Chapter 71: Level 1,000

"Whoa!"

I jumped to the side to avoid a particularly massive bombardment of lightning spears. To my side, Lilith deftly leaped overhead and flipped her body about gracefully to evade the hail of thunder. Hoshizaki managed to conjure a small shower of comets to deflect the electric projectiles that were sailing mercilessly toward her.

"Retreat!"

Makoto shouted as he drew five knives from his cloak. Behind him, Aoyama was relying on his superior speed to dodge the assault and obeying Makoto's instructions. The smaller guy narrowed his eyes as he channeled mana into his knives in the midst of the attack.

He suddenly spun around, covering Sanada, who was also doing his best to dodge the lightning spears that were striking every inch of the ground we were on. Holding his ground firmly, Sanada flung dozens of knives in the direction of the bombardment.

The knives struck and pierced the ground, emanating a green light. Immediately, a runic circle portraying the five elements, with a yin-yang symbol at the center, materialized. Green lightning crackled and spread out from the magic circle.

A few feet away, Makoto spread his feet wide and clasped his hands together, activating his spell with a few twists of his fingers.

"Five Element Stratagem, 5-point Divine Tree!"

A gigantic barrier of wood materialized in front of us, growing rapidly from the green magic circle to form a massive fortress-like wall that towered over ten meters and spread thirty meters wide, enough to shield all six of us.

"Oh?"

A distance away, Suzuki Shirou smirked as he continued to relentlessly bombard us with his rain of lightning spears.

However, his efforts proved to be futile. The lightning spears slammed into the wooden barrier and dispersed harmlessly, putting just small dents on the solid wood. The tremendous impacts reverberated violently across the barrier, causing both me and Lilith to crouch down instinctively despite being well-protected.

"The tree won't be able to hold out for long," Aoyama warned as he backed away. He was calmly analyzing the situation and studying the buckling wood.

"I know."

Makoto was still standing where he was a minute ago, his hands clasped firmly as he fought to maintain the huge spell.

"Hey! Don't you have any plan? Tanaka!"

I was surprised when Makoto directed the question at me. Why me, of all people? Was it because I was a Hero Slayer who killed five of my former classmates?

"No, not really."

I sighed and shook my head.

"Well, this can't be good," Lilith remarked wryly. I shrugged and smiled.

"At least Suzuki didn't grow gigantic and started firing a six-barreled gatling gun at us."

Everyone stared at me.

"What?" I defended myself. "Didn't any of you read Yin Zhi Shoumuren (The Silver Gravekeeper)? It's what inspired most of this story in the first place. Of course, the main influence is still Suterareta Yuusha no Eiyuutan (Tale of the Forsaken Hero), and maybe Tokyo Ghoul, but Yin Zhi Shoumuren is still a pretty good read."

"This isn't the time to be an otaku!" Makoto snapped.

"Right, right." I sighed and shook my head. "Anyway, I have a question. Suzuki said he's only level 999. That guy should have been able to hit level 1,000 if he continued grinding, right? Is he still in the process of leveling up?"

"How would we know?" Makoto growled. "Why don't you ask him?"

"It's true," Sanada said in a pacifying manner. "We don't know."

"What were you expecting?" Aoyama asked. I shrugged.

"I don't know. From the way you guys were talking, it's as if being level 1,000 is a big deal or something. I mean, it sure is, but…"

"Oh, there's a huge difference in strength between level 999 and level 1,000," Sanada explained. I tilted my head at him.

"What kind of difference? Do you gain a unique title or something?"

"Not really." Sanada shook his head. "But you gain a lot of values in stats and become one of the Elite Chosen. Well, Suzuki-kun is kind of an elite, but he isn't there yet. That said, level 999 is still impressive and allows him to stand out from the rest of the class."

"Ah…I see."

I nodded. Hoshizaki looked sad as she picked up on the conversation.

"The people who have hit level 1,000 are truly on another level. That's why Suzuki hasn't tried to challenge Kobayashi. He needs to break the level 1,000 barrier first, but I have no idea how he's still stuck at level 999."

If this was Yin Zhi Shoumuren, he would need a unique title, but it wasn't, so it had to be something else. I didn't know what it was, and it didn't seem that the rest knew either. Maybe Kobayashi would, but I knew he would never give away his secrets that easily.

"Well, while you guys are chatting there, do you mind helping me come up with a strategy?"

Makoto complained while he continued his stance. I glanced at him and suddenly remembered how impressed I was by his abilities.

Now's the chance to check him out.

I activated Absolute Appraisal and took in Makoto's stats.

Name: Shidou Makoto

Species: Human

Job/Rank: Elementalist/Hero

Special Abilities: Five Elements (Gold, Wood, Water, Fire, Earth), Enhanced Elemental

That's amazing.

