308. 【Category: Hero】
308. 【Category: Hero】
***
Whoosh! Thunk! Thud-thud-thud-thud! BOOM!!
The brutal clash of polearms, the chilling metallic ring of blades cleaving bone.
Even the massive roar of the ground being torn apart and space itself being destroyed.
As a cascade of sounds echoed through the air, a woman with snow-white silver hair that adorned the space in dazzling arcs was hurling herself through the air, a beautiful smile on her lips.
"...Hah."
Serin, weaving through the ceaselessly charging skeletons while letting out an exhilarated breath, kept catching glimpses of her status window.
—99.95%
As the numerical experience gauge caught her eye again and again every few minutes, she couldn't hide her excitement.
"About sixty or seventy more, I'd say."
Even as she spoke, she swung her leg straight back at a skeleton bringing an axe down right behind her.
Crack!
Along with the sound of shattering bone, Serin's body moved with truly exquisite grace as her lips parted again.
"I think I'll hit level 66."
Thanks to the utterly vicious system where the higher the experience gauge climbed, the slower experience rose, the number of monsters required kept increasing.
But right now, that barely registered.
—99.96%
As she relentlessly hurled herself through the air and the experience gauge crept upward little by little, her heart swelled with anticipation for the level-up.
Another World. No, the game I played called Black Ark was notorious for even its leveling system.
Up to level 60, it was designed to be relatively newbie-friendly and easy to climb. But after that, each and every level became absurdly difficult.
For example, if going from level 59 to 60 required killing a thousand monsters of equivalent level, then going from 60 to 61 required killing five thousand—the hurdle spiked all at once in an utterly unreasonable way.
A leveling system that demanded truly grueling grinding.
And now, here she was in Another World, which had a system almost perfectly identical to that.
Level 65. No, she was now on the verge of reaching level 66.
[What's this Another World stuff right when the stream started?]
[About to break into the level rankings, damn]
[Rin's hunting speed gets more astonishing every time I see it lolololol]
[How does it make sense that she takes all the aggro at a party hunting ground and then kills everything herself? lolololol]
[At Rin's hunting speed, is that like 5x experience, or 6x?]
[I'm a viewer who came in yesterday, what even is this person...?]
[I was already impressed watching the arena, but her hunting is on a whole other level of shocking;]
The chat window entering the edge of her vision was full of viewers brimming with anticipation now that level 66 was right around the corner.
—Explosive Spike.
The bloodstained Crescent-Moon Weight tore through a section of the snowy field, kicking up a massive blizzard. In an instant, five or six skeletons were hurled high into the air by the blast.
Serin, who had been watching, kicked off the snowfield and launched herself into the air as well.
Then, naturally rotating her body, she swung the Crescent-Moon Weight in a wide arc.
WHOOSH!
She traced a massive blood-red trajectory toward the skeletons floating in the air,
Crack!
And the first skeleton knight to take a direct hit burst apart, scattering bone fragments. Serin didn't stop there.
Swish!
She twisted the angle of her right hand connected to the Crescent-Moon Weight, bending the still-momentum-filled trajectory of the weapon and continuing to carve a blood-red arc toward the other airborne skeletons without pause.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!
Like a single sea of blood rippling through space, the blood-red trajectory painted bizarre arcs one after another, and the remaining five skeletons floating in the air burst apart in turn, instantly dissolving into light and vanishing.
Rustle.
As Serin, having dispatched six monsters in a single breath, landed softly on the snow-covered ground, she turned her gaze without a moment's rest and swung the Crescent-Moon Weight toward the next wave of charging skeletons.
Yet like moths hurling themselves into flame, the skeleton knights swarming from all directions knew no fear.
Crawling along the ground, leaping through the air, sprinting across the terrain. Skeleton knights wielding axes, spears, swords, scythes, and more charged ferociously in every conceivable form.
But the result was always the same.
The moment a blood-red line traced elegantly through space along Serin's hand, they all burst apart or crumbled, turning into light.
Serin's lips, curving into a soft smile throughout as she adorned the space with fluid movements, revealed her mood.
Crack! Thwack! BOOM!
In contrast to her snow-white hands moving as gently as a butterfly flitting between petals, brutal sounds rang out as if seizing control of the space.
With two Mythic items—Moonlight and the Rainbow Bracelet of the Celestial Maiden—along with Legendary items such as Renia's Silk Gloves and Jeremian's Ring, plus boosts to several other stats, Serin carved through the monsters in a massacre and made her presence felt.
With a level-up just ahead, she was showing off her skills even more and mercilessly massacring monsters.
...
—99.99%
After dealing with countless monsters, she had reached the point where only 0.01% remained until level-up.
Serin stood alone in the snowy landscape, the monsters now completely gone.
Rustle.
Pausing for a moment to catch her breath, Serin swept back her thoroughly disheveled white hair.
With the level-up right before her, she wanted to savor this moment of anticipation a little longer, so she strolled slowly through the snowfield.
Crunch. Crunch.
With her light footsteps pressing into the snow, Serin couldn't hide her bright smile.
"Oh, right. Once I hit level 66, should I do some kind of event for the viewers?"
Thinking about the joy of that level-up moment, she even felt the urge to share that happiness.
[Oh?]
[What kind of event!?]
