Rebirth Online - Chapter 4：Monthly Event

From the side of a quiet forest, we can hear some sound of swords clashed at each other. A party of three players is raiding the goblin’s camp. We can see that one of a player is carrying sword and he is now colliding with a goblin warrior.

“Hikaru, watch out behind you.” The swordsman got their sword locked with the goblin warrior and didn’t notice that another one is coming from his behind.

“Ugh.” He is slashed from behind and his teammates can see that his HP bar is reducing by a quarter.

“Hopes this help Hikaru.” A girl in a red cape with a blonde ponytail hair, unleashed a skill and a green light envelopes the swordsman.

“Thank you Leona. It’s time for me to teach this goblin some manners. Urya… ” he’s then spinning while slashing the goblins. He just used whirling slash, one of basic swordsman skill. When he’s finished, he can see that a goblin archer is aiming at him. The goblin archer is preparing to release his arrow and it’s too late for the swordsman to dodge. But then a fireball struck the goblin archer.

“Heh, don’t worry, I got your back.” Said a boy in a purple robe.

“Thank you Kongou.” Hikaru is giving his appreciation while standing up.

“I guess that settles our hunt for today.” Said Leona. She talks like she was giving a command to the boys.

“Fiuh… what a tiring day…” Kongou let out a sigh.

“Yeah, the enemy is getting harder to beat. Don’t you think we should gather more people for our party?” Hikaru ask the party about their opinion.

“I think that’s a good idea.” Said Kongou. But Leona directly opposes that opinion. “No, I don’t think if that’s a good idea. The bigger our party size is, the more monster that we should kill. Let’s just focuses on our teamwork and formation.”

“I guess you have a point.” Hikaru said while looking at Leona.

“What are you looking at? Let’s head back to the town.” Leona can see that he is staring at her and return with an angry looks.

It’s been one week since Hikaru first login to Rebirth online, and five days since he and Kongou partying up with Leona. Although she seemed to be selfish, but looking at their progress, it seemed that Leona is really a capable player. In fact, the three of them have reach level 20. It is drawing Hikaru’s attention at how knowledgeable is her. “Hey, Leona. How can you know about a lot of stuff? I mean, you’re just a beginner just like us.”

“I guess, if you really want to know, I can tell you a secret.”

“Really?” Kongou seemed to be interested in the matter.

“I guess, you already know that not many players have reached their advances class. Only some players that are really capable of mastering their skill can reach that stage. My brother is one of them.” Leona explains to them while bragging about his brother.

“Whoa, that’s amazing. Why don’t you tell us about this earlier? Can we meet with your brother? Please!” Hikaru is asking with his eyes filled with hope and begging to her.

“Well, I guess… If you really insist… But let me warn you guys, he’s a little weird.”

“Thank you Leona.” Hikaru’s replied with a big smile.

The three of them then goes back to Edelweiss. When they arrive, the boys decided to wait at the fountain plaza while Leona is contacting her brother. “He’ll be here in a moments, he’s really happy to meet you guys.”

A few minutes later, an eccentric man show ups. He’s giving a wave to Leona from far away. He’s then running towards them. And suddenly he jumps while trying to hug her. “Leona, my dear sister.”

But then she dodges and the man fell to the fountain. The man protested to her. “Ugh, Leona. Why are you avoiding me? Don’t you know I’m worried about you? At least tell me if you’re going to hunt.”

“Like hell I will.” She’s answering harshly. “By the way, I would like you to meet my party. The swordsman here is Hikaru, and the caster there is Kongou. They said that they want to meet you.”

“Ooh, it would be an honor for me to meet my sister friends. Let me introduce myself, my name is Roberto, the most handsome and skilled man in here. Thank you to the both of you for taking care of my beloved sister.” He’s a self-centered man. He’s actually handsome, with blue eyes and blond hair just like Leona. His posture also great and seemed to have quite bit of muscle. But seeing from his words we can see why he’s not popular with the ladies.

“Just die! You’re just self-proclaimed that you’re handsome. Although you’re a bit skilled, in reality you’re just stupid. Just die you sis-com.” Leona is saying those merciless words with and evil looks in her eyes. Sending Roberto to fall on his knees and depressed.

Hikaru and Kongou can only gives a weird smile while looking at the scene. Both of them now know where her attitude and harsh words came from. Leona then said to them while staring at his brother: “Let me be the one who introduces him. Hey, stand up you fool!”

