《Abyss Core》 CORE-01/00 & 01 (THE REAPER AT NIGHT COMES) A B Y S S C O R E 2071 VRMMORPGs, after the constant increase of suicides and cases of dementia, are now considered illegal on all countries signed to the World Peace Treaty. The players of Nightmare Online, the most popular game of all time and known for its revolutionary AI and ambiance, can¡¯t stay far from their digital world and replicate the game¡¯s code through programs named ¡°cores¡±. Many player-created cores compete in the underworld to be the true successor of the original game. While the big ones fight, from the shadows comes a mysterious programmer and his Abyss Core, claiming to be the one true successor of Nightmare. The installer has just been posted on an obscure forum, many interested people log in as the servers open their gates... CORE-01/01 (THE REAPER AT NIGHT COMES) The final percentile loads. Aylen feels his consciousness being shifted to a different place of a digital existence. An image is projected into his mind, showing a wide decorated circle with smaller rings around it, filled with statues posing in different outfits. From an undetermined place a voice announces: ¡°Class Circle. Choose your own.¡± After the soft voice finishes its sentence, Aylen regains his sense of physical body and notices that he is currently floating and can freely move around. He gets closer to the Class Circle, thinking about the options presented before him. Just as he approaches a statue that called his attention, the voice starts again, now sounding a little bit more robotic. ¡°Abyss Core has the new Fate Roll functionality. Would you like to know more about it?¡± He waited for a pop-up with Yes and No to appear in front of him. After a few seconds of nothing happening, Aylen noticed that he was supposed to vocalize his option. ¡°Yes, please.¡± Finally, something popped up right on his face: a small loading circle. When the bar reached its completion, an information board with a good amount of text written on it expanded from the circle. Not wanting to read all that, Aylen sighed and decided on manually picking his class, being relieved when the voice restarted, reading the board. ¡°The Fate Roll system automatically assigns a class to a new player based on his personality and Fate Number. It¡¯s not optional.¡± Surprised by the last phrase, Aylen tried to move, but couldn¡¯t. The circle then revealed a wheel nature and started spinning in a speed his eyes weren¡¯t able to keep up with. His vision started to become blurrier and black shapes seemed to approximate him as his eyes were almost shut. He started to regret downloading the link his friend had sent to his inbox, containing the mysterious Abyss Core. The white lights that still remained on his vision accelerated and formed a spiral, spinning until they dissolved themselves at center. Once again, Aylen was feeling disconnected from himself and a distant voice whispered: ¡°The choice has been made.¡± Dead trees populated an equally dead landscape. What seemed to once have been a beautiful garden was now a place of morbidness and the sweet smell of flowers were replaced by the distinct odor of death. Anyone placed inside that circle of the once flourishing pines could barely see anything outside. The only exit revealed a path covered by the same kind of dead trees and emitted an air of ¡°there are things living there¡±. Right at center, one would find an unconscious man dressed in very secretive cloaks. His charcoal hair was spread out on the worm-infested soil where his face also resided, half completely dirty and bitten by bizarre maggots equipped with monstrous little fangs. A very cold wind started blowing through the hard as stone dead boughs, carrying the sound of evils lurking around. A small unrecognizable creature feels the wind ripping its carapace and slickly tries to hide inside the unconscious man¡¯s black leather boots. His profound nightmares were interrupted by a strange feeling on his left foot, a bit too alien for his senses. A ragged-dressed Aylen jumped on two feet after noticing something was wrong and promptly smashed the creature with the impact of his foot onto the boot¡¯s interior. The disgusting sensation alerted him of the macabre atmosphere of the place he found himself. Slowly, the realization that he was inside Abyss Core struck him. Relief came out of his chest as he removed the boot with the thing he had just smashed. The tall figure waking up and making noise alerted the sleeping shadows who spied through the dead pines, some of them running around and making sure every single soul on that strange place knew of the new guy. Aylen had put his boot back on and was now completely lucid, analyzing his surroundings. ¡°Damn, I wish I had the chance to pick a class with a better starting spot¡­ This is too eerie.¡± Coincidentally or not, a shrieking laughter exploded far in the horizon, chilling his spine. ¡°Err¡­ I should check my status before moving forward.¡± Now that he wished to interact with the player¡¯s interface, Aylen noticed he had no idea of how to activate that kind of stuff. It was a bad habit of his to just start a game without playing the tutorial or reading any help document. He tried shouting a few commands like ¡°Open Status¡± and ¡°Check¡± but nothing seemed to work and as the lurking shadows started to become agitated, he stopped trying.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°Fuck, now what? I don¡¯t even know what class I am. I wonder if at least have some kind of item.¡± Putting his hands on both pockets, Aylen thought he had started out with nothing as they were completely empty. It was only after a careful check of the floor around him that he found a small statue whose appearance closely resembled the Grim Reaper. A mysterious but recognizable aura clarified that the object belonged to him. He picked it up, turning it around to see if there was any information carved on its surface. ¡°Nope¡­ There¡¯s nothing on it. Looking at the bright side, at least I have something to start with. I wonder if it¡¯s related to my class, though...