The University canteen was a big hall, enough to shelter to all the surviving students. Aryan and his friends heard about this when they rescued a teacher.

After hiding his minions in a classroom, near the canteen, Aryan and his gang were shocked to find that the number of survivors were abysmally low. A sad and depressing atmosphere weighed heavily in their hearts, as their eyes lost any sign of happiness. In sharp contrast, on a window sill, there was black and white cat that was happily munching on a cooked fish. At the center of the crowd, the male principal addressed the crowd.

“Everyone! Food and beverages are plenty, so please remain here until the cops arrive. As you can see, Strong students and teachers have been stationed at every possible entrance to the canteen to keep the monsters at bay. You are safe. All of us, need to support each other through these desperate times and I promise you; you will be back in your house in few hours.”, said the university principal as he addressed the crowd of frightened students and teachers.

Aryan couldn’t stomach seeing the severely injured people, he was lucky enough not to encounter any corpse, otherwise he would have thrown out his last meal. He could see that Ginny and some students who followed her were safe. Along with several known faces around the canteen.

Sid came back after talking to his friends, and said, “They say the door cant be unlocked, they tried everything, from throwing chairs at the windows to using benches to hammer the doors, nothing worked. Well…Chris, my friend, who was the first to arrive here, noticed that there is a notification saying the doors will be unlocked only after the boss slime monster gets defeated, and within every 3 hours the boss monster will grow stronger. so, we have 1 hour 10 minutes left to defeat it before it gets stronger.”

Peter said, “I heard the biggest slime monster was spotted in the gymnasium. I suppose we could collect weapons and help before we set out?”

Aryan smiled at peter, “Guess we have our work cut out for us. Let’s ask those who look capable and have weapons in their hands for help. No need to force anyone, if they don’t want to, then don’t bother them.”

Aryan went to Ginny and told her that they needed her help, since she was a wizard, he promised to have her attack away from the frontlines. He also promised to give her 40% of the gold they find; added to the ones she kills. Aryan knew how precious her 1-move-kill spell was. The ability to destroy an enemy with a single spell would save much time and effort.

“Make that 70% on top of what I can gather myself and I’m in. What do you need gold for anyway? I could easily buy a much better spell to protect us.”

Aryan gritted his teeth, although he had no idea how she could ‘buy’ her spells. The gold must be the only money used to buy it, so asking his teammates to give her the lion’s share of their funds, earned by putting their lives on the line, didn’t sit well with him. Aryan tried to negotiate but when she didn’t budge, he gave up trying to persuade her.

Sid returned, shaking his head he sighed, “No luck. Everyone wants to wait for the cops. I tried to make them see reason, but they are just too spooked.”

Aryan consoled him, “No worries, we’ll think of something.”

Peter returned with his hand on the back of his head and a big, stupid grin on his face, “I got us the best possible help. (Clears his throat) Aryan, my best friend and Sid, my classmate meet our outstanding recruit, Miss Riya.”

Saying so, he moved aside to reveal a beautiful first year junior; the one who’s dribbling skills, Aryan was admiring this morning. With bright green eyes, cute, pixie facial features and milky complexion, Aryan had to admit, her popularity was well-founded.

The young lady offered her hand, smiling as she said, “I’m Riya, I hope to offer my help anyway I can. (Politely) please take care of me.”

Sid shook her hand while Aryan smiled politely before strong arming Peter aside, “What are you thinking? bringing your crush to this mission?! Please tell me you told her how dangerous this ‘mission’ is and I’m not taking her until I know she’s as capable as Ginny.”

Peter raised his hands in surrender, “Relax she’s a—”

The principal and several teachers surrounded them. Just when Sid was about to protest, the principal took a step forward, “Can I have a word with you guys alone?”

Aryan frowned at this unexpected development, just when he was about to agree, he caught Ginny smirking at him from her place.

‘This rat.’

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that Ginny had squealed about their ‘mission’ to the principal. Aryan spoke loudly before Sid could, “Respected Principal, I don’t know what you heard, but we just received news that our friends are surrounded by monsters and I would like to prepare a team of volunteers to go rescue them. I know this is dangerous, but I’m pretty confident in my card to take care of my team.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The principal smiled. He knew both of us wanted to keep the notification under wraps so that it doesn’t create panic and spread needless fear in weak willed people.

“Student Aryan, why don’t you let us, the proper authorities handle this? If you give us the location of your friends, I can send a group of people to look into the situation.”

When Aryan tried to speak, the principal raised his hand and addressed Aryan and his group. “Now, I know, your young brave hearts want to go on this suicide mission alone. But trust me, no one cares about a student’s life more than me. So, Aryan, I suggest you stay here with all of us or otherwise (His eyes hardened) I will be forced to take drastic measures now and after this situation has been resolved, disciplinary actions will be marked on your record.”

