《League of Misfits: a MOBA LITRPG/Isekai》


 Chapter 1: Brambleback

    Mitch took his seat in homeroom, he was approximately 15 minutes early and had already cleaned up the loose trash around the classroom. He¡¯d straightened the desks and cleaned the whiteboard - he¡¯d made sure to bring a decent multi-purpose spray from home.


    He pulled a thick paperback novel from his bag, it was loosely bound and appeared to be a dusty old Stephen King novel but this was deception, a ploy on Mitch¡¯s behalf. He had swapped the book covers to get away with reading something a little more daring in homeroom.


    He inhaled and exhaled deeply, appreciating the scent of lemon from his cleaning spray. He thought of this precious 15 minutes before homeroom as some of the most valuable time he had in his day. If he caught the early bus he had just enough time to get into the building and clean for around 15 minutes, then enjoy the peaceful quiet for 15 minutes.


    No sweaty jocks in yesterday''s clothes or distracting goth babes to lure him away from his books. The teacher entered and Mitch didn¡¯t look up from his book, knowing Mr Webb all too well.


    The overweight homeroom teacher was usually a kind man but had the unfortunate predisposition for bursting into tears when pushed too far by his students. Mitch was glad there was someone else who appreciated his efforts.


    ¡°Good morning Mitch, is that lemon?¡± Mr Webb asked pleasantly in his high pitched nasal voice.


    Mitch poked his head out from behind his book, smiling and nodding to the teacher who knew the drill.


    Mr Webb left the shy young student to his novel, turning to the whiteboard to write ¡®group project¡¯ at the top of the whiteboard.


    Mitch immediately put down his book, raising an eyebrow at the teacher''s writing. The ¡®homeroom¡¯ class was a farce, it was a place where roll calls happened and signed permission slips were delivered. You were given a grade for the class but it was based on attendance and behavior, not results.


    Students started filing in and when Christine and Mel walked in they both knew something was instantly afoot. For starters Mitch wasn¡¯t reading, instead he was frowning at the whiteboard. He looked like he wanted to ask Mr Webb a question but couldn¡¯t raise the courage to lift his hand.


    ¡°Mitch what¡¯s up?¡± Mel asked the quiet bookworm, looming over his desk looking like a female 16 year old Hagrid, minus the beard. She had long dark curly hair and prominent facial features. Add to this that she was 6¡±5 and usually flanked by the gorgeous and relatively short Christine and one could begin to understand how she¡¯d earned the cruel nickname ¡®Mega Mel¡¯ amongst her cohort.


    The first time she¡¯d heard someone say it she¡¯d been on the bus home from school, she had earbuds in but wasn¡¯t playing any music. She just didn¡¯t want to talk to anyone.


    Two boys in front of her were talking loudly when one said to the other ¡°Bro, did I tell you I saw Mel¡¯s bra in PE! They were massive.¡±


    The other boy turned to him and asked ¡°Wait, wait, wait. Hot Mel or Mega Mel?¡±


    His friend burst out laughing and grabbed him on the shoulder.


    ¡°Come on bro, Hot Mel has mosquito bites. Mega Mel has Mega boobs, I¡¯m telling you!¡±


    Mel had just stared out the window and turned on her music. She had tried not to cry.


    Snapping back to the present she focused on Mitch¡¯s quiet response.


    ¡°Would you both like to be in my group?¡± he asked softly, his eyes wide and a small look of panic on his face.


    The two girls flicked their eyes to the whiteboard, taking in the smiling chubby teacher who waved good morning cheerily.


    Christine shrugged at Mel and the girls took seats near Mitch.


    The classroom filled up and Mitch noticed Christine, Mel and Mr Webb turn towards the door as Craig and Tim walked in.


    Craig was a stereotypical dreamboat, athletic, polite, good grades, tall, extremely handsome with medium length blonde hair that most girls in the grade were jealous of. Tim was more of a ¡®bad boy¡¯ type. He had short cropped dark hair and a long, lean but wiry frame. He was well known as a horse rider, bull rider and just about anything that involved livestock. He grew up on a farm and wasn¡¯t afraid to fight so most kids left him alone.


    That was except for Craig¡¯s friends. Whilst Craig himself was a great guy, his choice in friends was more than questionable. His fellow football players had branded Tim the ¡®Ag Fag¡¯ due to his agricultural knowledge when he had tried out for the team and Craig felt guilty that he had not defended Tim. They¡¯d been close as kids and drifted apart in high school.


    Now, Tim wouldn¡¯t even look at him as they entered Homeroom at the same time, pushing in front of Craig who just let him go first. The only seats left were on the other side of Mitch, right up the front. Reluctantly Craig and Tim settled in next to each other.


    The students braced themselves for the explanation from Mr Webb. He cheerily turned to the students as the first bell ended.


    ¡°Welcome everyone, right. Let¡¯s get through the roll call. Mitch, please put your novel away.¡± he said.


    Mitch pretended to put the book in his bag and then slipped the paperback under his desk, leaning back in his chair with his chin tucked in, not too subtly continuing to read.


    Mr Webb finished the roll call and then turned back to Mitch, staring at him until Mel touched him on the shoulder - startling him. He looked up and met the eyes of the teacher who was looking down with disappointment, and an outstretched hand.


    Reluctantly Mitch handed over the book and Mr Webb flicked it open to a random page.


    ¡°If this is so interesting, let''s read it for the class!¡± Mr Webb said with a disappointed look on his face.


    He cleared his throat and began reading from the paperback theatrically.