¡± After picking what seemingly was the only object around, there was nothing left to do on that scary glade. Aylen was impressed but not surprised as Nightmare Online was always praised for its atmosphere, among other stuff. He started walking towards the only path available, paying careful attention the presences observing him from all directions. His steps made crackling noses as he stepped on very old sticks, petrified by time. Within the limitations of his blank slate start, Aylen though of the best ways to react to the obvious ambush that would come sooner or later, not finding much success on measuring his strength and dexterity. The path, being much narrower than the clearance, was covered by the late afternoon shadow projected by the trees. Now that he noticed it, the sun was almost setting and he was sure things would get much worse with the darkness, raising his walking speed to almost running. Bestial sounds could be heard from everywhere, not ceasing to follow the new player and tracking every movement of his. Once in a while, the whispers came accompanied with a laughter similar to the one he had heard before. ¡°Oh, God¡­ Who had the idea to make a game where you start in a place a like this?¡± Seconds after his grim statement, he finally reached a wider place, only slightly smaller than the starting glade. At its end, the path bifurcated into two, doubling his troubles of pathing to the forest¡¯s exit. While thinking on the correct side to choose, Aylen observed an almost unnoticeable bonfire made of already burnt kindling. He wondered if that was the work of a player like him, awakened at such an oppressive place. Fiddling with the sticks, it was clear that he would need new wood to lit another fire and he had no idea how to do it. ¡°Huh, so I don¡¯t have any Survival skills, apparently. I guess that the best idea is continuing forward, then.¡± And so he did, walking until he was very close to the split path. He once again tried player commands, still unable to do things like opening a map. Maybe the game had no interface, he thought, making it very realistic ¨C not his kind of game as he now realized. Taking a quick look at each path¡¯s end seemed a good option too, until he saw that they shifted to different directions, making a wall of black wood the only visible thing from where he was. The creatures¡¯ rumbling started becoming more intense as he stood immobile, weighing his options that seemed equally bad. A sudden crack sound made him turn his head instantly, enabling him to see a little beastling with pitch black fur, ready to attack his back. The early revelation, instead of making him retreat, made him go completely mad and directly attack Aylen¡¯s face, reactionless until the last moment. Apparently, his reflexes were on point as he punched the beast in its gut right as he approached his nose with a ready-to-devour mouth. The creature was quite lightweight, flying to where he came from just with the punch¡¯s impact. A fainting sound confirmed his death and the whispers became more aggressive. Once again, a sudden explosion of sound came from the young man¡¯s back, with the cause being a much bigger creature this time. ¡°Oh, shit.¡± Some kind of bizarre jaguar, with a quadruple mandible and a snake-like tongue advanced onto him in full speed. Aylen was sure he couldn¡¯t avoid that attack by simply facing it with a punch, he had to dodge. Tightening every single muscle in his body, Aylen chose the direction opposite from the closest trees, wishing to fall in a soft spot. He felt the creature¡¯s fur passing with mere millimeters of distance from him, but the black shadow quickly regained its composure and was ready for another bout. Fallen on the ground, Aylen felt desperation starting to consume his body and prepared to dodge again, this time by rolling his entire body to the side. This time, the movement was much slower and the beast¡¯s claw ripped a large cut of skin on his left leg. His vision became red for a moment and pain surged as a quick twinge on the lower side of his body, turning into a lighter sensation right after. ¡°Damn, I didn¡¯t expect to feel pain in this game¡­ This makes things a bit too annoying.¡± The jaguar didn¡¯t wait for him to finish his sentence. After landing near the old bonfire, it started another rush to bite Aylen¡¯s head. However, he was adamant on not taking the next hit. Picking the only solid object he had access to, a Grim Reaper miniature, he waited for the jump onto his face, raising his hand in a hard blow as soon as a shadow casted itself onto him. The animal let out a sharp screech, calling the attention of every single last creature around them. As it was only lightly injured, it got back on its paws again and with a berserker¡¯s rage assaulted Aylen one last time. ¡°You¡¯re too easy to read, creature.¡± Noticing that the jaguar¡¯s attack was too brute to change its trajectory mid-run, the man sidestepped to his left and when the black beast stepped near him, his right leg performed a heavy maneuver, similar to a kick and launched the beast upwards, making it extremely vulnerable. The finishing move was another blow with the little statue right on its head, completely taking down the jaguar. Relieved, Aylen stood on his knees, ignoring all the sounds from the trees just for a moment. ¡°I wonder if killing these monsters gives me experience or something alike. Doing these without a reward seems really futile...