POV – Tobias

Rin happily led the way back to the next Hell Difficulty Zone.

I… don’t have a clue how she managed to remember the way back.

Arriving back to the teleportation temple, we ran into a problem.

It was surrounded by guild members… and seems to have been sealed using some barrier, considering the massive blue bubble around it.

Well… crap.

Gazing at Rin for instructions. Rin unsheathed her sword, pointing it at the people surrounding the building.

Yeah… That’s not a good idea.

Along with the various moral repercussions of simply murdering them… the bigger problem is that would result in becoming enemies of almost everyone in the residential zone.

Murdering everyone is the worst possible solution, not the initial choice, and should only be used as a last resort….

Shaking my head at the suggestion, I disagreed vocally, “I’m gonna have to veto that idea…”

Rin sent me a glare effective meant, ‘You come up with a better one then.’

Great. Well, fine.

Let’s… hmmm, maybe... I can swindle our way through.

Searching through the various guild members, I quickly spotted an authoritative looking girl with the guild symbol in the shape of turtle.

If I’m not incorrect, that should be the symbol of the ‘Eternal Turtle’ guild…

Depending on her rank, she’s might know the name of their boss, I might be able to intimidate her using his real name.

I know, it’s not a brilliant idea. Especially considering the many things that could go wrong… but, it’s the best idea I can think of.

‘Eternal Turtle’ guild… Just thinking about the name makes me cringe, I wasn’t particular creative in naming guilds…

In my defense, the guilds weren’t meant to be a particularly important part of the story… thus, I didn’t put much effort into naming them.

Most of the time, I simply gave them names… created a leading character based on the name of the guild and was done with it.

Later, I realized they would effectively useless toward the plot… Most of those characters never even got introduced into the story.

Still, the names aren’t difficult to remember, I basically used the initials of the guild to name the main characters behind each guild.

In this case, 'Eternal Turtle' turned into 'Edward Thomas'.

And Rin’s moving toward them with her sword drawn again… I shouldn’t have gotten lost in a mental tangent again.

Reaching forward and attempted to pushed her arm downward to stop her.

I say ‘attempted’ because I failed miserably… Rin’s apparently still extremely strong.

Still, Rin humored me and sheathed her weapon… I suspect she only did it to drag me out of my daze.

Still, I’m not even strong enough to push her arm downward… I feel like crying.

I’d completely forgotten Rin’s absurd physical strength… or rather, I’d thought I’d caught up to an extent…

Now I only feel more pathetic in comparison.

Apparently, at some point, someone from the guild had spotted us and informed the authoritative girl in charge.

Meaning, she’s heading over toward us.

Right! Okay! Cover story! Rin’s on a secretive mission that’s on a need to know basis... and we need access into the Hell Difficulty building.

Crap, no. That’s a terrible cover story.

Uhhh, she’s getting closer.

Screw it. She doesn’t need to believe it for long. Only until we get access to the building.

After arriving, she attempted to shoo us off the premises, “This area’s under lockdown, leave immediately.”

She didn’t seem easy to deceive.

I tried to sound as intimating as possible and spoke up, “We need access to that temple. You don’t have the authority to block us.”

… I don’t think it worked.

She seemed stunned at my appearance… but, she didn’t seem convinced and spent a moment thinking.

Technically, I’m correct, she doesn’t have the authority to block us.

Authority is earned by power, considered Rin and I could probably kill everyone here… she doesn’t have any authority in blocking us.

Still… now that I’ve let that sink in, let’s throw out the bait.

Before she could speak, I announced, “Edward’s already approved.”

Now, she appears hesitant. Excellent.

Uhh… What now? I need something else to seal the deal… Anger!

Glaring angrily, “We don’t have time for this.” I snapped then continued, “Don’t make me contact Edward over this, let us through immediately.”

Authoritative girl seemed to have made a decision and then nodded.

She wandered off and began signaling for people to take down the barrier.

Haha! It worked!

Never underestimate the power of pretending to have authority. Confidence will give you unlimited social power.

Rin staring at me as if I’ve been replaced by an alien though… Crap, I’d completely forgotten that Rin was here.

Did I say anything incriminating?

Uhhh, I don’t think so… Well, beside Edward’s name…

I’ll say… I heard it somewhere in town…

Wait, crap… that would mean lying to Rin, a bad idea.

Right… Okay! If Rin asks, deflection! Deflect everything! (After all, isn’t that a really pretty flower?)

After several minutes, Rin and I were inside the building ready to teleport to the next zone.

We ran into a little trouble… But, altogether, I’m feeling pretty happy about the result of our trip.

I’ve obtained a method of ranged attack.

Some basic fire resistance.

And! We’ve bypassed the guards without killing anyone.

Sure, that girl will probably be pissed later… when she discover I scammed her… But, it’s better than having everyone be furious because we murdered them.

So, overall, everything’s looking up.

Well, besides Rin glare that says, ‘You’ll be explaining everything about that interaction later.’

That’s not going to be as fun.

Rin grabbed my hand in preparation for teleportation.

Yay, I get to go to a planet filled with fire and brimstone (sarcasm, if you can’t tell)… *sigh*, whatever.

Let’s… Let’s just get this over with.

Wait… Rin expression’s and atmosphere’s has completely changed from a second ago.

Did she just reload?

Unfortunately, I didn’t get chance to contemplate it.

Rin triggered the teleportation sigil and we disappeared in a flash of light.

[The Third Zone]

POV Swap - 3^rd Person

Three bright suns blazed overhead.

Wind was swirling sand around this desert.

