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Chapter 8

Standing atop a roof was none other than "Unseen Nightmare", watching the players go by about their businesses. However, there was only one person on his mind ―"Raiden". He sat there for hours, becoming irritated. He had no way of knowing where the blond guild leader was, but as soon as he was about to give up and leave, he spotted Kise along with five others. They were walking leisurely towards the gate, the Elf grinning as he saw them leave the city.

Unseen Nightmare couldn't contain his laugh.

"So where exactly are we headed?" Awesome Singularity asked as the group exited the city. They consisted of Kise, Awesome Singularity, Amused Sharpshooter, Rihito, Kris, and two others ―"Fireblade", a Warrior whose given name is Setsurou, and "The Awkward Secret", a Swordsman(woman) whose given name is Hanae. Without replying, Kise brought up a map and with a flick of his wrist, the screen slid over to Awesome Singularity and she looked at it with confusion. "Where is this?"

Amused Sharpshooter leaned over and laughed. "You seriously don't know this monster den?" he guffawed. "This is a popular place for serious grinding. Depending on where you go, the monsters can be powerful or weak. Or in-between."

"I don't know it either." Setsurou said as he leaned over and looked at the map as well. "And I'm at level 30."

"Well, there's a first time for everything." Kise grinned. He then opened up his storage and a whistle appeared in his hand, Amused Sharpshooter did the same thing. Soon, two large winged creatures swooped down from the sky and landed in front of Kise and Amused Sharpshooter. The creature that landed in front of Kise was a Pegasus while Amused Sharpshooter had a griffon. They had both gotten these whistles way back when they had gone on a raid.

"Well, all aboard." Amused Sharpshooter grinned. "Rihito-san, Kris, come with me." The two detectives moved towards the gigantic griffon and after the Archer hopped up, he aided them as well.

"Oh shit." Kise mumbled upon seeing that there were still three people left. He then took out another whistle and blew. Just then, another Pegasus descended beside him. "Setsurou, Hanae, you'll ride on this one." he began, he then turned to Awesome Singularity, "You'll ride with me."

After everyone was mounted, they flew off, soaring through the skies at a comfortable speed. However, Amused Sharpshooter was miserable.

"This is an outrage!" he screeched.

"What is, Sharp?" Kise asked, pulling up his Pegasus beside the Archer's griffon.

"You and Setsurou are riding with females while I have two grown ass men behind me!" he pretended to cry.

"We're not that old!" Rihito countered. "I'm just thirty-two."

"And I'm twenty-seven! I'm sure you know that Chihaya!" Kris argued.

"Yeah, and I'm just eighteen. Compared to your ages, you're old to me."

"Chihaya-kun, please calm down." Awesome Singularity said, trying to soothe. "Weren't you the one who called Rihito-san and Kris-san over to you? The only one to blame is yourself."

"Chizuka-chan, I thought you'd be on my side." he whined.

"I'm a Swordsman. I can't be on an Archer's side." she grinned. Kise chuckled at their playful banter. Some more minutes and they arrived at their destination, a sparse green forest, with trees reaching up to the sky.

"Since we're here, how about we split up in groups?" Amused Sharpshooter suggested. "I can take with me Kris and Rihito-san."

"Hoh? And leave me with three charges?" Kise said, folding his arms. "How evil."

"You're a Cleric! You can always heal your party!" he argued. "None of us here have that ability."

"Fine. Let's go, guys." Kise smirked. "Let's see which group will be the first to gain five levels."

"Challenge accepted." Amused Sharpshooter smirked.

With that, the groups split up and went their separate ways. Amused Sharpshooter's group went to where the lower ranked monsters are since Rihito and Kris are at level 1. Kise's group headed to a higher level area since the lowest level of the group was Awesome Singularity who was at level 27.

Walking a couple minutes, the group encountered a mob of "Twin-Headed Bears" ―which were bear-like creatures with a huge body and incredibly long and sharp claws. Without hitch, Awesome Singularity dashed forward followed by Hanae. The two girls of the Swordsman class hacked and slashed continuously at the creatures, Kise dragged a hand over his face at their lack of coordination and teamwork. Setsurou only stood and watched, not able to join the fray.

