Parallel – A Virtual Reality. - Chapter 44

Since the battle against the Prinny Brigade, Kaiser has come to be one of the best and most famous Guild in the entire game, only placing second on a Ranking Guild poll arranged by KK Tv to Pathfinders, which is leaded by Brazen, the representative player of Krainall Kingdom and current Rank 6 player in the Level ladder.

During that time, Kaiser’s accomplishment has been second to none, with the release of the fight against the Mini-boss Colossus and Mader, along with clearing the Dungeon of Wishes or, as it is more commonly named, Dungeon of Trials.

Claiming mines, which have been known to be extremely difficult to clear even for expedition parties of over 20 players with only 8 people. The hardest thing about this kind of dungeons are the monsters’ defense and crushing attacks, as a clean hit from them can break equipment as if these were glass, thus making the expedition extremely expensive or really slow.

Even Ardha, the top ranked player, got killed once in a mine when not even an army of players could defeat him… well, it was mostly because they fell on a trap which severely affected their mobility and sacrificing himself to buy time for the others to get out.

And now they are the vanguard players on a new quest with a difficulty of B++!

Reacting first to the crisis, they mobilized their forces and has been helping out the nearby Villages and small Towns of the Plains of Gauder with their representatives going into the plains to solve this quest.

Many got interested about this quest and because of that many expedition parties were formed to try and solve it themselves, managing to secure the borders of the Plains of Gauder and bringing safety with them.

But that was as far as they could go.

Advancing one mile on the Plains of Gauder infested by Lizard-type monster between other things was a colossal task, even more when most of them bordered the level 300!

Even Kagito and Brazen, current Rank 5 and 6 players along with being the Guild Masters of Kaiser and Pathfinders respectively, broke through that barrier not too long ago!

Everyone thought that breaking through the level 300 barrier wouldn’t be that hard as a group of 4 people did it in record breaking time but even after 4 months in real life just 2 more people entered that realm.

Smoothly advancing forward as if nothing could stop them are the Kaisers claiming their crown.

Encouraging many and discouraging even more

Not even Brazen could stay calm about this as he watches the updated Ranking Ladder

Rank 1. User name: Ardha Level: 351

Rank 2. User name: Vladi Level: 350

Rank 4. User name: Isa Level: 350

Rank 5. User name: Kagito Level: 309

Rank 6. User name: Brazen Level: 301

Rank 13. User name: Tyrfing Level: 297

Rank 16. User name: Strike Level: 295

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It has been about two weeks since we departed from Gardan Village into the Plains of Gauder in search of the Scardi people.

The journey has been quite hectic because of the overabundance of lizard monsters going around so we pay a lot of attention to our surroundings as little by little our teamwork increases with the Barbarians, whose names apart from Aren are Trien, Luer, Zair and Faicen.

We start creating different formations for different occasion as the Lizards are more troublesome than expected…

Once we spotted a group of Lizards and decided to ambush them, but we didn’t notice that one of them had a horn and started giving sound signals for help… it ended up with us running and trying to lose them while Zenith and I tried to slow the horde down with magic and powerful physical attacks.

Even with all of that we have managed to keep ourselves alive as I think we are about a few days of travel to get to the pointed mark on the map that signals where the Scardi people are…

…but we have stumbled upon a slightly troublesome problem….

To get there we need to go through a tunnel which we don’t know its total length and trying to border the huge cliff would only take us more time that we don’t really have as we don’t exactly know the power of Dorek’s real army and its growth speed.

But as luck has it, an encampment of Lizards is in front of the entrance guarding it. Their numbers are around 20, but that is not the biggest problem here as a quantity like that is manageable. The reason we don’t just rashly attack them is because they are leaded by a commander type Lizard which appears to be some kind of Chameleon.

Commander type monsters are really troublesome, having strength rivalling mini-boss class monsters and leadership skills that makes normal groups of monsters twice as dangerous.

At least their levels aren’t much higher than the group they command, normally differing 5 levels. But that isn’t the case with this one.

Cha Cha Level: 350

Health: 300.500

Mana: 15.000

While its Health isn’t that great, it still feels that it won’t go down easily.

