1 WELCOME TO THE NOVUS

**** WELCOME TO VERSION 2.0 OF THIS STORY *****

Although Alan and Astrid killed twenty of them, it was not enough. The ferocious creatures kept appearing, snarling with sharp teeth that resembled a creepy grin.

**And there is this chilling howl coming from the heart of the woods that seemed to summon even more of them! At this rate, we'll end up…**

Alan suddenly grabbed her wrist. There was an intense gleam in his eyes she had never seen before.

"It's not worth it! We were totally not prepared for this! We'll call it quits for today, okay?!"

Astrid first stared at the blood running down his forehead before nodding. "Let's make a run for it then! Follow me, I know the way!"

In their escape, the horde heeled them viciously, throwing bites to their legs and swipes at their backs. The red-furred critters were weak, Alan could drop their HP all the way to zero with just two strikes of his sword, but after a long hour of fighting, the muscles of his dominant arm were burning and his wrist was constantly aching.

"This one almost bit my butt!" he yelled after bashing one of them with his shield.

"This way!" Astrid cried, pointing at a clearing in the woods up ahead. She then noticed a couple of Weasemin ready to pounce on them. "Watch out! Fire Crafting, Flare!"

At her command, a burst of fire came out of the tip of her wooden staff, killing the two rabid creatures on impact. There were still other Weasemin nearby, and yet, she took a moment to look back, distinguishing a large silhouette coming their way.

"What the bloody hell is that?" she murmured as Alan pulled her by the arm.

"Move, Astrid! We're almost there!"

"I'm so sorry, Alan! If it weren't for my stupid--!"

"Don't finish that sentence! We're a team, and I was also fine with pushing our luck! So don't even dare to take all the blame on yourself, got it?!"

At a loss of words, she did nothing but bite her lower lip and let him drag her out of there. Was he angry at her, even though he had said otherwise?

**Because I wouldn't blame him! I was the one that pushed things too far after bragging about having fought in more than a hundred combat simulations… But ALONE! I've always fought alone until now. I'm quite used to pain, so even if one of these stupid creatures ripped one of my arms or cut my chest open, I'd laugh it out! But from the very moment I saw him bleeding, my mind stop--**

Alan halted abruptly. Before asking the reason, Astrid pointed her gaze at the naturally-formed fence of thorny bushes blocking their path, not only in front of them but at their sides too.

"A dead end?! No, no, no! I messed it up again!" she cried in shock as Alan tried to cut the vines in vain. "Hold on, let me use my fire magic to--"

"It's no use. Unless this gets carbonized instantly, the fire will spread rapidly around us while we defend from them." Alan turned around to confront their pursuers.

Waiting at the backlines of what seemed to be an army of twenty Weasemin, stood a large bipedal monster, with red fur and an elongated neck. Its inhuman musculature told them it could rip their heads off with one swipe of its enormous paws, and its thin body showed it could be agile and catch them with ease. It observed them with red eyes that screamed of cunningness, and its exposed teeth resembled a wicked grin.

"Weasenox, Guardian of the Forest," Alan read the name and title the System provided while tightening his grip around his sword's hilt. "Did ancient England really house monsters like this? Incredible…"

"This is completely different from the Slime Chief!" Astrid hissed, pulling his sleeve. "Look at it! It's waiting for us to make the first move."

"How's your mana?" he asked quietly, eyes at the front.

"Low. I can cast three or four more Blaze and that's it."

"And that Boss is blocking our only exit, huh?" Alan exhaled loudly before pulling something out of his inventory. "Take this, it's everything I have."

Astrid grabbed the little leather bag. Its contents clunk when she closed her hand around it. **It's his gold!**

"Wait, what are you--?!"

He grinned innocently at her before dashing forward. "I'll distract it!" His voice was almost silenced by the collective growl of the nearest enemies. "It's up to you whether you use the rest of your mana to force your escape or help me kill it!"