"Come on guys ―girls! What about me!?" the Warrior roared. "Save some for me!"

These impulsive bastards...Kise groaned out as he watched them. But, he did nothing to interfere as his way of levelling up would be through healing them (mostly).

Setsurou dashed into the mob of monsters and after executing the "Evasive Roll" Skill, he used the "Vortex Slash" ―swinging his blades out in a wide arc, cutting down the monsters as he moved along. Pivoting on his feet, Kise then saw Setsurou use another skill, which most classes had albeit to correspond with their equipment ― "Rain of Blows". This skill was a flurry of sword swings while advancing, enabling the Warrior to take less damage as he surged forwards.

Kise then looked across to Hanae who was using the "Rapid Slice" skill to continuously take down the medium sized bears, ducking and dodging the attacks as she went along. Awesome Singularity used the skill "Oblique Thrust" which as its name suggests, she thrust her katana forwards stabbing continuously at her foe.

Within a couple minutes they cleared out that entire area, gaining some gold and EXP as well. They moved on after Kise recovered their stats and gave them a pep talk about their shitty teamwork. He inwardly laughed at the irony, as he was once a solo player.

Upon reaching the next area, this time, they worked better together and cleared out the monster bears quickly and efficiently. While Kise buffed them, he had to watch out for monster plants as well as he didn't want to get caught off-guard by anything. But as they advanced, Kise noticed that something was amiss. There were too many aggressive monsters coming towards them instead of them having to grab aggro. In addition, there were different monster mobs apart from the Twin Headed Bears. They encountered Lizardmen, goblins etc. which shouldn't be possible. This area was specifically for Twin Headed Bears only. This had never happened before in the game and Kise wondered if this was some bug or something to do with Unseen Nightmare.

"Guys," Kise started, catching their attention. "I think we should turn back." All eyebrows rose up at his statement. "Something feels off. Let's go before things take a turn for the worst."

"Really?" Hanae asked with a frown. "Aren't you overreacting?"

"I'm not." Kise said, calmly. "I've been here before, so obviously I can tell when something's wrong." he folded his arms as if saying 'You better listen to me and don't argue'.

Setsurou nodded in agreement. "He's the Guild Leader, I think you should listen."

"But we're doing so well!" Hanae countered. "What if this is all a part of the game? Chihaya-kun had stated that this was a monster den."

"Hanae-chan, let's hear what Rai―" Awesome Singularity broke off as the ground suddenly started shaking. The ground shook, bobbed and swayed like waves, the players were all displaced and struggling to keep afoot.

Just then a gigantic worm-like creature emerged from the ground. It's body was thicker than a horse and at least thirty metres long. There were intricate blue traces on the side and underbelly. At first glance, Kise and co. thought that it was a snake but upon closer inspection, they couldn't help gasp in horror. Seeing it, a shiver ran down Kise's spine, the thing was extremely hideous. He's never liked earthworms in the real world, and to see one this big in the virtual world was nothing short of frightening. However, looking at its health bars, Kise's face blanched.

The System then announced: « You have fallen into the Cocoon of the Blue Traced Worm ».

This was something that the three of them couldn't handle. Kise could always take a chance if Mysterious Hooligan, Amused Sharpshooter and Runic Night were here, but he had a level 3o Warrior with a Fire Mage subclass, two Swordsmen(women) one with a Sorcerer subclass and the other had Archery. While their subclasses were useful, their levels weren't quite up to par to take on that beast.

"Everyone! Run!" Kise screamed. Without hitch, Setsurou and Awesome Singularity dashed off, Kise even buffing them with "Aura of the Swift". However, he noticed that someone was missing. Stopping and turning around, he saw that Hanae was heading in the opposite direction ―she was actually going head-on to the boss monster.

Kise's face twisted with disbelief.

Cursing, he ran towards her, hoping to grab her before she gets aggro. However, that day was not to be Kise's lucky day. As soon as Hanae reached closer to the boss, she drew her katana and attacked its exposed underbelly, however, instead of scratching it or dealing some damage, her katana broke and disappeared into pixelated fragments.

"What…?" she mumbled in shock. Then, with swift movements, the Worm opened its mouth and dived towards Hanae, swallowing her whole. Kise gaped in shock.

