Sword and Claw

Book Two: Chapter 5

Maxor stared up at the sky while Sora's mouth still hung. "Who is that fellow?"

Sora slowly pointed her finger up. "That's the sorceress..... Or sorcerer!"

Garan glanced at her. "Excuse me?"

"Errrrrrrr- That is my male body! Stolen by the sorceress! She- he is using it!"

"I do not comprehend you."

Sora rubbed her face. She hasn't told Garan about her situation yet. Traveling on foot for days can sometimes make people forget.

"Greetings, players of Sword and Claw Online!" the wolf man announced. "I am Lucillia, formerly known as the Lich Queen. But you can call me the Lich King instead since I am using this male body in your present. What you are experiencing now isn't a technical issue or a special event. I deleted your buttons and blocked your communication. You are completely isolated from your actual reality."

Everyone mumbled around Sora. Some sounded shock and others asked questions to each other.

"You might wonder why I am doing this," Lucillia snickered. "I am not part of your artificial world. I am a demon from the ice world of Uttitha. My kind travels through different dimensions to collect souls from the fallen. In our world, there is nothing to eat. Only rocks and snow. Consuming souls from other worlds is our only solution to survive. And now your world has become the next step for our conquest."

Unbelievable! Sora thought Lucillia was only a hacker, but apparently he was an alien from a unique world. Or demon, which he mentioned.

"But don't worry," the Lich King continued. "None of you will die very soon. I don't wish to get bored if I could kill you all in one second. So I decided to trap you here for my own special event. If any of you can defeat me, all of you can return to your real world."

Sora heard a ringing sound, and then a quest message appeared in front of him.

Quest alert!

You must defeat King Lucillia in order to logout.

Reward

Freedom

"But there is a catch," said the Lich King with his finger up. "Death will become permanent in this game. If your health points reach zero, your soul will come to my well for food."

Souls? Does he mean the players' minds?

Sora doesn't believe in spirits or the supernatural, but death was scary in any form. Dying in a virtual game was a player's nightmare.

"There will be other changes too," said the Lich King. "I deleted all resurrection scrolls so the game will be more fun. Am I right?"

Sora doesn't have any resurrection scrolls, although they could be useful when she was captured. But now they were pointless.

"Don't worry, you can keep the rest of your items and gear." The Lich King giggled. "But wait! That isn't all!"

Sora heard her menu beeped and checked her character statues. Her eyes widened.

Sora

Fox

Barbarian

Female

Level: 01

HP: 10/10

Attack Power: 10

Defense: 25

Mana: 100/100

Abilities:

Rage- Attack power increases up to 10 and player strike all nearby targets ruthlessly for one minute. 10 Mana Cost.

Charm- Target will become attracted to player without attacking for three minutes. 10 Mana Cost

Gold: 0

Equipment:

Broadsword- ATP+10

Leather vest- DEF+5

Gloves-DEF+5

Boots- DEF+5

Leather gauntlets-DEF+5

Cape-DEF+5

XP: 0%

Sora's avatar went down to level one! Everyone else complained about their level lost too. One of them shouted at the giant screen.

"Silence!" the Lich King shouted. "I know this is disappointing, but the game will not be challenging if you can overpower me from the beginning. It is only fair if all of you start from scratch."

"Screw you!" a polar bear mage shouted. "We want to live!"

"If you want to survive, defeat more monsters and complete more quests," the Lich King stated. "To give you a head up, I am level 100."

Level 100?

How in the hell did the Lich King reached level 100 in Sora's male avatar? It was the final level in the game, which makes the player the strongest ever. Usually, it takes a few years to reach that level, unless a gamer spent countless hours playing the game. That includes five-hour breaks to log back in.

Sora's male avatar was at level twenty before he met the fox girl at the Lizard's Head tavern. From that level, it would still take the Lich King time to buff up his level, unless he used magic to make the stolen avatar stronger.

Cheater!

Being the only level one hundred entity in the game, he could kill anyone instantly. Everyone has to level up quickly before they could face him.

"So don't think you can defeat me easily," the Lich King continued. "If you want to challenge me, my lair is at Northon, protected by my army. But it would be foolish if you try to challenge me early."

He was right. Only an idiot would go in unprepared, and they probably won't last in Northon for a second.

"One more thing," the Lich King added. "All mobs will have no restricted against you. They can enslave, rape, and torture you, unless you get strong enough to fight back. More challenges, more thrills!"

That would traumatize many players if mobs could do that to them. Apparently, Lucillia wanted his challenge to collect many souls as possible.

"You all have plenty of time to continue your progression," said the Lich King. "Good luck!"

The Lich King laughed as the screen faded away.

"We are doom!" a white mouse mage shouted.

Everyone went into a mass panic; shouting, screaming, and punching each other. Some of them threw rocks at windows and grabbed items from the shops. NPC guards rushed into the square to calm the panic down. But there were too many players being scared about their fate.

Sora and his NPC companions rushed into an alley to avoid the panic. "We have to get out of here, fast!"

"Then what?" Maxor asked.

Sora glared with eyes of determination. "Then we'll plan our next move."