Uttering a battle cry, Alan used his shield to tackle everything in his trajectory. Weasemins were violently pushed aside or crushed under his boots while the Weasenox prepared itself. It was only a matter of seconds before they clashed.

**And I'm just standing here, doing nothing like an idiot!**

Astrid held her staff aloft but with no target in her sight. Should she attack the Boss and lower as much of its HP as possible, or get rid of the majority of its minions?

**What I'm certain of is that I won't let you alone!**

She chose her target out of instinct after watching the Weasenox starting a swiping motion. "F-Fire Crafting, Flare!"

Her good aim bore fruit, successfully burning the Weasenox' right paw.

"So we stay and fight, huh?!" Alan cried invigorated, targeting the monster's left paw. His blade was not sharp enough to sever it clean, but it left half of it dangling and leaking large amounts of blood.

Enraged, The Weasenox violently leaned forward trying to bite Alan's head, but he raised his shield at the last second. From her safe spot, Astrid could only watch how the towering monster fell over him.

"Alan!" she cried, running forward, but a couple of Weasemin stood in the way, biting her legs. Their sharp teeth drew blood immediately. "Get off, you--!"

"This is your chance!" Alan yelled from the top of his lungs as he struggled under the weight of the Weasenox. His shield was the only thing preventing the Boss from closing its maw against his arm. "Kill it now! Fire everything you have at it, now!"

Astrid watched half of the Weasemin horde gathering around its partner and the monster, wailing desperately as if they were cheering on their boss. A thought crossed her mind: **Even if Alan managed to kill the Weasenox on his own, the surrounding Weasemin would retaliate immediately.** The probability of seeing those pests ripping the skin off his face made her shiver.

**I won't mess it up this time!**

"Minor Fire Crafting, Flare!" she intoned, sending forth a burst of fire that suddenly exploded halfway through. A second after, the lifeless corpses of two Weasemin plummeted into the ground before disappearing in a brief spectacle of glimmering pixels. Wasting no time wondering what had happened, she cast another Flare, getting the same results. This time, she heard a faint squeal. "Are these buggers sacrificing themselves to protect their boss?! W-What kind of sick joke is this?! Get out of my way, you bloody blighters!"

Despite his struggle, Alan could be heard laughing out loud. "Woah, Astrid, your British is showing!"

"How can you joke at a time like this?!"

Alan's laughter suddenly changed into a guttural growl, accompanied by the sound of wood breaking. Alan's shield had finally lost the endurance battle against the monster's powerful jaws.

In a state of shock, Astrid observed his partner's HP gradually decreasing, as another pair of Weasemin bit the hem of her 'Apprentice Witch Robes'. She absently glanced at her MP bar. She would not be able to save him or herself with that low amount of mana.

**Unless…**

Fervently focusing on the oppressing feeling overwhelming her chest, she held her staff aloft and began channeling. **Unless I make a sacrifice too…**

She initiated the process as usual, and when a System notification told her she had no mana left, she ignored it, feeling a slight ache in the tip of her fingers. Another annoying virtual window popped up inside her sight of vision, warning her of the danger, as her mage staff started to grow hot.

A piercing pain ran through her arms, making her grunt. Sweat formed in her forehead. Her vision became blurry. Dizziness overwhelmed her. **This is nothing!**

Astrid continued powering up although the increasing pain almost dropped her to her knees, and even though her HP bar was reaching the dangerously red threshold.

**Not yet, not yet!**

The Weasemin restraining her realized something abnormal was happening and desperately pounced to bite her arms. One managed to hang from her right forearm, and despite the added weight, Astrid did not falter. Just as she felt like fainting at any moment, she glanced at the tip of her staff which looked incandescent and bursting with energy, making her smirk.

"You beat me to it, Guardian of the Forest," she whispered to herself. "I've always wanted to be on top of him."

