Is this really a Game?!
Chapter 9 A Castle?!

It's been 30 minutes since the fight against the elite monster and everyone was slowly moving while taking the corpse back with them.

"Hey, by the way, guys, did anyone else get a notification about their knife proficiency improving?"

Reign said as he turned his head around and looked at Shadow and Beast.

"Yeah"

"W-well actually…"

"Oh awesome, hey what are your ranks at, mines only D."

Reign gave everyone a sad look while saying that, seems like his pride took a hit while seeing the low rank of his knife skill.

"I'm a C- , hahaha, I guess you should stick to using that sword, you did prefer a bat back then so it shouldn't be that different right?"

Shadow mockingly said while gloating about his slight supremacy with the knife, even though he and Reign were the best of friends, they were always each other's rivals as well, each one would never miss a chance to gloat to another.

"I-I have a B in the bow, I never used my knife so…"

Beast said shyly, hanging his head down, a little ashamed that he was always in a safe spot compared to his teammates that always got injured during difficult fights.

"Damn Beastie, you're even more amazing than I thought, I should've expected that much though, I can't remember a single time you lost while competing in archery."

Shadow was giving a big smile to Beast, a little proud that one of his teammates was really good at something.

"Hey Wolf, what about you, I saw how you fought with the cockatrice, there's no way you wouldn't be above us with the knife, where did you learn all those moves from anyway, I always thought you were a stuck up that was afraid of doing anything dirty."

Reign was beaming while looking at Wolf, he was honestly very surprised with Wolf this whole time, his demeanor while fighting and his combat skills were above all of them, of course, he would never forget to poke fun at him.

"I learned a little bit with a private instructor a long time ago, and if you must know it's B, also, I agree with Shadow, your knife skills are horrendous, he can be trained more but you should definitely stick to a sword or anything else, to be honest."

The always calm and collected Wolf immediately answered, he was honest with his assessment of Reigns' skills, while his combat instincts were very good, the way he fought with a knife was nothing short of embarrassing.

"Well you didn't have to go that far, I never liked knives and such, in my opinion, a fist and a long weapon like a bat are always the answer." Sullenly said Reign with a sad face.

"Doesn't matter, let's hurry up, I think I remember this part of the forest from when we just went in, we should be close."

Shadow excitedly says this little hunt of theirs left them drained mentally and physically, it's not every day you have to fight and kill monsters and huge chickens, it's honestly a miracle that they managed this well so far.

"Yeah let's move."

Wolf said while looking at the notification in front of him with a slight smile.

[ Knife/Dagger Proficiency A+ ]

"Stop!"

Beast suddenly yells a little bit.

"Whoah, are you crazy man, why are you shouting?!"

Reign gives Beast an angry stare and says in a low albeit shouting voice.

"I-I can feel something in front of us with my Tamer ability, i-it's terrifying, we need to go around guys, right now."

Beast says with a panicking voice, he never felt this way before, the cockatrice he felt but it only gave him a bit of pressure, the field boss he never even felt before it woke up, even though this one isn't comparable to it, it's still way above the previous elite monster they faced, and that one gave them a lot of trouble even when wounded.

"You guys stay here, I'll check it out."

Wolf drops the claw in his hands and runs with silent steps, his upper body bent and never going above his hips.

"Wolf!"

"Don't!"

Wolf was already far away when they called out, with a graceful figure it looked like he was performing a dance again, his feet always landing with silent and graceful steps, no part of his body using more energy than they need, in only a few seconds he moved far enough and was able to see what Beast was so terrified of.

[ Lvl13 Elite Iron Boar ]

A huge boar was in front of him, it was as tall as the cockatrice but much broader and longer, it was only sleeping now but just by being nearby Wolf knew, they wouldn't be able to defeat this thing, no, forget about defeating it, they probably wouldn't be able to even wound this monstrosity, it's fur had a slight metallic luster to it, it's legs were almost twice as thick as a human's and it's tusks glittered with a dangerous metallic luster if this thing hit him with them, Wolf didn't know if he would survive, his armor would probably hold up, but the internal shock would destroy his organs. Slowly he backed away, afraid to wake the currently sleeping beast, the consequences of that would be catastrophic.

"Damn it, that guy, always doing whatever he wants, I'm going after him."

Reign was angry, even though he and Wolf never had any notable interactions in the university, now they were comrades that fought alongside each other, he didn't want anything bad to happen to him.

"Wait Reign, I think I see him."

