“Oh thank God.” Frost praised his lucky stars.
The trio had released themselves from a sticky situation for the time being, though try as they might, they could no longer completely disregard their fears. The adrenaline augmented their reflexes to an almost superhuman level. They were afraid if they even blinked—one of them would die. Every single acid breath afterwards was cleansed by Stacy instantaneously. The fight was going relatively smoothly now. Soon this avatar of evil would be sent back to the hell from whence he came. The snake began screeching and thrashing wildly; it was going berserk, sensing its own end approaching. The shrills and hisses became all the more feral as the reptile’s speed increased threefold. The entire group had reached a climax of fear. Frost’s health was falling fast.
Dusk yelled immediately, “Frost, use your defensive cool downs!”
Frost was breathing rapid and shallow breaths as his heart raced through his chest, but Dusk’s words reached him.
He had two defensive cool downs:
Dusk was in a similar state of mind, slashing his dagger as swift and fierce as the raging winds of a tempest. His teeth clenched against each other. His eyes filled to the brim with terror. His body became wracked with pain and fatigue thanks to the ungodly rate of speed of his dagger’s slashes. The do-or-die assassin shouted desperately in a savage battle cry.
Faster.
“I’m out of mana!” Stacy cried.
Faster.
“Stacy, I’m at 15% help me! Oh, God, I’m gonna die aren’t I?” Frost was horrified.
Faster.
Dusk had swung his dagger so quickly and mercilessly that he caught the attention of the emerald serpent, which had previously fixated its hatred upon Frost. The viper turned to face him and hissed loudly in his face, enraged. There was 1% left.
Faster.
He took one hit to the right shoulder and stumbled backwards two steps, but he wouldn’t let it deter him, he pressed on.
Die!
Three more cuts to the snake’s torso before he himself took a sharp hit in the gut. There was no more oxygen left in him. His body wanted him to stay doubled over and recover his breath, but his will wouldn’t have it. There was no time for him to nurse his wounds. Not now. He had to win, he must win!
Die, die, die, die, die!
He landed five more lacerations before the snake struck him square in the face, knocking him off his feet. He fell straight on his back as the agony shot through every nerve ending like a thousand needles. When he opened his eyes, the snake recoiled back and prepared to strike him with the full force of his rage-infused strength, sending his soul to the next world.
Dusk was completely frozen in fear as the snake prepared to finish him. His stubborn willpower couldn’t save him anymore.
Oh, God, this is it isn’t it? I’m going to die here. Two days in, and I’m already going to die in this game.
Just as the imposing creature was a mere inch from landing its strike on him, it hissed loudly several times, recoiling backwards. The lumbering snake fell on top of Dusk, lifeless. Frost had struck the finishing blow... The towering serpent vanished from existence a moment later, leaving a terrified trio of players in its wake.
Frost lost all energy in his legs, as if the very ground he was standing on was siphoning the life from him. He fell backwards on his butt, breathing erratically. Stacy was hugging her own body with her arms, trembling uncontrollably and crying like a frightened child. Dusk was still on the ground with his body cemented into stillness, his mouth wide open in shock. His body was screaming at him for the abuse he had put it through. They sat like this in silence for the next few moments, trying desperately to recompose themselves. Finally, Stacy remembered her party was hurt badly. Her mana had fully recovered by now. She ran to her dearest friend as fast as she could.
“Oh, God,” Stacy cried. “Oh, God, Drake, are you okay?” She tossed several heals on him.
Dusk’s body was still paralyzed from fear, but he managed to at least direct his eyes towards Stacy. He swallowed his terror a couple of times into his parched throat so that he could speak.
“Y-yeah, I think s-so.”
Stacy threw her arms around Dusk, hugging him in an even tighter embrace than the coiling serpent they just felled. “You’re not allowed to die, you hear me? I won’t let you go...”
The warmth of Stacy’s body slowly dragged him out of the abyss of death and fear. Her snug body, that soothing voice; they were gradually bringing life back to his flushed half dead body. Dusk finally wrapped his arms around her, reciprocating the gesture.
“Yeah, as long as I have you with me I won’t let myself die. I don’t think you’d let me hear the end of it, would you? You’d haunt me in the afterlife,” Dusk chuckled.
“Damn right I would. You’re my nerd. If Death wants to takes you he has to take it up with me first.”
Dusk laughed weakly, releasing himself from the moment before getting to his feet with some difficulty.
Frost was still sitting on the ground, dazed. His body was here, but his mind was in another world. Dusk extended him an open hand.
“Hey, Frost... I can’t thank you enough. If it wasn’t for you I’d be dead right now.”
Frost’s mind slowly came back to earth, his eyes locking on to Dusk’s waiting hand. He grabbed it firmly and propped himself up to his feet with Dusk’s help.
“All of us would be dead. This was a team effort; if we all didn’t fight to our limits... every single one of us would be dead right now.”
Stacy stared at Frost through her tear blurred eyes.
