"Open the main quest."
|Main quest: Complete a Rank D dungeon
"A D-rank dungeon? A dungeon…Is it a rift?"
Dora observed earlier that the system employed different terminology to categorize the emissaries' vocabulary. For instance, Avatar did not signify a category but rather referred to the term used in a video game to create a playable character, the jobs symbolized the branches, thus indicating that the rank D dungeon was most likely a rift.
"Um... This could be a problem... I just got a D-rank, can I complete a rift alone?... Should I even do it by myself?"
This could really be a problem, firstly there is a huge difference between fighting random beasts and fighting in an actual rift. Rifts are home to a form of monster much more dangerous than the average in nature: Disasters.
Unlike the other monsters, Disasters had a form of organization, combat strategies, and a hierarchy with a monster among monsters at the top, the boss.
It takes a whole group of emissaries with all the combat requirements to have any hope of fighting in a rift, usually several DPS, tanks, healers, and sometimes additional classes to debuff or carry equipment.
"How am I supposed to clear a rift all by myself?...Hm...Can I use each task simultaneously?"
Dora imagined every possible strategy but couldn't think of an outcome. At Rank D, facing a rift solo was too dangerous.
"Maybe if it was an E-rank rift... Hm?! Yeah, that's it! I'm a playable character, and this is my game! If I'm too weak to complete this, I just need to level up!"
He was familiar with the concept of video games and, as such, he knew what the ultimate weapon was for a player seeking rapid power.
"Open subquests"
|Subquest:
Defeat Dire Wolf in Fabriza Forest.
Fabriza Forest is to the east of your location.
|Dire Wolf is located in the Fabriza Forest: Central part.
"Fabriza? Isn't it close to here? Is it just a coincidence or did the system deliberately choose the closest location?... Well, whatever."
He turned into a shadow and his body sank into the ground without a trace.
Meanwhile, Midgard, in possession of his body, returned to class. As soon as she entered the room, everyone fell silent.
The teacher from earlier turned toward her with concern.
"You? Are you alright? Shouldn't you stay at the infirmary?"
It might sound ridiculous that she would worry over a single punch, but Dora became well-known in the academy from the moment he was defeated by the weakest golem in history.
For this teacher, a single punch from an emissary could dislocate his jaw.
"Hm? Don't worry about it, it's only my first day here, I can't afford to spend it in a bed,
I'm literally dying to take your course."
She gave her the warmest smile this face ever wore, a critical hit for a teacher, visibly seeking recognition, whose heart skipped a beat.
"Huh?... Well... If you feel good, then I guess you can go to your seat."
Midgard did so and crossed the room without paying attention to the murderous gazes fixed on her.
Meanwhile, in the clearing of a forest, a shadow came out of the ground and mingled with a group of shrubs, a few meters away from it, wandered a group of gray wolf-like creatures about 2 meters tall and equipped with a red horn on their forehead.
|Subquest:
Kill 50 Death Hounds
| Death Hound Killed: 0/50
(Hm? There are barely ten here... Should I check the-)
The next moment, a huge projectile crossed the stage and hit the young man in Midgard's body, spinning him around before he crashed to the ground. The Death Hounds slowly came out of the woods and surrounded him.
He realized too late that he was the one being hunted. He stood up holding his bloody head, the whole part of which from the eye to the left ear had been torn off.
"Aaah... hahaa... Shit... iz oo... it's okay... Aaargh..."
A black aura covered his body and his remaining eye glowed with green light.
"THis... Ish nothin... Synergy: Sigma-Gamma."
Several pikes rose from the ground and rushed towards the dogs but they slipped through and rushed at him.
"WHAT-"
2 Death Hounds, having gotten close enough to him, simultaneously threw themselves at his legs and bit his knees, causing the young man to fall. 5 wolves jumped on him.
"DAMN IT!!!!"
He transformed into a gigantic shadow and the dogs passed through his body before being engulfed in a whirlwind of fire.
"Firestorm!"