I couldn't help but be awestruck by his special abilities. To possess the ability to wield and control all five elements, that was nothing short of extraordinary, even among the so-called heroes. I was glad that I had him on my side.

Makoto, despite his elemental abilities, was slowly crumbling under Suzuki's relentless onslaught. The Spear Hero was still unleashing a barrage of lightning spears on his buckling wooden barrier, leaving scorched earth and small wisps of electricity dancing about the burnt ground.

Suzuki narrowed his eyes and smirked.

"This time, I'll finally breakthrough to level 1,000!"

He recalled to the events that had happened a day ago.

Kobayashi Kenji was sitting atop his throne, having usurped the Legnica King's position and claimed the title of Emperor of himself. He was arrogantly reclining in his seized throne, haughtily watching all the people he deemed his subjects.

Suzuki didn't like his attitude one bit.

Glowering defiantly at Kobayashi, he banged the blunt end of his spear against the floor.

"The meeting is over," Yamada Yuji told him. "You still haven't left?"

Suzuki shifted his glare to Kobayashi's number one henchman, but Yamada wasn't the least intimidated.

"Suzuki Shirou…are you here to ask what the boss had to do to achieve level 1,000?"

"Ah…pretty much."

There was no point hiding it. Suzuki affirmed Yamada's suspicions. As much as he hated Yamada's guts, he knew how strong the henchman was.

"It's been almost eight months…"

Suzuki rubbed his head in frustration.

"The constant failure is beginning to annoy me. But I think the boss can help me…"

"Ah, who the fuck cares?!"

Suzuki jumped up when he heard my exasperated exclamation. He frowned, and then glared at me.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm the one who should be asking you that. Why the hell are you having a random flashback all of a sudden when we're supposed to be in the middle of a battle?!"

"…huh?"

Suzuki glared at me, and then realized that I was right.

"What are you doing in my flashback?! How did you get inside my flashback?!"

I shrugged. "That's the privilege of a first-person protagonist. Since I'm narrating this story from a first-person perspective, it would be strange for me to just disappear while you go on and on about your flashback."

"…"

Suzuki spluttered, but couldn't find a counter to that. Instead, I twisted the metaphorical knife in his gut.

"Again, let me ask you. Why the hell are you having a random flashback in the middle of a battle? You think anyone cares about your motives?"

"Hey!" Suzuki shouted. "It's to flesh me out as a character and give me a lot more depth!"

I burst out laughing at that. "Don't even joke like that. The readers don't care about character depth in a trashy story like this. All of you are just caricatures. You're meant to be flat and shallow cardboard characters who exist for the sole reason of being killed by me as I take my revenge on all those who bullied me, edgelord style. You don't need any depth!"

Suzuki's hands trembled in rage. "Aren't you looking down on me too much?"

"Have you given me any reason to look up to you?" I retorted. "Mr. Delinquent? The guy who just sits around laughing with his friends and not doing anything while Kobayashi beats me up?"

"Hey, I have no obligation to help you." Suzuki snorted. "I'm not an ally of justice or a hero. If you're too weak to defend yourself, that's your fault. Why are you expecting people to help you? You think you're entitled to rescue or something?"

"Oh, don't get me wrong." I shook my head and waved my hands. "I don't hold a grudge against you for that, and I certainly didn't expect anyone to help me. But right back at you. Why do you think you're entitled to respect? If you've never helped me out or anything, why are you expecting me to respect you?"

"…"

Suzuki realized that I was right. Curling his lips, he turned away, deciding not to argue with me on this matter. Instead, he resumed his flashback.

"Ah…I've always been looking for ways of breaking through level 999 and hitting 1,000 like you," Suzuki said to a bemused Kobayashi, who had frozen throughout our exchange. I suppressed the desire to roll my eyes.

Like, who the fuck cares? I honestly didn't see any value or significance to levels, and they meant absolutely nothing to me. Not only did I not have a level, I couldn't see the levels of others. My former classmates were too obsessed with levels, probably because they were still treating this whole thing as a game, inadvertently or not.

"Humans have a strength that cannot be measured," I muttered. "Our strength or abilities aren't something you can just enscapulate in levels or values or numbers. We're a lot more complex than that. Sure, you can measure the grip of our strength, the maximum weight we're able to lift, how fast we're able to run, etc. but that doesn't determine the outcome of a battle. A smaller person can still beat a bigger person."

Suzuki ignored me, totally engrossed in executing his flashback to the very end.

"Until now, I've already killed over a hundred demons who are level 100 or higher."

Huh? You could see the levels of demons? I never heard about that. And to be honest, I didn't believe this bullshit, especially since it came into the story this late.

