Universe Tales: Virtual Log of the Fallen One

Chapter 68: Public Enemy

Maria and Ash left a long trail of blood behind them as they continued to strike down any player that tried to attack them.

It started to annoy her that every single player who had just logged on would suddenly attack her from out of nowhere. Even though their affiliations were no longer the same, couldn't they have at least recognized her for being a player of the neutral faction since she was active around the area before?

Maria, unfortunately, forgot about the fact that her absorption of Greed's Soul had made her go through a few changes to her avatar's body. She was no longer the half white and half black four-winged fallen angel that she was before.

She was now a six-winged fallen angel whose presence was so menacing that it even caused the monsters on the field to automatically aggro onto her. Ash wasn't dealing with just the area's players but also the monsters.

Since it was getting annoying, Maria quickly spread her wings and took to the skies. Of course, she didn't forget to leave behind a present for the players that continued to harass her with their long-ranged attacks.

She sent an [Angel's Rage] at them and caused the other players to stop attacking. Their momentary lull gave her the time to quickly get away from the area and fly higher into the sky. Ash and Lilah followed after her and the trio quickly made their way over in the direction of the city.

Lizzy was already waiting for her at the city's gates. She had just received a message from her friend that she was being attacked by the players so she came out to make sure that her guild members didn't accidentally attack their friend.

"Hmmm... just where is that troublemaker?" Lizzy mumbled to herself as she strained her eyes looking up at the sky.

"To the northeast, 2 figures are approaching the city from the sky. I think that's them, Guild Leader?" An archer reported.

"That's her. Maria did say that she brought a subordinate along."

"Uhhh, leader... I can't see any of their names, but I assume that 6-winged angel is Maria?"

"Huh? 6-wings?"

"Y-yeah, they're also all black...are you sure it's her?"

"...Well, there's no other fallen angel player is there? So I'm sure it's her."

As Maria got closer, she quickly saw her friends waiting for her down below. There was also a large number of people gathered around but she quickly noticed that they were all Fallen Angels players.

She and Ash quickly landed but her friends couldn't help but put their guards up.

"Mary, is that you?"

"Huh? Of course, it is! What's up? Are you guys going to attack me too? Jeez, I keep getting attacked for no reason! This is so notWoah!"

Before Maria could say anything, a large ballista flew straight towards her head and she quickly dodged away.

"Mary?! What the hell, who attacked?! Stay your hands, this is Mary!" Lizzy roared out. She had already confirmed the name of the person in front of her and it was indeed her friend.

The only thing she found odd was the fact that the naming was a little off from how a normal player should be. Instead of just displaying the name, 'Maria', it was instead displayed as, 'Fallen Angel of Greed, Maria'. It was displayed like a typical field boss monster's name.

"B-boss, no one attacked...the ballista bolt came from the city wall..." A player immediately answered.

Maria quickly gazed up at the city walls and saw that all of the ballista and arrow cannons were turning to face her.

"W-what the heck?"

The sound of the city gates closing interrupted her. Everyone was already shocked to see the city's defensive weapons attack Maria, but when they looked over at the city gates, they were even more shocked to see the city guards marching out. They were heading straight their way and they didn't look friendly.

"M-Mary, I don't know what you did, but you have to run away now!" Lizzy yelled. She immediately rushed over to her friend and started pushing her away.

"Go, now! The city's NPCs are definitely after you for some reason!"

"O-Okay!"

Maria quickly spread her wings and flew into the air, however, before she could fly any further, the arrows and ballistae on the city walls immediately began firing at her.

"My Lady, get behind me!" Ash quickly said before conjuring a large wall of blood in front of them.

"W-why are we being attacked?"

"I'm not sure, but we should first run and ask questions later. It's already apparent that we're not welcomed here."

"Master we should go! I can see some mages in the back preparing some sort of spell! I'm afraid it might be a space-lock spell!" Lilah exclaimed in a hurry after she looked towards the back of the knight formation which was quickly getting closer and closer to them.

"..."

Maria didn't linger and quickly turned around and quickly shot into the distance. Ash and Lilah followed after her and they were soon far away from the city. When she looked behind, Maria saw that the soldiers were still chasing after her.

"Tch, this is so stupid. Lilah, lead us to someplace that has no players and no NPCs!"

"Follow me, Master!"

*****

By the city walls, Lizzy and everyone else could only look on in dismay as their friend was chased away. It was the first time the NPCs of the city acted so unwelcoming to a player.

"I want to know what happened! Also, did someone video all of that? We've gotta file a complaint to the gaming company! Our friend was just forcibly kicked out of the guild and we can't invite her back. Not to mention that even the system's NPCs are screwing around with her!"

*****

Maria and Ash continued to follow after Lilah for quite some time. They quickly arrived back at their previous hunting grounds and they landed deep into the area where there were no players due to the high-leveled monsters that were roaming about.

