POV: Dextrose

“Damn it, no bullets!” I realized as soon as I pressed the triggers of my dual pistols. The strange insect started moving toward me with an unimaginable speed. I have never seen a monster like this in the hunting fields. In the first place, it was strange to have a monster inside the arena. Was this another result of the cheat he was using? He was causing a lot of bugs in the system! And here’s one bug, literally!

I tried stepping on it, but it dodged with nimble movements while buzzing with a high-pitched noise. Was it saying ‘Feed Me’? Now, that’s just creepy. Pun unintended.

Error detected in battle zone [ Second Arena ].

All players within the zone will be forcefully brought out.

As the announcement appeared, my vision blurred and changed to that of the battle zone lobby. I was inside one of the private waiting rooms which looked like a Videoke room, comfortable long seats around a table, and a TV on a corner. It costs a little bit of in-game money, but at least it could give me some privacy and allow me to concentrate and gather my focus before entering a battle zone.

“Why are you here!?” Even before I could relax, I was shocked to find the cheater sitting in the seat on the other side, with his head resting on top of the table. This was MY private room which I paid with MY money, so why the hell was he here?

I smashed the butt of one of my pistols on his helmet only to felt a soft repulsing force before the impact. Outside of the battle zones and hunting fields, the general areas were non-violence zones. I sighed as I sat back on the seat. Just what the hell is going on?

After looking at the unconscious figure in front of me, I suddenly remembered the strange insect that he pooped out. Did it also got transported here? I bent under the table to check if it was there and also under the seats. That’s good. This room is cockroach and spider free.

Still, the previous events left me confused as to what was truly going on.

After about ten minutes, he finally woke up. At first he was looking around like a mad man and started blubbering nonsense.

“Calm down!” I yelled at him, hoping to keep him still.

“It’s you!” he screamed, not giving any heed to a single word I said. He reached out to his back only to find that his rifle was gone. “Where did you hide it?!”

I tilted my head in confusion. That’s right… Where was his rifle? Oh right, since he wasn’t holding it, it should have been directly sent into his inventory.

“Have you checked your inventory?”

“Inventory? What the heck does that have to do with anything? Don’t try to fool me with your words!” He then took a combat pose which reminded me of those action-themed military movies. I sighed as I couldn’t really decide if this guy was still continuing his troll act or if he’s actually a crazy person.

“You open your menu like this. The inventory should be present among the options. Click that.” I showed him the proper gestures of opening the game menu interface.

At first he didn’t move and just continued assuming his combat stance. We just stared at each other for almost ten minutes. It was amazing how he could keep still in that uncomfortable posture for so long without moving an inch.

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In the end, he lowered his arms then stood properly and tried doing the same thing I did. Although I couldn’t see it, the menu should have appeared before him.

“What the fuck is this!”

As usual, his reactions were exaggerated. After a while, it seemed like he finally got the inventory opened. Every time he clicked the air in front of him, he made annoying ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’.

Finally, the rifle materialized in the air in front of him which he grabbed with swift movements.

“Raise your hands, traitor, or I’ll blast you to smitherins!” he said as he pointed his rifle at me. I sighed and tried to say something, but he suddenly tilted the gun to the side and pulled the trigger, shooting a hole through the seat’s backrest just beside me. Hey! This is a non-violence zone! How could he damage objects?!

“That was the last warning! Do as you’re told!”

I felt a strange fear and raised my hands.

“Good. Answer my questions. First, where am I?”

“In a private room in the battle zone lobby.”

“Don’t play word games with me!”

“It’s the truth. Why don’t you take a peek outside.” I motioned to the door at the side.

Still facing me, and his gun accurately pointed at my head, he inched towards the door and opened it slightly and looked outside. There were people standing and talking outside while watching wide screen displays hanging on the walls, showing the events on different arenas.

He closed the door and faced me, but he didn’t say anything. His silence was a bit unnerving.

“How come… there are so many people here?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?” His question was strange. His voice also had a weird tone as if he couldn’t believe what he just saw.

“I’m doing the questioning here! Answer!” He suddenly got enraged and pushed the rifle at my head. Damn, be careful with that thing!

“This is one of the central cities! There’s bound to be many players here!”

“Cities? Players?” He started mumbling to himself. “How about Fidmeialaths? Where are they?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t play the fool! I’ll shoot!”

“I don’t fucking know!!!” Damnit! I so want to knock this bonkers in the head and put a bullet through his gray matter!

He seemed to calm down as I heard him take deep breath. “Fidmeialaths are insect-like aliens that can eat anything.”

I suddenly remembered the insect that he poo——that came out of his butt’s cra——that came out of his armor… Was that what he was talking about?

“I haven’t seen any of that, but if you’re talking about monsters, the game have them and they’re out of the hunting fields.” I decided to also mention about the thing from earlier. “There was also that one that looked like a spider crossed with a cockroach and hatched from an egg. It came from a crack in your armor.”

Suddenly, he dropped his guard and inspected his armor and found the crack near his butt. Brain, no more butt crack jokes please.

“Where is it now?!”

The sense of urgency in his voice was high.

“I don’t know. Probably left in Second Arena…”

Something strange was going on, and it seemed like things were just about to get worse.