[Later]Marco was still walking in the forest, he was looking around the area, he sighed and whistled, trying to attract attention, and a noise came from behind him, Marco jumped away from the noise and looked at the source.
It was a slime girl, the first hostile monster Luka should encounter if he was still here, and now she was l.u.s.ting after Marco.
Slime Girl: Hahaha, a delicious looking boy showed up!
Marco: Alright… Will you leave, please? You"re making everyone in the village p.i.s.s on their pants.
Slime Girl: And what makes you think I would just leave when I have food right in front of me?
Marco: Well… I warned you… Get out from my lawn!
Then Marco reared back a palm and hit the slime with it, making part of her body fall in the ground, the parts of the slime that were in the ground crawled back at the main body and recombined, but Marco continued to use his palms, if he used fists then he would make less damage.
The slime couldn"t recombine as fast as she would lose her body parts, so she immediately retreated with a scared face.
Slime Girl: Stop it! Meanie!
Marco didn"t followed the Slime Girl, and let her run away.
*Ding*
*Congratulations to the Host to defeat his first monster*
*Reward: Your willpower increased of the 10%*
*Warning: There will not be any reward in future*
Marco frowned when he heard the warning, it seems that this system doesn"t have a experience feature.
At least he was able to win without killing her and without using the Nine Tailed Gates, even if he got a bit tired, at this, he smiled.
Marco: Well, this is my first step for the journey… 10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5…
*Crash*
Marco: Mh, sooner than what I thought…
Marco heard a crash near the place he currently is, so he walked towards the source with a smile in his face.
[Later]
Pushing through the trees, Marco walked further into the forest until he found the place where the crash happened, he slowly walked towards a crater, and found another beautiful woman lying on the ground with closed eyes.
She had white hair that reached her waist, her skin was light blue, she had dark purple horns that had a strange curve, at her left there were some plants and 2 flowers with 5 petals each attached at her hair.
She had a pair of black long gloves, a collar made of the same materials of the glove, under the collar, right over her chest there was a orange-yellow eye-shaped gem, she wore a black bra that revealed a great deal of skin, and had a black skirt at her waist.
She possessed golden decorations under her b.o.o.bs and at her waist, right over the skirt, she had a tattoo all over her left side, but the most noticeable thing was the 13 meters long red snake tail instead of legs, she seemed a strange lamia at first glance…
But she was Alice 16th, the current Monster Lord, she was an exotic beauty, and she was currently sleeping due to the fall she had after the fight with Illias, unknown to everyone except Marco.
Marco smiled at the familiar sight and slowly walked towards her, he seemed so confident because he was sure that he would not get killed, and even if something goes wrong he would just use the "Special Mode: Berserk" to enter the 4th Gate and rampage around.
Marco crouched at her side and picked us her hand to check her pulse, he could not be too sure, maybe she could have some problems, but her heartbeat was normal so he let her hand go.
Then he tried to shake her body to make her wake up, but she still had her eyes closed, Marco sighed and extended his right arm over Alice"s head, then he said.
Marco: Wake up!
*Piak*
Marco slapped her cheek with some strength, which would not harm her since he was too weak right now, not too much... She immediately opened her eyes and hastily stood up.
Marco: Good morning sleeping beauty!
Alice was surprised from the sudden sound and turned towards Marco with wary eyes.
Alice: Did… Did you just slap me?
Marco: Yep, you wouldn"t wake up so I thought… Why not? And the-
*Piak*
Marco was interrupted when Alice"s tail slapped his cheek and made him fly against a tree.
Marco: f.u.c.k!
He crashed at the tree, greatly hurting his back.
Marco: "Why did I have the "great" idea to slap her?!"
Alice was a bit amused from her own actions, but then she had a serious expression and bluntly asked.
Alice: Where am I?
Marco: Jeez… That hurts… We are near Illias Village.
Alice closed her eyes and sighed.
Alice: I was blown to such a place… That d.a.m.n girl… What crazy strength. Anyways, you are lucky that I didn"t want to attack you for real… Who are you?
Marco: Christ, you need to work on your social skills…
Alice: I shall not repeat myself.
Marco: Calm down woman, I am Marco, a traveller who just started his adventure, I came from Illias Village.
Alice: Alright.
Then there was an awkward silence between the two of them, and Marco decided to interrupt it.
Marco: So… Who are you?
Alice: Just a traveling monster…
Marco stood in silence and was staring at Alice with half-opened eyes. Soon Alice couldn"t take it anymore and said with an annoyed tone.
Alice: I am Alipheese Fateburn 16th, but you can simply call me Alice.
Marco: And this is the first step to increase your social skills!
Alice sighed and asked with an hint of curiosity.
Alice: Why are you traveling?
Marco smiled bitterly at her question, knowing that she would berate him for his answer.
Marco: I want to achieve coexistence between monsters and humans…
Alice: ...You"re an idiot.