    ¡°Argh. I cry as I feel a weird pinching sensation deep inside me as he rips through my virgi-¡± he cut himself off with a weird gurgle. His face went beetroot red.


    ¡°Mitch, what the devil is this!¡± he cried out, throwing the book onto his desk with disgust.


    One of the girls in class began giggling ¡°Oh my god is that fifty shades?¡± The entire class erupted in laughter.


    Mitch cringed so hard he thought he might actually become one with his chair.


    He dared to glance up at the girls and Christine gave him a sympathetic glance that only made him cringe harder.


    Mr Webb fought valiantly to regain control of the class room and began to explain the group assessment.


    He then split the class up into groups of 5, Mitch and the girls were paired with Tim and Craig and the students dragged their tables together. Nobody at the table said a word.


    Mitch sighed and tried to start a conversation, the moment he opened his mouth however one of the boys at the back of the room moaned loudly, yelling ¡°Oh yeaaah¡±. Setting the class off again.


    Mr Webb, removed the student from the class and encouraged them again to begin.


    The assignment was simple, they needed to ask each other four questions - an answer from each of the other members of the group. The questions were personal and the exercise was obviously meant to bring them all closer as a group.


    1. Who has been your biggest mentor?


    2. What is your favorite book?


    3. When is it alright to be selfish?


    4. Where is your favorite place in the world?


    The teacher smiled broadly at the group as the rest of the class started to talk amongst themselves.


    ¡°This will count as 60% of your overall grade for this class. Get started.¡± he said with a jolly smile.


    They looked at each other and a standoff of epic proportions began. Tim glared at Craig who stared at his notebook like it held the secrets of the universe. Christine also stared at Craig and Mel and Mitch stared at her.


    It was widely accepted that Christine was the most attractive girl in their year. She was a classic ¡®goth babe¡¯ according to the tenth grade boys. Christine was very pretty and a natural blonde. She had dyed her hair black last year and started painting her nails black and doing her makeup differently. Her new style had complimented her light skin tone and brought lots of attention. Unwanted attention as Christine had been crushing on Craig for years.


    Mitch shook his head, breaking out of his daze and realizing what was going on.


    ¡°This is the table of unrequited love,¡± he said.


    All eyes turned on him and it was Tim who spoke up first.


    ¡°What did you say Mitch?¡± he asked, raising an eyebrow.


    ¡°Never mind.¡± Mitch said, finding interest in the floor.


    ¡°The table of unrequited love.¡± Tim repeated leaning back in his chair and staring at the others around the table.


    ¡°No, you¡¯re actually spot on aren¡¯t you Mitch.¡± Tim said, his tone was harsh.


    ¡°We¡¯re all attracted to Christine, who¡¯s into Craig. Craig is in love with himself, and nobody likes you if your name starts with M.¡± he said.


    Christine shrugged and nodded.


    Mel and Mitch went bright red, Craig mumbled something under his breath.


    ¡°What¡¯s that Craig? We can¡¯t hear you?¡± Tim said rudely, leaning over the table towards him with animosity.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    Craig looked up at him from his notebook, tears in his eyes. He clenched his jaw and looked to the side. He took a deep breath then stared intensely back at Tim.


    ¡°I''m actually in love with someone at this table, Tim.¡± Craig said angrily.


    Tim guffawed, and looked between Mel and Christine then narrowed his eyes at Craig.


    ¡°You haven¡¯t shown a shred of interest in either of these girls. Christine has been trying to date you for 18 months. Don¡¯t tell me now that you¡¯re suddenly into her.¡± Tim spat.


    ¡°I didn¡¯t say it was a girl.¡± Craig said through gritted teeth.


    The table went silent. Several jaws dropped. The most popular guy in the grade had just declared his love for either Mitch - The entire table stared at Mitch for a brief second - or Tim.


    Everyone''s gaze settled on Tim and he looked at Mitch again and then down at his own notebook. He looked up at Craig with a hurt expression.


    ¡°Really. You¡¯re going to say that after you let them call me the ¡®Ag Fag¡¯.¡± he said, and this time the sting was gone from his voice. He just sounded stung.


    Craig opened his mouth and then closed it, looking down again.


    ¡°Grow a pair dude.¡± Tim said quietly and folded his arms, resuming his glaring session.


    The standoff resumed and after five more awkward minutes it was Mel and Christine who broke the silence.


    ¡°OK let¡¯s get this over with.¡± Christine said.


    ¡°Why don¡¯t we all ask Mitch what his favorite book is and Mitch you ask one of us?¡± Mel suggested.


    Mitch nodded.


    ¡°Ah, my favorite book is Red Rising by Pierce Brown and Mel. I''d love to know what yours is.¡± Mitch said.


    Mel informed him that her favorite book was Jade City, which drew an appreciative nod from Mitch.


    ¡°Fonda Lee. Great book.¡± Mitch said as he wrote down the answer.


    ¡°Christine, what is your favorite place in the world?¡± Mel asked her.


    Christine considered for a moment ¡°Definitely Dymocks.¡± she answered.


    ¡°You like to read?¡± Mitch asked with a hopeful look on his face.


    ¡°Yeah I love romance.¡± Christine answered and Mitch looked disappointed.


    ¡°Mel what¡¯s yours?¡± Christine asked her.


    ¡°My grandpa¡¯s farm.¡± she answered and this time Tim¡¯s head snapped up.


    ¡°What sort of farm?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Dairy.¡± Mel said back with a smile.


    ¡°Cool.¡± Tim said with a return smile.


    ¡°Well¡­ who¡¯s your biggest mentor?¡± Mel asked him nervously.


