- SHIT! SHIIIIIT!

Anyone had their own ways to deal with grief.

Max held his own head while cursing, Yrwin tried to breathe but only managed to hyperventilate, and Lillian breathed deeply while sitting in the ground.

They almost died!

As for Raphael, he still hadn’t recovered from the initial shock.

- Wha… what was that?! - Yrwin muttered.

- THE HELL I KNOW! FUCK! - As for Max, his mind was obviously still under the effects of “Warriors’ Rage”.

- You… you two, stop that! Calmness! - One of the most needed skills for an explorer was the ability to remain calm, as well as to calm others around them. So, Raphael casted the “Calmness” spell on his friends.

- We… we need to think this through.

However, no one could quite understand what was going on. Even Main Quests shouldn’t come like that. One needed to be at least warned about impeding danger like that. Wouldn’t this game be awful if things were any other way?

It wasn’t a Hardcore server, why hadn’t there been any kind of warning?

The group was at a loss.

- One thing is certain. - Lillian spoke - We need to get out of here. It’s bound to be monsters nearby. Besides, the town’s mages can see us here. We need shelter.

The young elf didn’t seem that carefree anymore. Her words caused her companions to silently agree.

So, the four of them parted.

***

Four days later, in a humid cave eight kilometers northwest of Valkyrie.

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- Again. They just don’t give up, do they? - Max cleaned his axes’ blood, while also tossing the severed head at his feet on the pit dug ten meters ahead. His dexterity was quite good, so one could almost hear a “score!” when he got the head on the pit.

- It’s unsettling. They just don’t give up. Besides, it seems like they can track us down, no matter what.

- They must have an expert mage casting clairvoyance on us. There’s no way we can escape.

Raphael, now with a bow and arrow in his hands, and Lillian, which was about to cast a fireball, added.

- I guess we can only go and face them head-on, right Your Majesty? - Max gave a crooked smile.

- As if I could order any of you. - Yrwin answered in a serious tone. His position as “dethroned king” would allow for him to form a “rebel party” against the “usurpers” of his kingdom, and so provide some buffs to his party members. Since no one had respawned after the attack the other day, the “Calamity Jack Fools’ Party” members were more than glad to be “recruited” under his banner.

- Common, relax a bit. We need to do it from time to time. It’s all we need to do now. - Max replied, his voice a bit faded. How would the four of them be, had they not had a bunch of skills to deal with mental distress? Probably way worse.

Not that they were in good shape either. Raphael had a gloomy expression. Lillian seemed like a war vet. He himself had adopted a persona even more extreme and “cool” than his previous one. As for Yrwin… he was the worst.

As soon as the group find itself out of the forest, he immediately used a Premium Mass Teleport scroll. However, not only didn’t it work, the scroll was lost as well.

Time after time, all of the party members tried again and again to use their premium items - and even regular items - to no avail.

The only possible explanation was that they were in battle. Items that allowed one to flee from battle weren’t implemented in the game, so they had a big problem on their hands.

- Seriously. Just what is this guys’ range?! - Yrwin grinded his teeth. They had been fleeing from the city as fast as possible, all the way to the cave they were in. None of them had enough skill on the Dimensional Magic skill tree to be able to cast “unhindered teleport”, so they could only try to run on foot.

The problem lied in what happened all around them. Not only would the regular NPC monsters attack from time to time, weird variants would appear as well.

There would be monsters which didn’t follow the A.I. pattern movements, and also some who would try to use ambush tactics even at Safe Zones.

Each and every battle was tiresome, and a few moments of peace could not be achieved at any time. In fact, none of them had slept well in those four days. Even while taking turns in which one would sleep and the other three guard against the enemy. Their bodies were almost collapsing. Even Max, with the highest constitution amongst them, was beginning to show signs of exhaustion.

- We have to get out of here.

- Sure, but how? Do you have a trump card or something? - Max replied to Yrwin’s question, as the former emperor looked at his own feet.

- I might just have.