Sword Art Online - Midnight Assassin - Vol.1

Chapter 2

Right after the blood red sky returned to dazzling golden sunset, I slipped through the crowds towards the Merchant District again. I stopped by the armor shop and bought a simple breastplate and a cloak to hide myself in.

After buying them, I instantly equipped them and sold the starter leather armor then head for the potion shop and bought about twenty of the healing potions plus two antidote potions just in case I come across a monster that can inflict status effects. I wanna buy more but the antidote potions are expensive so I decided two would be enough for now.

Then, I put two of the healing potions into my pockets and put the others into my inventory. There aren't any monsters that can inflict status effects just yet on this floor so I can't risk having only one reachable healing potion if ever I was dying.

I searched through my memories for the direction of Tolbana, the second town on this floor and headed its way. While going through the fields to head for Tolbana, I hunted every single monsters that was on my way there and as a result, when I've arrived there, I was already on level 3.

I walked around the town to find quest NPCs and took on their quests before going out of the town again to start hunting. Hunting at night isn't really a good idea because monsters spawn rate increase around those times so, until I'm confident I can handle groups of enemies easily, I should probably avoid night hunting. It's only almost seven so I can hunt for another hour or so, at least before it got really dark.

After running for not-so-long, I finally encountered a plant type monster with a really big lips and I don't see any eyes on it. When I stared on its head, a pure red cursor appeared and thus, showing its name; Little Nepenthes.

From what I read, there are three types of Nepenthes; Little Nepenthes, Fruit Nepenthes and Flower Nepenthes. The little ones are normal Nepenthes you could beat if you are at least level 3. The fruit ones are those which if you attacked the fruit on top of it, it will burst and spread a type of gas that would call a big group of Little Nepenthes, certainly not the one I wanna encounter at this level. Meanwhile, the flowering ones are the rarest kind which appeared if you kill quite a number of the little ones and they drop a quest item called the Little Nepenthes Ovule. And I'm out here for that too.

The Little Nepenthes raised one of its...um, hands? Leaves? Anyway, it uses that to swing down onto me but I raised my dagger too and slashed at it then continue with a [Curve].

*shiing* - *slash*

The blade made a good wound on the lips of the Nepenthes and thus further angering the monster. The roots that acted as its feet started to wiggle around and before I know it, it had charged straight into my abdomen.

That was a little fast, I never expect a plant-type monster to be that fast. I lost a little over a third HP just from that strike so I'll have to be careful. Since the potions I bought could heal two hundreds HP overtime, I couldn't waste it for a mere hundred of HP I lost.

I sidestepped and started the skill motion again. This time, however, I'm using a different skill. It's a three-part sword skill I unlocked when I got to level 3; [Slice].

*shiing - *slash* *slash* *slash*

That was a good hit. It took over half of its HP and now it's in the yellow zone. I could manage the rest with normal attacks I think. I took a back-step and dashed as quickly as I can onto the Nepenthes.

*slash* *stab* *slash* *slash* *stab* - *shatter*

That took some times to deal with but I handled it just fine. I think I could try to fight some more. Once I reach level 5 or so, maybe I could try to beat the Dire Wolves. The only thing that prevents me from doing so right now is the fact that they can release a howl when their HP are in the red zone that calls for a group of wolves. I could die trying to beat those guys so I have to level up first.