What am I doing?! Touch-Me chided himself after realizing the situation he had just put himself into. Since he rarely got to enact his fabled paragon of saving the weak as a police officer, he immediately jumped into action after seeing the supposed injustice at hand. But as he stood in his hero pose for a good 4 seconds, he began to realize just how little he thought this through.
Am I even picking the right side here? Is this girl a villain, they mentioned here worshiping a undead or something similar. And whats worse is I don't even know there levels! Uwah... damn, I really screwed myself, huh. Granted there weapons and armor look weak, but that could still just be a trick!
In YGGDRASIL, some players would pretend to be noobs that were just starting out by changing the looks of all there high end gear to look like starter sets. They would get the jump on others by striking them when they least suspect it. Though this lead to the unwritten rule of "kill on sight" as one would rather feel the shame of slaying a newbie, then potentially lose a battle because of a bad first hit. Though these tactics weren't all that common, as most players who used those tactics would build in a stealth based build, like Nishikienrai did, so such tricks were usually pointless. Plus most players said they wanted to "look like a badass in fights", so such tricks were practically non existent.
But it would be bad if he got careless due to that fact. Even though he was one of the strongest players, Signified by his [World Champion] class, assuming that these people were all level 100, he would be in for a tough time. And considering he had none of his gear, it would practically be a execution.
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...Huh?
Of the 14 people that were gathered at this spot, 13 of them were thinking the exact same thing. That being, who, or what is this thing? It was a insect type monster, for sure, but what type was uncertain. Much of the world was still unknown, and of all the monsters in the world, insects were one of the lesser known types. Doubly so for intelligent ones. And considering the wind from its... Pose? Has ripped up enough wind to disturb the flora a good 20 feet away, it was obviously strong.
Seeing this inhuman creature acting decidedly human like only amplified their unease. This thing was most likely attacking those who had disturbed its territory, but what ever the case, their target had changed. Just as they were deciding what to do, the creature began to speak.
"Which one of you is my foe?"
The Voice it emitted was not what one would expect a insect to sound like. While one may imagine one to be very slimy and high pitched, this voice was deep and powerful, and felt slightly robotic with how stiff it sounded.
Before they could even comprehend what it had even said, Neia quickly jumped to the occasion and told the creature...
"These men are trying to kill me, because I founded a religion that goes against there own! They are scum who deserve to die!"
You bitch!
Before a counter argument had even been said, the creature had seemingly made its choice be stating a bone chilling judgment
"I... I see."
Panic set in before anything else. This creature was clearly not intelligent, given the way it had stuttered with a simple sentence. In other words, it was simply trying to act like a human. Though for what purpose, nobody knew.
Driven by fear, the man unsheathed his blade and swung as hard as he could towards the neck before this thing had the chance to attack. If he could get lucky, maybe it would retreat or..
the man never finished his thought. He had no need to now that he had become a stain on the floor. The nauseating scent of freshly spilled offal began to fill the air.
Faster than the eye could see, the creature had used a god given technique to obliterate there comrade before their brains even registered what had happened.
"Now..."
this creature's eyes hungered for blood, that was what these battle hardened warriors instincts had told them. With no choice left, the readied their bows...
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Uhh...
While Touch-Me was listening to the girls response, he was inclined to name her as the victim here, but cursed himself for stuttering at the changing scene. They surely saw him as nothing special after that display. but before he had enough to ask for the other side of the story and hopefully regain his confidence, he found one of the men charging at him, sword in hand. While he didn't want to fight them, given the infinitely disadvantageous situation he found himself in, he needed to stop the man without provoking the others.
Just as he was about to say "now hold on a minute" the gesture he had been making with his sword arm had accidentally grazed the man. Given that he was wearing chain mail, and the swing had no effort put into it, seeing as it was a gesture meant for communication, he ignored this as the man would be fine and was about to deescalate the situation by starting. "now..."
as he started his speech. He realized that he had made a terrible mistake. To Touch-Me, that strike wouldn't have even registered as hit. But that was going off the assumption that he was a high level like himself. To the level 7 mercenary, a slight graze from the level 100 warrior would be instantly fatal. He could have taken a strike from a ogres club head on, and take less damage.
A faint pang of relief ran through touch me, as he realized that the warrior band he was up against were actually weak, but that was quickly silenced by the realization that he had started hostilities with a unknown force. If they were under the protection of someone who was truly strong, then he would be in for a world of hurt.
