Chapter 6
Chapter 6
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 6
Chapter Title: Tutorial Boss
-----------------------------------------------------------------
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ ―Warning: User's magic power is too vast. ―Cannot summon to designated coordinates. ―Cannot move to designated coordinates. ―Cannot maintain designated coordinates. A voice like that echoed in my head.
This place was... everywhere had turned pure white.
There were no shadows anywhere, just a blinding white hell of pure light.
I stood frozen in that space.
'What the hell is this...'
I started moving.
I had no idea where I was, but I kept going anyway.
Surely there'd be an exit somewhere that would let me escape this place eventually.
With that belief, I pressed forward.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ ―Randomizing summon coordinates. ―Teleporting Demon Race, 'Cyan', to designated coordinates. 'My vision's going dark.'
And then I felt the space around me shift.
Come to think of it, it said something about randomizing coordinates. Normally, when you leave the tutorial, you should spawn in the starting city for your race.
But apparently, that wasn't possible.
So where the hell was I being sent?
'Maybe Earth.'
Stupidly, I clung to that comforting thought.
But I soon realized it was nothing more than wishful thinking.
What I should have hoped for wasn't Earth—it was anywhere solid.
-Flash!
"......"
For example, somewhere with a ground to land on.
I opened my eyes to see a blue sky.
Just a blue sky.
Looking around, all I saw was blue sky. Even looking down at my feet, there was only sky.
"......Hah."
I let out a deep sigh.
Come to think of it, half a year ago, I'd gone through something similar. I really didn't want to deal with this twice, but here we were.
"Things were going too smoothly. Should've known."
And just like that, I was plummeting from the sky toward the earth again.
......Please, no one down there.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 1.
The scent of grass tickled my nose.
Wind rustled through the branches.
But I could tell this wind was different from the one in Twilight Forest.
This unfamiliar space felt nothing like a simple forest of trees and grass.
"Where is this?"
《 ~Field Stage~ Tebere Forest East Ruins Area. 》 Looking around, this place looked like ruins.
Some spots were even more crumbled from my fall from the sky, but most of it had been like this for a long time.
'Normally, leaving the tutorial spawns you in your race's capital city. But this isn't it.'
Not a village, just ruins in the middle of a forest.
In my memory, this was a common sight in Novel Online for humans.
Elves and forest-related races played in forests, demons and celestials in the demon or celestial realms matching their factions, beastkin and dwarves in cities or deserts.
'......Gotta be careful.'
That meant no protection from my own kind.
Demons had strong base stats, but physically they fell short of beastkin, and magically they were slightly below elves.
Like an upgraded human? But balance meant demons had plenty of weaknesses.
Especially holy magic—the one to watch out for.
In the game, it dealt quadruple damage to demons, a perfect counter.
Even at the same level, a solid holy spell could one-shot you. So despite defenses, caution was key.
If I ran into a holy mage my level, I could die if I slipped up.
'Not sure how much this matches Novel Online, but...'
I stood up.
I fiddled with the horns on my head.
These basically advertised me as a demon, which was more trouble than it was worth.
One big issue with demons: every race except our own was hostile.
You couldn't even talk to other NPCs without max trust.
Walking around like this, I'd probably get raided like a boss monster.
No thanks.
"Hah, and I still can't use magic properly."
I closed my eyes.
And pictured the image in my mind.
What I was about to use was a transformation spell called Transform.
It only changed outward appearance to another race, one of the spells I'd worked hard to recover from my half-year in the game.
Essential for demon players traveling other continents.
-Flash!
"Still can't get it right, huh?"
I checked myself in a cracked mirror amid the ruins.
My appearance hadn't changed much.
But at least my horns had shrunk noticeably.
This size, I could hide them with hair.
Plus, white horns and white hair—unless someone dug through my hair, no one would notice.
"Now to figure out where I am."
I took a step forward.
That's when.
―Gah! Damn it, we're under attack!
―Uwaaaak!
―H-hel—Guhk!
"What was that?"
Screams from multiple people.
And with the wind came the thick stench of blood.
Perfect timing.
Dropped in the middle of a forest with no map—saving those screamers would at least get me directions.
......If not, threats would work.
"About 200 meters east."
Judging by the sound, yeah.
I headed that way.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 2.
《 ~Field Stage~ Tebere Forest East Ruins Area. 》 I wove through the trees.
And spotted strange footprints.
'These tracks... not a horse.'
But too big for one—twice the size of a normal horse.
In a dense forest like this, if my guess was right, it was a monster called a Minotaur.
Typical minotaurs had a bull's head on a human body, but Novel Online made something worse.
Bull + human + horse.
Bull head, human upper body, horse lower. Like a minotaur-centaur hybrid.
Forest reapers, they called them.
Low-level macro deterrents, wiping out newbies in packs.