The staff exploded, violently releasing the accumulated energy like out-of-control fireworks that quickly became a rain of fire. The Weasemin waiting for a victor were the first victims, breaking lines and running in circles. Even the ones biting Astrid hurried to shield their master but it was too late, the Boss received the majority of the damage to the point that all of its fur got burned.

Just as the last ball of fire impacted an unfortunate Weasemin, Astrid dashed forward, holding what was left of its staff in hand and stabbed the Weasenox's left eye with it. Blood sprouted, staining her cheeks.

The agonizing monster let out a wail, and stretched out its long neck to bite her, but Alan pierce the side of its head with his blade, finally killing it.

For Astrid, the virtual message congratulating them for killing the hidden boss of the Virmion Woods seemed too patronizing after all of that extenuating effort.

"Alan, are you okay?!" she cried, kneeling by his side as soon as the monster's corpse disappeared into thin air. "Y-Your arm! Can you move it?"

"Nope, it's wasted. It'd be better if I died and respawned back in Unus--"

"NO WAY! Absolutely not! Don't even joke about it!"

Alan observed her watering eyes and quickly shook his head. "O-Okay, okay! That was a totally bad idea! Do we still have a Red Potion?"

"I can't believe you even suggested that," she was muttering while tapping her User Interface. Then, a bottle with red liquid materialized in her palm. "Here. Make sure to drink it all."

"Just half of it, for your HP is also--"

Astrid's aqua-colored eyes shone intensely. "I SAID, drink it ALL, or I'll get mad at you."

"Cheers, then." He nervously smiled, and gulped the thick liquid. Then grimaced. "Seriously, one can almost taste the iron."

"Do you still think it tastes like blood?"

"It's blood! Mixed with onions, tomatoes and garlic..."

"That doesn't sound so bad," she said, observing the immediate results. The marks of fangs carved in his forearm slowly closed, leaving no scars, and his HP bar slowly replenished to a secure orange. "Try opening and closing your hand."

He tried, but he could barely do it. "Damn…" he muttered, wincing, as she ripped off a piece of cloth from her robe. "It's not necessary, Astrid. I bet that by tomorrow morning…"

"Until we pay a NPC priest, then," she interjected, bandaging his arm. When she finished nursing him, she seemed upset. "Why did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"You know exactly what I'm referring to. Why did you face the boss like that and force me to choose?"

He shrugged. "You looked as if your head was a mess, but I knew you'd come up with a good solution."

"But what if I had decided to run away?"

"That would have been a win too. You'd have been safe, and we could have met back in town once I was revived, right?"

"Is that why you gave me your gold, because you were ready to die?" she murmured, looking away. "There was also the probability that I could have fucked it up, you know?"

"Nah, you're too awesome to fail. You've shown me that, time and time again. Look at you! Have you noticed you're level 8 now? And by the way, what the hell was that?! That spell was awesome! What is it called?"

"I-It doesn't have a name. It's just something I improvised and the System rolled with it, that's all."

"Oh, come on! It'll be a waste not naming something that awesome! At least give it some thought."

"F-Fine. What about: Astrid's Last Resort: 'Death from Above'?"

He grimaced. "Rejected. Something more romantic would fit it better, like: 'Shooting Stars of Justice', hmm?"

Astrid stared deep into his green eyes. She had always thought they gave him an innocent persona, which was contrasted by his auburn hair that screamed of mischief.

**A combination I've grown to love…**

"Whatever," she whispered before leaning toward him and kissing his cheek. His first reaction was to dumbfoundedly stare at her with his mouth ajar, making her blush. "Why are you looking at me like that? You're my b-boyfriend, aren't you? S-So signs of affection like these should be a common occurrence, r-right?"

"Sign me up for 'common occurrence', all right! But next time, give me a quick smooch on the lips, yes?"

"I'm not mentally prepared for that just yet!" She rose and turned around to hide her red face before a thorny bush on fire caught her attention. "Let's put out that first and get back to Unus, okay?"