Strongest Among the Heavens

The forest at night was what they expected. Harder to navigate, harder to see and fight. But it wasn't just the lack of visuals that added to the difficulty. It was the monsters themselves. Somehow, they grew stronger under the gleam of night.

Kazi led the way with Sun-young and William two steps behind. He was ambidextrous and therefore better equipped to deal with surprise attacks. However, Sun-young often came forward to light up the way. Her skill, Blaze Slash, summoned hot flames and she effectively used it as a light. Where Kazi chose to stick with the basic, first-option given Spark Strike, Sun-young went a step further. She possessed Ember Strike—the fire element version of Spark Strike—Blaze Slash, and Fiery Flourish.

A soft rustling in the underbrush caught Kazi's attention. "Slime Jack," he whispered. The three stopped in their tracks. "One o'clock. Sun-young?"

A mini slime leaped at Kazi. There wasn't a smidge of fear on his face. Sun-young came fast and sliced the slime in half with a Blaze Slash.

The area lit up. Suddenly, they could see a small army of mini slimes on the branches above. Falling.

"We're surrounded!"

William's exclamation was met with a grunt. A slime attached itself to him. He swiped it aside but another came.

And another.

"W-what the hell—get off!"

He couldn't even swing his axe. The mini slimes were like grasshoppers innocently and their speed and numbers were too much for the axe wielder.

Touch of Thunder was five inches longer than the khanda in his left hand. "Hold still…!" William panicked when he saw his swords. When it came to angles and poking away the mini slimes with precise applications of Spark Strike, it was easy.

Really, there was nothing to be worried about. He killed the mini slimes, no problem.

[ Gate 1 : A Forest in Kishkindha

Main Objective : Kill 3 monsters of the Slime Family — COMPLETE

SPECIAL OBJECTIVE : The baby monkey, Anjaneya, will no longer respawn!

Receive:

100 XP

500 PP ]

[ You have completed the Main Objective of Gate 1 : A Forest in Kishkindha.]

[ Return to the White Abyss? Yes or no? ]

If he was in an actual game, he would have returned and reentered the gate to receive the mission again. In the end, despite its benefits, Kazi and the party agreed that returning was too tedious. Oftentimes, they would kill and finish the mission at alternate times. Better to stick to farming levels instead of grinding for points on the very first level.

"Phew!" William sighed. "Thanks!"

"Don't let your guard down just yet. Where there are mini slimes, there are other slimes."

Ahead, Sun-young lit the area up again with her flames and melted the slimes with her swings. They were clumsy, wide arcs that would have made a master swordsman cry, but they got the job done. It was okay to be amateurish in regards to weak monsters.

"Hopefully it's a Slime Jack," Kazi continued. "I really want to see your sword in action, Ms. Sun-young."

"I'll do my best."

Her fiery sword leading them forward, they eventually found themselves in an opening. A wide opening with two large monsters. Two of them.

Their red eyes were shut, however. They were…

'Asleep?'

Sun-young looked over to him, her eyes speaking instead of her mouth, "They can sleep?"

Kazi answered with a blink. "I guess they can sleep."

"Two Slime Jacks…?" William muttered, afraid. "W-we should go—"

His step-back caused a branch to snap. The red eyes snapped open. The atmosphere shifted in rage and there was an immediate response. The two bear-sized monstrosities sprung at them. William cowered.

Kazi and Sun-young responded in kind.

"Double Spark Strike!"

While Sun-young didn't call out her attack, she was able to stop the second Slime Jack with Blaze Slash. Her flames unveiled the Slime Jacks from the darkness.

"Not bad!" Kazi grinned. Two blades thrusting forward, he managed to repel his Slime Jack. Sun-young managed to do the same a second later with a powerful push of her blade.

Now unveiled at full capacity, he could see her sword for what it truly was: a marvel of awesome power. A rich, deep white in colour and fitted with dark red cracks. The guard gave it the ambience of a monster slayer sword.

"Alright, alright, I'm here!" William stood by, axe in heavy, gulping. "Sorry, call it trauma."

"Then let's kill and get rid of your trauma," Kazi joked. "At night, escaping will be difficult."

"True." A steady inhale of air. William gripped the axe tightly. "Alright, I got this."

"Remember the key words?"

"I remember."

One Slime Jack leapt forward while the other went high into the night sky. It practically disappeared under it.

"Sun-young, light up the world. William—"

"Yeah! Gust Slash!"

William swung his colossal axe with reckless abandon and blasted the Slime Jack away. The young man was flabbergasted by his sudden strength. His new axe was called the Windbreaker's Edge and due to the intrinsic nature of an axe it supplied an astounding thirty points to his already impressive base attack.

"I got this!" William ran forward, carrying his axe and swinging it again. But he was too slow. Kazi could see that he wouldn't make it in time. The Slime Jack was about to pounce and swallow him.

But that was why he was here—to stand in the way of that. "Super Spark Strike!"

The Touch of Thunder reached forward, its electrified tip clashing with the slime's flesh. William was but a foot away from capture.

The monster was stopped in its tracks again, and William went ham. Each blow sent shockwaves through the slime, pulverizing it with sheer brute force.

"Ember Strike!"

William had gotten rash and chose to unlock attacks from two elements from the Amateur Axeman Class: wind and fire. However, in this case, it was a spectacle. Wind and fire acted in tandem inside the Slime Jack as it was struck by one final incredible attack. A cleave that caused the Slime Jack to explode and cause its innards to splatter.