“His name is Roberto. He’s my older brother. He is stupid but. Although I don’t want to admit this, his level is pretty high. His advanced class is chef. That’s why he’s wearing chef outfit. He also led a guild named Blue Rose.” She’s introducing her brother while pretending that he’s not there.

“Whoa, how long does it take to reach advanced class? And why are you choosing chef for your advanced class?” Hikaru bombards him with a lot of question.

“Hehehe… I guess it only takes a week for a genius like me to reach advanced class. And I’m choosing chef as my advanced class because it’s interesting.” He said that while making a pose.

“That’s a lie. It takes two months for him to reach advanced class. It’s because he’s played at the launching of the server so he gets help to leveled up from other players. Other than that, he trick other to hunt while he’s resting with making excuses like my stomach is hurting, or I twisted my ankle, and many more.” Leona harsh words makes Roberto depressed again and falls to the ground.

“Hey, don’t say such harsh words. If he can be an advanced class, it means that he surely have the skill.” Kongou tried to defense for Roberto.

Hearing some praises Roberto instantly stand up and showing his big smile and said: “that’s true, although sometimes I’m just slacking off; it still takes some skill to reach advanced class. You guys are interesting. Why don’t you come to my guild base? I’ll cook something for you in return.”

“Really?” both Hikaru and Kongou seeing to him with eyes of disbelieve.

“But my base is at the black factory. You guys have enough gold to warp there right?” he’s asking them.

“Of course they have. After all I give both of them 25.000 gold each.” Leona tells Roberto to boast.

“Whoa, as expected of my beloved sister.” He said that while trying to hug her again and she dodge it once more and giving order to the party. “Let’s start moving!”

They then walk towards the warp portal and confirming that they will go to black factory. After paying the fee to the NPC, the four of them enveloped in lights and disappear.

Black factory – the city of crafter and blacksmith. It also can be said as the city of commoner class. A lot of commoner class gathered in here. It is one of the biggest cities in RO. It is located in the south continent which mostly covered by mountains and desserts. As the name implies, this city is mainly filled with a lot of big building. Those building are painted in black and releasing black smoke from their exhaust. The sound of machinery can be heard around the town. It’s like an industrial district. Kongou and Hikaru seemed to be surprised at how big is the city. But Leona seems like that she has come to this place a couple times.

“My guild base is a little bit to the west of the town.” Roberto points to the direction. After that, he guide their way.

While they are walking to Roberto’s base, they see a big long ship flying in the air. Hikaru is surprised and unconsciously let out a word, “what is that?”

Roberto who looks at the ship then explains to him. “Aah, that’s the black zeppelin. It’s one of a few ways to reach Magora. It’s cheaper, only takes around 300 golds but it takes 1 hour to arrive. In return, you can see quite a view from up there.”

When Hikaru and Kongou hear that, the both of them seemed like a child who’s seeing a brand new toy in front of the store. In their face we can clearly see it’s written that they want to get aboard the black zeppelin.

After a couple of minutes walking they finally arrived at Roberto guild’s base. The building is not too big but seemed to have 3 levels. When they come inside, they can see that the hall is decorated in blue. There are shelves filled with chinaware display.

When they go in deeper, they enter the kitchen. The kitchen is shining bright and a lot of knife and kitchen utensils hanging at the wall. Hikaru and Kongou, both walk inside with their mouth wide open. Seeing that Leona can only stares at them seeing how childish they are.

“Come on in, sits at the table. I will prepare some food for you guys.” Roberto said that and then he starts to wear his apron and starts cooking.

“Hey, isn’t it Roberto? You came back already?” a fat man appears entering the kitchen. He is wearing an armor that looks like it’s about to explode. He wears glasses and carrying some snack in his arm.

“Oh, it’s you Shibo. I’m about to cook something for our guest there. You can eat too if you wants.” Roberto takes a quick look at him and returns cooking.

The fat man then sits down at the dining table and tries to introduce himself to the party. “Leona already knows me but both of you probably didn’t know. My name is Shibo; I’m one of Blue Rose member. Pleased to meet you.”

Seeing that, Kongou and Hikaru then bow and introduce themselves. “My name is Hikaru. Pleased to meet you.”

“My name is Kongou. Pleased to meet you too. By the way are you by any chance an advanced class already?”

Shibo then tries to correct his glasses and shyly replied. “Yes I am.”

