The rest of the team, except for Samir, cheered at that and climbed atop the beast as well, preparing for it to come to life. They all used their dragon-slaying hook-and-chain combinations to create makeshift harnesses so they wouldn’t fall off of the creature.

Samir took a deep breath and held up his hands. “Are you really sure you want to do this? Because this spell boosts the hell out of the creature’s stats.”

“Less complaining, more terrible decision-making!” Sivlander barked. The rest of the team laughed at that.

Samir muttered a few arcane words of power, moving his hands up and down as he cast the spell. In the game, wizards weren’t exactly the most powerful class because of how hard it was to survive as one, but Samir had been in the game long enough to accumulate some of the best spells and magic items. He wasn’t always so much of a complainer, but out of all of the players, he stood the most to lose if things went south. When a wizard died, they would lose all of their spells and this meant that Samir would lose five years’ worth of hard work in a single moment. The man was so cautious that all any of his teammates would have to do is yell “Boo” and he would log out in a blind panic.

Green arcs of light flashed from the wizard’s fingers as the worm beneath the team began to writhe and move. “Urgahhhh” the beast moaned as it came back to life. The words Undead Burrow Beast hovered above the creature’s head. Sivlander swallowed a little as he looked at the stats of the beast.

* Name: Undead Burrow Beast

* Health: 650

* Stamina: 300

* Attack Strength: 170

* Attack Type: Slam: Deals 110 damage per hit

* Devour: Consumes target whole, target takes 10 damage per second until dead.

That monster’s health was double from when they had killed it. Sometimes Samir was too good of a wizard.

“Come on!” Sivlander shouted as the beast roared again and began to chew away at the ground beneath them. “Let’s ride!”

Trefor bent over the side of the beast to grab Samir’s hand and hoist him up as the creature began to smash through the earth, tunneling downward at incredible speeds.

“I’ve got to say,” Sivlander said as he kept his head low to avoid banging it against the earth, “I didn’t know if you could actually pull this off.”

“I had to use one of my Stones of Necromancy to boost my magic,” Samir replied with a dour expression on his face. “That thing was far more expensive than all of your gear put together.”

“I’ll have you know that my sword, Kremalia, is one of the most powerful swords in all of the land,” Sivlander replied. “I had to kill a giant with snakes for arms to get it.”

“Well you’ll have to redo that quest once we die down here,” Samir replied.

“Bah,” Sivlander replied, slapping the wizard on the back, “you are way too pessimistic. We can win this one. You just got to think on your feet and stay sharp.”

“I see light!” Germane shouted as he pointed forward. Sivlander glanced downwards to see that the Burrow Beast had crashed right into another subterranean expanse. The worm fell to the ground with a thump and Van could see lava pouring from all directions.

The worm had landed atop a large patch of volcanic rock; an island amidst a sea of burning red magma that would easily kill the most powerful adventurers. Dragon Kings of the New World was a survivalist type of game, meaning that the elements were usually another part of the danger. Players who assumed that environmental damage wasn’t nearly as bad as other types of damage were usually killed quite quickly.

“Over there!” Germane shouted as he pointed at a large, stone temple across from them. The temple was on another island of volcanic rock and looked quite worn down.

“Well how are we supposed to get over there?” Trefor asked. “That lava’s gonna cook us the moment we touch it and I don’t think there’s any way to get all the way over there.”

“Well we need to move fast,” Samir said, “we’ve got 5 minutes before this thing goes all psycho on us again.”

“Yeah, who doesn’t want to fight a giant, undead worm on a tiny island surrounded by lava?” Germane replied. “Who’s idea was that again?”

“I’m pretty sure it was Samir who thought of it,” Sivlander said with a chuckle. As he examined the area, he tried to spot any kind of special detail that would indicate how to get to the temple. Despite how hard he looked, however, he was unable to find any way across.

“Well I’ll just order this monster to go right into the lava. At least that will clear up my bad idea,” Samir said with a chuckle. He was a good sport about all of the ribbing. With a flick of his wrist, the creature went barreling into the lava.

Much to their surprise, the beast just stayed perfectly still in the heat, its body not melting from the burning magma that would easily kill anyone else.

“He’s immune?” Sivlander shouted as he rushed to leap atop the creature. “Then we gotta ride it to the lava before the timer runs out.”

“It’s too close. We’ve got maybe 90 seconds!” Samir said.

“We should be able to pull this off!” Sivlander said as he landed on the beast and grabbed hold of the chain. Trefor, who had been examining some rope that he pulled out of his backpack, came running after the other two as they frantically made their way to the monster. Everyone scrambled aboard as Samir ordered his undead mount to move toward the temple.

