Elijah grabbed hold of his Death Sickness debuff and cancelled it. His one advantage in this situation, health and mana refilled, and although he had died, the only item he’d had on him to drop had been a single dagger. His Batwing blade was soul-bound, a part of his very person that nothing and nobody could ever take away from him.

  A loud booming sound echoed through the halls of the temple. A ‘Thunder Clap’ that, judging by the sound of many voices screaming, had to have come from Benjamin. They just had to stall until the Reapers all made it into the trial. Then Elijah could make his escape. Until then, he had to get them moving in further. Show that he was on this side of the trial and even if someone informed Arturus about his last death, that he was still here. He was still the juicy bait that Arturus couldn’t resist.

  He teleported to the roof of the building, glaring down at the endless expanse of Reapers. Nicholas, Sasha, and Benjamin would be down there somewhere, fighting for their lives against impossible odds.

  Elijah > Do you have eyes on Arturus?

  Bo > He’s still on this side. Seems unsure about going through. Yelling about how the fools let you kill yourself.

  Elijah > Guess it’s time to make my presence on this side known then.

  He reached a hand out and cast his swarm spell. Bats sprang forth and tore into the crowd. Many were heavily injured already, and he sent them for a respawn within the temple. Hopefully, they’d let Arturus know what was going on, but he had to make a proper show of himself if not. He jumped off the tall roof, using another swarm to slow him down before hitting the ground. He wished he could summon his familiars, but they had other responsibilities right now, things he couldn’t afford to pull them away from.

  His sword flashed forth, cutting into several enemies as he worked his way through the crowd, teleporting when he needed to in order to reposition. He just had to get Arturus and most of the Reapers onto this side; that was his only goal.

  The battlefield was absolutely chaotic now. He’d grabbed several debug menus during the fight, and was using them to impressive effect. His familiars and scouts were having the time of their lives masquerading as enemy Reapers. They would get in close to their friends, then unleash a barrage of various spells and skills to wreak havoc in the ranks. Meanwhile, Nicholas and Benjamin played crowd control, doing their best to hold the swarm of people back against the teleport zone without killing them outright. Several died in the crush, and that presented the problem of their respawning behind the group within the temple.

  Death Sickness absolutely sucked; Elijah was well aware of that, but it was possible to power through it with the help of adrenaline from battle.

  The urumi wielder that Nicholas had fought on the streets of Nethy jumped from one statue down to him, her whip-sword slicing through his face and chest. He backpedalled and bumped into a mage who was working to cast a high-level spell. His sword flashed, stabbing into the mage’s stomach, leaving him open for another swing from Urumi. The razor-sharp blades tore massive gashes through his skin, shredding his clothes. The pain was intense. A teleport got him out of the thickest of the combat just as he felt one of his scouts come off cooldown for re-summoning.

  He sent it flying into the thicket of bodies, changing its menu as it flew. Urumi slashed at it with her sword, and when it died, it blasted everyone away as it released the ‘Thunder Clap’ spell that he’d stored within it.

  Elijah made the mistake of staying in one spot out in the open. He heard the piercing scream of arrows flying through the air right before they slammed into his leg. He toppled from his vantage point and hit the ground. A fireball blasted him and several others in the vicinity, sending them all for a respawn.

  He screamed in agony into the void of the respawn waiting area. Once he’d calmed himself down, he wondered idly how the developers could know being set on fire felt like in order to code it into the game. Surely they weren’t lighting each other on fire as research.

  Knowing how strange Bo could be sometimes though, he supposed it wasn’t too outside the realm of possibility that they’d do crazy things like that.

  He spawned in and immediately had to counter an attack. A man with a spike tied onto the end of a long rope whipped the weapon at him. A rope dart, if Elijah remembered his terms correctly. He rolled out of the bed, hearing the spike clunk into the wood.

