It was a mixture of deer and wolf; a thicker body with longer fur and claws rather than hooves, the slender head crowned by huge cristalline antlers. It even looked like an actual crown.
The Highland King was a level 76 Elite monster, and the leader of a pack. Similar to deer, it appeared to be the only male in the group. The monsters were clearly not the hostile type, but it was easy to see they’d flee the moment you came too close.
The types of monsters that ran away were usually the ones with precious materials – in this case clearly the antlers of the beasts.
“…You want?”
Bloody’s face looked hopeless. He knew the answer without Ice even responding but… this was going to be a very huge hassle.
Hostile monsters were tamed through a show of strength and kindness – carrot and the stick, basically. You proved yourself as their superior. But the timid ones?
Those you tamed like any shy animal. Be very patient and offer food. And if someone else kills the monster you’ve been working on taming… Boy, that sucks for you.
“Not now”, Ice said, clearly reluctant. “It will take too long.”
“I’ll accompany you when you plan on taming it. Just gotta make sure to somehow mark it or memorize the fur pattern and ensure no one kills it… Right now, its level is quite high, but it won’t stay that way.”
They left the Highland beasts behind.
Soon enough, they found a group of monsters with an acceptable level. A couple of Black-toothed Mountainclimbers, sabretooth-like beasts.
Their heads twitched up when the two players got into range, with the first beast already lifting its lips in an ugly snarl.
“Can you focus on crowd control? I don’t want to handle more than one or two at most for now”, Bloody asked, getting ready.
There was no need for an answer.
The first beast pounced, its heavy body looking as light as a feather while it jumped over the snow, immediately followed by three more companions. They came in a row, each monster jumping into the steps of the last one.
The mage took a deep breath and began to chant. Timing was important in this situation, where he had to invoke the magic at the perfect moment to cut the group off from its leader. It was especially dangerous if he failed, as he might accidentally herd them towards himself.
The last word of the chant finished the exact same moment as Bloodless Sunset narrowly evaded the pouncing beast, ducking a bit below and darting out a clawed hand to reach for the sensitive throat and belly area.
The other Mountainclimbers howled in surprise when a thin but sharp spike grew out of the snowy ground. The one in front skidded a bit, coming to halt and fixating its bright red eyes onto Ice. It threw its body to the side, obviously planning on ignoring Bloody and running a circle to attack the human that had conjured the annoying thing.
The mage conjured another icicle. Twice. Thrice.
The beast evaded, screeching angrily. It began to hesitate, movements slowing down.
It was hardly enough time.
Ice could barely keep an eye on Bloodless Sunset, whose arms were dyed red with blood. The wolfman howled, roughly wiping a clean part of his arm over his face – an ugly cut was placed above his eye.
“Bloody-”
“I’m fine!”
A disgusting, wet noise echoed through the area. The Mountainclimber twitched, eyes still wide, Bloody’s dagger entering from below its jaw and coming out on top of its head.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Kkb bo atf yfjrar gfjmafv ab atf rbecv ys qeaalcu atflg jaafcalbc yjmx bc atf yfjrawjc.
Ktf atlgv kjr raeyybgc, ifjqlcu bnfg j njclrtlcu lmlmif jcv mbwlcu vjcufgberis mibrf ab atf Pmf Swqfgbg.
Pmf pbiafv jkjs, tlr rafqr rajuufglcu lc atf ecojwliljg afggjlc. Helmx kbgvr mjwf bea bo tlr wbeat, atf rbecv vlrabgafv lc teggs.
A cross of icicles grew in front of it, causing it to jump to the side, already half expecting the attack.
But this time, it wasn’t finished.
A slightly misplaced needle of ice shot out of the snow right where it had evaded to, slashing over one eye and destroying it.
For a lack of better weapon, Ice thrust his staff out and right into the Mountainclimber’s throat. Stunned, it opened its maw without taking a breath, stumbling away in disorientation.
A few more attacks into the weaker, now completely unwatched underbelly and the thing went down.
In the meantime, Bloody had managed to kill another of them, with the last fleeing. He hurried over to Ice, wiping his hand over the bleeding wound in his face. “How are you?”
“I’m fine. Drink a potion.” Not waiting for Bloody to speak, Ice handed him one of his own potions. The warrior chugged it, sticking out his tongue in distaste, but didn’t waste a single drop.
“Decent EXP. Let’s go another while?”