"Well, well, well," a voice rang out from atop the worm's head. "I've finally met you, Raiden-kun." Soon, an Elf with dark green hair and piercing red eyes appeared with a nasty grin on his face. Kise's blood immediately ran cold as he knew who it was ―Unseen Nightmare.

xxxx

"That stupid bitch!" Ryouhei roared with anger as he watched what was unfolding in the game. "Ryou told her to run, why did she run towards that beast?!" The occupants within the room were beyond livid. In addition to Seirin, Kaijou and the Miracles, Ryouhei, Ritsuko and Kise's sisters ―Reiko and Ruiko were present. The latter two wanted to see their little alive and in one piece, but they didn't think that they'd end up seeing him in such a situation.

[Shit! What's he doing here?!] Kise thought in horror. But what was even more horrifying was that he could see Hanae inside the Worm but her levels were steadily draining. Kise didn't want to know what will happen if she reached level 1 so he decided to act.

By this time, Awesome Singularity and Setsurou had stopped to look behind them as they hadn't seen Kise. But when they saw Hanae within the creature and the Elf atop its head, they broke out in cold sweat. With his quick thinking, Setsurou called Amused Sharpshooter and told him the situation before he and Awesome Singularity headed towards Kise to aid as backup. Seeing them coming, Kise quickly phoned them both.

"Don't get too close to it." Kise said. "I can't protect myself and you guys too. Plus, God knows what skills that Worm has."

"Understood." They both said.

"My, my," Unseen Nightmare grinned. "The more, the merrier. So what will you do, Raiden-kun? Your precious guildmate's life is hanging in the balance, you know?"

"Raiden isn't alone!" Setsurou shouted and from his Fire Mage subclass, he launched an attack at the Worm. With a sickening twist, the creature evaded the tunnel of fire, Kise feeling like he wanted to throw up by just looking at the creature.

He then said, "I'll hold it in one place, so you better deal some damage. Our priority is to get Hanae. The moment she's free, we're leaving."

Kise dashed off towards the creature, and stopped mid-range. Using the skill "Binding Chains" ―out of two magic circles, came six chains with a faint yellow glow, extending towards the Worm boss and trapping it in place. Writhing and squirming, the Worm struggled against Kise's chains, hoping to get free causing the blond to break out in sweat because of the immense strain that was more than he could handle. Its gigantic body gave it terrifying strength and Kise knew that with one hit, the beast could deal some serious damage.

Awesome Singularity and Setsurou used their most powerful attacks in their current arsenal to deal some damage to the boss. However, it was futile. There was hardly any scratch, and its health bars had remained intact. Seeing a dark green glow cover the Worm's body, Kise yelled,

"Disperse! Be careful!"

The two managed to react just in time to escape the Blue Traced Worm's poison. It dug into the ground, all colour from Kise's face drained. A worm's natural element is the earth, and as such, it can move swiftly and nimbly in the ground, giving it the element of surprise when attacking.

A deadly silence hung in the air, seeming as though the Worm had disappeared. But feeling a tingling sensation, Kise buffed their legs and told them to jump. A couple seconds after, the Worm emerged from the ground, opening its mouth ready to swallow them whole.

"Attack!" Kise barked. Strangely in sync, the trio launched their strongest at the creature; for Setsurou, twelve swords of Fire formed behind him before they flew towards the Worm, Awesome Singularity used "Lightning Strike" from her Sorcerer subclass and Kise used "Heavenly Slash" ―after pointing the edge of his both his katana to the sky and then bringing them down, a large vertical slash of Holy Magic headed straight to the Worm. All three attacks dealt damage, although Kise's was more effective due to the higher level.

Boom!

The Worm shot out of the ground and into the air, Kise letting out a cry of disgust and horror. Everyone scattered away from the creature, Kise preparing an attack for when it landed. Looking back at Hanae, he realized that he couldn't prolong this any more and may have to attack the Worm without the help of Awesome Singularity and Setsurou. He couldn't afford them to be caught like Hanae as well.

