LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 17: Party Play
The two appeared on a large platform in the middle of a town. Like any dark faction town, the inhabitants of this town were all dark faction races. However, Maria and Lizzy couldn't see any players around.
One gold coin wasn't something that just any player could already have at this point in the game. Most of the players were still starting out in the NPC cities of their respective factions.
If there were any players already roaming around the towns and neutral territories, then those players were without a doubt BTs, or players like Maria who have encountered some very fortunate or unfortunate circumstances so early in the game.
"Let's go Mary~ on our way, we can go test out that large axe of yours!"
"Okay~!"
"But, before that!"
[Player: Lisbet invites you to join her party! YES/NO]
Maria quickly pressed on the [YES] and another window popped up in front of her.
[Party joined!
1. Lisbet Lv. 15 (Party Leader)
2. Maria Lv. 7 (Party Member)
Loot Distribution: Free-for-all]
"Okay, now let's go!"
Once the party was formed, the two girls quickly rushed out of the town. The town they were in was in a beginner area so the monsters' levels ranged from level 5-10.
Maria and Lizzy didn't bother attacking any of the monsters since it would take too long for them to reach their destination in the neutral territory if they had to go around chopping down every monster in their path.
The two bypassed all the low leveled monsters. With Lizzy in the party, these monsters didn't dare attack them since her level was higher than theirs. They remained aggro-free until the two finally stepped into the neutral territory.
[Congratulations! You have discovered the Neutral Territory, Purgatory! Reward: 10,000 exp and 1 gold coin]
"Alright, Mary, you can take out your axe now!"
"Okay~"
Maria pulled out her axe and Lizzy unsheathed her weapon and readied her shield. Her weapon and equipment were all standard items that she bought from the NPC weapon shop.
"I'll tank and you'll be the DPS!"
"Uhhh...what?"
"Ahaha~ sorry, Mary! It means I'll draw the monster's attention and you'll attack them from the side or from behind!"
"O-okay! Leave it to me!"
"Just make sure you don't accidentally hit me okay~ Unitale isn't like any other game! Your attacks can cause friendly fire!"
"What's friendly fire?"
"It means you can hurt me if you swing that axe carelessly!"
"O-okay...I'll make sure not to hit you later!"
"Do you know any healing spells yet? You should have gotten a class skill already right?"
"...eh?"
"...Mary...you didn't talk to the instructor again after you got your class, huh?"
"I-I did...but she only gave me a quest!"
"A quest? Well, at least you didn't leave empty handed. When we get back, we'll go to the instructor to get you some class skill. I did stock up on potions so we'll be fi—you don't know what those are either, do you?"
"..."
Maria blushed in shame. She had no idea what her friend was talking about. All those unfamiliar terms like potions, class skills, tank, DPS had completely lost her.
"Tomorrow, Milly and I are giving you a crash course on gaming!"
"Th-thanks..."
"Well, who cares? It's not your fault Mary. Here, I'll share some of my potions with you!"
Lizzy traded some of her potions with Maria. She also explained to her about the game's trade function and the item quick slots. Knowing her friend, the girl might be too clumsy to even pull one out of her inventory and drink it!
"Okay, all done?"
"Yup!"
"Onwards!"
Lizzy and Maria began their trek through the neutral territory, Purgatory. It was an odd name for a place since in real life since it meant a place of judgment and cleansing. Purgatory's environment wasn't as wicked as its name made it out to be.
Even the dark faction territory wasn't all eerie or gloomy. In fact, all of the territories in the game were somewhat similar at the starting areas. Only in the latter half of the game when the players reached a higher level and explored more of the world would the territories begin to differ.
Dark faction had more places with darker environments and ominous vibes while the light faction had more places with bright and relaxing atmospheres to it.
The two girls quickly encountered some monsters in the field. It was a small pack of wolves.
[Direwolf Lv.15]
HP: 2,000/2,000
"Okay, there're only 4 of them! We can do this Mary!"
"Alright!"
"Just like we've planned, I'll tank and you attack them from a safe distance! Focus on the one that I'm attacking, okay?"
"Alright! But wait. Let me try this new skill that I just got!"
"W-wait, Mary! Let me agg—ahh, don't leave me behind!"
Maria had already rushed at the wolves. With her [Wolf Slayer] title the monsters flinched upon seeing her, but they growled angrily soon after. Maria flew into the air and activated her weapon's skill, [Calamity Cleave].
"HIIYAAAAHHH!!"
Once her skill activated, Maria's axe began glowing with an ominous red light and she slammed her axe down on the wolf in the middle of the pack.
-500!
-5
-5
-5
The skill dealt a critical hit while stunning the monster for 2 seconds and the resulting shockwave stunned the other wolves for half a second.
Lizzy was surprised to see the powerful skill in action. It was an area attack that could also stun! The dragonoid girl was able to quickly catch up to her friend and use [Shield Bash] on the centermost wolf.
She then followed it up with a [Double Cut] onto two of the wolves around her and used [Taunt] on the last wolf she didn't hit. Shield Bash was a warrior skill that pulled up the aggro of the target and Taunt, just like its name, was another aggro pulling skill.
Just like this, Lizzy had managed to secure the aggro of all the wolves that Maria had previously damaged. It was a good thing that the shockwave had only dealt a miniscule amount of damage. If not, the Lizzy would have had a pretty tough time securing the aggro from the remaining wolves.
"Alright, let's do this Mary!"
"Un!"
In order to make sure she didn't accidentally hit her friend, Maria used her wings to the fullest. She jumped into the air and cleaved down with her axe onto the wolf that she had hit at the start with her skill.
-160
To Lizzy it was an absurd amount of damage coming from a support class player. Even she had only done an upwards of 200 damage with her [Double Cut] skill, but the 160 damage only came from Maria's normal attack and her weapon actually did a critical hit of 500 damage with the previous skill. The Calamity that Maria was wielding was just so powerful!
Lizzy didn't feel jealous of this, she only felt happy for her clumsy yet lucky friend for acquiring such an absurd weapon from the start.
Once the stun duration had worn off, the wolf suddenly changed directions and begun attacking Maria who was attacking from behind. It thoroughly ignored Lizzy who was attacking and smashing it with a [Shield Bash] to keep its aggro on her.
'Oh no, Maria's damage is too high and she OTed!'
"Be careful Mary! You're damage aggroed the monster to you!"
Maria was surprised when the wolf suddenly attacked her. She backed away into the air, but then she remembered about her other skill.
Maria rushed back in and allowed the wolf to bite her and this was met with a furious counter attack.
-250
-250
-250
-250
...
...
Numerous black feathers pelted the dire wolf until it was on its last legs of HP. Maria quickly activated [Gehenna's Eye]. She was clueless about many things, but using skills was no longer one of them!
Her eyes changed color from her normal pale gold to an ominous glowing red. In the next instant, the wolf combusted into a ball of black flames and she had fortunately triggered the extra effect of the skill.
[Gehenna's Sacrifice: Player has been buffed with 5% of target's stats
+1 STR
+2 AGI
+1 VIT
Duration: 29:59]