How do Item Drops Work? Wait, A Monster!

"Those idiots."

i walked.

Every step took me farther from Iria's royal palace, but somehow the weight in my chest remained.

Benige.

That strange mark on Benige's chest.

I couldn't stop thinking about it.

I'd seen it before.

I knew i had.

But where?

I had played Hero Chronicle one hundred times. I'd memorized hundreds of characters, thousands of items, countless monsters and quests.

Yet Benige didn't exist.

At least...

He hadn't existed in any scenario I'd played.

Neither had the Hero's Mark.

Neither had the Miasma Sword sitting inside the royal vault.

Neither had the Heliocast conflict happening this early.

And now there was a second Hero.

I clenched my fists.

"What the hell is happening?"

The forest swallowed my voice.

I had deliberately avoided the main road.

The road was faster, but I didn't trust it.

Who knew what kind of ambush Benige or the royals had planned? Just letting me go of such a 'crime'? Too good to be true.

"Shit...Elaine I knew her mental defense was low to be easily swayed!"

I stopped beside a tree and leaned against it.

My hand moved toward my chest.

The Hero's Mark.

Benige had one.

I didn't.

That shouldn't have been possible.

I had never seen anything like it in Hero Chronicle.

I rubbed my face.

"Maybe I'm forgetting something."

I said it quietly.

But even I didn't believe myself anymore.

There was something else.

The eyes.

Those eyes I'd seen in the forest near the castle.

Someone had been watching me.

But who? Benige?

I pushed away from the tree.

"Keep moving."

The further I went, the denser the forest became.

The sunlight disappeared beneath the canopy.

I reached for the sword at my waist.

The blade they'd given me wasn't anything special.

Still, having a weapon was better than having nothing. I continued forward.

Then I heard-

A sound.

Something scraping against stone.

I stopped.

...

Scrape.

Scrape.

Scrape.

My hand tightened around the sword.

Another sound followed.

A low, rattling breath.

I slowly turned.

Nothing.

Only trees.

I narrowed my eyes.

Then something moved behind one of them.

I drew my sword.

"Come out."

Silence.

Then a figure stepped into view.

Bones.

A skeletal body wrapped in scraps of ancient robes.

A faint purple glow burned inside its empty eye sockets.

I froze.

My brain immediately identified it.

< Corrupt Lesser Lesser Lich>

My eyes widened. "...You're kidding."

I've had enough of Corrupt monsters. 

I almost laughed.

A Lesser Lesser Lich.

Not even a Lesser Lich.

A Lesser Lesser Lich.

The weakest classification of lich-type monster.

But that didn't mean weak.

My eyes instinctively scanned its body.

Although I didn't come with a status screen, my experience could make up for it. The level i could easily identify. 

"Thirty..."

I looked down at myself. If I had to give myself a number.

'Level fifteen.'

I swallowed.

Half its level.

And in this world, that was a pathetic level.

The human level cap in Hero Chronicle was five hundred.

Five hundred.

I wasn't even remotely close.

And Hero had another advantage.

The Ascension Blessing.

A blessing granted by Goddess Vielia that allowed the Hero to surpass the normal human limit.

It was incredibly rare.

Across my hundred playthroughs, I'd only obtained it nineteen times.

Nineteen.

The other eighty-one times, I had been forced to make do with equipment, special weapons, Artifacts and skills.

Anything that could compensate for the difference. But this wasn't the late game. I didn't have any of that.

I had a sword. A basic one at that. 

And level fifteen.

The Lesser Lesser Lich raised one hand.

My eyes widened.

"Move!"

I threw myself sideways.

A burst of dark magic struck the ground where I'd been standing.

The earth exploded.

I rolled across the dirt and scrambled back onto my feet.

"No incantation?..."

I stared.

That was bad.

Normally, magic required an incantation.

Experienced mages could eventually cast without speaking, but this thing was doing it effortlessly.

I raised my sword.

The Lich attacked again.

I rushed forward.

I couldn't let it keep its distance.

My sword cut through its robe and struck bone.

Crack!

The blade bounced.

"What?"

The monster barely moved.

I stepped back.

Its skull turned toward me.

Then it swung.

I blocked.

The impact nearly threw me backward.

"Damn!"

I gritted my teeth.

I had underestimated it.

Even a Lesser Lesser Lich was still a monster built around magic.

I couldn't overpower it.

I needed to think.

My eyes flickered toward the ground.

Magic.

