Parallel (A Virtual Gamer's Story) [Vol.1 - Vol.4 Complete]

Chapter 177: The Chaos Order

Aethon, Kirkcour Woods.

01:01 a.m. 15th Banem 1092.

Crackle!

Tendrils of electricity crackled across thousands of mutilated corpses strewn across the scorched earth. A jumbled mess of body parts from beasts, ranging from small wolves to massive marilith-class monsters, burned under the night sky. The horrific scene contrasted against the smiling demon that stood within the flames.

Kashi grinned as the dragon scales receded into his skin. He looked at the hooded figure that stood transfixed at the front of the army and called out, "You are the leader of these motley crew, are you not?"

The figure looked at the shattered rink in her hand and then sighed as she threw off her robe.

"As expected," Kashi joked as he gazed into the violet eyes of a beautiful, thirtyish-looking daeben. He tried to guess the woman's class from her attire but found it challenging. She was dressed in a leather tunic and pants, with a pauldron and breastplate crafted from hardened leather for added protection. Any class could don this type of light armor. "You guys keep giving me a bad name. You know that?"

"You are Kashi, yes?" The woman calmly greeted, ignoring Kashi's jest.

"Kashi?" Kashi repeated with a perplexed gaze, confused by the respectful tone. He pointed at himself and questioned, "You know me?"

"News of your prowess has spread after your victory over Ruse," she replied as she gave Kashi an appreciative look. "We daeben respect the strong. You have acquitted yourself well for a man."

"Well, I try," Kashi replied as he cast a glance at the thousands of monsters behind the woman. His hour-long rampage had cut down over two-thirds of their number, but this much remained. The daeben inwardly cringed as he realized why he had not fought any monsters during the first few days he spent searching this forest. Every living creature had been infected by the blight and added to this army.

Whichever way this battle ended, this forest was done for unless there was a divine intervention of some sort. Kashi shook his head as he realized he had just added a new burden to this already crazy complicated questline.

Kashi looked at the woman and questioned, "Do you understand what you've done? You've doomed this forest."

The woman's lips curled up in a malicious grin. "Some level of sacrifice is required to put the world in the right place. We do evil so the world may be righteous in the future. Surely you understand. You did not get to this place by being peaceful."

Kashi shrugged as he said, "Listen, I'm not here to judge whether your actions are good or evil or any of that. You can do whatever you want, but you must, in turn, be prepared for the consequences." He looked over his shoulder at the ash-coated rubble that was once Aethon. "You made me see something unpleasant, so I destroyed some of you to vent. Sound fair?"

The woman's brow rose in surprise. "So, you will not pursue this further?"

Kashi chuckled. "Why would I? Fighting's pretty tiring, you know? I'm done venting, so I'm going to leave now if that's alright with you."

"Why should I let you do that?" the woman replied with a teasing smile. "This is a prime opportunity to take down the great Kashi. Who knows, I might even get promoted to a Primate."

Kashi grinned. "Care to bet your life?"

Boom!

The woman instinctively backed off in fear as pressure akin to the world's weight bore down on her. She bit her lips as she stared at the giant, intimidating dragon head that appeared behind the daeben. Defeated, she raised her hand and said, "Fine, you win. You can leave. You won't be interfering in our business, right?"