[Break through the siege and survive! (Remaining number of attempts: 15/15)]
Survive the encirclement of the group of skeletons!
Difficulty: Hard
Success: +1000 silver coins.
Failure: Death
Cooperation possible (up to 6 participants)
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'A siege? Skeletons?'
The mission parchment screamed 'danger' even though a cursory glance. The fact that the mission allowed up to six people to form a party told the same story, as well. Quite likely, Zevrad would find himself surrounded from all sides the moment he ripped the parchment in half.
However, no matter how long he stared, the mission's color remained Yellow: Pay Attention. Zevrad stood there, hesitating somewhat thanks to the word 'siege', but then he remembered that the people he rallied also glowed in yellowish color as well. If the creatures he'd encounter were glowing as them, then...
'I have to take the risk.'
If he could survive and succeed, then he could potentially earn up to 15,000 coins. Besides, other survivors showed no sign of even touching this parchment, so it seemed perfect for his current situation.
'I should still be careful, though.'
Fortunately, though, he possessed a box full of spell balls he purchased earlier for 10,000 coins. He deduced that he only needed four of these balls to take care of that demonic spider he fought, so he was sure of these coming in handy in the near future. Zevrad extracted the familiar combination of [Poison Fog], [Ignite], [Spider Web], and [Hydrochloric Acid] and put them in his pockets. Then, he headed towards the ground floor.
After making up his mind, Zevrad pulled out all the spell balls in his possession.
'Will poison work against the undead?'
Zevrad pondered for a while, before deciding to use them even if they proved to be ineffective. He did confirm the crucial fact that the [Poisonous Fog] seemed to possess some elements of explosive gas. If he combined that with [Ignite], then there was a good chance that he'd reap huge benefits. Just like the trials.
'So, it should be better to combine these two...'
He carefully checked each of the spell balls and divided them into two groups – ones that would be used in combination and the rest that would be used by themselves. It was a shame that there were no spell balls related to holy or divine magic.
It'd be a lie if he wasn't feeling nervous. Still, he shoved the spell balls inside his pockets and grasped the steel bar he possessed from the trials as tightly as he could, before ripping the parchment up with his teeth.
The already-familiar sensation brushed past him and the scenery changed in an instant.
The location for this mission was set inside an underground cavern-like space. His vision immediately took in the ceiling above that seemed far too low for his liking.
"..."
And, right in front of his eyes... several dozens of skeletons stood there, as he expected they might, and were glaring at the intruder.
'They all look rather hostile, don't they...'
The disparity between what he heard from rumors and that of reality was as great as the distance between heaven and earth. Whatever the case may have been, his plan was to start his assault with a bang. Zevrad pulled out the combination of [Poison Fog] and [Ignite]. The very combo that should've splendidly worked as he was about to throw the two before his hands hastily froze mid-air.
"...huh?"
Suddenly, he had a thought. He was standing in a completely different environment compared to when he was fighting the demonic spider. He glanced behind him and saw a solid wall. There wasn't a lot of space around him, and worst of all, there was no room to retreat.
But, he was thinking of using a poisonous gas here? And to make it explode, too? In such a narrow space?
Zevrad nervously swallowed down his saliva after realizing how close he got to inadvertently killing himself. From the very beginning, things were going sideways.
"Kwaaahhhaaa!!!"
Right at the back of the undead horde, a skeleton wearing a battle helmet roared out. Then, dozens of 'normal' skeletons began to repeatedly clatter their teeth in unison; they raised their weapons and began inching closer to Zevrad's position.
Realizing how urgent his situation had become, Zevrad quickly chucked the [Ignite] spell ball first. It caused a small explosion and knocked out two skeletons. Maybe because it was used independently, its overall prowess was far lesser than what he was hoping for.
Still, Zevrad tried to remain calm and pulled out his second combination from the pocket. [Spiderweb] and the [Hydrochloric Acid].
The thrown spell ball rapidly spun in the air, before tens of silvery threads exploded out. Nearly ten skeletons were now tied up by these threads. Zevrad chucked the [Hyrochloric Acid] ball a beat later; the acidic liquid rained down on the immobile undead. The skulls, ribs, pelvic bones, femurs, and more got melted in the blink of an eye. Taking care of the first wave.
