Chapter 2: Chapter 1
A grey sword cut my shoulder.
The thin line at the top left corner of my field of vision shrank
slightly. At the same time a cold hand passed over my heart.
The blue line —called the "HP bar"— was a visual rendering of my
life force. There was still a little over 80% left. No, that phrase
wasn't appropriate enough. Right now, I was about 20% closer to
death.
I dashed backwards before the enemy's sword even began its
attacking motion.
"Haaa..."
I forced a huge breath to steady myself. The «body» in this world
didn't need oxygen; but the body on the other side, or rather the
body lying down in the real world, would be breathing heavily. My
limp hands would be soaked with sweat, and my heartbeat would
be off the charts.
Of course.
Even if everything I saw right now was nothing more than a
rendering of a 3D virtual reality, and the bar being reduced was
nothing more than a bunch of numbers that showed my hit points,
the fact that I was fighting for my life didn't change.
When you thought about it like that, this fight was extremely
unfair. That's because the «enemy» in front of me —a humanoid
with dully shining arms covered in dark green scales and a lizard's
head and tail— was not a human, nor was it really alive.
It was a digital lump that the system would replace regardless of
how many times it was killed.
—No.
The AI that controlled the lizardman was studying my movements
and enhancing its ability to respond to them with every second
that passed. However, the moment that this unit was destroyed,
the data would be reset instead of being passed on to the unit that
would regenerate in this area.
So in a sense, this lizardman was also alive, a single being unique
to this world.
"...right?"
There was no way that it would have understood the word that I
had muttered to myself, but the lizardman (a level 82 monster
called «Lizardman Lord») hissed and smiled, showing the sharp
fangs that protruded from its long jaw.
This was reality. Everything in this world was real. There was no
virtual reality or fakery of any kind.
I shifted the one-handed long sword in my right hand to waistheight and watched the enemy.
The lizardman moved the buckler in his left hand forward and
drew back the scimitar to his right.
A chill breeze blew into the shadowed dungeon and the flame of
the torch shook. The wet floor softly reflected the flickering torchlight.
"Kraaah!!"
With a tremendous scream, the lizardman leapt. The scimitar
drew a sharp arc as it flew towards me.
A blinding orange light lit its trajectory; a high-class one-hit sword
skill of the curved sword, «Fell Crescent». It was a formidable
charge-type sword skill that covered a distance of 4 meters in 0.4
seconds.
But, I was already expecting the attack.
I had slowly increased the distance to lure the AI into creating this
situation. I closed in on the lizardman, my mind registering the
burning smell that the scimitar left behind as it sliced through the
air merely centimeters before my nose.
"...Ha!"
With a short shout, I swung my sword horizontally. The sword,
now covered in sky-blue light, cut through the thinly protected
stomach and bright red light scattered instead of blood. There was
a low scream.
However, my sword didn't stop. The system assisted me through
the programmed movements and chained the next slash with a
speed that would normally have been impossible.
This was the most important element in battles within this world,
«Sword Skill».
The sword sped off right from left and cut into the lizardman's
chest. In this state, I spun my body in a full circle and the third
strike struck the enemy deeper than before.
"Raarrgh!"
As soon as the lizardman recovered from being stunned briefly
because it failed to hit with a big skill, it screamed with rage or
perhaps fear, and raised its scimitar high in the air.
But my chain had not ended. The sword that had been swinging
right suddenly sprung, as if forced by a spring, left and up and hit
its heart—a critical point.
The sky-blue rhombus drawn by my four consecutive hits flashed
then scattered; a horizontal, consecutive 4-hit skill, «Horizontal
Square».
The clear light shone strongly in the dungeon and then faded. At
the same time, the HP bar above the Lizardman's head
disappeared without leaving even a single dot.
The huge body fell, leaving a long trail, then suddenly stopped
awkwardly—
With a sound similar to breaking glass, it broke down into infinite
polygons and disappeared.
This was the «Death» of this world. It was instantaneous and
short, a perfect destruction, not leaving even a single trace.
I glanced at the virtual experience points and drop items I
received, appearing in a purple font in the center of my vision, and
swung my sword right and left before sheathing it in the scabbard
on my back. I backed away a few steps and slid slowly down with
my back against the dungeon wall.
I spat out the breath I was holding and closed my eyes. My temple
started throbbing, perhaps from the fatigue due to the long fight. I
shook my head a couple of times to get rid of the pain and opened
my eyes.
The shining clock at the bottom right of my field of vision showed
that it was already past 3PM. I should get out of the labyrinth or I
wouldn't make it to the city before dark.
"...Should I get started?"
There was nobody there to listen, but I spoke anyways and got up
slowly.
I was done with making progress for the day. Somehow, I had
escaped the hand of death again today. But after a brief rest,
tomorrow would come with more battles.
When you were fighting battles without a 100% chance of victory,
however many safety nets you prepared, there was going to be a
day when you fell out of lady luck's favor.
The problem was whether this game would be «cleared» or not
before I drew the ace of spades.
If you valued your life above all else, staying in a village and
waiting for somebody else to clear the game was the wisest route
to take. But I went to the front lines every day, solo. Was I just
simply an addict of VRMMOs who kept increasing his stats
through countless battles, or—
Was I an idiot who insolently believed that he could win the
freedom of everyone in this world with his sword?
As I started walking towards the labyrinth entrance with a slight
smile of self-scorn, I thought back to that day.
Two years ago.
The moment when everything ended and began.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
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