After clearing the area of a few monsters, Maria sat down in frustration and quickly gave Lizzy a call.

"Lizzy, did you find out why the NPCs were acting that way?"

<...We did, and it's not any good news.>

"Why?"

<The factions of the game seem to have put up a bounty on you. Even the Church of the Death God did as well!>

"What thehow come?!"

<I already put up a formal complaint to the devs and they said they'd look into it, but from a cursory response, they said that you might have done something in the game that caused all of the factions to put a bounty on you... just what did you do in these past few days in the game?>

"...Uhm, I defeated a boss?"

Lizzy sighed heavily before continuing, <Anyway, I suggest you don't get close to any NPCs or players for now. You'll be attacked right on site due to the bounty on you.>

"Alright, I'll be going ahead with a mission anyway so I probably won't see any of you guys in a while."

<Alright, keep in touch. See ya.>

"Bye-bye."

Maria quickly ended the call and turned towards Ash.

"Alright Ash, I've postponed your revenge quest for a while. Let's do it now!"

"Thank you, Master."

"Alright. So~ how do we get to your world?"

"Well, it won't be a problem anymore. I've been able to recover some of my strength and the seal in my memory has been somewhat lifted."

"You had a seal placed in your memories? Why didn't you tell me?" Maria frowned and asked.

"S-sorry, my Lady, it's not like I didn't want to tell you, but it's because even I didn't know until after we defeated the Devil Greed and I was further strengthened. Because of that, the seal on my mind was lifted somewhat and I became aware of it."

"Oh...is that so?"

Maria quickly checked Ash's [Status] and there were indeed many changes to it.

[Ash Garm Lv. 75

HP: 85,000/85,000

MP: 20,000/20,000

SP: 2,950/2,950

EXP: 127,500/7,500,000

Race: Vampire

Rank: Duke

Titles: Lord of Blood, Species Eradicator A, Blood Father, Head of the Garm House, The Progenitor's Right Hand, The Knowledgeable One, World Traveler, Maria's Champion, Pervert

ATK: 3,000

DEF: 4,250

M.ATK: 500

M.DEF: 2,500

STR: 600

AGI: 650

VIT: 1,700

INT: 1000

LCK: 7

FAV: Intimate (100,000)

Description: A seal has been recently found on his mind. As he gets stronger, the seal will slowly loosen and he will slowly gain back all of his sealed memories and abilities.]

"Well, that's new... Also, you've gotten a lot stronger, huh?"

"If it pleases you, My Lady, indeed I have."

"Great, so how will we go back to your world?"

"Originally, My Lady, I was the one who transported me and that bastard, Siegfried, over to this planet."

"Oh?"

"I didn't want our battle to affect my original world, but unfortunately, due to his schemes, I lost and was sealed here. Since I can transport myself here, I naturally can transport us back to my planet, Vanhal."

"Alright, what are you waiting for then? Let's get going!"

"My Lady, I have to be sure first. Are you really willing to accompany me back to my planet and help me seek revenge?"

"Yeah, yeah, let's get going already!"

"My Lady, if we do travel to my world, the barrier surrounding this one might close and it might become hard or maybe impossible for you to get back here..."

"Hmm... well, whatever. This place doesn't seem to welcome me anyway, better to find a new place to live in. Let's get going already. We'll deal with the problem of me going back or not when I do wanna go back!"

"Alright, I'll open the portal then."

Ash waved his hand and cut a dimensional crack in front of him. Maria curiously looked into the crack and glanced back at Ash.

"Are we going to walk into that?"

"Yes. Let's get going, my Lady," Ash said and offered his hand to Maria.

Maria grabbed his hand and Ash pulled them both into the crack.

"W-wait for me!" Lilah exclaimed before quickly grabbing onto her Master's wing.

After the 3 disappeared into the crack, it immediately began closing. Before it was completely closed, a black figure suddenly materialized out of nowhere and observed the crack for a moment.

"Hmmm... it looks like my child has decided to forego this world. Perhaps it's for the best. Kukuku, you have my full support, little one."

After the crack completely disappeared, the black figure quickly disappeared as well and Maria, who was currently on her way to Ash's world, suddenly received a system prompt.

*DING*

[You have performed an incredible feat by crossing through dimensions! Rewarded the title: World Traveler]

[Death has issued you a quest!]

[Death's Word

Rank: SSS

As the envoy of Death, you are tasked with the honorable job of spreading his word and presence. Spread the word and faith of Death in the new world that you will descend upon.

Objective 1: Build a Church of the Death God on planet Vanhal

Objective 2: Acquire 2,000 believers

Objective 3: Establish an Altar of Death upon the main lifestream of the planet, Vanhal.

Objective 4: Reap the lives of 100,000 inhabitants of Vanhal.

Rewards: Unknown

Time limit: None]

[As Death's Envoy, you are not allowed to decline this quest]