The Worm dived downwards to them and with an intimidating stance, four times with each arm Kise swung his both his katana in a wide arc, seeming to be forming an "X". Brilliant Crescent Moons flew towards the Boss and swiftly sliced the Blue Traces on its underbelly. It was the "Mikazuki: Eight Moons" Combo and it hit the Worm squarely. A cold glint flashed across Kise's eyes as he prepared for the Worm once more.

Pfff!

A cloud of slime burst forth, Hanae falling out as well. Kise screamed as he ran, not wanting the slime to catch him. He wasn't worried that there may be a debuff in it, he just felt that the slime was nasty.

The Boss crashed landed on the ground, and began to writhe all over the place. Kise suddenly realized that the Traces were its weakness. But ignoring that, he dashed over to Hanae who lay unmoving in the slime.

"Hiii!" Kise shrieked in disgust as he held her under her arm. "This is disgusting!" But holding her, he saw that the slime really had a debuff present: Paralysis. Quickly getting out of there, Kise recovered her stats but frowned. She had lost all of eleven levels and was now Level 19. Add to that, she lost her primary combat weapon and was momentarily paralyzed.

[This is a fucking disaster]. Kise thought angrily as he used "Cleansing Touch" to remove the debuff.

Kise was right. The Blue Traced Worm was clearly enraged. It twisted its massive body and swept it across the area. The terrifying rampage caused everyone to retreat, stones and trees flew everywhere as explosions resounded in the air. The power of the Worm Boss was dreadful. Kise didn't even care about the slime on Hanae anymore, he slung her over his shoulder and bolted. Opening up his item storage, he got a Travel Rune and prepared to use it. However, it only glowed and faded. They hadn't been teleported.

"What kind of trap is this?!" Kise cursed. Placing Hanae on the ground, he spun and faced the raging Worm, somehow, it was ignoring Awesome Singularity and Setsurou. It then slithered towards Kise, but the blond didn't retreat. Instead, he rushed forward to meet it and right when it seemed as though the Worm would have crushed him, he used "Aura of the Swift" and leaped upwards behind its head after which he used "Mikazuki" to send a Crescent Moon shaped attack of Holy Magic towards the creature.

Kise flicked backwards to avoid landing on the boss, and out of its sight. He then used "Fury Strike" ―an attack with which an upward slash from his katana, Holy Magic emerged from the tip and proceeded to the Boss. The attack dealt damage to the boss, Kise grinning at this. Finally one health bar had gone down. Two more to go. He then buffed Awesome Singularity and Setsurou with "Aura of the Swift" for them to attack it and escape before it reacts. Setsurou used his Mage subclass and burned off most of the slime covering the Worm's body, while Awesome Singularity and Kise hacked away at its traces.

Using most of his destructive skills, the Worm's HP was wearing down at a considerable rate but it was exhausting for Kise. The more he attacked, the more he had to heal himself and the others. The traces dimmed significantly, and thankfully, Setsurou was there with his Fire magic. The slime was extremely slippery, but what he noticed ―the slime was like some form of armour.

Throwing those thoughts aside, Kise focused at the task at hand, and within some minutes, the Worm had been successfully killed, dropping some rare items, EXP and gold. Kise collapsed onto his butt, exhausted. Too lazy to heal himself, he drank a recovery potion. With the boss now dead, the paralysis had been lifted off Hanae.

Then, the System announced: « First Boss kill of the Blue Traced Worm ―Raiden, Awesome Singularity and Fireblade ».

"It's the first time my name's been announced on the server!" Setsurou cheered. "Yay!"

"Quit idling and let's go!" Kise said as he ran passed. He remembered seeing the Elf when the Worm appeared, he didn't want to linger.

"No, no," Unseen Nightmare said, appearing out of the shadows. "None of that."

However, as they reached a certain area, they bumped into what seemed to be an invisible wall, preventing exit. Only Awesome Singularity had managed to escape. Then the Elf walked towards them with a grin on his face. Dark green mist spewed out of his body, Kise knew all too well that anything of a dark colour coming out of an opponent is never something good. The mist came at them with great speed, but quickly opening his inventory, he selected two items called "Lifesaving Brooch" and "Shadow Trinket". He had gotten those (among other things) when he went on a two separate raids with Goldengarde Guild last month. The Brooch forms a protective barrier around the wearer, saving them from all forms of attacks. However, if the owner isn't the one wearing it, its strength is only as strong as their level. The Shadow Trinket on the other hand, allows instant regeneration. The moment the wearer is damaged, the wound will immediately heal. And if HP wears down, it builds it back up.