Peter and Sid gulped, while Aryan fisted his hands. This was what Aryan was afraid off, He wasn’t sure if this unknown ‘Game’ situation was limited to just their university or the entire world. Also, he didn’t want to create infighting among humans as this would only push them all to their death sooner.

A bare-chested Tony with bandages and tiny scratches on his face, tried to diffuse the situation, he said, “I think we all are out of our depths in this calamity. We should all take a step back and forgive each other. But Aryan, the Principal is right. Here we are all safe and we can look after each other, It’s too dangerous to go outside right now. We should all wait until the cops or the military arrive to solve this problem.” Tony, with his sharp jaw and all his 8 abs on full display, managed to charm the crowd. The male’s eyes shone in worship while the females smiled a bit brighter when he took command of the situation.

Sid huddled close to Aryan and whispered sarcastically, “Why do I think his 8 abs project more danger than those slime monsters out there.”

Peter supplemented as he whispered, “And how do you get all those scratches fighting a slime monster anyway? I reckon he was busy bullying a poor woman, when everyone else were distracted.”

Riya punched Peter’s arm playfully as she whispered, “Don’t be rude, I saw him trying to save a cat from being consumed by a slime monster. The naïve cat didn’t take kindly to being handled roughly by Tony. Tony almost lost his eyes trying to save that cat, you know.”

Peter met Aryan’s eyes as he replied sarcastically, “A real pity.” Riya raised a single eyebrow at Peter because she couldn’t figure out whether he meant that as a pity that the cat reacted with ingratitude or that it was a pity that Tony didn’t lose his eyes. Aryan found himself stifling a laugh.

A scream was heard from the main entrance, “p-principal! Slime monsters!!!”

“What's with all the shouting? Let the teachers take care of it!” , said the principle as he turned to advice Aryan again.

“I-it’s a-a g-group of them! More than 10, we won’t be able to defeat them! W-What do we do principal??”

The crowd instantly panicked, everyone made their way to the other entrance, if it wasn’t for the teachers guarding that entrance, everyone would have made a break for it. Aryan sighed, “I can’t believe I was still worried about my academic future. If we don’t fight, forget marks; breathing would be a luxury we cannot afford.”

As Aryan moved towards the incoming slime monsters, Sid, Peter and Riya followed behind him. Aryan called his minions to him with a thought.

Principal noticed them moving towards the door and shouted, “Aryan! Where do you think you are going?”

Aryan met his eyes, with firm conviction he told him, “Honorable principal, I understand the reasons behind your instructions and under ordinary circumstances, I would have followed you. (Pointing to his minions, falling into formation between him and the incoming monsters) but these are extraordinary circumstances, as such I refuse to stay behind and hand my life over to others.”

Seeing as how the minions allowed Aryan to lead them, everyone from Tony to the principal were left with their mouth open. Tony stuttered, “W-What card did you choose?”

Aryan smiled as he looked back, “I don't know.”

Tony felt sour, 'If you don't want to say it, just ignore me. What's with acting all mysterious?'

x----x

At the top floor of a glass tower, A man in his early 40’s lay on top of a bed with a woman wrapped tightly around him. He used his techniques honed over the years, adding many beautiful women to his conquest, to expertly satisfy her again and again. After a long time, the woman giggled as she drew a finger across his rock-hard abs.

“How you remain undisturbed under such horrifying circumstances is beyond me, Mr. Tyson. Are you not worried about your family?”

The man stared into her eyes and smiled, “I don’t have a wife if that’s what you are asking. Regrettably, she left me for another man.” his hand slides up her curves to cup her breast. She moans, when he kneads her nipple, “Any man would be heartbroken and spend the rest of his life staring at the end of an empty bottle. But, I on the other hand, refuse to dwell in the past. Why regret when the world is your oyster? I’m free to sleep with as many women as I want and I have to admit I am kind of blessed, generously in that category.….and that brings us here.”

The woman giggled when the man nestled kisses down her neck. She gripped his head with both hands, kissed him on the lips before placing his forehead over hers. Flashing a pout, she whispered, “Ohh you poor man. So, you’ve got no one to take care of you? No one to feed you or to have someone call you father?”

The man sighed, as if tackling this question for the millionth time, “I have no need for a family nor am I looking for one. If you really need to know, I have a 21-year-old boy. And no, he can take care of himself at least until I find him….All I want, is to have a good time after the ass kicking, I did downstairs. God knows those people would never survive without me.”

When the kisses continued, the woman moaned as she looked at an enormous lump with heavy lidded eyes.

“I have to admit, you are blessed. There is no way I would have agreed to do this in front of the corpse of the boss monster.”

The man smiled as he pushed her further into the bed.