Marco: Did I ask for your opinion?
Alice: *Sigh* Believing in an immature view of world peace, with everyone living in harmony peacefully with no issues… That is just foolish.
Marco: So says the introvert one. What are you going to do about it?
Alice: Do you even know what you will do in your journey?
Marco: I will visit EVERY places trying to help people and monsters.
*Ding*
*Special Quest: Visit every places in Illias Continent, Sentora and h.e.l.lgondo*
Alice: That"s very vague…
Marco: Nope, it"s already clear, just take it letter for letter.
Alice"s eyes widened for a fraction of a second, unnoticed from anyone, and smiled.
Alice: Interesting… Are you planning to visit the Monster Lord"s castle?
Marco smiled and said.
Marco: Whatever I say, I will accomplish it… This is the phrase that represent me the most, if I say I will visit every places, I mean even the dangerous ones like the Monster Lord"s castle or Remina, if I say I will punch the four heavenly knights in the face, I will do it.
The same thing will be with the coexistence, one day I will accomplish it, not now, not tomorrow, not the day after tomorrow, but one day… I will do it.
If Alice was amazed from the speech, she didn"t show it. She closed her eyes and gave a little smile.
Alice: Mh, I decided… I will accompany you in your journey.
Marco raised an eyebrow at her answer and stood silent, making her continue to talk.
Alice: You are a bit interesting, there aren"t many people that could claim the same thing you did, I want to see if you could really accomplish the thing you said... How you will survive… How you will fail… How will you succeed… I"m really curious about this.
I wanted to travel around the world, and knowing that you planned to visit every places makes me curious about how you will go.
Marco just shrugged and said.
Marco: Do whatever you want, but I appreciate the company… Do you need to rest or can you… Walk? Crawl? Slither? Whatever… Can you follow me now?
Alice just nodded, making Marco smirk, he turned towards a certain direction and said.
Marco: Alright, the first destination is Illiasburg, maybe there will be something interesting…
Marco started to walk towards Illiasburg while Alice followed him.
[Later]
Marco and Alice were on the way towards Illiasburg, Marco was getting annoyed from the silence and said.
Marco: So… You said you were a traveling gourmet, did you try anything before our encounter?
Alice: No, I left from home recently, I didn"t have time to taste anything before I crashed near Illias Village. What will you do at Illiasburg, it can"t be that is just because there may be something interesting.
Marco: Well, I want to buy an armor or something similar, and if we have time we could taste a specialty of that place, and I am curious about how it looks, I never got there since I was born.
Indeed, Marco was curious about the place since the game would show only some pictures of places drawn in the computer, and then there was Granberia"s problem, if she would continue to make damage the coexistence will be harder to accomplish.
He was sure that he would never beat her as he is now, if he had around 5 or 6 tails he could beat her, but not with 3, even if he goes berserk he will just destroy the city, and maybe heavily damage her with a bijuudama.
Suddenly, a figure appeared some meters away from Marco, she looked like a grey haired woman dressed in n.o.ble"s clothes and a hat to cover her eyes from the sun, everything about her was grey except her face, who was a bit pale.
But if someone would look closely, they could recognize that the girl was a slug monster.
She glanced at Marco and smiled.
Slug Girl: ...A traveler? ...Not baptized, either. You look delicious.
Marco: A traveler?
Marco turned around but he didn"t found anyone, then he remembered that Alice would disappear in front of monsters, except in special cases. Then he turned back at the Slug Girl and said with a poker face.
Marco: Is there any chance that you will let me go?
The Slug Girl giggled and said.
Slug Girl: I like you att.i.tude, usually people would just either attack me or run away, but no, I am hungry so I will take your s.e.m.e.n.
Marco sighed and said.
Marco: Well, goodbye.
Then Marco walked away, the Slug Girl frowned a bit before following him, but… She was mainly a slug so… She was incredibly slow and lost Marco from her sight.
Slug Girl: d.a.m.ned speed!!
Marco heard her yell but ignored her, when they were far enough, Alice slithered from somewhere and regrouped with Marco again.
Marco: So… Where did you go?
Alice: Somewhere… I don"t want any monster to see me.
Marco: *Sigh* Alright…
Marco sighed at her and started to walk towards Illiasburg once again.
Alice: Still, it was a good idea leaving from the place, using a Slug Girl"s speed against her.
Marco: It was a slug, if I couldn"t run away from her then I might as well break my legs. Well, tomorrow we will reach Illiasburg… Soon we will put a camp.
Alice nodded and followed Marco towards Illiasburg.
[SPECIAL QUEST]
1st. Kick Gabriel"s a.s.s
2nd. Be recognized as a "True" Hero
3rd. Achieve coexistence between Monsters and Humans
4th. Defeat Illias
5th. Return to Lucifina"s grave
6th. Visit every places in Illias Continent, Sentora and h.e.l.lgondo