In the distance, a mountain range stretched along the horizon… several were volcanoes, bursting with lava and nearly completely lit from the lava.

Inside this scorching hot and barren desert, a lava pool simmered constantly releasing fumes.

The only sound being those of lifelessness and death… until, suddenly forty meters above the lava pool, a flash of light appeared.

Once it disappeared two people, a dark-haired boy and red-haired girl, could be spotted in its place.

Who promptly began to descend toward the lava pool.

The girl, Rin, acted quickly and twisted her body throwing the boy, Tobias, along with her bag toward the desert sand.

Tobias landed safely on the shore of the lava pool, yet… the girl had fallen straight into the lava pool.

The lava's around 2,000 degrees (Fahrenheit)… Yet, despite this, Rin seemed completely fine.

She began swimming in the lava.

It seemed somewhat difficult for her to move in the lava... but, she soon arrive at the shoreline.

Although, it had taken her a few minutes.

POV Swap – Tobias

Oww...

Rin had thrown me straight into the sand. I'm completely covered in sand.

Gah, so uncomfortable.

I can't believe I’d forgotten the golden rule of teleports… Never trust them.

Especially in Hell Difficulty.

This teleportation sigil probably threw people into a random location on this planet (or something similarly dangerous). Completely untrustworthy.

Rin seems to be as overpowered as ever… she swimming in lava, which must be over a 1000 degrees.

Did Rin acquire some artifact, or item, that makes her immune to fire damage?

Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me.

For me though, even standing here is extraordinarily uncomfortable and difficult.

This place is burning hot!

Gazing down at my <Brooch of Fire Resistance>… Why isn’t it working?

Is the temperature too high for it to work? Even basic fire resistance should work for this temperature?

Spending a moment to inspect it more carefully.

I discovered the problem.

It’s a fake.

It’s merely a brooch in the shape of an artifact.

It doesn’t have the mana signature of an enchanted item.

Rapidly pulling out the <Magical pistol>, I discovered the same problem.

They’re both fake artifacts. Son of a bitch.

I traded a real and powerful Hell Difficulty artifact for two fakes.

That bloody merchant scammed me.

Oh… you wait, merchant.

I was being ‘nice’ before and abided by the rules of the Residential Zone.

I even paid for the artifacts... and you decided to scam me.

When I get back there, I’m going to steal any real artifacts you have.

Then, I’m gonna beat you up for good measure.

Throwing the counterfeit artifacts into the lava, I waited for Rin to climb upward toward me.

Sure, I’m simmering in rage… but, Rin just saved my life again.

Rage is for later. When I can do something about it.

Damn, this heat is uncomfortable.

Shit, this messes everything up though.

Apparently, my visit to the Residential Zone was entirely pointless and was actually detrimental to my overall strength.

I scammed a guild (which probably pissed them off), lost an artifact, and wasted several hours worth of time.

When Rin was within reaching distance, I helped her up… whilst I gazed about the desert.

Man, this place takes the phrase ‘lifeless desert’ and cranks it up to eleven (Impressive, considering the scale only goes up to ten).

Although, it might not be ‘lifeless’ at all.

I wouldn’t know.

Honestly, it probably has some horrifying monsters waiting to attack us (or something else equally dangerous).

Still, for the Third Zone, I actually drew an incompetent map.

Which means, I have a general sense of direction!

If I remember correctly…

To the East, is a mountain range with several temples and stuff. Past the mountain range is a massive lava lake (or possibly lava ocean?).

North is the lava bog.

West is the burning plant fields.

South-west is a fire-forest.

And… finally, to the South-East is the exit, which will open after another year.

Breaking away from my thought, I glanced at Rin.

She seemed rather angry and embarrassed?

It didn’t take long to notice what was wrong…

Her clothes, along with the majority of her items she was wearing were destroyed by the lava.

Only her bow and sword remained. (Which were apparently durable enough to survive the lava.)

Fortunately, Rin was too concerned with covering herself to actually hit me.

*Coughing politely*… I turned around slightly embarrassed myself and removed a set of spare clothes from my bag for Rin.

Just… Just don’t think about it. She a minor.

I hadn’t even considered clothing.

How am I going to replace clothes?

Actually, how am I going to protect my current clothes from getting destroyed.

… I hate this zone already.

Once Rin was clothed, I avoided glancing toward her.

It’s kinda awkward.

The clothing clearly doesn’t fit her properly... After all, it was my clothing and Rin is a few inches shorter than me.

Rin had apparently managed to save her bag... but, it only has one pair of clothes inside (along with several artifacts she'd pick up).

I don't think Rin's plans to return the clothes I gave her...

Attempting to avoid any further awkwardness, I inquired if there was a particular direction she wanted to head…

Apparently, there is. Rin simply gestured toward the mountains, still seeming somewhat embarrassed.

Alright… toward the mountains it is.

Staring at them, I suddenly realized the word ‘mountain’ was somewhat incorrect… They’re more like dormant and active volcanoes.

Some are completely covered in glowing lava… This zone is going to be completely miserable.

Then again… all future zones are probably going to be miserable.

Actually... if this desert is truly lifeless, how am I going to feed God-Hunter?

Well... I somewhat doubt that will be a problem.

This is Hell Difficulty.

If monsters aren't constantly attempting to murder and eat us... something worse is probably hiding in the shadows.

It probably won't take long.

Even if nothing shows up during the day, we’ll probably run into some predators to feed God-Hunter at night.

If we don't run into anything, there's not much I can do about it... so onward, toward the volcano range.

What could possibly go wrong?