Civilization

After a small light-hearted conversation with Nina, she turns to depart to the Krepost to finalize their defense alongside Yor. However, before leaving she suggests that I should head toward the South and figure out the scope of the Reaper's army, even if they are just the scouting party. Heeding her suggestion, I make haste following the river while also speaking to Selina, since she is the only person that has any information about the other Kings, including the Reaper.

"Selino, if the Reaper is attacking us… No, if every King is going to war, what do you think will happen?" - Ian

"Oh~ Deary, if that were the case, then I have to say most places will be doomed to complete and utter destruction. However… It also depends on how much they are willing to commit to the attack. You see, Ian deary~ Who out of the 4 Kings do you think is the strongest?" - Selino

"I don't know. The Horde? I've seen the Reaper, but the Horde has Rautt and Casper, two powerful individuals." - Ian

"Hahaha~ Ian deary… You are just too cute. Did you think just because you saw the Reaper once, you saw his power? Unfortunately~ You are very mistaken. The Reaper could have killed everyone there, including me in your body. BUT! He has a bad case of wanting to toy with his victims and watching them grow stronger only to… Kill them again. As for the Horde… Well~ Let's just say we would die just by being in his presence at the moment." - Selino

"Then… Who is the strongest?" - Ian

"Hmm~ In my opinion, it would be Cordelia. That QUEEN has a disturbingly powerful army, coupled with the fact that her castle is under the ocean, makes attacking her extremely difficult. Ugh! I remember meeting her once with Casper. Her pale glossy skin wasn't fit for someone with that much power." - Selino

"Oh? What kind of power was she wielding? Magic or weapons?" - Ian

"Both. Deary~ Imagine, if you could wield magic alongside your spider legs. Your attacks will always have the danger of both close range and long range, pressured from not just in front of you but the side, above, below, and even behind. Water and ice magic will just appear while she lunges forward with a spear. Earth magic may attempt to hinder your movements while a hammer falls down from the sky, aiming to crush you.  Sigh~ I never want to see her again. It was… Not the best experience." - Selino

"Well, lucky for us she is off to the West. We shouldn't be interacting with her a lot right?" - Ian

"That's the plan isn't it, deary~? However, she is probably the most ambitious out of the 4 Kings. She never stopped being at war with us but never wanted to commit to a full battle. Skirmishes would happen daily…" - Selino

"Hmm… I see. Thank you for sharing this information with me, Selino." - Ian

"Aww~ Come on, deary~ You know. I don't mind telling you… Anything~" - Selino

A nervous chuckle escapes my lips as I follow the river, running along the banks. Stopping suddenly as a familiar sound could be heard in the distance. Slightly to my right inside the forest, I could hear it… The recognizable sound of a fight. Despite it being in the dead of the night, I could hear several individuals yelling. 

Was it the Reaper's army? Or maybe just monsters…? Regardless, the choice was obvious, I bolt in the direction of the sound, leaving the river and entering the dense forest. Increasing my speed, my spider legs burst out of my body, with the lower two legs pushing me off my feet. Jumping up, I use my spider legs to climb up the trunk of a tree, before leaping from branch to branch, eventually arriving at the edge of a small clearing.

There I see the culprits of the sound I heard from the river. A group of skeletons and a group of players. It was quite easy to tell they were players and not NPCs due to the language they were using while engaging in combat with the skeletons, however… It looks like they are in a bit of trouble. 

Leading the group of 5 players, is a rather large bulky dark-green-haired male, grasping a goblin knife in one hand and a sharpened rock in the other. He stood in front next to a red-haired man who was holding onto similar weapons, while behind them were a purple-haired girl, a black-haired girl, and a light blue-haired teenager. The two girls were nervously shaking as they were gripping the teenager who while trying his best to keep a poker face, was also scared of the situation before him.

"I told you we shouldn't have left Everbloom at night! Isn't that right, Yuri?"

"Right, Indiana! Scott, why did you even want to come out, in the first place?!" 

"Shut up! Both of you! I thought we agreed to try and get ahead of everyone by finding some more goblins to fight! Terrance! Come forward with me and Louis, we need to fight before we get killed!"

"Oh, no, no, no. I didn't agree to fight skeletons. I agreed to fight goblins. How do you expect me to fight something that is undead? I got nothing but a rock in my hands!" 

"AHHH! MAN UP, TERRANCE! JUST FIGHT WILL YOU?"