    Tim was a notoriously hard nut to crack. He took his time thinking of a response, forcing the group to wait. When he was ready he spoke only to Mel, looking her in the eye.


    ¡°My biggest mentor in life is my mama. She¡¯s the toughest, kindest, smartest person I¡¯ve ever met. Her dad¡­ my grandfather¡­ was a heavy handed guy. Big drinker. This one time he hits my ma and my dad goes and gets his rifle. She ends up standing in between her husband and her father who was also armed and somehow everyone leaves alive. That woman could survive a nuke. She could talk the middle east into peace. She¡¯s my goddamn hero.¡± he said.


    Everyone at the table looked at him with sympathy and he couldn¡¯t stand it.


    ¡°Anyways, who''s your biggest mentor Mel?¡± he asked her earnestly.


    ¡°That would be my Grandpa, he taught me everything I know about animals and the land. Classic stoic farmer. Dry humor, hard worker.¡± she answered.


    ¡°Which leaves the weird selfish question. Who¡¯s got something for this?¡± Mitch asked the table.


    ¡°It¡¯s ok to be selfish when you¡¯re the only person taking care of yourself.¡± Christine said.


    This drew glances from all at the table except for Mel who reached out a hand and took Christine¡¯s.


    ¡°You¡¯re goddamn right it is.¡± Mel said.


    ¡°It¡¯s also ok to be selfish when you¡¯re trying to protect¡­ a secret.¡± Tim said, giving Craig a nod.


    Craig looked like a scolded puppy who¡¯d been told he could come back inside.


    ¡°Thanks Tim,¡± he said.


    Phones started beeping around the classroom and the students were startled to see that they all had the same message, a line of code from an unknown sender.


    /Initiate_HIT.exe


    Brilliant white light flooded Mitch¡¯s vision and as he blinked it away he could feel that he was lying down on grass. He realized he was staring at the sky. He smelled the earth and felt something tight around his neck. A necklace?


    He sat up and pawed at his neck feeling a collar and realizing he was wearing a priest outfit. He tugged the clerical collar attempting to pull it off but it must have been sown into the fabric. With a sigh he stood and looked around. At least he seemed to be alone.


    He was on a path in a dense forest, this made no sense? After five minutes of walking he saw an opening. He stepped out from the dense brush to find a clearing with cobbled stone. In the center was a large glowing blue crystal that was guarded by two huge statues of mighty warriors that had blue ribbon ordaining them.


    As he walked towards the glowing structure, familiarity tickled the back of his brain with a light feather. He was sure he knew what this was. He looked out across the field and saw four other figures walking mesmerized towards the structure.


    It was Mel, Christine, Tim and Craig and they made him glad he was only dressed as a priest. In his opinion they looked ridiculous.


    Christine was dressed like a dark bride, complete with a veil. Her dress dragged along the ground behind her and it rippled in the light like it was made of shadow.


    Mel walked next to her dressed like an Amazonian with knee high boots, a short skirt and gold plated armor on her chest, shoulders and forearms.


    Tim looked like a bad Indiana Jones cosplay, complete with the hat and khaki. Instead of a whip however he had a rifle strapped to his back. In Mitch¡¯s opinion his pants were too tight.


    Craig was dressed in a light chainmail shirt with brown britches and his long hair had been done up in the Viking braided style. Mitch begrudgingly admitted to himself that he looked pretty good. Craig was also carrying a long spear.


    Tim and Mel burst out laughing when they saw Mitch, Christine stifled a giggle.


    Craig just raised an eyebrow.


    Mitch raised his hands and spun on the spot ¡°Alright, take it in. Yes I am your friendly neighborhood altar boy.¡± he said.


    ¡°Now I don¡¯t feel so bad about the khaki.¡± Tim said, causing Mel to lose it slightly. Which Mitch felt was an overreaction.


    ¡°Guys, what the hell is this?¡± Christine asked, pointing at the crystal.


    ¡°I think.. I think it¡¯s a nexus.¡± Craig answered.


    ¡°Come again?¡± Tim said.


    ¡°A nexus, like in League of Legends.¡± Mitch answered.


    ¡°Again, speak English.¡± Tim said.


    ¡°It¡¯s our base. It¡¯s going to spawn minions and when the enemy kills them they¡¯ll get gold and experience.¡± Mel said.


    ¡°What? Base? What enemy? I¡¯m so confused. Where are we?¡± Tim said.


    ¡°That¡¯s because you¡¯re the only one of us without an internet connection. I¡¯m pretty sure even Christine plays. Right?¡± Mel said and Christine nodded.


    ¡°I¡¯m an Ahri main.¡± Christine said cheerfully.


    Tim sat down on the cobbled ground and held his hat in his hands. He liked to think of himself as a practical person but this was the most unprepared he¡¯d ever felt in his life. He could ride any animal. He could shoot any weapon. He could survive off the land and navigate by the stars and sun. Right now whilst his classmates looked like they were excited to be waking up in some sort of video game reality he was losing his mind.


    ¡°Tim, what''s that number next to your head?¡± Craig asked him.


    Tim started swatting the air around him.


    ¡°I think that¡¯s his level!¡± Mel exclaimed, she looked thrilled and leaned in closer, before jumping back.


    ¡°Wow and you can see his class if you get in close!¡± she exclaimed.


    Mitch leant in and class information popped up above Tim¡¯s head.


    Level 1: Specialist


    ¡°Oh, do me. Do me.¡± Christine asked and Mel took a step into her personal space.


    Level 1: Mage


    They quickly discovered the rest of their classes.


