World Online

This time, Jake could see the wolf move. He could follow its steps throughout, and it felt surreal. Like he was just lagging earlier, and now, everything was clear.

A mere fifteen stat point increase gave him this power. That only told him that he needed to grind a little more, and level up a little more.

If level forty made him this strong, then what if he was a level fifty player? What if he was in level sixty, and entered the third tier? That would make him much, much stronger than any other player in the world.

As the wolf moved, his sword also moved. It arced with a blue wave, sparks of blue lightning covering the sword.

The wolf was running straight toward Jake, and it couldn\'t stop.

"Slash of Thirst"

As Jake called out his attack, his sword buzzed with feedback. It vibrated, and as it did, it felt like it was trying to escape Jake\'s hand.

Jake felt it the last time around too, and he dismissed it back then. But now, he felt courageous enough to try.

He loosened the grip of the sword right when the wolf was about to reach him.

The sword flew out of his hand, and as it did, every bystander who was following what was happening sucked in a cold breath.

Things were happening with such pace that to them, it appeared as if Jake had just lost his sword as a gray blur was approaching Jake.

That could only mean that Jake lost, right?

But Jake knew better. He could see the sword go right where he wanted it.

It arced beautifully to land right across the wolf\'s neck, at there unguarded patch of thin fur that he had taken notice of a few minutes ago.

The wolf king howled with pain as it rushed past Jake, unable to attack him, and fell on the ground.

A wave of dust filled the air, delaying the results for everyone to see.

"Come back." Jake smiled. It was something that his intuition told him to do, and when he felt something solid reappear in his hands, he felt like the strongest person in the world for a few moments.

"This sword, it can move on its own!" He realized.

"So this is why legendary weapons are so coveted. Their benefits are far more than just better stats and better skills." Jake realized.

He then looked forward.

​ The dust also proved to be a hindrance to him.

He couldn\'t see what came of the wolf king. Was it going to need another strike, or was it dead?

But before he could think about it any further, he heard it. The notification.

[You have leveled up.]

A message that could only pop up if he killed a beast.

"I still can\'t make sure if I killed the thing. These beasts don\'t die unless I split apart its brains. I can\'t afford to let something like a wolf king stay alive any further." Jake told himself as he took a step forward.

The dust threatened to blind him forever, but it was just a game, and Jake couldn\'t care less about the stinging sensation his eyes felt as he walked forward with eyes wide open.

"I can\'t see anything. Damn this thing. If there was only a way to get the dust to settle without waiting forever." Jake cursed.

But that was all that he could do. He held his sword hard as he waited.

The dust around him took a few minutes to settle, and as it did, he looked forward at the corpse of the wolf king that still stayed in this world.

The head of the wolf king was just separated, its head just a step away.

The eyes of the wolf king were wide open, and they followed Jake as he moved toward it.

Without even a second thought, Jake raised his sword and let it come raining down, striking the head right between the two eyes.

"Good. Now, the wolf king is dead. I can focus on dealing with the other wolves. Without a leader, they should fall quite quickly." Jake thought to himself as he turned to look at his own side.

Allies were looking at him like they were looking at a monster.

A monster that had just defeated the leader of the pack that they had to deal with.

"Why are they looking at me like that? All I did was defeat the wolf king. There is no way they are looking at me. They have got to be looking at something else." Jake thought as he turned around.

As he did, he staggered back with shock.

He understood why everyone had eyes of horror and fear.

They weren\'t looking at him. Of course not. In fact, they weren\'t even looking at the wolves, that had suddenly grown still.

Instead, they were looking at the horizon. The horizon which had a giant that filled the skies.

Just looking at the giant in the horizon, Jake knew that the monster was too far away for it to even have an influence at them.

But it sure gave a message.

They would have to deal with that giant if they wanted to clear this expedition.

"This doesn\'t make sense. This giant is supposed to appear in the third expedition. It isn\'t supposed to be visible from this far out. Did they buff the giant this time around? What are they thinking?" Jake shuddered thinking about the last time he had gone against the giant in question.

A World Giant, one of only two on either end. These giants were far too strong to go against on one\'s own, or even with a single guild. Multiple guilds had to come together to defeat this monstrosity.

"The game is ridiculing us. Just as I thought that we were going to have a small celebration for clearing the wolf king, this happens."

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