章 16: First Death
"I hate insects!"
The normally calm and expressionless WindBow was now fuming. He found a dungeon indeed. Walking in the forest, there was a valley which gave a weird feeling.
The trees were spooky and looked almost dead. Light couldn't get inside of the valley due to being in between two small mountains. That eerie feeling was exactly the dungeon.
This dungeon theme was Undead. Undead bats, snakes and a few other animals have already been killed by WindBow. But their decomposing bodies are always full of flies and mosquitoes. That's the AI making the game realistic.
"S***. Fenrir, we're speeding up. I want to leave this mosquito infested place ASAP."
"Woof!"
Fenrir got more aggressive in fighting. As the pet AI developed, it started to show more lifelike reactions. Whenever WindBow demonstrates sadness or impatience, it would come close and lick him.
Both of them have high aptitude for fighting. WindBow has been getting more and more precise while getting even faster. Although he had been getting stronger at a absurd pace, his movements were rough and only had speed to them. As he advanced through a dense amount of mobs with poison attacks, his movements started to get more refined. Trying to kill without dying led him to make less movements to accomplish the same actions.
As they went through the horde, normal mobs could barely hit them. Fenrir has been training with an abnormal freak so it's AI has also developed a similar style to his owner.
Because the undead have high resistance to piercing attacks, the main damage dealer was Fenrir. Most monsters had zombie like bodies, causing slashing attacks to be the most effective. So WindBow concentrated on distracting the monster if the numbers got too high for Fenrir alone. He would get in the monsters view and attack its eyes to shift its attention to him. Fenrir would make himself scarce and ambush the monster furthest from WindBow. The dull undead didn't realize that one among them had disappeared.
Although they had the plan and the skills to pull it off, the difficulty was still high due to the undead's poison. Most monsters had a weak poison attached to their attacks that was due to their decomposing state. Snakes had a more threatening poison attack and were hard to see.
They got poisoned once, when they didn't coordinate their movements too well and Fenrir received a bite from a bat. After much hardship, they can act as if they know each other's positions even if they don't communicate.
As they were killing another round of undead, WindBow noticed how the scenario was changing as they got deeper.
The trees became sparser and the mist was thicker. The mist was engulfing the whole valley so they have been walking through it the whole time, but it was barely hindering their vision. At this place, it was hard to see further than a meter of distance!
Suddenly Fenrir stopped in place. It gazed left and right, then he sniffed around a few times while his ears were moving hectically to both sides. Its instincts were scream about something and it was searching the source frantically.
WindBow watched his pet's actions and raised his alertness. He hands already pulling the bowstring, preparing to shoot immediately at the slightest stimulus.
Suddenly Fenrir's animal instincts perceived danger before WindBow. Feeling a dark feeling coming at his master direction, he quickly got between his master and the projectile.
WindBow shot an arrow where the dark shot came from and checked his pet status. Although he couldn't sense the attack coming as quick as his pet, he didn't lag too much behind and readily countered.
"Fenrir!"
Fenrir's Hp plummeted to barely 3% in a single shot! Fenrir's Hp and defense were higher than WindBow's. If he was the one hit, he would have certainly died!
WindBow couldn't see the perpetrator, but that dark ball looked like a magic attack so he started running closer to hit in a zigzag pattern. Although he was mastering the long range style, the mist hindered visibility so he had to get closer to get a better chance at hitting whatever was there.
Fenrir, although barely alive, didn't show any fear. It charged just a moment later while copying his owner movements. It even took the front again by its own volition as his senses were better than his owner's, he has higher chance of evading another attack.
Soon another ball came their way. Both of them jumped out of the way. The ball of darkness exploded at a tree behind them.
"Tsk. I didn't want to spend any energy on you pests but you live me no choice."
WindBow heard a coarse and husky voice. All the hair in his body stood up and he felt a cold and numbing feeling.
(I'm the target!)
Perceiving it as danger, he immediately gave up on his offensive and jumped the furthest he could with his stats.
Fenrir stopped its charge as it saw his owners strange movements. Earlier the command was to cooperate and attack together. Their timing was off now.
"Mm? You have some good senses."
Glancing at his previous position, he felt relieved to have trusted his instincts. There was a strange black mark at his previous spot and the ground was melting. The white smoke rising from it fusing with the mist. He didn't see what caused it though.
