End Online: Volume 5 (2 page)

During the few days in the dungeon, a few other players learned
about my skill and the benefits it gave to everyone in my party. Many wished to
join our party just for the benefits, but Moonkite rejected them all. After
knowledge of my skill spread like wildfire, there were even a few parties that
directly attacked us, trying to eliminate the rest of the party other than me.

Trying to make sure I stayed with them, Moonkite and the others
automatically assigned me to be the leader, and even started helping me raise
my level as fast as possible. Thanks to all their hard efforts, I have now
reached level 89, slightly higher than the average of the party. The only
downside to raising my level so fast is that my stats are considerably poor,
with my highest one only being 43.

My ‘False Aura of Confidence’ skill also raised to just above
level 10 while in the dungeon. Once I reached level 10 in the skill, it also
started giving a five percent increase to movement speed, which caused everyone
to become even more elated.

As I walk out of the dungeon with the rest of the party only two
steps behind me, several other parties from around join the group. Each new
group to join us gets a strange look at first, but nobody raises any concerns.

Two days after leaving the dungeon, the company informs me that
Lost has arrived in Swordbreak. I immediately try to leave and spy on him, but
am stopped by a large male player called FierceTiger.

“Guildmaster, you cannot possibly just leave like that. You have
matters that require your attention.”

Yes, over the past two days, the following of people heralding
my skill to support their parties has escalated. Wildly. A few guilds even got
together and merged to become the guild called ‘Hero’s Vanguard’. They then
appointed me to be the guild leader and locked me away in this massive mansion
to keep an eye on me.

As a guild master, I seem to have absolutely no power. The
pre-existing guild masters formed a circle of elders; they hold all
the power in the guild while I am handed menial tasks and get detained in here.

It should be technically impossible to detain a player like
this, but they do such an incredible job at it I can only cluck my tongue in
response.

I humbly return back into the room, but as soon as FierceTiger’s
attention is diverted, I slip out the window unseen.

***************************************************
***************************************************

-Verde-

The party disbands with Lost’s news of going to get his high
school equivalency. At least we all share our real life contact details so we
can stay in touch. I am lacking most of my memories, yet when it comes time for
the party to disband, I feel a piercing pain in my chest.

I don’t show this in front of everyone else, but I am starting
to value spending time with them. I wonder if this is how I felt before I lost
my memories.

Lost and Fen are the first to leave, logging off at the same
time. Mason and Matrix are the second, mentioning that they will be online
again tomorrow if Sir Laurence and I are available.

The knight in silver armor silently sits next to me even when
everyone else is gone. I notice him occasionally glancing in my direction, but
he makes no move to start a conversation.

I stand up to leave the inn and Sir Laurence immediately follows
behind me. I scowl, but don’t tell him to leave. Despite how irritating I find
him to be, I prefer even his company over being alone.

Seeing how adamant he is to stay with me, I head toward an
NPC-run adventurer’s guild where you can get small quests from the notice
board.  The sun begins to sink into the horizon by the time I manage to
get through the crowded streets between the inn and the guild.

I grab my hair and tie it up behind my head to keep it out of my
face. I don’t know exactly how I tie it up as the memory eludes me,
but the movements come naturally to my hands as if I have been doing it my
entire life. Sir Laurence gives me an odd look as I tie it up, but a single
glare is enough to cause him to turn his head.

In front of me is the request board. Well, it is called a
request board, but it is practically as large as a wall with hundreds of
requests pinned to it. I walk back and forth, finding three requests that are
suitable to Sir Laurence’s and my levels. All three requests I pick are related
to collecting a certain number of monster parts, and will reappear on the board
within three hours for anyone else to choose.

“It’s late. I will be logging off to get some actual sleep,” I
say to Sir Laurence nonchalantly. “I will be back in twelve hours, if you want
to quest with me.”

“I will be waiting, my lady,” he replies with a deep bow.

I glance at him once, before turning around and logging off.

Outside of virtual reality, I lift the helmet off my head to
reveal my rooms interior. My father is sitting there next to my bed, placing
down the tablet he was using to watch me in the game.

“Father, I have told you how much I dislike you sitting next to
me while I am in virtual reality,” a hint of anger coloring my voice. “It’s
really unnerving. Why can’t you simply log on yourself and join me?”

“Verity, I have already told you how I have had my administrator
rights stripped from me and turned into an ordinary player. And those damned
fools from Idea Imagine are playing dumb as well! I will be back in their
office next week to share a few words with them!”

“Then just raise your player level. I can convince everyone in
the party to let you join along. You only need to be level 50 to leave your
starter kingdom.”

“As if I have time for that.”

“But you have time to sit next to me and stalk me through that
tablet?”

“I’m not going to argue with you about this. Go downstairs and
wash up, I will have the maid cook something nutritious for you to eat.”

I follow my father’s orders, but stroll downstairs in
irritation. In the kitchen, a middle-aged lady welcomes me to the table and
informs me that some food will be ready shortly.

Ten minutes pass and she sets a small bowl of chicken soup with
buttered bread on the side in front of me. It’s too late for dinner, so I only
have something small to warm my stomach and help me sleep soundly.

The rest of the night finishes relatively quickly and I find
myself staring up at the ceiling from my bed, the moon gently shining in
through the window. I pick up my phone and scroll through my contacts list. The
number of contacts is truly pitiful; the other party members represent the
majority of my phone book.

