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Chapter 9

Triggered Questline

The clearing group arrived just outside the village, the Hunter in front of them. An NPC was standing in front of them, asking to be talked to. He approached the NPC and interacted with it.

"Oh, Hunter! Please help us, our village has been overrun by beasts!" The NPC exclaimed.

"That's not what it said last time..." Asuna muttered.

"Please take this, it's what we have, we hope it will help you in your hunt." He received five blood vials from the NPC.

"What are those..?" Asuna asked, everyone else's facial expressions screamed the same thing, he stored the blood vials in his inventory and dismissed the menu.

"Healing items." He replied. He looked at the village and behind it was a cathedral, which he presumed was the final area.

"I'm guessing the final area is in that cathedral over there." He said, pointing at the huge building towering over the village. "Possibly a boss." He continued, informing them of the possibilities that could happen in the quest.

The group advanced into the village, their formation was like that of a circle, covering all sides. But the Hunter could care less about it as he stayed ahead of the group, only looking in front of him as he advanced forward.

"You seem rather relaxed for a situation like this..." The vice commander commented, sounding suspicious.

"I don't always rely on what I see, sometimes, I use my hearing instead. The enemies here will always make noise when they engage players." He explained. Just ahead them were a group of huntsmen, equipped with various weapons.

"Company ahead, these guys are just fodder. But be careful, I've seen these guys take out players before."

Without another word, he pulled out his sword and charged towards the group.

The vice commander noticed this and called out to him in an attempt to stop him.

"Wait!" She shouted, he ignored this and continued his charge. He performed a jump attack on the nearest huntsman, forcing his blade down on its back. Two others engaged him, one thrusted its pitchfork at him, he leaned backwards and dodged the attack. The second followed up by swinging a cutlass at him, he quickly deflected the attack using his sword before it could hit him, staggering the huntsman momentarily. He transformed his weapon into a hammer and pulled a wide swing, knocking both of the enemies down and killing them.

Two hunting dogs came into view, running right for him. One attempted to pounce on him, he leaned backwards in response, dodging the pouncing attack. The other dog tried to jump on him as well, but he grabbed it by its neck and slammed the beast on the ground behind him, he pulled out his blunderbuss and shot the creature in the head, blood shooting off its head. He turned his attention to the remaining beast, who was midway jumping on him. He swung his sword upwards, slapping the beast off to the side.

He turned to check on the group that was just behind him. Only to find out that they were all looking at him like he just did something crazy.

"Let's move, no time to waste." He called out to them, advancing forward, leaving the group to catch up.

They continued along the beast-infested town and arrived near a staircase that led to the grand cathedral. The group was about to advance until a few church servants came into view. Tall, masked beings that were neither kin nor beast. The three entities approached them, all their weapons varying with each one. One held a cane, the second held a crucifix, and the third held a cane and a lantern.

"Be careful with these guys, their attacks are simple and predictable, but they deal considerable amounts of damage. Take caution." He instructed, they nodded their heads and understood his instructions. Two more church servants appeared behind them, both using a cane. Summing up to five enemies to deal with.

"Everyone, form a circular formation, cover all sides." He ordered as he noticed the two others approaching from behind. The servants continued walking at a constant pace, as if they were leisurely strolling through the park.

One raised its lantern up, three orbs appeared on top of the lantern, which transformed to slow moving homing missiles. The Hunter charged forward, dodging at the last second to disjoint the missiles heading for him. He closed the distance between him and his target and slashed a region of its abdomen, forcing it to take a step backwards. It responded with a swing of its cane, it swung its weapon twice, hoping to hit the assailant. But the Hunter jumped back, avoiding both attacks, he turned his sword into a hammer and charged his attack. After a moment of holding he dropped the huge brick into the masked servant, crushing it to the ground.

He turned to look at the other groups, they were managing on their own with a some difficulty, but not to the point they'd die. 'One of them might die, if they get careless...' He thought, imagining how that'd go. He turned to glance at the stairs leading to the cathedral and spotted a giant, beefy guy with a cloak and a big axe.

