What's Your Level?

"Hahh... thought I was gonna die."

I let out a breath of relief and looked up. A cliff so high it made my neck ache — and we had crawled down the face of it.

My Strength stat ran higher than most people's, and even so my arms had shaken like leaves. No. Not just my arms. My whole body had been trembling. The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠strain was one thing, but the real culprit was the terror of bungie-jumping off a cliff with no cord attached. One slip and that was it.

Being able to stand on solid ground was a genuine blessing. I was rediscovering, in that moment, just how precious the earth beneath my feet really was.

Boom—! Boom—! KRA-KOOM—!

"Brutal."

Up on the cliff we had just descended, the air kept tearing itself apart with blasts like bombs going off. They weren't bombs. That was the sound of the real heavyweights dumping skills on each other without restraint.

I clicked my tongue, watching chips of stone rain down from above, and at the same time I had to admit it: terrifying as that climb had been, coming down the cliff had been the right call. You do not linger anywhere near a fight between fighters five stars and up. When whales clash, the shrimp get crushed — one wrong move and you're dead.

"Alan, what now?"

"How is everyone? You all okay?"

"I am fine, Master."

"Kahaha! That took it out of me! My heart was pounding so hard I thought I was gonna die!"

"Hahh... I am never doing that insane shit again."

......

The temporary party members nodded at my question. Seeing us all bunched together like this, the headcount was... considerable.

The Snake party, with me as leader: four. Myself, Aquaril, Kanisia Lora, Abraham. Chae Gillard's party: six. Chae Gillard, Entris, Rikasha, Mimia, Thor Rempago, Sif. And Prince Pazniri's side: three. Owen Pazniri, Piku, Hina. Thirteen people in all.

That's a lot.

I'd always operated in small numbers, so even barely cracking ten felt like a crowd. Wait. Was it actually a lot? Thinking it over again, it didn't just feel like a lot — it was a lot. Unless you were a king or queen sitting on a city, you moved in parties of five or fewer. That way, every time you cleared a dungeon, more of the take came back to you.

Sure, stacking Masters and Fairies bought you a sense of security. But growth crawled to a halt, and you ended up weaker than a tight little party would have been.

Kanisia and Chae Gillard were both looking at me with the same question in their eyes: So what are we doing?

......

Christ, they really know how to hold a grudge.

Prince Pazniri's Fairies, for their part, were staring daggers at me, faces full of raw complaint. The prince I had chopped across the neck and put to sleep still hadn't come around; he was slung over his Fairy's back. They were glaring because I had laid hands on their Master's body.

I put that whiny brat to sleep for them. They should be thanking me. Sheesh... Fairies, I swear.

I clicked my tongue on the inside and didn't let any of it show. Out loud, I addressed the temporary party.

"For now, we proceed as discussed up top. We deal with that monster before it finishes coming back."

"Nngh..."

I pointed at Kutlanka, still wreathed in that dark crimson aura, and every face around me went stiff. A skeleton stripped down to bone, and it looked even bigger from down here than it had from the cliff. Add the blood-dark energy coiled around it — the kind of aura that made your skin want to crawl off your body — and even standing perfectly still, the thing threw off a crushing pressure.

That was when Chae Gillard raised a hand, requesting the floor. For all his usual slacker act, he was a surprisingly well-mannered Master.

"Yes, Gillard. Go ahead."

"Two things I want to ask. First... are we certain that thing is actually coming back?"

A fundamental question. Would a pile of bare bones calling itself Kutlanka really stand up again?

I'd be thrilled if that bastard stayed dead.

Kill a raid boss and the rewards come down like rain. If I were being honest, though, I did not want to fight that thing. Unlike Chae Gillard's party, who were all four-star, every one of us was still three-star. Taking a raid boss with a roster of three-stars was asking for a funeral. Those kinds of monsters you challenge when you've gotten stronger than this — and even then, you can clear them cleanly enough.

Please just stay dead...

Before I answered Chae, I looked at Kutlanka, wrapped in that dark crimson light.

The system window, ever so kindly, showed me exactly how long Kutlanka had left before it finished coming back. Fuck. If it was showing me that, the odds of this thing staying dead were not even a hundredth of a percent.

How do I play this?

Chae Gillard, apparently, could not see that window. That was why he was asking me whether Kutlanka would really revive.

What even decides whether these things show up?

I still could not figure out the criteria. Back in Indigo, when I stepped into the Relay Dungeon, a system window had appeared in front of my face announcing the entry. Princess Prisia Lily, clearing the same dungeon, had no idea it was a Relay Dungeon at all. So I had figured other Masters simply could not see system windows — nothing except their own status screens.

Then Baidu proved me wrong. I had gone into the hot springs with Aquaril and Kanisia, and Kanisia had confirmed the spring's effect through a system window of her own. Meaning Masters and Fairies could see them too. Which left me with no idea whatsoever what conditions made a window appear.

