Tanaka takes out the contract from her inventory, she holds it up and attempts to read it pledge, however, she notices the description is not the same as the usual contract. She glace over the pledge without reading it out loud.

'Darkness reign and chaos surge, Baal bless thy soul with a permanent bond, a soul for a soul, a pact as a pledge.'

Tanaka's forehead starts to sweat, she feels uneasy when the contract mentions Baal's name. She has confirmed that this contract is not a creation of Matok the God of the beast, instead, it is one of Baal's creations. Tanaka pace around the small chamber, wondering if she should even keep the contract in her inventory.

Tanaka sits down on a chunk of flat rock, Vanguard bounces onto her lap as she browses around Wikipedia to search for any information regarding Baal's contract. However, the result is disappointing.

[Search: Baal's Contract]

Do you mean: Baal's DLC?

Baal's DLC has been officially released.

Baal's Dungeon cleared by famous player Tanaka.

Baal's DLC is too high a level for player below Level 900

 

Tanaka closes the Wikipedia and scratches the back of her head, she pats Vanguard blob head as she thinks about it carefully.

T-"What do you think Vanguard? Should I even use it, or should I trash it?"

Vanguard creates two blob tentacles and grabs the contract, it then pushes it toward Tanaka's face. Tanaka smiles and nods her head, she trusts the decision of Vanguard. She then holds up the contract and read it out loud.

T-"Darkness reign and chaos surge, Baal bless thy soul with a permanent bond, a soul for a soul, a pact as a pledge."

As she finishes the pledge, the contract burns up in red flame and perishes into smokes, suddenly, an intense pain surge through Tanaka's right hand. Tanaka holds up her hand and endures the pain, she observes as an insignia slowly draw itself on the back of her right hand like a tiny stream of lava burning her skin, when the insignia is completed, she recognizes it as the symbol of Royal Demon. The insignia depicts the face of a demon with 4 horns, two pair of fiery demonic wingspan out from where an ear should be.

Just as the insignia is completely engraved on the back of the right hand, a red circle starts to form on the ground in front of her. The circle turns into a small firestorm as it rises in height, it then slowly subside and reveal a green spider that resemblance the spider carcass previously. 

T-"Umm...should I name it as usual?"

Before she can decide, a notification shows up.

[The bonded Familiar requires a name!]

[It awaits patiently...]

 

Tanaka stares at it, she tries to think of a name that fits a toxic spider.

T-"Toxic spider...toxic...spider...hmmm, maybe just spider?"

Tanaka stares at the spider and nods her head, she then enters the name "Kumo" into the familiar menu. When she entered the name, Kumo's information shows up.

 

[Toxic Yokai Tsuchigumo 'Kumo']

Behavior: Clingy and extremely aggressive

Ability:

Mounted: A Yokai Tsuchigomo prefers to mount itself on a body part of its master, especially the shoulder area as it provides the Yokai with a wider field of vision on an incoming threat.

Night Vision: Yokai Tsuchigomo can see extremely well in a dark area, anything hidden in shadow will be revealed by its vision.

Heat Vision: Yokai Tsuchigomo can sense heat via its vision, it will alert its master upon noticing a hidden enemy behind an obstacle.

Toxic spray (Burst): A Toxic Yokai Tsuchigumo can spray toxic over an area it aims at, causing poison over time and reducing defense.

Toxic shot (Snipe): Toxic Yokai Tsuchigumo can concentrate its toxic within its maw, and then shoot it out in high velocity against its target, the shot will damage its victim upon contact, it will also poison and slow its victim movement speed.

Soul Bounded: This familiar does not have an HP of its own, it shares HP and defense with its master.

 

Kumo immediately jumps up onto Tanaka right shoulder and root in place before Tanaka can close the notification, she pats Kumo with her finger and Kumo respond by grabbing her finger with its front leg as if showing affection. Vanguard got jealous and snuggle her leg, Tanaka then picks it up and hug it. She then gets up and prepares to leave the chamber after confirming that there's no missed loot, as she approaches the closed stone wall, the wall opens up by itself without any interaction from Tanaka.

As she steps out of the chamber, a notification appears.

[You have found Baal Set 1/6!]

[Complete the full set to unlock Baal Quest line alternate route]

Requirement:

Baal set ( 1 of 6 piece collected )

Level: 13 / 900

[Warning: Baal smile upon you]

 

The last message sends a shiver down her spine, she wonders what the warning means. As she approaches the queen's chamber, she notices that the Queen has already revived, when she hold up her slime's mallet, the Queen backs away instead of attacking her. Tanaka tilts her head to the right side from confusion, Kumo then pokes her cheeks with its leg, reminding her that it is mounted on her right shoulder.

