Everlast Online

Nina quickly found that her territory was a lost cause, the largest village had long been abandoned and the number of monsters wandering the village were far too many for people to have lived there in many years.

"I know why you wanted the territory, but did you really have to choose such a shitty location." Nina sighed, irritated that she couldn't live the lavish life of a noble she had wanted to.

However, right as Nina was about to turn away and find something new to do she felt a strange sensation come over her. In an instant she dropped to the ground, her right leg bending for her to instantly fall. It was [Opportunistic] telling her to dodge and fight as quite an opportunity had presented itself.

As she hit the floor she saw a disturbing creature jump over her. It was strangely human, yet not.

Like a beast it had claws and an elongated mouth full of sharp teeth; its fully red eyes showed not even a hint of emotion as it rolled along the floor and turned to face Nina with a starved, ravenous look - drool slobbering out of its mouth like a dog.

However, other than that it had the body of a human walking on all fours. Thin arms and legs, an exposed ribcage from how little it had eaten, hair so dirty, greasy and full of bugs that it likely hadn't been washed in years; and finally all of its... Private areas, fully human and on display.

It looks like if someone tried to draw a werewolf without any of the wolf parts. Nina thought as she pulled out her knives.

The monster glared at her, moving with clear discomfort as it circled her. Nina put one hand behind her back, activating [Deck of Cards] and throwing them with curves she had learnt from improving [Knife Juggler]. Three cards flew out from behind her, cutting into the creature and causing it to bleed, this sudden attack launched the creature into action, but it was already too late.

Activating [Out of Sync] allowed Nina to dodge the monster's obvious attack pattern even easier and with [Duplicate] from her earrings creating ten more of her knives the fight ended quickly. Knives plunging into the monster's flesh and bringing it down.

However, Nina's eyes went wide with shock as the creature came closer to death - it stopped being a monster. 

Slowly, the claws receded and the mouth returned to how a human's should be. Laid a pool of her own blood was a human that Nina brought to her death, but when she rushed over to apologise, pulling one of Liz's potions out of her inventory the woman smiled with a sad joy.

"Thank... You..." It whispered hoarsely, " Thank... You... For... Breaking the... Witch's... Curse..."

"Witch?" Nina cried, cradling the woman in her arms, "What witch?"

"I hope... My brother... Is... Happy..." She gasped her final words before she collapsed with a smile on her face.

Before Nina could even process what was happening a system message appeared in front of her:

"There's so little info!" Nina cried as she read through the quest again and again.

Quests in ELO were not common and in fact most things that would often be quests usually weren't. They typically held more significance than they did in most other games, while other tasks that would usually be considered quests simply aren't.

As a result, the forums were always abuzz with talks of different quests - Nina exceptionally happy to have got one of her own. The only problem was that there were literally no clues besides the girl dead in her arms.

"Okay... Think..." She muttered, finding it easier to order her thoughts when she spoke them, "The quest says Witch of the Mountain and the only mountains around here are the ones to the east, the... Something Divide. Something about snakes... Uh, that stone lady... Ah! The Gorgon Divide!"

Just like that Nina got notice she had updated her quest:

That was easier than expected. Nina thought, smiling slightly. Guess I have a destination.

She looked down at the woman in her arms, but could do nothing more than lay her gently on the ground and offer a prayer. Nina didn't really believe in god and she knew that monsters would soon feast on the girl, but there was nothing she could do except hope that she may be happier in whatever came after death.

Nina set off towards the Gorgon Divide, being the only clue she had for her new quest.

---

It took Nina a long time before she finally arrived at the foot of the first mountain, literal days of walking and only gaining two levels and reaching level ninety six.

Liz did keep complaining that getting to level one hundred took way longer than normal. Nina thought as she looked up at the mountain, a path up just barely peeking out from behind. 

Nina ascended the mountain fairly quickly, not many monsters presenting themselves on the path, at least not until she began to arrive in areas that were lacking much vegetation. By that point snake monsters had begun to slither out from the cracks of the mountain, they were not exceptionally dangerous due to their low levels, but Nina was still cautious after she had seen them attack another monster.

A group had snuck up on a goat looking monster, biting it before it even had the chance to flee; the goat then began turning to stone, the petrification speeding up as more and more venom entered its system.

After seeing that, Nina decided to deal with them from a distance by using [Deck of Cards], increasing its level quickly as it was already one of her favourite skills. With one card she could reliably cut off one of the monster's heads with ease - it was only as she ascended higher that fighting became more difficult. The snakes came in larger numbers with higher levels and to avoid petrification Nina was forced to make use of her incredibly high agility and misdirection abilities.

She found it strange that both [Charm] and [Fan Favourite] seemed to work on the snakes, allowing her to have some snakes attack others and forcing some of the monster to hesitate when attacking her; furthermore, with [Trickster's Performance] she was able to slowly handle the ever increasing number of snakes.

If only they were just slightly higher level. Nina sighed, having been fighting nothing but snakes for the past few hours and only levelling up a single time. However, she was thankful that she could level up her skills, even reaching a point where [Stealth] was able to evolve.

There were quite a few choices ranging from the skill [Chameleon (D)] that changed the colours of her body, clothes and items to better blend into the environment, to skills like [Invisibility (D+)] that made the user entirely invisible.