¡± He remembered that in a lot of games you could check a creature¡¯s body for loot to sell on towns. Until that moment, usual game logic didn¡¯t really apply to his situation but trying wouldn¡¯t hurt. He approached the dead jaguar with a careful look, not completely sure if it had died. A closer inspection confirmed the death and allowed him to check the corpse for stuff. As no window popped, he probably had to manually remove stuff like skin and claws from the jaguar and again, he clearly had no skill on doing it. After a few seconds of close examination, Aylen gave up and sat down near his deceased enemy, looking to the fading dark orange sky. Sounds of steps and mumbling getting closer reawakened his attention to the forest, only then noticing that he was completely surrounded by creatures who looked like a reinterpretation of the standard goblins, having black skin, vicious eyes, rotten teeth and an intensely foul odor. They smirked towards the lone player, who had no hoped of winning that battle, although he still believed in a chance to escape. When the apparent leader of the rottenlings abruptly moved his hands, Aylen set off running, only to be intercepted by dozens of similar creatures jumping on him and immobilizing his limbs with putrid smelling vines. When the ropes were too tight to allow him to make a single move, the monsters started laughing in a similar fashion to the laughter he had heard before and their leader went to Aylen¡¯s face, laughing with the others and saying on an almost unintelligible manner: ¡°Hahaha, I dun¡¯t kno whu krips deliving us thees whilings, but his radder gentler to doeet!¡± After the leader finished, the laughter became even more louder and they started dragging Aylen to the shadows of the dead forest. With his face being dragged through the dirt, he started saying every command possible to open his available skills, failing with every single word. The image of large huts made of black wood and a very big fire on the middle of a glade made him sure that his first character had already become rottenling food. CORE-01/02 (THE REAPER AT NIGHT COMES II) Shit¡­ I guess I must at least do something about him, there¡¯s no way I can get out of here with him still alive.¡± Class Rank 1 achieved! Learned Weapon Morph!¡± Oh, shit. I guess this confirms that Stealth isn¡¯t one of my skills.¡± The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. syscommand, debug routine, fix routine Fixing User Interface Systems, General Interface Systems...¡± CORE-01/03 (THE REAPER AT NIGHT COMES III) Name: Aylen Class: Reaper (Rank I) Alignment: True Neutral Experience: 75% Profession: N/A Health: (Lightly Bruised, Tired) Spell Circles: 2/2 Stamina: 99% Natural Defense: Fragile Additional Defense: Cloth I Natural Offensive: Lightweight/Trained II Additional Offensive: Scythe (Steel I)/Class Trained Strength: 72 Agility: 112 Dexterity: 118 Constitution: 60 Intelligence: 54 Perception: 92 Reaper. The ones who belong to this class are in charge of a very important task on this Nightmarish land, reaping the Undead and sending them to where they belong: a Void without a single spark of life. Their main weapon is their iconic Scythe, able to directly damage cursed souls, but they are also proficient with greatswords and poleaxes. Preferred Attributes: Dexterity, Agility Preferred Armor: Cloth, Leather¡± Class: Reaper Rank: 1/20 Equipment Proficiency: Weapon Proficiency: Class Skills: RANK 0 Blood Rush: Killing enemies splash their blood around your body, giving an Offensive bonus based on the amount of blood absorbed. Undead Hunter: Receives bonus damage against Undead creatures, with extra 25% if wielding a scythe. RANK 1 Weapon Morph: Transforms your class object in a scythe whose power scales with your level. General Skills: If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Work inside the leisure, thought Aylen, it must be really fun if people praise this game so much. CORE-01/04 (THE REAPER AT NIGHT COMES IV) He was taking too long, Wantria thought. A few minutes passed before she was successfully able to kindle a campfire, but the final result was very representative of the effort as the dancing flame rose to almost her hips¡¯ height. A loud screech was heard coming from the woods, probably some animal scared by the sudden rise of the fire. Wantria removed the sweat from her forehead with a dirty piece of cloth and tried to reach for her flask, only to notice that her partner for the night still hadn¡¯t came back. ¡°Shit, I wonder if he managed to get in trouble¡­ Although I didn¡¯t hear any strange sound outside of the one when I lit the fire¡­ Better check him, anyway. The fire is strong enough to not allow me to lose it in the darkness.¡± The Stalker picked up her bag from the floor and went to the same direction that she remembers Aylen going to. Since the path was non-existent before, the lad¡¯s crossing made a very clear disturbance on the vegetation and the girl just needed to follow the broken branches and stepped-on fruits. As the one before her noticed, it was indeed way more peaceful than the rotten woods they were inside half an hour ago. The opening for the clearance with the pond and the scared Reaper only showed him, not the strange apparition in front of him. Wantria was ready to shout at him, but a few steps forward revealed the reason for his shock. ¡°What the hell?¡± The man coughed a spray of blood. ¡°H-help¡­ I need...¡± With the situation becoming clear from the few stuttered words, Wantria advanced and tried to snap Aylen out of his fear. The man observed, whispering variations of ¡°Help me¡±. ¡°Come on, wake up! It¡¯s not a Raiser or anything like that. I think he needs help too.¡± Slowly, the newbie started blinking his eyes and noticing the girl leaning onto him and ready to slap his face. ¡°H-hey! I¡¯m fine now! It was just a sudden shock...¡± ¡°You can¡¯t be doing a lot of these if you want to keep your character useful, at least run!¡± ¡°Err, fine, fine¡­ But let¡¯s not talk about that, what about the¡­ thing?¡± He pointed to the man, once again coughing. ¡°Let¡¯s try talking to him. Doesn¡¯t seem to be a player, though.¡± Wantria helped Aylen standing up and went to the mysterious visage, while the other one checked if the flask had lost too much water from the fall ¨C it was empty. ¡°Hm¡­ Mister? What do you need help for?¡± Until then, his eyes were focused on a distant nothingness, only looking at trees hidden by the night, but, suddenly, they turned to Wantria and intensely focused on her own pair, giving out a chilling sensation. ¡°Everyone¡­ there¡­ We were¡­ a lot of beasts...