“Roth?” someone asked tentatively.

“Wilson?” responded Roth. Like Roth, Wilson had chosen an appearance that wasn’t too different from his real one. His build was slightly similar, but he was taller and more muscled. He was covered in dark purple armor that had tigers painted on it. He held a halberd. Roth guessed he was a warrior.

“Do you recognize me, Slayer?” another voice asked appreciatively. Roth looked around. He noticed that different players surrounded him. None of them looked friendly. Out in the distance, he saw a few others who were visibly beginners, such as himself. They looked curiously from far away at the high-level players surrounding him.

“I… don’t think so.”

Before Roth could take a good look at him, the man took a globe from his inventory and threw it into the ground. A barrier sprung from the globe and enveloped Roth and those around him.

You have entered GraveDigger’s [Spatial Globe].

“Now, we can have some privacy.” The player stepped forward and slapped him. Roth felt piercing pain as the hand connected to his face. It felt like a dentist had decided to drill his teeth without giving him any anesthesia. His mind went blank, and a message appeared in front of him.

GraveDigger has attacked you.

-3674

You have died.

When you die, you lose a level, and one of your stats will drop. As this is your first death, no penalty will be applied. You will be brought back to your last saving point.

Roth’s avatar again materialized in the village. All the players encircling him were still there, waiting. Roth’s fighting instincts tried to surface in his mind, but he forced them down. Nevertheless, he could tell that he was in trouble. Feeling this amount of pain inside the game shouldn’t be natural.

“That hurt, didn’t it?” asked the man who had slapped him.

Roth regarded him seriously. He tried to show no emotion. When you’re bullied, the worst thing you can do is show fear. He knew. He’d bullied many in the past, and whenever someone looked scared, it only made him angrier and meaner.

“Who are you?” he asked the man who had slapped him. He wore army green leather armor made of patched pieces of tough leather that harmoniously formed a fabulous garment. He had one golden earring in one of his ears and a predatory look in his eyes.

“I am Gary, one of your old mates, Slayer.”

“Gary…” It made sense. Gary had always enjoyed playing with Rogue classes. He could now see the resemblance to his former classmate and guild member.

For a moment, Roth stood in a daze. They had been friends for many years. The emotional shock hit him harder than the earlier hand slap that had killed his avatar. “Gary, first of all, I want to tell you how sorry…”

Another slap, another burst of pain.

GraveDigger has attacked you.

-3842

You have died.

You are Level 0.

You lost 1 strength. You'll need physiotherapy.

You will be brought back to your last saving point.

Roth came back again. Heavy breaths. He now knew what was going on. He had seen it happen many times in prison. He was being ganged up on.

“I see. So, I guess that makes you Shirley,” he said, looking at a girl in bluish robes to his right. She was utterly different from his memory, but she had always liked playing caster classes, and her equipment suggested that this was the case. “And you would be Brian,” he said to a man who wore a black bandana and a turtleneck that covered his mouth. Only his eyes were visible. Another sort of rogue class. “And that makes you Xana,” he said, looking at a girl wearing some sort of robotic armor. She was the one who spoke next.

“How long has it been since you went to prison, Slayer? Four years? Since then, there’s been this new thing called Permafrosting. Have you heard of it?” Roth thought it was better not to respond.

She rushed to him and punched him in the belly. He felt the air leave his lungs, and once again, he died.

You have been attacked by ScrappyMecha.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

-2564

You have died.

You are Level 0.

You lost 2 dexterity. You'll need physiotherapy.

You will be brought back to your last saving point.

Roth came back. He was in excruciating pain but tried his best not to show it.

“Basically, it’s a new way to collect debt. You’re put to work inside the game until your debts are paid.” Roth gulped. “This is a bit similar. But this capsule was specially built to make you suffer until you pay for your sins. Not only did Loki remove the log-out, but your pain settings are locked at maximum.”

At the mention of Loki’s name, Roth closed his fists and sighed. This man was a painful thorn in his side. Not only had he gone out of his way to bring out the worst in Roth, but his face haunted him every night in his nightmares as he relived the day he almost beat him to death. He chose to stand tall and hide his fear. For the first time, he also fully understood that all the realism he had admired a few minutes earlier would make his life miserable in the following hours.

Brian dashed forward and dove a dagger into his chest, making him disappear and respawn a few meters away. After stabilizing his breathing and ensuring his voice wouldn’t come out cracked and pained, he spoke again.

“So, this is payback for what happened?”