  His sword sliced down into the connecting rope, and the rope went slack in the man’s hand. Elijah grinned and reached a hand forward, meaning it as a ‘come and fight me’ motion, but the man went running off; afraid that Elijah was about to hit him with a swarm.

  Elijah couldn’t say he blamed the guy. The bats were a nightmare to deal with, even if you were immune to the necrosis effect. His body was recovering every time he died, but the mental exhaustion was starting to get to him. If Arturus didn’t come through soon, then—

  Bo > Watch it! Arturus is coming through now.

  The timing was perfect. He sent an acknowledgement to Bo, then teleported to the roof of the temple. A quick command to Benjamin and Nicholas got them moving to join him on the roof. They’d make their final stand together, as a team, as soon as Elijah could draw Arturus in.

  The man floated up to meet Elijah, his flight whipping his cloak around him. He didn’t make a move to attack, but that didn’t mean Elijah was going to let his guard down around the man.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “I have to admit, Elijah; you’ve been quite the thorn in my side for the past few weeks,” Arturus laughed. “And it seems like you’ve grown strong quickly. I was right to see you as a threat.”

  Elijah’s shadow hummed; the bats wanted to get out, wanted to taste the Celestial’s blood. “You know, I really just wanted to play a normal game. Just a little escape from reality.”

  His shadow coalesced in his hand, not threateningly but obvious that Elijah wasn’t about to back down. Arturus smiled at his words. “You came here to tell a story. Like we all did, whether or not you knew it. It’s just bad luck that you got wrapped up in all this. Well, bad luck for you. Good luck for me.”

  Elijah spread out his senses; his friends were almost here. Almost ready to stand with him. He could end things right here, but he wanted Arturus to know how badly Elijah had outplayed him. Elijah had already sprung his trap, and there was no way of getting out of it.

  “This is the end of the line for you now, Arturus. No more stories, no heroes or villains. Just you,” Nicholas came through the hatch followed closely by Benjamin, “I’ll be leaving and taking the keys with me.”

  Elijah’s declaration caught Arturus off guard. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” he growled, looking down at the Reality Warper. His eyes travelled over the massive group of Reapers within the temple grounds. “Heh, let me guess, you found the dungeon core and somehow adjusted it to make it so there is no exit. Are you forgetting that I have mages in here with teleport spells? Hell, even I drifted a teleport spell before.”

  He was monologuing now, which just went to show how stressed and unsure about the situation. He put his hand out, and Elijah could sense his attempt to open a teleport portal. It failed, as Elijah knew it would.

  He grew angry, his skin flushing red. “You have a way out? You have to; you wouldn’t trap yourself in here with me otherwise.”

  Elijah’s eyes almost couldn’t track the speed at which Arturus moved. He had rushed in, trying to grapple Elijah, refusing to be left behind if Elijah was leaving. Benjamin got in the way, but Arturus knew Elijah wouldn’t leave his friend behind. He grabbed Benjamin in a bear hug and flew up into the air, out of reach of the other two. “You’re taking me out of here. Then, you are going to unlock this dungeon so my army can leave. Otherwise, you’ll have to leave your friend behind to be tortured and killed over and over until we get out.”

  Benjamin laughed, not just a laugh but an insane cackle. Arturus’ eyes went wide at the sound. “Me no stay here. Me just go back to boss now,” Benjamin told him.

  Elijah shuffled the menus and reverted his changes. Benjamin and Nicholas’ forms shifted and warped, being replaced by Bitter Dryad and Bitter Bat, respectively. He cancelled the spell for his familiars and scouts before slamming on his Dragontooth Teleport skill. It struggled to connect, but Elijah used his Dungeon Core Guardian class to guide it. Making micro changes in the structure of the dungeon’s AI Core to allow his passage. Those changes would revert the moment he was free, and the existential threat to all of their existences would end here.

  He couldn’t help but smile as the bats surrounded him and began to lift him away.