I see Lost’s number, or Hollis in real life, and feel a strange
urge to call it. I can’t describe this feeling, but it causes me to want to act
on impulse.

‘What is going on with me? I saw him just recently, and I want
to call him right now?’

Restraining myself, I send a message asking when he will take
his high school equivalency test. Unfortunately, it is nearly midnight, and I
don’t get a reply before falling asleep.

Three months later, I look back on all the time I have spent
with Sir Laurence, and feel as if it has only been a couple of weeks. During
that time, I have amassed a small fortune in loot, but my strength is
relatively low, so it is up to Sir Laurence to carry it all for me. My level
has increased to 186, which is still somewhat low compared to the rest of the
party.

***************************************************
***************************************************

-Mason-

As the partly temporarily splits up, Matrix and I form our own
sub group and head off from the inn together. Swordbreak is like a beehive of
activity, and trying to get anywhere is an ordeal in itself.

“What should we do now, little brother?” I ask Matrix.

“We should try recording a few more videos. The electricity bill
just came in the other day and dad has been… brooding over it. It would be nice
to earn a little more and help out.”

“Yeah, that would be good. I won’t be getting any of that other
income either by the looks of things so a few videos will be best.”

“What other income?”

“Oh! Hah, don’t mind that. I was just thinking out loud. The
question is, what can we record?”

“Umm, a few dungeon runs, perhaps?”

“Everyone does that, though. Urgh, what a dilemma.”

Matrix and I try to brainstorm, but we can’t seem to come up
with any prolific ideas. We end up choosing to do a typical dungeon run, except
with a new, undiscovered dungeon.

Finding new dungeons is incredibly difficult, and requires more
of a natural talent or luck rather than skill. We go to one of the libraries in
Swordbreak and I equip my ‘Literacy’ skill so I can decipher the books.

We spend the next three weeks entirely in the library, our
levels stagnating while I try to figure out the location to an undiscovered
dungeon. I can almost feel the piled up dust weighing down on my shoulders and
back when I finally come across some helpful information.

“Matrix! Here it is! Chapter 32 of ‘History of Nell Forger’. It
describes how the adventurer came across this hidden tomb in the south by
chance. Apparently, he used an arrowhead to flick a switch hidden in between a
few rocks. I doubt anyone would have discovered this dungeon by chance!”

“That’s awesome, bro! Umm, we should head off immediately!”

I pay the librarian to use her ‘Scribe’ skill and copy the
description of the dungeon for me onto a scroll. Depositing the parchment into
my inventory, Mason and I leave the library and make our way out of the city.

The south gate of Swordbreak is only a hundred meters in front
of me, yet I can’t reach it because the thousands of players in between are
like a swarm of locusts covering everything. I had heard rumors about the south
gate being the busiest place of the city before, but I never really took them
to heart. At least, not until now.

“Big bro, I just had an idea,” Matrix’s face lights up as he
says it. “Why don’t we record the journey to the dungeon? The first obstacle
can be right here!”

“Ahaha, that’s very funny… No, wait. That actually might not be
a bad idea! Quickly, we have to backtrack our steps and get out of this crowd.”

“Why?”

“The video shouldn’t start with us stuck in this crowd, but
should show us running into it.”

“That’s brilliant big bro! I’m so proud of you!”

Following my plan, we turn around and force our way out of the
crowd, leaving a few angry players in our wake. A few more hours are also
wasted, but at least we get what we came for. The start of my video is
explaining about the discovery of the hidden information, and immediately
getting stuck in the crowd at the edge of the city. I even curse as if I am
caught by surprise and displeased.

Over the next two days, Matrix and I deliberately steer
ourselves into trouble, creating an eventful video of our journey to the hidden
tomb. I label it as part one of the dungeon crawl, opening the tomb with an
arrow and entering at the very end of the video in hopes of creating some
suspense for the next video.

We head into the dungeon the very next day, before I finish
compiling the video. I do not wish for players to find out about the dungeon
before we have even finished going through it.

The interior is completely decayed and decrepit, with crumbling
brick walls and flickering torches that are nearly burned out. The air is stale
and difficult to breath. The decay of the tomb and stagnation of the air sets
off alarms in my mind.

“Not good, Matrix. Get your antidotes ready, I have a bad
feeling about this tomb and I hope poison is the worst of it.”

“Okay!”

We pass through several large rooms before the enemies start
coming. Swarms of festering zombies start crawling out of holes in the walls,
falling onto the ground before standing up and stumbling over one another
toward us. As I had feared, they are indeed highly poisonous.

The enemies are level 160 and called ‘Noxious Guards’, and one
manages to swat Matrix, infecting him with the toxicity. Matrix’s health starts
to plummet, forcing him to consume a total of three antidotes to rid himself of
the poison.

Beyond the room where the ‘Noxious Guards’ crawled out of the
walls is the interior of a massive cathedral. Oddly, there are no windows, only
cracked brick walls and a large, domed ceiling covered in moss with vines
hanging down.

Matrix and I are completely stunned at the sight. For such a
large area to go undiscovered for so long is incredible. I’m so excited; this
video is going to get so much attention!

I catch a low groan in the distance, and I turn to face the
noise. My excitement dulls slightly when I see nearly two hundred ‘Noxious
Guards’ wandering over toward us.

“Matrix, brace up. The zombie apocalypse is coming, and it’s
completely lacking in coordination,” I joke when I notice the zombies bumping
into one another and obstructing the entire group.