VRMMORPG: HEAVEN'S DESCENT

Leveled UP!!

Though his newly gained ability was the perfect power for this kind of tasks, Cyrus still had no idea how to utilize it in combat, coupled with the fact that the skin walker might actually be stronger than he was. He had no idea what might happen if he ends up dying against an opponent in this game. Would he respawn? Or will he be sent out of the game? Or will he lose everything he had gained after Respawning? There were too many possibilities, and Cyrus was genuinely scared of all.

Mustering up the little courage inside him, Cyrus stepped out from his comfort zone and entered the crowd. If he truly wanted to find and stop this Skinwalker then he had to get inside the crowd.

Today was quite a busy day for Diontra, the market wasn't too far from where he was currently. It was close to the outskirts of Diontra, a kingdom known to flourish due to the abundance of mineral resources, making it one of the wealthiest kingdoms.

Diontra was surrounded by two neighboring kingdoms, but neither flourished as much as it did.

Metresh was closest to Diontra and was known to have the most powerful military out of the sister kingdoms. This was because they were governed by the procrustean rule, where even women joined the military once they were of age. The kingdom of Granatra was the farthest from Diontra, and is known for their agricultural buoyancy. The other two kingdoms mostly imported their agricultural produce to sell in their markets.

Diontra was a city surrounded by hills and valleys. On the south eastern part of the city, the forest surrounding the city gained a more hilly terrain. Large rocks and boulders occurred naturally and if one were to move further north, one would come upon a series of small mountains that lined the edge of the forest.

The natural elevations stood out in the background of Greenland like jagged uneven constructs. Though these hills and Valleys served as tourist attractions, and housed many mineral resources, it also aided in the defenses of Diontra.

From the knowledge he has gotten so far about the game, only royal guards, and certified monster hunters were allowed to battle supernaturals along these parts. Would it really be okay if he was to fight a Skinwalker without authorization? Perhaps he should ask the system.

Mentally, Cyrus spoke with the system.

"Will unauthorized fights get me in trouble?"

'No reply.' He deduced minutes later. It probably wasn't the role of the system to provide him with such information, it was that of the game. Anyways he should get back to finding and defeating this Skinwalker as soon as possible. He wanted to learn more about his system, and completing his tasks would help him a lot.

[Would the host like to use an ability?]

"Well obviously!" He thought inwardly.

[Anti-camouflage is being used.]

[Ability level 1/???]

[Ability lasts for 10 minutes and has a cool down of 5 minutes]

"What?!" Cyrus vocalized unconsciously. His sudden outburst earned him a few weird looks from the bypasses, but he was quick to act normal. The system should have informed him of this when he requested to know more about the ability. But there was no time for complaints now. He has already intimated the use of Anti-camouflage, it was necessary that he found the Skinwalker before he ran out of time.

'How does this even work?!' Everything seemed normal to him, everything except the fact that he could literally see through walls and clothes when he mentally willed it. He had been careless with his first trials, and he now regrets it.

The Skinwalker was supposed to be amongst the crowd, but he hasn't been able to spot it yet. It was already bad enough that the market was packed today, he also couldn't go ahead to randomly see through everybody's clothes.

"The system!" His mind clicked. "It should have a way to identify Skinwalkers."

"More about Skinwalkers." Cyrus ordered, and instantly a blue panel with basic information on Skinwalkers popped up on the screen. As he read through the contents of the panel, Cyrus finally came across an important sentence that could help him in this task.

".…. While the Skinwalker is able to copy the appearance of its targets, it cannot replicate their aura. Example: While the normal human possesses a green coloured aura, a transformed Skinwalker will retain its dark Brown aura."

"Aura! I should be watching for the aura!"

After that important educational panel, Cyrus proceeded to check on his task.

[A Skinwalker Blends amongst the crowd! Find and Defeat the enemy before an hour!]

[Task Initiated! Time left: 0:45:32]

A whooping fifteen minutes was already gone. He had to hurry or else he might fail. Also he had already used up seven minutes of his ability time. If he fails to find the Skinwalker within the next three minutes, he would have to wait another five minutes before he can use the ability again.

Now he was racing amongst the crowd without care of the curses thrown at him for his misconducts. He was deeply sorry, but finding and stopping this skin walker was a big task. It could hurt someone if it isn't stopped immediately.

A slight discoloration caught his eyes, and Cyrus immediately pursued after his target. He has finally found it, and now all that was left was to put an end to the monster. First of all, he needed to chase it down into a place devoid of humans to avoid any casualties. But there was no guarantee his time wouldn't run out before he's able to achieve that. With the first plan gone, Cyrus was left with plan B; to call the Skinwalker out.

