Reborned Top Gamer: Spell-Swordman Rule the World

11 JENNY IS BRAVE

Echo Corridor was a place of many mysteries. Without Walt’s guidance, Ailsa feared that she and Jenny might have been lost. They had bought maps and used it to navigate their way through the endless mazes. Luckily, there was a central part of the area where an NPC hotel and tavern were located and despite the harsh conditions, there were still some players there. Walt and the girls checked into the hotel and proceeded to explored Echo Corridor.

“According to this map, there’s a largely unexplored part of this area. I think if we go there, we’ll find a lot of tasks,” Walt spread the map over a table in the lobby of the hotel which they all huddled over. Ailsa pursed her lips as she stared at the map, she couldn’t make sense of what she saw, it was too confusing.

“I was talking to one of the other players, he said the monsters use camouflage and sneak up on you…I don’t want to get hurt again,” Jenny said. Her main concern was avoiding pain and she has already been hurt because of one of Walt’s grand plans.

“Don’t worry, I already know that. When I played before, I already explored these parts and I know enough about those monsters. We’ll reach full ranks in no time,” Walt replied and he was true to his word. They went searching for the monsters with the right equipment and did not falter because of Walt’s experience.

The first monster they encountered was a giant arachnid with sixteen legs and a venomous bite. It captured Jenny and rolled her in its sticky web forcing Walt and Ailsa to run after it. Ailsa used her control on nature to distract the monster and put it in a sort of trance while Walt delivered a killing blow and freed Jenny who was complaining about being the main target for monsters.

They also fought another giant serpent that seemed to be plentiful in Echo Corridor. Most of the monsters they fought were largely brought down by Walt and Ailsa, Jenny stayed back because of the fear of pain she has. Due to this, Walt and Ailsa quickly raised their ranks and after almost two months in Echo Corridor, they almost had full ranks. They tried to convince Jenny to face her fears a lot but she kept using defensive skills until one day.

“I really don’t think it’s a good idea to go after this monster,” Jenny said as they packed up their equipment. Walt almost rolled his eyes at her usual objection but Ailsa just smiled.

“Come on, we’ve killed every monster we’ve fought. This will be a piece of cake,” Ailsa said and rubbed Jenny’s arm to try and convince her. The knight was still not convinced. The monster Walt was insisting they go after was one of the most notorious ones in Echo Corridor and has not yet been defeated by any of the players before them. It was a sabretooth jaguar that was rumored to have nine tails, four eyes, fangs as long as arms, and as sharp as daggers. Some players said it could clone itself, that it was as big as a mountain and that scared the hell out of Jenny. She thought Walt was too ambitious and they had achieved enough already but it seemed there was something he was up to.

“You can just stay if you want, but I chose this task specifically because of you,” Walt said and Jenny frowned. He was very sweet-tongued and knew exactly how to convince people. Although, she had to admit that he was very good at what he did and so far, they had made a lot of progress and achievements.

“Because of me? How?” she asked and he smiled.

“Well, you see…I want the three of us to have full ranks and we are almost there but Ailsa and I are closer to it than you. So, if we manage to capture this monster and you kill it, you would get boosted to full rank and so would we.”

Jenny chuckled and rolled her eyes after he explained because she already knew he would be convincing; she did not think he would be so convincing though.

“Okay, let’s go,” she finally said. Ailsa clapped her hands excitedly but Walt just nodded. He was growing tired of having to convince Jenny each time they had to go on a slightly dangerous adventure. Her phobia for pain was very strong and after the experience with the serpent in the cave, it seemed to have gotten worse. The adventure was more important than he let on though, it was the final step in unlocking the hidden task that he did when he was employed by Minan. That task was crucial in determining their standing as a team and help them get to a worldwide level.

They finally left the temperature-controlled the lobby of the hotel and made their way through the frigid environment. After a few minutes of wandering, Walt helped to locate tracks that led to the dwellings of the sabretooth jaguar which happened to be a huge cave at the bottom of the biggest mountain in the area.

“Hell no,” Ailsa said and started to turn around to leave when Walt pulled her back.

“Relax,” he said and saw Jenny fidgeting also “it’s okay, I have a plan.”

