[Solo] Mayu, the Destroyer

[Mayu]

Seven days have passed since the world of Elder Tale became a reality. After learning about the revelation of respawn, Mayu headed into the woods located in a valley near the city of Londonium. Windsor Greatwood, as the adventurers grew to call the location, was a massive woodland spreading around the Windsor Palace. Recently it has been partially mapped together with everything in around 10 kilometre radius from the city. It was said its a location teeming with low level enemies, ideal for beginning adventurers. From what Mayu learnt before coming here was that the monsters here were mostly species already known to anyone who had any type of contact with the game of Elder Tale. Slimes, boars and other lowbe atrocities were said to be abundant.



The woman trudged along a small path leading through the brushes. She was restless, waiting for a creature of some sorts to appear. It would be her first encounter with the wild life of this place. Her heart was beating slightly faster than normally. A real battle seemed quite threatening. In game you just had to choose a monster and use either a skill or an auto-attack. Here you actually had to make a physical effort to do battle. Plus perspective of getting hit by an enemy wasn't very appealing. She also was by no stretch of imagination a close-combat specialist. On the European server she played mostly ranged characters like assassins or sorcerers. She picked the Samurai because of the novelty- she found the traditional Japanese warriors to be very appealing with their colourful armour and stylized looks. Plus it was a class not present on the server she previously played on. Thus melee combat might not seem as her forte. However she was stuck with it.



As she walked suddenly a wild slime jumped from among the trees. The faceless creature looked like a peace of shapeless green pudding, twirling and bubbling like a water in a witch's cauldron. She jumped startled by its sudden appearance. Her first reaction was thought of running. However, if she did then this whole escapade would be meaningless. The time was now, the moment was at hand! Mayu unsheathed her blade. She instantly charged towards the creature, cutting at it vertically. The jelly soaked her blade into its body as it made contact. The creature shook as she retracted her sword, readying herself for a next attack. A small cut appeared on the slimes smooth body. Adrenaline was pumping in Mayu's veins. A pair of small, light brown and white dog ears appeared on her head. A tail of similar colouring sprung from between her chain mail shirt and pants. The Slime jumped at her only to meet with another, this time horizontal slash. The creature seemed to be unfazed in spite of another shallow cut appearing on its now slightly fractured surface. Although it did not had any apparent appendages or face parts, Mayu could tell- the thing was pissed. It was close to dying. Its final strike came in a form of it assuming a pole like form and striking with its own horizontal attack. Mayu blocked it with her blade, however the wiggly and elastic monster just bent upon contact with the keen edge and smacking her in the forehead with its top end. Stars appear before the girls eyes as she lost her balance. She made few steps back, slightly stunned by the creatures sudden strike. As she regained her composure, the enemy attacked once more. Luckily, she managed to dodge the attack by sidestepping. She followed up by stabbing the abomination. The slime twitched one last time and disintegrated into hundreds of small, pearl like bubbles. The victory was hers. The creature left few coins which she quickly picked up. It wasn't much.



Her heart was pounding. The battle was not as scary as she thought it would be. Quite the opposite. She felt great! The battle she just had, although short and rather spastic, seemed strangely entrancing to her. Even the pain she experienced as the creature attacked her was nothing in comparison to the thrill she just experienced. She could not recall when was the last time she felt this good. It seemed as if she found what she was looking for- something enjoyable to do in this unknown world- battling. The tail and ears disappeared as she slowly calmed down. She decided to push forward, deeper into the woods, hoping for another battle.

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[Mayu]

Several hours passed. During that time Mayu started to get a grip on fighting. Slashing and dashing she defeated quite a number of slimes, gathering a hundred or so gold coins. With this much she could enjoy a meal or two for at least few days. She was pleased, a bit battered but pleased nonetheless. She got pretty far into the woods- slimes seemed to becoming a bit stronger than initially. She even had an encounter with a small boar. It was clear that she should start heading back to the city. However, something told her to push on. She had this strange urge, a need to continue battling. It pushed her further down the path.



As she moved deeper into the forest, she suddenly heard a loud noise. She instantly unsheathed her sword. A nearby bush shook. A pair of small red eyes peered at her from within the darkness of various leaves. Her heart began to pound. It wasn't a slime. She took something similar to a stance and waited. Slowly the creature toddled from within its cover. Mayu knew the creature, most people did. It was the mascot of Elder Tale- Briar Weasel. It had only one ability- to control plant type monsters. Mayu readied her blade and charged the beast. She cut at its belly. She scored a hit. However, something was different. The creature seemed to not even acknowledge her attack before countering. She tried to dodge but the creature proved to be too fast and she got hit. Blood gushed from the wound the monster made on her leg. In spite of the keen pain she felt, the woman tried to retaliate. She swung her blade horizontally at the critter but it simply dodged. It spun in place once and smacked the girl's sheen with its tail. The pain made Mayu's eyes watery. At this point it was clear- the creature was way over her level. She quickly opened the menu in hope of finding a solution among her abilities. It was too late, the weasel was too fast. It tackled her into stomach. The girl dropped her sword as she grabbed her tummy with both hands. Luckily she haven't eaten much lately so she did not have to worry about barfing. Then the worst happened. The weasel got up on both of its back legs. She knew what was going to happen. Its eyes shone and she could hear rumbling behind her. She tried to grab her sword but two massive vines grabbed her by the ankles and abruptly lifted her up. Occupied by the fight she must have not heard how the other monster snuck up on her. She could not see it but she was sure that the plant monster was another low level creature found usually in starting locations- a Nepent Snatcher. As she dangled upside down, beaten, her vision started to become hazy. It seemed that an end has come to her escapade. Her furry opponent charged onto her. She closed her eyes reading herself for the inevitable blow.
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[Mayu]