He threw them to Setsurou and Hanae and told them to put it on quickly. With the Brooch and Trinket now equipped, the mist didn't approach them thus, kept them from being poisoned.

"How selfless." Unseen Nightmare mocked.

"Thanks," Kise spat with sarcasm.

"But not because Healers have a high resistance to poisons that doesn't mean you'll last forever." Unseen Nightmare smirked. He then opened up a Menu yet again, and touched it twice before a white light surrounded Kise. But, after a second or two, it disappeared, Kise checking himself for any damages, any debuffs.

There was nothing.

"What did you do?" Kise asked, his voice laced with fear.

"Nothing much." Unseen Nightmare said as he glared at Kise with a killer intent. His legs were bent, his left arm holding the rapier directly at Kise. The blond retreated in two quick galloping steps in order to gain some distance. However, Unseen Nightmare lunged forward with his rapier extended, Kise dipped deftly to the right of the rapier, spun around, and then came back from below with his katana, clashing against the Elf's.

The two blades slid against each other until they reached a midpoint, then held. With the pressure of his own, Kise had used all his strength into stopping Unseen Nightmare's rapier. His arms were shaking, and it was then that he realized that the poison mist was taking effect faster than he thought prior. Kise buffed himself with "Aura of the Strong", and pushed off Unseen Nightmare.

Then, the Elf moved his rapier, slicing the point of the sword through the air in short whip like movements. He then snapped the blade sideways to Kise but the blond brought up his katana and parried the blow. Then, the two were suddenly engaged in a rush of jabs and parries, making a dense clatter as they fought off each other's blows. When Kise's blade glanced wide to the right, Unseen Nightmare lunged forward, but Kise was quick enough and rocked back, sweeping his katana up and around and onto Unseen Nightmare's wrist.

However, in that instance, white coloured vines shot up out of the ground and wrapped itself around Kise. The blond froze that moment, but then a surge of electricity coursed through his body forcibly ripping a scream from his throat. The vines receded and Kise collapsed onto the ground on his fours. He was flabbergasted at what just happened.

He felt pain.

In this world, pain is non-existent. The closest that they'd feel to their real bodies is a little exhaustion if their HP gets too low. That's it. But this, this was crazy.

Ryouhei balled his hands into a fist, pissed that he couldn't go into the game and knock some senses into Hanae. Because of her, his precious boy was hurting. Tears stung at the corner Ritsuko's eyes, Ruiko and Reiko scheming that when the players return to the real world, they'll hunt her down and personally deal with her.

Kuroko was extremely disturbed at this, as even though he found Kise irritable and annoying, seeing him face such a thing was close to heartbreaking. Even the Miracles, especially Aomine was seething. He didn't know much about VRMMOs, but he kept swearing that he'll definitely help the blond's sisters to take her down.

While Kise was still dazed, Unseen Nightmare attacked him, sending the blond Cleric flying into a nearby tree. A sickening crack was heard and once more, Kise screamed out in immense pain. He didn't know if the sound came from the tree branch that broke or from him, but either way, his body was convulsing from the pain. Using the skill "Cleansing Touch", Kise tried to heal himself, however, he realized that due to the poison from the Elf, there was hardly any effect. Struggling to get up on his feet, Kise saw that the Elf was making his way to Hanae and ignoring Setsurou.

The two were bound by something, Kise couldn't decipher because his vision in one eye was cloudy with red. It burned a little, and when he rubbed it, what he saw left him shocked. It was blood. Kise's breathing became heavy from seeing it, as if he was close to having a panic attack.

"I'm bleeding?" he gasped. "Why…?"

"My baby!" Ryouhei and Ritsuko screeched in horror. "That Elf should be charged with assault!"

"Wounding with intent!" Reiko joined in her parents' screeching.

