Three Vile Minions

Just when he started to believe this place wasn't as dangerous as he thought—precisely because of the contradictions—the idea was immediately denied.

These creatures were nowhere to be seen when he expected them the most last night, thinking there was, maybe, a high-level Phantasm around.

That was also why Hyde believed this place to be the central border.

For once, Hyde tried to put his mind to remembering the game's contents, supposing he misunderstood something. Several minutes later, he succeeded in recalling new information.

The term 'border' referred to the fortresses built at the outermost edge of the Mirage's land, serving as humanity's frontline defense against its expansion. Meanwhile, the human side of this divide was called the 'outskirts.'

Which meant...

Hyde had been wrong about this place.

He wasn't standing in the 'central border.'

Instead, he was in one of the dozen sectors surrounding it.

The 'sectors,' labeled with codes—for example, Sector A-31—were basically mob fields, where monsters were often spotted or spawned frequently.

The only reason Hyde associated this sector, the ruined city, and other sectors with the central border was that, in the game, he only ever visited it to challenge the hidden boss again and again.

After all, in the game, he never cared about the lore, let alone official names of locations—only that it was the damn place where he kept losing to the hidden boss was mattered.

But he never forgot the sector code where the hidden boss lurked.

"Sector C-13," Hyde muttered, his eyes watching the three ash-skinned Phantasms outside the building.

Before they noticed his presence, Hyde carefully walked and hid behind the receptionist's desk. Facing one of them was already difficult for him, let alone three. 

While hiding, he looked around through the broken windows, trying to locate if there were more of them surrounding the building.

Finding none, Hyde refocused his attention on the three Phantasms that were standing on the street in front of the building.

'Why are they just standing there?' Hyde thought. 'Can't they just go already?'

Squinting his eyes, he observed them closely. 

Then, when the Phantasm in the middle clapped its hands in the air, its claws ground on each other, and hopped in place, raising its legs in turn like a deranged marionette, Hyde spotted another of its kind on the ground, dead.

It was the Phantasm he indirectly killed last night. The one that blindly lunged at him and fell from the fifth floor.

The ash-skinned goblin creature with claws was the second-weakest Phantasms after their counterpart—a similar creature but had no claws.

These creatures were the first Phantasms he ever fought. 

However, they were so insignificant, and it had been so long since Hyde last hunted them in Return of Nightingale, that he could no longer remember what they were called.

What he did know was they were the lowest both in rank and level.

Phantasms were divided into seven ranks: Vile, Wicked, Blight, Fallen, Corrupted, Forsaken, and Harbinger.

Meanwhile, their levels ranged from Minion, Beast, Monster, Mutant, Specter, Revenant, Demon, Phantom, Colossal, and Monarch. 

A Phantasm's strength was determined by these two categories; however, according to Hyde's experience, the rank of Phantasm mattered more than its level.

The hidden boss and the area boss of Sector C-13 were prime examples of this. Despite being classified as Corrupted Colossal, the area boss was significantly weaker and easier to defeat than the hidden boss—a Forsaken Demon.

Back to the ash-skinned Phantasms, they were only Vile Minions. The difference in power between them and a Forsaken Demon was like heaven and earth. No, it was more than that. 

Even if there were five thousand Vile Minions, it still wasn't enough to defeat one Forsaken Demon.

Yet, for Hyde, even facing one Vile Minion seemed difficult. 

If only he was awakened—No. He didn't need to be a Resonant to defeat the weakest Phantasm. 

A weapon. He only needed one that could send them to hell in one swing. That was all.

The problem was there was none. No matter how Hyde turned his head, he couldn't find such a weapon. At best, there were only not-so-durable blunt ones like wood planks.

On the other hand, a metal bar wasn't suitable for Hyde. Although more durable, its weight would make his swing and movement slower. Moreover, he had to fight against three of them simultaneously!

That was if he went full frontal.

'This place... since there are weak Phantasms here, I guess it's somewhere at Sector A. I'm not sure about the exact location. But escaping will be easier than I thought. Huh, I don't even need to be a Resonant, after all.'

As the thought surfaced, Hyde couldn't help but recall the massive hole to the east of the building. He had a vague sense that something interesting had happened around that hole, but he wasn't sure what it was.