There were some hidden bosses that could be fought in YGGDRASIL by fulfilling certain conditions or special quest. In some of these quest, you would have to kill a certain amount of NPC's who worshiped a certain god, and by killing them, would draw the wrath of that god, causing them to descend to the battlefield, and leading into some truly difficult raid battles, or in some rare cases, world class enemies. If where he was followed the rules of YGGDRASIL, then he should have accessed the situation more. Damn it! Why did I act so quickly. Well, no point in crying over spilt milk. I choose to rescue this girl, so that's what I intend to do. No matter the consequences!
As the volley of arrows approached him, he honestly was embarrassed at how panicked he was a moment prior. The came at him so slowly that he wanted to yawn. He swiftly cut them out of the air, and while he could have ended things there by sending them back where they came from, he wanted to test if his skills were still available, to see if he truly was still level 100. so he selected one of his higher tiered skills.
"[Earth Rend!]"
this skill allowed the user to strike at the ground beneath them, causing a AOE effect in a wide range that dealt a decent amount of damage and left the targets blinded and dizzy. At max power, it could easily encompass a mile in range. However he didn't give it his all, for fear of harming the girl behind him. When the sword made contact with the ground, a large, C shaped cloud of earth, soon assaulted the men in question. Not only completely obliterating them, but destroying several trees within 200 ft of them, turning the once beautiful vista into fertile ground.
"well I guess that answers any questions about my level. Its a shame about the wildlife though." After confirming that he was indeed, still the same level, he finally let himself relax, seeing as there seemed to be nothing in the vicinity coming to harm him. Though he quickly snapped out of his thoughts after realizing that he still hadn't explained anything to the girl.
"are you alright?" He asked her calmly while reaching a hand to her.
She was hesitant at first, but after a moments delay, took his hand and stood up. Taking a moment to sweep the dust off of her body. Through her gaze, it was clear that she was clearly still suspicious of him. Though managed to say "t-thank you for helping me umm... whoever you are?"
"I apologize for the late introduction. My name is Touch-Me, and I have found myself a bit lost. I woke up in a cave nearby, and, understandably am a bit confused as to how I got here. Would you mind filling me in?"
"uh.. s-sure thing. This is the northern holy kingdom. I am Neia Baraja, but before that, though this may be a bit rude, what exactly are you?"
While he was confused, seeing as heteromorphs were hardly uncommon in YGGDRASIl, though a minority, as well as the fact that there was no place in YGGDRASIL known as the holy kingdom. No, I can't focus on that right now. Right now, I simply have to get in her good graces.
"I am a insectoid. Due they not exist in this area?" he questioned Neia. " well, its not that they don't exist, but I've never seen one like you, nor one with the ability to speak. While the zerns can, you don't look related to them." she responded.
Zern? Once again terms were popping up that he had never even heard of before. His problem was a lack of information. He needed intel.
"I see... well I can assure you that I am not going to hurt you. I know this may be a bit much to ask, but can you take me to a nearby city or village so I can get my surroundings down?"
"that may be a problem. I do apologize as you may have just saved my life, but our country has recently been in a war with a large amount of invading demi-humans, so while I don't know if you are one, people would certainly react negatively towards you. Do you know how to get back to where you came from?"
While he could have just said "I do not, please help me" he didn't want to reveal any Intel that may compromise him. And from the conversation she was having earlier, he realized that she must be highly placed in this country to have founded a religion. And getting involved with her may lead to a large amount of attention placed upon himself. So he did the best thing he could at that moment. That was to leave and try to find a way out of the forest himself.
"now that you have told me my location, I probably can make it back from here. Until we meet again."
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"Wait a..." before she could even register what had happened, the creature known as Touch-Me had left he field of vision.
If this were the Neia of the past, she most likely would have panicked after seeing the creature and not have been able to recover. But her experiences that she had accumulated over the course of the war had changed her world view tremendously. If she had not met lord Ainz, she would not have come to realize that creatures cannot be categorized as good and evil. Every member of every race has different views. After learning this, trusting unknown creatures like that became slightly easier.
Still, what was that thing. Its power beggared belief! They said that there was a insectile demon god 200 years ago. Could that Touch-Me be related to it? While she wasn't convinced, seeing as it attempted to help her instead of killing her, the emergence of beings like Ainz-sama and jaldabaoth may signify a new age of gods.
She shook her head to clear it of these pointless thoughts. "well, from the looks of things the barghest is gone, seeing as that creature had said it came out of that cave, and the fact that all this noise hasn't attracted it is certainly a sign that its dead. Well, I guess I'll head back then." as she began to head back the way she came, her mood suddenly skyrocketed.
Ainz-sama informed us that he would be visiting the holy kingdom today! I can't be late and miss Him. What kind of servant would I Be! Increasing her speed, she ran down the path, hoping to make it in time to catch the reception.