Chapter 22: Village Mini-Boss! Haruno's Leveling Spree!
A few minutes later, east of the city.
Following the map coordinates, Seito and Haruno Yukinoshita made a beeline for Hero's Vale with the old beggar in tow. Any players passing by would have witnessed a bizarre sight: a handsome young man soaring through the sky, carrying a beautiful woman in his arms, while a ragged old man sprinted breathlessly on the ground below, trying to keep up.
"Young people today... no respect for their elders!" the beggar grumbled, casting a resentful glance at the flying Seito.
"Save it, old man! You really think I'm going to carry a crusty beggar? Keep running!" Seito shot back.
He wasn't running a charity. If you aren't a pretty girl, you're walking.
In his arms, Haruno chuckled, her eyes sparkling as she took in the panoramic view of the Eighth Floor. "Seito-chan, this flight ability is incredibly convenient." She tightened her grip around his neck.
"It's alright," Seito replied. "As far as I know, I'm the only player in the world with true flight right now."
"How did you unlock it?" she asked curiously.
"It's not a skill; it's an innate ability," Seito answered vaguely, steering the conversation away.
Skills in God's Domain consumed Mana (MP), but his spatial flight was more like a bird using its wings—it only cost a negligible amount of Stamina. He could stay airborne almost indefinitely.
After twenty minutes of travel, the trio finally arrived at the entrance of Hero's Vale.
The village was a graveyard. Piles of bleached bones littered the streets, and a heavy, oppressive fog hung over the ruins. It was a "Dead Zone" in every sense of the word.
"This place feels... wrong," Haruno said, her expression turning serious as her feet touched the ground.
"Don't sweat it. It's just the Eighth Floor," Seito said dismissively. If a Level 20 player like him couldn't clear a mid-tier village, he might as well delete his account.
"Huff... huff... Brave Travelers..." The old beggar wheezed, clutching his knees. "A warning... the monsters here are immune to physical attacks. You'll need magic to hurt them."
"Magic?" Haruno frowned, turning to Seito. "I don't have any high-level magic spells. What do I do?"
"Don't worry about it. I've got enough for both of us."
Seito stepped into the village. The moment his foot crossed the threshold, the world turned black. A thick, ink-like mist erupted from the ground, accompanied by the high-pitched screeching of thousands of insects.
As the mist thinned, a sea of shadows emerged.
[Monster: Shadow Wraith]
Level: 13
HP: 3,000 / 3,000
They were humanoid silhouettes with glowing red eyes and no pupils. Sinister, but to Seito, they were just targets.
"Spatial Dragon's Roar!!"
"Spatial Dragon's Breath!!!"
BOOM!
[-12,000]
[-11,000]
Seito didn't hold back. He locked them down with a roar and vaporized the first wave with a blast of spatial energy.
But a second later, the shadows respawned. This time, there were twice as many.
Seito cleared the field again. Then came the third wave... the fourth... the seventh. By the tenth wave, the entire village was packed tight with Wraiths.
"Holy crap! I'm leveling up like crazy! I'm already Level 16!" Haruno cried out from the village entrance. She was gaining massive shared experience just by standing there. Hero's Vale was effectively a high-speed power-leveling exploit.
"Lady Traveler, maybe look at the actual situation?" the beggar muttered, his lip twitching. Your partner is stuck in an infinite loop and you're just cheering for the XP bar? Seito slowed his attacks, using his superior speed to kite the mob. He realized the Wraiths were being summoned by a "Core" hidden somewhere in the village. The problem was the sheer number of buildings blocking his line of sight.
He leaped into the air, hovering high above the ruins.
"Deep breath..." He looked down at the village with cold eyes. "Spatial Dragon's... Breath!"
BOOM! CRASH!
A beam of spatial energy tore through the village like a tactical strike, leveling half the houses in an instant. As the buildings collapsed, the source of the shadows was finally exposed.
"A snake?" Seito squinted.
A massive, serpentine monster burst from the rubble of a destroyed manor. It was thirty meters long and three meters wide—a behemoth that had somehow been coiled inside a house.
[Mini-Boss: Shadow Viper]
Level: 20
HP: 500,000 / 500,000
"Half a million HP. A decent warm-up," Seito remarked. He blinked instantly in front of the serpent's head.
The Viper hissed, spitting a glob of corrosive venom. Seito tilted his head, letting it sail past. Where the venom hit the ground, it melted the stone into a smoking pit.
"Spatial Dragon's Roar!"
Seito didn't give it a chance to breathe. He stunned the Viper and began unloading his high-burst combo.
[-12,000]
[-15,000]
[-11,000]
He rained down spatial-infused strikes like they were free. The Viper's health plummeted to 400,000 in seconds. Every time the stun was about to wear off, Seito dropped another crowd-control skill.
If the Shadow Viper could talk, it would have screamed: "You toxic CC-spammer! Let me move!"
Thank you for reading.