Chapter 2: Trapped In The Game
*blink blink*
"$@#%#…?" [Wha…?]
And before he realized it, he was already in the world of Destruction Online, the game which he loved a lot!
He was transmigrated into the body of Zephyrak, the character that he had created and grown with tremendous effort.
He wore the exact same dark clock which covered his entire body - a typical sign of someone being introverted - but he did this because he thought it was cool.
*gulp*
'Is this a dream?', he questioned at first.
'Did I recover?'
'Did people want to give me a surprise by making me wake up in the game that I loved so much!?', he started crying at the mere thought of this.
He started crying because he knew that it was far from reality.
'I am dead… aren't I?', he said to himself as he fell down.
Well, he did expect this as he switched the silent mode on of the monitor, however, after dying, he just couldn't accept it.
His girlfriend cheated on him with his best friend and he left his mom alone in a different world… how could he be calm?
If any one could, it would be those who could become potential psychopaths.
Ken continuously cried, sitting under a large banyan tree which had long and tall roots that hung from its branches.
The tree was sheltering him from the rain, however, he was still being drenched - with tears.
"Quack-o-wack! Stop crying. Stop crying."
All of a sudden he heard a strange voice.
He turned to his right only to find a black-skinned toad beside him, taking shelter from the rain.
"@##$$?" [What…?]
"Quack-o-wack! No use crying!"
"Turn your tears into power. Quack-o-"
"%%$#$?" [Is this toad fking talking now?]
He was startled, forced to take a few steps back only to end up falling in a puddle of water.
Apparently, the puddle helped him to notice his reflection, his face.
It was different, not his old face which he had but the character which he had created from the game.
One of the reasons why Zephyrak was famous was because of his creepy ways, and my god, Ken almost puked himself when he saw his face up close all of a sudden.
'Ha…'
'Looks like I ended up in the game, and how? It's best not to think about it now,' he tapped his chin, realizing his situation as he sat in a puddle.
He then stood up and walked straight towards the toad which spoke to him.
"#$%@&?" [So what exactly are you?]
Ken asked, staring at the toad intensely.
"Quack-o-wack! I'm a mechanical toad! A puppet!", the toad replied.
"#@%%@?" [Yeah?]
'Was there always such a thing in the game?', Ken could not recall any memory related to the toad.
"Follow me doofus!", the toad said as it started to move.
'Doofus?'
Ken got up and started follow the toad. Apparently, they were inside a large forest under a large tree.
The toad started to guide Ken to a different place.
'Woah…', as he followed the toad, he got to meet with various other creatures on the way.
However, they were by no means cute!
The first creature he encountered was a gigantic bear.
"ROAR!", the bear tried to scare Ken away with it's roar, however, that didn't work on him.
'A red grizzly?'
'But this big?'
'It must be a boss monster. If I'm not wrong, it should have the capability of a leader, what is it doing here alone?', Ken wondered.
And what was weirder was the bear didn't seem to charge forward. It was kind of taking a few steps back which was different from how the ones in-game behaved.
'Is it perhaps…'
Ken's guess was true. It was scared!
This became evident when the toad said, "Quack-o-wack, it is scared! Quack wack wack wack, scared! Qua Qua Qua!"
'Is that supposed to be a laugh?', Ken stared at the toad as it raised its head up and laughed funny.
'Come to think of it, I haven't tested out what powers I have and what I don't…'
'If this is a game, there must be a status screen…', and just as he thought about it, the status screen appeared in front of him, a black window with letters in white and red.
'Knew it!'
[Status]
[Name: Zephyrak] [Lv.999] [Max.]
[HP: 9999/9999]
[MP: 9999/9999]
[Strength: Max.]
[Agility: Max.]
[Endurance: Max.]
[Title: The Lord Of Destruction]
These were the basic stats that flashed in front of him.
'Huh?'
'Max?'
'Even though my character did have maximum stats in the game, it still showed in numbers… why is it showing just 'max' right now?'
"Quack-o-wack! Because you powerful, all-powerful!", the toad said.
'Huh? You can hear my thoughts?'
"Yes, quack."
'Interesting…', Ken tapped his chin and then wondered if the bear's stats would be any different.
[Status]
[Name: none] [Lv.95]
[HP: 700/700]
[MP: 300/300]
[Strength: 105]
[Agility: 95]
[Endurance: 110]
[Title: Leader of Red Grizzlies]
'I knew it. It should show in numbers…'
'But more than that, a leader eh?'
'I was right. However, what is it doing here alone?', Zephyr wondered before unleashing a large mana surge as if scanning the entire area.
'I just thought of it but looks like my skills work the same way as in the game…', Zephyr thought to himself.
And indeed, his mana search helped him detect the rest of the bears, they were 10 miles away!
Apparently, they were running away right now.
"Quack-o-wack, they scared. Qua qua qua."