"I don't know about you, but I'm ready to go headhunting." Ruiko said, fumbling in her large handbag. Then, she pulled out a gun, and loaded the cartridges. "No one should hurt my little brother like that and live to boast about it." she spat with venom. Kaijou and the others flinched in horror at the family and made mental notes to be careful around Kise. If, by some chance, they made him cry or whatever, then they knew that this psycho family will find them. And no one wanted to be on the Kise family's hitlist. But then, the teams wondered how Haizaki was still alive after Kaijou's match against Fukuda Sogo in the Winter Cup.

"Of course we all are." Ryouhei grinned wickedly. "I call dibs on the Elf. The rest of you can hunt that girl. She's at fault as well."

"Papa, you're such a hog." Reiko pouted. After, everyone looked back on the monitors, although they didn't want to see Kise writhing in pain so much. However, at the moment, they saw Unseen Nightmare walk over to Hanae who was bound by what seemed to be vines, unable to even lift a finger. Her bow was laying in front of her.

Unseen Nightmare swung his rapier in a wide arc, wanting to cut Hanae's chest. She squeezed her eyes shut knowing full well that one attack from the Elf would kill her in her current state. When she saw the blade come down, she thought, [this was it] but after a couple seconds, she realized that nothing happened.

"Raiden!"

Hanae opened her eyes at Awesome Singularity and Setsurou's screams, and saw something that made her gasp in horror. Her Guild Leader shielded her from harm, but he was bleeding and his clothes looked tattered. She found it strange, since their clothes don't get torn in-game nor are they supposed to bleed.

Pushing back the Elf, Kise charged forward, swinging his blades at Unseen Nightmare. However, the Elf used a skill from his subclass, and shot electricity at the blond Cleric. Ducking to the left, Kise managed to escape, but he slid in the dirt and fell onto his back.

At this, Unseen Nightmare rushed up and was about to slice Kise in half, but, thankfully, the blond was fast enough and rolled out of the way. Getting up onto his feet, Kise took his stance holding his both his katana before him. His arms and legs were shaking, pain racked his body both inside and out, but gritting his teeth, he had to work through it. What he hated was that his healing skills weren't working as efficiently as they should, but at least, they kept the poison at bay...for now.

"Let's see how long you'll last." Unseen Nightmare grinned. However, at this moment, Kise used "Plague of Exhaustion" on his opponent, making the Elf stagger and sway for a moment. Using this opportunity, Kise charged at Unseen Nightmare and when he was close enough, he used the skill "Tornado Strike" and landed forty-eight deadly blows to the Elf. His HP was going down, which Kise was grateful for, but that was when everything took a turn for the worst.

While Hanae was able to move, Setsurou still had his body bound by an invisible force. In an attempt to aid her Guild Leader, Hanae switched to her Archer subclass and tried to aid Kise by firing off her arrows using "Arrow Volley". While it worked (to an extent), it was making Unseen Nightmare quite irritable. With a devious smirk, he lunged towards her, Kise hardly having any time to react. From the players who he got from Murata, he knew that the Elf's equipment was of a high quality. Since she was at level 20, Kise knew that one or two hits from the rapier would enviably kill her. Add to that, even though she had on the Brooch, its power corresponds to the wearer's level.

And anyone killed by the Elf don't come back.

But within a flash, Unseen Nightmare disappeared in thin air, only to reappear where Setsurou was. Within a blink, the Elf sliced the Warrior, taking some HP as well. He then looked into Kise's direction and sliced Setsurou again. Hanae tried to use her bow to bash him but she was sent flying couple metres away.

"Stop..." Kise said, choking out. "Stop!" he screamed. Ruthlessness shined in Kise's eyes, and ignoring the pain (like he was earlier), he dashed towards the Elf, hacking away at him. Kise was absolutely relentless, using deadly skills like "Mikazuki", "Heavenly Slash", "Fury Strike" and "In Cold Blood" with the latter forcing the Elf to attack him due to its aggro factor. Tears rolled down the blond's eyes, both due to the fact that he almost lost Setsurou and his body was being overrun with pain.

Strangely, Unseen Nightmare was flustered. Although his stats and abilities were far above Kise's, he was being overpowered. Not wanting this drag out any further, Unseen Nightmare leaped backwards while buffing his rapier. Lunging forward, the Elf continuously stabbed at Kise, and now with his body slowing down, Kise was unable to block all of the strikes.

