A horrible sound abruptly snapped me out of my reverie; Reed had been struck by the entity’s tiny, pointed spike. His hand spat blood, and he fell to the ground, moaning in agony. Kei, on the other hand, was still standing despite having a tired expression on his face.

I turned to look at the girl who had earlier been combating the thing and discovered her slumped against the tent, her body in pain. Her left leg was bleeding due to the identical wound that Reed had had. As she struggled to breathe, I watched in horror as she puked and her complexion turned a ghostly white. She barely had time to breathe before she fell to the ground.

I realised right then that the spike that had pierced Reed and the girl had been poisoned. I sprinted in their direction while yelling an alert about the poison. Nevertheless, it was already too late, and harm had been done. Reed’s motions slowed, and he began to bleed from the eyes. He began to look ashen, and I could tell he was about to die.

Suddenly, a part of the entity’s body morphed into a thin sword, and in a split second, it chopped off one of Reed’s arms. Reed let out a deafening scream, causing the creature to recoil in fear. Blood was now pouring out from every inch of his body, and it was clear that he had only moments left to live. Kei, who had barely managed to evade the creature’s attacks, was now backing away slowly.

The scene was too much to bear, and I felt powerless in the face of such a monstrous entity. All around me, there was chaos and destruction. The campsite was in shambles, and the only sounds were screams, moans, and the rustling of the entity’s body as it moved.

Reed’s voice was muffled as he spoke through the blood coming out of his mouth. He defiantly declared that he would not die alone. I could see the determination in his eyes as he prepared to launch an uppercut into thin air. I was baffled by his actions, but then something extraordinary happened.

As he struck the air, the ground started to tremble violently beneath my feet. Suddenly, a massive chunk of earth rose up from the ground, transforming into a towering pillar that struck the blackish entity, causing it to explode into pieces. The remnants of the creature sizzled momentarily before disintegrating into the soil. It was over. The creature had been defeated.

I looked back at Reed, his face now displaying a peaceful smile as he took his last breaths. To my shock, the arm that he had used to launch the otherworldly uppercut was now glowing with a bright light. The glow intensified until his arm swelled up and then exploded in a burst of energy. At the same time, Reed’s body collapsed onto the ground, lifeless.

I stood there, frozen. It took a moment for me to fully comprehend what had just happened. These weren’t just characters in a video game. They were real people, and they were dead.

It was a wake-up call that I desperately needed. Up until this point, I had been treating this whole situation like it was just a game. I had been making decisions recklessly without really thinking about the consequences. But now I realise that this is not a game at all. This was real life, with real stakes.

For the first time, I understood the fragility of life. I thought about what would have happened if it had been Kei or Gary in their place. Would I have been able to handle the guilt of their deaths? The answer was no.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

As I stood there, I realised that I needed to start taking this situation seriously. I couldn’t just continue to treat it like a game. There were real dangers here, and I had only one life. I needed to start valuing my own life as well as the lives of those around me.

Kei stood motionless, his eyes fixed on the lifeless bodies of Reed and his companions. His face was expressionless, but I could detect a slight furrow on his brow before he quickly composed himself and spoke in a monotone voice. "Let’s leave this place," he said, devoid of any emotion.

We knew that we had to leave and gather our remaining supplies before they ran out. After searching through the debris of our destroyed establishment, we collected the food of the deceased, which would last us for about a week. Our destination was the peak of the mountain, which we needed to reach as soon as possible.

**

As the sun began to rise, we could see an ominous orange hue in the sky. Exhausted from the intense battle and the loss of our fellow companions, we decided to rest for a few hours before continuing our journey. We knew that we had to bury the bodies of Reed and his team as a last tribute to their memory and to show our gratitude for all that they had done for us.

After burying the bodies with the utmost respect, we gathered our supplies and set out towards the river, beyond which lay the mystical mountain. We walked in silence, each lost in our own thoughts, the gravity of the situation sinking in with each step. The reality of our predicament was stark: we were alone in a dangerous world, with only each other to rely on.

As we arrived at the riverbank, my eyes widened in surprise. Although I had been to this location before, what lay before me was something entirely new and unexpected.

A strange building that was in front of us was emitting a faint white radiance that made me cover my eyes. It appeared to be an elevated platform that was surrounded by deeply embedded pillars. The platform extended over the river and was similarly supported by pillars on the other side. Low walls that were slightly bent outward flanked the platform’s edges. I looked more closely and saw that what we were looking at was a bridge.

But how could a bridge have been constructed here in such a short amount of time and with almost no resources? This world we found ourselves in was not like Earth. Kei, who was already inspecting the pillars, called me over.

"Take a look at this," he said, gesturing towards the pillars. I approached him and immediately noticed something strange. The ground around the supporting pillars was wet, and there was a chill in the air. When I touched the pillar, I felt a bone-chilling coldness.

It dawned on me then that the bridge was made of ice, slowly melting in the warmth of the day.

As I inspected the bridge more closely, I couldn’t help but wonder who could have built it in such a short amount of time with almost no resources. I reminded myself that this was not Earth, and the laws of physics could be entirely different here. The fact that the ice had not melted until now and was strong enough to support our weight was also surprising. It felt different than any ice I had encountered on Earth, which made it harder for me to identify its nature.

I wondered who could have built this bridge and for what purpose. Was it made for us or someone else? Why were they helping us? These questions were racing through my mind, but I knew that we needed to hurry and cross the bridge before it melted. After doing a few experiments to check the durability of the ice, we stepped onto the bridge and started making our way towards the other end.

I was relieved to discover that the bridge could sustain us, and we made it to the other end without incident. When we crossed across, I looked around and observed a rocky, natural route bending uphill towards the mountain’s crest. Although it wasn’t made by humans, it was our only choice. Kei chose to lag behind me while I took the initiative.

I looked at the mountain’s summit, which was shrouded in clouds. "No matter what, we’ll make it there."