'Scared? But why?'
"You! Aura!", the toad said.
'Huh?'
And just when Zephyr was going to understand, the bear spoke.
"Pardon me but may I know what is a being such as you doing here?", the bear asked.
'Wait what? The bear talked too?', Zephyr was even more confused until he noticed a passive skill which he had gained after no where - Translator Lv.Max.
'Ah…'
"$$##%%@!" [I have the translator skill! That's a live saver.]
*gulp*
"Pardon my incompetence, I fail to comprehend those words of yours.", the bear bowed down a little.
'So, no communication skill to use…'
"…"
'Toad, tell him that I won't cause any harm…'
"Quack-o-wack! Pledge your allegiance to my lord if you want your clan to remain safe."
'Huh? What?', Zephyr was confused when the toad said that.
Until now, there was absolutely no problem with how they spoke, but all of a sudden, the toad started changing words.
'If we want to remain safe?'
'What if I refu-', the bear was thinking about refusing as they didn't want to come under anyone after all, they were one of the Apex predators.
However, when coincidentally, he ended up staring at the Dark Lord while thinking this, he realized, he had no choice.
'If I refuse, he will be the first one to wipe us out.', the leader realized.
"Yes. I pledge my loyalty!", the bear's belly touched the ground as it knelt.
'The heck?', the situation just got complex for Zephyr.
"Quack-o-wack, you are free to leave now! Get your clan under your control and get them back to your territory. We will soon visit!", the toad said.
Zephyr had no choice but to stare at the toad who spewed all the nonsense without his will.
"Yes, yes Your Highness.", the Bear bowed almost 3 more times before leaving the scene and rushing to the forest as fast as possible.
Immediately after that Zephyr vanished from his spot and appeared right beside the toad, grabbing its metallic neck right away.
"$$$$$@#@@$@$" [What the fuck are you doing?]
"Qu-quack-o-wack."
"Read my description!", the toad said.
'Huh?'
The screen popped up having the toad's description which left Zephyr with lifeless eyes.
[Toad of Destruction: A mechanical toad capable of speech and communication. Warning: 9 times out of 10, it spews bullshit.]
'Am I supposed to believe that?'
"Quack, yes."
'…'
'Sigh.'
Zephyr let go of the frog, he had better things to do, or probably not.
The toad then pretended as if it was chocked and coughed once or twice.
"Quaough Quaough…"
"$$@$?" [Is that supposed to be coughing?]
"At least praise my acting, Quack."
"…"
'I'm speechless.'
"Quack, follow me!", the toad immediately changed topics and asked Zephyr to follow it again.
'Now what?'
"You need to visit your territory and save your people.", the toad said.
"…"
"$$#%@@?" [Wait what?]
[What do you mean by save my people?]
"Your followers. They are in grave danger, so you must do your best and bless, save and hel-Quack them!"
Zephyr was surprised by such development. He didn't know that he would be ruling a place or something similar.
And the fact that he is the Lord of destruction, he doubted if anyone would even think about him.
Assuming the role he had in this world, only a pschopath could be his follower so after hearing the toad say that, for some reason, he got a little excited.
Having read many novels such as Overlord and That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime, he knew what he had to do and thought it would be fun roleplaying…
Sadly, his delusions soon destroyed the moment he arrived at the designated place.
He arrived in a city, a ruined city. The walls had been destroyed and no structure was left undamaged.
Heck, even the things that were supposed to be roads were left with tons of holes in them.
'My people live here?', he asked the toad.
"Yes.", the toad replied with all seriousness.
It hoped and hoped again and again, finally leading Zephyr to a place where a few life forms sat, kneeling and praying.
85 demons, they knelt and prayed to a large rusty stone in front of them.
'The demon race?', Zephyr was bewildered to see them, but what shocked him more was their malnourished self.
Their skin stuck to their bones, dark circles under their eyes and barely any life in their eyes.
Wounds, many. Heck, some of them had one of their horns chopped off!
A demon is born with two horns which symbolize them and their race. The pain of having one chopped off is equivalent to having lost a limb.
Moreover, there were even demons who had both of their horns chopped.
He knew not what to say.
However, the moment he stepped little forward, entering a weird barrier which was erected, his presence was soon known to them.
All the elders, at once, turned their heads to their left, finding a dark-clocked man approaching them.
"Who!?", the females almost immediately got up, grabbing their children, only to fall back to the ground due to not having enough strength.
As for the makes, they picked up the broken sticks nearby, pointing at Zephyr as he continued to walk closer.
His aura seemed dominating and evil, making them suffocate somewhat which he too realized.
'Suppress…', Zephyr controlled his aura which definitely eased them.
But they couldn't let someone unknown approach them!
"STOP!" shouted the leader of the demons, a female demoness whose figure would have been voluptuous if not for her malnourished state. She stood defiantly.
"Who are you?"
"…"