  A fist grabbed his throat through the swarm of bats. Elijah tried to cancel the spell. He couldn’t risk taking Arturus back to the antechamber where his friends waited, hidden by both Bo and Bitter Root’s stealth skills. It was too late; his spell refused to stop, even as he tugged at it with his Warp skill.

  His own need to brag, to show Arturus up for the destruction of Nethy, had led to the failure of the plan. His own egotism had surpassed the ego of even the mad Celestial, and it had led to the collapse of everything they’d so carefully planned.

  Elijah couldn’t stop the teleport, but he could at least get Arturus as far away from his friends as possible. He forced open the target menu using the debug menu, pain shooting through his brain and Arturus’ hands clenching tightly around his throat. He selected the first location available on his list.

  Arturus and Elijah dropped into the dark, chilly water of the crater that used to be Nethy.

  Elijah immediately felt the effects of a mana siphon wash over his body as they sank deeper into the cold water. There was no magical escape route, no friends to save the day. Just Arturus and death by drowning. Assuming the Celestial didn’t kill him first.

  One of the Necro Drifter’s hands came away from Elijah’s throat. The water slowed his movement, but he still pummeled Elijah with a seventy strength stat punch to the face. Pain coursed through his face. His body struggled between trying to fight against the man and trying to fight against the rate at which they were sinking. Already Elijah couldn’t see the surface, though that had equal parts to do with their depth as it did with the swelling around his face.

  He could hear Arturus screaming at him underwater. The man was losing health quickly—drowning, Elijah supposed—but not quicker than Elijah was. If he didn’t do something soon, Arturus would kill him and absorb his skill. There would be no escaping this man, no getting around his evil plans. Not if he could alter the very code of the game. The celestials wouldn’t even be able to compete with him; he could drop them down to level one again.

  Forced enslavement to a mad god with no hope for escape.

  Reality Warp was useless; the man was only using his bare hands and no gear. His familiars and bats were useless as he would just absorb the mana Elijah used. For all his abilities, this one fight made him feel the most useless.

  His health continued to drain, his lungs burning for oxygen now. He needed a breath of fresh air. Or any air. The anxiety was almost worse than the physical toll.

  Elijah forced his mind to quiet, thinking about all of his friends. They were counting on him. If he let Arturus kill him now, they would all suffer.

  Nicholas.

  Benjamin.

  Bo.

  Sasha.

  His mind focused on them instead of on the crushing depth of the water. He thought of the suffering that they would endure if he didn’t think.

  Shadow coalesced out of the surrounding water, forming around his hand. He thrust forward into Arturus’ stomach. The Necrosis wouldn’t be enough to stop the Necro Drifter, but Elijah had other plans.

  He grabbed the effect of his sword and replaced the debuff with a spell.

  Thunder Clap.

  The effect went off from within the body of the Necro Drifter. It wasn’t a powerful effect, but it was enough. The shockwave tore the man to shreds before he shattered in a cascade of blue particles.

  He immediately slammed on his ‘Dragontooth Teleport’ spell. The bats tried to form, but faltered, crushed under the weight of the water. They couldn’t get a proper cyclone to form. He kicked his feet, but his vision was blurry and going dark at the edges.

  He gave in to the icy chill of the water, unable to keep up the strength to fight. And in that moment, Elijah’s worst fear became a reality.

  [DEATH]

  You have died!

  Time to respawn: 120 seconds.

  Aiden lives in Wonderwind, the world’s biggest VRMMO. He dropped out of college, ditched real life, and invested everything into a career as a cold, calculated virtual assassin targeting the richest players in the top-500 leaderboard—every kill executed to perfection.

  Until his headset glitches mid-mission.

  One flicker, one lag spike, and suddenly rent’s due, and his landlord’s about to kick him to the curb. Aiden realizes his next job might be his last. He logs into a high level area, Ray Dragon Falls, severely underleveled, equipped with utter trash gear, and prepares one final assassination.

  He just didn’t expect to fall for his target.