"I thought doing this would allow me to reach level 1,000. But as everyone sees, it still hasn't worked. So it's a challenge that's still not difficult enough."

Why the fuck are you so obsessed with reaching level 1,000 anyway?

"How much more difficult must I make it? I asked myself this question until it finally hit me…"

"People must hit their lowest state before they finally see it," Yamada smirked. Suzuki grinned back, undaunted.

"Yes…the answer is always the simplest."

He turned toward Kobayashi, who was still reclining in his stolen throne.

"There is a more difficult challenge right in front of me. It was always right in front of me! But I never saw it."

Suzuki gripped his spear more tightly.

"I need to achieve a feat of strength in order to exceed level 1,000."

His grin spread wider over his face.

"Since the heroes who hit level 1,000 all achieved various feats of strength….then…"

He raised his spear and pointed it straight at Kobayashi.

"Kill a player who has hit level 1,000. I should be able to level up to level 1,000 then!"

Kobayashi, who had a spear pointed at him, remained silent. It was almost as if he didn't place Suzuki within his eyes.

"Don't do anything stupid."

This time, it was another classmate, Ishida Ryuuji. Bespectacled like me, but loyal to Kobayashi, Ishida was the first to react. The reason why he didn't actively participate in beating me up was because he thought it too undignified for an intellectual such as himself and left the abuse to the muscleheads such as Yamada and Kijima.

Ishida had his hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to draw it at any moment. His eyes focused intensely on Suzuki, blazing fiercely behind his gleaming lenses.

"You can't win."

Kobayashi continued to said nothing and merely watched the farce, amused. Yamada grinned, even more tickled by the situation. The tension in the air grew so thick that anyone could slice through it with a knife.

"I know, I know."

Suzuki withdrew his spear, and all that tension vanished in an instant. With an exaggerated sigh, Suzuki rested his spear atop his shoulder.

"I don't plan to challenge the boss."

Kobayashi merely ignored him, bored. Suzuki shook his head.

"Against your special abilities…"

He smiled, unintimidated.

"I won't even have an opportunity to launch my second attack."

"Tsk."

Yamada clicked his tongue, disappointed.

"And here I thought I would get to see something interesting."

Ishida silently drew his sword, his expression unreadable behind his shiny glasses. As if to assure him, Suzuki waved his hand in a pacifying manner.

"I'm just here to discuss something with the boss."

Kobayashi's eyes narrowed when he heard that.

"If I were to have a chance to challenge a worthy opponent…someone else who has surpassed level 1,000…don't get in my way."

With that, the flashback ended, and Suzuki's lightning spears continued to bombard us. I sighed when I found myself back inside the wooden barrier. Guess slipping into Suzuki's flashback and playing mind games wouldn't work on someone as insane as him.

The wooden barrier was buckling under the tremendous impacts, and small barbed tips of lightning were gradually beginning to pierce through the sturdy wall of wood. Noticing that, Suzuki began to smile triumphantly.

Kill a hero who has surpassed level 1,000, I will for sure break through level 999 and hit level 1,000! This time for sure…kekeke!!!

"Um…" I raised my hand. "But none of us here are level 1,000, right?"

Everyone stared at me.

"…what?"

"You didn't know, Tanaka-kun?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked, getting irritated. Sanada blinked and then shook his head apologetically.

"Your stats…show you to be above level 1,000."

"…HUH?!"

I gaped at him, and then quickly flicked open my status window. However, all I saw was my name, my species, job, rank, title and special abilities. There was nothing that indicated my level, as if something like that even existed in the first place.

"That can't be right. I didn't grind, I haven't been in Restia for long. I've only been in Restia for a few weeks at most! How the heck would I be able to reach level 1,000 so quickly?!"

"That's…well, you seem to misunderstand. Level 1,000 isn't something you achieve through grinding."

"That's right." Hoshizaki nodded at Sanada's explanation. "It's something you obtain through Feats of Strength."

I see. Now that they mentioned it, Suzuki did mention something about Feats of Strength in his flashback.

"Doing something like…saving a kingdom. Conquering a domain. Taming the most vicios monsters. Being unsurpassed in a certain ability. Only when you pull something that is worthy enough to be told in legends will you be able to achieve a Feat of Strength and perhaps earn a title."

Ah…right. I had the title Hero Slayer. That could be a Feat of Strength. In other words, I had unknowingly surpassed this level 1,000 thing the moment I began taking my revenge and killing my former classmates in self-defense.

Oh, the irony was so sweet. They had essentially gifted the title to me on their own by trying to kill me and getting themselves killed instead.

No wonder Makoto was asking me if I had a plan. They all perceived me as being above level 1,000 or something.

"Well…that's cool." I scratched my head. "But what exactly am I supposed to do?"