End Online: Volume 4 (5 page)

Everyone agrees to my
suggestion without too many concerns. As for the rest of the items, we split
them up evenly between us. We each receive a total of two pieces of ‘common’
grade armour and twenty gold coins each.

As we walk up the large
staircase and press on to the fourth level, I glance over my shoulder to notice
the entrance doors are slightly ajar, indicating that there is no boss in this
room and anyone can safely pass through.

The door to the fourth
floor is open as well, allowing us to easily pass through. Upon entering into a
large corridor, we are instantly greeted by an overly friendly player.

“Thank you! Thank you so
much!” He cries out shamelessly with a look of joy on his face.

“W-what?” I stammer out,
taken aback by this player.

“I have been stuck here
for so long! I passed through when the boss had already been defeated. But when
I came to return and leave, I found that the boss had respawned. I have been
trapped up here for two weeks!”

“What about your party?
There must have been more than just you.”

“Indeed, there was. But
they have all perished and returned back to Swordbreak.”

“And they didn’t come to
help you out?”

“They couldn’t. We don’t
have enough strength to defeat that boss. They told me I had to either die or
wait for someone to come through and clear out the boss room.”

“If you don’t have the
strength, don’t enter areas beyond your capabilities.” Prince Charming
interjects, looking down on the player mercilessly.

“I-I know. But… we all
make mistakes you know.” The player casts his gaze down to the ground,
intimidated by the large, armoured knight.

“Now, that’s enough,” I
frown at the prince. “Look, the path is clear now. You had best hurry as there
are plenty more monsters along the way and you are by yourself.”

“Y-yes. I will be off
then. And truly, thank you!”

With our conversation
ending, the player immediately rushes off into the boss room. Surely the player
should not have too much trouble escaping the castle; there are a lot of
players in between here and the exit that should have most of the monsters
occupied.

With the prince grumbling
behind me, we head off deeper into the fourth floor.

I realize that this floor
is somewhat different from the first three. The most noticeable difference is
the layout. This floor contains more winding pathways and oddly-shaped rooms.
Our first encounter with new enemies happens in a large circular room with
various tapestries lining the walls.

Thanks to very few players
being around, large groups of banshees and large blue-winged devils are crowded
in this room. The banshees are covered in black robes with various pieces of
torn cloth dangling from their bodies. The blue-winged devils are the same size
as us players; almost twice as large as the smaller varieties on the lower
levels. Unlike the banshees, they carry menacing trident-like weapons.

I use ‘Creature Analyze’
on them and note their levels to be near or slightly above level 250. After a
few battles, we learn that the banshees tend to fight using magic curses while
the devils use a hybrid of physical and magical attacks.

Our only trouble with them
is the large numbers that crowd together. In the space of a few hours, I end up
consuming a significant quantity of my medicinal herbs between Fen and myself.
I also heavily rely on my agility to avoid as many attacks as possible and am
forced to learn to strike from angles where it is difficult for the enemies to
counter attack. My biggest weakness is against the banshees’ wide area curse
spells; some only causing various debuffs, while others actively drain away my
health.

Exiting through one of the
doors after countless battles, we find ourselves outside the castle and on a
large balcony. Walking under enormous buttresses, I am shocked to find myself
facing a group of about ten ghosts. Their levels are slightly below the average
monster of the fourth floor, but they are completely immune to physical
attacks.

I end up sitting these
battles out, relying heavily on Fen’s ice based magic and Prince Charming’s
surprisingly high tier holy spells. After the first battle is finished, we do
our best to avoid any further confrontations with the ghosts based on the large
amount of mana we need to consume in order to deal with them.

We spend two full days of
real life on this fourth floor, crossing paths with only a few parties of high
caliber players. Eventually, we come across a familiar pair of ten meter tall,
gilded double doors.

“The fourth floor boss…
Should we?” I ask the rest of the party, unsure of what to do.

“You’re the leader, I’ll
leave it up to you to decide.” Mason shrugs his shoulders, not particularly
concerned as to whether we fight the boss or not.

Everyone else also agrees
with the elder brother, leaving it up to me to decide. All I can do is sigh in
defeat, trying to come to a decision.

“What is everyone’s
supplies looking like?”

“Matrix and I have a few
health and mana potions left. I also have plenty of arrows. It should be enough
for one boss battle,” Mason says confidently.

“I only have three mana
potions left, but I have health potions,” Prince Charming speaks while at odds
as to whether it is enough.

