“The Apocosmos is a very dangerous place, but it can also be beautiful beyond any imagination,” Leo said as he moved next to me and put his hand on my shoulder. “Why don’t we take a walk?”
“Let’s head toward the forest,” I said and pointed toward it. “That’s where my quest needs me to go.”
Once we had taken a few steps away from the door that seemed to be standing in the middle of the open field, it disappeared as swiftly as it had appeared.
“I don’t suppose that’s going to be a problem?” I asked, hoping he knew what we were doing here.
“You can use the key on any surface to return, so no worries.”
We continued walking for more than thirty minutes before reaching the forest, but the sun hadn’t moved at all. I didn’t ask Leo, but could tell that this was a place of everlasting sunset. A world of danger and beauty indeed.
Leo had somehow managed to completely derail me from my original plan. All I had wanted was to get his consent so I could return home and use the free crafting system and perhaps figure out my strategy for the working week so that I could maximize my profits while still crunching at the office for the upcoming update.
Yet here I was, running into the sunset with him and Louie as if I had no cares in the world. I had to admit that I did enjoy seeing Louie having fun, but I couldn’t help but feel anxious about not actively working toward paying off my debt. The realist in me acknowledged, however, that I had no choice since I was already here and decided to play around with Louie.
He was running as fast as he could and I couldn’t even remember the last time I saw him run so far away from me. New York wasn’t a place I felt comfortable having him roam around, not even in big parks. There would always be an entitled gadget-nerd with their e-scooter or, worse yet, a Casey Neistat clone riding their boosted board and holding a camera in front of their face. And God forbid if a dog ran in front of them. The trials for emotional trauma would last for ages.
In this place though, there were no assholes were running around. No cars. No dangers. It was perfect.
Suddenly Louie yelped loudly and ran even faster back toward us, the grass behind him shifting as if something we couldn’t see was following him. I ran toward him and cursed the moment that I thought this place was without any dangers.
I took Louie in my arms and examined him. He had no injuries, so it was probably just a scare that had made him yelp. I put him down behind me and prepared myself for what was coming our way. The grasses stopped moving a couple of feet away from us and then I could see the monster that had scared Louie.
Name : Young King Cobra
Type : Beast
Level : 3
Disposition : Aggressive
HP : 58/58
Physical Attack : 9
Magic Attack : 9
Speed : 100
Attack Range : Melee
XP : 106
Description : An intelligent predator. This beast is not to be confused with the king cobras of the Cosmos. Its only similarities are in appearance, as this monster uses tactics to isolate and poison its prey.
The snake wasn’t as big as the ones I was used to seeing in MMORPGs but was still much larger and more fearsome-looking than any I had ever seen in real life. For starters, this was a king cobra, which meant its bite would be venomous, and in its standing position it was almost as tall as me. Coupled with the fact that I had nothing to hit it with, well… I was fucked.
I took a step back and found Leo’s hand holding me fast in my position.
“Never turn your back on one of these,” he said. “This is no ordinary snake. It’s intelligent and obviously hungry. If you turn your back, it will attack.”
“What am I supposed to do then?”
“You’re supposed to fight it.”
“With what?” I snapped at him as I saw the snake slowly move its body menacingly left to right. “I’m no fucking baby Hercules and this is no fucking baby snake.”
“So, are you saying… you’re tired of these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane?”
Under normal circumstances, I would have burst out into laughter. This was the funniest pun I had ever heard him make. But considering the fact that a venomous king cobra was about to attack us, I couldn’t help but feel the timing of his delivery wasn’t great. “Dude, seriously, what do we do?”
“It’s dangerous to go alone. Take this,” he said and I could almost hear the gears in my head grinding until a metal surface in front of me reflected the setting sun’s rays on the side of my face.
Name : Short Sword
Type : One-Handed Sword
Rarity : E Grade
Physical Attack : 8
Magic Attack : 6
Special Ability : -
Attack Speed : Fast
Durability : 43/60
Weight : 1600
Description : A smaller version of the most commonly used sword. It has a very basic design but is able to deal damage fast.
I took the sword in my hand and swung it a couple of times to get used to its weight also hoping that the apparently intelligent snake would think again about attacking us and retreat.
Instead of retreating, the king cobra launched itself toward me and sunk its teeth into my forearm. I slashed at it but was unable to cut it in half. Instead, I managed to leave a huge gash in its body. The snake looked like it had sustained quite some damage but, judging by the red health bar I could see above it, it would take at least three of these attacks to bring it down. My HP bar, however, was just over two-thirds full and was slowly falling, no doubt as a result of the burning sensation the snake’s venom was spreading through