    Mel was a Tank, Mitch an Enchanter and Craig was a Marksman which made Tim scoff.


    ¡°If you¡¯re a marksman then why did I get given a gun while you have a spear?¡± Tim grumbled.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know what I¡¯m supposed to do with this.¡± Craig said, holding the spear away from his body like it smelled.


    ¡°So what do we do nerds? Explain this game to me.¡± Tim asked the group.


    Christine walked up to Tim, close enough for him to shy back as she defiantly jutted her jaw in his direction, which was up.


    ¡°Get good, noob.¡± she said and walked back over to Mel looking proud of herself.


    Tim sighed and regathered himself.


    ¡°Yeah, really helpful Christine, but how does this thing work?¡± he asked.


    ¡°You kill monsters and earn gold to buy items that grant stat points. You also gain experience which can give you access to new abilities. When a team is strong enough, they can try to destroy the enemy base.¡± Craig explained.


    ¡°You¡¯re all nuts.. Acting like this is normal. We were just in the homeroom!¡± Tim exclaimed.


    ¡°You¡¯re right Tim. I understand where you''re coming from. Have you heard of Isekai?¡± Mitch asked.


    ¡°Remember the time I made you watch Sword Art Online?¡± Craig asked him.


    Tim stared dully for a moment and then it was like a lightbulb went off behind his eyes.


    ¡°Oh so wait, you think our physical bodies are ok but we¡¯ve somehow been put inside a game?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Well no. We have no way to know if this is real or a game. In Sword Art Online remember if they die in the game they die in reality?¡± Craig said.


    ¡°Oh shit. So we need to play the game and get strong. I¡¯m sorry, I just felt like I was the only one freaking out.¡± Tim said.


    ¡°We¡¯re all freaking out, right guys?¡± Mitch asked the group.


    Mel and Christine looked at each other and shrugged.


    ¡°We both think this is amazing.¡± Mel said.


    The boys sighed and Tim gave Mitch an appreciative nod. He was glad someone cared enough to at least try and explain the situation to him. The guy was just naturally supportive. Tim hadn¡¯t ever given him much of a chance but he was rethinking that now.


    ¡°So how much time do we have to get strong?¡± Tim asked and nobody answered at first.


    It was Mitch again who spoke up.


    ¡°That¡¯s actually a good question Tim. As much as we recognize the game environment there¡¯s no way to tell how much time the game will take. Usually by now we¡¯d have nearly finished a game so I think things have changed. We should be careful.¡± Mitch said.


    The rest of the group nodded their agreement and they decided to stay together and venture out into the jungle to start farming.


    ¡°You¡¯re kidding me, that''s what you call it?¡± Tim asked them like what they had said was blasphemous.


    Before anyone could respond a notification flashed across the sky.


    WELCOME to The Battle Royale! Minions will spawn soon.


    180:00


    The numbers started counting down.


    179:59


    ¡°Three hours until minions spawn? This game is going to go for days.¡± Mitch groaned.


    ¡°Hmm, more like one or two days I think.¡± Mel said.


    The group ventured deep into the thick jungle, sticking to the garden path. They encountered some Level 1 Scuttlebugs and quickly smashed them for a small amount of experience. When they got a kill or an assist, a small blue meter flashed at the top of their screen. The bugs didn¡¯t move the meter far. Tim was very enthusiastic and cheered the first time his meter increased.


    Ten Scuttlebugs later they came across two large tree stumps propping up a large red glowing sphere. It was entwined with roots and branches to keep it in place. Tim walked up to it and rested one of his feet on the stumps.


    ¡°What do you guys think this is?¡± he asked casually.


    Christine¡¯s eyes went wide and she put her hands out to show Tim the universal signal for ¡®STOP¡¯


    ¡°Tim, you''re standing on a monster called a Brambleback. Get your foot off it and get behind Mel.¡± she urged.


    Tim narrowed his eyes at her skeptically but withdrew his foot. The second he broke contact with the bark the two tree stumps were wrenched violently from the Earth causing Tim to stumble back to the group and hide behind Mel.


    It was a large Ent like creature, it stood on two legs and raised the two stumps as it¡¯s huge forearms. The red glowing sphere now looked like a brain. It smashed down at Mel and she crossed her forearms and took the blow on her bracers.


    A health bar popped up above her head and showed that the hit had taken about a tenth of her HP.


    Acting on pure instinct whilst hiding behind her, Mitch reached out with a glowing hand and touched Mel, her HP climbed back up to full.


    ¡°Oh I¡¯m a healer!¡± he said with surprise.


    Tim unshouldered his rifle and peeked out from behind Mel, shooting at the Brambleback to little effect. Its health bar barely moved and despite looking like a lever action 30/30 this rifle was clearly shooting a much smaller bullet. Tim guessed it was only a .22. He looked at the rifle in disgust.


    ¡°We need to go together, everyone attack at once!¡± Craig called out and the group tried to engage together.


    Mel ran into range of its forearms and this time caught the creature as it struck out at her, holding it off balance and displaying remarkable strength, far surpassing a normal human.


    Craig ran in front of her and thrust his spear up into the red sphere, causing the Brambleback¡¯s health to drop by almost a quarter.


    Christine whipped her hand forward and tried to cast a spell. Nothing happened. She spun on the spot, stomping her foot in frustration and her dress whipped up around her creating a protective shell.


    ¡°Oh, looks like I haven¡¯t got any offense yet. Sorry guys.¡± She said,


    Craig and Mel did almost all of the work, with Mitch jumping in to perform his minor healing spell multiple times. He definitely needed to physically touch his allies to heal them. Luckily his small stature made it easy for him to keep nimble and treat it like a dangerous game of tag.