Blood splattered all over the place like scattered autumn leaves, sickening snaps were heard as though there were bones breaking, but all through this, Hanae could only look on with horror. She knew this was all her fault and there wasn't nothing she could do about it since she was at a mere level 19 and lost her primary combat weapon. But as she continued to look on, she saw Kise fighting with unyielding determination. Although his movements were sluggish even with "Aura of the Swift", he still managed to deal some blows to the Elf. Whenever he felt that his close ranged attacks weren't going to reach, he used his Cleric skills instead.

"Yeesssss!" Ryouhei shouted out. "Slaughter that motherfucker!"

"Ryou! There are children in the room!" Ritsuko hissed angrily.

Sticking out his tongue playfully while scratching his nape, he said, "Oops, my bad."

[Shit! Did I actually make the Cleric class this powerful?!] Unseen Nightmare thought as he was sent flying backwards by one of Kise's spells. [If this continues…] but then, he ended his trail of thoughts when he remembered something. Opening his storage, a spell circle shone on the ground and slowly a creature emerged. It was a Lamia ―a creature with the upper half of its body being a beautiful woman but below the waist is that of a serpent.

"Oi, oi, oi," Setsurou said as he trembled. He hadn't died, but his HP was halved. "Don't tell me it's another boss?"

As if on cue, the System Announced: « You have been ensnared in the Lamia's illusion ».

"Well shit." Kise mumbled. He buffed himself and recovered whatever stats he could, after which he drank a recovery potion. Although most of his wounds were now healed, his clothes and skin were still stained with blood.

"Kill them." Unseen Nightmare said to the Lamia. That moment, her hair turned into snakes and slithered towards the trio. Kise stood rooted in front of Hanae and Setsurou, being that he didn't want to take any chances. Although Setsurou had the Shadow Trinket, he wasn't sure if the Elf was able to do something to it like how he's currently feeling pain and bleeding.

As the snakes came close, they pounced upon Kise, of course, now upgraded to a Swordsmaster due to the Blue Traced Worm, he killed the smaller snakes with ease. But, he knew something was amiss. Glancing around to the two behind almost every second, he found that they were safe...for now. Looking back at the Lamia, he saw that she was spawning snakes rapidly.

Kise charged forwards, wiping them out with his attacks and spells of Holy Magic, but there were too many snakes. In that moment, while he focusing on getting rid of the snakes, Unseen Nightmare headed towards Hanae, forcing Kise to use his "Binding Chains" to pull both Setsurou and her away.

"Pay attention, Raiden-kun." Unseen Nightmare grinned. A snake bit into Kise's shin, pain like hot iron worked its way up through his leg. Grunting in pain, Kise nearly doubled over, when he was bitten again on his other shin. Fed up, decided to take a gamble. He needed to get rid of that Lamia before anything else happens.

Holding a recovery potion in his hand, he charged forwards into the snakes and towards the Lamia and used one of his Clerical skills "Holy Smite" ―Kise opened up his grimoire and pulled out his sceptre. Holding it up into the air, a large bright ball of light descended and as soon as it was within range, it exploded, enveloping everything in blinding light. As the light dispersed, the snakes were all gone and the Lamia's life had entered the red. Without hitch, Kise used the "Mikazuki" and "Fury Strike" to end her, after which the System Announced:

« First Lamia boss kill ―Raiden ».

Kise was tired and exhausted, and for some reason, the recovery potion that he drank wasn't helping. He was bitten by snakes only on his legs, and even though the Lamia was gone, the pain was still lingering.

"Raiden!" Awesome Singularity screamed, alerting the blond Guild Leader of the danger. Unseen Nightmare was heading directly to Hanae and Setsurou. The Elf smiled, for a moment, it actually seemed genuine. As he was about to bring down his rapier to slice her, Kise reached just in time, and used both his katana for the block thinking that with the two of the them combined, they could withstand the Elf's (cheat-like) rapier.

How wrong he was.

Hanae only heard the sound of a glass shattering before she heard the heavy thud of a body fall to the ground. Kise landed face-first in the dirt, both his katana blades were broken and a couple seconds after, they disappeared into pixelated fragments. A pool of dark red flowed out from beneath him, Hanae staring on in horror.

