A wondrous result
Coldly.
I look around coldly and organize the situation.
First I looked at the levels of the slave traders who attacked first.
[Lv3.]
Most of them clustered around 3. About regular soldier level. If they aren't the great desert warriors there's a hole to live through.
"Keuk!"
"Hi, there are too many Hydragons!"
The problem is those bastards. There are three level 5 monsters that get judged as raid boss monsters.
'My level is 1.'
On the other hand I am 1. Every one of them is higher than me.
No matter how I think about it it was a quest with no conscience. Survive at level 1 in the middle of a battlefield like this?
Besides, boss monsters get an additional effect judgement attached besides their level.
'Hydragons have bad eyesight. They can't move their body and head at the same time either.'
But in this world if you just know the strategy even a level 1 can kill a level 5 boss monster.
From the start Hydragon was designed to be hunted by twelve level 1s gathering.
You really feel the difference in level, the difference in class, from level 7.
So levels before that can be overcome somehow.
'We can do it.'
Even at level 1 it's too early to despair.
The most important thing is that I'm a veteran of veterans of this game.
Alone doing twelve people's worth, I just have to pull it off.
Kkaang!
The sword and scimitar crashed.
A soldier had already come close, spraying killing intent right in front of me.
'This is a real situation.'
Not a game.
Swinging a sword and using my body doesn't get solved with one click.
This place is a battlefield where flesh hits flesh, gets cut and torn. Only if I move my body myself can I survive.
It looks like there's no hope at all, but there was hope.
'I can see the sword path.'
Is it because of [Weapon Master]?
I can see the sword path. The place I have to swing at is read exactly.
Also the moment I gripped the weapon I understood it naturally. Like I'd swung it tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of times, it was familiar in my hand.
The actions I had to take were drawn in my head.
And before they were drawn in my head my body reacted first.
Kwa-jik!
I knocked the sword aside diagonally, then thrust my fist out and smashed the soldier's jaw.
I cut the neck of the soldier staggering after losing his balance.
There was no hesitation. No fear either.
Because the sword path, and every fighting path, was already being projected into my eyes!
***
The Snake Princess stared at the center of the battlefield with a strange gaze.
Erasing this place is her mission. The absolute command of the Desert Queen.
It wasn't that hard a task.
She is the strongest right after the Queen. And the numbers were far greater on this side.
But one of the slaves suddenly started acting up and began slaughtering her soldiers.
What was even more surprising was that even one Hydragon had been killed by that guy.
He's stirring the battlefield alone.
"... what is that guy?"
"Huuk! Huuk! Haaak!"
It feels like my heart will burst.
Every time I exhale a hot breath it feels like I'm scraping the roof of my throat with a blade.
It's to the point I can't even tell whether what's dripping from above my head are blood drops or sweat drops anymore.
But what's clear is that I'm still alive.
Chaeng!
The blade that had clashed hundreds of times snapped.
Then the net that had been wrapping around me started tightening even more densely.
Among them the spearmen holding spears were especially troublesome.
"The sword broke, kill him!"
"Now!"
The only saving grace is that they aren't a regular army. They didn't build a frame in a military way and move as one.
Just then one spearman drunk on the desire to win broke formation and rushed in.
"Eo-eok!"
I rolled my body up close to that spearman and swept the ground. His feet got caught and he toppled over, dropping his spear.
Before the spear hit the ground I grabbed it, and at that moment the soldiers swung their swords at my opening.
I turned the spearhead, hooked the tips of the incoming swords, and used the recoil to knock them away. Then the soldier's upper body lost balance.
"Ggeok!"
I punched a hole through the soldier's neck with the spearhead. Instant death. With a ripping sound I pulled the shaft out, spun the spear, and blocked the approaching movements. At acrobatic skill like a master who'd trained only spear techniques his whole life, the nearby soldiers' souls drained out.
Because of [Heart of the Iron-Blooded Monarch] I can look around coldly and not tire easily, and another hidden trait [Weapon Master] lets me handle any weapon like a veteran without needing proficiency.
