Martial Online.



Whoosh—shining blade turned blurry as it slashed apart several moving trees that looked like they were alive. The trees moved their branches, trying to attack the silver-haired girl.

"Silver Flash!" Serenity exhaled, switched the grip on her sword to reverse, and swung it at the nearby trees. The trees got blown to pieces, leaving behind badly cut tree stumps.

The attack was so fast that the alive-looking trees couldn't react with their already slow movements.

At that moment, several trees protruded from the ground. Their branches were the size of an adult man's arm, and the trees were five meters high. On the bark of the trees, there were two small holes and a crescent-shaped line, as if they were trying to imitate a human face.

"Serenity, what are these things?!" Layla shouted while dodging the attacks from the trees. One of the branches suddenly extended out and tried to stab her face, but she quickly parried the branch and slashed through the bark.

The tree fell down in two parts, and it stopped moving as if it had died.

"It doesn't matter; let's move!" Serenity shouted and grabbed her sword with both hands. Her eyes were filled with determination as she took a strong step forward while swinging her sword at the surrounding trees.

"Silver Crescent Show!"

Swoosh—Crack—Thud!

The blade slashed through the trees, leaving behind broken-apart tree trunks and twigs. The tree leaves scattered in all directions as if they were being blown by a strong wind.

The trees stayed down, with the remaining leaves on their branches withering away, signaling their imminent death.

"Let's go!" Serenity said to Layla and ran towards the tunnel, which was her escape from this tree monster room. Layla followed closely behind, and they soon exited the room.

"Whew." Layla let out a breath of relief. She had never faced such odd monsters before.

Serenity continued walking without staying behind to marvel at the destruction they left behind in the room.

"Ah, wait!" Layla ran after her, not expecting her to continue walking as soon as they left the room.

After a while, they exited the tunnel. This time, they entered a room with a dozen different tunnels leading deeper into the metal-covered facility.

"Ah, can we even reach the end with so many paths?" Layla said with a sigh. "No wonder Zahhak asked for help. Even with us, this might take us a few weeks!"

Serenity looked around with a frown on her brows. She looked at the entrance that went right. It was one of the few entrances that didn't seem to go deeper into the facility.

"Let's go there." She said and walked to that path with a serious look in her beautiful face.

"Eh, why?" Layla ran after her. "We aren't advancing if we go down this path!"

...

"..." Cerberus looked at the dozen entrances in front of him with a silent expression on his face.

"Should we split?" Ambrose asked from the side. He thought it would be wisest for now, but he also wanted to part ways with Cerberus. He had a very bad feeling about him.

"Nah, haha." However, Cerberus simply laughed and pointed at one random entrance. "Let's go there. I have a good feeling about this one."

Ambrose frowned and followed after him inside the tunnel. To him, it looked like he just randomly chose one of the tunnels and decided to go with it.

"Have you ever played Ember Online?" Cerberus asked.

"No, I haven't." Ambrose replied. Martial Online was the first VR game he tried.

"Mm, if you had, you would know Zahhak." Cerberus chuckled. "We were so infamous that guilds made quests to hunt us down, promising huge rewards.

"However, no one managed to kill us. Instead, they just made us stronger."

'Stronger...'

"Do you know why we are so hated?" Cerberus turned to Ambrose and asked the question.

"I suppose you will tell me why." Ambrose replied rather sarcastically.

"Heh." Cerberus chuckled, not minding his behavior. "Because we only PKd. Since day one, I have made it a rule to only kill players and not a single wild animal or monster."

"Why?" Ambrose asked with a frown.

"Because fighting the animals and monsters is so dull." Cerberus scoffed. "They always have the same patterns. It can be exciting to fight them once, but more than that, it is so boring. They all fight so similarly.

"However, none of the players have the same patterns. Some fight cowardly, some bravely, and others smartly. None I have met have been fighting with a similar pattern, none."

Cerberus caressed the hilt of his sword with a smile. "I have always played for my personal enjoyment. I find myself happy when I have successfully killed a powerful player."

Ambrose looked silently at his back and tightened his grip on his swords. Cold sweat dripped down from his face to the metal floor.

"Anyway, enough of me." Cerberus chuckled and pointed with his chin ahead. "We are about to enter another room."

Ambrose looked past him and saw a large door at the end of the tunnel. It was a door that fit perfectly into the arc-shaped entrance. It was also the first door that they had seen.

"Ahah, unlucky." Cerberus turned around, showing his intention to return to where they came from.

"Where are you going?" Ambrose questioned him.

"The door is a dead end." Cerberus said. "When we came here first with only Zahhak, we couldn't get past the door. However, there are also paths with no doors. I am sure those doorless paths are the way.

"However, it would have taken months to find the correct path. It simply wasn't worth it. So, we asked for some help."

"I see..." Ambrose glanced at the door. The door was brown and had strange engravings. It didn't have a door handle or lock. At first glance, it seemed like it couldn't be opened.

They returned down the path where they came from and soon arrived at the room with a dozen different entrances.

"So, should we split up and send a message if we find it?" Ambrose asked, as it sounded like the wisest idea.

"Hmm..." Cerberus looked at him with a knowing smirk. "You wouldn't try to get away from me, would you?"

"Eh? No..." Ambrose felt shivers run down his spine. "It might take us a whole day to find the right path. So, it could take us half the time it takes us in half..."

"You are right." Cerberus smiled. "I would have suggested it too. We send a message if we find it."

"Yeah..." Ambrose looked around the entrances and pointed at one of them. "I am taking this one."

"Mm." Cerberus walked to the path, which they first used. He drew his sword and made a small scratch on the metal wall. "Remember to mark your entrance so we don't use the same one multiple times."

"Yeah." Ambrose drew his sword and made a small cut on the wall. He then entered the tunnel with rapid steps and tried to walk away from the room as quickly as he could.

After walking for several minutes, he let out a relieved sigh and scratched his hair.

'He is creepy as fuck. I hate when I don't know what they are thinking. Same with Alice—what does she want from me? I am so tired of this!'

Ambrose stopped walking and rubbed his chin with a thoughtful look.

'Should I just leave? If I logged out, I would appear back in Yatagarasu. Then, I could remove the temporary spawn, log out again, and reappear in Amaterasu.

'However, the time I spent getting here I would never get back. I would lose two days of possible progress. Many players had already passed me in level, so if I returned to Amaterasu, there would be many stronger players than me.

'I need the rewards.

'Think, Jesse, think!'

Ambrose gritted his teeth, but then his expression loosened. He suddenly started smiling and let out a laugh.

'If things go south and I end up in combat, I won't be able to log out. It's not possible to log out during combat; however, I have one item that would allow me to escape!

'For now, I have to follow Cerberus' lead and be careful.' Ambrose looked back down the path he came from. He couldn't see anyone except the metal corridor.