“He may not look like it, but when he battles he’s very crazy. He’s a very famous crusader known as the unmovable wall.” A lady enters the room. Her long black hair almost touches the floor. On her back, we can see a bow and quiver of arrow. “Pardon the intrusion. My name is Akane. I’m a hunter.” After that, she also sits down at the table.

“Whoa, amazing. Just how many advanced player is in this guild?” Hikaru is amazed to see so many advanced player gathered.

“There are 5 players, but the other two are offline right now. May be we can introduce you to them another time. They are Kenta, an assassin and Marianne a cleric.” Explain Roberto while stills cooking.

“Are you guys hunting together?” Kongou asked them.

“We are usually hunting together. But now, we rarely go out to the field.” Said Akane.

“And why is that?” Hikaru is interested in the reason. But as soon as he asks that you can see the changing of expression at Shibo and Akane face.

Silent fills the room until Leona finally opens her mouth. “Do you guys know about the monthly event? They have done it 3 times.”

Both of Kongou and Hikaru nod at the same time. Seeing that Leona continuing her story.

“Last month’s mission is to collect a cactus flower from the great cactus tree at desserts storm field. And Blue Rose guild consists of few players that reach advanced class faster than anybody else. But some players think that they are cheating. Their blocking them so they can’t go out of the city.”

“But blocking them is not that bad isn’t it? You can report those players to GM.” Hikaru asks to Leona.

“Yes, they report it to the GM, but that day because of the events, the GM arrives at the scene a couple of minutes later. In that few minutes, those player are cursing them, saying that they are a cheater, and all kind of things. There are some people who can withstand those kinds of things, but not Marianne.” Leona continues.

Akane then continues the story. Maybe she thinks that it’s better for them to hear it directly from the guild member. “She was a shy girl at first, even when we team up at first she’s a bit closed. But as times goes on we know that she was a very good girl. But, that kind of things is just too hard for her. Maybe in the real world she get’s bullied a lot, but we didn’t dare to ask her. Since then she rarely shows up. Even when she shows up, she never want to go out from this building. We also understand her opinion; after all we’re on the same boat. We don’t want to find a replacement for her. That’s why we’re just keeping believing that she will return to hunt together with us someday. At our level, hunting without a healer is impossible.”

Roberto suddenly cuts in and setting up the food and sits down at the table. “Okay, enough with the gloomy story. Let’s eat.”

They then grab some food from the table and starts eating.

“Whoa.. iv’s even vever vhan vhe one in vinving vovhin.” Hikaru talks with his mouth full makes the people laugh.

“What are you doing, Hikaru. You’re making me embarrassed.” Kongou said while shoves at Hikaru.

“I know, but it is really good.” Hikaru gulped down the food in his mouth and talked normally. They then finished the meal without leaving anything behind. After that, Hikaru remember something that crosses his mind. “Speaking of the monthly event quest, is that even at the festival is a monthly quest?”

“No, it’s just a special event quest. The monthly quest is harder to accomplish and the reward is a unique item.” Leona tries to explain to them.

“So, what are the unique items so far? And who’s the winner?” Kongou asked.

Akane then suddenly shows some serious face and starts talking. “Let me tell you something interesting. Those monthly events are completed three times in a row by the same player. The first monthly event is to kill a level 62 black dragon. It makes reason that they want to appreciate the people who’s trying their best leveling. But even reach level 50 in a month is a hard thing to do. Even us, didn’t even get the chance to reach the black dragon nest. We’re only around level 40 at that time and we always get killed at the great stone range by a level 55 golem. We ended up giving up on the quest. Nearing the end of the month, we see something that shocked us. The quest has been completed and the reward is ring of endurance. The ring of endurance has an effect of enabling the player to withstand deadly blow. Even if their health bar only shows 10 left and they are attacked by 50 attack point, he or she won’t be killed, they will still have 1 hit points remaining.”

“Whoa, that is really a unique item. I mean, you can tank a monster using that item. Just let them hit you, and then use a potion. Just let them hit you again and use a potion again.” Hikaru is imagining himself withstanding a dragon attack again and again.

“Idiot… Do you think you can do that? Imagine yourself blown away by an enemy attack. You won’t have time to drink the potion. Even if you’re healed by a skill, it has cool down. And if you are attacked by a lot of monster at once, it’s not really that useful.” Leona explains to him using mean word.

“Yeah, it’s certainly unique but not that useful.” Kongou join the conversation after thinking for a while.

