Chương 17: Chapter 16

Several days had passed since their first boss battle, and now they were preparing for the second. After systematically clearing most of the camps around the forest's perimeter, the goblins and hobgoblins had completely withdrawn to the massive central encampment deep within the woods, leaving almost nothing behind for them to hunt. Luckily, they had managed to kill enough enemies over the past few days to both reach level 19. Unfortunately, that final level refused to come.

And now that all the weaker mobs had retreated, grinding for experience had become nearly impossible. Their next Stat Up would have to wait. At the very least, the loot from the Dire Wolf and Hobgoblin General had proven more than worthwhile. Even if they hadn't found any other noteworthy equipment afterward, those drops alone had massively increased their combat power.

"There are at least several hundred goblins packed into the central base," Adam said seriously, "plus dozens of hobgoblins. Their defenses are airtight too. We cannot mess around this time." He spread a rough map of the forest across the cave floor as he spoke. It was drawn with charcoal on a scrap piece of cloth scavenged from some random goblin camp.

"Our previous fights have been relatively easy, which honestly lines up with how most beginner tutorials usually go. But this?" He tapped the center of the map.

"This won't be another mini-boss. This is going to be a real boss. Where the word Impossible becomes a serious reality." Mei nodded, her usual playful demeanor fading. Despite how reckless she often acted, she wasn't actually stupid. When things truly mattered, she took them seriously.

"You're the better planner," she admitted.

"How should we handle this?" Adam answered immediately.

"There's only one real option." His expression hardened.

"The great equalizer. Fire." Mei blinked.

"What?"

"We can't charge straight into that camp and expect to survive." He pointed toward the center of the map again.

"So instead, we destroy it."

"Their base?"

"Not just the base." His voice turned cold.

"Everything. The forest, the camp, all of it." Mei hesitated.

"But..." Her gaze drifted toward Skysandra, who was curled up in her nest near the back of the cave.

"What about all the little animals?" Adam sighed quietly.

"Most of the creatures in this world are artificial," he explained.

"They look alive, sure, but according to Skysandra, they're basically manufactured lifeforms. Genetic codes grown in a lab or created by some kind of system process." He rubbed his temple.

"Either way, they aren't exactly real. Not in the existential sense." Mei still didn't look convinced. But she didn't argue.

"Okay," she said slowly.

"Let's say we burn the forest down. Then what?"

"Then," Adam said, "we drive the goblins into the grasslands."

"And?"

"And into their natural predators." Mei frowned.

"Huh? Their predators? Since when was that a thing? Why am I only hearing about this now?" Adam motioned toward Skysandra with his head.

"I asked her about the surrounding regions a while ago. She couldn't explain much because of whatever restrictions her contract has on it, but she could tell me about the starter forest and the next zone beyond it." Mei leaned forward immediately.

"Oh? Really?" He nodded.

"The grasslands are inhabited by a much stronger race." He paused briefly.

"Orcs." Mei's eyes widened.

"Huh?! Orcs? Like green-skinned, pig-nosed, pot-bellied fantasy orcs?"

"No."

"No?"

"Yes."

"Yes...?"

"N..." Adam stopped himself and let out a tired sigh.

"Yes, there are orcs. No, they aren't green pig people. Apparently they're a subrace of humans descended from giants, according to Skysandra." Mei looked even more interested now, but Adam immediately raised a hand before she could derail the conversation further.

"We're getting off track. Back to the plan." He pointed toward the map again.

"We burn the forest. And with the mountain at their backs, the goblins panic and flee into the grasslands. The orcs see a massive goblin force crossing into their territory and assume it's an invasion." His finger traced a line across the map.

"Then the two sides slaughter each other while we stay out of the way."

"And afterward," Mei continued slowly, "we finish off the survivors?"

"Exactly." She scratched her cheek thoughtfully while humming under her breath.

"What?" Adam asked.

"Something wrong?"

"It's just..." Mei hesitated.

"I don't think this plan will work. And honestly, I kinda hate it." Adam leaned back against the cave wall.

"I know the plan has flaws," he admitted.

"A lot of them. But we don't exactly have better options." His expression darkened slightly.

"If this were the Easy tutorial, we could just overwhelm the boss with numbers alongside hundreds of other Players. Zerg rush it right at the start. Even Hard or Nightmare would still give us allies to rely on." He laughed bitterly.

"But this isn't Easy, Hard, or Nightmare." His eyes met hers.

"It's Impossible. Both literally and figuratively." Mei winced slightly.

"You're still mad about me picking Impossible?" Adam let out a long, exhausted sigh.

"Yes. Obviously." He rubbed his face.

"I don't think there's ever going to be a point where I won't be mad about getting thrown into a death game without warning."

"But..." Mei looked down briefly.

"You know why I did it, don't you?" Adam fell silent. Of course he knew. That didn't mean he liked it.

"Yes," he said quietly.

"I know." The atmosphere in the cave became noticeably heavier.

"The reward for clearing Impossible difficulty is the ability to designate a region on Earth as protected territory," Adam continued.

"No dungeon breaks can occur there, even if a dungeon overflows." His voice softened slightly. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

"You want to designate the region where your parents disappeared." Mei stayed silent.

"Because you're hoping the territory effect will erase all existing monsters inside the area," he finished.

"And maybe… allow you to bring them back alive." When the Game first descended upon Earth, it brought with it mysterious portals that connected to other worlds known as dungeons. The dungeons could only be entered by Players, people who had successfully cleared the tutorial and awakened the Game's power. The problem was that, in the beginning, Earth had no Players. So the monsters inside the dungeons spawned unchecked. Then the dungeons began to overflow.