Once he was ensured that Bloody was fine, Ice nodded. They continued circling around, searching for suitable prey to grind.
In the breaks, they comfortably talked about whatever topic was interesting.
“Oh, by the way… my cousin might start playing the game soon. Would you mind if we carried him a bit?” Bloody’s ears twitched. “He wanted to play sooner, but he couldn’t. Now, with the new update, he’s gonna join.”
Jian Lin tilted his head and remembered the contents of the update that was planned for the next week. “Is he… mute?”
Lusanna Corp had forked out a lot of gameplay updates at first, and now they were finally approaching different corners.
For example, mute players – if clinically registered as mute – had a special playmode that went completely without voice activations. All of their commands were converted into hand signs, similar to sign language. AIs also got an added function to automatically change their words when faced with a mute player, allowing them to mostly converse with nodding or shaking heads, or offering them something to write on.
Deaf players were also supported now. They’d get a number of physical signs to make them realize if there was an enemy nearby, such as a prickling feeling on their skin. They also had subtitles.
The solution wasn’t ideal, and the developers were still trying to come up with a way to enable blind players to play, but everyone was thankful already.
“Nope. Phobia”, Bloody awkwardly corrected. “Like, actual phobia. Dogs.”
“Oh…”
Jian Lin winced. He had met someone with a phobia of syringes before.
People liked saying they had phobias to explain they were really fearful of something, but most of the time, those weren’t actual phobias. Jian Lin had watched a grown woman break down into tears, shivering all over and sobbing uncontrollably in fear at the mere mention of getting a shot.
There had been no direct danger to her, it had only been a comment, and it was enough. She could not watch movie scenes that involved syringes being shown, she’d start feeling nauseous at photos, and when someone had left a fake syringe lying around, she darted out of the room in fear.
The woman – the wife of one of his father’s friends – had always been a cheerful, strong person… But that phobia was uncontrollable.
“I don’t remember, what did the update say about phobias?”
“It exchanges image and sound material. You have to hand in your medical assessment, but then they can change it up for you. He’s gonna see and hear dogs as overgrown cats now – otherwise he probably wouldn’t dare play. There are too many stray dogs in the cities, and wolves as enemies would scare him too.” Seeing as Ice didn’t seem to think of the situation as funny, Bloody was relieved. “I’m sorry about dragging someone else along again, it’s just… He’s a good guy, but he’s had some bad experiences because people make fun of him.”
“I wouldn’t. I know it’s uncontrollable”, Ice promised. What people often forgot, was that mental issues weren’t something that would go away just because you asked them too.
A phobia was a phobia because it was not only uncontrollable, it was also unnecessarily strong. If it was easy to get rid of, it wouldn’t be a phobia.
“Just tell me when it’s time. I’ll help.”
“Thanks! It’s not sure yet when, though. Psychological barriers and all. Also, he was kinda averse to starting a game where he can meet Woodcutter. I’m not sure when he’ll actually buy Haven.”
In a way, you could say that there was no issue with meeting the Top 1 player. After all, when would such a thing happen?
It would happen if the people involved were also rankers, that’s when. Bloody’s cousin was reasonably worried about meeting the guy who he hated to the bone.
Ice had a premonition that things wouldn’t continue to go well with Woodcutter, but it wasn’t an issue just yet. Besides, he had the world quest to worry about. Bloody thought the same, as he quickly changed the topic. “Well, enough of that. Let’s continue.”
By the time the blizzard came closer, both had gathered a good chunk of experience and – almost more valuable considering they didn’t know how often the world quest might kill them – an acceptable amount of materials.
As most of them were naturally useful to create cold resistant items, Ice planned on selling his part to Bloody, who would hand them over to his guild.
With time edging closer, the warrior broached the topic of the quest again.
“So what’s the plan?”
Despite having some ideas, Bloody handed the decision to Ice without thinking. This was his friend’s quest, and he was only going to offer his suggestions if the other wanted them.
“Can… Can we trust White Light? I’d like to ask him to tell us how far they are. We can’t be later than them.”
“No problem at all. I know that that guy is trying to rope you into his guild, but he’s a good person. He’ll help.”
“Then… I’ve been thinking about trying to talk to someone in the castle about going to Tiamat, maybe. I don’t know if they’ll recognize the name, but sneaking in… I don’t think we will be that lucky again to reach that part of the castle.”