“Clock is ticking!” Samir said nervously as he began to wrap one of the hooked chains around his arms. “If this thing goes nuts, I’m not going to get chucked into lava, you can believe that!”

“We’ll make it; I promise!” Sivlander said. He, of course, had no idea if they would make it but he hoped their grand adventure wouldn’t end with the entire team being flung into lava by a surly, undead worm. No matter how fun that story would be to tell, the collective loss of gear—and probably Samir’s friendship—wouldn’t be worth it.

The worm made it to the edge of the small island where the temple rested before it began to thrash and shriek. The words Hostile hovered above the monster’s head as it thrashed back and forth.

“Crap! We gotta run!” Sivlander shouted as he made his way to the edge of the worm. He was used to climbing atop large creatures. After all, he had a lot of experience fighting giants and dragons so running on the back of something that wanted him dead was no big deal.

“I’m gonna fall!” Samir shouted as he wobbled back and forth on one leg. He had lost his balance and was about to plunge into the burning liquid beneath them. Germane and Trefor had already leapt off the back of the beast but Sivlander was still aboard it. He lunged forward and grabbed hold of Samir’s robes, pulling his friend toward him.

“Let’s move, wizard!” Sivlander shouted as he grabbed Samir by the hand and pulled him off the worm right before it began to roll over in an attempt to get them off.

“Alright, let’s get into the temple!” Germane said as he ran up to the large, stone building. It had four pillars and a set of stairs that led up to a large, sealed door. Resting upon the door were ancient runes that were glowing a bright blue.

“Well that cuts off our escape route,” Trefor said as he pulled out his satchel and began to dig into his bag. “Guess we’ll just have to kill it.” He produced a few bottles of holy water and poured them all over his blade, causing the weapon to sparkle.

“Crap, crap, crap!” Sivlander shouted as he shoved Samir out of the way. The worm had reared up high and came crashing down with all of its might onto the brave warrior, trying to crush him to death.

170 damage said the display as Sivlander’s health dropped down to 230. In most situations, that damage would be laughable but all of his defensive abilities were deactivated because he was too busy trying to keep his team alive to turn them on.

“A little help, guys!” Sivlander said as he rolled out from underneath the worm as it bucked to crush him again. He was fast enough to get clear but nearly rolled right into the lava. He gasped as he stopped inches away from the edge. The bubbling red liquid popped a little at him, as it if were disappointed that it didn’t have the chance to instantly kill him.

“I’m on it, haha!” Germane shouted as he charged at the worm with his warhammer drawn. The weapon crashed right into the monster’s jaws as it tried to snap at him and the words 75 damage hovered above the beast.

“He has crazy good damage reduction,” Samir said as he reached the top of the stairs.

“Shouldn’t you be helping?” Sivlander shouted as he stood back up and searched for his weapon on the ground. The slam attack had knocked his weapon aside and now he couldn’t find it.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“I’m out of magic points. It’ll be a few minutes before I can regenerate them,” Samir replied, “but I’ll try to figure out how to get this door open in the meantime!”

Trefor and Germane were busy slashing and hammering at the beast but it was far more fierce than before. It rammed Trefor, knocking him clean on his back, and latched its jaws onto Germane’s right arm, lifting him into the air.

“Aghhhh!” Germane yelled as he hung in the air, dangling by his arm. His health was beginning to drop down again.

“I’m on it!” Trefor yelled as he stood back up and rushed the beast, both hands around his shimmering longsword. “Holy Fire!” he shouted as the weapon was engulfed in silver flame. The burning, holy sword stabbed into the pungent flesh of the creature and it shrieked in agony. 150 damage hovered above the worm’s head.

“Nice attack!” Sivlander cheered as he found his weapon and scrambled to grab it.

The worm dropped Germane on the ground and turned to face Trefor. It hissed and fully straightened itself out, towering high above Trefor. The creature was almost 14-feet tall when it held itself up like that.

“Come on!” Trefor taunted, keeping his burning sword held high.

“That slam attack is no joke!” Sivlander said as he rushed next to Trefor and readied his sword. “Germane, use your shield to block its slam!”

“My arm is killing me! I think I got an injury!” Germane reported as he rushed up next to Sivlander and Trefor, holding up his round shield. He whispered the command word into the shield and the round buckler began to contort and warp, changing into a large tower shield. He held it at an angle and readied to absorb the blow.

The worm let out a bellowing roar and fell straight down, crashing toward them at full speed.

“Hold!” Trefor and Sivlander shouted together as the creature came down hard on them. Fortunately, Germane’s magic shield was strong enough to block the blow, and with a tremendous roar from the short warrior, he was able to push the creature back up, killing its momentum.

