The two groups ran and collided with each other. Shields rang. Blood spurted. It was chaos. Thaddeus’ shield blocked a kobolds spear. With the kobold’s poor quality equipment, it wasn’t hard to break their spears. The hard part was killing them. Their HP was higher than his.

Thaddeus raised his axe and came down on the kobold’s shoulder, slicing his axe deep into the tendon until he felt bone. Then he pulled the axe out and blood shot into his eyes blocking his vision.

The noise from the battle was deafening and with his vision blocked, his visibility was reduced to three yards. He couldn’t see Ward to left or Kara behind him and he had a hunted feeling of being alone in this crowded battle. It was something he felt before. The feeling it’s you against the world and he relished it. His anger swirled as fought like a madman to stay alive.

He moved his axe faster cleaving his enemies. He added all his remaining skill points into the skill. The cooldown decreased from 30 seconds to 25 seconds. He bashed and cleaved trying to stay alive. Yet his effort was fruitless, the kobold he was fighting was still alive. He was sure Ward must’ve killed 20 kobolds by now, yet he was still on his first. He started to feel depressed until an ice shard killed the kobold he was fighting.

Before he could look to see Ward or Kast, another kobold came bounding for him. This time he used his skill Bash right away to get a little separation. Then he cleaved it until Kara would kill. She was technically stealing his kills, which normally he’d be upset about. But in this case, she was helping manage his stamina.

The third, fourth, and fifth kobolds he killed with his spell [Arrowhead]. The sixth, seventh, and eighth, were with melee tanking with Kara’s execution. Kill three or four with his tank skill then kill another three or four with his mage spells. He repeated this over again, constantly practicing his skills.

His mind clear, almost meditatively, he focused solely on killing. Survival, victory, death this was his mantra. There would be time later for management and crafting. Thaddeus killed until he was caked in blood. The durability of his new leather armor was near zero. He killed wantonly.

The only break he had was when Kast went berserk like a cross between Conan the Barbarian and Taz the Tasmanian Devil. Kast jumped into the fray mad with blood lust. Like a blender, he slew the kobolds. His actions took the aggro of Ward and Thaddeus giving them a break.

“Thaddeus cast your spell erosion, make sure to give Kast a 4ft clearance!” Kara shouted.

Thaddeus did as he was told and sent hundreds more kobolds down below to the spiders’ webs. This time he watched as the kobolds landed on the webbing feet below. The webs’ vibrations alerted the spiders to their prey’s arrival. Soon hundreds of kobolds were wrapped in white silky cocoons. It was a gruesome sight.

“Thank you immortal for feeding my family. I apologize for my child’s actions earlier and you spearing her life. Let us talk more when this is all over,” said a chittery voice inside his head

“Eh, sounds good,” Thaddeus replied canceling his spell.

System Message: Congratulations you have reached Level 40. You have 5 Stat Points to allocate.

Between Kast’s swordsmanship and Thaddeus’s spell, the rest of the kobolds stop fighting and looked nervous. They nervously looked at Kuba and the adventurers. They were hesitant about whether to flee for their lives or the repercussions if Kuba won.

But Kara didn’t give them much time to think, she cast [Blizzard], a high-level ice spell. Gray clouds began forming inside the cavern and the temperature began to drop. Thaddeus could help but shiver at the sudden drop in temperature. At once the wind picked up blowing in the direction of the kobolds. Snow and ice began to whip in their direction. Hail as large as golf balls began pelting the kobolds. Ice the size and sharpness of sewing needles pierced the kobolds’ bodies. Kobolds began dying of hypothermia, from blunt force trauma, and being skewered to death with hundreds of tiny needles.

But something unaccounted for happened. The blue mana crystals in the ceiling activated intensifying the blizzard into a cyclone. Over a matter of minutes, the storm got worse. The temperature dropped more, freezing the lake and the wind picked up lifting the kobolds into the air.

“I’m losing control. I don’t know if I can stop it,” Kara yelled desperately.

They watched as the light in Kara’s eyes dimmed to dullness and she collapsed. After she fainted, the storm began to spurt out slowly.

When the blizzard ended the adventurers and Thaddeus had to wince because the white snow was so blinding.

Across from them, they noticed all the kobolds were gone, except for one, Kuba remained.

“Nice trick, pesky human,” he saw ruining straight for Thaddeus.

Before Thaddeus could react, he received a message:

System Message: You have died. Penalty: no penalty for 1st offense.

He was sitting in what looked like a high school classroom when he opened his eyes. There were encouraging posters, maps, grammar posters, a whiteboard, and 30 desks, for which he was sitting in one. On his desk were several books. When he looked at him, he noticed they were books but three volumes of Heaven’s Gates terms and conditions.

“Welcome to the death!” said a smiling Lolli with blonde hair and black eyes wearing a Japanese school outfit he remembered seeing in manga and anime he watched. “Do you like my outfit?”

