Heaven's Sword Online- Book One of the Alta Luna Saga

Episode 3: Path of the Moon

The greedy little eyes of the imps quickly turn toward me. They jump over each other, anxious to have the first meal. Not that I will let them have it.

I twirl the chain blade and throw it at the closest imp. The thing explodes into dust as soon as its head cleanly comes off.

"Amazing," Lua's voice rings again. "Your skills are pretty good. Play this kind of game a lot?"

"Only the augmented VR ones," I respond, forgetting my anger from earlier. "This is my first time doing a full dive one. I don't like to gloat but I usually rank among the top thousand."

"Only a thousand? Not top hundred?"

I shake her voice out of my head and return to focusing on the imps which are now jumping at me from all sides. I slash through their bodies with ease and use the excess length of my chain to tie one of them up. Swinging the tied up imp toward the crowd, I send them flying.

Thankfully the stupid imp on my chains starts to claw at the other imps in fear. The hoard slows down and starts to fight among itself, wondering which of them dared to attack their compatriots.

Grinning, I step back and retreat into the tall grass. I would like to continue fighting them but one should know when to quit.

***

I spot Adriana crawling over to me using her forearms to push herself forward. "A...a" she starts to say. I notice her pointing at the flailing monster tangled up in my chain.

I slash the imp's head off and put my weapon away.

"There! I'm fine!" I respond, as I pick her up from the ground. "Let's get out of here while we still can." Rushing out of there, I hear growls come from behind us. The imps must've realized their mistake. 

Falling on my knees, I start to lunge away, carrying Adriana like a barbell.

"She wants you to put her down," Lua says.

I continued pushing forward. I won't let her go.

"You know, we women like a good, and heroic man. But, we also are put off by block heads in the same way."

I'm not doing this so that she'll like me! I'll like for her to stick around and explore a world using her own two feet. The girl who brought us here said that this world can make some of our dreams come true. Perhaps those dreams will be granted. At least for her.

"You're an odd one. Aren't you in this for the money?"

I keep my eyes on the look out for enemies, while making sure that Adriana is hidden in the grass. Why are you so chatty?

"I'm just trying to help. God, you mortals are stupid."

Are there NPC mortals in this world? Or are we not the first round of beta players?

She doesn't respond.

***

After several meters of marching, Lua manifests herself once more. "We made it," she says.

I spot a small gated town only a few meters away from where I stand. Gathering around the town are hundreds of other players but along with them are even more imps. 

Spinning around, I grab my chain with one hand and slash an imp as it tries to sneak up on me.

 I straighten my body out and lower Adriana until I'm holding her in the bridal position. I can't help but grin.

This world is amazing. In the real world I can barely handle lifting a barbell with fifty pound weight-plates in real life.  

"Take her," I say, holding Adriana toward her.

Lua snickers. "I can't. You're on your own in that regard. Actually. This is as far as I'll guide you, for the time being. See you within the walls. If you make it."

Adriana reaches out her hand toward the imps and electrocutes them with her lightning.

"Nice job!" I yell.

Her smile returns and so too does the redness of my face. I stand up completely and run for it as she continues to zap them. She's a quick learner.

The other players notice us and come to our aid. One of them, a shy looking girl cuts through a dozen imps with her sword. Just as quickly she cuts down another batch. "St...stand back," she says. "I'll handle these."

Adriana shakes her head. She calls on more lightning, striking down over a hundred sword wielding imps.

"Wow," the girl says, eyes wide.

I raise my chain and strike the closest one.

"I can't lose," the new girl says, rushing into battle.

"Hey!" I yell. "Don't go too deep! Let's pull back!"

The imps themselves stop and pull back.

"Di. Did. Did you do that?" the girl questions.

"No," a girl decked out in red armor says. "It wasn't the boy. These creatures. They seem to be able to think."

"They must know that they're no match for us thousand!" I exclaim.

She shakes her head and takes a step forward. "Think that they might regroup and attack later. For now let's enter the town."

I nod and follow the two girls toward town. Protecting the settlement and the wall is a moat over ten meters wide and who knows how many meters deep.

"How do we get the drawbridge to go down?" I ask.

"Easy," Lua's voice rings throughout the land. A black drawbridge is slowly lowered. "Thank me later."

That girl is an odd one.

I rush into town once the bridge is fully lowered. The walls of the town might resemble western European castles, but the place itself looks like it came straight out of the Edo period.

"Welcome to Tsuki no Michi!"

'Way of the Moon'? This world really goes deep with the whole moon motif. But why that name for the town?

"Come," one of a thousand Lua's says as she grabs my hand. "I'll take you to where you two will be staying."

Us two?

She chuckles as she sees my shocked face. "My, what a dirty mind you got."

I grumble. This NPC is the one with the dirty mind.

"There is another who will be rooming with you."

"Who?"

"Me?" the shy girl from before asks as her Lua pushes her. She nearly trips but I catch her with my free hand.

"Yup!" our Luas say. "You helped them out. Basically you formed the start of a guild. Now move it. We don't got all day! '

The shy girl looks up at me. "Oh. Alright." She turns away. "S... staying with others is... nerve racking."

"It'll be fine," I assure her. "You don't have to worry about me either. I plan to go imp hunting once we settle down."

"How brave," Lua says as she gets awfully close to me.

"Just show us to where we'll be staying already," I say, looking away.