Chapter 17: Rule Breaker
Fwumph!
The sound of an arrow smacked against the teleportation potion, knocking it off course.
"What? Legolas switched through his equipment too fast! that's definitely a level 4 haste potion, no doubt about it!" Shouted Isabella.
"But still, when did he fucking take it?!" Asked Pocchi.
"It was when I lunged at him. He used me as cover to hide his personal hub, and switch through his inventory to drink the haste potion."
"What? How the hell is that possible? We would've seen some shit like that!" Shouted Pocchi.
"Yes, but with the luck potion by his side, everything is going his way."
"Goddamnit! And we were so close! How can someone like him have such powerful items?! Even I never received a level 5 item before, and I'm level 40!" Cried Honora.
("He switched weapons so fast and knocked the potion off its course. I should've seen this coming, he's going to escape with that girl, I have no other choice!")
The potion went over Belial's head as Legolas ran past him, faster than he could perceive.
"Your strategy is impressive, Elf, however…" Legolas was suddenly pinned down to the ground by a heavy force, forming a crater out of pressure.
"Gwaaaa!!" The elf spat out blood, as his life points dropped by 90%.
"I will not let you escape."
"M-My body…"
The teleportation potion was about to fall on Alice, but Belial caught it in his hand, "That was a close one, you almost had me. If it wasn't for the mods I installed in the game, I wouldn't have caught you."
"M-Mods?" Legolas asked, painfully.
"Yes. I'm sure you're well aware that all games have mods to them, created by other players, and unfortunately for you, I possess three of them. One is called Rule-Breaker, I can destroy any system in the game and change them to benefit me. That is the one I used on you by changing your system. I made your game avatar unable to walk, and I also changed your luck potion into a gravity potion, that's why you collided with the ground."
"You bastard…! What a scummy fucking cunt! You don't know how to win without your bullshit mods!"
"Fuhuhu, perhaps that is the case. But it still doesn't change the fact that you lost, now does it."
"Alice, can you hear me!?"
Legolas lay flat on the ground with his body injured beyond repair. He could barely breathe as he reached his arm out for his friend, wanting to see her face, even if it was miserable.
But Alice was still in shock.
She couldn't believe that she had killed Jacob.
Her friend.
The man who loved her.
She tried to deny it inside her head, but each time she did, it would only bring her more emptiness.
She was disconnected from reality and stuck inside her own crafted delusions.
"Jacob, let's go hunting for wolves, you don't mind that, do you?"
"A-Alice, what are you talking about? Jacob... is dead." Legolas widened his eyes, watching her talk to herself.
"Hey, what's with that funny look? Are you scared of wolves? Aww, c'mon, you need the EXP as much as I do."
"....." Legolas went silent.
"Hey Jacob, Legolas told me that you always had a fear of spiders, you know there are spider mobs inside the game, right?!"
Everyone looked at Alice, realizing she had gone insane.
"What? Whaddya mean you love me?" I can't wrap my head around why. I'm nobody special, Legolas says I'm a loudmouth. Aren't I annoying to you?"
"Alice..." Legolas muttered under his voice, baffled to see his friend in such a horrible state.
It was a sight that no one should experience.
No words could describe how he felt, seeing her broken like a machine.
"W-Well, if you really mean what you say about loving me, you'll always be by my side, right? Those who love one another will always stick by each other's side, so promise me you'll do the same!"
"Hmph. She's off in the deep end, isn't she?" Said Honora.
"Yeah... I'm positive she's experiencing a Brief psychotic disorder after what happened." Proclaimed Bertram.
"Man... we did some fucked up shit over the course of our life, but this is really fucked up. Not to mention, she's just gonna become some whore for our guild." Pocchi said whilst rubbing the back of his head, "I may be one sadistic mother fucker, but seeing someone break like this is no fun. I like it when they scream and feel the pain, ya know?"
"Yep, that sounds like you alright! Our sweet sadistic Pocchi Poo!" Honora said teasingly.
"I'll kill you..."
Footsteps were heard through the narrow hallway as Belial approached Alice, crouching in front of her face.
He examined her expression with intent.
"Hmmm..." He lifted her chin with his finger, turning her head to the side, "I see."
"Let go of Alice, you son of a bitch!" Legolas tried getting up, but his body was crushed, "Ghhh!"
"Your friend here seems to be in another world of her own. She's not faking it, she truly believes that Jacob is alive. Each scenario that she shouts, is another world she imagines because the previous one is a world where she kills Jacob."
"Hey, Jacob, I wanna tell you a secret!" Said the delusional Alice.
"See, this is what I mean; You notice how one second she was talking about loving Jacob, and now she changes the entire conversation to secrets? Yes, she is indeed going through different worlds where she lives her life with Jacob, killing him in each one."
"Damn you all!! What have you done to her?! Why? Why do all of this?? For the Phantom Mutiny? Goddamn you!" Legolas started shouting, but tears poured down his cheek, unknowingly, "Why?! Just why?" He started slamming his forehead into the ground, drawing blood, "Fuck, fuck, fuuuck!"
"Keep that up and you'll end up killing yourself." Responded Belial, "Now then..." he looked at Alice, slowly leaning his face forward, "Alice, can you hear me?" He whispered into her ear, halting her delusional words.
