"Hey, you're late, Haseo!" Informed Silabus, standing outside the quest shop with his hands on his hips.
"Sorry about that." Haseo replied. "You're the one that told me to bring a friend, remember?"
"Oh yeah! Who else is going on an adventure with us?"
Silabus gasped as Shino stepped out from behind Haseo. "Atoli, is that you?" He asked, clearly shocked. "What made you decide to change your character all of a sudden?"
Haseo interrupted before things got overwhelming. "She's not Atoli!" He told Silabus. "Her name is Shino. Her and Atoli just have the same PC."
Shino introduced herself. "It's very nice to meet you, Silabus. Sorry for the confusion."
"Oh, no! Don't worry about it." said Silabus. "I'm sorry I confused you with someone else. It happens all the time." He paused to regain his composure. "I'm Silabus, the current guild master of Canard. It's nice to meet you too."
"So what's this quest about anyway?" Haseo asked, changing the subject.
Shino stepped forward to read the details.
"I've heard a lot about this quest." Silabus answered. "It's supposed to have high level monsters that rival the ones you fought in the Forest of Pain."
So, he did know about it. Haseo thought.
"I see. This one has to do with clearing the map of all enemies." Shino observed.
"Yeah," Silabus added. "And they're not like all the other enemies we usually see. These are all bosses."
"Oh, relax you two. We should be fine." Haseo told his party members. "As you both know, I've cleared the Forest of Pain...twice!"
"It doesn't hurt to be more careful, just in case." Shino said. "We should make sure we have plenty of healing items before we embark."
"You don't have to worry about that, Shino. I'm strong enough for all of us." Haseo said, walking up to her. "I won't let anything bad happen."
Shino smiled gratefully. "Well, then I guess we have nothing to worry about."
"Well then, shall we go?" Asked Silabus.
And with that the group headed off to complete their quest.
The field looked like any other normal playing field. The sky was bright and sunny, with hills surrounding the area. Trees were spread out randomly, and so were the enemies. The background music was calm and relaxing, almost trying to persuade the group to forget that they were on a quest.
But they were reminded of their task as soon as they stumbled upon a group of three, tall, skeletons with full-body armor.
"Watch your back everybody!" Silabus warned, pulling out his weapon.
The enemies revealed their weapons as well, as If they too were players instead of field monsters. Two of them had short swords while the third, apparently their leader, held an intimidating, heavy axe.
Haseo pulled out his heavy broad sword and prepared to vanquish the monsters. They were shielded; otherwise he would have pulled out his dual guns. "I'm going in!" He cried, rushing at the monsters.
Silabus followed him in while Shino stayed near the back, focusing on the health of the other two.
"Take this!" Haseo tore through the enemies' defenses with his shell breaker art. With their shields broken, he switched to his dual guns and began hitting all three of the enemies simultaneously.
"Nice going, Haseo!" Silabus cheered. When the enemies were hit enough times, Silabus went in for a rengeki. He hit one of the monsters as Haseo focused on the other, but they had forgotten the leader.
Haseo tried to locate the monster, but by the time he found it, it was already going after Shino. "Shino, watch out!" He tried to warn her. There was nothing he could do, since seeing her being attacked had left him open to the attacks of the other two enemies. He watched helplessly as Shino's character was sent flying against the wall of their battle area. He would've rushed over to help her had he not been paralyzed by the attacks he had sustained watching her get injured. Damn it!
The evil skeleton charged at Shino again, who would've surely recovered had she not been paralyzed by it's attack. He went completely berserk on her character, thrashing his axe about, knocking her around like a rag doll.
Haseo cursed himself for being so unreliable, and swore that once his paralysis wore off, every monster on the battlefield would be in hell.
"Shino!" Silabus called. Having finished his rengeki on the other monster, he charged toward the one attacking Shino.
It was an unbelievable sight. Now Silabus was paralyzed, and Haseo was beginning to lose his patience.
"You bastard!" Haseo roared. No longer paralyzed, he quickly targeted the monster that had attacked Shino and pressed the skill trigger. A swift weapon change to his most favored weapon, Lit Honeysuckle, combined with the brutal attack known as chaotic strike brought an end to the monster in a matter of seconds. Silabus and Shino both watched silently as Haseo changed weapons and tore through the other two monsters in one sweep with his overpowering scythe.
"Amazing..." Silabus commented. "You've gotten really powerful, Haseo."
Once the monsters were defeated, Haseo tucked his weapon away and walked over to Shino, kneeling down in front of her. She said nothing. Instead she looked up at him, waiting for him to speak. "Are you okay?" He asked, as if she had been injured in the real world. At this point, Shino was more concerned about him than about herself, since this wasn't the first time Haseo had acted this way in front of her.
"I'm fine, Haseo." she told him. "But I think you may be overreacting again."
Haseo looked down in shame and sighed. Not again... He couldn't help it, feeling the need to protect her. She had been his only reason for playing the game; his only reason for existing inside of The World. He had decided long ago that he would exist in this world for her. "Yeah," He said and paused, scratching the back of his neck. "I guess I have sort of taken it too far again this time, haven't I?" He almost felt like apologizing, not wanting to have things end up so awkward between them, especially after everything they had been through already. After all, he wanted to be a better person for Shino. Not just strength wise, but also...something he couldn't quite figure out just yet.
"It's okay, Haseo." Shino replied. "You don't have to worry so much. I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere." She placed her hands in his in order to give him some much-needed reassurance. "Okay?" She said, smiling kindly, the same way she had when they first met.
Haseo gladly accepted her hands; her gentle hands he would never forget. As they stood up together he slowly remembered all of their time spent together. It seemed as if it were only yesterday. "I'm right here." He said finally, a smile crossing his lips.
Shino continued to smile, almost as if she already knew what Haseo planned to say.
"I used to tell myself that while you were away." He told her. "I never knew why, but it gave me strength."
"Um, sorry to interrupt." Silabus declared, walking right in the middle of their conversation. "The monsters here are finished, so don't you think we should move on?"
Haseo and Shino quickly turned their attention to Silabus, both surprised by his sudden intervention. Haseo suddenly forgot why they had brought him along with them in the first place.
"Oh yeah, the quest." Haseo said aloud. Usually, he might be excited, but now he sounded rather disappointed.
Shino laughed at how easily Haseo's attention was thrown off track. "Maybe we should concentrate on the quest, for now." She said.
"Right!" Silabus added. "Cheer up, Haseo! Only a few more monsters to go!"
"Yeah, yeah." Haseo replied. It wasn't like he could get anything special for the quest anyway. Everything he wanted was already right in front of him. He stared at Shino, and remained unresponsive even after she ran off.
"What's the matter, Haseo?" Shino called, snapping Haseo out of his daze. She was running in the direction of the next battle. "Hurry! We're almost done!"
"Hey wait!" Haseo called after her. "You can't take them all on by yourself!"