156 Valley of Death

"Fishy?" Emile wondered about that comment made by the system. It was out of place. It was only someone who goes around and kills people. These events happened all the time in other novels, so what was weird about it?

Emile's mind wandered off into unknown territories for a time before he shook himself back to reality.

The man who gave him the quest disappeared. Emile became cautious. Things didn't seem right.

Emile tried sharing the quest with the party.

[The quest is a solo quest. Only you can take part in the quest]

Emile didn't do a quest by himself for quite some time. The quest didn't have a time limit which allowed him to have ample time to prepare anything he might need.

Emile needed nothing. There were a decent amount of health potions in his inventory, and Space Gems were abundant. Equipment didn't get damaged often because he could dodge 90% of all attacks.

Emile walked out of the city and told his party about the quest. The party understood the quest and did their own things without disturbing Emile. He walked towards the south until he reached the valley.

Emile could smell a certain odor coming from the valley. It was the faint scent of iron. He walked into the valley and looked around.

Corpses lay everywhere on the ground. It was unnatural for this many people to be at this random valley. It made little sense, unless someone was luring people over and killing them one by one.

Someone crept behind Emile and ambushed from behind. A man wearing a purple demon face as a mask attacked Emile in the back of the head by using their dual-wielding swords.

Emile couldn't react in time which caused him to take serious damage. Emile retreated as he took out a health potion. He drank it and took out his sword from his inventory.

Another ambush from behind! Another person attacked him from the back. Emile had put his guard up which allowed him to noticed the man coming from behind him. He used his sword to block the second strike.

Emile couldn't figure out where these people hid. These people were hiding near the dead bodies. It would be strange if Emile could differentiate between a dead body and a live human.

Emile activated his fireball on the man, but their clothes absorbed it. He couldn't use the fireball on them which was the first time Emile had seen his spells do nothing.

Emile activated Water Sphere, and it hit the man.

"Didn't they say he could only cast fire? Why can he use water?"

"Just attack him. I'll send a report to the boss."

One attacker took out their communication device and messaged their boss. The other charged at Emile and struck him.

Emile evaded the attack and attacked with his sword. The man blocked his attack a few times, but Emile's swiftness of his strikes allowed him to attack the man a few times. The other man charged at him.

Whilst fighting two people, another person stood up from the ground and sneaked towards Emile.

The man was closing in on Emile. Emile activated {Mist of Blood} to give the enemies a debuff. Some coughed due to the blood vapor that surrounded Emile. These coughs gave Emile the chance to attack the people and deal lots of damage. He also activated {Shadow-Moon Strike} which did 500% of his normal damage.

These minions had lots of health. Emile discovered the man sneaking towards him because that man coughed out of nowhere.

A few others that lay on the ground coughed.

Emile didn't know there were multiple people around him, waiting to attack him. He would have gotten ambushed after he killed the first few people. He was lucky that he got an AOE debuff earlier on. The element of surprise would have killed him.

These people didn't last long under Emile's barrage of attacks and skills. After killing one, he killed another.

Soon, everyone intending to attack him was dead. The system didn't consider the quest complete meaning that there were more things to do.

Emile walked deeper part of the valley with caution. He noticed more bodies which weren't pleasing to the eye or the nose.

Soon. he arrived at the deepest part of the valley where one lone man stood there without movement.

The man wore a purple suit with a purple demon face mask. He seemed strong and important.

The man turned around and peered into Emile's eyes. He got into a fighting stance and waited for Emile. The man was going to use his fists to fight.

Emile activated a fireball towards the enemy. The man didn't avoid the attack. He took the attack straight on. His clothes absorbed the attack the same way as the other enemies that attacked him.

Emile tested out his other long range spells. None of them worked on the enemy. The man mocked Emile with his gestures.

Emile attacked in close range combat. He slashed with his sword after he grew close to the enemy. The man blocked his attacked with grace by using some kind of hand movement to push the sword away. The man used his other hand to punch Emile in his gut.

Emile realized that this man was an expert in hand-to-hand combat. In most fights having a weapon would give them an advantage, so there were few people who trained in the way of fists.

Emile tried attacking in unpredictable ways to confuse the enemy, but the enemy could sense when Emile would strike out. He continued getting punched in random areas of the body.

Emile calmed his mind to focus on each movement made by the man. He activated {Light-Sun Slash} but the man evaded the attack. He taunted Emile by waggling his finger. His skills didn't work.

Emile didn't act rashly and waited. He focused on the man's movement. The man charged forward and struck at him. Emile looked for openings, but the ones he noticed would disappear before he could strike out. He felt stressed.

Emile continued focusing on the man's movement. His mind was calm without the thoughts of the outside world. The only thing is his mind was his sword and the man.

Soon, Emile entered a state where time slowed down to a crawl and his sword moved like water.

Emile received enlightenment.

The stress from being unable to hit the enemy caused his level of focus to border the levels of insanity. His sword speed increased by a small margin as he pushed more effort into attacking.

Emile slashed out towards the enemy. The man thought the attack was coming from the left, so he tried to push the attack out of the way by using his palm. Emile maneuvered his sword around the man's arm and struck the man's arm.

Emile landed the first hit on the man. The man felt surprised by Emile who seemed to have changed. He peered into Emile's lackluster eyes without any color within them.

Emile continued striking out. The man tried to push the sword out of the way but failed.

'How is this possible?' This was the only thought the man had. He didn't understand how Emile changed so much in a short moment.

Emile continued slashing out. He was one with the sword. He wielded his sword the same way he would use his arms.

The man grew serious after he figured out that Emile would be a worthy opponent.

___

Author's Note

Too long for the actual author's note. Why do they have a 500 character limit?

I created a new synopsis for the story. I want your opinion on the synopsis. Is it worse than the previous one, or better than the previous one?

-

Emile; a young martial arts learner training with his father to grow stronger seeks to revive his family. His father pushed him harder and harder with each challenge being a step above the previous ones to prepare him for the world and its mysteries.

Watch as Emile discovers world-changing secrets, faces countless battles of strength and intelligence, all connected with the VR game known as Nirvana.

-

That's the new synopsis I thought of. To give some clarification world-changing secrets are the elements and the Nirvanic. Reviving his family is one of the overall goals if you haven't realized yet.

If no one says anything about the synopsis which is most likely to happen because there are only like three or four commenters in each chapter, then I will use the new one. No change in the schedule or anything like that. Sorry, if this author's note made you guys worried.