“You idiot! Do you have any idea of what you did? You cost us everything! After you were sent to prison, who do you think had to pay all the repairs to Pegasus? We all had to mortgage our houses and got into massive debt. We’ve been working ourselves to death while you comfortably rested in prison. But no more!” shouted Brian.

“We have no choice, Roth. Loki made us an offer we couldn’t deny,” added Xana.

“What did Loki offer you?”

“He’ll cancel all our debt,” answered Gary. “Our families will finally be off the hook too.”

“Plus a million for each of us, provided we kill you a thousand times and make you feel every single one of them,” added Shirley. Her hand gained a bluish-white glow, and icicles flew toward Roth. He was turned into an ice cube. Roth had never felt so cold. He felt as if he had been thrown into an ice box.

Arctica has attacked you.

-5553

You have died.

You are Level 0.

You lost 1 intelligence. You'll need physiotherapy.

You will be brought back to your last saving point.

Roth didn’t know what hurt more, if it was the blows themselves or that those dealing him pain used to be his friends. Did they hate him this much?

“I see. Before you continue, may I say something?”

Everyone paused. Roth’s gaze searched the facial expressions of his friends. He could see hatred in all of them. He sighed.

“I deserve it, guys. I’m sorry for what you have gone through. I’m sorry.” Saying this, he bowed. After a few seconds, he felt a jolt of pain in his leg.

BlackHalberd has attacked you.

-3453

You have died.

You are Level 0.

You lost 2 dexterity. You'll need physiotherapy.

You will be brought back to your last saving point.

“Sorry, Slayer. We can’t pull our punches. If we do, Loki told us he won’t pay us,” said Xana.

The gang kept attacking Roth for hours. He tried many times to look for a log-out button but couldn’t find it anywhere. He tried to contact game support, but that was blocked too. They had cut his way out. There was nothing left for him to do but suffer. He tried not to flinch. He tried not to protest. He tried not to complain. Around his twentieth death, Roth felt he couldn’t take it anymore without crying or screaming.

Between deaths, the group would wait a random amount of time. Sometimes it was two seconds. Sometimes it was a full minute. Roth knew they were messing with him. They were stretching his pain. The uncertainty of not knowing if the strike was coming in a second or a minute hurt almost as much as the strike itself. He knew. After all, he had done that to others many times before.

In one of the moments they gave him a longer breather, he desperately searched the game’s menu options. Perhaps there was something similar to an obscure option in New Earth. Most people didn’t even know it existed because it was primarily used in PvP tournaments. He could only hope they had overlooked it or hadn’t been able to disable it either. There.

Would you like to disable pained facial expression?

[Y/N]

Professional gamers never fully turned off the pain settings in the game, which enabled them to feel the blows they were dealt. This helped to train reflexes and keep the senses sharper. On the other hand, even if you dialed it down to the usual 10%, it still hurt significantly. It was unsightly to be in a championship and let out little squeals of pain or fight between snots of hurt. The developers added this option to the game to make the championships look cooler and save macho players some face. Thank goodness they had done that in AstroTerra as well.

Roth selected yes, and finally let go. He started to scream in his mind and cry like a baby. Being able to endure this much pain without flinching had taken everything he had. He couldn’t hold it anymore, but he didn’t want to let the group see him like this. That would only send them into a frenzy and make it worse for him. Although Roth was screaming and crying in his mind, all that the others saw was a stoic, expressionless Roth.

Despite Roth’s lack of reaction, he wasn’t having it easy. He’d been slapped, kicked, punched, electrocuted, burned, frozen, skewered, and bludgeoned. But he took it all for eighteen hours. Finally, the thousandth death came to be. Roth stood tall, waiting.

“You deserved this, Slayer!” screamed Wilson. Roth noticed that Xana had tears on her face. Brian looked disgusted. Gary was the only one with no expression.

“It’s OK, Wilson. I forgive you,” Roth forced himself to say.

“Shut up! How can you forgive me? We are the ones who can talk about forgiveness. And we will never forgive you. Understand?”

“Slayer, your log-out button is disabled, but don’t worry about your real body. The pod you’re in will keep you alive. We have secured enough nutrient solution to keep you healthy for years,” said Xana. She sounded almost concerned.

“Loki has asked us to tell you that this is just a sample of what your life will be like. But he asked us to tell you that he’s not heartless. He said he’d let you go if you can reach the top 10 of the game.”

“That should be a little bit difficult, though. You must be the player with the worst stats in the game after a thousand deaths. Other players also have a two-year headstart over you,” said Wilson.

“You better hurry, Slayer. Something might happen to your family if you don’t.”

“Have fun living in the gutter, as we did over these years, you beast,” screamed Shirley.

The squad logged out.