However, what Nina made as her final choice was one influenced by her class:

[Magician's Farewell (1) (C): Releases a cloud of smoke and small explosion to instantly transport the user 5 metres in any direction; the user is then cloaked from the perception of others. Cloaking scales with CHA and skill level]

The skill did not have as strong actual stealth abilities as some of the other skills, but it did not need to. [Magician's Farewell] was rooted in misdirection, coming with a built in burst of smoke and a dazzling (thought small) explosion of lights; it scaled with CHA instead of AGI as it required attention to be on the user before use, captivating an audience before overloading them with information and vanishing.

It was not a conventional stealth skill, but with the stun-like effects and minor spatial abilities Nina felt it was the best skill.

I can just buy stealth again if I need to.

Nina thought. There's also [Trickster's Performance] if I actually need to hide.

Nina moved with a happy grin, her level slowly - incredibly slowly - growing higher and yet Nina gradually lost motivation. She had come to the Gorgon Divide for a quest, not to fight stupid little snakes.

She looked around for even the slightest hint, hoping that [Opportunistic] would kick in at some point and lead her in the right direction

She eventually gave that up and spent her time wandering the mountains blindly, she had limited her search to a certain area though, not believing that the mysterious girl would have been from a mountain further south.

"Haah." Nina let out a sigh, becoming increasingly irritated, even after having taken numerous breaks from the game, "Maybe I should have just helped Liz out with the guild stuff."

Just as she began to consider making use of the guild skill to transport back she finally felt something from her skill; a goofy grin spreading across her face - made even goofier when considering her outfit of a classic and bright jester costume.

She rushed around the corner, not moving with even an ounce of caution, only to almost be killed in a single attack - however, that did not break her smile as she took in what had attacked her:

[??? (100) (???)]

It was a creature just like what the mysterious girl had been, only the one in front of her had a disgusting fleshy tail as well. Nina had mixed feelings about killing it, but between its glaring gaze and Nina's greater goal of breaking the curse, she decided she would have to - especially when Nina had no idea if there was any other way to fix them besides breaking the curse.

In an instant Nina became light on her feet, she was only two levels off of one hundred and hoped the monster in front of her would be enough. She hopped around, needing to stay agile to make proper use of [Acrobatics], and charged forward with her knives ready.

The creature met her charge, running forward in the same uncomfortable movement the girl had used. Putting weight on her front foot, Nina pushed up into a flip and activated her [Duplication] skill to summon a number of faux knives that she threw into the creature's flesh. However, as she landed gracefully and looked back she saw that only two of the ten knives had actually stuck into the monster, the other's bouncing off of its skin as though it were rock.

"... Shit." She mumbled, running forward again, this time ducking under the monster while using [Out of Sync] and running her real knives along the under belly of the creature; this did do damage, but not nearly as much as she had thought it would.

The beast was not smart enough to properly attack Nina who specialised in agile movements, but Nina also lacked the finishing power to kill it. [Charm] also failed to work, though [Deceive] did which meant the creature understood human language when she called out that there were others elsewhere.

It was like fighting an incredibly stupid person who was intent on killing as many people as it possibly could.

Landing on the ground once again after another bout of superficial damage Nina began glaring at the creature as it turned to face her again. The only way she had been able to deal any significant damage was through the use of her skills [Triple Pierce] and [Ambush Strike], but getting close enough to use them was not easy, the monster alway almost ripping Nina in two every time she tried.

Just calm down and do what you do best. Nina reassured herself, devising a new strategy.

Instantly she activated [Magician's Farewell] disappearing into a cloud of smoke and with the creature's full attention it was even more successful. It became guarded, not noticing as something descended from above, but swiping away at it on instinct, the copy disappearing upon contact.

However, that was not the only copy. From all angles the creature's foe appeared and rushed towards it with knives at the ready; it was impossible for the monster to know which of its attackers was real and simply lashed out at all of them, its claws and tail whipping around frantically, dispersing every clone it came into contact with and yet the enemy never appeared.

It was only as a sharp pain spread from its chest that it arched its neck to see the enemy having already gotten below - a knife plunged into its heart.

Nina had taken advantage of the chaos she had created to slip away and sneak underneath the creature, [Magician's Farewell] and [Trickster's Performance] being a perfect combination of skills to stay out of sight, from their she had activated both [Ambush Strike] and [Triple Pierce] simultaneously for massive damage that finally defeated the monster once and for all.

Nina felt a sense of discomfort as that monster also began to morph as it came closer to death, reverting back to how it would appear as a human - no doubt an extra layer of cruelty intended for the target of the curses to see those they cared about die in their true forms, likely at the target's hand.

The nude human had hazy eyes, but seemed to notice Nina and smiled, a smile with deep regret and appreciation that he may be free from his misery.

"Wait!" Nina called, needing only a moment longer, "Where's the source of the curse."

The man's body was becoming weaker, blood gushing from the wound in his chest, but in his final moments of life he raised a shaky arm and allowed it to hit the ground while pointing in a certain direction - his final act holding hope that a saviour may arrive to free his friends and family from the accursed fate they had been afflicted.

Nina had a direction and nothing more, but seeing only the second of those who had been cursed lit an indignant flame within her that could not bear to see the suffering of people in that manner.

"I'm gonna kill a witch!"