The sound of players coming from behind startled Sebastian. He wondered if it was the same trio he had been following, or if it was some other players. The trio he had been following was supposed to be on the other side of the cave, and none of the paths had intersected up to that point. But the voices were coming from the tunnel Sebastian had recently used.
'Where can I hide?' he thought. 'How many of them are there?'
After a few seconds of thinking, Sebastian realized that there was nowhere to hide. The tunnel was narrow and had no objects that he could use for cover. If he continued forward, he would only attract more monsters, and that could make things worse.
'I'll have to confront the players,' he thought.
It was inevitable. He leaned his body against the cave wall and waited for the players to reach him.
Five minutes later, two girls appeared. They looked similar to each other in facial features, but their bodies were slightly different.
One of the girls was more athletic. She wore heavy armor and carried a two-handed sword on her back. The other girl was more delicate. She wore robes and carried a staff that looked to be of better quality than the one Sebastian had. Both girls had soft dark hair that reached the middle of their backs.
"Who are you?" one of the girls asked, unsheathing her sword.
She moved to the side to stand in front of the other girl, as if to protect her.
"Relax," Sebastian said. "I mean you no harm. I'm just a player exploring the cave to kill monsters and level up."
The girls stared at him, looking at the information above his head.
-Lore Master (Level 4)
It was possible to hide one's nickname if one used a specific type of cloak, but that feature would not be unlocked until the future. So, none of the players had that feature yet.
That meant Sebastian could see their nicknames too!
-Fairy Princess (Level 5)
-Berserker Princess (Level 5)
The girl with the staff had the nickname with "Fairy" in it, and the one with the sword had "Berserker." It was cute to see the two matching nicknames, and since the girls looked so similar, Sebastian was almost sure they were sisters in real life.
"You're killing monsters here all by yourself?" Berserker Princess asked, putting her sword back on her back.
She could see and tell if a person was evil or not. Sebastian looked like a cool dude, so she wasn't concerned about him.
Also, Berserker Princess was with Fairy Princess, and the two of them were confident that they could take Sebastian down if he tried anything.
"Do you want to party up to face the boss?" Sebastian asked.
He wasn't confident in soloing the boss, not with his current garbage equipment.
"Aren't you the solo player? Why do you need our help?" Berserker Princess asked.
Sebastian shrugged. "I found this place after following a group of three people. They're here somewhere, and they don't look friendly. Maybe it's wise for us to stick together for a while."
"What? Are you telling the truth?" Berserker Princess asked, looking a little worried.
"Yes," Sebastian said. "I'm telling the truth."
Berserker Princess looked at Fairy Princess, who nodded. "Okay," Berserker Princess said. "We'll make a group with you."
Berserker sent Sebastian a party invitation, and he gladly accepted it.
Once they were all in a party, Sebastian could see more than their nicknames. He could now see their HP and MP levels.
Sebastian was glad that the party did not have something like an icon showcasing their classes or something. The two girls believed Sebastian was either a priest or an elementalist, as both classes used staffs.
He looked toward Berserker and said, "What are you waiting for? You are our beautiful wall that will fend off the enemies."
"Hmph. What do you know?" Berserker said, passing by Sebastian and continuing forward.
Fairy stood behind close to Sebastian. She was a little shy and not a talkative person with those she did not know well.
She gathered the courage to say, "Don't mind my sister. That's her personality."
It was just a sentence, but it took a lot of her to say it aloud to a stranger. Maybe she had enough courage because Sebastian looked decent? Perhaps his good looks helped as well.
"I didn't take it to heart. So, you two are siblings who play together? That's cool! I have a little sister who will start playing soon. When she does, I will introduce you two to her."
Fairy smiled. "Really? That would be lovely!"
Berserker was on the front, so no one saw her face, but she smiled after hearing what Sebastian said.
They kept going forward, and it did not take long for the first bat to appear. With Berserker tanking the damage, it was much easier for Sebastian to finish off the bat's life by casting his water ball.
30 DMG
30 DMG
+40 XP
Now that they were in a group, the XP suffered a penalty of an unknown percentage to Sebastian, but based on the amount of XP he got, the penalty was big!
There was also the fact that he had leveled up, so the bonus experience he got when fighting a higher-leveled monster diminished.
"Do you know anything about this boss? I didn't know there was a boss here in the first place. My sister and I found this place by accident," Fairy said.
Sebastian shook his head. "Remember the players I followed? They were the ones talking about the boss, but I think not even they know about its fight mechanics."
"Imagine a world where we can watch them fight the boss, learn its mechanics, and then steal the kill from them," Fairy said with a malicious smile.
"Ayo. Aren't you a devil?"
The universe was on their side, because not long after Fairy said that, they saw three players from afar, crouching behind a massive rock.
These players were looking at something, and when Sebastian gazed at the same thing they were gazing at, he saw it!
'The rock lizard they talked about!'
It was the boss, and the group was about to fight against it, not knowing that Sebastian and the girls were right there to watch it all, and maybe steal the kill.