“And you...“ Stacy squeezed Frost briefly before placing her hands on his arms. “You were going to sacrifice yourself so that me and Drake could get away. Never do that again. You said this was a team effort, right? That means we do everything together. We’re your friends. Don’t take it all on yourself.”
Frost laughed nervously. If it hadn’t been for these two, his heroic nature would have been the death of him. This time, he would swallow his pride and be grateful to his comrades.
“I’ll try not to, sorry.”
“So, guys...” Dusk interjected, attempting to lighten the mood a bit.
“At least I got a new weapon from all this. The boss dropped a sword, see?”
The sides of the sword curved in and out, finally meeting each other at the tip. It had a green serpent design wrapped around the handle. Dusk swung his new sword a couple of times, cutting the air into several pieces before sheathing his prize.
“Anyways, I think we should call it a night. No more grinding for today.”
“Yeah, that’s for sure. Let me know if you guys wanna fight tomorrow.”
Frost vanished after saying those words.
I guess he decided to recall already, Dusk mused.
When someone recalls, they teleport to a binding glyph. Binding glyphs were areas you could teleport to at any time. These magical markings were scattered all over Septunia. Just as described, each glowing symbol had the appearance of a glowing glyph. The object would vary in color depending on whether you were in an allied, neutral, or enemy zone. The one catch was that the glyph had to be touched at least once by the person who wished to teleport to that glyph from that point forward. Touching it registered you into its system as a user, allowing you to teleport to it.
Dusk put his arm around Stacy, having had more than his fill of fighting for the day.
imultaneously.
When the duo opened their eyes, they were in the Capitol district of their home city, Bermia. They both sat down on the nearest bench and sucked in several deep breaths of their home air. They were even tempted to kiss the ground before them in reverence as if this city itself was their new god. This was their safe haven now, and they couldn’t have been gladder to be alive and secure. They realized at this moment just how much they took their safety for granted all these years.
“Home sweet home,” Stacy muttered.
“Yeah.”
~~~~~
Phoenix had strolled out of the dungeon victorious, looking none the worse for wear. They were level 22 now, and by their estimations they were far ahead of anyone else in terms of progress. It was not that they were spending more time grinding than anyone else, this was not the case.
The fact of the matter was, ever since level 10, they had only fought in dungeons. Dungeons were the most dangerous way of leveling in War of the Elements, carrying a substantial risk of being propelled right into the arms of death. Phoenix, however, did not know the meaning of the word fear.
But in this game, risk corresponded to reward and as such, Phoenix were flying through the levels like it was child’s play. The most recent dungeon they had just conquered was an ancient temple covered in nature’s blanket. Vines and moss embraced the stone structure in its botanical warmth as the chorus of wildlife called out to each other, their song echoing throughout the thick jungle.
Scarlet stretched her arms backwards, enjoying the feeling of her tense muscles coming undone.
“Man, all these dungeons have been easy as pie. This is the game that has people so terrified? Compared to my life in the real world, this shit is nothing. Really does feel like a game to me.”
“Agreed, the dungeons are starting to bore me slightly, but we have a greater reason to be here. We must continue at this pace,” Reaper affirmed, voicing it to himself more than anything. They could not let anything stand in their way.
“Together, we are more powerful than any challenge that can be thrown at us. This virtual world and its obstacles don’t stand a chance,” Omni’s tone lit up a spark of inspiration within all of them.
“Of course not. By the way, you all know there is a PvP tournament happening in two weeks, right?” Reaper said.
“Oh?” Tsuki’s intrigue had spiked to a daily high.
“Yeah, you haven’t heard? It’s going to be a five vs. five tournament, since five is the maximum for a single party of players.”
“That reminds me. We’re going to need a fifth for our party at some point. They will have to be able to keep up with us. Even further down the line we’re going to need yet another group of five to raid with,” Omni explained.
“A player that can keep up with us; does someone like that even exist here? We’ve been destroying these five person dungeons as a group of four haven’t we? A fifth person will just slow us down,”
Scarlet protested. She saw nothing wrong with their current setup. In fact, she worried that throwing a fifth wheel into the mix would throw a wrench between the cogs, halting the entire machine that had been working perfectly up until now. Why ruin a good thing?
“I’m more thinking for the future, Joanna. We’d be foolish to think that it will remain this easy forever. Some of those puzzles required five people. Without our unique abilities it would not have even been possible to advance through the dungeon at all. We should not deny any help that is given to us, as long as it augments our purpose instead of impeding it.”
“But that’s what I’m saying! We work so well together, putting in a newbie is just gonna fuck everything up!”
“It would not be a newbie.”
“Compared to us, they might as well be.”
Tsuki had her arms folded over herself, carefully sipping in every word in this back and forth until she had come to her conclusion.
“I understand. I will watch over the PvP tournament.”
Omni’s lips arched into a clever smile.
“Thank you, Karla. I really appreciate it.”
