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V2 - Chapter 31: The Escape

Though she hated Blondie, she was grateful to find her because she needed to obtain answers to the worrisome questions that throbbed in the back her mind.

“Brittany, where are you!?”

That flicker of hope became a little brighter as she raced toward the voices.

“Brad!” she called out. “Blondie!”

I can’t believe they’re alive! I can’t stand Blondie, but there’s always safety in numbers at a time like this.

Brittany knew the old term of ‘lesser of two evils’ and it couldn’t be any more appropriate as it was right now. She didn’t care. She ran like her life depended on it. The sounds became louder and louder as Brittany’s smile started to break through the cloud of gloom hanging over her. She burst into a small clearing, where two guns were immediately trained on her.

“Oh, it’s you.” Blondie glared as she lowered the weapon. “I guess you survived after all.”

“We’ve got to… got to get out of here!” Brittany wheezed, trying to catch her breath, “I saw the Leviathan in the woods. It’s coming! We need to run! Right now!”

Blondie immediately moved to block her path. “Snap out of it.”

“But… but what happened to Sam?!”

“He probably respawned back at the tower. We’ll see him soon enough, I’m sure.”

“His soul was consumed by Leviathan, he chose to yield it up!” Brittany cried.

“It’s a game, you moron.” Blondie scolded. “The Leviathan isn’t real!”

Brittany knew she should try another tactic, but the hate inside of her was too strong, and it blended far too well with the fear clutching her soul. “I’m the moron? Really?!” she shrieked. “How can you be so sure the Leviathan isn’t real? You even said yourself that when you tried to log out, you couldn’t. Right now this is our only reality.”

Blondie rolled her eyes. “Then clearly you need a reality check.”

“What if he doesn’t respawn?”

“He will.”

“But what if he doesn’t?!” Brittany insisted.

“You’ve worked yourself into a paranoid stupor.”

“Humor me.”

“He will respawn.” Blondie said with a hint of uncertainty. “I’m sure of it. We just probably won’t get a notification - just like we haven’t for the others of our guild. They’re all probably just wandering around trying to find us.”

“I’m confused.” Brittany’s eyebrow raised, “Aren’t you the one who suggested that the game is locked in a permadeath setting?”

“Oh, that.” She chuckled, “I was fibbing to manipulate you to join our guild. Sam is fine. His map is likely just disabled, so he’s just wandering around like the fool he so often is.”

“You better hope so, or else Sam’s death will forever be on your conscience.”

“Oh, come on.” Blondie growled. “Be serious. Aren’t you laying it on a bit thick?”

“We wouldn’t be having this conversation if you hadn’t shot him!”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“It… it was an accident! I didn’t mean for it to happen.”

“Of course it was,” Brittany interjected with heavy sarcasm. “And with your winning personality, there’s absolutely no way it could ever happen to anyone else.”

The look on Brad’s face was intense. “We could stand here all day and bicker, or start looking for Sam.”

“He might respawn, but who knows what that... thing has done to him.” Brittany said.

“If we are gambling on him respawning, he will find us. In the meantime, let’s go and find the Ruins of Sariel. Once we get out of the Lost Zone here in the woods, we’ll know how to get there—thanks to our lovely Brittany here.” Blondie said, smirking.

“Let’s make something very clear: I’m not your ‘lovely’ anything,” Brittany spat. “You just better hope I don’t accidentally fire off a couple rounds in your direction.”

“Ladies, let’s stop fighting until we aren’t, you know, in danger of having our souls devoured or worse.” Brad said, stepping between the women.

The two ladies stared daggers at each other, and then turned away.

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Without the ability to determine their proximity to the Ruins, the trio ran through the deadly forest, not knowing what lurked behind each tree or around the next darkened trail. Their attention split between making sure they were in each other’s sight as well as making sure they weren’t eaten, impaled, soul-taken, mauled, or anything else that might come out of this nightmare of a ‘game’.

A loud screech erupted from Brittany’s immediate left. Before she could react, an enormous tentacle took hold of her leg.

Threat Detected: Level 7 Voidspawn

HP| 700/700

Strengths: Long black tentacles allow for speed and easy subduing of prey. Head is covered with gnashing mouths full of razor-sharp teeth to allow for rapid devouring of trapped prey. Head is also covered with eyes to allow for 360-degree sight with intense focus. Will not remain killed.

Weaknesses: None.

Whipping around to face the hideous beast, its thousands of razor-sharp teeth were only seconds away from chomping down on her thigh.

Brad came to her rescue, firing off multiple rounds from his M15 into the Level 7 creature’s… face, for lack of a better word. Hundreds of eyes covered the squid-like creature’s body, accompanied by hundreds of gnashing mouths, so it was difficult to discern exactly where the thing’s true face was.

The vile monster screeched in pain and released its grip. Brittany loaded a round into the Remington and fired, then reloaded and fired again.

[-100 HP]

[-100 HP]

I need a new gun! This is ridiculous!

After firing off three more rounds, the beast finally collapsed into an inky puddle of black matter.

[-100 HP]

[-100 HP]

CardioBlast: Difficult

Assisted Kill

+115 XP

Achievement Unlocked: Assisted Kill

You have taken down an opponent with the assistance of a guild member. You will each receive full XP allocations when using teamwork to take down a foe. This achievement will help with faster leveling as you help to improve your guild’s stats.

Finally, without warning, they stumbled out of the woods and their NR enhanced maps lit up with location markers again.

Congratulations!

You have survived the Lost Zone unscathed.

Claim your reward for your endurance and courage:

+500 XP

+1 Stamina

+1 Strength

LEVEL UP!

+1 Intelligence

Brittany breathed a sigh of relief knowing they had cleared the creepy forest without running into any more vile creatures. And reaching Level 10 was a nice bonus!

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