End Online: Volume 6 (13 page)

The man has a terrifying
amount of health and defense, each of our attacks only doing one or two percent
of damage to his aggregate health.

“That’s enough!” The wolf
man shouts, his sword suddenly emitting a blinding emerald light.

The players stabs his
sword into the ground in front of him, and the emerald glow explodes out from
the weapon and blasts me and Fen away, along with any current attacks. The
Sacred Art he just used is one I have never seen or heard of before, so I
become more wary of any other strange attacks he could be hiding.

The enemy player doesn’t
continue attacking however, instead he lets out a resounding sigh before
saying, “As I have been trying to say until now, my satiety is quite low and
your cooking smells great. Can I join you for a meal? I’ll pay you for the food
of course.”

Stunned by his words, I
take a while to respond. After turning to look at Verde, who simply shrugs, and
Sir Laurence, who seems to be pondering something, I cautiously say to the
stranger, “Sure, how does a gold coin for dinner sound?”

“That’s awfully expensive
for one meal! But very well,” the wolf player says after contemplating the
price of the food compared to the aroma filling the cave.

The meal only cost me
about ten copper coins, the smallest of currency, but there is still a lot of
effort involved between procuring my own ingredients and cooking supplies and
preparing the meal.

Sir Laurence, who finally
concludes his private thoughts, gazes at the strange player as he says, “Now I
remember. You look a little different now that you have a non-human race, but
you’re Gladox, the current number one player!”

Verde only reacts a little
and Fen not at all, but I am filled with surprise and disbelief toward the
player with four wolf ears and a humorous gaze as he nods his head and affirms
the Prince’s words.

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

– Jude –

Today is the second day
that useless nephew will be coming to my class. At least he seems to have some
of the Silvester trait of being drawn to and fascinated by ancient heritages.

The same girl who helped
him get here last lesson is pushing Hollis into the classroom. I know who she
is. She is Verity Lee, the only daughter of one of the most prestigious men in
the city of Taile, Lucas Lee. His word can move the courts, politicians, and
the business sector alike. Lucas is the embodiment of our modern dystopian
society where money speaks louder than the law.

What I am most curious
about is why Verity Lee is attending this university. I’ve noticed quite a few
of the other teachers keeping a close eye on her. If there is an opportunity to
become acquainted with her family through her, I need to do so before the other
teachers have the chance to. Of course, such a chance is as likely as a goose
laying a golden egg.

Verity is a kindred
spirit, who would even go out of her way to give assistance to a useless
cripple such as my nephew. I secretly wonder if there is a way to use him to
have the chance to attract her attention.

“I’ll see you later,
darling,” Verity says to my nephew loud enough that everyone in the room can
hear. Next, to everyone’s astonishment, and my complete and utter shock, she
leans over and kisses him on the cheek before hastily leaving.  

“No, no, no. That can’t
possibly be. Why? That useless nephew of mine that’s better off… No, this is
ridiculous,” I mutter an incomprehensible mess of words under my breath as I
try to understand the situation.

For the first time in
years, my composure has completely failed me. I don’t understand when, or how,
Hollis even met Verity Lee, let alone got so close to her.

‘It looks like I need
to change my plans instead of using those two nieces, Joelle and Shari. I
thought they were my key to repairing the Silvester name and position in
society, but perhaps I have been looking in the wrong direction.’

The more I think about
what I will do, the better I feel. That nephew, Hollis, is sitting next to a
golden ticket in life, but doesn’t even realize it. It would be a shame for it
to be left alone.

Later that evening, I
collect Joelle and Shari from their school in high spirits. After we get home,
I sit the two down and tell them of our schedule for the weekend.

“Girls, this weekend you
will not be able to call Hollis,” I bluntly state.

“No! You said if we
behaved we could! We haven’t been bad!” Joelle instantly raises her voice and
shouts at me disobediently.

My mood is too good to be
spoiled however, and I calmly wait for the two little girls to quiet down.

“Be quiet. This weekend we
will be going to visit Hollis instead. You will finally get to see that idiot brother
of yours, so I hope you will be especially well-behaved.”

Shari, the younger sister,
shouts at me instead of being happy. “Don’t call Holly an idiot!”

