but Alice just turned, saying, "Listen, you think it will work on me?" They hesitated, "Since you guys refused the nice me, you will now deal with the bad me..."
The player planted the sword near the leader's head and threatened, "All your weapons. All of your armor. Everything that you can use to hurt more people, give it to me. NOW."
The entire group obeyed, throwing everything on the ground, then running away in fear.
...
When the conflict ended, Alice leaned against a wall and vomited. Even knowing she only acted in self-defense, she had still cut off someone's hand... "Wait... But they are just NPCs... Right?"
"Gloob," Fedora said with a calm sound, trying to comfort Alice.
"I know... But I hope I don't have to do this again, it felt so... real..." After a few minutes of trying to clear her head, she returned to reality. Calling her companion, "Let's go. We have a sword to get," and she continued searching for the sword mentioned in the letter.
<...>
Sometime later, the group of bandits arrived at a random house, throwing their leader onto the table and trying to treat his wound. He writhed so much in pain that four people had to hold him, "Hold him!"
They placed the blade of a sword in a fireplace and then pressed the hot metal to the wound. "AAAAAHHHHH!"
...
The blond bandit regained consciousness on the table, observing the bandages where his right arm used to be. He pulled his closest henchman and shouted, "WHY DIDN'T YOU KILL HER?"
A female voice answered his question, "Because they are weak," but no one recognized this voice. Then, a beautiful pale-skinned lady entered the room, "I'm Beatrix. Mind making a deal with this beautiful devil?"