Unseen Nightmare then stabbed Kise in his lower back, eliciting a weak scream yet painful scream from the blond. The Elf could see his health bar and knew he wasn't dead yet.

[Damn Cleric, so fucking hard to die!] Unseen Nightmare thought bitterly. "This is all your fault!" he shouted. "My perfectly made plan is crumbling all because you decided to be a smart little shit!" He stabbed at Kise yet again, this time a painful groan came from him.

Just then, a bright pillar of light shot up out of the ground, dealing damage to the Elf. It was Kise's spell ―Holy Reprisal. However, do to the gravity of the situation, Kise used up most of his remaining MP to prolong the spell for more damage to be inflicted. By the time the pillar of light faded, Unseen Nightmare's health went down and clearly the Elf was not happy. He was about to stab Kise yet again when eight arrows crashed into his body, sending him flying couple metres away.

Hanae looked in the direction the arrows flew from, she managed to crack a smile on her teary eyed face.

"I'm not amused." Amused Sharpshooter hissed angrily as he continued to use "Arrow Volley" to release multiple arrows at the Elf.

"I agree with the Archer boy." Midorima said, gripping his lucky item ―a small kitchen knife in rage. "I'm not amused." Everyone inched away from the shooting guard, what made it worse, Akashi was right beside him.

"I'm not extremely close with Kise, but even I'm feeling upset at this." Hyuuga said. However, Kaijou had to be restrained especially Kasamatsu. The Blue Elites were seething awfully, and somehow, the Miracles felt a little bit jealous seeing how close they were to Kise.

Mysterious Hooligan and Shameless Illusion were with him as well, the former freeing Hanae and grabbing Setsurou, the latter working with Amused Sharpshooter to tackle the Elf. Using the skill "Time's Sphere", Shameless Illusion rendered the Elf immobile long enough for Amused Sharpshooter to continue with his rain of arrows.

Throughout all this Awesome Singularity was confused. The trio that just arrived was able to approach them but she still couldn't. The invisible wall was still there, and ultimately, she collapsed onto her butt with tears rolling down her cheeks. She was mad at her powerlessness.

"Guys!" Mysterious Hooligan then shouted as he flashed a Travel Rune ―a small rectangular light-blue coloured paper with intricate deep blue rune-like markings. Without hitch, He took Hanae and Setsurou, while Shameless Illusion dashed towards Awesome Singularity, Amused Sharpshooter took out one as well, everyone safely leaving the area.

Unseen Nightmare was not pleased.

xxxx

"Oi! Azuma! Akinori!" Amused Sharpshooter shouted as he carried Kise towards a nearby table in the social area.

"Ben! Chie! Anyone!?" Shameless Illusion screeched.

The members present didn't see what was going on at first, when those called emerged and Kise was put down, gasps and frantic chatter rang out. It was the first time that they've seen their guild leader in such a state and it was absolutely mortifying. His clothes were torn in numerous places, cuts, scrapes and slices marred his body but worst of all, there was blood everywhere.

"I'm here!" Ben shouted. His primary class was Priest, with a Fire Mage subclass. His in-game name was "Elf's Serenity" since the avatar he had was of the Elf race. A mortified gasp escaped his lips as he laid eyes on Kise, and when he looked to Amused Sharpshooter, his eyes were saying "What the hell happened?" However, he didn't wait for an answer. Using the skill "Regeneration Circle", he tried to heal Kise as his HP had gone down into deep red. One attack from something as low as a level 1 skill could kill him at the moment.

"Everyone who saw what happened, please come with me." Silver then spoke up. "You too Rihito-san, Kris-san." he then turned to the rest, "The rest of you give Ben-kun some space, he needs to concentrate."

And like that, everyone cleared out of the room, Silver taking the ones he called to find out what exactly happened. His Guild Leader was bleeding and clothes were tattered, that was something that doesn't happen in the virtual world. While Kise was out of commission, as the one second in charge, he figured that he should get as much information as possible. First the log out button disappears now this?

"What the hell is next?" the chemistry teacher mumbled to himself.


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