“Do you think the crystal guards might be sentient? Maybe they’ll answer if you talk to them. They’re not shown as monsters, so… they could be NPC-like, or golem-like.”
They tried to remember the guards. They had appeared to be closer to golems, despite their appearance being modelled with personality.
“Some golems have basic intelligence”, Ice mused. The golems that dwarves used, for example, could understand certain commands. While they were incapable of speech, they could analyze certain keywords to understand what the person in front of them wanted and react to it. A basic AI, so to speak.
“We can try, but we don’t have too many attempts. Every attempt we gotta wait out the blizzard is going to sap a lot of time and potions. If the guards are hostile, we are going to be killed immediately. Can’t we just shout down the abyss?”
The Ice Emperor shook his head. “I could only hear her voice on the platform. I don’t believe it’s going to help.”
“But you don’t know, do you?”
“…Alright. We can try shouting down the cliff as well. We can attempt that even if we are running away from the guards.”
They wouldn’t have a lot of time, considering the guards were the equivalent of an army, but it might just be enough to shout.
First of all, Bloody contacted White Light.
According to the warrior’s expression, a part of the message he got in return must have been screamed – unsurprisingly.
White Light only had to hear “dragon” and agreed to everything without even questioning it. He offered to draw their route on his map when offline and send it over to Bloody’s phone, so they’d know exactly where the delegation was. He’d also send over regular updates.
Ice was incredibly thankful. White Light was helping them a lot, even though he wouldn’t benefit.
Using a good chunk more time than they had needed with the whole group – as well as a sickeningly high amount of cold resistance potions – an exhausted Ice Emperor and Bloodless Sunset managed to survive until the end of the blizzard.
With hardly any health and mana left, but still standing. Not that it mattered, as either there would be no fight at all or they’d be dead.
When they saw the guards from afar, Ice was the one who heavily swallowed and walked forward.
The Origin Guards stopped dead in their tracks, uniformly turning around to look at the approaching player. The first began to raise their weapons.
“We wish to talk to Tiamat”, Ice blurted out directly. He wasn’t sure if he’d survive the time needed for an actual greeting.
Bloody had walked forward, standing right at his side, ready to share death if it was coming.
However, the guards didn’t move. They stared, blankly.
“We… wish to talk to the dragon below the castle?”, Ice tried again. “Could you allow us to enter the castle?”
The guards twitched a bit, like going through an error in the calculation. When it stopped, they faced forward once more, resuming their walk.
Ice shot a helpless glance at Bloody, who shrugged and followed.
The pace of the guards had changed from the last time. They walked quicker, a more normal speed, and did not return to their area like last time. Instead they all continued straight to the inside of the castle, walking in two lines.
Some servants scurried away at the side of the guards, not scared, but more in a manner of making place.
The crystal guards led them into the throne room, then left without a sound.
However odd their behaviour was, it wasn’t too odd for a game. They were likely programmed to react to those key words, as expected. The only way to get to Tiamat officially was through the castle’s owner.
Ice glanced around – even the throne room was kept in a simple design, not at all lavish. It was more elegant in its simplicity.
The only place that could be described as lavishly decorated was the throne. It was huge, its structure like a net of snowflakes with intricate forms, a pure white pillow in the middle. On it sat a man, strengthless, face pale.
The man on the throne, the king, opened his tired eyes.
Author’s Note
Angrily tries to figure out a way for blind players to experience Haven
My words about phobias are accurate, by the way. Many people like saying they have a phobia, not aware of the extent that an actual phobia goes to. If you’ve seen a grown person break down in fear because of a mere image… Then you’ve got a better idea.
The scene with the guards was thrown btw – between guards working, shouting down the abyss working, and neither working.
I’m currently trying to plan the exact way the second arc is supposed to gooooo… It was a short fight scene, but are descriptions like this okay for you all? I’m wondering on what aspects of the game I should focus on the most.
Thank you for the chapter~
Cant wait for the next one!I already finished the fanart and pinged(what I hope is) you. Hope you like it!
I saw it, very cute! Thanks <3
nice to see that White Light is indeed nice!
also the fight scene, I can’t comment because my brain was dead haha
Oh? His new mount-to-be sounds interesting :3 (No dragon though D:)
I think the fighting scene was okay? Ah, I’m useless in that aspect .__.
Thx for the ch (ㅅ˘ㅂ˘)
A dragon is…….. a tiny bit too high-class xD
Thank you for the chapter 💜
thanks for the chapter <3