She went quiet as if she was waking back up into reality.
"You want Jacob back, do you not? You love him, just as much as he loved you, right?"
"Yes... I love... Jacob..."
"I see, then I have good news for you. Do you want to hear it?"
"Yes sir..."
"Jacob can be brought back, but you must do something for me, are you up for it?"
"Yes…"
"Good. You see that man right over there?" Belial pointed at Legolas, forcing Alice's head to turn and face him.
"Yes, I see him..."
"He's the key. He says that if you pleasure him, he'll give you anything you want, and that includes Jacob."
"What are you talking about?" Said the distressed Legolas.
"Pleasure him?" Asked Alice.
"Yes, give him what he wants. Become a whore, for the sake of your beloved, Jacob."
"Y-Yes, I will!"
"Alice, no, don't listen to him! It's me, Legolas!! Can't you remember me, Alice?!"
Alice slowly stood up from the ground, looking at Legolas with empty eyes, "Legolas...?"
"Yes, it's me, your friend. I'm trying to save you! I'll make sure to get you out of this, I promise you, Alice!"
She didn't respond, but slowly stood up and approached him
"What are you doing?"
The Distressed Legolas questioned his dearest friends she started to remove the armor around her body, dropping it to the ground.
"Alice, no..."
After her armor, she removed her pants, revealing her panties underneath.
After her panties, she removed her shirt, revealing her bra and cleavage.
She was half-naked.
All that remained was her undergarments.
"I'll make sure Jacob comes back..."
"Alice, no… this isn't you!"
She then removed her bra, holding it inside her hand before tossing it on the ground.
"I'll give you what you want—I hope this makes you happy."
And finally, she slid down her panties, approaching Legolas with a slight grin.
"If it makes you better, I'll even have your baby, ehehe~."
"…Stop…"
***
Lucienne and Kuma traveled downstairs of Emperor's castle.
They've been walking for ten minutes, and they're only on the fifth floor.
"How big is this place? The size is unnecessary, what does Emperor even have on each floor?" Said the annoyed Lucienne.
"I don't know, but I'm sure each floor is important, considering he's a Great King and all." Responded Kuma.
"Yeah, I guess so."
The two of them continued downstairs until they reached the sixth floor, taking a break inside its corridors.
"Hey, Kuma, I got a question..."
"Hm? What is it? It better not be dumb or I'm ignoring you."
"No, it's not dumb. Everything I ask isn't dumb, you jackass. But anyway, it's about your level. You recently started playing Isekai World Online a week ago, right?"
"Mmm, yeah, why?"
"How did you get to level 100 so fast? Doesn't stuff like that take months!? Maybe even a year altogether, depending on the quests you take."
"Well, Astral helped me with that. She taught me the basics of the game and helped me grind through the Jungle Biome. After that, we went into a dungeon, and I gained EXP from the monsters she killed, allowing me to level up fast. It took almost a hundred hours, but we managed."
"A dungeon, huh? What dungeon allows you to level up that fast? I never heard of one like that before."
Dungeons were locations that randomly spawned in Isekai Online each week.
Dungeons can permanently remain in their location of spawn, and the only way to make them disappear is by having players complete each floor of the dungeon.
Currently, each dungeon consists of ten floors, and almost every floor has a boss battle;
{First Floor: Normal
Second Floor: Boss Battle
Third Floor: Normal
Fourth Floor: Boss Battle
Fifth Floor: Normal
Sixth Floor: Boss Battle
Seventh Floor: Normal
Eighth Floor: Boss Battle
Ninth Floor: Normal
Tenth Floor: Boss Battle
Secret Floor: Treasury}
Normal floors have mobs inside of them that constantly spawn, allowing you to farm them to level up.
Boss Battles are floors that you have to complete to move on to the next for stronger mobs and better loot.
After completing the dungeon, the first few players who reach the treasury will be rewarded handsomely with powerful equipment and items.
Depending on how hard the dungeon is, the better the reward will be.
"I honestly have no clue what kind of dungeon it was, but Emerald completed it with ease. She told me that it's the third strongest dungeon in the game, and she didn't even struggle not one bit."
"I'm not surprised, considering it's Emerald. She is the sister of Emperor after all."
"Yeah, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her, so I do owe her one."
"Man, now I'm curious! How does exploring a dungeon feel? I have to try it out one day. I never got the chance to do one since the players always complete it whenever I show up."
"Hmmm, that is true, but I'm sure there is a way to predict the location of where a dungeon will spawn."
"What about the strongest dungeons in Isekai Online? Surely no other players have completed them; considering they're extremely powerful." Said Lucienne.
"Oh, you may be right. The dungeon me and Emerald completed was inactive for months since it was the third strongest dungeon in the game. That would have to mean the second and first strongest dungeons still exist somewhere." Proclaimed Kuma.
"Perfect! Then after we finish this, I wanna go explore one. We can gather the team and-"
"No, I'll pass."
"What, why??" Cried, Lucienne.
"I'm not risking death right now, I have too much I have to do before doing something that ridiculous."
"Nnn. You're just being boring."
"How am I boring?!? Because I'm not risking my life?" Shouted Kuma, "Anyways, we're way off of topic here. Let's go talk to Zeus."
"Alright, ten thousand more stairs to go... ugh."