Shadow puts a hand on Reigns' shoulder and points at the front with his other.

"Quickly pick this thing up, we need to go around, now!"

Wolf hurriedly said while picking up a claw.

"H-hey Wolf, what's wrong man, you look pale, just what did you see?"

Reign anxiously asks Wolf while looking and him, Wolf's forehead was covered in sweat and his face was noticeably more pale than before.

"I'll tell you while moving, come on, hurry up, all of you!"

Wolf tells everyone with a concerned look.

"Alright, alright, calm down, we're going."

Shadow says, alarmed with how Wolf was behaving, he never saw him this flustered, even when they were fighting the cockatrice he was calm during the whole fight, no nervousness, nothing, but now, he looked unlike ever before.

Quickly they picked up the cockatrice and went around the left side of where the boar was, even though they wanted to move fast, Wolf urged them not to, as they risked the chance of waking the slumbering beast.

While they moved, quickly, but quietly, Wolf narrated what he saw to everyone, the huge beast, how strong it looked like, and how he believes they would all die before managing to even wound it.

"It's far weaker than the tiger, when that thing got close to us we couldn't even move, but it's still way above our punching weight, luckily it was sleeping otherwise I don't know if we could even escape it."

The now calmed Wolf told the party, the tiger that they previously faced was unlike anything he ever saw before, he was certain that the boar wouldn't last a single hit from it, but they wouldn't survive one from the boar either. The party now even further understood just how much of a precarious situation they were in, their run-in with the tiger can be chalked up as just bad luck, but there are bound to be a lot more monsters like the boar in the forest.

Understanding just how lucky they have been so far they all move towards the safe zone, it wasn't far now, they could even see parts of the buildings now, they looked different, but they were all too busy to notice that.

...

On a mountaintop far away, the wyvern was feasting on his meal, the body of the invincible-looking tiger was ripped apart when its teeth plunged in.

Step, step , step

The wyvern suddenly shudders and stops with his feast, the slow and steady steps behind it giving it goosebumps, it knew who it was, but it hoped never to see that person again, the person that with a simple wave of a hand destroyed its previous nest and many of its kin, only because they declined to do a simple favor for him.

"Ah, I see you did good, see what happens when you listen to me, you did one thing and you're alive, with a nice meal as well little one."

A man steps close, its whole figure blurred, its voice carrying a strange tune, one no one could identify, with every step he got closer to the drake it looked visibly worse, afraid for its life, it was in its nature, whenever a wild beast faces something from the top of the food chain it will submit or be killed.

"Don't be so nervous, you did good, I'm just here to take that away, you're free."

The man puts his hand in front of him and a mark is shown on the wyvern's body, glistering with a vicious red light it shatters into pieces of light and flows back to the man. He steps back and looks in the direction of the safe zone

"I didn't want to get involved so early but, if he is the one I can't let him die now, not before I confirm it."

Suddenly.

All around the mountain huge ripples show up, slowly the inch closer the mountain, closer to the man, trying to envelop him.

"Ohh, not bad, to find me so quickly, it seems those guys are paying special attention here too huh, well, I'm not bored enough to fight all of them now so I'll leave."

The man simply waves his hands and the ripples were destroyed, with another wave the air is split open and the void is shown, he simply steps inside and it closes, looking like nothing was ever there.

In the darkness close to Earth

"So, did you find the intruder Eiona?"

The large shadow asks while looking at the pale-faced Eiona, with a trembling voice she says

"Yes, but he decided to leave."

"HE DECIDED TO LEAVE?!" The giant furiously asks. "AND WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP HIM, SOMEBODY COMING TO MY TERRIT-"

"We were lucky he left, otherwise overseer, we would be just corpses floating in space right now."

Eiona says with a calm and confident voice, staring straight into the angry giant's eyes.

"Corpses, for you to say such a thing, do you maybe know who it was Ei-"

"Mind your business!"

A loud shout was suddenly heard inside the giant's head, blood spurted from his orifices as he falls on his knees.

"I told you, we were lucky."

Eiona calmly says while helping the giant get up, the other shadows looking at them, horrified at what they just saw, an overseer of the alliance was defeated with just a simple shout, if people heard something like that they would laugh out of the absurdity, and yet, it happened in front of their eyes.

Back on Earth Reign and the others finally got out of the forest, holding their prize they walk towards the university with smiles, only to stop when they saw a ridiculous thing instead of their old university.

"G-Guys, what is this castle doing here?" (Reign)

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