    Tim kept shooting from a distance but it was obvious his bullets were ineffective against the monster.


    As a group they eventually took the Brambleback down, Craig and Mel¡¯s exp bars filled up completely and they jumped to lvl 2. It was subtle, but the rest of the group thought that both of them had also grown in size with the level up. Mel more so than Craig. She now had bulging triceps on each arm that definitely weren¡¯t there a minute ago.


    155:43


    ¡°We¡¯ve still got plenty of time left.¡± Mitch said.


    ¡°I think we should all try to get to level 3 before we even think about going to a lane.¡± Craig said.


    ¡°Agreed. Let¡¯s go hunt some more monsters in the jungle.¡± Mel said.


    They didn¡¯t need to worry about finding more monsters however, as at just that moment they were discovered by the second jungle camp - Wolves.


    These weren¡¯t typical wolves. They were much bigger and smarter. The group found this out the hard way, being ambushed and having two of the wolves dive for Christine.


    She was unable to cast her protective shell quick enough and one of the wolves took her to the ground by her throat.

 Chapter 2: You鈥檙e a support main aren鈥檛 you?

    The wolves dragged Christine to the ground by her throat and tore chunks out of her. Mel kicked one so hard it actually flew about 10 feet into the air before it wrapped around a tree trunk with a wet thunk.


    Mitch selflessly dived on to Christine''s body, reaching out and wrapping his glowing hands around her neck as blood streamed from her wounds. The second wolf turned and snapped at Mitch but Tim tackled it to the ground and wrapped his legs around it. He then put it in a choke from behind and began to strangle the wolf.


    Being this close they could see it¡¯s health bar and name: Level 2: Murk Wolf


    The clearing went quiet and all the group could hear was Christine struggling to breathe as her health bar steadily declined, spiking up every few seconds as Mitch¡¯s healing spell went off.


    ¡°Where¡¯s the big one?¡± Craig asked, pointing his spear in random directions as if another wolf was about to spring out from the dense jungle.


    Mel¡¯s eyes widened and she pointed ahead on the path - the group flicked their heads around to see the last wolf.


    It was a two headed monstrosity, easily the size of a Clydesdale horse. To make things worse it looked pissed off about them taking out the smaller wolves. It was snarling and stalking up to them slowly with its hackles raised. The sound it made reverberated throughout the teens chests.


    Once it got closer they saw the worst news of all: Level 4: Murk Wolf


    ¡°Do we run?¡± Craig asked.


    ¡°We can¡¯t leave Christine!¡± Mel responded.


    ¡°I¡¯ll try to keep her alive but you guys need to cover us! Now!¡± Mitch said, straining with the effort to keep Christine¡¯s health bar out of the red. She just kept on bleeding.


    Tim stepped forward and Mitch noticed that he was now level 2, he took his rifle from his shoulder and fired once at the wolf. The gunshot cracked out and rang in their ears in the dense scrub. Tim gazed lovingly down at his rifle with a look of pleasant surprise.


    ¡°Oh baby, now THAT¡¯s a 30/30!¡± he exclaimed.


    The wolf had flinched at the shot and its health bar had fallen slightly. Blood trickled out of one of the eyes of the two wolf heads. Tim reloaded and started slowly walking at the Wolf, firing rapidly from his hip.


    The Wolf heads roared and lunged at him, Tim rolled nimbly to his right and sprang back up to his feet whipping the rifle back on target and continuing to fire as it snapped at him. The Wolf wasn¡¯t close to dead but he¡¯d turned it around. Mel took advantage of this and grabbed the wolf by the tail, anchoring it in place so it couldn¡¯t reach Tim who seemed to have endless ammunition as he continued to shoot at the creature.


    Craig appeared in the air above the Wolf and with a mighty roar he brought down his spear on the back of its neck, impaling it into the ground and killing it. Tim frowned as Craig ticked over to level 3.


    ¡°Hey man, I had that. No need to take all the experience.¡± He complained.


    Nobody noticed his grumbling though because Christine was dead. Mitch sat next to her lifeless body with blood all over his hands looking traumatized. Mel was on her knees reaching out to the air above Christine and pulling her hand back to her chest, gasping.


    Craig looked at Tim pointedly and Tim relented, moving to put a hand on Mel''s shoulder as Craig offered Mitch a hand up.


    ¡°What do we do?¡± Mitch asked softly.


    Christine¡¯s body faded away like it had never been there. The blood disappeared from Mitch¡¯s hands. Mel fist pumped the air.


    ¡°Yes! I think this means she¡¯s going to respawn.¡± she said.


    The rest of the group looked less convinced but Mitch backed her hesitantly.


    ¡°Sure. If the game is mostly the same she should revive but it might be a lot longer than normal because of the stretched out game time.¡± he said.


    ¡°So¡­ Do we keep farming?¡± Craig asked.


    The group looked guiltily at the spot where Christine¡¯s body had been moments before.


    ¡°Let¡¯s keep farming, hopefully she¡¯s back soon.¡± Mel had said and the group had moved on deeper into the jungle.


    Eventually they came to a shallow river that flowed away to their east. It was bordered by thick green reeds and everyone paused thinking of what could be hiding in the dense foliage.


    ¡°Ok, so I¡¯m pretty sure we can follow that to get to a lane but minions haven¡¯t spawned yet and we might be hard to find for Christine that way.¡± Mitch said.