Some even showed up as field bosses.
"Urk... this is dangerous."
About 10 seconds later?
Voices nearby.
'There.'
⚔ STATUS ⚔ [Watchman Minotaur – Lv.60] ❤ HP: 15,000 / 15,000 | ✨ MP: 100 ▶ Forest watchman minotaur. Dwells deep in the woods, devouring intruders in its territory.
Soon, I saw the people—and the minotaurs surrounding them.
Ten in total. Standard watchman pack.
No field boss, good. But what about those people?
⚔ STATUS ⚔ [Swordsman ‘Rain’ – Lv.51] [Priest ‘Aria’ – Lv.35] [Dwarf Mage ‘Thomas’ – Lv.40] [Elf Archer ‘Rasi el’ – Lv.75] ......Wipe incoming, no question.
The party was barely holding with the priest's Wall of Protection.
But it'd shatter soon.
The mage was low-level, and even the highest-level elf archer couldn't land solid hits on minotaurs with their Thick Hide.
Thick Hide cuts physical damage by 50%, a cheat trait boosting their low HP durability.
They take 1.5x magic damage, but the mage was low-level and a dwarf.
Yeah, dwarves with magic power below even beastkin.
'A dwarf mage? Are they insane?'
Shocking to level a so-called trash class, but since this world differed slightly from the Novel Online I played, it made sense.
'They might not know it's fundamentally flawed.'
Others were non-combatants—merchants, humans, and corpses strewn about.
"Ugh...! Rain! We can't hold much longer!"
"Just a bit more, Aria! Thomas is prepping teleportation. Two more minutes!"
"Two minutes is impossible. Holy magic doesn't match well against forest beasts. It's cracking soon—brace yourselves."
The elf had the highest level and grasped the situation best.
As she said, holy magic wrecked demons but weakened against beasts with corrupted mana.
Best use here was buffs from the backline.
Playing mage? Doomed.
And beginner-level to boot. What a mess this party was.
―Grooooar!
"Incoming!"
-Boom...! Crack!
The minotaur's attack cracked the wall.
Timer nearly up, and hits shortened it further. Inevitable.
"N-No! Cracks in the Wall of Protection...!"
Time to step in.
Crisis level sufficient—should get directions now.
Same humans or not, I preferred not to rob or threaten. ......Unless necessary.
My goal: find the Shards of the World.
To open the door home to Earth.
-Step.
I emerged from the brush.
"Wait, who's that woman—"
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ [Kneel.]
I whispered the incantation in my mind.
-Thud!
The air grew heavy, forcing everyone—even the minotaurs—to their knees.
"Guhk?! My body suddenly feels so heavy!"
"No incantation...? A high mage...?"
A bit—okay, very cringy reaction.
No need for outdated chant-spouting fantasy nonsense.
Just visualize the spell in your head.
During my lonely half-year, I'd invested time recovering lost spells.
Countless skills from the game.
Novel Online skills went from 1-star to 6-star, upgrading tiers per star.
Take Teleport: performance scaled wildly by level, learned at 2-star first.
Higher stars enhanced it.
"Hang in there. I'll release it soon."
"Guh! That's Graviton...! No, Giga Graviton!"
The elf said, eyeing me.
Oh, she knows it.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ [Giga Graviton – Area Magic] ※Attribute: Physical / Range: 100m / Max Targets: 1~1000
▶Manipulates gravity in a set area. Inflicts chaos, stun, bind, etc., on targets within range.
This was the upgraded Graviton—Giga Graviton. Learned at 4-star.
Not great damage, but wide-area debuff perfect for PvP crowds.
I could flatten them all if I wanted, but that'd ruin any chance of directions.
Originally recovered to read books using the tower guardian as a chair. Who knew it'd come in handy like this.
'Now to dispel it on them.'
I approached the party.
'Wall of Protection blocks physical attacks only, so Graviton slips through—but doesn't break it.'
Annoying for dispelling. Needed close range to pull my magic.
Could hurt the priest's mind, but dismantling separately was a hassle. Just smash it.
-Bang!
A light tap shattered it.
Holy magic stung a bit, but bearable.
"Eek, what? How'd you break it so easily...?"
Good, no game-like confusion.
Shocked her spell broke simply, but overwhelming level gap—unavoidable.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ [Release.]
"Hah... hah! We're saved... Body feels light now."
Dispel lifted, relieved faces all around.
I went easy, but they acted like it was the end. Top rankers tanked stacked stuns and charged—pure horror flick.
Low levels, gotta cut slack.
"You, who the hel—"
"What are you lot doing? Free now? Get to it."
"......She's right. Prioritize the beasts."
The elf drew her bow, body freed.
Experience shows—she prioritized monsters over my identity.
I didn't want to dirty myself with beast blood, so cleanup's theirs.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