The whirlwind of fire engulfed several monsters around him, they uttered howls of agony before sprawling on their flaming graves.
|Subquest:
Kill 50 Death Hounds
| Death Hound Killed: 08/50
The flames gathered together to form an orb of fire above the monsters, but as they were focused on that, they were unable to react in time as the ground took the shape of a monstrous jaw and cracked many of them.
Dora emerged from the fireball, half of his face covered in flames.
"Burn in despair!"
The orb rushed towards the ground, but the monsters, as one, moved away from the impact zone and climbed at a rapid pace along the nearby trees before pouncing on their prey.
Only then did the ball hit the ground and explode, but only served to give aesthetics to the creatures that torpedoed at Dora, horn first.
(How are these things D-rank???)
He transformed into a shadow but couldn't unleash his firestorm quickly enough like before, he fell back to the ground and was greeted by a tsunami of sharp jaws and horns forward.
He was screwed, the creatures were not invincible, he had managed to eliminate several of them with a single attack, but their speed coupled with their attack strategy made them insurmountable. They were able to understand their opponent and knew how to anticipate his attacks.
The monsters were less than a meter away from him when he had a reflex that fell from the sky, he clenched his fist and delivered a blow while spinning around vertically, the impact crushed the heads of 3 hounds and carried around ten of them on their way.
He looked at his fist one moment, surprised by his sheer power. The monsters around him stopped their frenzy and observed him warily. Blood poured from his nose, half of his face was inflamed and his knees were crushed, the target represented no danger to the animals, but their instinct told them that a hurricane was coming.
Dora placed both of his hands on the ground in a submissive position, but his face, whose eye had turned completely white with a purple spark, announced something else.
"Metamorphosis..."
A black whirlwind emerged from his body and covered him completely, soon engulfing the entire area and the death hounds. In this surge, the monsters found themselves deprived of their senses and instinctively rushed backward when the ground tore itself apart.
As if razed by gigantic claws, the ground opened everywhere and the monsters in the path of the impact were reduced to pieces.
The whirlwind rose into the air, carrying pieces of creatures that mixed into a mass of flesh and blood.
The floating filth mixed on itself and became a black and red paste, suddenly, a huge body, thin like a snake came out of the epicenter of the whirlwind and swallowed the mass of flesh before rushing towards the remaining death hounds.
At the same time, at the academy, Midgard dropped her pen and looked at her trembling hand.
(What... What is... Hey, what are you doing?)
But nobody answered, she opened the system and was shocked when she saw her partner's statistics.
|Vital Stats:
Rank: D
HP: 28/700
|MP: 7/50
(Dora! Switch right now! Go to your dimensional room! Hey, do you hear me??)
She concentrated for a moment and tried to force the exchange, but alas, the switch skill required the intervention of both users.
(You idiot, stop using my dark magic! You don't have enough mana left, it will consume your life force! Listen to me!!! Dor-)
(QUIET!)
Midgard jumped, on her screen, the numbers had stopped moving and a new message appeared
|Subquest: Completed
|Kill 50 Death Hounds
|Death Hound Killed: 50/50
|Exp+5200
|Reward received:
|1 soul stone / 5 elemental stones
|New skill unlocked, torpedo strike, a fast and powerful punch. Inflict critical damage to the target on hit. Become invincible for 1 second.
|Jobs have leveled up
|+20 stats points
|Vital Stats:
Rank: D
HP: 52/700
|MP: 0/50
Sitting amidst a macabre scene and surrounded by several soul stones, Dora applied healing magic to his face, breathing heavily.
(Have you forgotten who we are? We're used to living in hell, that... It was just a complication... Huh... Do you still want to change? I'm warning you: it hurts like hell."
(... You... You idiot... How could you do something so reckless? Do you realize you were about to die?! After all, you were really going to throw everything away?!"
(Haha... If that can reassure you... It's your face that tasted... But too bad, I don't think we're ready for a boss right now..."
(Of course, you fool... You've just ranked up, how could you make such a rookie mistake... sight come back now.)
He laughed painfully in response, opened a dimensional hole directly under his body and let himself fall, although he had one final quest left in this forest, this first contact made him realize how much he was still too weak to complete it and it was necessary to put it at a later date.