Omni had not mentioned anything connecting the PvP tournament and the recruitment of their fifth member, but Tsuki was able to connect the dots easily. The silver swordswoman had an eye for talent. Fighting someone, she could determine their strengths and weaknesses. Even more so if her eyes were free to watch the person fight the entire time. She would determine with those discerning eyes whether there was anyone who held potential locked within.
“You’re going to waste your time doing that while we could be doing dungeons?” Scarlet was truly making her objections known.
“The PvP tournament won’t take more than a few hours. Surely we can spare that much time, right? I mean, you and I spent six hours just shopping.”
“That time was way better spent.”
The two had shared a laugh about this, even though Scarlet sincerely believed this was true. Though Scarlet was not happy about this choice, it was Tsuki’s choice to make, not hers.
“I hope you guys know what you’re doing.”
“Relax, Joanna. Everything will be fine,” Omni said as he brushed aside the fiery strands of hair from her eyes.
Scarlet went silent, content to bask in the warmth of her fiancé’s hand at this moment.
~~~~~
Dusk and Stacy immediately took a carriage back to their hotel room, where they truly and finally felt safe. They were sitting on their beds, trying to process the events that had occurred that day. Dusk broke the silence.
“So... those are boss monsters. The one we fought was way above our level, we’re lucky to be alive.” Dusk paused for a moment before continuing. “You do understand now, right? That this isn’t actually a game—that the fights are real—the death is real... You know that now, right?”
Stacy interlocked her fingers, placing her hands in her lap with her mouth dipped into a frown.
“I always knew, deep down. But I didn’t want you to worry; I wanted you to be more carefree, to have some fun. I didn’t want to admit it to myself either. I’d rather things be more fun than serious you know?”
“Yeah, but it can’t be fun all the time. This is a serious situation.”
“But that doesn’t mean it has to be serious all the time, right? We can be killed in the real world too at any time. We can be hit by a car, shot, or stabbed.”
Dusk closed his eyes. What he wouldn’t give to be in the real world right about now. To be so coddled and spoiled that the most of his worries were about his homework assignments rather than if he would live to see tomorrow—to sit comfortably on his chair savoring an orange soda instead of tasting his own blood. He had taken so many things in reality for granted, shelving himself away like a bottle of wine, trying to hide from the world for ages. Maybe if he got a chance to set foot in the real world again, things would be different. Maybe, he’d stop running...
“It’s not the same and you know it, Stacy. There aren’t giant insects or snakes that want to kill us waiting right outside our door. We don’t have to face these things in the real world. As far as our worlds were concerned, they didn’t exist... until now.”
Stacy unclasped her hands and turned to stare at Dusk, her eyes full of determination: determination to get their point across.
“I told you this yesterday, Drake. You can have fun wherever you are. It’s all a matter of how you choose to perceive things and how you live your life. You're only looking at the negative side of things. Look on the bright side. Look at the new world we get to explore, the new things we get to experience."
Dusk couldn’t think of a response to this. He simply remained silent in his despondent reflection, so Stacy continued on.
“Drake, I was thinking...” Stacy looked away, reluctant to say her next words. She put up a mental shield, preparing to take some heat from her gamer friend.
“What do you say we give up on leveling, huh?”
“What, are you crazy? There’s no
way I’m gonna stop leveling. I have to keep leveling so we can get out of this hellhole!”
“But there are other people who can do that.” Stacy leaned forward towards Dusk and pleaded, “Why does it have to be us, why does it have to be you?”
There was an awkward moment of quietude lingering in the air like a thick fog before Dusk cut through with his words.
“You know, Stacy, this may sound arrogant, but I know how skilled I am at these sorts of games. Right now, I’d be a major asset in helping beat this game and freeing everyone. If I knew that there was something I could do to get us all out of here, and I didn’t do it...” Dusk clenched his right fist, channeling the pent up anger and hurt into it. “I’d feel responsible for these millions of people being trapped here, and I don’t think I could live with that, knowing there’s something I could’ve done. You can stay here if you want. Actually, I’d prefer it that way. That way I wouldn’t have to worry about your safety. But I can’t stop leveling. I’m sorry.”
Her friend was so stupid sometimes. After six years, how could he still understand so little about her? “You don’t even listen to me do you? How many times have I said I wouldn’t abandon my friends since I’ve been here, that I wouldn’t abandon you? I’m insulted that you’d even think I’d leave you behind knowing what this world is.”
Dusk closed his eyes and sighed knowingly. He should’ve known better than to suggest Stacy stay behind. This woman was even more stubborn than he—but he figured hey, it was worth a shot.
“Yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry.”
Stacy lay down, the rage sizzling on her feminine form, turning herself away from her oblivious friend, giving her hot heart time to cool.
Dusk pitched all his emotions to the wayside, sharpening his mind into a fine point. How could he become stronger? What was the best way to get out of this hellish world? Those were the only questions that mattered.
The Virtual Realm (War Of The Elements Book 1) Page 9
