Artificial Fantasy

Chapter 76: First Loss

"Whoa, what the heck happened to you?!"

As soon as we enter the Force Blade HQ's crafting hall, we look at ourselves in a mirror used to preview their newly-made equipment. Not only did both Kazu and I find our skins slightly paler than usual, but both of us have dark circles under our eyes. Not to mention that we're a bit sluggish as we try to keep our feet up as long as possible. Figures considering what we've just been through earlier.

"Yeah, did you guys fell in a well or something?" Arthur asks as I hear him laughing behind my back. Of course, I quickly glare at him as I growl like an irate dog.

"NOT. A. WORD. ARTHUR."

I know I sound like an angry bull or a bully to him, but I'm still frustrated over the aftermath. It didn't help that we see Star and Annie coming in behind us.

"Hey, is Ol' Wally here?" Star called out as she passes by. "I was hoping that h- What the hell happened to you two?!"

"You guys look awful. Did something attack you?"

Even with Annie's sheepish concern over us, Kazu just groans in dismay.

"Sorry. It's just that we kind of got in over our heads..."

I agree. And all because we decided to wander through a dungeon that was supposed to be too tough for a party of 2.

----

So let's backtrack a little bit here. After we logged back into the game, we decided to try leveling up a bit more in preparation for the upcoming [Monarch of Light] expansion. We'd just heard that the [Force Blade] guild cleared a dungeon called the <Hill Forest> a few days before and we decided to go there to train, thinking that they managed to clear most of the tough monsters after that. Oh, how wrong we were.

For the first 30 minutes, we managed to grind up enough [EXP] to level up some of our [Masteries] until Kazu excitingly encountered a rare monster called a [Hare Sprinter].

"[Hare Sprinter]?" I asked while I turned to peek at the pink rabbit nibbling on a leaf. "I don't see what's so rare about it from its appearance alone."

"That's because they are known to be the fastest, dodgiest monsters around here."

"Don't you mean "nimble"?

Kazu groaned in response to my correction before he glared at the rabbit like a starving wolf, which was a bit shocking to see him like this. "According to the forums and wiki, beating it will not only grant us huge [EXP] and [Lapi], but there's a chance for us to get rare materials and equipment!"

So not only could we get more [EXP] and a large sum of [Lapi], but we could get rare items as well?! Damn, talk about giving us a monster with limitless options to its loot. If we got pieces of equipment and materials we can use, we could craft some amazing weapons and armor! And if we couldn't use them, we can just sell them. Man, I'm being selfish here, but that sounded a bit enthralling.

"Interesting. Well, sign me up," I said as I pulled out my bow and arrow. "Stay here. I'll see if I can ambush that little sucker in."

With the [Stealth] skill activated, I quietly tip-toed closer to the rabbit and pulled the string back as I aimed my bow and arrow at it. From this position, I knew it would give me a high chance of a critical hit. However, I had made a mistake. As soon as I released the bowstring, the rabbit suddenly left and before I could react, the arrow hit a giant black shell behind.

"Oh, sh-," I quickly held my tongue before I could finish saying the word out loud. I used [Stealth] beforehand, so it shouldn't able to detect me so easily. But before I could wonder why, I noticed the black shell started to move. And as soon as it rose from the ground, I fully realized my grand mistake.