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Some time after they left for the Starting Hill, Crim began to feel excited about possibly meeting one of those strange monsters the class president had mentioned. As they walked along the highway, they would sometimes see beginners out hunting, getting their throats bitten off by rabbits, which was a rather comical sight.

Eventually, they found one. And the infected monster was none other than an area boss.

In front of them was an enormous tree monster, usually called the Elder Treant. But now it had changed to Fallen Elder Treant. It looked like the remains of a magnificent tree, its once luscious leaves withered and red, and its whole trunk covered in an ivy-like dark red blemish.

Around it were piles of corpses from beginner players, which turned into Remain Light one after another. Those beginners had found it and tried fighting it, only to run away when they realized they could not beat it, luring the boss so close to the highway.

“I see, so this is one of those weird monsters!”
“Huh? I never heard of a boss being infected though?!”
“No matter, it exists nonetheless! Thou shouldst stand back this time!”
“O-Okay! Good luck, Demon Lord!”

Crim decided this fight could be too much for the class president, so she told her to stand back before summoning her scarlet scythe with Bloody Blade, which had a life-steal attribute.

“Crim, that pattern… Isn’t it the same as the Fallen Monster’s?!”
“I thought so too, but we can discuss that later!”

The fight started, and around five minutes passed. While empowered, it was still based on a boss from the starting area, so its attacks were rather simplistic, and it did not seem to have any AoE attacks.

It would take some time, but it was still a fight they could win without much issue. But then…

“What’s this? A request to join the party?” All of a sudden, an icon indicating someone wanted to join their party appeared in Crim’s peripheral vision.

She was too busy fighting to really check who it was, so she accepted it just to make it go away. Then a fourth name appeared in their party, alongside Crim, Frey, and Kasumi.

That name was…

“…Suzaku?” An unknown player. As Crim read it with a puzzled voice…

“Thanks for accepting.”
“Ah… Stop, don’t just run in like..?!”

A lone figure dashed past Crim and headed straight for the Elder Treant. Crim tried to stop him, but she was unable to complete her sentence. She was shocked to see him step on the tree branches that came to attack, using them as a foothold to leap high into the air.

That’s so high!

Jumping like that required a lot of Physical Strength Points, and the player needed to have sharp reflexes to control it too, especially for one’s movements to look so fluid like an acrobat’s. Crim and Sorleon would be able to jump even higher if they wanted, but it was unimaginable for a player who was just starting to play the game.

In mid-air, that young man reached out for the hilt of his sword and began unsheathing it…

A shrieking roar from the Elder Treant pierced the eardrums of everyone present. The young man put all his weight and momentum behind his blade, thrusting deep into the Elder Treant’s thick trunk. Then the dark red mark began to wriggle and move around, approaching the blade… which then started absorbing it.

That blade had a slightly red hue to it. It was a longsword with a wide blade, which started red at the hilt, and turned yellow near the tip. There were also scarlet engravings running down the blade’s length.

It somewhat resembled the weapons of one of the Red Lion Emperor’s Twelve Blade, but not entirely.

“I see, so that’s… Hold, art thou a fool?!” While she was admiring the weapon, realizing it was not a common one, the Elder Treant swung its branches to strike the young man, while still letting out its piercing shriek.

Seeing that, Crim dashed forward and used her scythe to cut down the branches, and then grabbed the young man by the scruff of his neck and pulled him back.

“Thy back was fully exposed, fool!”
“Don’t worry, I’m fine…”

The young man replied while standing up and patting off the dust on his clothes.

He wore mainly white clothes with stand-up collars, like those of a knight, which were covered with a breastplate commonly found in the starting area. His hair was somewhat long and ruffled, tied up behind his head.

The color of his hair was black with green highlights, and his eyes were golden. Overall, his features were rather sharp, so it was even possible to say he was handsome.

His voice also felt somehow familiar, like a sense of deja vu, but Crim could not remember where she had heard it before.

“I’m assuming you’re also one of those higher level players volunteering to help the new guys here, but you really don’t have to force yourselves. If it gets too hard, just run.”
“…Huhh?”

Crim let out a really confused voice, as the player spoke to her like he was trying to comfort someone younger than him.

Wait, does this mean he doesn’t know me?

While it felt pretentious for her to say, Crim Lua Cheia, or the Scarlet Demon Lord, was a rather famous player character in Destiny Unchain Online.