[ Receive:

107 XP ]

Behind, Kazi witnessed the Slime Jack bouncing off Sun-young's sword. If it had been anyone but her, they wouldn't have been able to prepare themselves to counter on time. But with her flames, she could see. She could respond.

At the front, Sun-young slashed it with another Blaze Slash. From behind—

"Double Spark Strike!"

Like tasing someone from behind, the Slime Jack became vulnerable to another mighty attack from Sun-young. Removing one hand from the grip of her sword and focusing on her weight, the flame-cloaked metal went deep into the Slime Jack's protective flesh and melted it from the inside.

There was a moment there was peace, the blade still lodged inside.

Then, she lit her blade on fire again and eviscerated the slime from the inside-out.

[ Receive:

107 XP ]

"Good work."

The Slime Jack's carcass disappeared. The coldness of the night settled back into their systems.

"That was, haah, more tiring than I thought." His adrenaline falling, William let out a weary breath. He rolled his shoulder and cracked his neck. "How much longer are we doing this?"

"I'm close to levelling up," Sun-young said. "So after that."

"How much left?"

"Fifty away."

"How about you?" Sun-young gestured to Kazi.

"Oh! I'm a hundred away from level 12. It's a lot of XP."

"So about a Slime Jack's worth," Sun-young stated.

"It sucks that they're so hard to come by." William ran his hand through his hair. "But I also don't want to encounter them either. They're scary."

Kazi suggested, "Let's take a break."

A minute later, with branches and sticks gathered, Sun-young through the tip of her sword lit a fire.

Kazi sat eagerly and said jokingly, "Say the thing!"

"Blaze Slash."

"Wooh!" Kazi laughed and applauded. He swore he saw a small smile appear on the tall woman's face, though it was totally wiped off once she sat down.

For a while, there was nothing but the sound of the fire crackling and the night sky. Oddly enough, there were no critters. Very strange in Kazi's opinion. It was like this forest was intended solely for slimes and Anjaneya. His head craned all over the place. With nothing to stimulate his brain, he turned to new friends.

Kazi was a simple man and chose to stick to the Garbs of Death. William and Sun-young, like everyone else, decided to forgo it. The Canadian picked out a thick, tattered leather tunic, reinforced with tough, darkened plates along the chest and shoulders. It was a package deal that cost eight thousand points total.

Sun-young's outfit began with a finely wrought chainmail tunic that covered her torso and arms. Over the chainmail, she wore a deep blue tunic with flaps that extended down her hips. The university student was very picky about what she wanted to wear and selected each composition, taking the time to specifically get black leather pants that boosted her agility. The pants alone cost seven thousand points alone.

All bought with Kazi's aid, of course.

"Soooo wanna talk about anything?"

"Uh, yeah, like the fact that God exists for one," William said. "My family isn't religious so if it wasn't for this would I automatically be going to hell?"

"For atheists, from my understanding, it would be just nothingness."

"That's worse!"

"I mean, is nothingness worse than eternal damnation?"

"Yes!"

"An eternity of torture, of burning is better than just nothingness?"

"Yes…?"

To the side, Sun-young raised a hand as if to say something only to put it down. Her hands folded on her lap and her eyes went back to the fire.

'Huh. Wow.' Kazi figured this to be the case but he didn't think it was THAT bad. 'It seems Ms. Sun-young has a terrible case of social anxiety. Like really bad. I assumed she only struggled with eye contact. It goes further than that.'

Well, if she couldn't willfully include herself in the conversation, then Kazi had to give her a push.

"How about you, Ms. Sun-young?"

"...I think hell is better since at least you're experiencing something. Plus, as long as you're not a murderer, you'll probably go to heaven."

"Ah, you're a Christian, I see," Kazi said.

"My grandparents were Catholics."

Grandparents but not parents? "Cool! How do you feel about all of this?"

"Honestly? I want to go to heaven as fast as possible."

"No wish to go back home?"

"Not really," Sun-young replied.

"Is there even an option to go to heaven if you can't wish for it?" William scratched his neck.

"I talked to the waitress back at the Korean barbecue and from what she told me, no, there isn't," Kazi said. "Players that don't make it into the top twenty stay at the White Abyss and are forced to continue collecting points until they can purchase a ticket to heaven."

"You have to buy your way into heaven?" William blinked a couple times. "Capitalism at its finest, eh?"

Contrasting William's wisecracks was Sun-young with her drawn out look at the fire. "If I had to return to Earth, then my wish would be to get out of university and find a really good, really easy high-paying job that will last me my life. And with the money I earned from the games, do whatever I want in my free time."

Simple life, simple ambitions. Kazi respected that.

"Where did you attend?" William asked.

"Seongsan."

Kazi's face lit up in awe. "Ohh, the big three! One of my old friends failed to get in there and so he went to America. Man, those were good times."

"Mm."

'I suppose the university experience isn't the same for everyone.'

Sun-young returned to her quiet self again, brushing her bangs aside. Her black hair was bobbed, falling to just above her shoulders, and great for practicality and for her aesthetic. Her bangs sometimes got in the way and he would catch her pushing them before and after battles.

On the rarer occasion, she touched her neck, typically when she was listening.

William was an even easier book to read. A normal high schooler that was polite and openly childish. Someone who spoke their mind when needed. A kid that remembered his parents' lessons. A well-raised kid.