T-"Sorry, I still have to get used to it."

Kumo makes a strange noise by grinding its maw as if it's complaining about Tanaka. Vanguard then stares at Kumo and make a wobbly slime noise, Tanaka thinks that Vanguard and Kumo are making fun of her. As Tanaka gets closer to the queen, the queen will crawl away seemingly trying its best to avoid Tanaka, more specifically, it's avoiding Kumo.

T-"Hmm, how strange, not that I will complain about it."

She shrugs and travels down the exit of the dungeon, on the way there, all the jungle stalker she encounters will back away to avoid her, even the Guerrilla Roamer will disable their invisibility and back away as if to shows respect toward Kumo. After a few minutes of walking, she finally left the dungeon via the exit, she stares up at the sky and notices that it's around noon time. 

Tanaka has nothing to do so she travels back to the beginner town, along the way numerous slimes will try to snuggle her but Kumo will hiss at them, causing them to only stay close to Tanaka and not dare to approach her. Tanaka would then rub Kumo's head with her finger as if to tell it to calm down, only then the slimes can freely approach Tanaka and snuggle her leg. When they almost reached the town, Kumo tap Tanaka cheeks with its leg and point it at a bush nearby, Tanaka then creep toward the bush and find that a single isolated goblin is sleeping on the ground.

T-"Kumo, can you snipe its head with your toxic shot?"

Kumo tap both its front leg together and make a happy hissing noise, it then aims at the goblin head and fires a toxic shot. The toxic shot pierces through the goblin head and leave a hole on it, the goblin then perish into pixels, it didn't even have time to respond to the attack, probably didn't even realize it is already dead. Kumo then taps Tanaka's cheeks once again, as if asking for praise, Tanaka rubs Kumo's head and continues traveling toward the beginner town. When she arrives at the town square, she walks toward the item store but stopped half-way, remembering that she has used both her fang so she can't turn in the quest.

T-"I will just leave the quest be for now I guess."

When she turn around and decided to head toward a bread store, she encountered some familiar faces. A woman is waving at her while a man is following behind, the woman and the man are his classmates that also play Gaia Life.

T-"Sayaka...and Adachi?" 

As Sayaka reaches in front of her, Sayaka glace at Tanaka's faces and observes her.

T-"Umm... can I help you?"

S-"Hmm...really looks alike."

Before Sayaka can continue speaking, Adachi also arrives next to her, Sayaka then pulls Adachi toward Tanaka and says.

S-"Look Adachi, she really looks like him right?"

A-"What? Oh, hmm... yea she really looks like him."

Tanaka sweats and backs off a little, she is confused at what is going on, she wonders if Sayaka has found out who she is.

S-"Oh right! Sorry about that, haha. It's just that you look like a friend we know."

A-"Hmm...yea, a friend that promised to help me on a boss and never shows up, I waited for him for about 4 hours, standing around like a fool."

S-"Say... you look just like a doppelganger of him, like, so similar..."

S-"Can I ask you a question?"

T-"Umm...yea, I am done with my quest anyway."

S-"Do you happen to be a relative of Tanaka-Kun?"

A-"Wait, really?"

S-"I am asking aren't I?"

A-"Okay jeez..."

T-"Yes I know Tanaka, he is my brother."

S & A-"Eh? Tanaka has a sister!?"

Both Sayaka and Adachi yell in sync, Tanaka has to close her ears and back off a little, she then continues speaking.

T-"Yea, I live with my mother and father while Aniki lives alone at a rented house, the school is too far away from our home."

S-"See Adachi, I told you that she is totally related to Tanaka, sometimes I feel like a professional detective, hehe."

A-" Ya whatever, I am only curious as to what the hell has Tanaka been up to? He didn't respond to my call or in-game message at all."

 

Tanaka thinks carefully as to how to answer Adachi, she then looks at him and lies.

T-"Aniki is on vacation after he quit the game, maybe he forgot to tell you about it."

A-"That jerk, he made me stands around so long that a few newbies though I am an NPC and approach me for the quest."

S-"Do you want to do a quest with us? We can help you complete the quest faster than usual!"

T-"Umm sorry, I like to go solo."

 

Sayaka is disappointed but she accepts it and nods her head.

S-"Like brother like a sister."

A-"Yup, well good luck! If you ever need help you can look up the forum, your brother himself has contributed plenty of information in it."

Sayaka and Adachi wave goodbye and leave the area.

 

T-"Whew~ Close one huh? Vanguard, Kumo."

Vanguard bounce up and down while Kumo taps its leg, Tanaka thought to herself that will they even believe her if she tells them that she is transported into the game, they might even think that she has become crazy after spending so much time playing this game. Tanaka then prepares to head out to the next city, Capital Nozumo.