The overall effect was more or less acceptable, but the problem was that he still had to take care of over twenty remaining skeletons. These undead creatures continued to advance forward while their teeth noisily clattered, even though the flames from [Ignite] spread around and caught a few of them on fire.
All these were still within Zevrad's calculations, though. He had to decrease their numbers as much as he could before he was pushed up against the wall. While cautiously retreating, Zevrad hastily pulled out more spell balls from his bag.
Strong beams of light exploded out from the fourth ball he threw in the air.
With a loud buzz, the ball exploded in a blinding shower of arcing electricity which spread out everywhere, causing a chain reaction of sorts. The skeletons trembled non-stop before they collapsed to the ground like puppets with their strings cut. Somehow, Zevrad managed to bring down the second wave.
"Guaaaah!!!"
From the back, the helmet-wearing skeleton roared out in anger once more. Since it seemed to be the leader of this undead horde, its anger was more or less understandable, what with its subordinates decreasing by over half in only a few breaths' time. The undead leader grasped a large two-handed axe and rushed forward, before powerfully kicking off from the ground. Its boney hand arced back and then, shot downward as if the creature wanted to slice apart the rude intruder in one go.
Zevrad didn't expect the enemy to perform an aerial assault like that and stood there blinking in a daze. Meanwhile, the distance between him and the undead shrunk rapidly. He was about to pull three more spell balls out but had to urgently raise the steel bar to defend himself instead. Although he was slightly caught off-guard, as long as he could defend this attack and hit the remaining skeletons with lots of spell balls, then he'd be...
*CLANG!!*
Zevrad's body tilted to one side rather unexpectedly. His eyes grew wide in disbelief. The airborne attack that carried the downward momentum contained destructive power that easily exceeded his expectations. The angle of defense allowed him to deflect the descending axe, but at the same time, the impact force shoved his own arm away as well.
The axe was swung again in a diagonal line and smacked away Zevrad's steel bar like it was nothing. Then, it swung back towards his now-exposed ribcage. His eyes instinctively spun and took in the sight of the powerful arc the axe was drawing. Zevrad's head blanked out, then.
'I'm going to die here?'
He gasped for air.
'Just like this? Really?'
Blood dripped from his lips and nostrils.
'But this path was Yellow: Attention Required, wasn't it?'
Greed led him towards this path.
'I still have spell balls left to use, and I am not in a disadvantageous position yet!'
As thousands of thoughts entered and left his head, his instincts screamed out. It told him it was too late now.
Zevrad gave up on counter-attacking right away and spun around with what little reflex he could muster up. While exposing his back, he crouched forward as much as he could.
*SLICE!!!*
The sharp blade of the axe didn't cut Zevrad's back but sliced up the object slung across his shoulders. The thick golden bag contained pretty much every little thing that he carried, from the start of the trials to the goods from the stores. At the same time, the undead's head was reflected on the smooth, polished surface peeking out from underneath the gap cut open by the axe.
Suddenly, a light beam shot out from the bag and penetrated the undead's eye sockets.
*Kieeeeeee!!!*
It screamed in pain.
Zevrad nearly toppled over from the impact but managed to prop himself up by placing his hands against the wall. He turned his head around to look. Although he was dazed and stunned silly, he still got to see the undead screaming out in pain as it was burning away. The moment of quick thinking had saved his neck, but he couldn't hide his shock from the sudden change of situation.
'W-what happened?'
He managed to survive, but that didn't mean his troubles were over. He quickly pulled the bag that served as a wonderful shield to his front and rummaged through its contents. He then figured out the cause of the change. A beam of bright light was coming from the sliced gap of the bag.
"...Oh?"
[Memento Mori]. It was the SPECIAL item he drew from the [Special Bonus], supposedly this is what saved him.
Thinking 'what if', Zevrad pulled the amulet out and shined its light on the still-burning undead with the helmet. Every single bone on its body began to change color right away. Very soon, the monster completely became ash and scattered away like dust.
It wasn't the only that skeleton, though. Even the ones trapped within the [Spiderweb], even the ones hastily retreating… as soon as the light touched them, they turned into ashes while crying out in sorrowful wails.