It even produced synergy with [Dexterity].
The hidden trait [Dexterity] is related to skill proficiency. If Weapon Master lets you use all weapons and start proficiency at Lv 5, Dexterity helps you advance to higher proficiency 'easily.'
Skill proficiency also caps at level 10. Proficiency level 6 meant the smoothness of an established knight who had honed it for a lifetime.
And I achieved that the moment I held the weapon.
There are hidden traits that link and create synergy like this. Of course only a tiny number of people know this. Hidden traits weren't well known even among players.
Swords, spears, sabers, bows, scimitars, maces. If it was a weapon I used it without discrimination.
"You monster bastard!"
"That monster's getting tired too!"
"Kill him!"
Along with all kinds of praise the net was narrowing even more.
The attackers are 500. I killed one Hydragon but alone it's too much.
Now that I'm only level 1, if I've killed thirty soldiers and even a Hydragon I've done all I can. It was thanks to minimizing movement to distribute stamina and using every weapon.
If another player saw it they'd be horrified. Even veterans would click their tongues asking if that was possible.
Still I was reaching my limit.
But even at my limit.
A smile formed at the corner of my mouth.
I'd been waiting for this.
'Round 2 begins.'
I loosened my shoulders. My steep breathing regains stability. The movements of the soldiers approaching feel slow. It feels like this is what awakening would be like.
"Stop."
Woo-woong—
That was when it happened.
A woman's voice that rode across the battlefield and smashed into my eardrums.
At that voice the soldiers froze and stopped.
'You finally came.'
The soldiers split like a miracle of Moses.
A woman sitting atop a Hydragon, leisurely watching the front.
Unlike the desert warriors she rode it, but her skin was unusually white. Seeing her approach with a catlike elegant gait, I let out a low sound.
I had expected her appearance.
"T-to think the Princess herself would step in..."
When the centurion gathered courage to speak toward the Snake Princess, the Snake Princess sneered.
"That one isn't tired. He was only pretending to be tired."
"... t, that can't be. His breath and sweat..."
"Look closely. Does his breathing look ragged to you?"
"...."
At that moment the centurion's eyes turned to me.
He frowned as he looked at me who had already steadied my breathing. A face and gaze that said, 'what kind of monster bastard is that.'
"You mean he pretended to be tired... and lured us into letting our guard down?"
"Yes."
It wasn't my intention but the stamina recovery from leveling up seems to have been read that way by the Snake Princess.
I faced the Snake Princess with an unchanged expression.
"As expected. Few keep their composure even when facing me."
I read her momentary killing intent but because of 'Heart of the Iron-Blooded Monarch' I neither flinched nor shrank.
A being who can judge an opponent with mere presence. I looked above her head.
[Lv 8]
Level 8. A level that would be called 'the strongest' anywhere!
The standard that divides the strong of Pangaenia is level 7. From level 7 the real gap appears and the level difference becomes nearly impossible to overturn.
And level 8 is a level only leaders of famous organizations can reach. About one or two in a metropolis of a million people.
'Was there a strong person like this in Faisalmer?'
There is, the Queen of Faisalmer. But besides her there was no named NPC who had reached level 8 as far as I knew.
This was the starting city. Just a starting point.
Yet for some reason the woman in front of me feels strangely familiar.
Should I say familiar to my eyes, or a sense of déjà vu. Like I'd had quite a deep connection with her in the past.
Then she came within close distance and spoke.
"What's your name?"
What's my name?
'I dropped in without even making a nickname.'
Thinking about it I hadn't made a nickname yet. Is this the branch point where you make a nickname?
'And the quest wasn't over.'
There was no sign that the main quest had ended. Survival. That means the task for survival is still in progress.
It's probably because of the Snake Princess. Even everyone gathered here combined is worse than one Snake Princess. Since a threat that can surely kill me is right in front of me, the survival quest can't possibly end.
'Then.'
This 'name' is important too.
"Randolph."
"... Great Wolf? Are you from the desert?"
