Fierce Battle

Chapter 5: Fierce Battle

It was 30 minutes passed 4am at Aelvaard, some of the beasts and monsters were sleeping or some were hunting. The village was also quiet despite there were people awake like the chief, shop keeper, or guards. They didn't even make any noise because some monsters and beasts might get attracted. If it wasn't programmed that no monster raid would happen then players would also stay vigilant whether they were inside or outside the village.

Liam trekked the road confidently. He was immersed with the smell of morning dew. It felt like he was back at high school doing morning exercise every morning. The fog and morning dew that made your body relaxed or the fact that morning was the most peaceful time for a tired body.

The only sound that could be heard was the rustling of the trees and grasses. The crunching of the stones under Liam's feet and the occasional howling of monsters.

Liam finally saw the flickering light despite it wasn't night anymore. The horizon wasn't dark anymore but the light that the source produced was really something.

This quest might be harder than Liam thought. He gripped his sword and slowed down his movement. He needed to focus and feel the surroundings. Liam once again on the same spot he stopped before he almost fail the quest.

While on the monitoring team, the night shifts, were not as excited as the morning shifters because they didn't saw how Liam performed. They only arrived after Liam went back leveling. Some were even sleeping, some were eating but there was someone who was at the door looking at Liam.

He knew he was the one who will be with him if he succeed on the quest. He needed to know how to act a proper NPC in front of Liam. He was also surprised when he heard the ruckus when he went outside his room.

Rain was the only one who succeeded to land a job as an NPC when they did beta testing. He was contracted to play 'him' until the end of the quest so he never thought that the quest would actually happen before he could settle down with it.

Rain was also one of the first batch of players but due to his 'OP-ness' he was called for a contract to delay his progress and monitor him. He was only allowed to play 4 hours a day and shift into practicing how a NPC acts.

Liam felt a gaze on him but couldn't tell where it was actually coming from. Suddenly, Liam thought a way to test the reaction of the 'predator'. Liam took a step back and produced a meat from his inventory. He knew that the probability of attracting the predator's focus wasn't high but if the company truly wanted to immerse it to reality then a piece of meat was the right choice.

Liam aimed a little closer to where he felt the most dangerous vibe coming from. He tossed the meat without expecting anything but contrary to his experiment the predator actually shifted its focus on the meat.

Yes, it was one of the way to attract the wolf. One was also crossing the safety line when it was noon when the sun was at its peak. The predator roared and grabbed the meat.

The predator didn't cast any attention to Liam, its only focus was the meat and ate it. The predator looked at Liam and it laughed. Yes, it laughed. Liam was also quite stunned with the turn of event.

"Human, you have some guts to throw a meat to me. Now that I have regained my freedom to think, I will make you regret feeding me!" the predator laughed and it turned into a human. It was actually a werewolf!

Liam read that there were 7 races from the Chaos faction, Vampire/Damphir, Werewolf, Lamia, Ghost, Undead, Demon, and Orcs. While on the Order faction there were only 5 which were Human, Beastkin, Elf, Dwarf, and Mer-folks.

The issue was the werewolf were here to an island that shouldn't have been trespassed. It could only mean two things either the werewolf was strong and bypassed the barrier or he was brought here.

Liam tightened his grip on his sword. He exhaled a mouthful of breath. He could only respond to trigger the battle. "I will let you taste how my sword will cut you into two wolf."

"Ha! Insolent human, I will kill you slowly and then torture you! We'll see if you could bark! I, Jack, will now execute you!" the werewolf activated his 2nd form the half human, half beast. The werewolf was also a beastkin but they fell to darkness. They wanted more power so they accepted the terms of the Goddess of Darkness.

The werewolf dashed and slashed Liam. He aimed at Liam's weak spot the right leg. Liam's action and condition was linked through his brain so his handicap was also brought inside the game. Other players do fall on those who brought their physical condition but the company advised the players to think that they were perfectly fine and adjusted the reading of brain waves.

But, unfortunately, Liam wanted a fully immersed experience from the game where his inability to perform perfectly fine would also help him familiarize and limit himself. This was one of Liam's flaw but also his strength. Liam lifted his sword and blocked the claws.

A deafening sound was produced by the sword and claw hitting each other. They were both equal on power at the first look but in a second the exchange brought a winner, and it was the wolf.

Liam slid 3 feet away from their clash. The strength of the wolf was shown by only an exchange. Liam smirked and looked at the wolf.

"It seems that you have some power, human fool."

"Of course, and with this sword I will take your life away and move forward!" Liam was so immersed on the act that he didn't know that the monitoring team that wasn't interested before was also immersed on the skit that was going on with him.

There were other players who were being monitored but because Liam was the very first to trigger a main quest, he was being monitored on the biggest screen.

The fight continued on for an hour but there was no clear winner. Jack have small and deep wounds while Liam was also the same.

The wolf laughed then growled, Jack smacked a tree nearby without even moving from his spot. It was at least 5 feet away. "I admit that you are really a strong human! Let's see how strong you are after this. I will show you why I was called Jack the Ripper!"

Jack howled and the surroundings changed. The clouds were once again dark like there was storm but, a bit of red clouds were within it, and the wind was cold and whistling ready to pierce.

[Code HQ000 000 001 AA Triggered. Red alert! Red Alert! Personnel, Please proceed to capsule 001.]

While on the monitoring team, they were again on an uproar. The night shifters were crazier than morning ones, they shouted and screamed profanities and whistling like they were intoxicated.

Rain smiled and proceeded to his designated room. He was now meeting Liam in a most unexpected and earlier time than it should be. Rain, like a smoke, vanished into thin air. No one paid any attention to him, either they didn't see him or no one cared enough for a contracted player.

The domain took a while to summon but within the time of summoning the domain, Liam never moved. He had this overwhelming feeling that once he moved he would met the God of Light. "This is my domain, boy. Be proud that you'll witness my power." Jack smirked and pounced on Liam, while Liam, having a goosebumps from the overwhelming power, tried to evade but, alas, he failed.

[You suffered a grievous wound. You received 9999 damage!]

A burst of notification was shown on his eyes.

[You have suffered a grievous wound. You received a bleed status effect.]

[You have entered Jack the Ripper's Domain. All players within the domain will have their status decrease 20%.]

[You died. Hidden Main Quest Part 1 failed.]

[You have triggered the Hidden Main Quest Part 1A]

[Hidden Main Quest Part 1A]

You, with the blessed and pure heart, tried to defeat an overwhelming force discarding all reasons and hope to live. Another powerful being saw your determination and domineering future. He, who attributed everything within his power; blind as you, also lost his reason before, but now you gave him a new Light.

Mission: Survive until the domain was totally destroyed for 1 minute.

Failure: Link Quest would be totally terminated.

???'s affection -100

Reward: ???'s affection +5

20 AP

5 SP

HMQ Part 2A

While inside a room, on the top floor of Gabe Corporation, a man was sitting on a luxury sofa and watching a live stream of Liam.

"Now, let me see your true potential."