She stood in a defensive stance as the remaining horde of goblins turned to stare at her with their mouths agape. The goblins looked around at each other, eyes widened. Perhaps they didn’t expect someone would fight back so viciously. If she could induce fear in them with such pathetic weapons, she could only imagine how they would have reacted with her old inventory. Could she have passed through the Lost Zone more easily or explored its secrets?

Suddenly one of the goblins scurried off into the forest, causing several others to get spooked and follow suit. Like Lemmings, the entire remaining horde retreated with their kin without looking back at her.

She relaxed, surprised once again by their strange behavior.

What happened? One second, they were all baying for my blood. The next, they’re scampering towards the hills!

Fear gripped her for a moment. Did they sense the Leviathan? Was that why they scattered? Anxious, she searched the sky for any sign of smoke.

Not wanting to wait to find out her hunch might be correct, she took off at a dead run, leaving behind the pile of Goblin carcasses. She clutched the small knife, ready to strike at whatever monster that might pounce. The path wound around a corner, disappearing behind a huge boulder of gray rock that had seemed to have appeared in front of her out of nowhere.

She slowed her pace and crouched behind the rock.

She felt helpless. She was but a cog in the game’s machinations, a pawn in the story, to be dealt with as the engine’s algorithms decided. Of course as a player she had the freedom of choice to choose the way she moved about in the world, but after the reset it seemed like the algorithms had become more chaotic within Conquest.

When she had first started the game, she didn’t have to face high-level monsters like the Leviathan in her early levels. But since the game had reset, she now faced creatures that only came out in the upper and advanced levels. Although she had managed to defeat a Dragon, the Saber Wolves and a horde of Goblins with her paltry inventory, she still had to work hard to kill them.

She stood momentarily, about to resume her sprint when all of a sudden the air around her became cold, so icy that her spine tingled. Shivering, she returned to her crouching position again.

Then she saw the wisps of smoke.

It’s here! It found me!

The Leviathan shrieked as it halted in its path, its terrifying crimson eyes roving about the forest, searching for her, having finally caught her scent.

Her face went pale.

The dreaded monster had that kind of effect on people. She had felt her face blanch when she had encountered it the first time with Blondie and others. She wondered whether they had survived. Unluckily for her, the Leviathan seemed to have decided to follow her rather than the others.

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Why me? Was it because I rejected its offer?

She desperately needed to escape the Lost Zone. But how… with the Leviathan so near?

Brittany did not feel so sure of her hiding position now that she knew the Leviathan could sense her whereabouts. It wouldn’t be long now for the smoke monster to find her and devour her soul. She waited with bated breath, but the monster did not appear.

Perhaps I was wrong in thinking it could sense me?

After several minutes of silence, she raised her head ever so slightly and peeked over the edge of the boulder to see that the Leviathan had disappeared. The shrieks had begun to sound distant. Even the air around her began to grow warm, the temperature slowly rising.

The Leviathan left no trace of its whereabouts. It was almost like it up and disappeared, leaving behind its foul odor of smoke.

Heaving a deep breath, she decided to leave the shelter of the boulder and follow the path forward, eager to get to her destination, which was anything but the Lost Zone. With the Leviathan gone, she expected to follow a straight path, unfettered by any obstructions, although she didn’t let go of the wariness she had held on to from the start. She constantly kept a lookout for monsters and creatures that would want to hurt or kill her or even try to keep her within the confines of the Lost Zone. Also, she didn’t trust the fact that the Leviathan had just given up on the search for her soul.

Is it luring me into a trap?

She hoped, though, that it wasn’t. As if the monster wasn’t terrifying enough without the possibility of cleverness and cunning added to its many qualities. If the creature had that kind of intelligence, it would mean obvious and inevitable death. Certain death given how Conquest was acting.

I might appear at my last save point, but there’s no guarantee of that. There’s a real risk that I won’t re-spawn anywhere!

She couldn’t be sure of the outcome given how the game was now running by different rules. Maybe if she died here, she would die permanently. And the thought scared her.

She breathed deep again.

I must think positive thoughts. Like getting free of this wretched forest!

The path never seemed to end. It went on and on, winding through the gaps between the trees. She had no choice but to follow it as that was where she had seen the light. Also, it was her only choice if she wanted to escape this dreary place. The only other option - a more dangerous one - would be to retrace her steps back into the forest’s murky depths and back to the place where she had run into Blondie’s crew. But that would also mean inevitably running into the Leviathan.

After keeping up a steady pace for what seemingly felt like a marathon, she heard the faint sound of footsteps to her left. Very distinct footsteps.

She stopped and turned in the direction of the sound. She quietly loaded another .308 round and waited, holding her knife tight, ready to attack at a moment’s notice at whatever monster came at her.

However dim, there was still a flicker of hope in the back of her mind when it came to the idea of escaping this wretched forest. She knew she couldn’t run forever, and what she saw next surprised her. The footsteps weren’t those of any monster, but of a man and a woman jogging in her direction, weapons in their hands. It looked like they had fought recently. As they approached, she recognized them. She had thought them dead, but it seemed they had survived.

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