Sivlander and Trefor both thrust their swords up at the same time, piercing the flesh of the monster and killing it instantly.

“Huzaah!” Trefor shouted as the monster slid off of their blades and slumped to the ground. “Now that was a good attack!”

“Hey, we didn’t get any experience!” Germane groaned. “What gives?”

“You don’t get experience points for fighting a creature that you summoned, even if it turns on you,” Samir said. “But the good news is I know how to get this door open.”

“Really?” Sivlander said as he approached the large glowing runes. His character didn’t have any skills whatsoever in the art of deciphering magic, but out of character, he had seen those runes before on a bunch of different doors. Usually the way to get past them was to either cast a specific kind of spell or just smash the door open. When the wizards were offline, Sivlander would normally break the doors down. Sometimes he would do it even if there was a spell caster with him.

“Yes, it’s an ancient riddle. If we can speak the answer, the door will open.”

“Yes!” Germane shouted as he rubbed his hands together, “I love me some riddles.”

“Well I don’t think we have enough time for riddles,” Sivlander said as he gave a sturdy kick against the stone door. It was tough, but would it be tough enough to endure his Doorsmasher power?

“I would advise against breaking the door down,” Samir said. “Do you see those seals?” He pointed to four large, swirling runes that were glowing blue with a faint streak of red moving through them. “Those are summon seals. If we try to bypass the door without answering the riddle, we’ll be in for a heap of trouble. Who knows what those things could be?’

“Free experience points for fighting summoned creatures?” Trefor asked. “Sign me up.”

“We don’t have time,” Sivlander said, “to fight four creatures. What’s the riddle?’

“Three lives that I have, but one at a time. I am gentle enough to soothe your skin, light enough to float through the air, and hard enough to break ships. What am I?” Samir asked.

“Well that’s a pickle,” Trefor said. “I’m not much for thinking this late at night. Let’s just beat the crap out of some summoned demons.”

“Well, what can float, soothe skin, and break ships?” Sivlander asked.

“Hmmm,” Germane said. “I’m trying to think if I heard this one before.”

“I am still voting on breaking down that door and getting in a ton of violent trouble,” Trefor offered.

“Oh I know!” Sivlander said. “It’s gotta be ice, right? It can break ships and when it melts, it becomes soft.”

“Ice doesn’t melt,” Germane replied. “Water in the form of ice melts. The answer has got to be water!”

A bright blue light flashed as the runes on the wall began to twist and morph. The door began to rumble as it slid down into the ground, revealing a stairwell that led down into absolute darkness.

“No time to gaze in awe, fellas!” Sivlander said as he grabbed an Everbrightening Stone from his pouch and held it up. The stone began to glow a bright, white light that made it easy to see. The stones would only last for half an hour and were rather expensive, but he didn’t want to make Trefor or Samir waste more of their magic on illuminating the area.

They marched down the cobblestone steps into a large prayer room that contained dozens of dead bodies. Most of the bodies belonged to players and Sivlander could see that they had all died a few hours ago, judging from the freshness symbol on their corpses. All of the treasure was missing from them, however, as any attempt to pull up a loot display was in vain.

“Too bad,” Sivlander said as he held the rock up with one hand and readied his weapon with the other one. “If we had gotten here sooner, we could have had a really good haul.”

“Like some of these low-level scrubs would have a chance of having any good gear,” Trefor said. “Look at this guy. He’s level 15. This dungeon is not cut out for a player of that level. What was he thinking?”

“He probably had some kind of skill the party needed.” Sivlander said. “Maybe navigation. Speaking of which…what next?”

The prayer room had a large alter in the middle with an empty basin. There was a large painting of a beautiful woman smiling on the northern wall but there were no other signs of a place to leave. The area was essentially sealed.

“Well these guys didn’t all commit mass suicide,” Germane said as he began to put his hands against the walls, feeling around for some kind of secret compartment. “They must have triggered some kind of trap.”

“There’s a knife next to this basin,” Samir said as he pointed to a wickedly-curved blade. There was a bright, red jewel on the pommel of the dagger and it looked like it was meant to be used in some kind of ritual.

“Maybe we need to make a blood sacrifice to get to the next room?” Trefor said. “And that’s why there are so many dead people.”

“Not it!” Samir said. “I’ll log out if you try to kill me!”

“We’re not going to try to kill you, Samir,” Sivlander replied as he rolled his eyes. “This game is about teamwork, not savagely killing your allies.”