“Yeah, getting us killed,” Ailsa said and folded her arms to glare at him “we agreed no more caves. Don’t know if you’ve checked but this is a cave.”

Walt sighed in irritation. Sometimes he felt like he had the best teammates in the world and other times, he would trade them for some equipment in a minute. He carefully explained to them that he planned to enter the cave alone and lure the beast out in the open where Ailsa would use one of her nature tricks to distract it and shoot it as many times as she could. Then, Jenny would use a shrouding spell on it to trap it and deliver a killing blow. The only thing left after that was the celebration.

“Sounds like a good plan if the sabretooth jaguar was a dummy,” argued Jenny “it has nine tails and it can clone itself. Even if I shrouded it, wouldn’t it just clone another one of itself?”

“It does not clone. People just say that because they don’t want to look weak.”

“You’re absolutely sure?” Ailsa asked and Walt nodded. She then looked at Jenny who nodded also “alright let’s do it.” Walt said and clapped his hands before heading into the cave with a torch in his hands.

“I am not going after him again,” Ailsa said to Jenny a minute after Walt had disappeared into the darkness. Jenny just smiled, knowing that Ailsa was trying to convince herself not to go in.

“Let’s just stick to the plan. Instead of waiting in front here, maybe we should find good hiding positions.” Jenny offered. She figured doing some type of activity would distract her.

“Okay,” Ailsa said and they both moved around until they found suitable hiding places. Ailsa flew to the top of a cherry blossom tree and held on to a branch, waiting while Jenny found a large boulder to hide behind. Then they waited and waited and waited…

“Jenny?” Ailsa whispered after ten minutes of waiting.

“Yeah?” Jenny replied from behind her boulder where she was starting to get restless.

“Do you think we should-” Ailsa was interrupted by a deafening roar that sent birds taking off to the sky. A few seconds later, Walt came dashing out of the cave, and behind him was the sabretooth jaguar. It was the size of an elephant, it had skin that was as black as soot, it had the fabled nine tails and the fangs, the fangs were the scariest part of the beast. It was right on Walt’s tail and from Ailsa’s perspective, she could see that the monster had cut wounds on its back probably from Walt’s sword. Although she was stunned for a little while, Ailsa quickly regained her focus and summoned the spirits of the trees around her to use an enchantment spell. The leaves and flower petals from the trees around her rose to form a wave that surrounded the beast. It roared and flapped its tail to try and swat them away.

At that moment, Jenny jumped out from behind her boulder and brought her right fist to her left palm in a spell pose. Then, just as the beast managed to swat all the annoying leaves and flowers away, she summoned her shrouding spell and it covered all parts of the beast but it's tail.

“No!” Ailsa screamed as the beast waved its tails like a propeller and broke free from the enchantment. She started to fire arrows at it but it seemed not to notice them and started to charge towards Jenny. Walt who was standing a little far from the scene saw it roaring at the knight as she stood there, frozen in place.

“Jenny!” he screamed at her “kill the bastard!”

That short pep talk seemed to get to her because she unsheathed her sword from her back and grasped the hilt tightly. Ailsa kept firing her arrows and Walt started running towards Jenny to help her. Jenny sucked in a deep breath and with a guttural battle cry, she launched towards the sabretooth jaguar. The beast let out a roar of its own and leaped in the same moment as Jenny, baring its fangs at her.

Mid-air, after staring down the dark throat of the monster, she closed her eyes and swung her sword as hard as she could. The beast roared and slashed its paws at her, its claws barely missing her face. Jenny landed on the ground with a thud and looked behind her to see that she had managed to cut it in half and it laid there in a pool of blood. Breathing heavily, she could hear her heart in her chest and feel the blood rushing to her ears.

“Oh! Jenny!” Ailsa screamed and jumped from the tree, landing on the ground as nimbly as a cat. Walt already reached Jenny and helped her to her feet “that was amazing,” he said and beamed at her. Ailsa threw her arms around her, slamming her into a hug. Jenny blushed from all the praise, and was so proud of herself, she barely felt the bruise from where she had landed.

“Now, let’s go collect our due,” Walt said and the three of them headed back to the hotel, exhausted.