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That forest was located a large distance away from the Starting Hill where everyone started, across so many regions that they could not be counted on one hand. Its name was Schwarzwald.

No one had mentioned that place before, until the notification that the area boss had been defeated there, which instantly put it in everyone’s mouths. One man had gathered various clues and researched locations, and finally found a place that seemed to match the description of Schwarzwald.

“Grawrrr!!”
“Aaaaahhhhhh?! I’m going to die…I’m going to dieee!!”

I couldn’t look any worse than this. I’m literally running around like a coward from a pack of monsters.

◇◇◇

The man continued running through the forest, doing his best to avoid the wolf type monsters chasing after him, which would constantly jump off the trunks of trees to angle themselves at his throat.

But it was only a matter of time before his foot got caught on something and he tumbled onto the ground. The only silver lining being that he was just next to a rock, so he hid under its shadow and tried his best to breathe quietly.

“Hahh…I guess…at least I found the black forest…so that’s something!”

He quickly drank a small potion and then threw the empty flask away at where he guessed the monsters would be, he did not have any other use for it anyway. Then he looked at his HP bar, which was slowly refilling, and grumbled to himself.

All the enemies were only animal types, so they did not have any annoying special attacks. But that did not make things easy either. They would attack relentlessly, had a lot of force and thick hides, and their HP was also high, making them hard to defeat and easy to get hurt by.

“What the hell is this place anyway? It’s filled with strong enemies!”

Somehow someone had still managed to defeat an area boss there, only four days after the game was released.

“I don’t…believe that… There must’ve been…some…hahh…sort of error… cough cough…”

Complaining about his situation, he continued hiding under the rock while watching carefully what happened outside. He could hear plants rustling around various places as many large things moved around.

The sounds came from a certain distance all around him, making it clear they were watching his hiding place. The monsters had no intention of letting him go.

“Oh well…too bad, I guess my adventure ends here.”

Ideally he had wanted to at least see that town that supposedly had a connection to the first emperor, but having found the forest alone was a worthwhile adventure. He surrendered himself to that fate, even though having to die and respawn was a high price for his adventure. But then she appeared.

A red blur shot down from atop the trees, not too far from him.

“Hm…is that a player?”

Before he could wonder why someone was there, the red figure swung some black object at the monster directly beneath, cutting its head cleanly off. Soon after the monster’s remains turned to light particles and vanished.

Then she swung the black object back, striking another wolf which soon enough met the same fate of the first one.

She’s strong, really strong.

The man watched in awe as the sudden intruder continued fighting. The monsters that had chased him all that time decreased in number rapidly.

“I see…so that’s who defeated the area boss.”

He felt certain of that just seconds after watching her fight amongst the trees. And just those seconds had been enough for multiple monsters to meet their demise, barely being allowed to cry in pain.

She continued spinning around faster as well, almost becoming a tornado ravaging the forest, and she kept getting closer to the rock too…

“Oh no, oh no no no…this can’t be…”

A certain sense of dread took root in him and began growing larger. The red figure mowed down the enemies while heading straight for the rock…

This is bad. Is she seeing me as an enemy as well?

Just as he thought that, his eyes met a pair of crimson eyes hiding under the cloak’s hood for a brief instant.

“W-Wait! Hiee?!”
“..?!”

He quickly walked out of the shadow while holding his hands up, just as she reached next to him and swung her weapon, which he could finally identify as a black scythe, right at his neck where it finally stopped.

He could feel the sharp and cold edge resting against his neck. If the timing had been off just by a few milliseconds his neck would have been sliced clean off and the Critical Hit would have sent him back to his last checkpoint instantly.

He felt all the blood drain from his face, and a clenching sensation in his groin. But he also sighed in relief, seeing he had been spared. Now he just had to pray for the red figure to not be a Player Killer, or PK for short.

He slowly opened his eyes again after the shock from the scythe’s swing.

“…Are you a player?”
“Yea…”

Her voice turned out to be way cuter than he expected. She was also shorter than he had assumed at first, and he watched as she hastily put her weapon away before pulling back her red hood.

That revealed a brilliant white that dazzled his vision. He could only express that sight with one word.

“…adorable.”
“…?”

The girl had been unable to catch what the man muttered, so she just tilted her head in confusion, which only made her appear even cuter.

He was a married man, with a loving wife and a daughter. He was always proud of knowing he was no lolicon. But even he was taken aback by how beautiful the girl in front of him looked.

Her features brought to mind a certain story he had heard too though.

“Wait…are you the potato girl?”
“Huhh?”

Those words he blurted out left the girl in even more confusion than she had been so far.

◇◇◇

That was the first encounter of that man with that girl, and it was no exaggeration to say that his experience in the game changed completely from that moment on.