¡± From the scarce information, the girl deduced that a flock of creatures attacked wherever he lived and probably killed everyone but a few survivors. She only needed the location to, maybe, help. ¡°Hm, where did you came from? If it¡¯s not very far from my path I may be able to help you ¨C if not, you can count with the Reaper here.¡± She laughed, but the bloody man didn¡¯t move a single muscle of his face until he decided what to say. ¡°Travelers¡¯ town¡­ Linvia...¡± Now it was Wantria who froze. Aylen, after recollecting the water, went to see what was the situation and found the girl in a similar situation to the one he was in. ¡°Hey, now it¡¯s you who¡¯s doing it! Wake up!¡± ¡°Shit! Linvia¡­ It¡¯s where the baroness lives! I need to deliver the ring to her and get my reward¡­ So much money...¡± ¡°Uh? What¡¯s happening in this Linvia place? Did he come from there?¡± ¡°Yes ¨C I¡¯m not sure of what¡¯s happening but it seems to be some sort of monster attack. Can you give me more details, sir?¡± Both turned their faces to the bloody man, with his expression unchanged by the girl¡¯s nervousness. He didn¡¯t seem willing to answer, but when Wantria opened her mouth to ask him again, the stuttering restarted: ¡°Night¡­ The night attacked...¡± For a moment, it seemed that time froze. A silent reflection took place in the Stalker¡¯s head while her companion carefully awaited a reaction, looking at her face with curiosity. Suddenly, like the silence never happened, Wantria started talking again. ¡°Aylen, give him some water and refill the flask. We¡¯ll drop him at the campfire and head to Linvia immediately¡­ Unless you don¡¯t want to keep accompanying me.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. I¡¯d like to keep following you, but what if the monsters attacking the place are too strong for me?¡± ¡°Well, to be honest, this looks like a low-level event ¨C and if that¡¯s the case, it¡¯s probably made for you, not me.¡± ¡°Uh, that changes things then. It would be cool to get some extra experience.¡± ¡°Sure. The recommended would be resting before a possibly big mission, but the event would probably expire before the morning and I need to guarantee that the baroness is fine. If you¡¯re feeling tired, don¡¯t bother with it as you¡¯ll have more opportunities for stuff like this in the future.¡± ¡°I¡¯m actually not that tired. I could use a rest but it¡¯s not like I can¡¯t fight.¡± ¡°Ok, so we shouldn¡¯t lose any more time. Let¡¯s do what I said and get back to the road.¡± Not letting Aylen say anything else, Wantria got in motion by getting the flask from the Reaper¡¯s hand and giving it to the motionless man, who seemed reluctant to firmly grasp the bottle. ¡°Oh, if you don¡¯t want to drink water, fine.¡± She inserted the flask back on her belt and turned to Aylen. ¡°Guide him to the bonfire.¡± ¡°OK.¡± He went forward and initially just raised his hand, showing the path to the catatonic man, who was still very unresponsive. As there was nothing else he could do, Aylen grabbed the hand drowned in blood and walked him through the forest path, with Wantria already ahead. ¡°Nice, just let him be now. We¡¯re good to go, I assume?¡± ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t need anything right now.¡± The awkward necessity to urinate unexpectedly popped on his mind, but it would be best keeping his mouth shut after already saying that he was fine.¡± ¡°So, I guess we¡¯re going back to the road. The forest trails around here are scarce and the ones that exist are usually specific hunting routes that won¡¯t serve us ¨C and just rushing through raw vegetation is clearly not an option.¡± ¡°Is there any risks of going through the road?¡± ¡°The open roads are the preferred places of bandits and other scum to ambush people like us, but I don¡¯t think they¡¯re very active around here, specially at this hour. I¡¯d say we¡¯re safe enough.¡± ¡°If you¡¯re fine with it, I am too. Let¡¯s go.¡± Once again the two started walking. They took a route opposite to the one they used to get inside the woods, always paying attention to their surroundings, specially when they started getting back to the road in fear of people hiding around to ambush travelers. Fortunately, as Wantria predicted, there wasn¡¯t a lot of criminal movement in the area and they were perfectly safe throughout the whole journey, at least when they were far from the town of Linvia.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report. ¡°So¡­ What do you think is attacking the place? Some sort of forest creature?¡± ¡°Well, from the man¡¯s state, I think it¡¯s difficult to imagine that mere goblins or lizards attacked them. Actually, to your luck, it may be an attack of the undead.¡± ¡°If the quest is only happening because of me, you may be right. I actually hope that they are undead as it would really help me to get the hang of it. Unless they¡¯re Raisers...¡± ¡°Eh, if it¡¯s Raisers not even I will be able to do anything so let¡¯s just hope that it¡¯s like we expect it to be.¡± Following the short talk, the two went back into silence. Wantria started planning the actions they would take when reaching the town since she had already been there before and Aylen went back to checking his player interface, fiddling around with the configurations and battle settings. After a lot of strange pointers started appearing on his screen, he thought it was better to just leave it be and spend the rest of the travel thinking about what he would do in combat. When closing his windows, he noticed that it was very dark around them. ¡°Hey, Wantria, what about that flame you were using as a torch? Don¡¯t you want to see what¡¯s ahead or around us?¡± ¡°We don¡¯t know the enemy¡¯s position, they may be advancing towards us and we really don¡¯t want to alert them. It sucks to have low visibility but maybe they won¡¯t even notice us to make an ambush.¡± ¡°Are you sure? Well, since you¡¯re leading us and helping me, I can¡¯t complain.¡± Wantria sighed. ¡°You can, but make it reasonable.