Chương 42: Solo Mission - Maya (5)

She couldn't collect any more mana crystals. Especially not with the boss of the planet walking towards her. Due to the darkness ahead of her, Maya couldn't make out what kind of beast the boss was. Was it another black spotted jaguar, just like the other beasts she had been defeating on this planet? Or was it a completely different beast, perhaps something that was evocative of the boss back on Planet 501 which couldn't be described with words?

Questions flooded into Maya's already jam-packed brain; if she was lucky, she would be able to find the answers to only a small proportion of them. There was no time to stutter since Maya was in the presence of what she believed to be the boss beast and she was by herself. No one was going to help her defeat the boss, not even the two Hoppers she was competing against to claim this planet. She was truly all alone.

The beasts were still a considerable distance away from Maya, giving her the opportunity to check the mission log. [Mission 1/2: defeat the beasts] Beasts to defeat: 1) Black Spotted Jaguar (basic, 125/100) 2) Black Spotted Jaguar (basic/advanced, 27/50) 3) Black Spotted Jaguar (advanced, 0/1) That had already given her one of the answers she wanted.

"It's just another black spotted jaguar," Maya said, licking her lips and grinning.

"I've defeated way too many of these to count. I'm going to have a lot of fun defeating this boss." Clop, clop, clop.

"Cayman, you really are my saving grace. This is going to be an easy kill. My luck is really on fire today." Clop, clop, clop. A few more basic mana crystals were shoved down Maya's mouth. [Skill, 'Recovery (basic)', has been activated.]"Should I upgrade my traits? I mean, there are still so many mana crystals lying on the ground, so I don't mind using a few extra." Although there were beasts on their way, Maya was still debating whether or not to use a few more mana crystals. That was how confident she was.

"Let's do it." Crack! You have chosen to use a 'Basic Mana Crystal'. What will you be using it for? 1) Strength +3 2) Agility +3 3) Stamina +3 4) Intelligence +3 5) Upgrade skill Option 1. Trait, 'Strength', has been upgraded by 3 points. Strength: 33 → 36 You have chosen to use a 'Basic Mana Crystal'. What will you be using it for? 1) Strength +3 2) Agility +3 3) Stamina +3 4) Intelligence +3 5) Upgrade skill Option 3. Trait, 'Stamina', has been upgraded by 3 points.

Stamina: 31 → 34"Nobody said that this had to be a fair fight," Maya sneered, watching as the eyes in the distance grew bigger. There were no rules saying that Hoppers were forbidden from upgrading their skills in the middle of a fight.

"I bet Theo, Ben and Robert would do the same thing." Clop, clop, clop. Clop, clop, clop. Soon, the beasts' bodies revealed themselves one by one from the curtain of darkness. There were multiple beasts heading her way; they appeared to be the same as the jaguars that she had just defeated. And about a minute later, the boss beast emerged, taking large strides. All the jaguars were black in colour, but the boss jaguar could easily redefine the word 'black'.

It was the perfect microcosm of 'darkness' and 'dejection'. It stood in the middle of the group of beasts, but it was significantly taller compared to the rest of the group. It was like the Eiffel tower standing proudly compared to the rest of Paris. If the smaller jaguars were three feet tall, the boss jaguar would be around seven feet tall. If the smaller jaguars were ten feet tall, the boss jaguar would be around twenty-five feet tall.

The main attraction in the city of jaguars was the boss, which was in the city centre. Maya's lips curled into a sly smile. From experience, she knew exactly how to deal with these jaguars. [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] Slash! Slash! Stab! Without warning, Maya charged into the group of black spotted jaguars and began slicing the ones at the back at a speed that was unimaginable to any human.

The way she weaved in between the jaguars evoked fear in anyone on Maya's bad side; nobody would have expected a basic-level Hopper to be this strong.

"Roar!"

"Roar!" Cries of despair echoed in the cave's passageway, and the volume of the beasts' screams only increased, showing no signs of decreasing. It was similar to how humans would react if they got stabbed in the back without any warning. [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] Slash! Slash! This almost felt like a training session. It was like all of the advanced qualities of these beasts were non-existent; it was like they were all thrown out of the window, never to be seen again.

One by one, the jaguars surrounding the boss fell. They had cuts all over their bodies; there were cuts on their torso, their necks, their legs and even on their eyes. Wherever there was a place to stab, Maya would thrust her sword deep into the jaguar's body. She would then teleport to prevent other jaguars attacking her. So far, this move was working like a charm.

"Roar!!" [Skill, 'Strength (basic)', has been activated.] Punch! Bang! The nearest jaguar to Maya was punched in the face, bending its head backwards. Maya could hear a slight cracking noise which meant that she had broken a bone inside the jaguar's body, presumably the neck bone. She was having too much fun. It was almost impossible to believe that she had been struggling to defeat those beasts just a few minutes ago. Maybe her struggles back then were just delusions.

Defeating half basic, half advanced beasts was nothing new to her, after all. In the past, even during training, she had to defeat pure advanced-level beasts just to progress to stage 3. And somehow, she didn't struggle with that. The jaguar crashed into a few jaguars that were standing near it, creating a domino effect where multiple jaguars were crushed by the sheer force of Maya's monster punch. The punch wasn't as strong as Theo's, but it still got the job done.