'Well, shit...' Things could get worse with that thing near the group.

"I'll leave these church servants to you guys, I'll take on that big guy over there." He notified, directing his message to the vice commander, who was in the middle of fighting.

"Wait, what?!" She replied, struggling to reply in the midst of fighting.

"You'll be fine, I'm sure you guys got this." He called out as he ran towards the executioner.

He turned back to face his target, only to find out it was in the air with its axe ready to plunge down on him

"Shit." He muttered, realizing he didn't pay any attention to his target during his charge. He jump to the side in an attempt to dodge the incoming axe, but the blade glanced off his side, removing a small part of his health. He recovered his composure and stood ready in front of the hooded figure. The figure swung its axe thrice in rapid succession, he dodged the first two by leaning to the side and jumping back. On the third swing, he tried to deflect the axe by swinging his sword at the incoming blade. Resulting in both weapons making contact and deflecting each other, the impact made both parties stagger.

He dashed forward and slashed away at his opponent, quickly recovering from the impact. The health bar constantly drained from the enemy with each hit. He transformed his weapon and dropped it on the executioner, crushing its body on the ground.

'I should get a new weapon...' He thought, inspecting his hammer.

His inspection was interrupted when the beefy guy picked itself up in front of him.

"Right, I forgot about you for a second." He said, apologizing to his opponent, as if it would reply back.

He swung his hammer at it, the huge brick smacking it at the side. He removed the sword from the sheathe, reducing its weight and slammed it at the enemy, he attached the sword again and hit it for a third time. Ensuring a kill.

He heard footsteps behind him and turned around, Asuna stopped behind him.

"How'd it go?" He inquired, hoping to head good news.

"We have some men injured, but no casualties." She replied, bringing some decent news with her.

"If they're badly injured, they're top priority. Send them back, they can't continue in a place like this." He suggested, almost sounding like a command. She eyed him for a moment, her facial expressions were sassy.

"Sorry, if that sounded commanding." He quickly apologized, hoping to escape a scolding from the vice commander.

She let out a tired sigh and nodded in agreement.

"I was thinking of the same thing." She replied, sheathing her rapier.

"How sweet of you." He complimented, rather sarcastically.

In a flash, she pulled out her rapier and pointed it at him, her face turning red with anger and embarrassment.

"Actually, I was joking. I ain't about that life." He claimed, raising both of his hands up and taking a few steps backwards.

She collected her chill and sheathed her weapon, clearing her throat.

"Well, where do we go now?" She questioned, in an authoritative tone.

He turned to face the long set of stairs behind him. "Well, there's only one way we can possibly go to." He said, pointing to the stairs leading to the grand cathedral. The Hunter started walking to the direction of the stairs.

"You're in for a treat." He said, chuckling like a sadist, or a masochist, depending on how you look at it.

"What's so nice about this area..?" She muttered, following close by.

They arrived at the top of the stairs, in front of an archway that led to an even bigger area. At the altar, was a woman in white robes, kneeling on both knees and reciting a prayer.

"Remain wary of the frailty of men. Their wills are weak, minds young." She prayer could be heard from the distance, almost sounding like whispers from where they were.

Asuna looked around, searching for the source of the voice. "Where's that voice coming from..?" She asked, her eyes going all over the place.

"Over there." The Hunter pointed out. She squinted her eyes and noticed the lady in white, kneeling. "Is that... The final boss..?" She inquired, skeptically. The group of men behind them were just in front of the archway, waiting for a signal to proceed.

"You'll see." The Hunter replied, casually. As if on cue, the woman in robes held her pendant close to her chest. She let out twisted-sounding growls, her body began to deform and grow bigger, bulging out of her normal form. Blood sprayed and stained the statues near the altar as it screamed wildly. Her body strayed from anything considered to be near human in nature.

Asuna, stricken by horror, stepped back. Her eyes were filled with shock and was trembling in fear. The men behind her were doing the same.