WindBow casted Multi Shot at the voice direction. Although he could barely see inside the mist, he was close enough to get the basic information from the target.
[????]
Level 60
Hp: ?????? / ??????
"What the f*** is a guy this strong doing here?"
WindBow cursed while urging his pet to run away. Their speed was incredible die to their speed oriented build!
"Damn human. Wanting to come and go as you please? You shall leave your body behind!"
WindBow felt that tingling and numbing feeling again and changed directions. But this time it was not enough.
[You have died.]
The dark mage used an attack with higher area of effect. He was probably angry that it was evaded by a low level human and his pet previously so he forgot about preserving energy for a guaranteed hit .
As it was his first time dying, WindBow got back half an hour later and summoned his pet.
"Good. At least you survived. S***, what the hell was that guy? Has my luck returned to its cursed normal after a few moments of peace?"
WindBow was venting while rubbing his pet's head. Seeing as Fenrir could be summoned already, means it escaped the battle and got back to the pet space. Pets can't be recalled during a battle. Otherwise, WindBow would have recalled as soon as its Hp went to 3%. If it died, he would have to wait for 24 hours and its level would be decreased by one.
"Damn, if the AI god is going to curse me it should at least make it so I'm immune to low level curses!"
WindBow was having a rare emotional moment. He decided to do something for his brother and there was such an unlucky event. He feels as if he failed his brother's trust.
[Your pet Fenrir has been moved by your actions and swears complete loyalty to you. It has learnt a new skill from his burning desire: Increased senses.]
"What? Fenrir you improved? Good boy! I can trust you even more now!"
Fenrir eyes showed a gentle light while looking at his owner. The look it was giving made it look like a specially obedient dog. Seeing its master giving his life for a pet moved it. It made Fenrir want to serve him wholeheartedly. In other words, the hidden loyalty stat hit the max value of 100!
"Let's see... This improves your ability to hear and smell. You're becoming a nice hunter!"
"Woof!"
It gave a bark as if saying "Leave it to me!". This skill actually came from its desire to perceive danger even faster and protect WindBow.
(This game has lot of hidden settings. Although I knew it, I'm surprised again. The AI really isn't simple here. I should avoid cursing the AI god while playing.)
WindBow felt a new found fear of the AI god. He even thought about asking for forgiveness at the church! Maybe he should ask that Japanese girl if she has a skill to talk to god.
"Anyway, it's time to move."
WindBow was on his way to the town manor. The one who gave him the exploration of the forest quest was the town mayor.
"Maybe I should bring George along ..."
Just remembering the talkative mayor made him feel tired already.
======================
"Hum.. I see what happened. That was hard on you, but I'm grateful you brought back this info. If that mage is as powerful as you said, then this little town doesn't have enough power to do anything to him."
"So we have no choice, but to let him roam free?"
"Of course not. How could I call myself the mayor if I let a dangerous individual free this close to the town's people? To the west, is Pionell Town. Although our territories are classified the same, Pionell is close to becoming a city and their warriors are stronger than ours as there's a forest close to it that is considered a danger zone. I shall ask for their assistance on this matter as I know the mayor there."
"I see, I'm glad that I was helpful."
"Indeed! If not for you I wouldn't know about such a powerful figure just beside our little town! Indeed, you remind of my youth! At the time I was also full of energy and dreams. I thought nothing was impossible, I just hadn't tried enough yet. Ah, how naive was those times. I found my wife around those times..."
"I see. Sorry to interrupt, but I have to go."
"Ah, wait red ! Come back here in 3 days! I shall reward you for your brave efforts."
"Sure. I'll be back."
As soon as he left, he sighed.
"Finally over. I'm definitely bringing George next time!"
Although he didn't get a reward, he was asked to come back in three days. That means the mayor want to personally meet him in three days. The reward should be worth it if it was that troublesome to get.
"Log out."
クリエイターの想い 
ZetDark
ZetDark Hey guys! Thanks for reading again!
I wanted to make a surprise and get a couple extra chapters going, but I guess MC's bad luck has been rubbed on me a little.
My cellphone drowned when I went swimming and forgot it didn't know how to swim. RIP.
As I used to write on my cellphone, I lost a decent amount of time. Luckily I got this spare one with a family member on time for this week's release.
Anyway, sorry for the delay and thanks for being patient. Surprise release postponed until...
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