'At least... I should check it once...'

After he dealt with the three Vile Minions, of course.

Although... watching them perform those moves as if they were doing some rituals irritated him. As expected of mindless creatures. Though it was odd seeing the supposed mindless and unintelligent beings to be able to recognize each other.

"I guess it's instinctual," Hyde muttered before falling into thoughts.

Now, what was the best way to deal with creatures such as them?

For this, Hyde had to assume that they would behave how they should behave in reality, not in the game. He must. After all, he had already seen how dumb they were last night.

If he tried to bait them by throwing something from a higher place, instead of rushing at the stairs to get to where Hyde was, they would rather shriek and jump as high as they could.

Well, if they were lucky, they could reach him by jumping. But before that happened, they would get knocked down first with a metal bar smashing their head.

This was the safer strategy, but if it didn't work, Hyde could always use another one he had prepared.

'Let's try this way first.'

With an idea in mind, Hyde ascended the stairs to the second floor and immediately executed his plan.

Picking up a chair as he walked toward the edge, Hyde looked down at the street.

The Phantasms were still at it—dancing or whatever they were doing by clapping and hopping in place around their kind corpses.

'Since the thrown object is like this, it wouldn't hurt to find out if it could crush their head, right?' he smirked.

It was not made out of wood. Rather, it was metal. Maybe steel. It would obviously crush someone's head if it was thrown from the second floor. If not, it would put them unconscious, at least.

Sighing, Hyde hurled the metal chair at them. 

With gravity pulling it down, adding to the weight of its already quite heavy material, the chair quickly plunged downward. With a dull crunch, the chair caved in its skull. The Phantasm's body twitched once before going still, its purple eyes flickering out like dying embers.

The other two stopped their irritating dances and looked upward. As expected, they were shrieking and jumping instead of rushing at the stairs, a very different behavior from their game's counterpart.

Hyde just stood there, watching as they tried to reach him with a jump. A metal bar in his arm which he had picked up from nearby—they were littering the second floor.

When he thought he had to come down instead, suddenly one of them started picking up the height.

Tightening his grip, Hyde heaved a long sigh, stretched his arms, and pulled them back. Repositioning his legs, Hyde assumed a batting pose, ready to strike the Phantasm when it reached a certain height.

Shrieeeekkk—!

After waiting for several more attempts, a Phantasm finally jumped, its claws swiping at the air. Judging by its speed and momentum, it would reach the second floor this time.

When it passed a certain height and saw Hyde with his metal bar, the purple lights ignited as it leaned forward. 

However, before the lights could fully transform into purple flames, a cold metal surface greeted its face with full force, causing it to backflip several times in mid-air before falling down.

"Last one."

The last Phantasm was still jumping, screeching louder with each failed attempt.

Hyde exhaled, loosening his grip on the metal bar before tightening it again.

No more tricks.

Time to fight.

Begrudgingly, Hyde moved to the first floor to have a full frontal combat against it.

The Vile Minion shrieked, its eyes gleaming with fury as it spotted Hyde descending the stairs. With a vile howl, it rushed toward him and lunged when the distance was closed.

Hyde barely dodged, his body twisted sideways instinctively, a result of his countless hours of gameplay. With a grunt, he swung the metal bar upward, aiming for the Minion's head as it prepared to lunge again.

But he was too early. By the time his weapon was already swung, the Minion had only begun launching itself. 

'Shit!'

He had to commit another bone-breaking move to dodge that. Kicking the floor, he pushed himself from the spot with a few body-twisting turns to the side, almost crashing into a pile of broken sofas.

Hyde didn't know and did not want to know how it happened... at least, for now.

A sting of pain suddenly emerged from his right arm. But he paid it no attention.

Standing up, Hyde sighed, spinning the bar in his hands. It would be an embarrassment to lose to this thing after confidently seeking a frontal confrontation instead of using trickery.

The next attack. Hyde would surely get it in the next attack.

The Minion charged. But Hyde quickly thought of stepping into its path and swinging his weapon horizontally. 

Bammm—!

The force of the blow slammed into its chest, knocking it back. It tried to recover, but Hyde was already on top of it.

He brought the bar down hard on its head several times, hearing a sickening crack as it crumpled to the ground.