"W-what is that!?" She asked, stuttering. Her voice had evident panic building up inside of her. Her hand was reaching for the handle for her rapier, trying to ready herself for combat.

"Our final target, that's the boss." The Hunter replied, calmly observing the bulky creature in front of them. The white wolf turned around and bared its razor sharp teeth at them. Vicar Amelia wasn't entirely a wolf, it appeared to be mixed with antlers, making it look like a nightmare version of a stag. Basically, a messed up and twisted version of a stag from a breeding-gone-wrong.

"Pretty cool, huh?" He asked, the tone in his voice sounding excited. "This one is one of my favorite boss designs too!"

"What's so cool about that?!" She shouted back, she couldn't believe how the hunter found this cool or awesome, and thought he needed serious help.

"Aww… What's wrong? The vice commander scared over a little blood?" He mocked, sounding cheeky and faking a worried voice.

That pissed her off.

"S-shut up!" She shouted, her cheeks turning red from embarrassment. "Only a delinquent, malcontent would like something like that." She retorted.

"Ouch, that hurt." He replied.

The deformed beast's head shot up and roared. After it's battlecry, it slowly approached them, holding the pendant on its left hand. The Hunter turned to face the clearing group, hoping they were ready for hell.

"Asuna-san… Behind you…" He pointed out. Mist started to farm within the archway, prohibiting entry and exit from both sides.

"Vice commander!" One of the men called out, trying to run in and break through the mist. The vice commander stood there, trying to comprehend what was happening. When she finally made out the situation, she tried to run towards the archway and break through, but it was futile.

"Do you have any other means of escape?" The hunter asked.

She pulled out a teleport crystal and tried to scream at it, but to no avail. She stared at the object in horror, realizing she was stuck in the area with a huge, deformed wolf and a delusional hunter.

"Well… There's only one way to get out of this." The hunter turned around to face the boss and pulled out his sword, walking towards the target. The Vicar jumped towards him, bringing its fists down on the ground, ready to beat dat one guy into a pulp. And the Hunter was ready to sock her in the mouth. He rolled out of the way and ended up below her, he quickly started slashing her legs, trying to open up a visceral attack opportunity.

The white wolf jumped back, and followed up by planting its hand on the ground and pulled a low swipe, grinding her nails on the ground. The Hunter was knocked back, getting smacked from the AoE, he dashed forward and continued fighting. He was able to recover most of his health, but his stamina was running slow. He jumped back to recover more stamina, preparing for another assault. The vicar advanced on him, it raised its fist up the moment it was in range and slammed it down on the ground. He moved out of the way and got behind her. He was about to begin his second assault, but the target pulled a backhand swing, smacking him again and knocking him back.

'Tricky bastard…' He thought, getting irritated. He backed off into a safe distance. The Hunter pulled out fire paper and used it on his sword, flames emanated from the sword he was holding, this shit was going to be lit.

'Let's see how you like this…' His expression turned dead serious, he wasn't holding back on this one. The Hunter charged at the messed up wolf, it balled its hand into a fast and slammed it on the ground. He stepped to the side and flipped his handle on the sword. He stabbed the hand, and held tightly on the handle, the beast roared in pain and shot its hand up, hoping to stop the pain. With the snap of his fingers, the sudden jolt flung him into the air, like a rocket being launched to space. He pulled out his sword at the right time and continued his vertical flight, he repositioned himself in a diving position when he began his descent. The tip of the sword was placed in front him as he carefully aimed for the wolf's head, he got closer and closer to his target as he descended lower.

'Surprise, motherf*cker.'

The sound of bones being shattered could be heard as his sword pierced through its head, the blade went through the top of its snout. The wolf howled in pain and started shaking its head like crazy, hoping to throw out whatever was on its face. The heated sword burned the wound, making things worse.

'Stay still.' His body was being rocked back and forth as its head was shaking. The Hunter tried to keep his grip on the sword to avoid losing his only weapon.