“Behave,” I command the
two, not willing to put up with any more nonsense from them.

“Yes.” Joelle clamps her
sister’s mouth shut as she quickly agrees. She is much better at reading the
situation than Shari. Should my plans for Hollis fail, finding an upward-bound
marriage partner for her to increase connections and raise our status is still
a possibility.

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

– Mikhail –

I sit in my small office
with my computer running a diagnostic on the End Online server. I’m searching
for traces of not just the AI child that escaped, but also the other ones in
the server. I wish we could just wipe them away, but they are integrated so
deep inside the system it is impossible to do without destroying everything.
The core for Xilbril, the AI governing End Online that the children sprouted
from, is the central point where all the servers are connected together after
all.

“Sir! Sir, we’ve found
it!” One of my co-workers bangs open the door and rushes into my office with a
clipboard in hand.

I look up at him
exhaustedly and ask, “Found what? Please, give me some good news right now.

“Sir, we’ve found the
location of that missing AI child and the player Lost who has somehow been
evading us till now. Look here, Hollis Silvester, 20 years old, and his address
is-”

Before the employee can
expound further on the information, I snatch the clipboard from him and read
over the information myself. The helpless feeling I have been tormented by
lately is instantly dispelled.

‘Good! This is good,
very good!’

– Lost –

“Gladox? You’re 
the
 Gladox?!”
I can’t help but cry out in surprise.

When I look at the
four-eared wolf man, I can indeed see similarities between him and the famous
player Gladox. However, there are a few differences, making me wonder if it is
actually him.

The biggest difference is
the armor, which is a deep obsidian color instead of the silver armor I saw on
his videos. His sword is also different, but I can understand changing
equipment as you get stronger, even if I haven’t done it that much myself. No,
the main problem I have with him being Gladox is his height.

Gladox, in his videos, is
a tall gladiator who storms through dungeons alone, laying waste to everything
in front of him. This wolf man is, while still tall, only about the height of
Sir Laurence. I could swear he is ten to twenty percent shorter than when I saw
him in his videos.

“Yes, I am.” Gladox nods
his head casually as if it is a minor matter. “You also seem somewhat familiar,
but I can’t recall someone who had a lizardman race. But to have white scales,
what kind-”

Gladox’s voice trails off
as his gaze focuses on Fen. The wolf girl is basically wearing a rather
revealing swimsuit top and skirt. His eyes turn murky and a faint hint of lust
blooms in the recesses of his pupils.

“It’s Fen! Oh, how I
always wanted to meet you!” Gladox cries out in an undignified manner, rushing
toward Fen with his arms wide open to embrace her.

The wolf seems to sense
the approaching danger and her attention focuses on the crazed, overpowered
player. Without even a flicker of her eyes, her ice manipulation is put to use.
Gladox’s foot is firmly sealed the ground, causing him to trip and fall face
first toward some newly formed six inch ice spikes.

Perhaps if he was more
prepared, he would have been able to raise his arms to catch himself, but the
suddenness of the event didn’t give him the opportunity to prevent being
impaled. Gladox falls on three ice spikes, one of which goes through his eye. I
know it shouldn’t cause much pain, but just witnessing the incident makes me
cringe. I can’t even imagine what it would be like for the person who suffered
it.

Fen moves across and leans
against me, no longer paying any attention to Gladox. The latter doesn’t stay
down, but slowly climbs back to his feet. His spirits seem to have dampened
slightly after suffering Fen’s resentment, but I can still see him looking at
Fen with hidden desires.

“Just give it up, it’s
useless,” I helplessly say to him. “By the way, are you sure you’re Gladox? I
could swear that Gladox was taller.”

“You must be Lost. Fen is
my ideal woman. She’s an adorable companion; screw those real life girls! And
of course I am. My height? Oh, that’s all in the camera angle! With the proper
techniques, I could make myself look even bigger!” Gladox proudly says while
puffing out his chest.

I also realize that he
is that type of person; someone who prefers girls in games over those
in real life. I glance at Fen and wonder if I’m actually any different. Either
way, it turns out that the most famous player in the game is a massive fan of
Fen.

