Chapter 24: New Patches and Old Foes

"According to the letter, 'it's in a place where Aerion was born and his life ended,' any ideas?"

"Gloob."

A message screen appears before Alice.

Sarcastically, she responds, "New Patch? I hope they added a 'log out' button this time." Out of curiosity, she opens it.

"So that means…," she equips the blue moon daggers and excitedly twirls them in her fingers. "Finally!" However, they fall from her hands due to her lack of skill with them.

"At least Solol won't need to use that gun forever."

Thud thud thud

Out of reflex, Alice immediately turns towards the source of the sound in a defensive stance—using one of the metal swords she stole from the bandits—coming face to face with a Minotaur charging at her. Thanks to her [Perfect Block], it's stunned back with a small head wound.

[Stamina: 100/120]

[Minotaur LvL. 13]

[Description: Half-man, half-bull, a distorted masterpiece by the Beast King. A creature that could live among men but has the mind of an animal. Stay out of its way, or be crushed.]

"A minotaur?! How random." The player mocks, feeling no intimidation from the creature. Suddenly, a strong light emerges from her sword, and a congratulatory message appears.

<50% → 75% of the impact is reflected.>

[Achievement #014 unlocked: Promoted!]

[Description: Upgrade one skill to a higher rank for the first time]

"2 stars?! Great!" Her excitement is so overwhelming that she ignores the two other Minotaurs approaching and surrounding her. "Since I spam this skill, I must've accumulated so much experience that I evolved instantly! Best update ever!"

"GLOOB!" alerts that the three are closing in. The one on the right with a punch, the one in the middle with another head charge, and the one on the left with a kick.

"Don't worry, there is for everybody!" As if dancing, Alice just blocks the hits of the three in order of arrival, "First you!" She blocks the punch—breaking the creature's arm instantly—then she blocks the kick, dislocating its leg, "Then you."

[Stamina: 80/120]

"And last but not least…" The last one continues its charge blindly, but as expected, Alice blocks it, stunning it again. As it staggers back, she uses [Web Swing] on its head to pull it down—giving her the opportunity to decapitate it easily.

[Stamina: 70/120]

[Mana: 20/50]

[Experience: 228/600]

With the death of the first, the two roar furiously, summoning an entire group of more Minotaurs advancing towards her. Alice gets excited, after all, for her, it's just free EXP. "For me? You shouldn't have. Fedora?"

The slime forms the Viscous Web in another hand, and the player advances with both swords.

…

A few hours later, Alice is sitting on a pile of Minotaur corpses, tired from so much grinding but satisfied with her results. The fight was so extensive that the blade of the iron sword lost almost half of its size, and the Archne's paw was destroyed.

"Phew. I miss grinding like this; it's so therapeutic. Don't you think, Fedora?" The slime was happily consuming the remains of the creatures. "Oh, sorry, I forgot you hadn't even had lunch yet."

[Alice LvL. 20]

[Experience: 28/1075]

[HP: 195/195]

[Stamina: 190/190]

[Mana: 50/50]

[Class: Swordswoman]

[Strength: 30] ← +15

[Defense: 30] ← +15

[Stamina: 29] ← +14

[Speed: 15]

[Intelligence: 1]

[Magic: 1]

[Luck: 1]

"Oops, there go my organized stats. And I forgot to put points in Magic again. Well, I'll do it next time." Suddenly, a message appears before her, the same screen that appeared several times during her grind but was ignored due to her concentration on the battle.

"Oh, right. I got that skill from the Undead before meeting Solol." She opens the skills screen and almost faints in astonishment at what she unlocked.

[Limit Extender]

[Rules: You can extend up to 2 stats by 5 points or a single stat by 10 points max. Mana and Stamina cannot be altered.]

[Cost: If you increase your magic stats, 10 mana per minute. If you increase your physical stats, 10 stamina per minute. If you increase both magic and physical, 5 mana and stamina per minute.]

Alice smacks her own head, "Shit! I should've seen it earlier! Damn! I wanted to test that so bad… Now there's no one near… Wait, right! I don't need to use this just for combat! FEDORA!"

The slime climbs onto her head, already full and sleepy after a big meal.

[Limit Extender: Speed]

[Speed: 25 (+10)]

A blue aura conducting lightning transcends her body, making her feel as if her body is free to go wherever she wants. "We still have a sword to look for! Let's go!" She runs off like a rocket.

Jumping over the debris, she looks for something that matches the hint given in the letter. But due to her poor search skills, she can't piece things together.

[Stamina: 140/190]

"5 minutes and nothing… I hate puzzles, they are so hard!"

"Gloob."

She stops and asks if Fedora said something. He responds by looking towards the center of the kingdom, following her companion's advice, Alice heads there.

"Oh." The center of Hillcrest was a massive hole stretching for miles. It was the place where Aerion was born and where Hillcrest fell into ruins. Alice feels embarrassed for not thinking of something so obvious.

Deactivating the skill, she approaches the hole, trying to see something different in it, but it's so deep and almost nightfall, making it nearly impossible to see anything from that distance. "Do you think that if I jump…," she takes a step forward, contemplating the immense fall she would have, immediately changing her mind, "No, no, forget it. There must be a way… I could use the webs, but what if I run out of mana midway?"