Anyway. They were all still looking at me. I had to say something.

"Kutlanka will revive. And — well, I'm sure you've all figured it out by now, so I'll just speak plainly. Plasma, the Witch Queen's Fairy, was certain Kutlanka would come back. That's why he didn't immediately step in even when the Snake Bandits' heavy hitters showed up."

What I was actually certain about was the system window. I just hung it on Plasma's name instead of telling the truth. Kanisia was one thing, but these people were party members for now. Later? Who knew. A secret is at its most powerful while it stays a secret.

"Nngh..."

A low murmur ran through the group. Prince Pazniri had dropped Plasma's name out loud up on the cliff, so there wasn't a person here who didn't know it.

That was when Thor, Chae's friend, went wide-eyed. What was his problem all of a sudden?

"That guy earlier was Plasma?! The Witch Queen's Fairy?!"

......

"Fuck! If I'd known that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bastard was Plasma, I would've thrown down with him!"

"Hahh..."

Thor stamped his feet like a kid who'd missed his turn, furious at the wasted chance. Chae Gillard watched his friend and let out a long sigh.

How dense do you have to be to miss that? One thing I knew for certain — that guy Thor was a muscle-brain whose skull was packed with the same stuff as his biceps.

Regardless. Once I put Plasma's certainty behind the revival, nobody questioned me.

First doubt cleared, Chae Gillard moved to the next.

"So Kutlanka comes back... all right. I understand. But can this many people actually handle a revived Kutlanka?"

......

"I've never seen Kutlanka myself, but I've heard more than enough. Eight villages smashed. Over a thousand dead. And even then they couldn't stop it from marching on Baidu. It took the Witch Queen stepping in personally ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠before they finally put it down."

......

"I'll ask once more, Master Han. Can we kill Kutlanka with what we have — no. Can we even face it?"

......

I didn't answer him right away. Rumors put on weight as they pass from mouth to mouth; believe every word and you'll swallow a novel. That doesn't mean they're worthless, though. Exaggerated, sure — but there's usually a bone of truth in there somewhere. And even if you'd never seen Kutlanka in your life, one look at that thing and you'd have to believe every story you'd ever heard.

"Honestly, I don't have any confidence we can kill Kutlanka with this many people. If anything, I'd call it close to impossible."

I shook my head, and the faces around me darkened.

"So we stall. That's all."

"Huh?"

"Stall... as in, buy time?"

Every head came up. They were all looking at me.

"That's right. The moment the subjugation force arrived here, Kutlanka's bones got swallowed in that dark crimson aura. What do you suppose that means? It means the Snake Bandits prepared this revival."

"That's impossible! How could a bunch of common bandits pull off something like that?"

One of Pazniri's Fairies snapped back at me — the one with the short purple hair. Hina, if I had the name right.

This bitch just cut in without a turn signal.

My impression of Pazniri was already garbage, so Hina's pushback sat even worse. We were about to fight Kutlanka together, though, so I swallowed it.

"And why couldn't they? The enemy made every preparation to match our arrival. We took a beating from those bandits as it is. Besides, how they revived Kutlanka isn't what matters right now. How we fight it is."

"Anyway — back to the point. The reason they brought Kutlanka back is simple. They knew Plasma was with the subjugation force. So once it stands up, who do you think it goes after first?"

"Plasma... so Kutlanka will move toward him."

"That's right."

I nodded at Chae's answer.

"Which means we have one objective. Stall. Keep that monster from ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠reaching Plasma until he finishes wiping the enemy out."

"A simple game, but a hard one. Buy time until Plasma annihilates the Snake Bandits and we win. Fail to buy that time and we lose."

"Exactly. And... I feel for Plasma and the rest of the subjugation force fighting up there, but if we can't buy that time, we run. Immediately."

"What?"

"I'm sorry?"

The party members startled hard at the part about running.

"Just checking — is there anyone here who'd like to die like a dog?"

......

......

They glanced at each other. Nobody answered. Of course they didn't. Who wants to die? Everyone wants to live long enough to go senile and smear shit on the walls.

"So if we engage Kutlanka and it looks like we don't have the numbers, we pull out on the spot. Does everyone agree?"

......

They checked each other again. And this time, the answers came back.

Krrrrrnnngh—!

The system window bloomed, and in the same breath Kutlanka's bones began to move. The skull that had been planted in the dirt rose, slow as a tide. Joints shifted. Dust and sand packed between the bones shook loose and drifted down like dandruff.

"Hahh..."

I let out a breath, trying to talk my racing heart back down. A heart that had already found its rhythm, though, was in no mood to listen.

What level are you?

I stared at Kutlanka, my eyes trembling.