Hidden Quest

The snotty, smiling face was nowhere to be seen on the baby. In fact, its head was nowhere to be seen.

Looking at the mangled, headless corpse of the baby and its mother, Wilbert felt that familiar rage course through his body.

'This fury is becoming more and more common, but that's because I've seen so many of such scenes recently. Besides, this rage is a good thing—it shows I'm definitely not completely mad. The day I don't feel such anger in this kind of situation is the day I'm no longer human.'

The bright red blood of the mother and baby that seeped into the earth seemed to have made its way into Wilbert's eyes.

He charged up to the two players and demanded, "Why would you do that? What did that mother ever do to you? What did her newborn baby ever do to you?! Psychos, complete psychos!"

Stopping about five metres away from them, he shouted, "You, and the rest of your kind, are sick in the head. I don't know who you all are or why you're like this, but know that not everyone will stand by and let you act like this. The people will rise up and stop such atrocities!"

…

"Oh, a hidden quest… I've not heard of this one before."

"A hidden quest?" The noob player was living up to name of being a noob.

"A kind of story that arises when you meet certain hidden conditions. It seems killing a child before this NPC is the trigger. Huh, I've never heard of this one before." Even the noob's experienced friend had not heard of such a quest.

"Killing a baby is the trigger? The devs sure are twisted."

"Yeah, they've made a lot of questionable choices and comments."

The duo chatted, completely ignoring the words flying above the NPC's head about his backstory, waiting for him to finish so that they could get on with the quest.

…

"… so I cannot not let you live. Until I find my parent's killer, I will not let any of you live. Even if such a reckless attitude gets me killed, it's something I cannot compromise on."

As he said that, he tapped on the backpack on the interface and selected the shield and sword. The two items appeared in his hands, and he took up the stance that he had learned. He held his shield low and his sword high, pointed at the bland man.

'He seemed to know what he was talking about earlier, so he should be the better fighter.'

Contrary to Wilbert's expectations, the two men did not react to the weapons in his hands nor his aggressive stance. Instead, they stood where they were and continued their conversation.

"He should just be another weakling of a local village. These peasants mean nothing, and none of them are strong enough to challenge us."

"Sir, prudence may be wise…"

"Silence, I have been in this world far longer than you. Believe me when I say that he won't be able to harm us."

Perhaps their words were meant to taunt him or perhaps they truly were that arrogant, but Wilbert paid their words no heed.

Reviewing the combat information in his mind, he imagined each stroke he planned to make.

'I will lead with [Basic Slash]. If I angle it correctly, they will be have to move to avoid it. Then when they move back, I will target the weaker one with a [Basic Jab], targeting his vitals. With one eliminated, I can focus on the more experienced fighter.

'Then comes the issue of what they call "respawning". I'll need to remain wary in case they really do return. I don't know how it works, but it's a fact that I've seen two people walking about after they died.'

With a plan in mind, Wilbert charged forward. He did not know any footwork techniques, nor was he particularly quick at running, but he was fast enough to close the distance.

The moment he moved forward, the bland man summoned a weapon out of thin air and adopted an attacking stance. The man said something, and the good-looking man followed suit.

'As I expected, he's the one I need to be careful of.'

The two men stood facing Wilbert with their swords and shields in attacking stances, ready to make a move as soon as the boy was in range. However, Wilbert had other plans.

When he was within a metre of them, he instantly activated [Basic Slash]. Wilbert's muscles seemed to remember how to execute the attack perfectly, and without much thought, he performed the steps of the attack flawlessly.

Since it was an extremely basic attack, his sword was not swift nor was it complex—most fighters would be able to predict and follow the move.

So, it went without saying that the two…

Why were they just standing there, doing nothing?

…

"It's just some villager. In these parts, none of them will be able to deal much damage."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, given all play time, you can trust me on this."

The man playing on the smurf account and his noob friend were fairly relaxed as the villager charged toward them.

Even when he activated an attack, it was only the most basic—they themselves had just learnt that very attack.

"Let's both use jab."

"Not block?"

"Nah, he won't deal much damage."

The two clicked on the attack command almost simultaneously. The character animations began, but before their swords thrust forward, their screens went blank.

"What the…"

"Lag?"

A message appeared on the screen.

[You have been killed by Wilbert - Villager (Level 18).]

"Fuck off he killed us!"

"How did a villager one hit us?"

The two players were flabbergasted. They soon respawned and continued discussing what had happened.

"It seems we angered someone really strong."

"Yeah, it must be a higher-level quest. We can just come back to it—"

The screen went blank again.

[You have been killed by Wilbert - Villager (Level 18).]