Episode 12. Stealth (4)
In the center of the clearing stood a giant made of stone. Rocks that had been buried beneath a greenish gravestone now floated up, revealing their form. A broad, massive boulder formed the torso, while larger and smaller stones assembled into arms and legs. It was a monster in the literal sense, larger than any ordinary building.
"Ah, it still respawns perfectly! Looks like we can level up here for a while."
"……."
"Well, anyone who hasn't shown up yet... that's on them for being late. Whatever!"
The ones who had summoned the monster were Players. And the ones raising their weapons against it were also Players.
A Player wielding a club charged first, swinging his weapon. The Player dressed as a cleric stood a few steps back, uncorking a vial and pouring its liquid over her sword.
The Players' goal was simply to defeat the monster they had summoned themselves.
What the hell are they doing?
Aiden couldn't make sense of what he was seeing. It might be a golem left behind by some mage, or a spirit piled up from stone and earth—but either way, he'd never seen anything like it. Why had something like that been buried underground in a remote little village on the frontier? How did the Players so casually uncover these secrets?
Even as the foundations of his known daily life crumbled entirely, there was no time for contemplation.
Clack, clatter.
The monster wasn't just one. Because the Player hadn't touched just one gravestone.
The gravestone Aiden had struck with his sword belatedly trembled and rose upward. It was smaller than the first golem to stand, but still larger than a building. From that point, untouched gravestones began to slowly glow one by one.
This small, peaceful village would soon be overrun by the golems buried beneath it.
I can't move rashly.
In this chaos, assassinating a Player as planned might make things easier. But then dealing with the golems would fall to Aiden. If he just let the Players rampage freely for now, surely the golems would take care of them. After all, they were the ones who had summoned the monsters for whatever purpose.
"Claire, do you need help?"
⊳ "No, I already moved them. I'll just treat and head back."
This time, Claire's reply came immediately to his ear the moment he called her name. He'd called expecting it would take time to evacuate and save those in mortal danger, but it was faster than anticipated.
⊳ "So, about those guys—what's your plan, old man?"
"I'll watch what they do next and decide."
⊳ "Just wait and see? You okay with that?"
"Whether that's okay..."
⊳ "I dunno what those things are, but they woke 'em up for a reason. And those aren't volunteers."
A fair point. Emotion colored Claire's voice. He didn't even need to watch to know their goal: defeat the golems they'd awakened themselves. He didn't care about the details. Leaving them be might lead to who-knows-what, but stopping them could prevent future problems. That was enough.
⊳ "So, what're we doing, old man?"
She urged a quick decision. But it wasn't Claire pressing—it was time. He couldn't handle both sides at once. Staying undetected was key to safety. Letting the Players kill the golems as they wished wasn't an option either. There had to be a way to hinder the Players without getting in the way.
Surely.
"...Yeah."
Then, something Aiden had never seen before caught his eye. Positioned above the stone giant's head, it was a red-filled rectangle.
The first UI he'd ever witnessed was intuitively obvious in purpose.
"I'll signal you later—just help when I do."
"Like they did, I'll make them die without knowing why."
I never thought I'd be doing something this novel in this game!
Crack.
The sound effect of the golem's rocks slowly chipping away rang out. A sign that the monster's defense was fully stripped, and its HP was now truly dropping.
Sounds of shattering stone echoed frequently from all around. Once from straight ahead, once faintly from afar where another monster had awakened. Then—
Krunch!
A violently loud crack right beside her.
Tch, faster than I thought.
Aaliyah, the Player disguised as a cleric, glanced sideways at the Player next to her.
It was astonishing, something special. To meet another Player in a single-player game she'd booted up again for nostalgia after years away!
At first, they'd mistaken each other for NPCs. Even seeing a character with Player-level polish, they hadn't spoken, so suspicion hadn't deepened.
But when the numerical value rose with every dialogue choice during NPC conversations, stacking up completely, the Players could converse freely. Through that, they distinguished and communicated with each other.
No idea when the update happened—there was no info online—but they'd realized multiplayer had begun in-game.
There have to be more Players than the five I've seen so far.
Aaliyah herself, the two she'd arranged to meet here, one who'd fled, and one who'd died. That was all she knew, but based on her gaming history, she was sure there were more. At least eight minimum since there were over four; realistically capping at 64. Personally, she guessed around 30 in this map, midway between min and max.
I'll find out by checking everywhere myself.
Guessing without looking was pointless, so Aaliyah planned to scour the map on foot for every Player. And this grind was to secure an advantageous position and achieve her goals via level-ups.
Krunch!!
Finally, the sturdy golem's HP hit zero and collapsed. Its tightly packed arm and leg stones scattered on impact, reverting to mere rubble.
Aaliyah didn't slack, immediately locking onto another foe and charging. She parried its attack, counterstruck—it was already damaged—and it soon turned to EXP.
As golem corpses piled up, stones grazing her and rubble accumulating, she—no, he—finally felt caught up and relaxed his expression, shouting,
"Hey, don't complain if you get less EXP! I can't just back off early out of consideration!"
No reply came. Taking it as no objections, Aaliyah grinned brighter.
In this game, EXP went entirely to the Player who landed the last hit. It was originally single-player, so that mechanic carried over. Naturally, a reinforced longsword that pierced tough foes snagged more EXP than a sluggish club.
She'd even exploited weapon attack speeds for more yesterday.
About time for a level-up, huh? Perfect timing.
She'd personally downed four golems now. Past gaming memories suggested it was time. Current level: 24. EXP requirements were still low, so focused grinding could raise it fast.
No alert yet—maybe a bit more needed. Shrugging it off, Aaliyah properly postured and struck the next golem's torso.
Creeeak.
A refreshingly clean feel and sound for slicing rock. Critical hit.
Shouldn't it have plenty of HP left since neither had touched it? No such doubt arose. She was certain the EXP bar was full.
Level 24, five golems. The highest-EXP regular monsters.
Her level hadn't risen.
What? It should be now...
Panicking, Aaliyah confirmed no nearby enemies and opened her system window. No big worries at first. But seeing her EXP unchanged from battle start, she realized something was wrong.
Why? I definitely killed them.
She'd checked EXP before hunting. If it'd increased even once, it wouldn't look like this. Why no EXP despite kills?
Aaliyah suspected a bug amid the inconsistency. Bugs had endless possibilities: monsters not dropping EXP, character glitch, server issue. But if universal, others should've noticed by now—yet they hunted silently.
Thud.
Backing from an approaching foe, she bumped something. The torso of a golem she'd killed. No doubt she'd landed the last hit—no one stole them.
Proof of kill: the corpse. All here, yet no EXP.
"...What?"
Then she noticed attack marks on the golem's torso. Normal for foes to show damage. Even non-humanoids. Sometimes eerily realistic.
But this was a 'piercing wound through the body.'
A blade... but I didn't stab.
Not her attack. She'd reinforced for tough foes, but stabbing was inefficient, so no. Not the club-wielder's either—blunt force shattered, didn't precisely pierce the center. Only one weapon fit: a spear, mainly thrusting. A thrown javelin.
"Guh...?!"
As conclusion dawned, Aaliyah's HP vanished over half instantly. Vision bottom reddened like blood. Signal of attack from below or behind.
Looking down revealed a bloodied blade. Taller than her waist, piercing her throat.
No voice... coming out...
Aaliyah couldn't speak. Her real self screamed, but the avatar only mouthed silently. Couldn't turn to see the attacker. VR, yet the body ignored her will.
Only thing clear: HP bar at 0.
Players who have died cannot re-access this session until a certain point.
And complete in-game death.