If he did not know of her, then that could only mean that he had joined the game amongst the second batch of players, who had all started playing during the last few weeks without any streams or public appearances from her.

What the hell…he’s just a complete noob then.

But he moved in a far more skilled way than that would suggest, so Crim could not help but want to know more about him, even if she had no time to wallow in her thoughts.

“Ah… Don’t fret, I’m good. I may look this way, but I’m rather confident in my abilities.” Saying that, she pulled back her hood and reaffirmed her grip on her scarlet scythe, walking up to stand next to the young man, who glanced at her.

“..?! You’re…”
“Hm? What about me?”
“No… it’s nothing, sorry. You just remind me of someone I saw in real life.”
“Hahah, is that thy attempt at flirtation? I haven’t heard that pickup line in a while.”

Crim cackled away after saying that, teasing the young man.

“That’s not what I meant… Ah! It’s coming!”
“Hah, already a step ahead!”

By the time the young man gave the warning, Crim had already lowered her stance to dodge the branches swinging at them like whips.

“Hey, ‘Hero’, I thought thy sword was meant to do something to that thing?!”
“Don’t…call me that!”

He scowled with disgust hearing the way Crim called him, before swinging his reddish sword. With each swing, the dark marks on the Elder Treant’s branches shrank and eventually vanished.

“Mage, do your thing!”
“Frey, blast it away!”

Both of them turned around to give that signal.

“You don’t have to tell me. Get down, both of you! Fall Down..!!” Frey had been chanting that entire time, and he finally activated his magic, hurling an enormous fireball that flew past Crim and the young man, eventually exploding right on top of the Elder Treant.

That was Fall Down, part of the Profound Knowledge Magic Skill set. It would create an artificial sun, which could be shot at a target to consume it. And while it looked like a glowing fireball, it had neither fire or light elemental attributes, but darkness, making it a good spell to use when deceiving enemies.

The weaknesses of plant type monsters were high temperatures and darkness, so the Elder Treant quickly turned to ashes, starting from the tips of its branches and letting everything fall off.

Soon it lost entire branches, making it harder to fend off Crim and the young man’s incoming attacks, and in a matter of minutes, the charred remains let out a loud thud as they fell on the ground and stopped moving.

“…Are you sure I can take so much?” Crim had offered the young man half of all the loot dropped by the Elder Treant.

“But of course. Thy company made it a more enjoyable experience, and thou art still a beginner, yes?”
“…Well, yeah.”
“Think of it as a demonstration of goodwill from thy elders.”
“Yeah, it’s not like the stuff from this area would help us in any way. We only need some stuff for her.”
“…I’ll gladly accept then.”

The young man thanked them and then walked away.

Now that things had calmed down, Kasumi finally felt like coming out of her hiding spot behind everyone.

“Man… That was so cool… And yup, that’s the ‘Hero’ right there.”
“I could tell… Are you alright, prez?”
“Yeah, don’t worry. Though I’m starting to second guess myself, I’m not sure if I’m really the best fit for your guild.”

Kasumi looked like she felt a bit disappointed in herself.

“Hahah, that’s alright. If you want I could give you some pointers and train you.”
“J-Just don’t be too rough, Frey…”

She could only give out a strained smile seeing the way Frey’s glasses seemed to gain a devilish glimmer as he said that. And so, while everyone eased some of the tension…

“Huh, is that someone from his party? But why would they show up now…” Kasumi had noticed something in the distance and pointed it out.

Crim and Frey turned to look there too, spotting Suzaku who left earlier, holding his hand out to someone hiding behind a rock and helping that person on their feet. Something about their small frame covered in a tattered cloak made it hard for Crim to look away.

Then the ‘Hero’ began warping back home, enveloping him in light, and at that moment the cloaked figure glanced at Crim for an instant. And just at the same time, a sudden breeze blew the hood of the cloak back, revealing the face underneath.

“Wait… I’d like to talk about something!!” Crim rushed forward, trying to reach for the pair, but both of them warped away almost an instant later.

“Crim, what’s gotten into you all of a sudden?”
“I found her…”
“…Huh?”

Frey was confused by that response, but Crim just continued staring at the spot where the pair had been standing earlier.

“I found her…Da’at Criferd..!”

The figure next to the ‘Hero’ was a young girl. And her face was one Crim knew very well, as it was identical to that of the druid managing Castle Seyfert.