'That's it…' He was able to perform a visceral attack on the flailing wolf, staggering it and causing it to fall on the ground, he pulled his sword out and fell on the ground. A huge portion of the health bar was removed from the damage he dealt. Her health was down to 50%, phase two was in order. It slowly moved backward, trying to get to a safe distance for it to heal. He was about to charge forward, until he noticed something—or someone, was missing.

He turned to try and find who was missing from action, and noticed Asuna still standing on the same spot from before. Her hand was holding the handle of her rapier, but her weapon wasn't pulled out of its sheathe. She was staring wide-eyed at the boss, fear evident in them.

'What the…' It was a wonder to see her like that, he was used to the stern, tough and bossy vice commander in the conference room and in combat. He turned back to the boss, who was triggering its healing animation, her health slowly started healing back up.

'God damn it…' He clicked his tongue in annoyance and approached the frightened girl. He dropped his weapons on the ground as he approached her, he grabbed her by her shoulders and gently shook her.

"Hey." He said, almost whispering. Trying to find out if she was still in her mind, her body was stiff, no wonder she couldn't move at all. She suddenly fell to her knees, unable to support her own weight with fear overtaking her body.

"How..?" She trailed off. This confused him and gave her a puzzled look.

"What?" He asked, in a confused tone.

"How… How do you bare this nightmare..?" She asked, her voice was weak.

'Believe me, I look at a fucking mirror all the time…' He understood why she was like this, the way a game ran like this in a Virtual Reality perspective was a messed up one for sure. It would be normal for a person to react like this, it was like playing a horror game, in a first person perspective. "It's something I've gotten used to." He replied.

"I've been dealing with enemies like this solo, I stayed strong and tried to be brave." He explained, hoping it would get through to her.

"You have to be brave too, you have to fight. Your men are worried about you, they need a leader to guide them. You can't die now, not like this." He continued, she didn't look scared anymore, her body was no longer as stiff as a rock. She loosened up from the lecturing he was giving her.

"What will happen to the clearing group if they don't have a leader? Replacing someone like you isn't an easy task." She lowered her head, it was difficult to know what she was thinking of with her face hidden from sight, but he could tell she wasn't ok.

"Listen, if you can't handle this, that's fine. I can handle this myself, and you can rest." The Hunter said, assuring her there was no shame in turning back and staying behind. The floor shook and heavy footsteps could be heard behind them. He got up and turned around, picking up his weapons from the ground. The vicar was already approaching their location, with killing intent. It was able to heal itself back to 75% while he was bringing Asuna together.

The Kirkhammer wielding Hunter ran forward, beginning his assault. He dodged her first move and started hacking at her left hand, he was able to force her head to lower with his continuos assault. He transformed his hammer and swung it directly at its head with all his might. The charge attack staggered the vicar backwards.

'He's right…' She thought, his words having an effect on her. 'I can't be like this.' She was mentally scolding herself for her weakness and cowardice. The fog of fear was slowly lifting away from her mind as she began collecting herself. 'I… I can't be weak… I can't leave him to do everything…' She slowly reached for her rapier, making a firm decision in her mind 'I will fight, I have to… I want to go back to the real world.' She got up, her facial expression turning determined. She wasn't going to abandon this man when he needed help, she decided to fight and atone for her inability to perform in combat.

Both Hunter and prey stared at each other, the Hunter pulled his sword out of the hammer, while the prey bared its teeth at him. The vicar suddenly swooped its head in, opening its mouth to try and catch the Hunter with its teeth. He jumped back, barely avoiding the sudden assault. He was about to move in to attack, until he noticed light glowing from behind him. In a flash, his adversary was hit multiple times, the movements were too fast for it to track. It was caught off guard by the sudden armed intervention.

"Glad you could make it." The Hunter said, watching the target back off. The vice commander walked up beside him with her rapier drawn out and pointed at the white beast. "Alright, listen, its weak points are its legs." He stated, passing out information on the boss. "I'll divert its attention, you go around and aim for its legs, it'll create an opening for me. Hit it hard." The Hunter instructed.