“Health potions only,”
Verde sighs.

I bite my bottom lip,
trying to think if it is possible to defeat the boss. My inventory is also
nearly depleted of healing herbs but I have a fair few of the horrid health
potions I crafted.

“Let’s not do it this
time. The risk is simply too great. We will come back another day when we are
stronger and have more supplies.” I say while staring at the doors in front of
me.

I have no clue as to what
is on the other side, and the death of any party member will send them straight
back to the kingdom’s capital. In the past two weeks, however, we have gained
an enormous amount of experience and our levels have skyrocketed from fighting
monsters while only stopping to eat and sleep; no one was willing to be the
first person to slow down and fall behind everyone else.

Additionally, my class
skill ‘White Warrior’ finally went beyond skill level 20; resulting in more
bonus stats, a slightly larger health bonus and better increase in speed.
Though, unfortunately, none of my base stats show any significant growth.

Without bothering too much
about the enemies on our descent through the cathedral, we quickly speed
through the corridors and rooms to arrive at the first floor. Mason then gives
directions for us to exit through the eastern side of the cathedral. I feel a
little unsure as this side of the cathedral is identical to the one of the
opposite side, but Mason has a compass which does not lie.

Passing by a lot of
players with large, unsightly swords and axes, we quickly walk though a large
underground path to exit into blinding sunlight.

My vision takes some time
to come into focus as I squint in the face of the bright surroundings for the
first time in a few days. My excitement suffers a mental blow as my vision
adjusts to see a large savanna in front of me. The grass is yellow, and the
acacia trees are far and few between. There are a few minor dust storms off in
the distance but it is hard to entirely make them out through the haze of heat
rising from the ground.

A large group of blue and
black zebra gallop along the plain, sending dust up behind them while a few
players with bows are hunting them for meat. Looking around, there are various
types of birds, elephants, elands, and even a few vicious looking lions mixed
in with hundreds of players. There are incredibly large numbers of players for
a region so far away from the capital.

This is the Summer Kingdom
of Dalbe, completely different from the Spring Kingdom of Forste or the Winter
Kingdom of Glace.

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

We travel north, following
the mountain range until we reach a rare cluster of trees with shade and a
small creek to refill our water bottles.

“There are so many players
around!” I exclaim once we reach the destination.

“The entire Kingdom of
Dalbe is like that. Sixty percent of players start out from here after all.”
Mason shrugs indifferently like it isn’t his problem.

Sitting down on a dead
tree trunk lying on the ground, we all rest while happily chatting to one
another. Well, everyone except for the prince who can’t seem to bring himself
to properly talk with the rest of us.

“Well, we are going to log
off for a while,” Mason says finally. “I still have that video of liberating
the elves’ village to finish creating. It will take some time, so shall we take
a day’s rest?”

“Sounds like a plan to
me.” I reply, thinking about the shopping and other chores around the house
that need doing.

The others also agree on
meeting back here in 24 hours, logging off one after another.

“Fen, you log off first. I
will be there shortly.”

The wolf girl pouts
momentarily but disappears shortly after while I stretch, laying back on the
log while staring up at the great big blue sky. My whole body begins to relax
from the peaceful atmosphere, but I realize I can’t stay here for too long.

Right before I go to log
off, I sense the familiar feeling of being watched, more strongly than ever
before. I sit upright and look at my surroundings. To my surprise, I notice a
middle aged man standing next to one of the acacia trees. He is only wearing
beginner clothing, but he seems far from some innocent novice.

Upon realizing that I have
noticed him. The man suddenly vanishes and reappears right before me.

‘Teleporting!?’ 
I think in shock.

“You. Who are you?” The
man asks in an icy tone, sending shivers up my spine.

“I-I’m Lost.” I stammer
out, unsure as to what to say.

“No. I asked, ‘who are
you’?”

“I told you. I’m-“

“Not what I am asking.
What do you think you are doing with my daughter? Do you think you can get
close to her?” His voice becomes even colder, leaving me genuinely scared.

“W-what are you saying?”

Before I realize it, the
man is pointing a thin, pitch black rapier at me. The tip of the weapon is only
a few hairs’ breadth from my eyeball. Of course, I would not feel any pain, but
a cold sweat still forms on my forehead in the face of the weapon.

“You filthy beast. You
have disgusting thoughts about her, don’t you? I saw how friendly you were
acting towards her. Are you the cause of her condition? Did you hope to take
advantage of her!?” He reveals a cruel snarl at the end.