    ¡°Let¡¯s double back to the base and see if we run into her¡­ If we don¡¯t then let¡¯s head to a lane.¡± Mel said and they set off.


    They were all level 3 now and they were starting to look less like teenagers and more like athletes.


    It took them at least half an hour to trek back to the base from the river but they moved faster having already cleared out the monsters on the path. If only they had a recall spell, Mitch thought to himself.


    When they arrived back at base, to their relief they found Christine - level 3 and practicing with her shadow magic. It looked like she could attack with her dress now. Whipping the train of the dress forward and striking the cobblestones like a scorpion''s tail. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Hey guys!¡± she said as Mel ran to her and embraced her.


    ¡°Turns out dying isn¡¯t so bad. Everything went black and grey like an old movie and I was watching everything you guys did from above. I respawned after about an hour.¡± she said.


    She explained that she¡¯d farmed a bit on the other side of the jungle and then waited in the base hoping they came back to access the shop.


    ¡°You used the shop?¡± Mitch asked.


    ¡°Yeah check it out, I bought a mana crystal.¡± Christine said, fishing into her pocket and pulling out a small blue sapphire.


    ¡°To be honest I¡¯d completely forgotten about it.¡± Mitch said, staring at the crystal with awe.


    Christine jerked her thumb over her shoulder.


    ¡°Get at it, team.¡± she said.


    Mitch walked up to the long oak slab bar that he hadn¡¯t seen in their first time in the base. There were dirty mugs stretched out across it and a fat balding old man stumbled out from a doorway looking half drunk. Mitch guessed he was an NPC.


    ¡°Yah?¡± he said in a thick Scottish accent.


    ¡°I¡¯d like to use the shop please.¡± Mitch said.


    The man nodded and waved his hand bringing up a holographic display of wares that looked identical to the shop in League of Legends. Unfortunately he only had 280 gold, not enough for a mana crystal. Instead he bought a Faerie Charm and a control ward. Thinking it might come in handy at the river later. The control ward looked suspiciously like another ¡®toy¡¯ that Mitch had encountered that was disguised as a flashlight. He quickly stashed it in one of the pockets of his robe before the others saw it.


    The rest of the team made their purchases, Craig bought a longsword which surprisingly he could actually use. Mitch wrote it off as another variation of the game. Tim got a dagger which he too could wield. Mel bought a ruby health crystal that was absorbed by her body the second it came into contact with her skin. Her maximum HP expanded by +150 health.


    The countdown timer for minions ticked down to zero.


    000:01


    000:00


    Minions have spawned


    They watched as a portal opened on the cobbled floor of their base, right in front of their nexus. A line of minions marched steadily out. Six of them in blue robes, some carrying wizard staffs and some carrying swords and shields. They were kind of cute, and stood about four feet tall. Mitch couldn¡¯t imagine they¡¯d be hard to take out in a battle judging by how slow they moved.


    The team hadn¡¯t figured out a lot of the game, but made the decision to head to lane and get some intelligence on who their opponents were.


    They followed the steady march of their minions and soon arrived in the midlane, there were again statues of mighty warriors wearing blue ribbons on their side. They watched an enemy Viking brawler with a long sword and shield destroying their minions with ease, leveling to 4 right in front of them. His level glowed red.


    ¡°Ok I think we should go as a team on him now.¡± Mitch said.


    ¡°You don¡¯t think we should scout and see if he¡¯s got teammates around?¡± Tim asked.


    ¡°Look Tim, I hate to do this to you but I¡¯m going to have to pull rank here. I¡¯m Platinum at League of Legends. That puts me in the top ten percent of the game. I¡¯m telling you if the opponents are NPC¡¯s they¡¯ll be following the meta strategy, which means playing a single person in the midlane.¡± Mitch said with an air of superiority.


    ¡°If we die, I¡¯m going to kick your ass.¡± Tim grumbled.


    The team got ready and sprang from the bushes running at the Viking warrior, they were all level 3.


    He had completely killed their wave of minions and he simply stood amongst his own, beckoning the team forward.


    Mel ran ahead of the pack and launched a massive overhand right at the Viking who took the hit on his shield, completely negating the blow and reflecting the damage back at Mel who was shot backwards with momentum, crashing into Tim and effectively taking them out of the fight.


    This was the moment the enemy team was waiting for and from their left and right in the river, two more enemies ran towards them cutting their retreat off from both sides.  One enemy was a large human male in a speedo - his body was shaved and oiled up and he looked exactly like a typical pro wrestler. The other was a woman carrying a huge leather and steel bound book that was chained shut.


    Mitch quickly assessed the situation, anticipating that the lady with the book would be the easiest way out as she looked to be a mage.


    ¡°Everyone attack her!¡± he called.


    Craig listened to his call and rushed at the woman, Christine ran in after him with Mitch in the rear. The other enemies were quickly closing in.


    Craig launched a savage thrust with his spear at the woman who at full sprint bent back like she was doing the limbo, launched herself into a knee slide, then pirouetted as she swung the huge book around her body and then hit Craig so hard in the head he dropped to the floor unconscious. There was a loud CLUNK sound as the book hit his head.


    She turned and ran at Christine who cast her protective shell, only to discover that it did nothing against physical attacks as the woman beat her senseless with the iron bound tome. She turned on the stunned Mitch just as a pair of hands wrapped around his waist from behind. He felt himself being lifted up into the air and then he was rotated and the ground whipped up to smash him. He was semi-conscious as he saw a large book hurtling towards his face.


    ***


    The world went grey and black for Mitch and he realized he was dead. He was looking down on the midlane as the enemy champions used a wave of minions to smash half of the health of his team''s tower. His team must have also been dead as they were nowhere to be found.


