Bab 25: Zweihander and Lance

Takai Tsutomu, the head of the Lucid Dream Server project frantically typed through his keyboard with a tensed look on his face. Adding to the pressure, everyone from the Silverwing, game developers who were tasked to create the Lucid Dream Server VRMMORPG, sat in the conference room with him.

'Sigh~ this is why I prefer to do it alone.' Heaving a sigh, Tsutomu continued to type away.

"Has anyone found the problem?" One of the developers asked, craning his neck to see if everyone would respond to his question. But just as expected, no one lifted their heads since their eyes were glued to the computer screen.

At first, the group was just supposed to have a small meeting regarding the new players who finished the initial tests. They were also trying to come up with better ideas and content for the VRMMORPG game since the global launch is due soon. However, a few errors suddenly came up in the game and they had to hurry up and fix it before it bothered the beta testers.

Throughout the years when they were developing the games, errors almost never surfaced but now, there were at least a dozen of them. And ironically, even the game developers had no idea where the error was coming from! The codes are fine and the game is running smoothly. And yet, it clearly showed in the System that the game has a few errors.

Left with no choice, the Silverwing concluded that the errors didn't come from their code, but from the Lucid Dream itself. That's why they didn't have any choice but to bring up the subject during the meeting, which caused everyone to try and fix it.

Tsutomu had a different approach, however. Since the game developers were convinced that the errors weren't from the code, then he thought that maybe the game itself was affecting the hippocampus part of the brain altogether and if worse comes to worst, there might be side effects due to the game. That's why he offered to help. And just to make sure, he gave a quick call to the leading neurologist in the world named Alexei Ivanov. By then, if they cannot come up with a solution, then surely they'd have him as a backup.

It didn't take long before Alexei Ivanov arrived at the conference hall. Out of everyone in the Lucid Dream Project, he was probably the most nervous since he was the one who initiated the project. "What happened?"

"We're not sure! It just flashed an error in the System. We checked the codes but there aren't any typos or problems with it." Gerald, the main developer of the game relayed.

"Can you give me a Headgear?" Alexei wasn't wasting any time. He knew that these people are careful enough not to cause any mistypes on the codes. With that, it all boils down to the lucid dream itself. If something's wrong with the System, then it would be faster to see it for himself in the game.

"Sir, b-but, isn't that dangerous?!"

Even with everyone warning him otherwise, Alexei Ivanov still logged in to the game to check it. But just as he did, the errors flashing in their screens suddenly disappeared as if it didn't even happen.

For a few seconds, the whole group stopped moving due to the shock. The errors disappeared as fast as they popped up and they had no means to explain it. It may have been a momentary error but the cause of it greatly bewildered the group.

Tsutomu was the first one to stand up. Ruffling his beard, he paced back and forth the room as they all waited for Alexei Ivanov to log out of the game.

If this was the first time it happened, they would've brushed it off as a light technical problem that no one needs to pay attention to. But the thing is, this error had already happened five times.

And every time it did, a new body would be found the next day.

A dead body.

.....

Meanwhile,

Yuuta could vaguely remember the time when he would admire the late-night atmosphere in his walks. Ever since he was struck with blindness two years ago, he always spent his nightly walks thinking about a lot of things, and as such, he has never found time to relax. And because of that incident, he noticed that Shiki is not as close to him compared to before. He was fully aware that his best friend beats himself up every time he sees him, utterly convinced that it was his fault.

But now, there was nothing on Yuuta's mind. He was at ease. At first, he wondered if Miki had something to do about his state of mind but after thinking about it for a few minutes, he realized that such was the case. Needless to say, her company was what put Yuuta at ease.

In front of everyone he knew, Yuuta always put up a front that he could handle everything— that he has control over his life. Although he doesn't realize it, Yuuta had always kept his feelings hidden from everyone so they won't have to worry too much for him. This made him hide in his shell and caused him to spend much of his time alone trying to think of what's best for everyone. But now that he's with Miki, all his thoughts and overthinking miraculously faded away as if they didn't exist in the first place.

Two years, it had been two years since Yuuta found the time to relax.

"What are you thinking about?" Miki couldn't help but utter, astounded that Yuuta was smiling while looking at the sky. She knew that he couldn't see but it's as if he was looking straight into the heavens with that empty eyes of his.

"I don't know. I'm not thinking of anything at the moment." His lips parted into a smile, giving his cold face a touch of warmth. "It's been so long since I've felt at peace."

"Right. Just make sure you rush through that initial test in Lucid Dream Server, okay? Otherwise, it'd be too late before you know anything." Underneath the starry skies, Miki's pale blue eyes sparkled as she stared into the sky— she was following Yuuta's actions. Her eyes were a stark contrast to her light auburn hair.

It was too bad Yuuta couldn't appreciate such a rare sight.

Just as they were about to turn the corner, Yuuta stepped in front of Miki out of the blue and hugged her. Caught by surprise, Miki didn't know whether to flail around her arms or scream. In the end, she was only able to let out an "Eh~?!" out of her lips.

But that wasn't enough. Yuuta even pushed fell forward with Miki in his arms. When they hit the ground, Yuuta held her even tighter, causing her to have difficulty breathing.

Pressed against each other, Miki's face flushed at the sudden assertiveness of Yuuta. She didn't complain though. After all, she took a liking to Yuuta ever since she first unraveled his true identity.

"Yuuta, what are you doi— "

BOOM!

Then the explosion happened.

A building a few meters away from them suddenly rained down debris as the explosion occurred. Surrounding cars blared their alarms as the debris hit them squarely on the roof. As for the other passersby who weren't prepared, they panicked when the debris almost hit them. They began screaming their lungs out as they ran full throttle.

Out of the explosion, a vague figure of a man jumped out of the twenty-story building. For some reason, he didn't suffer any injuries after jumping from that high. "Tsk, there are witnesses." He mumbled as he unsheathed the sword from his back.

It wasn't a sword, but a Zweihander.

While Miki was wondering why the guy was unsheathing a Zweihander after jumping from a twenty-story building, bolts of lightning coursed through it, making her wonder even more. It could have been an illusion but Miki's mind told her otherwise.

And then, another guy with a two-meter lance jumped from the twenty-story building, joining the guy who wielded the Zweihander sword.

"I failed. I thought there wasn't anyone around." The guy who wielded the Zweihander apologetically said, jerking his thumbs towards Yuuta and Miki's direction.

"Don't worry. They're fine. Come on, we have to go." The other guy calmly responded as he patted him on the shoulder. "And don't worry about them. They're not injured."

"Well, if you say so."

Just as quickly as they appeared, the two mysterious guys disappeared in a flash. Based on their urgency in the way they ran, it seemed like they were chasing after someone or something.

"Yuuta, t-they're gone," Miki whispered, her face was half-buried on Yuuta's chest. Although what happened was downright unexplainable, and although Miki was the type of person who was quick to panic, she was calm and collected all throughout the occurrence. Hearing Yuuta's steady heartbeat did the trick.

And at that moment, Miki hoped that the embrace would last a little longer. It was an understatement to say that she felt secured in Yuuta's arms.