“Huh?! Don’t tell me you lost your memory?”

“Mmh… I don’t know…” The little girl scratches her head in confusion, “Ooh! I remember now! You’re that guy who fed me food earlier, right?!”

‘What’s up with this little girl? How could she forget something that only happened recently…’ thought Sol.

Ding! 

[A new side quest has appeared!]

[Side Quest: Help the little girl return to her village safely.]

[Reward: 1 Red Crystal]

‘Village? I see, so she is a village girl.’ Sol thought.

“Little girl, what’s your name?” Sol asked.

“I’m Yulia! Nice to meet you and thank you for helping me earlier.”

“You’re welcome. Anyway, what happened to you earlier?”

“Ah! You see, a few days ago, I fell somewhere and hit my head hard. Ever since then, I have a hard time remembering things. However, fear not! I’m slowly recovering, so you don’t have to worry about me anymore.”

“Well, that’s good to hear you’re recovering.”

“Yes, thank you! Anyway, I have to go now, so bye! Oh wait, what do I call you, mister?”

“You can call me Sol.”

“Alright, Mr. Sol! Thank you for the food earlier, I’ll be going now. Bye!”

“Wait a minute! It’s not safe for you to walk alone in the forest, so let me accompany you home.”

“I appreciate that, but are you sure you want to do that? Because it takes at least four hours of walking time to reach my village. Yeah, it’s quite a long trip. I fear I might be wasting your precious time.”

“It’s fine. I've got nothing to do anyway, so don’t worry you're not wasting my time at all.”

“Yay! Are you going to meet my parents too and eat dinner with us?”

“I mean… sure why not…”

“Woohoo! Then what are you waiting for?! Hurry up, let’s go! Let’s go!”

Just like that, Sol accompanied Yulia back to her village.

Halfway throughout their little journey, they would occasionally encounter some monsters, but to Sol's surprise, he didn’t even need to protect Yulia at all. In fact, Yulia was strong as hell.

‘Holy crap! Just how strong are the people in this world? I’m not sure how old Yulia is, maybe 9 years old? Maybe 10? But what the hell is this? She’s only a kid, but yet the power I felt from her earlier was at least Diamond-Rank! I see, it all makes sense now that she was able to survive in the forest all alone all this time.’

“Hehe! Did you see that?! I kill it with one punch!” Yulia said proudly.

“Yeah, I saw that. I have to say that was impressive for a little girl like you.”

“Impressive?! No, no, no, that was only warm up! I haven’t even used my full power yet. Don’t worry, you will see it soon. Hopefully, along the way, we will meet much more powerful monsters so you can witness me fight.”

‘Haha… I don’t know what to say…’ Sol thought.

A few hours later…

They arrived at Leafy village and to their surprise, the village was under attack by the demons.

“Demons?” Sol was surprised to see there are demons here.

Looking at the scene where the demons were attacking the village, Yulia started crying as she was worried her family might be in danger or possibly already dead. Without hesitation, she rushed into the village to search for her family even though it was dangerous.

“Tsk! This fucking demons!” Sol said.

Sol was furious, and there’s no way he would sit still and let the demons kill those innocent villagers. Without wasting any time, he rushed into the village to deal with the demons.

TAUNT!

“M-Mr. Sol!” Yulia said worriedly.

Yulia had no idea how strong Sol was, so it was natural for her to be concerned for his life. After all, the demons in this world are not to be underestimated because unlike the outside world, the demons on the 1st floor were many times stronger. On average, the demons here were at least Diamond-Rank and above.

“Yulia! Don’t worry about me! Leave this to me and go find your family first!”

Yulia hesitated a bit, but eventually nodded her head and went to search for her family.

TAUNT!

Thanks to Sol aggroing all the demons, the villagers were able to have an easier time defending themselves.

‘There are at least a few thousand demons here and I can only kill them effectively when the Armor-Penetration effect is triggered. Fuck! This does not look good… it’s going to take forever to kill them one by one.’

Out of nowhere, ahead of Sol, a Demon Leader appeared.

[Name: Cytheria]

[Title: Demon Leader]

[Rank: High-Diamond]

‘She looks strong, is she perhaps a Demon Leader?’ Sol thought.

During this moment, Sol suddenly thought of a great idea, ‘Wait, this might actually be a good thing. If I can just kill their leader, then I’m sure their morale would drop and when that happens, they will retreat.’

“It’s only a small village yet you guys are taking so long to destroy it. Jeez, I can’t believe I have to personally come here to check on you guys. You guys have truly disappointed me.” Cytheria said.

“Sorry, master! We didn’t expect a player would get involved at this time.”

“A player? I see. But still, it’s only one player, it shouldn’t be hard when you guys have an advantage in terms of numbers.”

“Yes… but he isn’t your ordinary player. We have tried all kinds of methods, and nothing seems to work against him.”

“Hmm, interesting. I’ve heard new players recently arrived on the 1st floor, but I never thought I would be able to meet one so soon.” Cytheria said.

‘On average, Players should be weaker than Rankers. My guess is that if he's able to survive until now, that means he’s probably one of those top players.’ Cytheria thought.

“You came at a perfect time. To be honest, I feel sorry for you.” Sol said.

“Feel sorry for me? What are you on about, kid?” Cytheria said.

“I will get straight to the point, if you don’t want to die, I suggest you retreat now before it’s too late. It’s a win-win for both of us. Because first, you get to stay alive, and second, I don’t have to waste my time killing you.” Sol suggested.

Hearing what Sol said, all the demons started laughing.

“Pffft!! Hahahaha!!!”

“What kind of a joke is this?! It’s hilarious!”

“My God! I never seen someone being so delusional before in my life. Is he out of his mind or something?”

“Keep laughing, I can only say you guys will certainly regret later.” Sol said.

“Whether what you said is true or not, there’s a saying, you need proof to back up your claim.” Cytheria said.

“You have a point. I wish I could prove it to you, but the thing is you will probably be dead by then.” Sol replied.

“Heh, I’m intrigued to see what you can do. Very well, show it to me then if you are so confident.” Cytheria said.

Just like that, the fight between Cytheria and Sol began.

20 minutes passed… nothing happened, it was still a stalemate.

35 minutes passed… nothing happened, it was still a stalemate.

Two hours passed… nothing happened, it was still a stalemate.

“What a waste of time. Is being Tanky your only speciality? How are you going to kill me like that if you can’t even damage me? To be honest, your attack power is at most Silver to Gold-Rank at best. I’m impressed that someone like you could even get this far simply by playing defensive.” Cytheria said.

“It’s unfortunate I didn’t get lucky these past two hours.” Sol sighed.

“What? Lucky???” Cytheria said.

“Nothing. Should we continue? Or are you done? Actually, how about we make a deal?” Sol said.

“A deal?”