"Those jaguars are going to get back up soon," Maya thought.

"I have to be quick in defeating other jaguars before those ones get back up on their feet." [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] Slice! Stab! Slash!

"If only I had my bag with me, I could dual-wield the swords and get the job done in half the time," Maya thought out loud. However, there was no time for her to get her bag and grab her other sword. Slice! Stab! Slash! In just mere seconds, the rest of the jaguars surrounding the boss beast all had wounds on their bodies which created an awful oil spill on the ground. Some of the jaguars couldn't carry on, but there were others that were unfazed and ready to avenge their fallen comrades.

However, they were no match for Maya's teleportation ability. [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] Slash! The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Slash! Slash! There was a flurry of wild attacks happening right in front of the boss, but nobody seemed to care. The jaguars that were still standing were lying on a heap on the floor, their bodies a bloodied mess that had seen better days.

One of the jaguars unfortunately had their head severed by Maya's blade like it was a block of tofu on a chopping board. Maya wanted to claim her rewards so badly after all the jaguars were down, but she couldn't, since there was still one beast in the room that needed to be defeated. The boss beast. Or what appeared to be the boss beast. Maya still couldn't be sure yet.

Throughout this whole ordeal, the boss jaguar remained unperturbed; it just watched calmly as its subordinates fell lifelessly, one by one, on the jagged floor, utterly defeated. It looked more condescending when a shadow of darkness was cast on it, and its red eyes gleamed in the darkness. Its demeanour was enough to instill true fear in an ordinary person.

Although it did evoke a sense of fear in Maya, Maya didn't falter; instead, she stood her ground and clutched onto her sword with her two hands, the blade pointed at the boss beast's head.

"It's time to defeat you once and for all," Maya said boldly. Her tone of voice was ice-cold, enough to pierce an ordinary person's heart and make them hesitate. However, the boss just continued to walk towards Maya without saying a word. It was a silent killer. Just like Ellie if she ever turned evil. Actually, no. Don't think about that. There was almost no chance she would ever turn evil. [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] Slash! Slash! Slash!

"As expected." This time, Maya wasn't surprised by how strong the beast was - this beast had both feet in the advanced level, meaning basic-level slashes weren't going to affect it much. However, Maya had ample experience defeating pure advanced-level beasts during training, so she wasn't that fazed. The beast had some shallow wounds around its back, but none of Maya's stabs were enough to severely injure it. This wasn't going to be easy. [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] In a split-second, Maya was in front of the beast again, and the side of the sword made contact with the jaguar's neck. However, this time, it wasn't the equivalent of cutting through tofu. This time, it was tantamount to cutting a whole chunk of roast gammon.

"Must… try… harder!" Maya bellowed. [Skill, 'Strength (basic)', has been activated.] A little deeper! A little more deeper!

"Roar!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Eek!" Unconsciously, Maya let out a shrill squeal in response to the boss beast's roar, making her release her grip on the sword in fear. The sword, still lodged in the beast's neck, was no longer in the safe hands of Maya anymore. All of Maya's confidence had escaped from her head as she fell back, not realising she was still in the air. Soon, her back hit the rugged floor below her. Crash! Maya had stuttered.

That was a major blunder; although there was a deep cut on the beast's neck, the beast was still walking around nonchalantly as if the pain in its neck didn't exist. And she had lost her sword. She no longer had the confident, prideful, ice-cold aura emanating from her body.

"Damn it. Why did I lose that sword? Now I have to get it back again." Maya wanted to sit up, but there was a sharp pain originating from her back that tried to pull her down to the ground like a magnet. Even sitting up was a pain for her. [Skill, 'Healing (basic)', has been activated.] [Skill, 'Recovery (basic)', has been activated.] She didn't know how long it would take for her wound to heal, nor did she know how much mana this move would cost.

But if she didn't do anything, it would be the same as her courting death.

"Just a little longer, please!" She didn't have long left until the jaguar was above her, ready for its next attack. Blood dripped out of its wound, but still, the jaguar acted as though it felt no pain. And still, Maya felt as though a machete had struck her in the back.

"No… it can't be," Maya grunted.

"I'm not even bleeding. So why am I stuck on the floor, unable to move?" Her breathing was heavy. Her heart rate was off the charts. She wasn't going to be defeated by an advanced-level beast when she had seen a quasi-legendary level beast in the flesh on her first ever mission away from Earth.

"So why? Why am I so weak? Why am I unable to move and defeat the boss? Why?" Her eyes were ready to spill out tears. She didn't want it to all end here when she was still at the basic level. She didn't want everything to be in vain.

"Why?"

"Maya."

"H-Huh? Who is that?"

"Are you a stalker or some shit? How the hell do you know that?" Oh yes, Maya thought. This was when I was bullied because I had unconsciously read the minds of my friends.

"I-I-I didn't know! I'm being honest!"

"Then don't just blurt it out, Maya! What was it, a lucky guess?" Maya's 'friends' had malevolent looks on their faces that day. It looked like they were going to square up to her.