Randolph is the name of the 'Great Wolf.' When I spoke a word that you can't know unless you're from the desert region, the Snake Princess raised her brows as if surprised.
But only that.
"Why is someone from the desert with the expedition riffraff of the Central Continent?"
Blatant disgust.
The people of the desert describe the humans of the Central Continent as devils.
If they get captured they'll all be used as slaves then killed.
I'm the same. Once her interest is gone she'll kill me.
But there was a question.
'She knows it is an expedition. She knew and still exterminated them.'
She wouldn't wipe them out like this before even using them as slaves.
She even killed all those from the same desert tribes she captured.
'Covering evidence. She's trying to hide that an expedition reached the desert.'
The Eight Heroes and the expedition... it must refer to the grand expedition to the Demon Realm that I caused while wearing eight pieces of 'unique-grade items.'
But I failed the expedition. Even after finishing all preparations I couldn't cross the threshold of the Demon King. Besides the Demon King being too strong there were several reasons.
'She's afraid of the Central Continent.'
I reached a conclusion.
The desert Queen fears the desert being tied to the expedition.
Because she knows if she gets entangled when the failure of the expedition is discussed, a bloodstorm will blow. Soldiers were drafted from almost every metropolis of the continent but the desert city Faisalmer was an exception.
This place was the easiest to witch-hunt.
So she's removing everything that could be tied even by 0.1g.
After roughly reading the situation I opened my mouth.
"I was observing the movements of the Central Continent."
"... a spy from the Central Continent? Who sent you?"
"I went on my own."
"On your own? Speak something that makes sense. Above all I've never seen a warrior like you in this desert. Your skin color is different, and you don't even have a tribal mark. If you think you can swindle me with something you overheard..."
"The stars told me."
Ttuk!
The Snake Princess's whole body stopped as if by a lie.
Then with bizarre eyes she asked me.
"... stars?"
Flustered. Shocked. And desperation.
'Looks like I'm right.'
From her reaction I became sure why the Snake Princess felt familiar.
The Snake Princess is the being I know.
And the reason she reacts like this is simple.
Stars are her 'gap.'
At the same time they were the only route for me to live.
Certain, I began my 'acting.'
"Star Bearer. I am not bound to any tribe. I never said with my own mouth that I'm from the desert either, but I don't know why you're mistaken."
"...!!!"
Star Bearer. One who reads stars and is guided by stars.
They were seers, true wanderers who were few in the world. Following stars, chasing stars, moving and praying for stars.
And it was a name the Snake Princess needed no matter what.
"Snake Princess Isabella. Isabella Von Dersian."
"H-how do you know... my full name?"
"A Star Bearer can hear the voice of the stars."
That means the stars told me.
Of course that wasn't possible.
Star Bearer is a class players can't obtain. Only chosen NPCs can have it, and players had to find them when they went beyond level 10 and had to obtain stars.
And Isabella Von Dersian was similar.
She wanted to leave this desert more than anyone.
She was the one bound by the Queen's curse. She was also the one not from a desert tribe. But to escape she needed stars, the blessing of stars.
How do I know all that?
'Why on earth did the character I created turn into a snake princess?'
I thought no way but no way grabbed me by the throat.
The worst starting point.
A character I made lightly just as "let's try it for experience," why is she in front of me right now, I don't know.
Her limits were clear, and in this desert there was no way to grow further so I gave up.
More precisely because of the Queen's curse, without the 'blessing of stars' there was no way to advance. But finding a Star Bearer in the desert was impossible so I gave up.
That abandoned character is now the Snake Princess in front of me, how could I not be flustered.
At that moment.
<'Main Quest 1: Survival' has been completed.>
... the notice that I survived.
Even after killing dozens of soldiers and taking a Hydragon's head the quest didn't complete, but now at last it told me it was over.
And that wasn't all.
<'The Constellation of Battle' scratches its nose saying you're decent. Rewards are upgraded further.>
....
After checking the contents I couldn't not be shocked.
"... insane."
Because the rewards were the kind that made "insane" spill out on its own.