A sudden wind hit her face and the monster which held her up loosened it grip. She fell down to the ground with her eyes still closed. She could hear the dying roars of both opponents. She slowly lift up bother eyelids and her head. The bubbles which accompanied each monster's death slowly flew into the sky. She was confused. She looked around. She noticed she was not alone anymore.

"Hm. Wortless." a deep, manly voice said. She peered her eyes at the character standing just few steps from her. It was a tall, burly man with long, wavy black hair. She couldn't see his face- he was standing back to her. A black long cape dangled from his back. In his hand he was holding a long sword with a pitch black blade. He raised the weapon and begin to sheath it to his side. "What were you thinking going this deep into the forest with your pathetic skill?"

He was simply insulting her. The man turned around to face her. He was wearing a black, plate armour. She could see a few days worth of not shaving and a black moustache on his face. His violet eyes were looking on her with mixture of disgust and pity. He looked to be quite sad.

"Hmm? You're not going to say anything?" He made few steps forward and picked up her sword. He raised it and looked closely at it blade. "A strange weapon. You adventurers seem to like dressing all flashy and stuff. Silly." He
swung her blade few times after which he pointed it towards the sky, looking along the edge closely. He lowered it, putting the tip on the ground and resting both his hands on its pummel. "Are you going to lay down there for the whole day woman or are you going to get up?"

Mayu flinched. She was still lying on the ground. Gathering strength, she lifted her exhausted body and somehow managed to stand up. A look of shock appeared on the man's face. From the ground he looked big and meancing... however now he was at least a head shorter than her.

"Now you are a big girl aright." He spouted. As he noticed Mayu's stare on him he quickly regained his composure and his face quickly returned to his previous expression of disapproval. "You have not said anything... Can you even talk?"

Mayu slowly shook her head.

"A mute? Interesting. So you fellows can be like normal people after all, huh?"

The girl was not sure of what he was talking about. He already refereed to her being different on two occasions. He called her something along the lines of "one of the adventurers" previously and now suggested she is not "normal". An idea appeared in her head. She brought up her menu.

"Hmm? What are you doing? Is this some kind of a sign language? I can already tell you that I do not comprehend it."

She selected the man before her and read his status- "Charles DuGalle, Race/Human, Guardian level 32". She winked few times. All she could see was level 32. It was impossible. A week has passed since they came to this world. As far as she knew the fastest someone got to level 40 was in around 3 weeks. It was absolutely impossible. Thus there was only one explanation she could come up with- the person before her was not a player character, he was not an adventurer. He must be an NPC, a Person of The land. An elite soldier of some sorts most likely.

"Ehhh, this is pointless..." said the man. He opened a pouch on his belt. He started to search for something in it. "Since you can't speak, I hope the least you can do is writing. Here!" From within the container he pulled out a piece of paper and a small, round shaped coal. "Use this."

Mayu took the two items. She quickly crouched and using her thigh as a makeshift desk she quickly scribbled words "Thank you." She got up and shoved the paper into the guy's hand. He gave it a quick look.

"Your welcome. My name is Charles DuGalle, although I don't expect you to remember it. Anyway, it would be nice if I knew who you are." He once more passed the paper sheet to her. She quickly wrote "Call me Mayu." and gave it back. The man raised his brow ever so slightly as he read. "Well, Mayu... I think you had your share of "adventures" for now. Come, let me accompany you."

She nodded. The man passed her sword to her and they both made their way towards the edge of the forest, in Londonium's general direction.
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[Mayu]

The two people walked in complete silence. The man, DuGalle, was like a hawk- constantly on lookout for danger. Mayu on the other hand... she was shaken. Each time even a slightest movement could be felt around them, she would flinch. Only an hour or so has passed since her being on the verge of death. Even with the knowledge of the fact that she would respawn, she was terrified. What would death feel like? How much would it hurt? How much time would pass before she would come back to life? These were just few of the questions that she had on her mind.

Suddenly, from one of the bushes, a slime appeared. The girl jumped back, with sudden appearance of the monster startling her even further. DuGalle saw it and without a word and with even less effort stomped onto the creature which almost instantly transformed into a pillar of colourful bubbles.

"Pull yourself together woman." said the man with clear distaste "Shouldn't you adventurers have at least a bit of a spine?"

He wasn't very nice... at all. But he wasn't wrong either. Her behaviour must have seem strange for someone who titled herself as an adventurer. She was pretty sure that if she were to continue the path of being an adventurer it would be only one of many incidents which would bring her close to death. Hell, now she was pretty sure that dying was just a matter of time...