"Understood." She replied, following his order.

'Wahhh! Sugoi ahh!' He thought, going nuts. The vice commander was actually cooperative and following his instructions. This was one heck of a sight for him.

"Let's go." With that, he charged forward, dragging his sword along. The vice commander followed, running alongside him. The wolf roared at them and slammed its fist on the ground, both players parted and covered different sides.

'We settle this, now…' He thought, running towards the gigantic beast. The Hunter ran in and swung his sword at its right hand. On the other side, Asuna got behind the beast and quickly rushed in, aiming for the legs with a sword skill. The beast jerked to the side and lowered its head, open for a visceral. The Hunter walked up to her and performed a visceral, screwing her over. The Hunter and the vice commander regrouped in front of the enemy, ready for another assault. The beast backed off and brought its pendant close to its heart, healing itself from the damage it took.

Both players rushed in, Ryuu taking the first strike. He transformed his sword and dashed in with a charge attack, interrupting the healing process. Asuna came in second, stabbing the beast multiple times. The Hunter rushed in again, slashing away at the enemy. Both players showed synergy and switched after each attack, overwhelming the boss. Their routine continued throughout the fight, occasionally backing off to recover lost stamina.

It wasn't long until the boss had been defeated, leaving both players exhausted. Headlines appeared along the words of "Prey slaughtered." Indicating the quest had been completed and the town saved. The Hunter received the final blow, a window popped up in front of him. It rewarded him with extra money and an item.

"The hell…" Something different appeared in front of him. The vice commander heard him and looked at him in confusion. "Something wrong?" She asked, wondering what it was all about. The Hunter didn't reply, and dismissed the window. He opened his equipment menu and equipped it. A rapier materialized in his hand. A rapier by the name of Reiterpallasch.

"A rapier..?" The vice commander asked, inspecting the weapon. The Hunter transformed the weapon and fired at the area in front of him. Her eyes widened in surprise at the transformation.

"It's not a bad weapon. But this isn't where I'm supposed to get it…" The Hunter said.

"Well, I'm not complaining." He said, transforming the weapon back to a rapier.

"Vice commander!" Someone called out from behind. It was the rest of the clearing group, the mist dispersed and no longer blocked anyone from entry. They looked worried as hell, probably feared the worst during the fight.

"I'm fine, thanks to him." The vice commander assured them. She turned to the Hunter and flashed a smile at him, mouthing the words "Thank you" for his good deed. Of smacking her with some sense. The Hunter replied with a gesture that screamed "You're welcome.".

'Wahhh! Sago ahh!' The Hunter was freaking out inside. This was the first time he saw her smile, and at him.

"The quest is finished, we should head back." The Hunter suggested. The vice commander nodded in agreement and turned to the men behind her.

"Let's head back." She ordered, the men nodded their heads in agreement.

The clearing group began heading back. The Hunter turned around and approached the lantern and tapped it, activating the spawn point. He turned back and followed the group, making his way back with them.

'Guess things went well…' He thought. He was standing on a hill, under a tree. The hill overlooked a village, the green plains, the breeze and the morning sun created quite a scenic view. 'All this… Seems real… It's almost hard to believe this is all in a virtual world…'

He let out a tired sigh, wondering when they could possibly head back to the real world.

'You'll just have to wait, Ryuu…' He thought.

'Besides, there's not much you can return to, back home…'

AN:

Hey guys, sorry for the wait.

I made a 4000 word chapter to compensate for it, I really do apologize for all the delays.

Credits to Student for suggesting the Cardinal System to be involved in the story, he has helped me make this chapter and further progress the story! Much appreciated!

Another mention from before, was Pan302! He suggested the MC interaction with the clearing group, he has contributed a lot to my story! Thank you, as well!

I am open to suggestions or ideas for future chapters, if you have an idea that I can implement, please do say so! Reviews are also much appreciated, it helps me improve my story.

Sorry, again, for the long wait. I shouldn't have let you guys wait that long.

-Author who talks to himself