¡± Silence returned and they calmly walked along the carved dirt road, noticing that the ground started to get lower and possibly letting them see far ahead if there was some light in the sky. Wantria remarked that them not being able to see the town¡¯s lights ahead, which are supposed to be strong after an invasion, was quite strange and that they should hurry if they had any hope of controlling the damage. Aylen quietly nodded as both started a light run, sparing most of their stamina for the possible upcoming fight. ¡°Get your scythe ready, Reaper. The attack on the town being over means that the enemies are running away from the scene, possibly towards us. Of course, we don¡¯t know if the attack really is over, but being careful is never enough.¡± Following the order, Aylen grabbed the grim reaper statue from his pocket and tried moving it quickly to trigger the transformation, although he wasn¡¯t sure if that¡¯s what transformed it before. Clearly, it wasn¡¯t. ¡°Jeez, you¡¯re stupid, dude. Just command it on your mind.¡± ¡°Oh, right.¡± He really felt stupid. After thinking of ¡°Entering combat¡±, the statue started vibrating and a slight movement activated its expansion. The scythe was now fully transformed. Only then Aylen noticed how heavy it was, making it really hard to carry it until reaching Linvia. ¡°Damn, this thing is heavy. I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll be able to get there with enough energy to fight if I keep it this way.¡± ¡°Hm, you¡¯re right, I forgot to consider that maybe your weapon is too heavy to keep it prepared all the times as you don¡¯t always have the adrenaline of combat to make it easier to handle.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll get it back to pocket mode then...¡± ¡°Wait!¡± The two had stopped to talk about the weapon¡¯s weight and the Stalker barely noticed a presence from the woods, made very clear by the strange sound of leaves being shaken by the wind ¨C while there was none per se. ¡°There¡¯s something in the bushes; right there.¡± She pointed exactly towards the spot where the sound was coming from. Aylen raised the scythe again, now getting a good grasp on its handle and feeling a much lighter weight as his heart started beating faster. ¡°W-Wantria! I-I¡¯m feeling weird... it¡¯s like I can sense something about the enemy.¡± ¡°Really? Then maybe they really are undead. Although I believe that Reapers feel not only undeads but all kinds of corrupted creatures.¡± ¡°Wow, do I have any sort of advantage against them too?¡± ¡°Err, you¡¯re the Reaper, not me. Pay attention to the movement, try to identify if it¡¯s aggressive.¡± Aylen advanced one step ¨C the shaking intensified. ¡°Wait, I hear new sounds around it. More of them are coming, get ready for them jumping on you.¡± He firmed his feet on the ground and smiled with confidence, a good scythe swing could kill many creatures and he only needed to line up the cut perfectly. Wantria too prepared herself for the advancement, readying her kukri for the possible confrontation and covering her companion¡¯s blind area as he was focused only on what was in front of him. Their battle-ready stance startled the beings hidden in the shadows and the noise went to torturing levels, aiming to affect their concentration. Before they could even notice the impulse, one of the monsters jumped at Aylen¡¯s back. Although the Stalker was watching a different spot, her reaction was quick enough to stab the aggressor mid-air. Black ooze splashed in a very wide radius, sticking to Aylen¡¯s hair and getting at Wantria¡¯s eyes. It clearly was the creatures¡¯ plan: many more of them came right after the liquid explosion and from both sides. ¡°Aylen! My vision is compromised, you need to cover all the sides!¡± ¡°...What?!¡± Dealing with the ones he was already expecting proved to be no problem. A single precise slash traversed all of the strange beings attacking his front, creating a spitting line of the same black blood from before which adhered to Aylen¡¯s clothes and weapon. The girl¡¯s alert about the enemies coming from his back reached his ear right at the movement¡¯s end, when he had lost most of his momentum. A piercing scream of otherworldly evil was becoming closer and closer until something grabbed the Reaper¡¯s neck. ¡°Fuck, what are these?!¡± Before anyone could say something, more creatures started jumping at Aylen and grabbing his clothes, hair and skin. His scythe movement was being limited by one of them holding his right arm with the strength of a very tight chain. Trying to fend them off with his free hand proved to be worthless as they merely ignored it or even tried to grab it to limit his other arm. While the shadows stacked on his back, Aylen felt little hands advancing through his head and reaching his cheeks. ¡°Wantria, help me!¡± She really wanted to help him, but the slime was more annoying than she thought. Her left hand was now glued to her right eye, connected through the black blood. It had gotten a very sticky texture after she desperately tried pouring water on the ooze and now she wasn¡¯t even able to help her traveling companion. ¡°I can¡¯t! Shit¡­ I guess I need to use it...¡± Calming down and leaving the sticky blood by itself, Wantria focused on her body with her eyes closed and whispered the words: ¡°Shadow Dive.¡± One of the circles engraved on her left forearm disappeared with a burning effect, leaving only a grayish shadow behind, but there was little time to observe it as Wantria¡¯s body started to became more ethereal and translucent. Slowly, her height started to diminish ¨C although she could appear to be shrinking at a first look, her legs were being consumed by the shadow on the dirt ground and in a seconds matter the Stalker had disappeared. Curiously, the only thing left behind was the creature¡¯s blood, now glued to the earth. The creatures, focused on taking down the male, didn¡¯t realize what had happened and Aylen only noticed that she had disappeared, panicking after thinking she had escaped. Shortly after, his eyes were covered by hands completely empty of color and a notably smaller shadow was reaching his scythe¡¯s pole, ready to make it free from his still firm grasp. Three seconds had passed since the Shadow Dive. ¡°Shadow Leap!