They continued walking for another hour or so, after which they found themselves on the edge of the forest.

"I think that you can get to the city on your own now." Said DuGalle. "Next time you decide to go deeper into the woods make sure that you are prepared. From what I noticed most of your kind relay solely on their special abilities while completely lacking any sort of battle training." He turned around and started walking back into the forest. "I suggest you finding a fencing instructor and learning how to properly wield that sword of yours. You were swinging it like a peasant would swing a hoe in the fields. I doubt we see each other again... and thus" he stopped and turned face towards her "I bid you farewell... madam."

DuGalle just pointed a very important thing... while she enjoy the battles she had today she indeed was just swinging her sword with no real knowledge of how ones supposed to wield a blade properly. She also failed to see when to turn around and instead walked further into the woods. Now she saw how stupid of an idea that was. It was pretty obvious that the further she would go, the stronger the monsters would get. Also the fact that a second monster managed to sneak upon her when she was already fighting one was pretty disgraceful. Then again she indeed never learnt anything about combat. In Elder Tale it was as simple as pie- auto-attack, use skills, pick loot. And so on and so on. The only situation when you would alter this was when faced with a boss in a dungeon or a raid... but that wasn't something she did awful lot of. She honestly was not sure of what to do. She was pretty bad for an adventurer. Maybe she indeed needed some basic training? But she knew no one to provide her with even basics of adventuring knowledge... No. She did know someone... and that person was just walking into the forest before her. She quickly jumped forward and walked towards DuGalle. She stretched her arm to tap him on the shoulder to get his attention. The man suddenly sprung around and almost instantly had his sword next to her neck. His face had a fierce, almost terrifying expression, as if a demon of some sorts possessed him. The girl instantly pulled her hand to her chest and made a step backwards. The man winked and lowered his blade.

"What are you doing? I believe our... "business" together has already ended... plus its very unwise to approach a warrior's back..." his expression changed. He scowled and something akin to a grin distorted his lips. "... then again you had not much of a choice, taking into consideration that you are mute." He chuckled. "Very well. I entertain you for a bit longer. What did you want?"

Mayu was still clenching the writing tools he gave her. She quickly crouched and wrote on the piece of paper: "I know we do not know each other, and that you have no interest in agreeing, but you said about my lack of skill. Can you teach me how to fight properly? Even some basic hints would be fine. Please!" She got up and passed him the message.

As the man read those few words his expression changed to a wide indulgent smile.

"Me? Teaching you? Where the hell did this come from?! You adventurers are really crazy! I understand making such request of someone who you know quite well but of a total stranger? Is this a joke woman?"

Mayu realized how stupid her request was. It did not even occur to her as she came up with the idea but he was totally right. This was a pretty dumb request. An embarrassed expression appeared on her face. The man noticed it instantly.

"At least you're aware of how ridiculous this situation is." He once more ran his sight over the crumpled paper in his hand. "Well... I... to be frank with you..." He looked at her with playful look on his face. "As much as I might deny it to myself... I just can not leave people who are in need when they stand right before me. That is why I helped you... in spite of the fact that it seems that your lot comes back to life in that cathedral of yours after being killed. Now, I know that I probably should not have helped you... maybe an experience of death would prevent you from pestering random people with such... requests..." Only now did he returned his bitch black blade to its home situated on his belt. He scratched his chin with his right hand first and then he crossed his arms on his chest. His black armour made a metallic sound as he did so. "Now that you know the only trait I honestly dislike in myself and recognizing the situation you're in, you probably already know my answer..." He put one hand on his hip and raised the other to wipe his face. "I'm not sure if this is a good idea but... fine, I can teach you something. However you must know that I'm not much of a teacher."

This sudden turn of events made Mayu feel slightly better. She was not sure what the man was going to teach her at that time but the following days... weeks... months... years changed that.

***

They made a "base" in the old cottage she found on her very first day in the new world. Mayu trained stances, moves and basic combat tactics under DuGalle's guidance The problem was that she was abysmally bad when it came to combat. So bad that her master, as she grew to call the black armoured man, proposed that she would pick farming cabbage instead of adventuring. In spite of that he stayed and trained her for the next year and a half. From previously mentioned stances and tactics to usage of her abilities- they slowly made progress. During that time Mayu did not venture much beyond the city premises. DuGalle turned out to be quite wealthy and kind hearted enough to fund her meals. Because of that she has not gained too many levels and have not even scratched any sort of crafting.

As time passed and events involving adventurers unfolded, the only thing Mayu did was training. After a year and a half DuGalle decided that she was ready to face the world and on one Sunday afternoon left without as much as a farewell. The only information he left Mayu was that he went north, to the lands unknown to adventurers and landers alike... At that moment did she only realized that during her apprenticeship she learnt next to nothing of the man that took her under his wings... She was not sure who he was or what business did he have in the land of unfounded kingdoms. What she knew was that the skills he passed to her were to turn out irreplaceable in the coming days of her adventuring...
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