"It was no lucky guess. Maybe you've been following us home without telling us! What kind of friend does that?"

"N-No, I haven't been doing that!" Maya waved her hands to try and shake off the issue, but it still loomed in the brains of her friends.

"Why are we even friends with her?"

"Yeah, why are we even friends with a stalker?"

"I say we get her back for this!" That was when her friends charged, ganging up on Maya and pinning her to the ground. They started punching her on all areas possible: the face, the abdomen, the arms, the legs. They made her lips bleed and they made a mess out of her hair.

"This is what you get for betraying us!"

"We are not your friends anymore!"

"What kind of friend decides to stalk others? That's an invasion of privacy!"

"We've been friends forever!" Maya shrieked.

"We've been friends for at least ten years! Why would you ditch me now when we've known each other for almost all our lives?" On that day, Maya had been shell-shocked to the point where the tears welling up in her eyes refused to fall. Her friends had ditched her all because she had become a skill user. She didn't even know it at the time yet. She didn't know the meaning of skill users.

She didn't understand that there was a world out there where people had superhuman powers and could explore other planets just by going into a portal. Instead, in the very normal world she lived in, she had been called names, like 'freak' or 'stalker'. Punch!

"Beat her to a pulp!" Suddenly, Maya opened her eyes wide.

"Why did I remember that just now? That's something I don't ever want to remember." Yes, that was it. She wanted to show those bullies that she was superior to them. That the skills she had gained had more benefits than problems. That memory showed her that she wanted to fight back and be strong. A wave of insatiable anger rushed into Maya's brain. All she wanted to do was to prove her haters wrong and beat the shit out of that beast.

"Think like a beast," Maya said in a low voice.

"There's no pain here, even if I've just been stabbed." Her walk was robotic but confident; she had successfully mustered all of her confidence after hitting a rock-bottom low and was ready to defeat the beast. [Skill, 'Teleportation (basic)', has been activated.] In an instant, she was standing on top of the beast and the beast hadn't even noticed yet. With strong, bloody arms, Maya gripped onto her sword still lodged into the beast's neck.

"Hey! Are you girls watching?" she yelled to no one in particular. She envisioned her friends standing next to her in this dark, dingy and dull cave, glaring at her intently, doubting her and spitting out insults.

"I can also be strong. I don't have to be like Theo and Ben. I can be strong in my own way." [Skill, 'Strength (basic)', has been activated.] With Maya standing on the beast's back like she was riding a surfboard, ignoring the excruciating pain in her back, she continued what she had originally started. The sword continued to cut deeper and deeper into the beast's neck. She was going to pulverise the internal organs and blood vessels in the beast.

Yeah, if I imagine my hypocritical 'friends' standing here, I can do this. I'll show them damn well who the real queen is. She had never been this ice-cold in her life before; the tables had turned, and she had become the condescending, vicious entity in the cave.

"Yeah, I can also be strong. I can also be strong! I CAN ALSO BE STRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Maya's voice shook the whole cave. It was surely enough to garner the attention of the two Hoppers in the other passageway. She was irate, furious, and livid. She harboured deep resentment towards this beast and the other beasts inside this cave. She envisioned herself cutting a large chunk of gammon enough to feed a whole family, until- Slash!

"Roar!" Plop! The beast's vision suddenly turned 180 degrees and its head fell lifelessly on the floor. Its eyes were wide open in shock as if it couldn't believe what had just happened: a raging woman had invaded its territory and defeated it like she had been slicing through bread. Blood gushed out from the jaguar's neck and its head. There was no way it could fight back now.

And Maya, who had landed on the floor, clutching her knees and panting, and with her back aching like crazy, received a flurry of system messages. [You have completed Mission 1/2: defeat the beasts.] [You have gained 1350 XP for defeating 45 'Black Spotted Jaguar (basic/advanced).] [You have gained 1000 XP for defeating a 'Black Spotted Jaguar (advanced).] [Total XP: 2552/2000] [You have progressed to stage 5!] [You have unlocked 5 new inventory spaces!] [Level up!] [Congratulations, skill user! You have reached the advanced level!]"Finally!" Maya screamed, creating an unbearable echo in the cave.

"I have finally progressed to the advanced level! Thank the heavens! Thank God! It was all worth it in the end! Are you watching, you damn hypocrites? I can be strong too in my own way!" She could imagine those bastards who had bullied her feeling a wave of pure embarrassment. She could imagine them being speechless, not knowing how to apologise. Her body was aching, but she still knelt down and furiously mutilated the boss beast's already mangled body. She had become the true butcher of mana beasts.

The crystals, which were bright red, were lodged inside the body. Maya picked up the crystals, which were symbolic of danger, death and warning, and threw some of them in her mouth. Then, afterwards, she reached out to pick up her sword, but before she could hold it in her hands- Crack!

"Crap, my sword broke." Maya's sword, which had exceeded 250 uses, cracked and scattered into miniscule shards which fell lifelessly onto the floor like broken glass.

"It was all worth it in the end," she said as she stood up, being wary of the corpses and sword fragments on the floor.

"Now, let's go complete the final mission and claim the planet."