Zevrad only had to shine the light once around the cavern, but the tens of skeletons all became dust in less than one minute. When all of its targets were gone, the amulet's surface dimmed as if to signal that it had achieved what it was designed for.
[You have successfully completed a 'Hard' difficulty mission.]
[1000 silver coins have been added to your system.]
[Current silver coins: 69,100]
***
When Zevrad teleported back into the courtyard, a small commotion rose up.
After the 'first placed survivor' vanished from the courtyard, the crowd quickly checked what mission he had chosen, only to be shocked out of their minds. Not even one person among them dared to attempt a Normal difficulty mission yet, but he was challenging a Hard difficulty already? Not only that, all by himself?
The opinions were evenly split. Some were saying that he had bitten off more than he could chew, while others said that they should wait and see. And as everyone could see, Zevrad returned to the Basic Realm in less than five minutes. Since there was only one possibility upon failure of the mission, which was death, his return meant only one thing.
"I can't believe it."
Mao muttered out softly in disbelief.
It could be said that Mao's surprise was on a different level compared to other survivors here. He had managed to complete a few missions already, and while doing so, he got to form a certain view, an educated guess of sorts, regarding how one should go about surviving in the Basic Realm.
He was convinced that, if he wanted to undertake missions, he would have to make adequate preparations first by purchasing various items through many stores found here. And also, even if he could form a party with other people possessing a similar level of abilities as himself, he should not, under any circumstances, attempt to clear missions that had difficulty rating higher than Normal.
At least not for now.
That was probably why Odelette went to chat with the first-placed young man from Area 1. Of course, she still got refused rather grandly, though, but that man had just completed a mission with a difficulty rating two rungs higher than Normal. Not only that but in record time!
"How did he do it? Is able to use demonic magic already... hmm?"
Mao was thinking of inching closer to Zevrad to ask what happened, but he ended up tilting his head instead. As the person of discussion was standing in the same spot, unmoving like a stone sculpture. There was a strange, awkward atmosphere surrounding him.
Mao knew that look. It was like looking at a person who barely managed to return from a bloody and brutal warzone. When he took a closer look, the golden bag he was so envious of was split almost in half, and Zevrad's expression seemed to be lost and contemplative at the same time.
Then, Zevrad began moving his feet in silence.
The crowd could only stare at the back of the young man wordlessly climbing up the staircase in unsteady steps.
***
Zevrad couldn't recall how he returned to his room. His head and ribs hurt and he felt dizzy as if he had too much to drink. Upon regaining his focus, he found his entire body soaked in a cold sweat.
A chill crept up his back. His breathing seemed normal on the surface, but his heart kept pounding. His throat felt so dry and clammy that he thought it might crack into pieces at any second. He poured himself a cup of water and drank from it non-stop as his Adam's apple danced up and down for a long time.
Zevrad drank almost half of the bottle in one go, then forced his shaking legs to move. Soon, he fell on top of the bed. Only then, this sensation of returning alive from the abyss came washing over him. Honestly speaking, had he ever felt this enervated since the trial began?
The answer?
...he had.
*Knock, knock*
He heard someone knocking on the door and raised his head, but then, decided not to care and dropped his head back down the sheets. He didn't feel like talking to anyone at the moment.
The knocking continued for a while, but when there was no response, it stopped.
Zevrad just lay there and wordlessly stared at the ceiling. The checkered pattern on the ceiling above seemed to be spinning in his view.
How much time went by?
The thick and enduring silence continued on. Zevrad's fearful and shocked eyes slowly closed until only a sliver remained open.
'Did I place too much blind faith in my ability?'
The mission parchment was glowing yellow. He thought he could definitely clear the mission given his previous experience at the trials.
'Or was I too careless?'
It wasn't that he thought it would be a walk in the park. He knew it would be very dangerous. He simply thought that he could take risks.
'Maybe, I was too relaxed.'
But didn't he make preparations? He checked each spell ball and even divided them into possible combinations.
Zevrad thought up to here, and then...
'Was I too greedy?'
...he completely closed his eyes shut.
The more he tried to analyze his actions, the more foolish he looked to himself.