I had basic elemental magic.

No scrolls.

No acquired skills.

Nothing advanced.

But basic magic was something I could use.

I raised my free hand.

"Fire."

A small flame appeared in my palm.

'Wait....why did i say that? I don'tneed to, my Intelligence Stat is high.'

My Intelligence stat had always been unusually high.

I threw the flame.

The fire struck the Lich's robes.

It recoiled.

"Got you."

I smiled.

Then the smile disappeared.

The flames went out.

The Lich raised both hands.

The ground beneath me shifted.

"Seriously?"

A chunk of earth ripped upward.

I jumped.

The debris tore through the tree behind me.

I landed badly.

The Lich was already moving.

I swung.

It dodged.

I swung again.

It blocked with its arm.

Bone cracked.

But it didn't care.

I gritted my teeth.

My sword was slipping.

My arms were shaking.

Level thirty-something.

Against fifteen.

The difference was enormous.

I had game knowledge.

But knowledge couldn't make my muscles stronger.

The Lich raised its hand again.

I saw the debris floating behind it.

My eyes widened.

"Wait."

The sword slipped from my hand.

It hit the ground.

"No!"

The Lich's magic slammed into the earth.

The debris exploded outward.

A massive chunk of stone flew toward me.

I jumped aside.

The stone missed me.

But it struck my sword.

Crack.

I froze.

The blade snapped.

The broken half fell into the dirt.

I stared at it.

"...No."

'No. No. No. No. This is bad.'

My only weapon.

Gone.

The Lich turned toward me.

I slowly raised my hands.

"Okay."

I swallowed.

"Let's talk about this."

It lunged.

I ran.

For the first time since arriving in Chronix, I wasn't thinking about the plot.

I wasn't thinking about Benige.

I wasn't thinking about Elmi.

I wasn't thinking about being the Hero.

I was thinking about one thing.

I was fifteen levels too weak to fight this thing.

And I had just lost my sword.

"RUN!"

I sprinted through the forest.

'A thought ran through my head, 'I wonder if I get a save point? Haa. Let's not try to find out.'

Behind me, the Lesser Lesser Lich followed.

Its footsteps were slow.

Far too slow.

Yet somehow, it kept gaining on me.

I looked back.

Bad idea.

A bolt of dark magic flew past my head.

"AGH!"

I ducked.

Another struck the tree ahead.

The trunk exploded.

I stumbled.

My legs nearly gave out.

Then I heard voices.

"Over there!"

"Someone's fighting a monster!"

"There's a Lich!"

"He's alive!"

My eyes widened.

People.

Adventurers.

Several figures emerged between the trees.

One of them raised a weapon.

"Get away from it!"

I didn't need telling.

I threw myself toward them.

The adventurers charged past me.

Steel collided with bone.

The Lesser Lesser Lich screeched.

I collapsed onto the ground.

Breathing heavily.

I stared at my broken sword lying several meters away.

Then at the adventurers fighting the monster.

...

..

.

The fight didn't last much longer.

The adventurers surrounded the Lesser Lesser Lich, attacking from every direction.

One distracted it.

Another struck its legs.

A third drove a blade through its ribs.

The fourth raised his hand.

"Flame Burst!"

The spell exploded against the Lich's skull.

Its purple eyes flickered.

Then went dark.

The creature collapsed.

I stared.

"...That was it?"

The adventurers lowered their weapons.

I looked at the corpse.

In Hero Chronicle, monsters usually dropped items after death.

I had never really thought about it before.

In the game, you simply walked over and picked them up.

But now that I was actually here...

"How do item drops even work?"

I muttered.

Did the body disappear?

Did the items materialize?

Did they simply fall out?

I watched curiously as one of the adventurers approached the corpse.

"It's too low-level. Not worth waiting for the loot."

They turned away.

I frowned.

Then they reached me.

The moment they saw my face, all four stopped.

Their expressions changed.

The colour drained from one man's face.

Another slowly lowered his weapon.

"Goddess Vielia..."

He stared at me.

"What have we done?"

My stomach sank. "What?"

The man suddenly kicked me hard in the stomach.

**"AGH!"**

I collapsed.

"What the hell?!"

The four adventurers backed away.

One of them pointed at me.

"Quick! Run!"

They turned and sprinted into the forest.

"Wait!"

I struggled to sit up.

"You just saved me!"

They didn't stop.

"RUN AWAY FROM THAT MONSTER!"