"Nah, man! Why don't you just run into them and kill yourself, Louis? I'm sure they LOVEEEEE redheads."

"GOD DAMN IT! I'LL KILL YOU MYSELF BEFORE THE SKELETONS EVEN HAVE A CHANCE TO KILL YOU!"

"SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU! HERE THEY COME!"

Rushing to the party with their bony legs scraping against one another, the 4 skeletons all raise their bone swords into the air, aiming at the live humans in front of them. Clicking his tongue, Scott pushes Louis to the left, while jumping to the right, avoiding the first strike as all 4 skeletons bash their swords into the ground. Screaming at how close they were to being attacked the girls, push Terrance in front of them while escaping into the forest.

Cursing at them in disbelief, Terrance stumbles forward barely keeping his balance by the unexpected betrayal. However, the moment he looks up the skeletons seem to grin with their unmoving jaws. Raising their arms up once more, as if raising the guillotine of death. Grabbing onto his collar from behind, I quickly enter the fray, pulling him back while letting my spider legs block the skeletons' attack.

"Are you alright?" - Ian

"What? Who? What?" - Terrance

"It seems you are alright." - Ian

I quickly pull Terrance behind me while I push the skeletons away. Stepping forward begin to stab forward with the spider legs, breaking each skeleton's leg joints and arm joints as fast as lighting, making them collapse to the ground within seconds. Looking down at the skeletons, I begin to understand how much stronger I have become… It hasn't been that long since the start of the third event, where I fought in the waves of skeletons and back then, while they were still quite easy to defeat, it took longer than just a few attacks.

Eliminating the threat to the newer players, I break each and every skull with a pinpoint strike with the tips of the spider legs. Looking around me, I see the utter disbelief in Louis's, Scott's, and Terrance's faces, as they stare at me standing on top of the pile of bones. It seems like the two girls, Yuri and Indiana have left this place too fast for them to see the defeat of the skeleton party.

"Is everyone okay?" - Ian

"Dude… What…? Who…?" - Louis

"I already said that Louis…" - Terrance

"Yea. But-" - Louis

"Umm… Thank you? I think we are okay. Right, Louis? Terrance?" - Scott

"Yea. Right…" - Louis

"Right… Umm… I know we are saying this for the third time but who are you?" - Terrance

"Me? I'm Ian. Nice to meet everyone here. Don't worry I got your names already. Scott. Louis. Terrance. I got a question for all of you though." - Ian

"Ask-Ask away." - Louis

"Why are you here? This place is quite far from Everbloom, and not in the direction of HavenFall or Krepost." - Ian

"Well… We-" - Louis

"We thought we could get ahead of other players." - Scott

"I understand that, but why here? In this direction?" - Ian

"It was one of the only directions with left people heading in. Most went toward HavenFall or Krepost, which means monsters along that way may already be cleared. Above Everbloom and below Everbloom were places we knew not too many people went to and if we did see someone in this direction, they were usually coming back after beating a few monsters." - Scott

"I remember seeing a duo come back from this direction and then immediately go to the Weapon shop. I told Scott and we gathered a party to seek out some goblins." - Terrance

"Is it just you 3 that know each other?" - Ian

"No… Just Terrance and Scott. I don't know them irl." - Louis

"Right… Well. I would advise you three to head back to HavenFall and rest up for the night. You guys got the Event notification, right? I'm sure it will only get more dangerous. Skeletons aren't meant to be part of the monsters that you guys were supposed to face so early on." - Ian

"Okay… We will head back." - Scott

"WAIT! I want to go with you." - Terrance

"TERRANCE! NO!" - Scott

"No, Scott! Think about it. Ian is the guy that made HavenFall into how great it is. A TOP PLAYER! What a better time to get some help to grow stronger!" - Terrance

"Top player? One of the top 10 you were telling me about?" - Scott

"Wait, a minute. YOU ARE RIGHT TERRANCE! HOLY SHIT! HOW COULD I NOT HAVE NOTICED!" - Louis

"PLEASE IAN! HELP US GET STRONGER!" - Terrance

"Sorry, Terrance… But I-" - Ian

"Don't worry it won't be a waste of time. We got a quest from the system." - Terrance

"A quest? Not an event?" - Ian

"We got the event, but also a quest. It's called Beginner's Help." - Terrance

"And how would that help me?" - Ian

"Because the reward is a hint to an artifact." - Terrance