At least, Zevrad had successfully completed the mission. Or, more correctly, he could only manage to barely clear it. The wrong choices he made came back to bite him in the ass and he nearly lost his life. Actually, being able to return alive and in one piece was a miracle in itself already.
His [Spectral Sight] didn't lie.
When he thought about it carefully, that mission was on the level where he could have cleared it if he was being very careful. He even had in possession the necessary answer to clear the mission, too.
What would've happened if he pulled the Amulet out the moment he got there?
Or, what would've happened if he came up with different types of spell ball combinations?
Only by relying on that pathetically small level of experience of killing the demonic spider, he went and foolishly overestimated himself. Meanwhile, he didn't even stop to consider just what kind of location he might find himself in after the teleportation.
In the end, his greed and pride were to blame.
Zevrad pretended to not be relaxed. He pretended to not be overconfident. His pride, his greed, blinded him with the need to amass the silver coins as quickly as possible.
At a bare minimum, he normally wouldn't have acted this complacent back on trial.
'No, that's not right, is it?'
The [Mesmerized] descriptor came to his mind along with the fleeting dream.
Even back then, was there anything he did with his own power? More and more questions naturally reared their ugly heads as Zevrad was pulled along by this chain of logic.
The way he acted and fought at the demonic spider at the auditorium, was that through his own power? It was due to that voice in his head. He didn't even know how to manually imbue his weapon with demonic flames let alone recreate that move he performed. More importantly, it wasn't as if Zevrad made the conscious choice to act. He was simply overwhelmed by the 'emotions' at the time.
And when he killed the demonic spider?
That was only possible because it was a weakling in the hierarchy of the Burning Legion that had been captured to use as a guinea pig for the demon hunters.
What about when he earned the highest amount of points during the trial, then?
That was all thanks to the help of others back then.
Most likely, he had become too overconfident. He was invited by a mysterious sponsor who had somehow planned to give him a unique demon. As soon as he stepped into the auditorium, he got recognized as its holder, therefore being gifted a golden bag which everyone was super respectful of him for.
They tried to follow in his footsteps and some even worshipped him for his given status and feats. Even the smallest things he did garnered so much attention in Basic Realm. They all said that he was someone very special that even the host, Mother Malevolence, had to treat with respect.
Zevrad must've been enjoying all this attention, this acknowledgment of his being, even though outwardly he denied it, did not want it, didn't even like it. These trains of thoughts forced him to relook at his [Character Window], at himself.
***
[Character Window]
[1. General Information]
Name: Zevrad Stargazer (Alias)
Sex/Age: Male/??????????
Height/Weight: 237.8cm/150.1kg
Current Condition: Good
Class: Demon Hunter (N/A)
Race: ??????????
Affiliations: NA
[2. Traits]
1. Temperament:
- Competitiveness: A desire to win.
2. Aptitude:
-Average. (Born normal in every way; possessed no particular talent.)
[3. Attributes]
-Strength: Intermediate
-Endurance: Low
-Agility: Low
-Stamina: Intermediate
-Mana: Low
-Luck: High
-Soul: ??????????
Remaining Ability Points: 1
[4. Abilities]
1. Innate Abilities (2)
-Six Desires Illusory Arts (Grade Unknown)
-Soul (Grade Unknown)
2. Passive Abilities (4)
-Fast Analysis (High)
-Improved Vision (High)
3. Active Abilities (2)
-Spectral Sight (High)
[Green: Normal]
[Yellow: Attention]
[Orange: Do Not Approach]
[Red: Danger]
-Soul Inspection (Intermediate)
4. Skills (0)
-N/A
[5. Level of Cognition]
-Actions: Eccentric
-Emotions: Mesmerized
-Disposition: Disorder
[6. Interests]
1. Likes
-Sculpting
-Stargazing
2. Dislikes
-Demons
-Idle Chatter
[7. Bound Demon]
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.
