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B009 – Escort Quest

B009 – Escort Quest

Afternoon in Ascension.

Hecate was sitting inside one of the carriage heading to Calmen Town.

After confirming her quest with the client, the merchant Georg, Hecate was told to sit inside one of the carriage, along with other 4 people. And soon later, the convoy departed.

Currently, she was dumbfounded after receiving the complain message from Rena-cchi and friends. It turned out the meat that Hecate gave to Rena-cchi was harmful and caused the hunt to be stopped.

• • "Hecate-cchi, where did you get that meat from?" (Rena-cchi)
  • "Meat? What meat?" (Hecate)
  • "The meat you gave me before! It's been a really bad day, you know?" (Rena-cchi)
  • "Well, I'm also curious about that. What on earth that was just entered our stomach." (Emilia)

As soon as the party receiving that death notice, they spent their 1 hour buff by hunting crazily. And when the time was up, their body started to swell before exploded gruesomely, blooming like a fireworks in the summer.

Fortunately, they used a Life Insurance Scroll before the time limit was up. After they died, they just returned to their Save Point without taking the death penalty, which currently was set at Brynhild Fort.

But, it was too troublesome to travel back to the dungeon so the hunt had to stop.

'Ah...it's a pity.'

Hecate could only regret after watching the video that Emilia had recorded. What she regretted wasn't because of the gruesome death of the 7 Players, but because she wasn't there to directly watch the scenery with her own eyes!

The moment when the flesh of the party members blooms and spurting mixed liquids of blood and pus. Then, slowly turning into particles of light and disappeared...

That kind of scenery must be more spectacular than what can be seen in the video.

Out of curiosity, Rena-cchi visited Rosenheim Mage Association to appraise the meat. In there, she obtained a shocking appraisal result. She then shared the information she got to the group chat.

Seeing the information, Hecate could only frown.

'It seems, that wall of meat is not as simple as I thought.'

The wall of meat was something that was growing from the basement in that ruin. It seems that it was not just a decorative item, but a part of a creature's internal organs.

'Fascinating! I need to visit the place again later.'

She planned to revisit the ruins again at a later time, but that is only after the cooldown of Mana Explosion is over.

Touya, a Human and a level 48 Knight, was one of the Player who took the escorting quest.

He joined a party consisted of four people, Sharp Edge, and they were participating in this quest as C-ranked Adventurers. The other members of the party was his associates at the same school and the same grade, the first year of senior high school.

It hasn't been so long since they played Ascension, as they had just turned 16 a few months ago. Initially, they were confused by the difference between playing games using Consoles and VR Capsules. But gradually, they were adapting quite well.

The former were the relics of the previous civilization and there was no sense of substitution. When playing this kind of games, they can only watch their character move from a screen and that was it. Unlike the latter, where they can feel and touch the world with their own skin.

By the way, there are no MMO games using Consoles. To be precise, not after the booming of VR technology.

In short, this game was their first MMO game.

"Now that I think about it, I entered the game because of her."

As he reminisced about the past, Touya glanced at the side.

Minami, a member of Sharp Edge, and Touya's classmate in the real world. She played as a Draconid and a level 49 Monk, one of the vanguard in the party. When there was a monster, she would come forward to smash it with her fist.

She was also the one who invited him to play Ascension.

"What are you thinking so hard about, Hecate-chan? Can I sit next to you?"

Right now, Minami was trying to create a conversation with another player that took the same quest.

There were 5 people in the carriage they were currently in. Four people were from Touya's party including himself, and the last one was the Player that Minami was trying to talk to.

Seeing Minami was about to bother her, Touya couldn't help but reprimand.

"Minami, you shouldn't bother people like that, it's rude." (Touya)

"Eeeh, but isn't it boring, doing nothing like this? Besides, it's not everyday we could meet a cute player like her."

Minami pouted at Touya's rebuke.

Touya was going to scold her further. Perhaps, it would be fine if the person she bothered was a friend or an acquaintances. But, to bother a stranger that she didn't even know before, it was just simply impolite.

However, before he could scold her, a clear voice interrupted him.

"It's fine, I'm kinda used to it."

Touya and Minami's attention instantly focused to the source of the voice. It was a short blue-haired petite girl wearing a set of cheap clothes for low-leveled players. But even with wearing such cheap clothes, her cuteness couldn't be hidden.

It was an adorable girl which definitely could suffocate lolicons. Touya couldn't help but think so.

But, what was too striking from the girl was not from her appearance.

Currently, including them, there are 15 Players that accepted this escort quest. Those Players were mainly from three C-ranked parties, namely:

• • Sharp Edge (4 Players)

    Touya's party, consisted of a Knight, a Monk, a Thief, and a Priest.

    A completely standard party.

       

  • Fluffy Feral Furry (5 Players)

    Animal lover's party, consisted of 5 Beastmasters, all female.

    Physically, they have low combat power. But, they used their tamed pets to hunt and do quest.

     

  • Barazoku Iron Muscles (3 Players)

    Body builder's party, all male.

    The thing they have in common was each of them have big muscles, and call each other "Aniki".