“I guess, they don’t want to create an item that will destroy the balance of the system. After all, RO is known as the most balanced game right now.” Roberto gives his comments too.

“Yeah, speaking of which, the second monthly events are one of the craziest. We have to find a red angered rat. Maybe the staff hear out our complains about the first event and tries to held one where everybody can participate.”Shibo explained.

“What? A red angered rats? The one at the sewer dungeon?” Hikaru looked surprised.

“Yeah, you have hunted them too right? Leona has told me the story. For that event the sewer dungeon is filled with thousand of players and millions of angered rats. But, it’s too hard to find one red angered rat among that many. And for player at our level, we already reach 45 at that time; even our slightest attack may kill the red angered rats, so we’re patiently withstanding their bite while examining them. But after all of that we’re giving up once again.” Roberto explained.

Akane then shivers and says: “I don’t want to remember that feeling, that nasty feeling of many small animals roaming all over your body. I’m still traumatized by that.”

Shibo also replied. “Yeah, that’s one of the worst, they keep biting me.”

“Then who’s the one that complete the quest?” Kongou ask to them.

“Don’t you remember what I just said; it is completed by the same person. A couple of days later the quest has been completed. The reward is necklace of obedience. The necklace of obedience allows the user to teleport to their re-spawn point once a day, no matter where they are with 0 cast time.”Akane who seemed to have calmed down continue to talks.

“That item seemed to be meaningless, don’t you guys think?”Kongou and Hikaru nods at Akane. “But here’s the deal. The higher our level is, the harder monster that we need to kill. If we want to escape from a battle we can use the fairy’s wing item. Although it’s expensive it is really useful. But even that item have 10 seconds of casting time. The necklace of obedience allows us to escape grave danger of dying in the field.”

“But, dying in the field only cost you 1% exp and gold penalty right?” Hikaru try to confirm the fact.

“Yes it’s only 1% of exp, so we keep thinking again that it’s useless.” Shibo said.

Roberto then tells about the third event: “the third event is to collect a cactus flower from the great cactus tree at desserts storm field, although we didn’t participate because of the incident. It seemed easy at first, but in reality it is hard to see in the dessert, especially if there is a sand storm. Thousand of players explore the dessert storm field. It’s a pretty high level area; level 45 armored scorpion monsters appeared there. Some of the players just ignore the monster and retries again if they died. After all, the mission is to find the flower. We didn’t know how he managed to completes it, but it’s already finished by the next day we log in. The reward is mantle of regeneration. It doubles your regeneration rate and allows you to regenerate in the battle.”

“Isn’t there a crusader skill that allows the same thing? It’s not doubled but it allows regeneration at battle isn’t it? So, isn’t that another useless item?” Kongou asked. But it seems like suddenly Leona realized something: “if that item is combined with two previous items, the player who earned that can easily survives any battle.”

“Yes, indeed we try to analyze the situation. After all, it is owned by the same player. But if we think about it, Player HP and MP will be generated for 5% every 20 second when the player is out of battle, so even if he managed to withstand and attack, he still have to dodge for another 10 seconds. If he wants to escape, he can always use the necklace of obedience. So we think that, it’s another useless item.” Roberto explained.

“Hmm… I don’t get it. Why did the prize of the quest isn’t appealing. They don’t have like +100 attributes, or unblock able attacks?” Hikaru muttered to himself.

“The game will be unbalanced then.” said Leona who calmly analyzed the situation.

“Yeah, indeed it is true. We’re thinking that it’s not that useful and not interesting so we’re just giving up at the quest. On the other hand, if a monthly quest item reward is too powerful, player may stop wanting to play if they can’t acquire any. But, hearing that all three of them were collected by the same person makes me want to beat him. ” Akane said that with a fire in her eyes.

“By the way, who is this person that completes this entire quest? You guys didn’t even mention it once.” Hikaru asked to them about the player identity.

“Hmm… we don’t really know about this guy. When we asked a NPC, they won’t let us know his level. But he’s probably the one on the 80-90 level range. We’re trying to ask a GM whether he’s a real player or just some staff made up character, they said that he’s a real player and playing fair. You know, hearing all of that make our blood boils. We’re all defeated by a player that nobody even knows, three times in a row. We just know that his name is Kuro.” when Akane finished his sentence and mention the name; the three of them opens their mouth wide as if their jaw falls to the ground.