“Right, right,” Samir said as he slowly backed away from the group. “Just…I just want to be sure. One time I was in a group that joked about that and the next thing I knew, they were all trying to stab me. I showed them but I’m still out of magic points right now. Ah man! I shouldn’t have said that.”

“Aha!” Germane shouted as he pulled the painting off the wall. “I found a secret compartment!”

There was a small hole behind the painting but it was rather dark to see inside it.

“I’ll just reach my arm in there and feel around for a lever or something,” Germane said.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea!” Sivlander said. “Come on, a secret lever behind a painting? That’s too obvious; it’s gotta be some kind of trap.”

“Hmmm,” Germane said as he looked back at the hole. “I don’t know. We are on a ticking timer. Worst-case scenario—the trap summons a monster that we kill.”

“Or poison is released in the air,” Trefor said, “and we all suffocate to death.”

“Let’s keep looking for an alternative way out of here,” Sivlander said. “I’m not risking it all on an incredibly obvious trap. Remember, the developers of this game made this quest for only the best. Nothing is going to be easy or obvious.”

“I thought that riddle was easy,” Germane said.

“I still don’t understand how the answer was water,” Trefor replied as he examined the dagger.

Sivlander poked around some more, touching the floor and walls in the hopes of finding something secret. The clock was ticking and they had less than two hours to find the great Wyrm and kill it. With each moment wasted searching for something, they were getting further away from their goal.

“Wait, I got it!” Trefor said as he held the dagger up. “The dagger’s gold is the same color as the painting’s frame! I bet if we cut the painting out, we’ll find something!”

“Well it’s better than sticking your whole arm in a large hole in the wall,” Sivlander said as he reached down to grab the painting. He held it up, allowing Trefor to stab the knife right into the center of the painting.

“Why’d you do that? I thought you were going to remove the painting?” Sivlander asked.

“I am!” Trefor replied, “I’m just gonna tear it all out.”

“You gotta cut the edges first,” Sivlander said. “Haven’t you ever seen an art heist movie?”

“Who in the world has time for movies when a game like this exists?” Trefor replied as he removed the knife and handed it to Sivlander. “I’ll hold it; you cut.”

Sivlander took the knife and carefully cut into the edge of the painting, slowly cutting along the side of it in one smooth, continuous motion. The canvas from the painting fell out, revealing nothing but an empty frame.

“Great, so now we have a painting,” Samir said as Sivlander rolled the canvas up. “Now what?”

“Hmm,” Sivlander said as held the rolled up painting in his hands.

“Put it in the basin?” Germane offered. They all glanced at the basin atop the altar. With a shrug, Sivlander placed the painting inside the basin, making sure it didn’t slide out.

As soon as the painting was placed on the altar, the ground began to rumble and a large door in the side of the wall opened up, revealing more stairs leading downwards.

“Okay, can we all agree that we solved the puzzle but we have no idea why it was supposed to be solved that way?” Sivlander asked. Everyone nodded as they made their way to the next room.

“We’re doing good on time, I think,” Trefor said as they walked deeper into the temple. “I doubt the Wyrm is too much further.”

“Yeah, but we still gotta kill him before the game turns off,” Sivlander said. “That’s the real kicker.”

Dragon Kings of the New World was very realistic, thanks to special gear known as haptic systems. These haptic systems gave players the sensation of being in a real world, and while they weren’t as realistic as pods, they could make a person forget about the real world. There had been some cases of people playing the game for too long and getting sick from it so the developers of the game implemented something called Sleep Time, which was a mandatory 5-hour logout time. Van, the player, was usually on the game until he was kicked out by Sleep Time.

They reached the bottom of the stairs to find that they were in what looked like some kind of arena. The room was circular and there were seats arranged all around the center of the room. High up in one of the balconies of the arena was a tall, noble-looking woman with a wreath of flowers atop her head.

“Greetings, interlopers!” the noble said as Sivlander, Germane, Trefor, and Samir walked into the center of the arena. “You are here because you wish to slay the powerful Wyrm, do you not? But before you can prove to me that you are worthy of entering into the lower levels where the evil beast awakens, you must undertake a challenge of your choosing.”

And with that, a large screen appeared in front of the team, with the options for selecting what kind of challenge they wanted to go for.

Challenge 1: The Gauntlet

In order to prove your mettle to Queen Ivia, you must face against three of our strongest monsters, one after the other, with no time to rest in between. Difficulty: Medium.

Challenge 2: The Clash

If you wish to do more than simply impress our Queen, you may choose to battle against all three monsters at the same time. Difficulty: Hard

Challenge 3: The Insane Decision

If you really want to prove your worth to the Queen and those who also might be watching from afar, then you can choose to face these 3 monsters alone. Difficulty: Insanity