     

Apart from them, there were also three Solo Players who joined. And one of them was this Hecate. When there are many people who form parties to complete a C-ranked quest, this girl came alone as a Solo Player.

Touya did not know exactly Hecate's level. But, since she dared to come solo, then she must be a skilled player!

Hearing the girl's reply, Minami becomes excited.

"See that? Since the person herself say so, then it is fine!" (Minami)

"Minami, you...! Oh well, do as you wish." (Touya)

Touya was about to say something to Minami, but decided against it. With a sigh, he could only let her do what she wanted.

And then, he switched his sight to the other 2 of his party members.

• Kaire, level 45 Rogue, a Beastkin (Werecat).
• Floire, level 47 Priestess, a Beastkin (Werebunny / Bunny girl).

They were Touya's neighbors, and also a brother and sister in real life. Both of them were of the same grade, but they weren't twins. They were conceived by the same father but different mothers, or so he was heard. But, even with that complicated family relationship, their family were very harmonious.

Right now, both of them were sleeping silently. But of course, Touya know this was not sleeping, but a quasi-logout.

A normal logout could be performed anytime as long as not in a combat state. The body would disappear from that spot, and reappeared after logged in at the same spot. But in this case, their position couldn't be moved at all during the logout.

With quasi-logout, their body will fall into the state of sleep while their consciousness returned to the real world. The body could be moved during their logout which also very convenient when doing a long journey.

Of course, doing this also has its share of risk because the body would be left unprotected. Therefore, a trusted companion was necessary to guard the body during the logout.

"Well then, I should rest for a bit too."

Because of the 8-hour login limit, a logout during the travel was unavoidable. Players have to ensure they did not exhaust their login limit by logout occasionally. If somehow a player exhausted their login limit, a forced logout will happen regardless of the place. Then, they have to wait until their login limit recovers sufficiently before they can login again. 

Every one minute of logout time restores 2 minutes of the login limit.

It would be fine if a forced logout happened in a safe place, since it will be a normal logout. But if it happened during a fight, the forced logout will be a quasi one. If that happened, then they could only cry. The next time they logged in, perhaps their body was already cold.

And so, Touya closed his eyes.

Hecate could only let out a helpless expression. Somehow, she obtained a new admirer.

A Draconid girl with amber-colored eyes and shoulder-length hairs, with a pair of antlers that resembling a female deer, a completely different type than Astrid's goat-like horns. She also didn't wear heavy armor like Astrid, but a leather armor that exposes her midriff. From her gauntlet, Hecate could assume she was a Monk.

This new admirer, Minami, has been tirelessly pestered Hecate. It was as if she was a second Rena-cchi. Though, the former's boobs wasn't as impressive as the latter. At least, there wasn't any worries of a sudden oppai attack.

But, was this a fate for this loli appearance to attract weirdos?

Hecate was very concerned.

"Hey, Hecate-chan? How old are you? Mine is 16 this year." (Minami)

"Try to guess?" (Hecate)

"Hmm, 13...? Oh wait, is it 12?" (Minami)

Hecate could only be dumbfounded after hearing Minami's guess.

It was clear that the minimal age permission of using a VR Capsule was 16. But for some reason, her age seems to be shrinking, even lower than that threshold in Minami's eyes.

And because of that, Hecate didn't feel to reveal her own age any longer.

"Minami, less than 16 years old can't play this game." (Hecate)

"Ah, you're right! But then, we're at the same age?" (Minami)

Rather than answering, Hecate just smiled.

Perhaps the fact that this loli was actually older than her had never crossed her mind. Who knows what this girl's reaction will be when she finds out the truth. For some reason, Hecate was looking forward to that day.

At this time, the driver of the carriage they were riding poked his head from the driver seat.

"Adventurers, we will rest in this area until morning."

He was one of the subordinate of the client that has issued this escort quest.

"The next area we have to go through will be full of danger, so please rest well tonight. Mr. Georg expects your true abilities to protect this convoy tomorrow." (The driver)

"I understand." (Minami)

"Okay." (Hecate)

At the same time, Hecate received a notification about the quest update.

From the info of the quest notification, this was one of those "free time" during the quest. During this time, the Players were allowed do their stuff freely, as long as they did not conflict with the success rate of the quest.

Players could also chose to do a sidequest during this free time period. By helping the crew setting up the camp, cooking dishes for dinners, and many things, they could earn a lot of contribution value. And then, the higher their contribution value, the higher the reward they can gain after the quest completion.

"This is a good chance to make a profit. Everyone, wake up!"

Seeing that notification, Minami immediately informed her party in the real world to logged in as soon as possible.

But of course, Hecate was never interested about those things. This so called contribution value can be easily obtained by killing monsters on the route. She didn't even care if the quest failed, as long as she arrived at the destination. There was no need to work herself to death like a slave.

What Hecate chose, was a normal logout!

"Well then, I'll be off now! See you a few hours later!" (Hecate)

"Eh, you're not going to do quest with us?" (Minami)

Without even waiting for Minami to finish her words, Hecate quickly disappeared from the place.

Let the maggots eat the flesh, and then after they grow into a considerable size, they can be consumed.

The spiders used this method.

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