“Really?” the three of them ask simultaneously. Seeing their reaction Shibo asked them: “do you know him?”

The three of them then explains the event that they have few days ago.

“Hahaha. So there is a man like him.” Roberto laughs hearing their story.

“Hmm… I don’t think he really use that item though.” Hikaru gives them his opinion.

“I wonder when is the next monthly event will be announced.” Kongou said while looking at the ceiling.

“For next month event, we already know the rewards item. It’s the circlet of midnight. It will block enemy skill once every 10 minutes. Even though we don’t know what the quest is, but we know that it will be held in two more days at Amber village.” Shibo tells them.

“Huh… Another useless item.” Leona mocks the reward for the quest.

But then Akane said with a high spirit: “that is not true; indeed it is not too useful. But it’s getting better. Also I won’t let that person wins this event again. After all we’re sick seeing his name appears at every monthly quest window. And judging from your story, maybe a lot of player who hates him because of that incident will gather.”

“By the way, Hikaru, Kongou, would you like to join our guild? After all Leona is one of our members too.” Roberto asks them.

“I don’t have any problem with that; with this we will have a lot of friends too.” Hikaru replied to Roberto offer.

“If you’re in, then I’m in.” Kongou also joins the Blue Rose guild along with Hikaru.

Seeing that they have two more members, Akane morale goes up. “Okay then, with this we’re going to participate in the monthly event. All of you can come right?”

“Sure…” all of them answer together.

*****

Two days after that, Hikaru, Kongou, Leona, Roberto, Shibo, and Akane are all gathered at Amber Village. Amber village also called as the silent village. It is the only place in the RO that have no NPC. The village only consists of empty building that looks like if it is haunted. But that day, more and more players are gathered at there. Because today, it is the place that will be used for the monthly event. A few moments later, a sound can be heard talking using a microphone.

“Hello everybody. Welcome to our monthly events. My name is Genki and I will be the GM in charge today.” You won’t mistake him for anyone else his tan skin and red spiky hair is easily recognizable. He never wears anything else other than black sunglasses, short pants, and Hawaiian shirt. “Wow, I can see a lot of familiar faces from the festival the other day. You all came to the right place.” The crowds are cheering hearing that.

“Because, the enemy of man, Kuro is present today.”

The crowds start to go crazy remembering how he threatened them at the festival a few days ago.

“But let me explain some things first. You all may know, every monthly event doesn’t give a reward that is appealing for some of you guys. It is designed that way to keep the balance of the game. And the events also held to test the limit of the player. Other than that we want it to keep the player entertained. But for three times in a row, the entire quest is completed by one person, Kuro. Don’t you guys feel irritated?”

“Yeah…” The crowds then go wild. You can sense anger and their killing intent.

“Hold your horses everyone. I know the reward is not that big, but it may hurt your pride that every month it has been completed by this person. As a staff that understands your feelings, your wish has been granted. The theme for today monthly quest is “the last man standing”.” Genki announced with full of energy.

Hearing that name the crowds grow wilder and start to chant the same words, kill him, kill him, and kill him. Akane too seems to be anticipating this.

“Starting from now, no player can warp in and out to and from this village. You can’t even walk here from Memoria city. This place is completely sealed, so no one can run away especially Kuro. The rules are simple, just kill anyone and be the last player alive. If you’re in a party, the party may decided who will be the winner from their member. If you died, you’ll automatically re-spawn at your re-spawn point. That means you have been eliminated and loses the event. So, are you guys ready?”

“Yeah…” you can see their motivation and who’s their target. But it is hard to find him among this many people.

“As a bonus, I will tell you where is Kuro now. He’s standing right there.” Genki then points to the top of a building. When all the players look there, we can see a man standing dressed in all black looking down at them. He calmly observes as the crowds start to pull out their weapon. We hardly recognized him as the same Kuro in the festival because his face is covered in mask, but seeing at his stares, you’ll know if he’s the same person.

“Are you ready guys? Its starting in 5, 4,3,2,1. Go!” after Genki finishes his countdown, all of the players instantly aiming for Kuro. But it is a royal rumble after all, there are battle scattered at every corner of the village too. The Blue Rose guild member different than the other player, decide to hide in a building first.

“Why are you dragging me here Roberto, I want to shoot his head.” Akane who’s dragged by Roberto complains.

“Cool your head first, if you go out there right now, you may be killed by others.” Roberto said. And the other member too agrees by nodding their head.