¡± A black hole appeared right behind Aylen, although no one noticed it. Milliseconds after, a more cohesive shape formed from the pure shadow and a pale face started to come out from the mysterious pit. A silver light struck one of the monsters grabbing Aylen¡¯s leg, getting split into two pieces in result. Now the whole upper part of Wantria¡¯s body could be seen coming out from the hole and the ambushing shadows finally noticed it, too late to escape from the furious kukri, drowning in dark blood. The Reaper could only hear the slashing noises, but the situations was clear to him and a sigh of relief escaped when the monster who was choking him was suddenly removed. There were reinforcements watching in the woods, but when the scythe¡¯s hand was freed and Aylen killed at least three enemies in a single blow together with Wantria stabbing multiple shadow bodies in an inhuman speed, they retread in silence, hoping to not be noticed after their equals had been completely reaped. It didn¡¯t take too long. After the two started fighting in unison, the creatures fell without reaction, becoming mere bubbles of the mysterious ooze. Aylen¡¯s speed increased as it exploded on his face and adhered to his weapon¡¯s blade due to one of his skills. When the last one finally dissolved, the duo lowered their weapons while breathing heavily and with their dropping sweat wetting the land. ¡°For a moment I thought you had ran away. I¡¯m glad you stayed, haha.¡± ¡°Do you take me for a coward? As you may have observed, I just used a skill to get rid of that awful black stuff covering my eyes. If that¡¯s what you think then maybe I should¡¯ve left you behind and gone directly to the town.¡± ¡°Whoa, I said it was for a moment¡­ And I couldn¡¯t even see what you were doing, you presence just disappeared¡­ And came back right after.¡± ¡°Ah, forget it¡­ Let¡¯s just move on, we can¡¯t sit here after such an attack. The situation must be really bad there and it makes me worry about my mission. By the way, do you still want to come? Based on this encounter, it might not be suited for your level and they kinda hurt you, didn¡¯t they?¡± Aylen quickly checked his health status with a command. Health: (Somewhat Bruised, Tired) Spell Circles: 2/2 Stamina: 72% When looking at the screen, he also remembered that his experience wasn¡¯t too far from the next Class Rank, so he issued another command. Experience: 95% ¡°I think I¡¯m fine. The little beasts were annoying but I guess they didn¡¯t hurt me too much outside of some scratches. What really bugs me is that I only got 20% experience for the next level¡­ Only 5% left.¡± ¡°Haha, sorry then. Experience is divided when you fight alongside other people. Also, if you think you¡¯re okay I won¡¯t stand on your path so let¡¯s go before they send more.¡± Aylen only nodded and started walking besides her, putting the scythe over his shoulders. The adrenaline was still pumping through his veins so maybe it wasn¡¯t going to weight too much on the travel, at least that¡¯s what he hoped. CORE-01/05 (ENTER THE DARKNESS) The curious light of the latest night shined over the entrance to Linvia. It was a city hidden among the woods, very rare in the age of Industrial advancement and with a closed border, represented by the enormous bronze-colored gate that reached at least twice the height of Aylen. Extraordinarily, it was slightly opened, probably due to the monster invasion that had just happened. In fact, when the two travelers confirmed that it was safe to get near it, they found very large claw marks all over the metal. ¡°Damn, I wonder if they opened it through brute force¡­ Maybe everyone is stuck inside.¡± Aylen thought loudly. ¡°Well, considering the number of beasts required to keep an entire town imprisoned¡­ The problem is possibly way too out of our league.¡± ¡°Won¡¯t hurt to check, right?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± She laughed ¡°Unless they¡¯re right at the entrance and ready to attack us.¡± A chill crossed Aylen¡¯s bones as he remembered their cold touch, voided of life. ¡°Look, we can¡¯t stand here for too long, Reaper. Let¡¯s get inside already, I doubt that they would just wait for us to enter if they really were in the entrance.¡± Let down by their possibilities, he accidentally looked at the walls and instantly opened his mouth to propose an idea. ¡°Don¡¯t even say it. The walls are too tall. Do you really think they would build protections that are short enough to be climbed.¡± ¡°If you put it that way...¡± ¡°OK, now let¡¯s get moving. Silently, of course.¡± And under the blinding darkness they moved forward, ready to face whatever was hiding behind the opulent walls of Linvia, a town of stone streets and brick houses mixed between the rustic wooden lairs. The main street, beginning at the gate, started straight but slowly raised towards the hill at the city¡¯s end. From any place inside the town you could see the magnificent mansions atop the elevation, specially the baroness¡¯ one ¨C a trophy of richer times, bathed in gold and luxury. Wantria carefully looked at it when it first got into her sight, but no damage could be seen from such distance. When they actually reached the great doors, the little gap that allowed for anyone to get inside proved to be only wide enough to fit a single person. As Wantria was ahead, she went in first, paying attention to what was right after the gates. A mixed smell of smoke and death invaded her nostrils and burning cinder forcefully came out as it heated her insides. Little could be seen of the general state of the place as rubble and other debris covered most of the main avenue, leaving little space for those who dared to travel around the city. There was a modest watchtower close to the walls from the inside, but it was in pieces, menacing to fall at any given moment ¨C looking closely, an arm could be seen hanging from the platform with blood eerily dripping from the tips of its fingers. ¡°C¡¯mon, let me pass too!