“Yes?” Thaddeus said hesitantly. “Am I dead?” he asked unsure why he was in a classroom.

“Yes, but only temporarily. Now, let’s get started,” Lollie said turning into a middle-aged, black hair, wearing a black-patent-leather dominatrix outfit, with black patent leather platform shoes. Her black cold eyes stared at Thaddeus, she grinned and slapped a paddle in her hand.

“Now, this is the only time you’ll come here. Next time you’ll stay in the lounge outside. Understand, there is no penalty for dying once. Though, from now on you’ll use stat points and levels. Each time you die, you’ll be penalized by losing 10 stat points, and level, and must wait in the waiting room for five minutes.

With each death, you’ll have to spend 10 more minutes in the waiting room. Logging out won’t even help, you physically must wait until your time is up. It’s the same rule as being imprisoned in-game. If you return to Level 10, you won’t lose any more stats or levels, but you’ll be transported to a different town in a different kingdom, however, you still be affected by the time penalty. Any questions, pupil?” she said turning into an orange hair, black-eyed, middle-aged teacher in a nice blue dress with crescent moons, suns, and stars that looked like something Ms. Frizzle would wear.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“No, no questions,” Thaddeus said to the shapeshifter.

“Good, you can go wait in the waiting room until your time is up. You can check your eyes for your timer,” the woman said.

“Wait—where’s my stats, map, and notifications?” Thaddeus asked worriedly.

“Honestly. Didn’t you say you didn’t have any questions?” she asked. “The things that are mentioned are for the living. Why would the dead need those, now get out! I have another student coming in,” she said reverting to her Japanese-Lolli form.

Thaddeus looked at his screen, he has less than 30 seconds left. When he walked out of the classroom, he came into the lounge, where people were drinking and talking. In the middle of the room was a circular bar, where bartenders were filling drinks for the others awaiting resurrection. Most people were smiling, some looked angry and were counting down the minutes. What most stood out to Thaddeus was that room was split into fiefs, and each guild occupied its own sections. Solo players typically sat at the bar and kept to themselves.

When he entered, people looked up interested to see who the next arrival was. When they saw he was a solo player, they lost interest. Being alone for so long, he forgot how guilds dominated every aspect of the game. Even in death, guilds mattered. It was like an existential lesson, whom you associate with in life can affect you even in death.

Still, it made Thaddeus curious, he wondered if heaven and hell were some big reunion parties. And if he died, who would he see? Would he see his family? Just the thought unnerved him. But before he contemplated it any further, he felt something pulling him backward, into darkness a second time.

When he opened his eyes, he saw he was in a candlelit church. He was lying flat on a cold marble altar. Behind him were the statues of gods. Death and resurrection were surreal experiences. But he had to help the adventurers. He quickly got up and raced out the front of the church. In the distance, he could hear fighting.

He raced as fast as he could in that direction and saw Ward, Andrea, and Raine trying to hold off the kobold boss. Brynn was helping Kara. He could tell, even at distance, Brynn was feeding Kara a mana regeneration potion. Beside them, Kast was drinking the same potion. Both Kara and Kast looked exhausted.

Thaddeus cast [Arrowhead] before Kuba or adventures saw him. Thaddeus poured all his SP into his new spell. Sending small boulders, the size of soccer balls toward Kuba’s head and groin.

‘That bastard is going to pay for killing me,’ Thaddeus thought to himself.

“About time!” Andrea said with a smile.

“I told you he’d return,” Ward smiled in satisfaction.

“Shut up, Ward!” Raine and Andrea said in unison, paying him a gold coin each. Raine, Andrea, and Ward all took health potions, with Thaddeus’ attacks taking the kobold boss’ aggro,

“I thought I killed you!” Kuba said angrily.

“I can’t die you, idiot,” Thaddeus yelled back, casting [Erosion].

A 3ft hole opened below Kuba, but instead of plummeting to spider webs below, he was able to grasp the side of the hole. His feet dangled just over the spider webs and started pulling himself back up.

“Cast another spell moron,” Kast yelled.

“I have to wait for the cool down,” Thaddeus shot back, thinking of hightailing it back to the church he just came from.

But he didn’t for two reasons. First, he needed this mine and its profit for his village. And this kobold was the only thing keeping him from accomplishing his goal. Second, he wasn’t cowered. While he might have chosen to focus on crafting in his game, in past games he never backed down from a fight. Thus, Thaddeus resolved himself to see this to the end, even if he had to die again.

Before Kuba could get to him a second time, he cast [Stone Wall]. Sending that big kobold smashing head-first into a stone wall.

“Argh! You’ll die for that!” Kuba yelled using his finger to wipe the blood from between his reptilian eye browns.

“Really,” Thaddeus said, casting [Erosion] again. This time creating a 5ft wide hole.