[Roulette let's gooooooooo]
[I want to win the roulette too lololololol]
[Are we doing another crazy generous event like yesterday?]
[lolololol She must really like Another World. Look at her smiling from the moment she logged in just because she's about to hit 66]
[Isn't her smile seriously so pretty?]
[You're so pretty 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭]
[I wish you'd smile like today every day... I know this sounds like total fanboy talk but what am I supposed to do when you're actually pretty;]
[Rin's visuals are insane today, seriously]
[Beauties are prettier when they smile... Rin proves it...]
[Roulette, yes please~~~]
[No, but honestly I can't even focus on the monster killing because of Rin's face. Damn]
"...Viewers, really. Why are you suddenly saying things like I'm pretty?"
Maybe because she was in a good mood with the level-up ahead, she could now laugh off chats that she normally would have shaken her head at and told to stop.
"Once I hit level 66, hmm... how about chicken for a simple event? I'll raffle off chicken to 50 viewers."
Honestly, I don't even like chicken all that much, but when I want to share something light with the viewers like now, chicken was easy and low-pressure to give away.
There were plenty of chats asking for the roulette from yesterday, but.
'They'll just ask about my panty color or something again.'
I only indulged those mischievous questions yesterday because there was a celebrity around. Right now, I didn't want to ruin this mood with questions like that.
[Rin! Rin! Rin! Rin! Rin! Rin! Rin! Rin! Rin! Rin! Rin! Rin! Rin! Rin!]
[Chicken let's gooooooooo]
[lololol No, but what are the odds of being one of 50 winners out of 40,000 viewers?]
[I probably won't win anyway lololol]
[If you're salty, then just don't take the chicken lolololol]
[For real, at least she's giving us something lololololol]
[Rin's been way too generous lately;]
[Pretty people have big hearts too... Rin proves it...]
[What even is this "proves it" villain;]
[The chicken's obviously going to be golden original, right?]
"Of course I'll give golden original chicken."
She let out a small laugh at the chat exploding with excitement the moment she mentioned chicken, and kept walking.
In the snowfield where the terrain had changed, another horde of skeletons came into view.
Crunch.
The moment she took a step forward with a fluttering heart.
Ding! Ding!
Warning alerts suddenly flooded Serin's vision.
"...?"
Immediately after, the countless skeletons that had appeared as dots in her vision suddenly began to gather together as if being sucked into a single point.
"...What's going on?"
The moment Serin stopped walking at the bizarre sight of the skeletons suddenly merging into one.
Vwoooom!!
A massive darkness appeared in the white snowfield and began swallowing up all the gathered skeletons like a black hole.
Then, as if vanishing into itself, the darkness condensed smaller and smaller, until it transformed into a colossal light that seemed as if it would dye the entire world and burst outward.
Whoooosh!
The light was so blinding that even Serin instinctively raised a hand to cover her eyes.
Then, a massive hologram appeared, filling her vision.
Ding!
*
————
【Aizen of Chevalanche】
【Title: Unity of Body and Sword】
【Grade: A+】
【Class: Knight】
【Category: Hero】
*Owned Traits.
- Hero
(A being who has been granted an inherent "individuality" by saving countless existences in the past. In word and deed, he gains a certain degree of "legitimacy.")
- Grand Knight
(Having transcended the bounds of an ordinary knight, he was granted the title of Grand Knight by the King of Chevalanche. Radiates the dignity of his existence to intimidate opponents, reducing their stats by 10%.)
- Glear Swordsmanship
(Uses the swordsmanship of House Glear. All techniques are imbued with the Ice Element, and he gains 60% damage reduction against Ice and Water element attacks.)
- Legendary Knight House
(House Glear: A member of House Glear gains resistance to any technique that has damaged them once, and if damaged by the same technique again, the damage is reduced by 50%.)
- Unity of Body and Sword
(As a knight who has reached the realm of becoming one with the sword, the power of sword-related techniques is permanently increased by 50%.)
『Due to the special nature of appearing within a dungeon, the number of owned traits is limited to 5.』
————
*
The moment the hologram entered her eyes, Serin flinched involuntarily.
From the hologram that appeared to block her vision, this entire situation was something she could never have predicted, something she had never even imagined.
No, she hadn't even been looking for a new hunting ground in the first place, precisely because she was focused on leveling up.
So how did it make any sense for a being belonging to the Hero category to suddenly appear in this dungeon?
The whole situation felt utterly alien.
As she stood there blankly staring at the hologram.
"Your name is Rin. Is that correct?"
The dignified voice of an elderly knight rang out as if spreading across the entire snowfield, reaching Serin's ears with perfect clarity despite the considerable distance.
When Serin turned her gaze away from the hologram, there in the vast snowfield.
In the space where all the skeleton monsters had vanished in an instant, a knight radiating an immense presence stood making his existence known.
Amid the white snow, the blue armor that seemed to glow with its own light was striking, and the ornate sword that looked as if it were carved from blue gemstone also caught Serin's eye clearly.
"I am Rin, but..."
Even as she answered, she was utterly bewildered.
I couldn't understand how that being knew my name, and suddenly coming face-to-face with a Hero made my brow furrow.
Right now, I was at the point where only 0.01% remained until level-up.
And now a being like that suddenly appears?