“Well, let’s all sit and
eat.”

Our dinner feast begins
shortly afterwards, now with the newcomer Gladox. Sir Laurence has a lot of
questions to ask him, mostly relating to girls and a noble man’s etiquette. It
is an embarrassing sight to watch, but at least the two players seem to get
along. Personally, I had imagined him to be much more domineering in person,
but apparently video productions can be deceiving. I secretly wonder how I was
perceived by others in Mason’s videos.

Gladox sends a couple of
questionable looks at Fen as we happily eat our food, which causes a flame of
jealousy to sprout inside of me. It is a strange feeling I haven’t felt until
today, despite all the stares we have gotten before, and the reason for that is
my still growing feelings for the wolf girl.

After dinner, we set up
our sleeping areas and rest for the night. The legendary player, Gladox,
chooses a spot not too far from us and does the same.

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

I awaken the following
morning to the sunlight pouring in from the entrance. I ponder to myself about
how with all the caves on the mountain, why had I picked one that would face
the sunrise…

I slip out of Fen’s grasp
and silently walk to the entrance of the cave. I stretch my body along the way,
but it doesn’t have the same satisfaction as it does in real life.

Everyone else is beginning
to wake up, but I find Gladox already awake and staring at the sunrise.

“Hey, Lost,” Gladox says
when he senses me getting close to him, “Could I borrow your companion for a
while? This sunrise is such a romantic moment, it would be a shame to enjoy it
alone.”

“Rejected,” I blandly say,
leaving no room for negotiation.

Soon everyone else is also
awake and the sleeping items are placed back in our inventories. Fen seems a
bit absent-minded for some reason which makes me curious. I ask her if there is
anything on her mind to find out what it is, but she just shakes her head and
tells me that it is nothing.

We leave the cave and
continue our roundabout route up the mountain, often climbing on our hands and
knees because the slope is too steep. The only difference now is that Gladox is
joining us. Just like in his videos, Gladox’s expression is one of seriousness
as he casually keeps an eye on the surroundings in case any enemies appear.

As we ascend further,
several more ‘Devil Goats’ and even a single enormous ‘Demon Gorilla’ – which
is equivalent to a boss-like monster on this mountain – attack us. The mountain
path is slightly wider and the slope of the mountain is gentler than usual, so
there is much more room to maneuver as we get into an impromptu formation.

Gladox takes the front
line, fighting diligently to deflect the enemy attacks and counterattacking
their sacred arts with his own. At the same time, Fen and I make use of our
speed to dash about the battleground while making quick and concise attacks.

Fen uses a pair of ice
daggers to save her mana for later and I use my two sacred arts that have the
lowest stamina consumption, ‘Triple Thrust’ and ‘CrossX’.

At the rear of the group,
Sir Laurence grows dejected over the fact that his role in the party as a tank
has practically been replaced by Gladox. I consider telling him that there can
be more than one tank type player in a party, but I assume he will discover
that soon enough. For now he just stays next to Verde to protect her as the two
take care of any enemies that manage to make it behind us.

The first battle with
Gladox as the main tank takes us nearly fifteen minutes to finish, but each
subsequent one is usually finished within ten minutes as our cooperation as
players quickly improves.

I admire the strength
Gladox displays with his massive bastard sword as he deflects nearly all
attacks, even some that I would have considered to be unblockable. Though the
heaviest of attacks and sacred arts he is still forced to evade, it is like
almost nothing can hit him.

I also notice Gladox
glancing my way when I display my maximum speed. His eyes have an excitable
fighting spirit and it seems he wants to test out who is the better between us.
Fen is also fast to the extreme, but Gladox only sees her with affection.

As we climb the final
stretch of the mountain and are about to reach the peak, I turn to Gladox
beside me and whisper to him, “Gladox, why are you so interested in Fen?
There’s Verde behind us as well. She’s just as… no, almost as good looking, so
why don’t you chase after her?”

“You don’t understand? I
thought you did! Fen is a companion; a digital diva, one of the most perfect
creations of man since the dawn of time.”

Completely out of my
expectations, Gladox’s expression suddenly becomes ugly and he gives me a
pained look as he pauses before continuing.