Kuba fell, but still barely managed to grab onto the edge with his fingers. His toes briefly touched the web below. Soon an army of cave spiders was on him, biting his ankles and feet, trying to drag him below.

“Thaddeus back off, we’ll handle the rest,” Kara said, weakly getting back on her feet.

Thaddeus retreated to the rear, standing next to Brynn.

“Thank you, for buying us time,” Brynn said hugging Thaddeus.

He hugged her back until he realized she had gone limp. He laid the feinted Brynn on the ground and watched over her until she recovered.

“Argh! Get off me! Damn spiders!” Kuba yelled.

“[Frostbite],” Kara yelled freezing Kuba’s fingers.

“Argh! Just wait, I’ll kill you,” Kuba said falling into the spider web.

“Finally, it’s over!” Raine said slumping onto the ground.

“Okay everyone, rest for now. But it’s not over until we get the notification of his death,” Kara warned them.

“Um…guys, check out your notifications?” Andrea said surprised. Everyone quickly reviewed the last combat logs.

“His stats are increasing,” Raine said equally surprised.

“He’s berserk?” Kast said knowing the symptoms.

Suddenly a hand shot up from the ground, like a zombie rising from a tomb. The enraged kobold boss quickly pulled himself out of the ground. Below they say hundreds of dead spiders. Kuba’s blood-red eyes stared at them with unbridled rage. Rage beyond mortal anger, a rage that ran through his blood, a rage that transformed him. He grew tall, his muscles rippled, his health increased by several hundred, and his wounds began to heal, and acid dripped down his mouth burning the cave floor.

“Damn it, he just leveled,” Andrea shouted.

“Look he’s now Level 80,” Raine cautioned.

“He can’t hold out for long. We just have to outlast him. Kast how long until the berserk wears off?” Kara asked.

“I don’t know. It could be anywhere from seconds to 30 minutes,” Kast replied.

Kuba shot at adventures like a missile, colliding with Ward’s shield. Ward was sent flying and knocked against the cave’s walls, at what Thaddeus guessed had to be at least 30 miles per hour. Ward’s slumped over, he was conscious, but couldn’t move.

“My back is broken,” Ward strained to say through labored breathing.

“Thaddeus take over as tank, try to slow him down,” Kara ordered.

“Slow him down, he’s 40 levels higher than me,” Thaddeus shot back.

“Lord Brown, please try to slow him down,” Kara begged.

Thaddeus tried to put on a brave face and stepped in front of Kuba.

“Ha-ha, weakling,” Kuba laughed preparing to swipe Thaddeus like an annoying fly.

‘Fuck, no wonder they say crypto mining is dangerous,’ he thought.

He stored his axes and put everything he had into his dented shield. If Kara asked him to buy time, that was what he was going to do. He cast [Stone Wall] repeatedly until Kuba was imprisoned behind stone walls layered three deep, in a stone cell 4 square feet. The 12-stone walls depleted his mana pool. He wouldn’t be able to use magic for a while, but he could still physically tank.

Kuba yelled, enraged at the imprisonment. He began smashing the walls one after another trying to free himself. He smashed stone walls until they were rubble, but it bought Kara time. By the time, Kuba freed himself he was breathing hard and looked tired. His tired eyes landed on Thaddeus and bashed into him. Soon Thaddeus was lying next to Ward.

Everything hurt for Thaddeus. It felt like everything was broken. He was sure he ruptured some of his spinal discs and his ribs were damaged with some pieces lacerating his organs. Then again, did his character even have organs, or was this just a skin? With blurry vision and ring ears, he realized it didn’t matter because it felt real. Real or not, he knew he had a concussion. He coughed up blood and did his best to watch the fight.

He watched as Kara, Kast, Raine, and reawakened Brynn fought the kobold boss. He watched Kara cast a devastating [Ice Spear] impaling the Kuba several times. He watched Raine drill arrow after arrow into Kuba’s joints. He watched Kast attack Kuba’s knees. And he watched Brynn buff all of them with her spell, [Greater Protection].

Soon Kuba’s berserk ended, and he collapsed onto his knees, with blood shooting out through his hole-riddled body. Finally, the fight was over. And the former lord of the Ironwood Mine was no more. After the battle, Thaddeus saw two new notifications.

“Nice job, Lord Brown,” Kara said throwing Thaddeus a healing potion.

After drinking the potion, Thaddeus checked his first notification.

System Message: Congratulations you have reached Level 49. You have 5 Stat Points to allocate.

‘Nothing feels better than leveling,’ Thaddeus thought.

At least he thought that until he saw his next notification.

System Message: Congratulations, you have defeated Lord Kuba of the Kubaclan. You have attained the authority to occupy the Ironwood Gemstone Mine and Hamlet, Level 0. Do you wish to occupy it? Y/N