Chapter 3: Memento Mori

Wolfy looked over the map of the area. He looked over all the places that him and his sister had travelled to. The two of them had uncovered every area aside from one small location that they avoided due to not being of a high enough level. Both him and his sister where of the highest level then any player. Being at level 99 meant they were stronger then most of the players in the world. Yet, neither of them had made it to the level cap of 100. The only player that was even remotely close to them in level was a girl named Himorogi.

Himorogi was a well-known name among the players of Phantasia. Yet, no one had ever seen her. She had gone into hiding as best as she could after reaching level 90 with only a few high levelled players retaining the right to be on her friend’s list – Wolfy and Mariya being two of the six people. Overall, only nine players in total had managed to reach the ranks of the 90s.

“What are you doing, nii?”

The room was silent as Mariya noticed her brother was in a deep thought. Poking his cheek gently, Mariya smiled as she watched her brother jump slightly.

“How long have you been standing there?”

“About six seconds. You were pretty deep in thought. What’s up?”

“I was thinking we should try to finally reach level one-hundred. That one area we avoided, Enfieria,” Wolfy said as he pointed to the area on the map.

“The land of shadows and death. Home to Nakagome, the queen of the dead.”

“We will probably need at least six people minimum to take down the boss.”

Mariya took a moment to think about the people she would have to get together and if they would be able to actually beat the boss with their equipment.

“Think we should do it?” Wolfy asked.

“Sure, why not? Let’s call up Himorogi and see if she and a few others will join.”

“In total we can have six members in a single party. Himorogi is a gunslinging assassin, so we have at least one other damage dealer.”

“Just need three more. Of which two should be healers.”

Mariya opened up her menu and quickly looked over the few players she had added to her friend’s list.

“So, we could have a party of you, me, Himorogi, Rhyiera, Scyilia and Abyssinia. You, Himorogi and Scyilia would be on attack duty. Rhyiera and Abyssinia would serve as healers and I’d act as support and use enchantment magic for you and the other attackers.”

“And then you can fallback as a healer if need be, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Sounds like we got a plan then. All we need is to gather up as many items as we can for the area and make sure we have some Reaper Stones in the event that we die,” Wolfy said as he checked his inventory.

“At least we know those things can revive you after death – well, so long as it’s within a minute after the death.”

After the two of them checked over everything in their inventory, they looked to each other.

“You mind gathering up the items we need? I’ll get in contact with the others.”

“Sure. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

Rushing out with the speed of a wolf, Mariya’s brother exited the room while she looked over the names on her friend’s list. Sitting down on her throne, she called up Himorogi. The line was silent for a moment until a voice girl’s voice was heard on the other end.

“Mari… do you know what time it is?”

“Glad to see hear from you too, Himorogi.”

“I assume this is something big.”

“Of course. You think I’d call you up just to chat? My brother and I are going to gather up a few others to head into Enfieria and kill the boss there, Nakagome.”

“All right, you have my attention.”

#

Mariya carefully monitored the status of the party from a safe distance. Their small party had managed to reach the lair of where Nakagome was and they were close to killing the queen over the domain of death. After getting the boss down to the last twenty-five percent of its health, Mariya noticed a change in the monster’s attack patterns. Within that moment, she realised the monster also had a boost to its attack and strength. One blow from the back of its hand was enough to kill Abyssinia and Rhyiera.

“I think it’s time for us to retreat,” Mariya said as others continued to their assault.

“We just need to keep attacking and it’ll fall,” Himorogi said.

The battle continued on until Mariya grew worried by what she was seeing. While the boss was on the verge of death, she could see that the others were nearing the danger zone. In that moment, the boss sprayed a venomous breath that inflicted a status effect on all three of the attackers – Wolfy, Himorogi and Scyilia. Mariya held her breath as she watched the finally bit of health drop from the boss drop to zero. Finally, Wolfy and Mariya had reached their goal of being level one-hundred.

“We did it, sis!” Wolfy said with a happy expression on his face.

Mariya could tell that her brother was holding back the pain from the venom that had spread throughout his body, same as Himorogi and Scyilia. All three of them were about to die right before her eyes and she could only save one of them. She noticed the level up screen appearing as she saw the three digit number and all the stat boost she had gain. Before she could enjoy the moment, all three of her teammates had collapsed to the ground. Rushing over to Wolfy with haste, Mariya opened her inventory and pulled out a Reaper Stone.

Using the last stone she had on her, she revived her brother and smiled as he avoided the light from beyond the grave. Pulling out one of the energy drinks from her bag, she handed it to him. Popping the top of can, Wolfy downed the whole can in one go. Standing to his feet, he looked over the area.

“Guess we should revive the other two.”

“You still have more stones?”

“I have two left.”

“Let’s get them up then.”

#

The guild lobby was silent as Mariya walked down the hall with her brother at her side in the form of a wolf. She had managed to recruit Himorogi and Scyilia to their guild and convinced them of their overall goal. Entering into the main guild room, Mariya sat down on the throne as Wolfy curled up in her lap. Her mind raced with what their next move should be. While she continued to think, she missed the sound of the doors opening.

Wolfy’s eyes opened to see Himorogi, Scyilia and Yara entering the room. Nudging his sister gently snapped her out of her thoughts. Himorogi and the others stopped in front of the throne as Mariya gently placed her hand on Wolfy’s head.

“So, what’s the plan, boss?” Himorogi asked.

“I’m feeling like the beach would be fun,” Mariya said with a smile.