Interrogation

Hairn dashed to the side, carving a deep gash into the side of the beast.

With a yelp it retreated to the side, watching Hairn carefully.

Crack-!

A thunderbolt smacked into a stone golem. Quol began chanting another spell in annoyance.

Uwooooo~!

The golem slammed its hands onto the ground. Mud splattering everything nearby. It then lifted up, with great effort, a ball of hardened mud.

Quol slammed the bottom of his staff onto the ground, "Golems are so annoying to deal with! Oh calls from the hallowed end, may you grasp what you desire. Your deathly hands grip your victim, and bring down sinful liars! [Sorrowful Grasp]!"

The golem tossed the ball of hardened mud. Quol's figure vanishing before it slammed into him.

Suddenly deathly black and yellow hands ascended from beneath the golem. Slowly they climbed, grabbing onto whatever they could. The golem's great strength couldn't seem to fight off the hands, and was soon pulled into an unknown area.

Quol appeared behind someone, "You're the most troublesome one here. Burn alive [Fireball]."

A large flaming ball slammed into a figure, exploding into flames. It was the enemy Summoner, responsible for the golem. Summoners proved needlessly troublesome in combat, if they could summon anything.

Additional numbers wasn't always a bad thing, in battles like this one an additional fighter could change the tide. So naturally the Summoner had to die.

Summoners always had weak defense, in fact they were highly weak in all stats. The fireball had injured them greatly and knocked them to the ground.

They coughed in pain, "Ugh, you lack tact. Burn alive? So sadistic."

"Pierce my foes from below. [Earthen Spikes]."

The Summoner was swiftly pierced by several spikes made from the mud. Quol had no interest in dealing with idle chitchat.

After confirming the Summoner was dead Quol assessed the battle ground. Hairn had almost finished killing the remaining beast and would soon finish off the Priest.

Immen was beating the enemy Thief, protecting their own Priest.

Nime was dealing with the enemy team's Trapper and Pugilist. They were currently at a stand still. Era was dealing with the greatest threat, the Berserker.

Quol inwardly nodded, the battle was essentially won. The moment the enemy team's Priest was annihilated it would only be a matter of time.

~ ~ ~

Tilia mused, "These guys went straight to the point."

Akiol agreed, "Simple and straightforward. It works brilliantly for them."

"So how about her?"

"She fights similarly, but there are obvious differences. Her in-game character looks. . . frighteningly alike."

Yielya leaned against a wall, "So, what do you plan on doing?"

"Let me fight her in the next match. I will confirm some final things there."

Yielya looked at him with a complicated gaze before nodding, "I'll let Wrock solo the rest of them."

Wrock was overjoyed, "Yes!"

"I was joking. Not happening."

Wrock's joy died down immediately. Yielya shook her head, "If you solo them how will everyone react? We gotta keep it on the down low. Besides we're supposed to put on a show right?"

"What greater show is there than seeing a person solo a team?"

"That's not the point here."

~ ~ ~

Travis paced around his room. It seemed more and more likely every moment.

The strange abilities they had, the drastic difference in timelines. The professional competition.

However the more he thought about it the stranger it seemed. If they had went back into time like him then why was there such a drastic difference in strength?

How has the slime become a slime without reaching the proper level first?

How had did they obtain the missing Upper Fourth?

As he recalled his previous encounters the more he grew certain it wasn't the same as him. The level of skill the slime showcased during their first encounter was too high for early game. Even if they had been sent back into time with fighting abilities they learned, that level of skill should have been known anyways.

The saying crouching tigers and hidden dragons didn't really apply to players late into the game. The stats of players became easier to uncover due to Skills. Powerful players were soon targeted by Guilds, either to recruit or to eliminate.

Someone who could fight against a large group of enemies would have gained at least a little fame. With Travis' sickly obsession with the game he should have a faint memory of them. Moreover if they had then they should have been aware of the terrible threat that lay on top of that mountain. So why uncover it? Why willingly put themselves at risk?

He grew frustrated at the growing level of questions lacking answers. Picking up his headset he put it onto his head and logged into the game. He aimed to continue laying the foundation of his plan before striking after the update.

~ ~ ~

"Uh- sir, are you sure this is a proper time?"

"We must figure out who they are. They could potentially be a danger to the game."

"Yes, but he-"

"I don't care what he said, as far as I'm concerned this little encounter never happened. Am I correct?"

"Yes sir."

An uptight gentlemen dressed neatly walked up to a door. Knocking three times and not once more he waited for a response. Soon someone opened the door, "May I help you?"

"Pardon the intrusion, but do you all happen to have some spare time?"

"Is there something wrong?"

"No, I just hope that you can answer some questions."

They looked behind at the others, a small exchange of intention and words through only glances occurred. They then looked back, "This isn't some press thing is it?"

"No no, rest assured I'm with the company."

Raising an identification card the person who opened the door merely glanced at it, "Alright then, I suppose we could answer a few questions."

"Please come with me."

The neatly dressed man lead them to a more secluded place. As they walked through the building he introduced himself, "I am Randwell, please excuse the sudden interruption."

Randwell opened a door, inside looked like a carbon copy of a typical interrogation room. Except the one-sided window, there was nothing like that.

Randwell gestured to the many seats, "Please take a seat."

Someone joked, "Yielya, your luck got us in trouble."

Yielya defended herself, "Nonsense, it was probably your set of Skills that did that."

Randwell sat and tapped the table to gather attention, "I can assure you all that no one is in trouble. Just happen to have some questions that have been plaguing us for some time."

Randwell pulled out a file, which make Wrock joke, "This seems more and more like an interrogation. We're innocent officer."

"I can assure you that no on is in trouble."

Wrock made a face, "Not much of a joker?"

Randwell flipped to a sheet and placed it on the table for the three to see, "From the start of the game you all have obtained something only possible to be obtained late into the game. Giving you all a head start. Can you explain this?"

Akiol spoke, "Weird glitch, not my fault. Pretty sure this is easily proven by some logs or something. I spawned as a slime."

The rest nodded, except for Yielya who spoke, "Blessed human? I chose human normally, I don't know why it was blessed."

Randwell shook his head, "That's simply a rare chance of obtaining it when you spawn as a race, I have no concerns on that."

Wrock chuckled, "Luck based eh?"

Randwell didn't respond, instead he flipped a page, "This battle with the Guild Pierced Moon, how can you explain this?"

Jarvis frowned, "What's the matter with it?"

"No matter how you view it, it should be impossible for someone to battle against so many and live for so long. Much less win the battle."

"Ah, you're one of those numbers equal power types?"

"No, this game will clearly show that isn't the case always. I'm stating that in such early stages of the game it shouldn't be possible."

"For an ordinary guy yeah. It might be impossible for you to do so, but not everyone is like that.

Randwell frowned at the answer, "The majority of the playerbase cannot do such a feat even today."

"That's the problem here. You're comparing it to the average. It's the average for a reason. When people go beyond that they are no longer considered the average, you can't compare them."

"You seem to be missing my point. Even if you studied in combat for some reason, such a fight should be impossible."

"You speak of things like should be or shouldn't be. Who are you to decide that? We did it did we not? We battled and won. It means it is possible, because we did it."

Randwell grit his teeth at the one-sided questioning. It just didn't make sense!

He would find answers now.