“Our enemy isn’t just him. I see Dimitry and Calvin among the crowd.” Shibo said that which surprises Akane. “Dimitry and Calvin?” Akane ask once again to confirm.

“Who are Dimitry and Calvin?” Hikaru who doesn’t know about them seemed to be confused.

“They are one of our friends a long time ago. They also already reach advanced class like us. But after a few investigations, Kenta found out that they are the mastermind of the incident at the third monthly quest.” Roberto explained with some anger in his tone.

“Impossible. Aren’t they your friends?” Kongou asked them in disbelieves.

“They are our friends, once. Now, I don’t even want to remember their names.” Said Akane who’s starting to calm down but we can see his anger.

“Let’s just hide for now, we can go out and examine the condition later.” Leona said that calmly.

Meanwhile, most of the crowds are aiming at Kuro. He then jumps from the roof and lands in the middle of the crowds. Looks like he attacks a player and makes him vanished into dust. Seeing that he killed one of the players, the rest of them are enraged. But after that, Kuro just dodge the whole time. Most of the player who tries to attack him ended up attacking another player. Not long after that it becomes a free for all battle. They don’t even care about Kuro anymore who’s now hiding in one of the building.

As time passed by, from thousands of player who gathered, only dozens of people remains. Indeed this is what we called strong players that have been enduring the battle field. But seeing that, Kuro then comes out from his hiding place then quickly eliminates all of the remaining player one by one. He’s moving very quickly and the numbers of surviving people keep reducing. Seeing Kuro in action Akane the tries to go out from the building but is held back by Roberto. “What are you doing Roberto?”

“See the situation. Can’t you tell that he is stronger than us? He is killing those players swiftly in one attack. I can’t even see his weapon.” Roberto asks her to calm down while explaining his reason.

Shibo who’s been watching Kuro in action finally speaks:”it’s impossible; he’s even killing a crusader just now in one attack. I know that crusader, Billy the iron wall. His defense is strong, but he easily defeated him.”

“Really?” Kongou surprised to hear that.

Hikaru never let his eyes go from Kuro. He follows his every movement. He’s looking at him in admiration. Leona who’s been silent for the whole time is watching Kuro too, but with a different look in her eyes. It seems like she has fallen for him. Seeing the expression in his sister eyes, Roberto then exploded and charging outside at Kuro alone.

Roberto pulls out a yanagiba from his bag and tries to attack Kuro. Yanagiba is a long chef knife used for cutting sashimi. Seeing that, Shibo and Akane also comes out to help him.

Kuro, easily dodged Roberto’s attack and when he goes past him, Roberto is scattered into glowing dust. Akane and Shibo are shocked seeing that, but it’s already too late to go back. Shibo then decided to use a crusader skill, taunt.

Taunt is a skill that provokes the enemy within 1000 AOE to target the user. Within the time duration the enemy who is affected by this skill has to attack the user. The user defense also increased during the duration.

Shibo thinks that by forcing Kuro to attack him will give time for Akane to make a shot. But his calculation is wrong. While Akane tries to take out her arrow, Shibo already defeated. Kuro then move towards Akane direction and then land a blow. She is also been defeated in a flash.

Hikaru, Kongou, and Leona can’t move after seeing what just happened before their eyes. It’s too dangerous to come out now. But the numbers of player that survived already reduces to ten. It can be seen from the quest window which is now 10/38,830.

Seeing that, Dimitry and his party suddenly comes out form their hiding place. “We meet again, Kuro. I think we still have some unfinished business.”

“I don’t remember you. Maybe you have the wrong person.” Kuro said calmly.

“Yoouu…” Calvin tries to attack him but stopped by Dimitry. “Don’t get provoked by him. We’ve trained for this remember?” hearing from their words, it seemed like they already prepare a special plan to defeat Kuro. Dimitry then give signal to his men and they are pulling out their weapon.

His party consisted of Calvin, a lancer; Carla, a druid; Hawke, a hunter; Mike, a monk; Baron, a rogue; and Dimitry himself is a knight. The party seemed to be experienced in combat and has prepared for this battle.

“Carla, start casting your ensnare. Calvin, prepare to thrust your spear. Hawke, try to attack his leg to reduce his movement speed. Mike, you’re going to hold him while Carla is casting her skill. Baron, try to use disarm on him when you see the chance.” Dimitry is giving command fluently while the party starts to make a formation.

