Chapter 12: Part 1

Soul Art Online

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 12: First Night

______________________________________________________________________

- Arthas -

I held up my shield as I took the charge of a wild boar monster, the attack forcing me back by a few steps but not harming me at all.

Limitless working its wonder.

I looked up at the boar who was shaking its head, trying to shake off the dizziness from the charge when suddenly vines of light ripped through the ground and tied it to the ground.

The beast stood at four metres and had black leathery skin which was covered with fire, three horns and four tusks, the size of small swords. The tusks were currently red from the heat. It looked like a pig demon from hell. It was the boss of this area whom we had been planning to hunt for the last few days.

There was a long standing quest for hunting any bosses in the area.

From what we learned, the boss of an area always respawns after a certain period of time. For example the boar which I had hunted for my Hunter Advancement Quest or the wolf which Veena and I had hunted while on our way to Llyne had both respawned after fifteen days.

We didn't know if other monster bosses also respawned at the same time or if they are different but we intended to find out and hunt them on the day they respawned.

Apparently, according to Shiroe, some big guilds in his previous game monopolised the boss areas by not letting anyone go there to keep control on the drops from them. This helped their guilds to grow at a fast speed as well as gave them a monopoly on the items obtained from it.

I had asked him if he wanted to do that but he had denied it as that would just push the non guild members against us. What we intended to do was wipe out all the bosses around Llyne until any other team was capable of fighting a T5 Monster.

By the time they get there, we would be well set to go off to other areas with stronger monsters already.

Star was not far behind as two arrows quickly shot, one piercing through its eyes and the other on its leg, making it limp weakly.

I couched slightly and jumped for the overhead strike, using Heavy Strike.

The ground beneath its feet within two metres radius cracked with my strike as the boar crumbled on its knees. I didn't stop the attack and used Double Strike and Swift Strike back to back to inflict more damage on it as quickly as I could before backing away.

The beast was strong, perhaps the strongest we had fought after the Goblin Chieftain although that monster was half dead due to the previous attacks and also poisoned.

As soon as I was a few metres away from it, a huge fireball crashed on the boar. The beast let out a loud shriek which disoriented me a little.

Dizzy Status.

Reduced accuracy by 60% and speed by 40% for the skill duration.

To cover for me, an Earth Wall appeared before me while I stepped back slightly to clear my head.

The status effect lasted twelve seconds and in that time, Shiroe and Star kept the beast contained. I could have used the Reversed Cursed Technique to get rid of it but decided not to as it would be better to save it for when my health was low and other emergencies.

My head cleared at the same time as the Earth Wall before me was crushed by the beast and I raised my shield and braced up for the crash.

The wall had slowed the monster to a certain extent and I was able to push it back and used another Skill, Focused Strike.

The strike targeted it directly on its eyes and the beast howled.

Star took this opportunity to send in a barrage of arrows at it again.

We slowly chipped away at its health over the next fifteen minutes before that beast finally fell.

"Damn….are T5 Monsters really this strong?" Star asked as he looked at the drops in front of us.

"It was a T5 Boss. Obviously it will be strong. A normal T5 Monster would have been done in 2 minutes at best." Shiroe said as he checked the drops while we checked the notifications.

I got a level up, I noticed as I checked the other notifications.

"Oh, it's congratulating us for the first kill of the boss. Do you think we would get first kill bonuses for every boss we kill?" He asked.

"First kill?" I scrolled the notifications and indeed, it said first kill. "I didn't get these when hunting those bosses for my hunter exams. Is this a new feature?"

"Has to be. Check out the loot." Shiroe said.

We went ahead and did.

"Is that?"

"A Skill Book, yes. Flame Charge. Guess this will be for Arty too." Shiroe said as he tossed the book at me.

I looked at the Skill and shook my head. "It's good but I have enough skills for now. Let's keep this for our other frontliners." I really had a whole slew of skills.

I didn't need more as I wanted to concentrate on my current skills and level them up first.

Both the guys shrugged.

"Well, you're currently our only frontliner so it's your decision."

I nodded and we soon collected everything we could and started heading back to town.

"Still, that debuff was unexpected. It was even an area debuff and could have been troublesome for us. We really need to get our hands on that healer." Shiroe said.

"Veena said she would talk to Elaine. We can see if she wants to be our healer or not."

"Oh, she did? That's good then. We would be able to act far better with a healer and supporter around." Shiroe said thoughtfully.

"So, how is your new equipment working, Star?" I asked. "Is it up to your expectations?"

"Yeah….that old man can really make good stuff. This set feels far less restrictive than my old one and yet has better stats. Thanks for the raw materials though."

"Don't sweat it. You are part of the team now. You being strong will only help us."

"Still, today's drops were good. We can probably earn a hefty sum if we sell the horn and the tusks."

"It dropped three tusks and one horn. I wasn't expecting that many."

"We even got one hundred and twenty thousand exp in total. That's busted. I gained two levels in my Ranger Class."

"It was probably because of the first kill bonus." Shiroe said.

"Then we should totally clear out all the bosses in the area and get their first kill bonuses." Star said. "This shit is great for quickly levelling up."

"Next time perhaps we should include Veena or she would be left behind too much."

"Yeah. She has been working too hard these days to gather funds." Shiroe also nodded. "Alright, I will ask around and plan about the other bosses. We can try hunting two or three more before going for our next expedition."

"That'd be for the best."

"By the way, we should get some furniture for the Guild. I am tired of sleeping in a sleeping bag even inside the guild room." Star said. "I miss sleeping on a proper bed, dammit."

"We were actually planning to buy another building as the guild hostels and rent them out to Guild members before this entire Sabaody thing came up. That was the reason we didn't buy any beds for the Guild rooms. But sure, we should get one for each of you." I nodded.

"I am fine. I got a tailor to make me something like a Japanese futon which I am used to sleeping in. I don't need a bed."

"As you wish….although I feel most comfortable when sleeping on a bed." Star shrugged.

"Yeah, a bed is more comfortable for me too." I agreed.

"See! That's what I am talking about. By the way Arty…."

"Hmm?"

"What's the deal between you and Veena?" Star suddenly threw the bomb.

"Huh? What do you mean by 'deal'?"

"Relation. I mean are you two an item?" He asked.

Shiroe, although didn't speak anything, looked at me with a curious look.

"Nah, we don't have anything like that going on between us." I denied.

I wasn't lying. There really wasn't anything serious going on between us….at least by devil terms.

There was no way I was going to tell them that I was sleeping with her every night.

"Eh! I was pretty sure you two were a couple or something. You always have this….chemistry between the both of you."

"Really?" I asked, surprised at the sudden revelation.

"Well, if I am being honest, I thought that too. She did call you her partner the first time we met." Shiroe shrugged.

"And your face when that Dwain guy insulted her….it was scary."

Yeah….Dwain….that idiot.

"Well, we are good friends. Very good friends. We have been through some serious shit together and we have been together since then but….we don't have anything like that between us. Moreover, isn't it common sense to get angry when your friend is insulted?"

"Eh….can't argue with that. After all, I was annoyed at that bastard too." He shrugged.

We talked about some other things as we travelled.

On reaching Llyne, both Star and Shiroe went ahead to buy a bed for Star while I went back towards my home's direction.

What came next was not something I was expecting.