    After a while, he wasn¡¯t sure how long - he respawned. It was just like before when he had first loaded into the game. He woke up on the grass just behind his nexus.


    Once he got back to the base he found his team waiting for him with none too thrilled expressions.


    ¡°Platinum? You¡¯re a support main aren¡¯t you?¡± Christine asked, she looked grumpy.


    Mitch nodded, Tim¡¯s eyes were drilling holes through his skull.


    ¡°Well Mel¡¯s Diamond and I¡¯m Emerald, we didn¡¯t want to say anything before but now we¡¯ll make it clear. You are not the shot caller, let the Tank engage Mitch!¡± she said with a stomp of her foot. Her shadow dress flared up around her in response to her high emotion.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry, I¡¯ll just be super supportive from now on.¡± Mitch muttered.


    ¡°Let¡¯s split up.¡± Mel said and the group collectively dropped their jaws, even Christine.


    ¡°What?¡± Christine said meekly.


    ¡°What we need to start doing is actually playing this game. Mitch and Craig are going botlane. Christine, you''re in the midlane. Just farm minions under tower and stay safe. Tim you¡¯re with me, we¡¯re going topside.¡± Mel said.


    The team hesitated for a moment but the look on the Amazonian''s face said don¡¯t argue. Grumbling as they did so they split up and departed to their lanes, promising to meet back at the base to shop in a few hours so they could all check in.


    ¡°That should give us all enough time to get some gold together and hit level 6. Once we know what our ultimate abilities are we might try team fighting again.¡± Mel had said.

 Chapter 3: Dragon

    Mel and Tim headed up the most northern path to the top lane, as they walked Mel tried to give him as much information about the game as she could.


    ¡°Ok, I know you have less game knowledge than the others so that¡¯s why I want you to stay close to me for now.¡± she said.


    ¡°Makes sense. Thanks.¡± Tim said begrudgingly.


    ¡°Tim, listen up. You essentially have two quests right now. First you need to hit level 6 and second you need to head on a gradual path south to both help the team and end up in a pit in the river in between the middle lane and the bottom lane¡­¡± she said, pausing.


    ¡°What¡¯s in the pit?¡± Tim asked, raising an eyebrow.


    ¡°Before I answer, just remember that it¡¯s important to break problems down when they seem really big.¡± Mel said.


    ¡°What¡¯s in the pit Mel?¡± he asked again.


    ¡°A dragon.¡± she answered.


    ¡°What? How the hell am I going to kill a dragon with a rifle!¡± he yelled.


    Mel flinched back and raised a hand.


    ¡°Whoa, don¡¯t yell at me Tim. I¡¯m trying to help.¡± She said sternly.


    Tim took a deep breath and closed his eyes before meeting Mels.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Mel. I just can¡¯t accept that I¡¯m some sort of video game reality right now. It¡¯s too weird for me.¡± he said.


    She reached out a hand and put it on his shoulder.


    ¡°All we have is each other. I¡¯ve got your back. Go kill some monsters, once you get to level 6 you should unlock your ultimate ability. If you still feel like you can¡¯t beat the dragon alone after that then we¡¯ll take it on as a team later.¡± she said.


    He nodded then split off into the jungle, heading south.


    Mel took a moment to gather herself then jogged the rest of the way to lane, seeing her opponent pushed into her tower which only had a third of its health left. Her enemy top laner was also a woman, dark skinned and sporting a large sword. She was wearing full plate armor and had no shield or helm, her dark hair flowing in the wind as she lifted the sword with both hands.


    Mel realized that the lady was running at her and bringing that raised sword down in a wicked and lethal arc. She snapped into action and blocked the sword with her bracer, the woman spun and dropped slashing at Mel¡¯s legs.


    Mel tried to jump out of the way but the sword cut into her left calf, causing her to cry out in pain. She heard a whirring sound and looked up to see the crystal embedded in her tower glowing. The enemy looked up and tried to wrench her sword from Mel¡¯s leg but Mel grabbed the blade with her bare left hand, immediately cutting it but forcing the blade to stay in place.


    The woman went to drop the blade and run but Mel lunged out and crash tackled her to the ground. The woman quickly overpowered her and jumped to her feet - just as the tower sent out a huge blast of energy that tore a hole through the woman''s chest. She sighed with one last breath and then faded away.


    The sword disappeared from Mel''s side and after ten minutes of lying in misery wondering what she should do she noticed that her leg had healed slightly, enough for her to stand up. She hobbled into the lane and started punching her frustrations out on the enemy minions, who cried out in fear with high pitched little voices as she smashed them to pieces.


    ***


    Craig and Mitch stared down their opponents from the safety of the tower. The woman with the book that had ended them so casually was the support, and stood to the side of the minion wave, leaning on her book and staring at the two boys eerily.


    Her ADC was a small boy with a slingshot, firing marbles at their minions. The marbles had varied colors and they seemed to have a different effect when shot. Red marbles set the target on fire, blue ones froze them. Black marbles exploded, but due to the black shockwave that spread out from the detonation the boys assumed that it was magical in nature.


    ¡°Are we really going to farm under tower?¡± Mitch whined.


    Craig ignored him and focused on killing the minions with his spear. If he dealt the last amount of damage causing its death he earned gold on top of experience for the kill. He was remiss about being stuck with Mitch.


    Craig ticked over to level 5 and relief flooded through him as he realized how close he was to learning his ultimate ability. So far his abilities were basically non-existent, whilst Mitch had his healing spell and now a weak shield that granted movement speed Craig just had a spear. It was effective, sure but he wanted an actual ability. Something to cast.