Dimitry stands in the front as a guard followed by mike and baron behind. On the back we have Calvin in the left, Carla in the middle, and Hawke in the right. “Don’t you get too cocky for having high level? We’re going to kill you.” Shouts Calvin.

Seeing their formation and how well prepared they are, Kuro isn’t afraid. He even provokes them to come by waving his index finger. Seeing that, Dimitry then let out a shout. “Kill him.” Kuro isn’t moving from his place, he’s waiting for Carla to finish her cast. When he sees that Carla is going to finish her chant, then Kuro suddenly leap forward towards Dimitry.

Being a caster class require a lot of concentration. You have to focuses when you cast your spell and measure the distance from the target. If you miscalculate, your spell won’t hit. By moving forward towards Dimitry, Kuro managed to hide from Carla view behind Dimitry. Make her panicked because her target is gone. She then releases her spell and it hits Dimitry instead.

The spell that hits Dimitry was ensnare. Ensnare is a skill form druid class which holds every target using roots that grow from the ground within 500AOE and rendering them to move.

Seeing that Kuro is moving towards him and he’s been hit by his teammate skill, Dimitry then unleash a skill, earth stomp.

Earth stomp is an advanced skill of a knight class, which allows them to create a shockwave by hitting their broadsword into the ground. It has 800 AOE and will flinches enemy for 2 seconds within the area.

But seeing that Dimitry about to bury his broadsword to the ground Kuro immediately jump back, evading the skill that was unleashed. Seeing that chance, Mike tries to attack Kuro using his claws. But he easily dodged it. Mike then unleash chain of skills to keep Kuro busy. After that, Baron comes forward and helps Mike attacking Kuro. But Kuro has been doing nothing the whole time, he is just dodging their attack. Seeing that, Calvin suddenly says to his teammate. “Check your health bar.”

Calvin is afraid that Kuro is just waiting for his poison to take place. After all in his first battle against him, Kuro is just dodging the whole time until Calvin is run out of HP. Baron and Mike then stops for a while to check out their health.

“Hahaha… it seems like you learned something.” Kuro let out an evil laugh and then give Calvin a mocking gaze.

“You…” finally Calvin is provoked and then moves forward to attack Kuro. “No.” Dimitry tries to stop him but he is still trapped in ensnare.

Calvin thrust his spear forward backed up by Mike and Baron to follow up after his attack. This three player chain attack is moving fluidly. They’re giving no time to rest for Kuro.

While the battle is going on outside, the three remaining member of Blue Rose guild can only watch the scene and do nothing. They realized even if they go out, they will probably get killed instantly.

“Ugh… I’m surprised to see the difference of our skill and them.” Kongou said to Hikaru with a depressed looks.

“Yeah, I don’t believe that their battle is on a whole different level from us. But, who do you think will win?” Hikaru replied to Kongou.

“Kuro is cornered because he is alone, and Dimitry party still has full health seeing that Kuro is only dodging the whole time. Their number also is an advantage I think.” Kongou telling Hikaru about his thought.

“Humph… you both are really stupid. Of course Kuro is going to win. He hasn’t pulled out his weapon yet isn’t he?” Leona who’s didn’t even blink while seeing Kuro says her opinion.

Dimitry who’s finally released from ensnare comes forward to helps surround Kuro. Hawke also try to find a chance to release his arrow. While Carla is prepare to heal her teammates. Dimitry and his party keep pressuring Kuro.

Kuro then got tired of dodging and finally decided to pull out his weapon. He took out a Katar. He’s been hiding it atop of his arm by holding it backwards. This way, it explains the ability of Kuro to block attack that seemed to be blocked by his fist.

Katar is a weapon with triangle shaped blade and its unique h-shaped horizontal hand grip resulting in the blade to sits above the user knuckles. It is indeed similar to a claw that Mike use. By drawing out his weapon it means that finally Kuro decided to launch an attack.

He blocks mike claw using his right hand and stab him using his left hand. Causing mike to fall into the ground and vanished into thin air. He quickly pulls his left hand and blocks baron dagger. His right hand that is now free after blocking mike claw, he use it to parry Calvin spear which nearly grazed his neck. Seeing that both his hand are full, Dimitry come forward and try to slash him; but Kuro shakes off baron dagger, Calvin spear and then leap forward toward Dimitry. Dimitry then slashes his broadsword vertically to split Kuro body into two.

