Author’s note:
So this was a bit late because I forgot to open a new novel request before hand. I had to wait till the mods approve till I could post this.
I have also decided to keep the chapter numbers in line with the main plot. It would be weird if I went back and changed the chapter numbers.
Chapter 70.5- Beginning of the End
***Shadowmaple Hospital***
***Fin’Vaiel***
The air stank of disinfectant. The smell was starting to give me a headache. At the very least, the hospital was quiet, and it didn’t make my headache any worse. The only sound that I could hear was the rhythmic beeps coming from the machines.
As much as I want to, I couldn’t escape from my responsibility. I sat outside of the emergency room as I waited with my face buried in my knees. Just when I thought I had time to reconstruct my mind carefully, a set of heavy footsteps hastily came towards me, disrupting my thoughts. I looked up to find Karas, Aewyn’s husband, rushing towards me. With a devastated look, he started the interrogation. I replied his questions with tearful eyes.
“What happened? How is she? Is she alright? What did the doctor say?”
“I… I don’t know. One moment, We were having a small contest inside the game. The next I know, I found her unconscious with the helmet puffing out smoke. The doctor is still inside looking after her.”
He must have realized that I know as much as he does about Aewyn. Further questioning would not produce more results, so silence befell once again between us. Karas began to pace back and forth in front of the emergency room’s door like a pendulum. After what seems to be an eternity of stillness, the door to Aewyn’s room swung opened. A doctor in a gown with a slight tinge of blue walked out. Karas immediately rushed up to him.
“Doctor, is she fine?”
“The good news is that the patient doesn’t seem to be in any immediate danger.”
Karas and I both let out a sigh of relief since Aewyn is not in any danger. But from the phrasing of the doctor, there seems to be bad news as well. I steel myself to receive it.
“The bad news is we don’t know what’s wrong.”
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT’S WRONG WITH HER!”
“Please calm down sir, let me explain. Physically, we can’t find anything wrong. We did all sorts of tests, and they all came back negative. However…”
“Just give it to us straight, doctor.”
“However, her brainwaves seem to be stuck in a never-ending cycle between Theta-wave and Delta-wave. The most peculiar thing is that the cycle is almost exactly 5 seconds each cycle. It’s like clockwork. I’ve never seen brainwaves behaving like this in the two thousand years I've been practicing.”
“So what do we do? How can we wake her up?”
“You said that you found her unconscious while using the immersion-tech hardware right? I am fairly confident that had something to do with her current situation since immersion-tech directly interacts with brainwaves. But since I am not an expert in this field, I cannot tell you anything concrete.”
“Atalan.”
I whispered a name under my breath. I didn’t want to see that jackass, but I have no choice. Aewyn's life comes first. I turned around and started to walk away from Aewyn’s room.
“Fin’Vaiel, where are you going?”
“I will be right back. I’m just going to make a phone call. Atalan might be able to help us.”
***Drumming Heights***
“Can we skip this and move on to the Drumming Maze? We have a lot of trouble with the Flame Hydra last time.”
“I think Yoreel needs the skins for a quest.”
“Where is he?”
“I think he just went behind the bush to take a take a dump.”
“Damn it. Uh… ok. Here’s the battle plan. I am going to run first and drop a shout to grab the attention of the three heads to the left. Fronany, you come right behind me and grab the three heads on the right. Asb, you take the remaining two in the center. This way, no one has to fight a whole bunch of heads at the same time. The rest of you, focus on bringing down the center two heads first. After that, take a control of a head from Fronany and I. Repeat until all the heads are down. Asb, make sure you be careful of the regenerating heads and take control of them. Can I get a quick number crunch?”
“Ya, give me a second…. Uhh.. I am coming with three minutes and two point three three, repeating, of course, seconds of survival.”
“That’s a lot better than we normally do. Alright, guys, you think we are ready when Yoreel comes back?”
Stolen novel; please report.
"Speaking of the devil, there's Yoreel."
“Alright chums, let’s do this.”
“Oh my god, what is that?”
“What is what?”
“That! Over there behind the Flame Hydra right behind that pine tree!”
“That looks like… a flame elemental? Why is it black though?”
“Is it a new rare spawn? A flame elemental variant? I have never seen something like that.”
“I think it looks more like Missingno.”
“A what?”
“You know, that game from the old Project: Earth, or should I say Project: Earth west servers. I miss that game. I want to head back to the west servers sometimes to play it again.”
“I wouldn’t know. I just started playing Project: Earth plus eight years ago. That’s just after the update happened.”
“Wow you are a newbie aren’t you.”
“Alright guys, thoughts?”
“Since we have no information on this new monster, I think we should skip everything for now. We have trouble with the Flame Hydra already. I am pretty sure that we can’t take both at the same time.”
“Well, we can always try again on the way back.”
“That’s a sound plan. Can someone put a tracking spell on both so that we can come back to this later?”
“On it.”
“Oh gods, what is it doing?”
“Is it eating the Flame Hydra?”
“Uhh…. guys. I have a bad feeling about this. I think we should run away before he notice us.”
“Shut up Yoreel. We can be the first party to kill this Flame Elemental variant. Since it’s fighting the Flame Hydra, we have a chance to finish off both once they are both weakened. What's the worst that can happen? We wipe and lose a few pieces of gears and a bit of stats?”
“I’ve got some bad news. The flame elemental killed the hydra already.”
"Isn't that good news? We can wait till the flame elemental leave and get the free loot. Speaking of which, where's the hydra's body? I don't see it anywhere."
“It completely devoured the remains. Nothing was left. And also, there is no good news, only worse news. I think it’s looking at us.”
"I don't want to die yet. I just bought this new set of sweet gears."
“Stop panicking. We can do this.”
*ROAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR*
"Watch out! It's coming straight at us!"
"Tanks, shields up. Adapt to the situation and listen to my commands!"
"WHAT THE HELL! IT ATE ASB IN ONE GO!"
"SCATTER! DON'T TRY TO MELEE IT!"
"MAGES AND WARLOCK! BLAST IT WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT! BRING IT DOWN BEFORE IT KILLS EVERYONE!"
"MORE DOTS! MORE DOTS!"
"KITE IT AROUND!"
"I CAN'T! IT'S TOO FAST!"
"OH GODS! IT GOT ANOTHER ONE OF US!"
"SCATTER! IT'S A WIPE!"
"DON'T RUN TOGETHER! RUN IN DIFFERENT DIRECTION!"
"AHHHHHHHH!!!"
"WHAT THE FUCK!! IT GOT HIM THROUGH THE BUBBLE WHILE HE WAS USING THE SCROLL OF RETURN!"
"EVERYONE RUN! DON'T LOOK BACK! REGROUP UP AT D.C."
***Dwarven Capital***
***Yoreel***
What the hell was that? A monster like shouldn't have been there. It killed everyone in one shot. Worse of all, it killed Yoreel through celestial's safeguard. Nothing should be able to hurt you while that spell is active. That whole encounter was not ordinary.
I walked down the street's of D.C. to calm myself down. At the very least, I came out of that unscathed, though not the same could be said for the rest of my teammates.
I walked up and down the street waiting for my teammates to respawn. Finally, after an hour, my patience ran out. I sent a quick message through the party system.
"What's taking you guys so long? Hurry up and regroup at the adventurer's guild."
Silence responded. I tried to message everyone again.
"Stop playing around and respond already. We need to plan what to do next. Did anyone record the fight?"
Still, no one answered back. I opened the party menu to check the status of everyone. I was completely confused at what I found. The name of everyone else's name was replaced with corrupted gibberish.
***Fin'Dictive Gaming Studio's Webpage***
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