¡± The Stalker didn¡¯t notice how concentrated she was in witnessing the aftermath of such tragedy. Not saying anything, she gave space to her companion and got back into observing what could have happened ¨C all of that couldn¡¯t be caused by the little devils that had ambushed them. One of the houses had its roof smashed in what looked like a single blow of a mighty hand; the powers in play were certainly more than Rank 1. ¡°Aylen¡­ You should retreat. Me too actually, although I can investigate stuff from the shadows a bit more safely...¡± Just like her after taking a look at the scenery, his face was distorted in a horrified expression, clearly understanding that whatever did that was much stronger than something like a Raiser. However, when Wantria thought he would agree and calmly step away, his eyes became sharper and the horror and fear started looking more like anger and sense of justice. ¡°Hell no. I¡¯ve already came here, I must do at least something. I know it¡¯s a game and all and that I should preserve my character, but I never back off ¨C specially not when the problem is right at my face.¡± His short speech could¡¯ve come straight from an anime or TV show, Wantria thought, but it was goodhearted as few people seemed to be in that digital world. Making him go away was surely the right action, and the woman went to ask herself later: ¡°Why did I let him come?¡±, however, the choice from the burning heart was to let him trace his own path, with the Stalker mindfully looking after him ¨C only for a while, of course. ¡°If you insist¡­ It¡¯s your funeral, buddy.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± He smiled ¡°I¡¯ll just make another character and come back here.¡± She wanted to laugh at the dumb determination ¨C her hands were already reaching for her mouth when the sound of shuffling stones draw both of their attentions. A good piece of cement had clearly been moving as a cloud of dust settled down around it. It had came from the only standing wall of one of the ruined houses nearby and it probably meant that someone was spying on them. Aylen thought of suggesting that it could be a player, but if it really was one, he or she would probably try to reach for the fellow adventurers, not stay hidden and then run away. ¡°Shit, the observer must have been there since I appeared. We must move, we can¡¯t give them the chance to bring reinforcements to deal with us.¡± ¡°It running away from us¡­ It¡¯s kinda of calming isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Why would that be?¡± ¡°Well¡­ Not wanting to get caught by us means that he will surely lose the fight. Maybe this destruction was caused by them as group...¡± ¡°There¡¯s a slight chance that you¡¯re right, but I wouldn¡¯t count on that. Most of the destruction seem caused by huge singular blows and I doubt that even a huge flock of those shadow beings could simply go around destroying houses and making everyone run.¡± ¡°...I¡¯ll think more about stuff before saying anything.¡± ¡°Yeah, you should. But right now we don¡¯t have a lot of time for thinking. Let¡¯s cross a path through the ruins ¨C it¡¯s easier to hide around them and harder for something to quickly get to us.¡±Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Not saying a single word, Aylen nodded and tilted his head forward, pointing at a walk-able path in the middle of the destruction mess and going in a curve to the center. Wantria initially thought it was too exposed, but as their options were scarce, it ended up being the chosen path. ¡°Let¡¯s cover each others back, Reaper. With all these shadows and spots to hide, it¡¯s difficult to see anything lurking around, even more when they don¡¯t want to be found.¡± ¡°No problem¡­ Whisper if something looks wrong.¡± Doing a little bit of acrobatics, they got through a big column supported by a completely cracked wall and barely managed to escape when it fell with great impact. Wantria instantly started looking around to see if any movement was caused by the noise, but the night shadows covered every possible movement. Now that she noticed, the place was very dark for a town in ruins. Outside of some still functioning street lamps like the one in the entrance, there was no reliable light-source. Even with all the destruction, no fires existed. With the dust settling down, they felt comfortable to start moving again. Walking on their knees or even crawling seemed to be necessary for the planned route as it crossed too many obstacles and destructed houses. It was as they planned since someone needed a very good vision to even see them going through that place. Maybe tracking the enemies would become a necessity in the near future, but for the moment it was calm. Aylen had never visited Linvia and Wantria only walked through it once and she had just walked along the main street until the hill¡¯s base, so they didn¡¯t really have a good spatial notion of where they were going. Their objective as initially stated was to reach the city¡¯s center and try to follow the avenue from there, however, the path wasn¡¯t as straight as they imagined and they slowly lost their reference. The Reaper noticed it when they didn¡¯t know which bifurcation they would follow. ¡°Err¡­ we lost the center, didn¡¯t we?¡± ¡°No¡­ I mean¡­ Maybe.¡± Wantria turned her neck to all directions possible, but there was nothing familiar ¨C she could barely tell where they had came from. Only a very faint light seemed to bright above one of the tall constructions the town had. She suggested: ¡°We lost it, but I think that these taller buildings are near the center.¡± ¡°Oh, right. Usually the most developed part of a city is its center, huh? It¡¯s probably where we should be going, then.¡± ¡°OK, let¡¯s move before something notices us standing here.