Seeing Dimitry attacks, Kuro tries to dodge by spinning his body while jumping forward. Seeing that he managed to dodge from Dimitry attacks, he moves towards Carla and Hawke. Kuro then slashes Hawke legs using his right hand and stabbed Carla in the stomach using his left. Carla who’s stabbed by Kuro immediately scattered into dust. After that, he turn his body and finished Hawke who’s stumbled earlier because his attack.

Dimitry who saw three of his teammates killed instantly is shocked. He just stands there, seeing Baron and Calvin rushed towards Kuro. Kuro then dodged Calvin spear by turning his body towards Calvin right side while moving forward and then stabbed his neck using his right hand. He then blocks Baron’s dagger and then stabbed his stomach.

Dimitry’s then snapped seeing his party destroyed in a matter of seconds. “It’s just because you have high level, that you are this strong. Don’t think that I’m surrendering to you.” He then charges forward, using all of his strength to swing his broadsword. But then Kuro didn’t move from his place, he’s waiting Dimitry to attack.

Dimitry slashes vertically using all his strength and focusing his weight onto the tip of his broadsword. But Kuro stop his attacks completely by crossing the katar above his head.

“It’s not because of my high level that I’m strong. Because I’m strong I have this high level.” Kuro saying that to Dimitry with a killer gaze. Dimitry is like a frog in front of a snake. Kuro then moves forward towards Dimitry while still blocking his broadsword. He’s then using an assassin advanced skills, the cross slash. He slashes Dimitry in his torso leaving an X mark behind as Dimitry body starts turning to dust.

Cross slash is an assassin advanced skills. This skill is activated by crossing the katar in an x shape and then unleashes a two slash. This skill doubles the power of the attack.

Hikaru, Kongou, and Leona who saw that battle are speechless. They can’t say any word. They can’t even move. That terrific move from Kuro makes them too scared to go out. But then a death sentence comes out from Kuro mouth: “I know you’re there. Come out from that building.”

The boys are trembling in fear, but Leona seemed fine. She takes a deep breath and then come out from the building. Seeing that, Hikaru and Kongou followed behind. “I’m sorry, we didn’t mean to wait until you’re tired and then try to attack you.” Leona said with a little fear in her tone.

“Yeah, our level is just too low for this kind of thing.” Kongou tried to think up of some excuse.

But hearing that, Kuro seems to be annoyed. “If there is something to be blamed it’s not your level. It’s your will to move forward.”

Kongou who hear that then starts to shiver. Hikaru then ask for forgiveness. “We’re truly sorry Mr. Kuro. Can you let us go?”

“Yes, I will kill you all in a blink of an eye. It won’t hurt, I promise.” Kuro said.

Just when he’s about to attack Kongou and Hikaru, Leona shout something that the boys won’t believe. “Ku-Kuro-sama. P-Please b-be my bo-boyfriend.” She said that with her eyes sparkling and then bowing down.

She must be crazy. That’s what Hikaru and Kongou is thinking. A few moments latter surprisingly Kuro laughed and says: “hahahahaha… I’ll kill you if you ever said that again.”

After that, Hikaru, Kongou, and Leona didn’t know what happened to them. When they opened their eyes, they are at the Blue Rose re-spawn point. Roberto, Akane, and Shibo are waiting for them to explain of what just happened.

“Hikaru, Kongou, what happened to Leona? She’s been spacing out with her eyes sparkling the whole time.” Roberto asks them in panic. When he is seeing her sister reaction.

“She just confessed to Mr. Kuro. Asking him to be her boyfriend.” Hikaru explain to Roberto of what just happened.

“Uaah… impossible…” hears that, Roberto is shocked and depressed. “How can my beloved sister take a liking to guy like him?”

After that their quest window gets updated. Say that the monthly event quest has been completed. By none other than Kuro.

*****

‘Welcome back Kuro-sama.” Sakuya seems like have been waiting for her the whole time. “How the event quest this month goes?”

“It’s a good thing that I ask you to stay. It’s a free for all battle.” Kuro explained to her of what just happened. “Oh, I forget about something. Here, take this.” He said that while tossing the circlet that he just won.

“Is it okay for me to receive this? After all you’re the one that’s been working hard Kuro-sama.” Sakuya ask to him.

“It’s useless for me anyway. Do you cook something while I’m away?” Kuro said that with no expression and start walking towards the kitchen.

“Yes, Kuro-sama. I’ll re-heat it for you.” Sakuya then followed him behind.