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'̷̢̛̼̻̩̄̈́̒̊͌̔͒̒̕A̸̳͕̱͗͘l̷̡̧̳͎̝̤̟͕̦̺̮̍̑̀̐͆͐̾̆͘̕͘͜͠ ̷̰͚̺̼̭͖͓̣̜̳͕̓͜͠ͅt̷̛̛̮̱͕̯͖̘̻̩̳̗̤͔̰͑̐̆̍̃̌́́̓̆̌̒͝h̷̛̰̝̲̩̻͚̼͇̉͌͋̏͗̕̕͜ͅţ̷̢͔̮̳̰̮̤̖͚̼̠̬̓̒̓ ̸̥͎͉̤̦̟̘̫̩̔̉͂́͜͝į̸̢̟̖̻̫͚̮͉́́͂̑͂̂̃͐̔͘̚͝s̵̡͖̠̎͐̅́͛͊̒̒̍̑̔̑̂̕ ̴͈̪̓̈̉̉̆̋̂̅̓̅̆̎̒̔͘Ṍ̶̖̞̙̝̘̺̖̦͍̗̅̋ȩ̶͖̜̤̅̿'̸̨͙̠̦͍͎̰̙̜̈́̈́̌͛̄̀̾̚ ̶̨̨̞̫̹̠͈̣̦̘̥̣͉̓͌̽̇̊̏̆̂̈͊͘̕͝͝ͅa̴̢̱̟̤̮̎̓̕̚c̸̤͎͛͜t̸̢̢͈͙̱̮̘̗̳̥͐̋̈́͊̾̒͊ ̷̨̥̠͍͓͕̻̣͙̖̐̃͒̇̓̋̓̄̕͜ḑ̷̡̨̛̙̟͖̺̣͚̱̱͇̌̆̀̆̓͒̆̀͒n̶̛̛͈̳͗̓̉̉͐̂̾̀̿̓̈̚͠ ̸̡͖̝͓͈̝͕̻͉̦̪͗̈́̈̂̐͌͜g̶̡̡̛̟̺̗̙̳̮̬̭̮̻̦̥̜̏́̋́͋̐̿̅̅̀̈́̚ö̷̢̹̫̖̦́́̎͛͛̈́͆͝͝.̶̨̧̖͙͖̠̞̪̘͈̥͗̈͆̅̍̈͒͆̍̓͘.̷͙͖̮̤̟͙̖͔̙̘͈̍̀̐̈͊́̔̈͜͝.̸̡̛̠̠̹̖̲̘̼̮̦̝̮͐̐͛̎̀̚͜
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***
In reality, Zevrad is weak.
If one took away this and that, then he literally had nothing and was nothing just by looking at his [Aptitude] and [Attributes]. He already knew what kind of a useless waste of skin he was as he lived his life on Azeroth. Also, wasn't he given so much more time? What did he achieve?
"You foolish moron."
He found it hard to endure this sense of shame.
Zevrad stood right back up and gripped the cup of water the other way, then he poured the water over his head. The cooling liquid rained down from his head, rushed past his face, and wetted his upper torso.
This was him mocking himself.
He told himself, 'you're now in such a favorable position, so much better than compared to other people, even in the past. Yet is this all you can amount to?'
Even after the cup emptied, Zevrad remained standing there with his eyes closed. He focused on every drop of water falling from the tips of his hair. When he did this for a long time, that whirlwind of boiling emotions deep inside the pit of his stomach began to cool down just a tad.
"Hwooooooo..."
Zevrad deeply inhaled and slowly exhaled.
"...Haaaa."
Only then did he reopen his eyes. The light of Greed was completely gone from his mind now and the original glow returned in his being.
'This can't go on.'
He began reflecting from the very beginning, a detail by every small detail, as he sat crossed legs on the floor in a meditative pose. Not just when he started doing the missions, but the moment he stepped foot inside the Basic Realm, his actions were eccentric.
'Why am I so hung up on obtaining everything?'
His obsession started the moment when Ariana handed over the pamphlet. No, that wasn't quite right. He knew the existence of the VIP store even before he got here.
"You might even be able to use them in the VIP store." The Guide, Kayne Sunfury.
When Zevrad recalled Kayne's face, he also remembered something he'd forgotten until now. Why did that guy choose that time to say those words to him? Why did he go out of his way to mention the VIP store in the first place?
The water drops still fell from Zevrad as he moved to grab his wrecked bag. He flung it open and rummaged through the contents to find [Memento Mori] but found three neatly-folded pieces of paper inside.
'Odd, how did that get there?'
He picked one up and cautiously inspected it.