Knight of Twilight

Why so serious?

Since I don't have an inspect skill or anything like that I cant even see the name and level of the snake.

I take a vigilant stance, ready to make a run for it at any slight opportunity I see. You might say Rejoice why run away? Its only a level 1 snake.

Well news flash I'm unarmed and I'm level0, this snake had better stats than me, even if I'm ashamed to declare it.

The snake raised its head high like a cobra and hissed again in a threatening manner, it is at least 3 inches wide with a brown body spotting grean patches. It reminded me of the military uniforms.

While I'm looking for the best chance to bolt, the snake makes it move.

Directly folding into itself like a spring, it directly shot towards me, catching me completely off guard, in my defence I was expecting a Melee attack.

Swishh!!!. Like an arrow released from a compound bow, its fangs spread wide, it flew towards a frozen me.

With the snake enlarging in my vision, just a few inches from my face, from the corner of my eye I spot something long hit the snake out for the air to the ground just below my feet.

Coming to my senses, I leap backwards creating space between me and the wicked reptile.

Tilting my head to the left I can finally take a good look at my hero, it's a…… girl?. Oh my God I think I just lost face, for some reason I felt my pride stat plummet.

[Athena-sama].

That was the name tag abover her head. This chick was a real hottie adding to my emotional demage. Ebony skin and a slender body with curves in all the right places. She wasn't voluptuous as you might imagine, but damn she was just my type. Protruding hips that curved perfectly and nice round buttocks, she has an average chest and face but what stood out about her was her green eyes that were a contrast to her black hair that reached just past her ears.

She seemed to be in her early twenties too just like me. Seeing her standing there with a metal rod in hand, I feel my heart skip a beat for the second time.

“ Seeing you stroll into the forest with such confidence I thought you knew what you were doing” .

-100,000 aura!

Cough..cough!……Ummm…….. thank you, I manage to say with an embarrassed smile.

Right at this instant the snake moved again but this time I was prepared for it. It lunged towards her this time around since she had drawn aggro with that first strike, foreseeing this, my right hand shot out with speed catching it by its tail midflight.

What followed was a series of violent smacks against the forest ground, I didn't stop till I got the kill notification.

[You have a killed a puff adder LV1, you have gained 10xp]

I toss the snake aside like trash, trying to flex as much a possible.

It seemed to have worked as I can see her staring at me with visible shock on her face, thankGod I redeemed myself.

“ Why so serious?, wasn't that a bit over the top?“ She asks me with a sincerely confused expression.

This made me rethink the question all men have been asking since the beginning of time… what do women really want?.

I was just making sure it was dead, that was the only thing I could think of at the moment.

“If you say so, see you around?“ She directly walks off after saying that, leaving me confused for a moment. I don't want her to leave just yet so I just came up with the best thing I could to get her attention.

Hey, I know a beginner dungeon deeper into the forest, having an extra person should make things much easier, so wanna team up?

She looked at me with suspicion, “ the game literally launched today, how come you already know about a dungeon this early on?“.

Beta tester, I lied through my teeth.

It was half a lie since no beta tester knew what I did about the game, not that I plan to abuse it or anything. That would be too boring.

She made an ohh while nodding her head, she seemed to have bought the lie.

“Lead the way then Mr beta tester”,she says with a teasing smile while tucking her short hair behind her left ear.

I steal another glance at her, so pretty in those skin tight trousers and crop top. Forcing myself to calm down I lead the way towards my goal while she follows behind me quietly.

We slowly make our way through the dense forest, slowly because we had to engage in a few fights here and there with low level monsters. Almost after an hour of Walking and some idle chatter we finally arrived at the destination.

Before us stood a majestic looking tree, this thing was just insanely huge. By my estimate about seven grown men could hold hands and go around it.

This was as tall as it was large with its full height reaching hundreds of metres. I can see my partner's bewilderment at the sight of this behemoth, she probably hasn't seen a tree this big in real life, not that I have.

“What kind of tree is this? It's so big, and what are those fruits growing on it, are they delicious?“, seems like she couldn't hide her curiosity.

I don't know what they are called too, you would need the inspect skill for that, what I do know is that my target is underneath this tree.

“Huh?, did you just say underneath?, like underground?“

Ye it's a kind of hidden dungeon for newbies with something I really want.

“ If it was well hidden, you wouldn't know about it” she said with a smile gently flicking her hair behind her left ear, she had done this countless times during our journey.

Ignoring the snarky comment I step forward walking around the tree in search of something.

“What are you doing?“

Looking for the secret door, I answer matter of factly.

“What is it your looking for in this dungeon anyways?“ She throws another question, one I had expected to come earlier.

With a mysterious smile on my face, at least thats what I'd like to think, I look into her beautiful green eyes. That a secret.

I can see her mouth twitch for a second as her smile froze , “with a suit your self”, she folds her arms, and turns her head away from me.

I smile wryly to myself for this small and almost insignificant victory, I was tired of being passive and a victim of her snarky comments which came every 2 minutes.

My eyes immediately light up as I find a trunk of the tree that stood out from the rest, curving slightly above the ground. Most people would not find this out of the ordinary as trees grew in many weird styles.

I grab the tree trunk and pull with all my might, with a 'kachha'!! sound we both see a visible stairway appear under the tree leading deeper into the ground.

Well ladies first I jokingly say with an exaggerated bow, mimicking a butler from the tv shows I've seen.

She rolls her eyes at me and moves even further back, relaying her stance on this matter.

I was kidding anyways, here goes nothing.