Creatures straight out of nightmares poured into cities and towns across the world, slaughtering millions before humanity even understood what was happening. For a brief period, civilization teetered on the edge of collapse. Then the first Players finally emerged from the tutorials. That had all happened over thirty years ago. Since then, humanity had adapted to the existence of the Game. Society rebuilt itself around dungeons, monsters, and Players. Entire industries rose and fell because of them.

Governments changed. Borders shifted. The impossible had simply become normal. But adaptation didn't mean victory. Even after three decades, humanity still hadn't conquered the Game. There were still dungeons too dangerous to clear. Dungeons that continued producing monsters faster than Players could kill them. And when those dungeons eventually broke... Entire regions could be lost overnight. One of those dungeon breaks had occurred near where Mei's parents lived.

Since that day, the entire area had become forbidden territory. No ordinary humans could enter. Truthfully, even most Players couldn't. The monsters there were living calamities. There were only ten of them in all of Japan, yet those ten monsters effectively ruled the entire country through fear alone. One of those calamities had claimed the region where Mei grew up. Yamanashi Prefecture. Mt. Fuji itself had become the monster's nest.

Anyone who entered within a two-hundred-square-mile radius was hunted down by its minions and slaughtered without exception. No rescue teams ever returned. No military operation succeeded. Nothing humanity possessed could reclaim the area. Mei had always been talented. Actually, talented was putting it lightly. She was the kind of person who excelled at almost everything she touched. Sports, academics, games, martial arts, even things she tried casually.

It was as if failure simply didn't apply to her the same way it applied to everyone else. But talent alone wasn't what transformed her into the terrifying person she was now. It was obsession. The desperate, all-consuming need to save her parents. That obsession had pushed her far beyond what should have been possible. She trained harder than anyone else. Learned faster than anyone else. Adapted quicker than anyone else. Again and again, she shattered limits people once believed were absolute. Limits of skill.

Limits of reaction speed. Limits of the human mind and body itself. All for the fleeting chance to save her parents. So who was he to stand in her way? He didn't have to follow her here. He could have chosen a lower difficulty. She was just his girlfriend, it wasn't like she was his wife. Hell, even husband and wife could abandon each other if the need arose. But, he would never do that. Where she went, he wouldn't be far behind. After all, he was her sidekick. At least according to the system.

Adam glanced toward her quietly.

"We have to survive first if we want to save your parents, right?" Mei looked up at him suddenly. She blinked rapidly, trying to wipe away tears before they could fall.

"What?" Adam reached a hand toward her.

"Let's survive this tutorial," he said softly.

"Then we'll go save your parents together." For a moment, Mei simply stared at him. Then, after a brief hesitation, she took his hand and smiled.

"Yeah!" — — — A hot wind swept through the forest, carrying ash and sparks between the trees as the flames spread further and further into the woods. Small forest creatures fled in blind panic, their cries and pounding footsteps adding to the overwhelming chaos of the inferno. Chaos was probably the nicest word for it. In truth, it was pure, unrestrained destruction.

"Was all this truly necessary?" Adam turned toward the voice. The person standing beside him wasn't Mei. She was currently deeper within the forest, using her weapon's exclusive skill to ignite entire sections of woodland at a terrifying speed. Instead, the one beside him was Skysandra. In her humanoid form, she stood barely around five feet tall. Her dark feather-like hair framed a face that looked strangely mature despite her petite stature. Clutched protectively against her chest was a small white egg.

Adam's eyes drifted downward for a split second before he quickly looked away. No wonder she keeps staring at Mei with jealous eyes... If he had to compare them, Mei was like a towering mountain range with an impossibly deep valley running through the middle. Meanwhile, Skysandra was more like an airport runway. Completely flat. Skysandra suddenly narrowed her eyes at him.

"Are you thinking something disrespectful?" Adam nearly jumped.

"No," he answered immediately.

"Why?" She furrowed her brow suspiciously.

"I just had a feeling from the way you were looking at me. Perhaps I was mistaken." Adam quickly turned his attention back toward the burning forest while cold sweat trickled down his back. That had been way too close.

"Unfortunately, yes," he finally answered her original question.

"This really is necessary." He stared into the sea of flames as distant goblin shrieks echoed through the forest.

"You can't help because of the restrictions in your contract, and Mei and I are nowhere near strong enough to fight hundreds of enemies head-on." He shook his head.

"If we attacked the center camp directly, we'd die." Skysandra watched the burning woods quietly for a few moments.

"You know," she said softly, "there was someone else before you who had the same idea." Adam glanced down at her in surprise.

"There was?" She nodded slowly.

"He tried to burn the forest and lure the goblins out." Her gaze remained fixed on the flames dancing through the trees.

"It did not end well for him." Adam stayed silent as she continued.

"He died within the very fire he created." Her expression darkened slightly.

"The Goblin King killed him." The crackling of the inferno filled the brief silence that followed. Then Skysandra spoke again before Adam could respond.

"But... I have a feeling things will be different for the two of you." She smiled mysteriously and turned her head toward the edge of the forest. Adam followed her gaze. Mei was emerging from the flames. Ash smeared her cheeks and stained her hands black, while embers drifted around her like fireflies. Despite the destruction surrounding her, she walked forward with the same casual confidence as always. Adam smiled faintly.

"Yeah," he said.

"Mei can make anything possible." Skysandra shook her head. Then she turned around and began walking back toward the cave.

"She isn't the one who gave me that feeling." Her voice echoed softly from within the cave, nearly drowned out by the roaring inferno outside.