The Forest of Lamentations II

Before they could do so, a wave of dust spread their way when - with but a single sweep- the demoness created a gale. The dust covered their bodies like a mark of grace.

Banks tried to squeeze through the left corner with Miyagi heading to the right corner, it wasn't the best strategy, but the demoness could only focus on one of them at the same time.

Sadly for him, Banks was her objective. He grits his teeth upon seeing the incoming strike of the Halberd, with this many levels of disparity, there was a chance he'd be gone due to the impact. He tried to duck but wasn't fast enough.

*BOOOMM!*

Another cloud of dust unfolded when the strike hit the ground and Banks didn't 'feel' but instead witnessed how his arm got shattered into motes of light. He had managed to evade but at a massive cost!

[Name: Banks +2 (B)]

(HP: 190/1012 - AP:220/320)

Almost all of his HP was gone due to a strike that didn't even hit him squarely.

<Blazing Maxima!>

A burst of green flames flared again, taking the demoness' attention ever so slightly, but now that her prey was injured, she had no intention to let him go. Both of them were exposed in plain daylight to a foe far stronger than them.

Miyagi saw how once again the demoness fended off his magic like it was nothing, the most powerful spell that he had which could have easily defeated any other monster in this forest. Yet it wasn't doing jack s*** to her.

Clearly, he wasn't willing to just leave his comrade behind, 'If Banks-kun has decided to fight, so should I! That said, she's a mob, how can she enter this cave!? I tested it!'

"She shouldn't have come into the cave, come this way Banks-kun!" Miyagi started running away, hoping that Banks would chase behind, which he did. On their way off they met a confused pair of demons with crossbows, they were her companions.

"You've been spouting nonsense for a while, human! What are you two standing there for?! Chase after them right this instant!" The demoness' patience was at the border, instead of giving her a good fight, the pair of mice were deadset on running away.

'I'm not letting you!'.

…

They ran and ran, Miyagi was awed by the way Banks trodded through the trenches and branches even with a missing arm, almost falling a few times as due to the thrill and the lack of pain, he had forgotten he was missing an arm. He took a potion to restore 50% of his HP, but that didn't return the missing limb, it was regenerating slowly... too slowly.

An arrow shot towards them and hit him right on his calf.

The situation wasn't looking good and yet he was relentless. Dying here wasn't an option... just like dying in real life also wasn't an option.

'He looks a lot more experienced than his playing hours suggest!' Miyagi who was an elf mage not proficient in dexterity, was struggling to keep up with Banks despite the level difference.

What was previously a small chase quickly dwarfed into a stampede when even monsters joined the fray.

With a single arm holding his knife, Banks ended up a group of boars that by the way, were also at higher levels than him.

'If anyone hits me, I'm gone!'

His sight fixed on the map, he saw that there was a difference in relief about half a mile away, two pieces of land divided by a river, 'We can try to swim to the other side!'.

"Miyagi, the river in front, we can swim across! they have fire magic, it shouldn't work inside the water anyway!"

"Wait, Banks-kun, I'm not sure about this!" Miyagi recalled going by this area before as he had found the cave a long time ago and he didn't recall any river at ground level. Looking behind him he saw how they were being chased by three over-level demons and more than a dozen monsters in a stampede of perdition.

There was just no way out of this.

"There is no way to flee! It is too many of them! we can die and respawn in our home cities!" He yelled, having given up. At most he'd lose an item out of his equipment, for him it wasn't even worth it to try this hard.

"Are you giving up that quickly!? If you were about to die in real life, would you give up this quickly as well!?"

"But this is not real life, it is a game!"

"There are no games when money is involved!"

'How much of a cheapskate can you be?!'

With a single sentence; Miyagi stopped imagining Banks as a wealthy man with time to spare and it transformed into a dropout who spent his grandma's money to buy this game albeit without her knowledge.

"I'm just losing a drop at most, there is nothing valuable in my inventory… you will lose a part of your equipment though".

"F*** That!".

He wasn't about to lose a piece of his equipment he paid three hundred bucks for. Alas, upon finally reaching the place amidst the curses of the demoness. Banks' heart dropped. it wasn't a river. It was a cliff in the middle of the forest, two pieces of land separated without a bridge, at the bottom of it... a river.

