Today was another day like any other to Claus and his party of friends. Having started the game a few months ago, they had been having fun leveling up, learning skills, and completing quests together.
The real world being a mess due to the existence of IRL monsters and people awakening powers didn't really changed their own daily lives. Monsters were still very rare, and none of them had awakened any power either.
For most of the normal population, life would merely continue as normal as it was before, perhaps… with a few added threats though.
Therefore, there was little reason to stop playing the video games they enjoyed, sometimes wishing they could have such powers in the real world, but perhaps too afraid of dying to even try hunting a monster anyways.
And today, Claus and his friends have recently arrived in the Luminous Kingdom, a large country near the Forest of Beginnings that is usually the third or fourth area Magicians have to visit for their quest-related job advancements, as the Tower of Merlin, a special tower where many magicians gathered was the ideal place to obtain quests to rank up for most mages.
The surrounding area was specially crowded with monsters, in the area known as "Wild Grasslands" monsters from Level 40 to Level 60 walked everywhere, ideal for the players to hunt and quickly gather the necessary experience points to level up.
"[Fireball Rain]!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A rain of dozens of tiny fireballs fell over a group of Goblin Warriors, completely incinerating them and eliminating the savage monsters from the face of this world.
"Woah, your new Magic Spell is crazy good for AoE!" Said Claus, congratulating his Blazing Magician friend, Catiline.
"Heh, of course! I've been carried enough by you guys so I've gotta put my own weight." Giggled the green haired girl, her appearance was adorable and charming. Claus couldn't believe she was actually his male friend who had chosen a female avatar…
"I'm sure you'll be able to help us out much better now, I was getting bored of carrying your ass all the time, honestly." Claus sighed, resting his large axe on his shoulder.
"Geez! Do you have to put it that way?!" Catiline angrily said.
"Okay, okay, you love birds, let's focus on leveling up for now…" Sighed a tall young man wearing heavy armor and a mace, Henry, their friend who was a year older.
"W-Who care you calling love birds?!" Claus and Catiline reacted shocked, although they slightly blushed for a bit.
"Hahaha, you guys are hilarious." Sighed a gorgeous and tall silver haired archer woman, Claus older sister, Annabelle.
"A-Anyways, looks like there's a large quantity of goblins and orcs over there, should we go check them out?" Claus said, composing himself a bit.
"Sure, let's go. I still need like twenty more Goblin Fangs and some Orc Hide before we can continue." Sighed Catiline.
The party quickly made their way to that area… However, a dreadful group of Players suddenly stopped them from reaching the monsters. At first Claus thought they were just trying to hunt as well, there were many monsters everywhere, so they simply went to a nearby area.
However, the Players continued stalking them, and killing the monsters before they could. This continued for a while, over half an hour, and then a whole hour… these Players, who were wearing mostly red armor, were smiling, and laughing at them from a distance.
"T-Those creeps are just constantly stalking us! What's the deal with them?!" Catiline asked angrily.
"They're stealing our hunts before we can even get to them… And it doesn't seem like coincidence, they're always doing it." Sighed Henry.
"Maybe we should teach them a lesson?" Annabelle said angrily.
"Oi, it is better not to fight with Players… we might lose equipment and all, let's just not enter into conflict with them if possible." Sighed Claus, as he walked towards the group.
As long as their PVP was deactivated, it was impossible for them to be attacked, so it was always safe to get closer to a Player and talk with them.
"Hey, excuse me. We've been hunting around these areas for a while and we've noticed you're… stalking us. Is something wrong?" Asked Claus, trying to be polite.
"Huh? Are you talking to me, pipsqueak?" Asked a red haired thug that seemed to be leading this small guild.
When Claus read his status, he felt slightly afraid… The Title of "Guild Master" was there, and he was Level 70, way above Claus and his friends.
"W-We really need to level up in here but you guys are constantly following us around…" Claus said.
"Hehe, are you trembling?"
"Look at this coward, he's trembling."
"Huh? And what if we're doing that? Can you even do a single thing anyways?" Laughed the leader of the group, glaring down at Claus.
Claus stepped back, feeling threatened… all of this party members were way above Level 60 unlike his party, they didn't really need to be here at all.
He had read in forums about newbie fishing, where slightly stronger players would stalk and steal kills from newbies and provoke fights, forcing them to do PVP fights and crushing them, stealing their dropped items.
And the proof they were Player Hunters was in their titles, all of them carried some sort of "Player Hunter" Title…
Claus, however, felt frustrated they were doing this.
"D-Do you have to be that rude? I-I'll report you if you continue stalking us!" Said Claus.
"That ain't doing it." Laughed the leader. "Hey, how about a game? Let's do a PVP Matchup. I promise I won't use Skills… If you manage to land three hits on me, we'll go away. But if you can't, you're giving me that fancy axe."
Claus swallowed saliva, seeing his friend behind him. He felt the pressure of their expectations, and honestly, he wanted to show off and look cool to Catiline… He couldn't admit it, but he had a crush on her.
"F-Fine… but don't use skills!" Claus said while activating his PVP mode.
Ding!
[PVP Mode has been activated]
FLASH!
Suddenly, the leader of the party leaped towards Claus and attacked with his two knives.
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
"Uuaaagh!" Claus panicked, using his large shield to defend while trying to parry with his axe.
But it was futile, the level difference was too big, and the swift movements of the thug, whose name was RedHanded, and his special defense-piercing knives were incredibly.
Claus entire body was being covered in wounds as his armor started cracking before he could even land a hit on RedHanded, and that's without the guy even using a skill either!
"S-Shit! You're not using a skill?!"
"What? Surprised?! Don't worry, I'm ending this soon!"
"C-Claus!!!" Catiline cried as she saw her friend being stabbed in the head multiple times, his Player Avatar quickly falling into the floor… and then turning into particles of light.
Redhanded licked his knives creepily, taking Claus Axe and looking at it with a big smile, the rest of his band laughed cheerfully, evilly glaring at the rest of Claus party.
"Heheh, what? Want it back? I'll give it back to you if you can land one hit on me, lass." RedHanded laughed.
"Y-You…!" Catiline was about to step in, however.
An enormous beam emerged from the skies, like a flash of bright light.
It happened in just a second, as it landed over the grasslands and completely engulfed everything on golden light, a loud explosion destroyed everything, even burning the grass.
BOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!
Claus party was untouched, as their PVP was deactivated.
However, the Red Knife Guild was… completely wiped out.
"E-Eh?" Catiline was shocked.