“Are we attacking?” asks Isa in a concerned tone

Everyone stays silent at the question of Isa, but we don’t really have the luxury to waste time, so I look at everyone who has serious faces and nod

“Yes, we will, but we need to come up with a strategy… especially with that Cha Cha. Taking care of it is our first priority”

“Oh! Then can I use the- ”

“”No”” Isa and I say at the same time towards Arksen.

“Ehh… c’mon it’s not like they are going to be unusable forever…” Arksen protests.

“Haaah, they are really hard to get you know? I think we are one of the few people in the entire game who possess such materials and you want to use them on a whim… so only use your spear” says Isa in a scolding manner to our hot-blooded friend.

Well, it’s not like I can’t understand him but really, ‘those’ can only be used in desperate situation.

“Ok…” answers Arksen in a dispirited manner as he sighs

As if regaining composure, Arksen sharpens his gaze and asks.

“Well well, putting that aside, what will we do with- “I stop Arksen before he says anything more, lifting my hand slightly.

I understand what he is thinking and that is another problem, lately we have found out that someone might be watching us from afar, mostly by instincts and concentration, but even so, that or those that are staying vigilant of our movements are really good hiding their presences.

But there is one thing that we are kind of sure, that is that they aren’t hostile… if they were part of Dorek’s faction then we might have been raided long ago, that’s why we aren’t pursuing their presence for now.

Noticing my intentions Arksen shuts up, and we all start discussing a plan to attack the encampment of Lizards, considering that there are 6 Alligator and 15 normal lizards like monsters that have more of a greenish color besides the Chameleon.

Taking our position and wait for the enemies to let their guard down, we prepare to attack at any moment.

I prepare my magic and I hold it in until I see that Cha Cha is giving some instruction and they are regrouping to eat the rest of a Bigfoot monster.

Without wasting the opportunity, I cast my magic.

‘Elemental Blending, Elemental Enhancing: Fire-Earth’

“Vortex!” getting the bonuses from the enhancement, I use Vortex to trap them in a single zone.

The lizards, noticing their situation, start pushing forwards instinctively but it was too late as some meteors are falling to their direction with some of them getting hit by them.

Giving them no rest, I cast Earth Spikes along with slight tremors to affect their footing and pierce them while doing so.

Cha Cha acts quickly and starts giving some kind of instructions that we don’t understand while he hits the meteors and breaks the spikes around while swinging a huge club. The Alligators starts doing the same to minimize damage, but we don’t let them as a rapid fire from Vladi attacks them from a distance.

The bullets hit straight the weaker lizard monsters and kill some of them, Cha Cha looking a ‘bit’ pissed off at their dire situation changes color. Undulations of power comes from it, red coloring his surrounding as its muscles expands.

“GROOOOWL!!~~~”

An infuriated Chameleon goes straight to Vladi’s supposed position but knowing this beforehand, Kagito, Isa and the Barbarians appear and begin attacking it simultaneously.

Without a single sign of surprise on Cha Cha, it begins attacking them with heavy hits while the Alligators and the other lizards begins stabilizing themselves. While Isa could bȧrėly hold her ground, the barbarians and Kagito are pushed back slightly. What tremendous physical power.

But Zenith and I aren’t that merciful to let them get the momentum of the battle as we both cast Fire Field on their position, thanks to the cooperation attack the effect doubled and it irritated the lizards more. Burn status shows in a few of them too.

It’s bad to let Isa and the rest be outnumbered for too long so Juran, Zenith and I enter the stage.

“Zenith and I will take Cha Cha down. You guys kill the other Lizards!” I give orders and everyone follows them, but Cha Cha seems even more pissed than before as he shouts.

“You insolent humans dare to stand against me, Cha Cha!? I will make sure to crush and devour all of you!!!!!!!!!” Guttural sounds could be heard from its throat as the colors around it become more intense.

‘He can speak!?’ At the shout we get surprised, no lizard monster so far has spoken a word. At least not one that was similar to the human language.

‘Shit, this might not be so simply after all’ I think as I grit my teeth. Any monster than can talk human language so freely was no normal mini boss.

Fire starts shrouding the place, absorbing our Fire Fields. I grit my teeth for the harsh battle to come.

“Come on!” I shout loudly as our fighting intent sears through fire and reaches the sky.