End Online: Volume 2 (10 page)

"Fen?" I try to turn around but the grip of the person
tightens, crushing my arms and preventing me from looking at them.

"NO!...” I sense a vague sense of uncertainty in the voice,
“You can't turn around. I don't have any... Clothes..."

What I couldn't feel was the shape of her
body, although my mind was currently in the process of filling in the
blanks from my imagination.

What I could feel however, was all the heat inside
my body rising to my face.

-Chronix-

Outside
of virtual reality, my name is Chrona Axelle. At 19 years of age, I live in the
Upper District of Taile. Sticking my short blonde hair straight up so I seem slightly
taller, I'm a little touchy about the fact I am slightly shorter than most
other people my age.

My
parents are quite rich. Owning a chain of electronics stores, I can live my
life comfortably at home, doing whatever I like.

Back when
I was at private school I was always the best at everything I did, whether it
was sports or academics. I was always picked first for everything, and even the
teachers favoured me. That's right, I was always the best.

That's
why when I started playing End Online, I could not bear the humiliation of not
being the best any more. I eventually stopped going to university, devoting
myself solely to the game. My parents did not mind as they simply wanted me to
take over the family business, which I was already more than capable of doing.

Even with
the extended time I put into the game, people slowly got further ahead of me,
higher levels, and better equipment. Each and every single one was a blow to my
pride. Especially that player, Gladox. 

I spent
an incomprehensible amount of time chasing him around after seeing his
videos. But no matter what, by the time I got there, he was already long gone.

I started
up a guild, 'The Swords of Light', with other likeminded people who aimed to be
the best. Of course, I had to have joining rules to prevent every single
lowlife from joining simply because it was a strong guild.

You must
be at least half my level to join. If you fall below that while you are a
member, then you are immediately excommunicated. 

More and
more players started to get ahead of me, no matter how much time I put in or
how hard I tried. My pride took blow after blow.

There were
also other incidents that occurred, like that day at the 'Unknown Goblin Lair'.

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

Me and my
top nine guild members climbed over the snowy hills and entered the goblin
encampment we discovered about two months ago.

The
goblins in this encampment are strange. We were unable to defeat them two
months ago due to their abnormally high defence and group tactics. But that
changed.

We start
by picking off the goblins around the surrounding hills, making sure they don't
gather too many numbers together and overwhelm us. Even at level 237, a large
group of these rascals can cause me problems.

I would
possibly have an easier time if I spend more time in raising my stats, but I am
far too busy trying to raise my level for that. I simply compensate for it with
high level equipment.

I
slightly regret all the negative points I have gathered. But that has been a
part of my progress in getting stronger. I found a hidden temple and joined the
faith supporting the 'Gold Serpent' when I was still level 150.

I ended
up doing some dark quests for the faith and gained belief in my god for
completion of those quests, but it caused my alignment to slowly drop as well. At
least, I gained a useful skill from joining the religion.

The skill
itself doesn't increase in the standard way, but instead its level is set to
one tenth of my belief.

It is
quite a useful skill. The higher its level, the more bonus damage it does. But
alternatively, the higher the level, the more gold it costs to use.

I horde
gold and use this attack repeatedly on the strong enemies I need to
kill quickly. After all, a critical hit ignores most of an opponent’s
defences. 

Once I
clean up with the goblins with my guild members, we quickly pick off and finish
the rest of the goblins in the encampment. There was surprisingly less goblins
than there should have been, almost as if somebody had come by in the past few
days and cleaned them up.

After chasing
a few stragglers over a hill, we come back to the encampment to find two
players and a massive wolf has just exited the dungeon. 

'This is
my dungeon! What do you fools think you are doing here!?'

Signalling
the rest of the members that are all over level 150, we approach the small
group of players.

Focusing
my ears on them, I hear the woman whispering to the hooded man to be careful of
me and who I am. What she says is a little insulting, but she speaks the truth.

I see
that they are not very high levelled, so they probably only went on the first
floor, but I think they can pay for going down to the second floor as well.
Calculating all the numbers in my head I can deduce they were in there
overnight, so they can pay for two days’ worth of fees for using my
dungeon. 

I have
learned a lot of business sense from my father. Considering I doubt they fought
the boss, whom we came here for, just paying the bill of using somebody else's
hunting ground is more than enough to satisfy me. I consider my offer to be
quite benevolent actually.

I even
offer for them to trade their equipment for the fee as an alternative if they can't
afford that. Offering them to trade that giant pet wolf may have been a bit
much, but nobody would ever agree to that.

