"Let me tell you what's beyond this forest." Andrew says seriously.
"Beyond this forest, there is something absolutely maddening and unlogical. We call it the monster hotzone." Andrew dramatically stops talking, he then continues: "There's an insane rate of monster spawn. By insane I mean something actually unbelievable. The place is filled with monsters..."
"Why didn't someone just dig under that area to get around it then?" Ragnar asks.
"They did. About thirty people started digging a large tunnel underground that went for hundreds of blocks. However, for some reason, a few torches went out and the monsters spawned right away. About dozen of people died this way. Only few survived it." Andrew answers.
"Alright, what about sailing around it?" Mikey asks.
"They tried that too. The problem is, this spawn area stretches into the ocean aswell. There are ton of zombie sharks, krakens, drowned zombies and more monsters." Andrew answers.
"Zombie sharks? What's that?" Lucy asks.
"Literally what it sounds like, zombified sharks that attack anything that moves, including ships." Christina answers. Christina had her own taste of these sharks when she first left the pirate island with her crew.
"It has to end somewhere right?" Zoro interrupts.
"We don't know, we tried going very far into the ocean, but we couldn't find nor see the end of the hotzone, so we just came back." Andrew replies.
"So you guys are just preparing to eventually pass the hotzone?" Zoro asks.
"Yeah, once we get a little stronger we will surely be able to. Several strong players reside behind the hotzone." Andrew answers.
"I didn't see your ship near the island." Mikey says. Everyone gets on guard and quiets down, including the other players. Why would Andrew lie?
"You must have missed it in that case." Andrew says. "It's more to the east, you guys came from the south side." He adds and everyone calms down.
[The Monster Hotzone]
(An actual thing that exists in this world)
A strange phenomenon that has been around since monsters started appearing in this world. This area is usually a few thousand blocks long, but it can stretch out for as long as tens of thousands of blocks. Only few can explain how or why they appeared. The monster hotzones are separated into levels aswell, the higher the level, the stronger and larger the hotzone is.
"Yeah, that's possible. So, how far away is this zone?" Mikey asks.
"About three thousand blocks north from here." Andrew responds.
"Did anyone manage to get through yet?" Christina asks.
"Yeah, five people that I know of. They were all extremely powerful. Three of them were in top five hundred ranking, one of them was in two digits ranking. I don't remember their exact ranks. What I do however remember was the fifth person." Andrew says.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
"A young woman with dark hair and rank two." Andrew says. "It seems crazy that the number one and number two ranked players are so close to eachother." He adds.
"When did you see her pass through here?" Mikey asks.
"Two days ago I think?" Andrew answers, not quite certain about his own answer.
Mikey and Lucy look at eachother. If Andrew isn't lying, then it must be the player who is hunting Mikey. It would also explain the invisible barrier which they bumped into while in the ocean.
But it wouldn't explain what happened at Mikey's ship. The barrier which Ragnar shattered.
"About the person with the second ranking, was there anything strange about her?" Mikey asks.
"Strange? Not exactly, but I didn't understand how she passed through the army of monsters. She went through without killing a single one of them, and yet, they didn't land a single hit on her." Andrew answers. "It's as if they couldn't touch her."
The description suits exactly her... Mikey thinks to himself.
(Two hours later)
The feast has ended. Andrew is escorting Mikey and the others through the forest. Everyone has gained a temporary stats buff for eating the enchanted food.
"You don't mind escorting us?" Lucy asks.
"No, I actually want to see how are you going to pass through the hotzone." Andrew replies.
Few minutes pass and the colors of the forest change. The trees get darker and the the grass slowly turns blue.
"We have oficially entered the hotzone." Andrew says.
"Where are the monsters?" Christina asks.
"They always gather in the middle of the zone, but watch out, some might be here too." Andrew replies.
"What about you, isn't this dangerous for you?" Ragnar asks and throws a stone axe behind himself. A zombie was hiding in tall grass, Ragnar spotted it and killed it. The axe returned to him. This ability has to do with his Viking attribute.
"No, I will be fine, my gear is pretty strong." Andrew says.
"If you say so, by the way, how are we going to get through with these chests Mikey?" Ragnar asks him.
Mikey summons eight spectral pirates.
"They'll clear the way, for me atleast." Mikey says.
"Can't they carry our chests instead?" Ragnar asks.
"No, they can't carry anything besides something that is spectral, such as their own weapons." Mikey answers.
"Unfortunate." Ragnar replies.
"I can create a dragon and clear the path." Lucy says.
"We will figure something out one way or another." Zoro says.
Zoro and Lucy have quite the bounties on their heads aswell. Lucy with a bounty of 35 thousand emerald nuggets, and Zoro, with a bounty of 15 thousand emerald nuggets.
Soon enough, they finally reach the hotzone and see the large horde of monsters. It's just like Andrew described, the monsters are all gathering at the center of the hotzone, quite literally creating a meatwall. Zoro pulls out explosives out of his inventory and throws them at the horde.
BOOM!
A really big explosion happens and creates a path for Mikey and the others to pass through. Lucy creates a water dragon and dives at the horde with it.
Mikey turns around to say goodbye to Andrew, but he can't see him.
He's probably hiding and watching from the distance. Mikey thinks to himself. This was not the case however.
"MIKEY WATCH OUT!" Ragnar shouts. "MY ATTRIBU-" Before Ragnar can finish his sentence, the ground below Mikey opens.
Someone placed sticky pistons below Mikey, and that's how he managed to open the ground below him. Who could have done something like that?
Mikey is falling dozens of blocks down. He pulls out his pickaxe and hits the closest wall with it. The pickaxe stays in the wall and Mikey manages to save himself from falling to his certain death. He pulls the pickaxe out of the wall and falls a few more blocks down, taking only little damage.
Mikey looks around. There are pressure plates, dispensers and other kinds of traps all around him. Including liquid lava which is surrounding him aswell.
"Not bad, I didn't expect you to die from that fall anyway. Which is why I prepared these traps." ANDREW HIMSELF appears out of shadows.
Andrew?! So Ragnar's attribute was right afterall. Mikey is angry at himself for dropping his guard like that.
"Why not just put lava down here? You would have higher changes of killing me if you did that." Mikey says and slowly pulls out his duskblade.
"I don't want your bounty only, I want your loot aswell." Andrew smirks.
"Are you underestimating the strongest human?" Mikey asks.
"No, because I am quite strong myself. I guess I should reintroduce myself." Andrew's appearance changes, and so does his rank.
His hair turns black, his face structure somewhat changes and his armor dissapears. It reveals his black shirt and grey pants which seem to be enchanted because of their purple glow
The number above his head reads five. Also showing the bounty of fifty thousand emerald nuggets.
"So, I assume you hid your identity through one of your attributes?" Mikey asks.
"Yes, that's correct, also I didn't tell you my real name, which is Arthur." Arthur smiles menacingly and throws a poisoned dagger at Mikey. Mikey builds two blocks in front of himself, which should block the dagger, but the dagger passes the wall and hits Mikey?
"What is this sorcery?!" Mikey shouts and coughs out blood... he got hit by Arthur's poisoned dagger.