"Okay!"
With no second thought, Kirika charged straight at the monster that seemed to have lost half of its consciousness due to being under the effects of Crimine's magic. But, after getting closer to Ludvulk, a wolf-like monster with snow-white fur that was howling, Kirika was suddenly confused.
She had made the mistake of skipping the tutorial part which was important for beginners. In a normal MMORPG game, she only needed to press buttons on the keyboard and mouse. But now that she was in Heaven Online, a skill wouldn't just appear like in a normal game. She was not using the keyboard and mouse to use the character, or the monitor to display the game itself.
"How do I activate the skills?"
In confusion, Kirika pulled the sword from her back and immediately swung it to the side of her body as if she were a swordsman, mimicking the movements of a character she had played. She did not have any swordplay experience in the real world. But she remembered how swordsman characters fought.
She moved her left leg forward slightly, lowered her waist and held her long sword in her right hand in line with her waist, while her left hand was extended as if to balance her posture.
It was the same position as the game character she often played. Kirika mimicked it. Then, with full force she kicked the grassy ground with her right foot, the sword in her hand still in the same position and looking not so convincing.
Even so, Kirika managed to dash off very quickly with the help of the system. Leaving a trail of orange light in her footsteps. The sword in her hand she swung from right to left after her distance with the wolf monster was only half a meter.
Weirdly, Kirika's sword slash had not done much damage to the monster she was dealing with.
"Was there something wrong with my motions earlier? Or is the distance between my level and that monster too far?"
Once again Kirika swung her sword relying on instinct, thinking that all the random motions the player made could activate skills and inflict massive damage on the monsters they faced.
"Ze! You must make the first motion to activate the skill. If you don't—"
Crimine stopped her words when she saw that the effect of her magic on the monsters had disappeared. Then she ran over to the flustered Kirika. Their intention was to help players who were surrounded by monsters but instead got caught up in a difficult situation.
"Ah... my magic power is still weak," she grumbled. Once again her wand was pointed forward, then a purple-lighted magic activation pattern formed at the tip of her wand slowly. It was a magic to weaken monsters that she activated while running.
" Listen Ze, you need to do the first motion to activate the skill. Ouch, how to explain that, huh?"
While Crimine was confused about explaining how to activate the skill, Kirika kept swinging her sword randomly at the nearby Ludvulk. Although it seemed useless, her enemy's HP bar was slowly reduced and remained at 75 percent of the total when Kirika started her attack.
"Ah... I'm still at such a low level that I can already feel the difference, huh. Obviously I'm still level one," Kirika grumbled. Then she turned to the unfamiliar player and focused her gaze to find out the player's status.
"Neil, a level-ten Shieldmaiden," she murmured.
After knowing that character's information, she finally realized something and shouted out in surprise. "Hey... you should already understand about this, right? You've already completed the tutorial. But why are you yelling so loudly just because you're dealing with a monster that's three levels lower than you."
Instantly Kirika felt upset, now that she had a level difference that was quite far from the forest wolf monster. All her efforts seemed to be in vain, yet next to her a player who had a level far above her was screaming in fear.
"Is he actually a man or half a man, anyway?" she mumbled out her frustration.
" So-sorry... to trouble you guys. I'm a newbie player who just tried the game, but immediately used the enemy attraction skill in the middle of a crowd of Ludvulk. My heart really wanted to jump out of its place as soon as those monsters approached me earlier. It was like dealing with a real wolf."
Kirika exhaled harshly then tried to recall Crimine's blurry voice. "If I heard correctly, she said the first motion, right? First motion?"
The pressure of the situation made her forget all the explanations given by Virtue some time ago. Whereas every free time Kirika always watched the short video on how to play Heavenly Online that was provided on Virtue's website. But why could she forget everything at an important time like this?
Before Kirika could remember everything she had learned, a strange voice coming from a distance suddenly broke her concentration. It sounded so strange that it made her cringe.
"Everything is gonna be daijobu!"
The repeated words became clearer and the fearful feeling became more intense. The strange voice was sounded by hasty steps breaking through the grass.
Kirika, who was annoyed by the strange voice, turned her head towards the source of the voice. She lost focus and forgot about Ludvulk who was still howling.
"Kirika... don't let your guard down!" shouted Crimine in caution.
In battle the slightest loss of focus could lead to fatal mistakes. When Kirika turned her attention to the strange voice, a Ludvulk leapt up and stared savagely at Kirika. Sharp fangs covered in clear liquid looked eager to tear Kirika's body apart.
In a state of panic, Kirika turned her body and then swung the sword in her right hand backwards as the quickest response she could do. But that perfunctory action did not have much impact.
The Ludvulk that was aiming for her was already holding Kirika's sword with its bite. Then, Ludvulk's forelegs moved faster than expected. Sharp claws dug into Kirika's chest with surprising ease.
Not only dug its claws in, Ludvulk immediately pulled its forelegs down and made several slashes on Kirika's chest.
It was not blood that flowed from the wound on Kirika's chest, but pieces of red light scattered in the air. At the same time, orange light filled Kirika's vision as her HP bar was reduced by over half. Two times a level seven Ludvulk attack left her near death. Usually she only saw all this from behind the monitor, when her character was about to die. But this time for real, her vision instantly became blurry.
Kirika feels a cold coursing through her body, rapidly doubling her heart rate. And strange thoughts filled her head.
"Is this how it feels to be close to death?"
Even if she dies she can still go back to the fight if her friend uses a revival feature or she return to the check point. Still, the awful feeling almost happened on her first day of playing.
She stepped back with staggering steps to avoid further attacks from her enemy. And, at about the same time, a player appeared carrying several Ludvulk behind him while shouting words that made Kirika want to die immediately.
"Everything is gonna be daijobu!"