Only, the
fools try to run.

"ArrowHunter, GoldFleece."
I let out a sigh as I call the two, "They are bound to double back and go
to Iceridge. You are the fastest of us so go intercept them. Teach them not to
mess with the Swords of Light."

"Yep,
yep." If this game didn't have an age limit of eighteen, I would swear
ArrowHunter was a pre-pubescent boy, "We will go do that! Come on GoldFleece."

The
middle-aged bald monk looking man follows the boy as they dash over the hills
to wait in the tree line for those players.

'Something
really does not look right about that scene.'

"Okay,
the rest of us, lets clear our way down into the boss room. It drops fantastic
loot and should have respawned only an hour or two ago."

I lead
the group into the crevice leading to the dungeon. Each boss has a different
respawn count down. this one in particular takes a month. 

Thinking
back on those two players, I heard the woman call the man 'Lost' but I didn't
catch her name. I don't know what it was about her, but something seemed
incredibly familiar. 

I
couldn't see most of her face, but she almost looked like the daughter of the
corporate shark my father introduced me to at a party for the upper echelon.
That girl was my age, with a stunning beauty that took me breath away at the
first glance. I would have thrown away all my pride in that moment just to have
her.

But even
being from the Upper District of Taile, she was beyond my reach. Even my father
showed his utmost politeness to her father, showering him with compliments.

She had
given off such a cold demeanour that I could not bring myself to even approach
her.

But there
is no way a girl like that would be playing a game like this.

Coming
back to reality, I realized we have just arrived at the boss room.

"Hang
on, how did we get here so quick!? There were barely any fights the entire way
here!"

I
complain to the guild members in a loud voice, there is no way someone has
already been down here!

They all
send nervous glances at each other as I storm into the room, straight for the
open chest in the middle.

I slam
the chest shut and near scream.

"WHAT
THE HECK!! EVERYTHING IS GONE!! LOST!! IT MUST HAVE BEEN THOSE TWO PLAYERS
EARLIER!!"

I feel
rage boiling up in me, the kind of feeling I get when somebody is mocking me
behind my back.

"Umm...
Chronix." One of the members dressed as a samurai spoke up, "It is
only a game. I don't think it's quite worth getting so worked up about."

At this
time, both ArrowHunter and GoldFleece both come running in at an unbelievable
speed.

"Chronix!
They got away, but it wasn't our fault!" ArrowHunter started talking
first, but GoldFleece cut him off.

"That
wolf ran off with the girl in its mouth first. It was so incredibly fast there
was no chance of catching it. Then that hooded guy disappeared like smoke
directly in front of me."

GoldFleece
seemed more awed rather than concerned for his failure, while ArrowHunter
seemed more inclined to franticly try and say how it wasn't his fault.

"What
are you talking about GoldFleece? I saw it perfectly from where I was standing.
He substituted his body and appeared behind you before running off. Only there
was two of him at once! He was some kind of ninja! I swear!"

Unable to
contain my rage anymore, I shouted as loud as I could possibly manage.

"YOU
DARE TO MOCK THE SWORDS OF LIGHT!!! I WILL MAKE YOU PAY FOR THIS LOST!!!"

Everyone
stood still, rooted on the spot. Stunned at my voice.

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

Two days
passed since the 'Unknown Goblin Lair'.

Back at
our headquarters, a medium sized residence hidden in Iceridge, I am sitting
alone in what we use for a meeting room. The walls have a few paintings and
decorations against the cream walls, but the large mahogany table is the
attraction in this room.

There are
ten seats around the table, four on either side and one on each end. Enough
seats for the top ten members of the guild.

Currently,
the seat at the end of the table is the only one occupied. I brood in my silent
rage when a shadow comes up behind me.

"Chronix,"
The voice rasps like a coarse wind, "I have brought you the scrolls you
wished."

Silently
I unroll one and speak the incantation.

"Whether
thou be in the deepest sky, whether thou be on the tallest mountain. I
bequeath thoust identity to reveal thy location! LOST!"

The
scroll burns up and forms into a window in front of me

'He must
be at the border of the kingdom!? How did he get so far in two
days!?'

Well,
that is two days in real life, or six days in the game. Maybe if he moved nonstop
he could manage that.

If he had
simply run without paying my demands, then maybe I would not bother with
chasing after him. A criminal fleeing interstate is usually something you don't
bother chasing, just wait for them to come back.