“Real girls are the worst!
They lie and deceive and betray. They can be friendly one minute, and the next
turn hostile. I have already given up on such things. Ah… the virtual life is
the life for me!”

‘Friendly one minute,
then turn hostile? Actually, I think you just gave the perfect description of
Fen, rather than Verde. Fen will never betray me though, nor I her,’
 I silently muse but don’t say it aloud.

Our conversation ended as
we arrive at a temple at the summit of the mountain. The temple is enclosed
within a deteriorated wall that is crumbling in many locations, allowing
players easy entrance and exit. The walls take up an area of a hundred meters
long and wide, enclosing a single large Buddhist Temple and several additional
areas that could be used as prayer locations. This leads me to believe that
we’ve found the location for our quest.

The only thing I am
curious about is why Gladox was coming here as well. There is a chance that we
met him halfway up the mountain purely by chance while he was randomly
adventuring, but I believe that would be a bit too much of a coincidence. The
only other possibility is that he is here for a similar quest.

Rather than cautiously
entering through one of the broken wall sections, Gladox takes the lead and
walks straight toward the large gate at the front of the site and uses his
shoulder to slowly push it open. I was concerned about monsters hiding behind
the doors and waiting in ambush, though apparently that thought was unfounded.

I follow Gladox inside the
walls and find everything long abandoned. The ground is cracked and tufts of
grass are growing up in between. The buildings are in disrepair and some
sections have even collapsed. The most notable part to me however, is that
there are no enemies. My quest requires me to clear out the temple of all the
occupying demons, but there are none around that I can sense.

I cautiously pay attention
to the buildings around us, waiting for some form of demon to emerge and attack
us, but my suspense is apparently unwarranted. Gladox leads the way as we
directly enter the main temple and proceed through it. No matter where we go,
there are no enemies.

“Gladox, isn’t it strange
that it is so quiet?” I ask the four-eared wolf man curiously.

“Not really. There are a
bunch of these temples on the mountain tops, most of them are empty. Perhaps we
might find a stray monster or two if we inspect every part of this place, but
that would be all.”

A depressing realization
dawns upon me as I realize that this temple is only one of many, and the one we
need could be any one of them.

Following Gladox, we
arrive at a small isolated garden in the center of the main temple. The roof in
this area is open and sunlight pours down onto the stones and plants, causing
such a transcendent scene that I almost forget to question why this area is so
well kept while the rest of the grounds are in shambles.

In the center of the
garden, with a pebble path leading up to it, are three graves with several
bouquets of flowers placed in front of it. Gladox signals for us to wait as he
walks up to the gravestones, taking out a bouquet and placing it among with the
rest.

Apart from placing his
offering, I am close enough to hear him speak in a quiet voice. “Your
descendant pays her respects to her ancestors, and hopes you may remain in
peace, undisturbed in your slumber.”

A milky white light seems
to rise from the ground, swirling around Gladox before slowly entering him. I
would guess that it is giving him an amount of experience, or boosting stats.

“Is your quest done?” I
ask him once he returns to the group.

Gladox nods, affirming my
thoughts on this being the location for his quest.

“Yes, this is a popular
quest that many players have been taking lately. I’ve heard that if the quest
goes a month without being completed, the temple will no longer be pure and the
lovely quest giver won’t offer it to players. More importantly, it will
randomly give two stat points to the one who completes it.”

“Not pure anymore? That
sounds like what we need, a Buddhist temple in this area that needs
investigating and any demons removed. Essentially, a temple with demons should
be the place we are looking for.”

“That sounds interesting,
perhaps we should stay together for a while. I will help you complete this
quest.”

Gladox appears to have
good intentions, but I notice his gaze occasionally flickering over toward Fen,
which inherently makes me protective and intend to deny him.

“Your help is more than
welcome,” Sir Laurence says before I have a chance to reply. The silver knight
shows a strange camaraderie with the famous player which I somehow find
unsettling.

“Great!” Gladox says,
slapping a large hand on my shoulder and not leaving me, the party leader, a
chance to deny him.

Deciding to give up on my
selfish rejection, I take the lead with Fen and lead us out of the temple and
back down the mountain.