"Hey! Hey mister!" He yelled out before proceeding to tackle his target down to the floor. The sudden commotion had people backing away in fear and shock, and that was exactly what Cyrus was aiming for.

"How dare you lay those filthy hands on me!" The disguised Skinwalker clapped back before raising his hand to strike the seemingly rude commoner.

"He's a Skinwalker!" Cyrus exposed causing the crowd to retreat even further. There was an uproar in the market place now, with many calling him deranged and stupid, while few just wanted him to prove himself.

"W..What nonsense are you blabbing?!" The disguised Skinwalker questioned furiously before making quick successive advances towards Cyrus who made quick successive movements backwards.

He learnt that calling the Skinwalker by its true name weakens them, but he had no idea what the real name of this Skinwalker was. Cyrus had only the option now, to battle this creature to the death.

His elemental affinity was fire, the most common of all the elements. His ability level was still at level one, which required that he had to utilize already existing flames in battle. Luckily he was in the market, where there were a lot of open flames thanks to the food vendors all around the place. The only problem now was finding out just how strong his opponent is. Surely the system wouldn't put him against somebody he had no chance at defeating.

His control over the flames was a bit lacking, but he managed. Self engineering itself into a spear, Cyrus lurched the flaming weapon towards his opponent, but it was quick to dodge.

"Those reflexes aren't human!" Cyrus pointed out, and the crowd gasped in horror at the truth. Although the realization had stirred up some minor stampede amongst the marketers, few of them still stayed back to watch the ongoing battle.

Now aware that its cover was blown, the Skinwalker decided to reveal its true nature.

Black smoke rose from the ground to surround the disguised body. After a few seconds, it dissipated revealing a massive humanoid faceless wolf-like creature that screeched loudly. Once out of its disguise, the creature launched itself at its enemy.

With its superior speed and strength, the Skinwalker easily overpowered Cyrus and slammed him into the earth. As a player, he was definitely more durable than a regular human, but that didn't mean he was immune to pain.

Through the debris and dust that filled the air from the impact, the Skinwalker began slashing at the figure beneath it with razor sharp claws. Not willing to sit back and become shredded meat, Cyrus grabbed both of its hands and brought his head up sharply to headbutt the Skinwalker off his body.

[Host has received damage!!]

[HP: 17/20]

He just realized that it's attack was pretty weak. Aside from its monstrous strength and speed, it didn't have anything else going for it. This monster couldn't be past a level two beast.

Once he was free, Cyrus leapt at the staggered creature, grabbed it by the throat and slammed it into the ground. Then he began a short run, carving a large groove in the ground with its body before throwing it across the market into the wall on the opposite side.

'This strength…..is it a perk of transcending?' Surely he shouldn't be able to perform such feats while he was still a level one player.

The Skinwalker dug itself out soon enough and was met with a punch to the face courtesy of Cyrus who had jumped up to meet it. Before he could replicate the first attack, the Skinwalker adapted and sent him spiraling until a store stopped his momentum.

[Host has received damage!!]

[HP: 15/20]

[25 minutes remaining!!] The system informed.

"Tsk.." Cyrus lamented before leaping away to dodge a claw aimed to decapitate him.

As if determined not to let him off that easily, a powerful kick was sent forward after the first stomp. Although he was able to evade the attack, the Skinwalker was fast enough to deliver two consecutive ones afterwards. This time they hurt more than before. Was it because his HP has decreased?

[Host has received Damage!!]

[HP: 11/20]

[Strength: 8/10]

Now that his health was badly damaged, his strength was also reducing? Things weren't going his way at all.

"This is bad." Cyrus deduced. So far he has been the one conceding blows after blows. He wasn't fast enough to keep up with the attack speed of his enemy, if so he needed to find a way to counterattack.

An idea sprung into his head, and he immediately put it into use. Utilizing the flames around him, Cyrus wrapped himself up in an armor of fire. This way, the Skinwalker would also concede damage anytime it attacked him.

Being affined with fire granted his body some sort of heat resistance. The flames on him wouldn't hurt him.

Now coated in fire, Cyrus utilized the fire on his feet as a propellant to increase his speed exponentially. Not only was he able to keep up with the Skinwalker now, he actually had the upper hand now.

"Burn you faceless monster!" Cyrus yelled as he delivered blow after blow to the debilitated beast beneath him. When he was sure the creature couldn't move anymore, Cyrus jumped off its immobile body, and while airborne, sent down a conflagration down at his enemy to incinerate it. Cyrus breathed a sigh of relief midair before gravity began to take effect on his body. It was finally done, his task was complete.

The instant his feet touched the floor, the system popped up in his face with a new notification.

[Host has leveled up!!]