…

Alice runs to an old square with still present market stalls but with as many holes as Swiss cheese. "Well, anyway, I don't think a parachute would work. Maybe Solol or Sophie can give me a hand."

"You can have mine!" A severed hand is thrown near Alice. A chill runs down her spine; that voice was familiar. It was Jayden, the blonde bandit whose hand she cut off before, but something was different about him. His eyes were red as rubies, and his mouth had fangs. "Hope you enjoyed your last day. Because the night it's ours!" He raises his hand without a hand—growing back flesh and recreating it instantly.

"You again?" Still surprised but confident in her strength, she mocks him, "You look different, cut your hair? Also, are we friends now? Let me guess, hiding again to ambush me?"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA! No," he points to his belly, "they're here. Too weak to evolve, so I found another use for them."

[Vampire]

[Description: Hunters of the night, they roam during the full moon to consume human blood. Only those with a strong will can survive and transcend into vampirism.]

As if he couldn't get more disgusting, he talks about what he did to his allies with such pride and disdain that it doesn't even seem like he was human before. As if he just removed the mask and showed who he really was.

"So you killed all of your friends just to have a chance against me?" She sighs in disgust. "Wow. Even monsters wouldn't stoop that low." She spins her sword—the iron one that hasn't been used yet—and looks him in the eyes. "I know this won't change anything; everything that comes out of my mouth will go in one ear and out the other. But I'll give you a chance, leave and never bother me again."

With a malevolent smile, he responds, "And let my friends' death be in vain? No way." His nails grow into claws. With a leap, he reaches Alice and unleashes a barrage of claw strikes.

But the player parries all attacks effortlessly—without using [Perfect Block], believing he's not worth wasting energy—breaking his guard by moving his claws away with her sword and with a quick move, stabbing his torso with the blade.

"Oh no…" He gives a bloody smile, "Anyway!" Unaffected by the stabbing, he punches Alice's face, throwing her into one of

the stalls. She quickly recovers, noticing the bleeding from her nose.

[HP: 190/195]

Alice quickly stands up, wiping the blood from her nose with the back of her hand. She observes Jayden more cautiously now, who was removing her sword from his torso and licking her blood from it. "Hm, I already tasted this blood; need something more exotic…"

"Just don't get hit…" she thinks. Jayden arrogantly throws the sword back to her, as if challenging her to try again.

With a quick advance, she retrieves her sword and switches to a more aggressive approach, delivering multiple cuts on him—which he dodges with few steps, even yawning out of boredom to further irritate Alice.

[Web Swing]

[Mana: 40/50]

But unexpectedly, she shoots a web at a stall of rotten onions and throws them at Jayden's face. The food was so rotten that it turned to dust upon colliding with his face, "ARGH! MY EYE— MY NOSE TOO! URGH! DISGUSTING!" Besides temporary blindness, nothing happens to him.

"Ok, onions don't work, got it!" She breaks a wooden post in half and throws the small stake towards his chest. But instinctively, he grabs the projectile, and with his eyes red and teary, he shouts:

[Sonic Boom]

"YOU TOOK AWAY MY FRIENDS FROM ME! SO MAKE THIS WORLD A FAVOR AND DIEEEEEEEEE!!!" His scream creates a sound wave so loud that it temporarily disorients Alice. Jayden is surprised by the newly discovered ability and soon smiles—advancing and plunging his claws into Alice's abdomen.

[Cursed Nails]

[HP: 180/195]

"D-damn!" she groans in pain.

With his free hand, he prepares another strike to pierce her head, "When you find my buddies in Hell, tell them I said hi." His nails turn black.

With the claws almost reaching her face, Alice puts the sword in front, "TELL THEM YOURSELF!" and performs a [Perfect Block].

BOOM!

[Stamina: 130/190]

Jayden's hand explodes, he momentarily contemplates the pain but soon regains his high confidence and extends the limb, trying to regenerate it back. But nothing happens. He coughs up blood, confused. "Cough Argh! What is this headache?!"

The poison from his nails was ricocheted back to its creator.

[HP: 175/195]

Taking advantage of the distraction, Alice cuts the hand embedded in her and kicks Jayden back. "Good Game, loser!" She spins her sword, launching a [Wind Scrapper] towards him.

[Stamina: 115/190]

"SHIT! N-NO WAIT—"

CRASH!

Suddenly, he disappears, and the skill only hits a cabin. Alice feels a familiar presence, and so does Fedora.

"Looks like plan B wasn't a waste of time at all." It was Solol, carrying Jayden with his shadow hand. He drops the novice vampire on the ground and throws a healing potion at him—which he almost drops due to having only one hand.

"Solol?! Wait, no…"

The Whisper cracks his neck, "Sorry, sweetie. Life just isn't fair." He assumes an offensive stance. Seeing this, Jayden regains all the confidence and arrogance he had and also assumes a combat stance—regenerating his limbs as the potion removed his poison.

"HAHA! Not like it will be hard to beat ya. I had everything under control."

"2v1?" Frustrated and furious, she drinks a healing potion and breaks the vial on the ground. "Let's fucking go!"