"Let's jump!" Banks smirked.

"It's too far away, we can't jump that distance! also, what if they jump as well!? we're doomed anyway, just give up!" Miyagi was being pessimistic, even confusing his vocabulary. It didn't matter if the situation was hopeless or not.

"I'm never giving up!"

As he looked at Banks he realised... this is the most fun he had in this game so far.

'Banks-kun...'

"You said this game has bugs. You think this could be one of them?" Banks inquired, looking back to see the wrathful demoness glaring at him with her eyes dead set on him, it was as if he was cursed to be pursued by her forever.

Miyagi thought about what he said, 'You mean that they're not programmed to make the jump? it could be... I haven't seen them do anything like that before'.

"Yeah, maybe they will just stop there and stop pursuing us!"

"I'll catch you, human! NO MATTER WHAT!" Valeria was just like Banks... she wasn't giving up.

<DEMONIC DESCENT!>

!!!

Out of nowhere, the sky that was brimming with a bright sun started to dim.

'W-What is this!? this is not the skill a mob should have?!'

Their eyes glanced back at the demoness chasing after them, her eyes turned shiny crimson and bloody, and the colour around her lock changed from a dangerous purple into an abyssal crimson, her skin transformed from its fair tonality to a darker shade.

[County of Rosswald's Aspirant, Valeria McFallon - LVL42 (A)].

!!!

"A mini-boss, n-no, a boss!? WHY IS A BOSS CHASING AFTER US!? YOU SHOULD BE IN SOME BOSS ROOM WAITING FOR PLAYERS, KUSOU! (DA** IT)".

Miyagi had started cursing as magic circles started appearing on the skies, Banks didn't know what was going on with the demoness who was dead set on capturing him, but he knew this wasn't anything good.

There was only one thing to do, turning around wasn't an option. Dying wasn't an option.

The spell activated and a rain of black flames started to befall the forest, heading in their direction. When the moment came, Banks saw light at the end of the tunnel. A single vine which hadn't been visible from the distance. He didn't know if it was possible to pull out this trick, but there was no other way.

With a missing arm, he dematerialised his knife back into the inventory and took a fierce bite of Miyagi's robes before jumping off the cliff as hard as he could.

For the awed Miyagi, time seemed to have stopped. Banks extended his arm as far as possible with the demoness watching everything aghast as she chased right after, irritated that not a single one of her black flames was hitting.

"Kyaaaa!!!"

Miyagi went all 'Kya!' on Banks. He managed to catch the vine and lunged to the other side of the cliff like Tarzan. Without this or the capacity to glide or fly, it was next to impossible to make this jump.

The demons, monsters… all kept running like machines, falling down to the pit, all except for a single demoness. The general, Valeria whose identity was now exposed cracked her teeth in fury and jumped as well. The more she saw him the more she wanted to hunt him because the more she hunted him she realised... that he wasn't easy to hunt at all!

'I always have you so close and yet... you always manage to flee somehow! FIGHT ME, HUMAN!'.

*BOOMM!!*

Her kick was so strong that it shattered the ground, her arm extending forward, as long as she could grip either of them to the other side, her hunt would be finished. With her strength, she ended up reaching even greater heights but nevertheless, failing to hook herself to any vine.

Her claws scratched Miyagi's feet and the two of them (Banks & Valeria) looked into each other's eyes one last time.

Banks couldn't help but notice how beautiful yet threatening she was. Like a thorny Rose. While she looked at him like nothing more than a rat. A quite heroic and ravenous rat that just escaped her grasp.

"I swear for Queen Leticia that I'll catch you, human! I'll CATCH YOU AND SLAUGHTER YOU MYSELF!"

Her lonely silhouette fell down to the river flowing deep below together with the rest of the demons while both Banks and Miyagi received notifications.

[+200 EXP]

[+120 EXP]

...

Then Banks received an even bigger one.

[You have defeated the Demoness of Bravery, Aspirant of the County of Rosswald, Valeria McFallon]

[+13.000 EXP]

[LEVEL UP!]

[LEVEL UP!]

[LEVEL UP!]

[LEVEL UP!]

...