¡± Going back to their predefined route, Wantria started to pay more attention to what could come from any direction. They were now going to somewhere wider and potentially more populated with the dark creatures, even with the theoretical larger ones that destroyed houses with punches. A more well-defined alley marked the exit to Linvia¡¯s central point, a nice park full of trees as Wantria remembered. The nearby buildings were clearly larger and looked like businesses instead of inhabitancy and were also less destroyed ¨C the larger creatures either didn¡¯t reach them or were already tired when they did. Whatever was under the light couldn¡¯t be seen from the duo¡¯s position and they slowly approached it, alert to any movement in the shadows. The shapes carved in the floor by the lack of light started to became clearer ¨C little humanoids, misshapen creatures¡­ Obviously frightening, but at the same time relaxing as their size were equal to the ones they had faced before. A trap? Quite likely seeing that a group went back after seeing the humans kill a good amount of fellow beasts. Aylen prepared his next step, only to be held back by his companion. He looked at her, trying to find an explanation, and observed her gestures. She was pointing to somewhere besides Aylen, who turned his head in curiosity. A narrow path between two constructions could be seen but nothing else ¨C darkness consumed whatever vision reaching it. The Reaper looked back in confusion as there was nothing to be seen on the place she had indicated. Wantria whispered to herself. ¡°Oh, right, I¡¯m dumb. I have improved night vision but he doesn¡¯t...¡± After talking to herself, the Stalker slowly approached Aylen and put her mouth very close to one of his ears. A warm breath touched the side of his head as she informed him: ¡°Just putting our faces out wouldn¡¯t be a very smart move¡­ There are some pipes in a building that could allow us to climb it and see things from above¡­¡± Now that he knew what to look for, Aylen noticed copper pipes crossing a building¡¯s entire wall and they seemed firm enough to allow a lightweight person to cling onto them. Wantria looked at him, waiting for his confirmation ¨C he nodded. In a rush, the Stalker advanced to the structure and started checking its integrity. Left behind, Aylen checked if the shadows had moved in response to her movement ¨C after a few seconds of inactivity, he felt safe to follow the girl. The copper pipes were a bit rusty, as Wantria had imagined, but good enough to endure at least one or two people using it to get to the roof. To be safe, she indicated the approaching Reaper to stay there until further notice and slowly touched the lowest pipe with one of her legs, applying her weight gradually. There was a noticeable creaking, so she had to climb it fast and ignoring the best positions to preserve the structure¡¯s integrity. After getting her hands to the best position, she started the rising in an unbelievable burst of speed, reaching the top in around three seconds. As she completely lowed her body on the roof, Aylen observed with newfound admiration for her physical capabilities. Fortunately, the roof wasn¡¯t composed of tiles, instead, it was a flat floor of concrete, making it easier for her to sneak around without a lot of noise. A few signals were enough to tell Aylen to maintain his position. The Stalker felt confident to advance a little further and maybe try to reach the roof¡¯s border in order to check the amount of enemies in the center, their number, organization, etc. She advanced in little crawls, stopping every time to see if it had caused any reaction. Below her, Aylen acted the same: constantly checking for any suspicious activity. A handful of minutes passed before Wantria could even reach the border with her stretched arms. Things got a little bit more intense when the bizarre sounds of night beasts started to echo around, making the two very uncomfortable with the situation. She thought of maybe going back, but she had Shadow Dive in case of enemy discovery. Trying to check the terrain, Wantria put her pinky finger in vision of anyone in front of the bulding ¨C nothing seemed to change. Then it was the ring finger; followed by the middle finger in reaction to the complete lack of reactions. For a final check, she had her entire hand out for anyone to notice ¨C the situation remained unchanged. Damn, Wantria thought, they¡¯re either oblivious to me or they¡¯re just faking it so I can put my head out. I mean¡­ I doubt that they¡¯re intelligent enough to do a trick like that, so¡­ Maybe I should peek a little.¡± Confident in her abilities, the girl slowly stretched her neck out, tilting the head to let her right eye in a good position to see what was down there. Probably answering the lack of reactions to her appearance, there was nothing right below the building, only some rubble and the same black ooze from the road ambush. The actual monsters seemed to be more concentrated inside the badly illuminated park, far from the still functioning gaslight lamps. It was dark enough between the trees that not even the Stalker¡¯s improved night vision was able to identify anything far from the tree border. The situation was better than she had thought, although she didn¡¯t know the exact number of shadows hidden in the park. Ready to go back and inform Aylen, a male scream of surprise pierced her ears. It was coming from behind. ¡°Fuck! We were separated for too long!¡± Not caring about the stealth anymore, Wantria charged to the other side of the roof, ready to fall in a plunging attack to whatever was attacking her companion. In the middle of readying her kukri, however, a loud impact happened and everything in front of her was pitch black. ¡°No¡­ My eyes are not closed...¡± She imagined. And they really weren¡¯t. If anyone ever saw the situation from an aerial view, he or she could admire the presence of a truly giant shadow interrupting the Stalker¡¯s passage. His corrupted breath was enough to let Wantria know that it really wasn¡¯t a quest appropriate for their level.