    The man in speedo¡¯s entered their lane and Mitch and Craig snapped to attention. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    ¡°Are they going to try and dive us?¡± Craig wondered out loud.


    ¡°It looks like it.¡± Mitch answered meekly.


    He then took a few steps back behind the tower readying his spells to use on Craig.


    ¡°You¡¯ve gotta clear the wave fast!¡± Mitch yelled as the three enemies approached.


    ¡°It¡¯d clear faster if you could help me.¡± Craig said.


    ¡°I¡¯m a healer, how am I supposed to help?¡± Mitch replied.


    ¡°Punch something!¡± Craig said back as he charged at the approaching minions, exposing himself to the enemies.


    Mitch ignored Craig¡¯s request and instead used his shield and movement speed spell allowing Craig to start killing the minions a second earlier. It wasn¡¯t enough however as the woman with the book quickly sprinted up to Craig, raised her book then waited - not attacking as Craig continued to clear the minions.


    Her comrades got closer to Craig and the shield faded, the book swinging down the moment it was gone.


    ¡°Move!¡± Mitch screamed.


    Craig fell backwards, the book missing his head by inches. He scrambled backwards as a blue marble missed his crotch, striking the ground in between his legs. He turned onto his stomach and tried to run but the book hurtled into his back knocking him to the ground.


    What happened next was so fast Mitch only put together what happened hours after, when he shared his recollection with Craig. The boy had fired a black marble at Craig¡¯s head killing him instantly upon detonation. Simultaneously the tower¡¯s crystal glowed and shot a burst of blue energy at the enemy support who used a spell to instantly hold the book in her hands again and block the tower shot with it. She then ran out of range of the towers next shot.


    The oiled up wrestler then got his hands on Mitch and literally threw him up into the air a few meters only to be struck by a red marble instantly setting him on fire. Despite knowing he would respawn, Mitch found it quite distressing and painful to spontaneously combust.


    When he struck the ground he felt a stomp on his head and the world went dark - a moment later everything came back into view and he saw his tower shoot the wrestler, killing him as the young boy made his way out of tower range. Two for one, Mitch realized as the support joined the ADC in destroying the last bit of health on their tower.


    ***


    A series of notifications popped up on Tim¡¯s screen as he carefully stalked his way through the jungle.


    An ally has been slain.


    Then a moment later.


    An ally has been slain.


    An enemy has been slain.


    Enemy double kill!


    Your turret has been destroyed.


    He sighed as he wondered what had gone wrong and resolved to run straight down to the bottom lane to investigate. That was the only place that two members of the team had gone.


    On a positive note he had received a lot of experience for killing monsters in the jungle alone and he had figured out a lot of his champions abilities.


    He seemed to have a passive ability that made his gun shoot higher caliber bullets with each level he grew. He¡¯d just ticked over to level 6 and it felt like he was shooting a .50 caliber bullet. It was doing a lot of damage to the monsters also. He also had discovered he could strike the ground with the butt of his rifle, sending out a golden shockwave that revealed nearby enemies, extremely useful for finding the monsters in the jungle.


    Upon leveling he¡¯d felt something on his belt and reached down to find a sidearm, a pistol with a large tube like barrel. He didn¡¯t want to waste it if this was his ultimate but he had to find out what it did, so when he ran into another Brambleback on the way to the bottom lane, rather than stopping he¡¯d jogged up and shot it with the pistol. A net shot out from the device and tangled itself on the monster, constricting it and magically binding the net to the ground - pinning the creature.


    He had paused, taken out his rifle and finished it off with three shots to the sphere. The net was useful, but not exactly ¡®ultimate¡¯ the way his team mates had said it should be.


    He was correct in thinking it was Craig and Mitch who had messed up but the situation was now affecting the whole team because he found their opponents with the enemy jungler, fighting the dragon.


    He was glad he hadn¡¯t tried to face it alone, the drake was bright red and was slashing wildly at the enemies, flame bursting from its mouth intermittently. It was frenzied in its attacks, like a rabid dog and was chasing the enemies around the pit as they ran for their lives, occasionally getting in a punch or a marble. By Craig¡¯s limited assessment he thought they were struggling.


    He looked down at his net gun to see a timer pop up in his vision that stated it still had a five minute cool down. He considered his options, this looked like a time sensitive fight and right as he had thought that the enemies might actually die to the dragon the girl with the book had opened it for the first time, releasing a sonic screech that sent out a shockwave knocking the dragon into the sidewall of the pit momentarily stunning it. Marbles smashed it in the head repeatedly and Tim came to the realization that if he didn¡¯t act now, the drake would be theirs.


    He slammed the ground with his rifle, checking that there weren¡¯t any other enemies nearby. He seemed to be clear. He aimed down the iron sight and lined up the little boy. He would be shooting him in the back of the head. Tim only hesitated a moment, remembering how he had been killed last time. He shot a .50 caliber bullet at the child and the result was more realistic than he had expected. It wasn¡¯t a beheading but there was no head left to speak of.


    An enemy has been slain.


    The enemies, momentarily distracted, turned away from the dragon and it took advantage of the reprieve, seizing the enemy jungler - an oily wrestler - in its jaws and chomping down, killing him instantly.


    An enemy has been slain.


    Tim shot at the woman with the book but she swatted away the bullet like it was a ball. Caught between the dragon and a gun she turned and ran out of the pit, running north and away from the fight.


    The battered dragon turned on Tim, who was now close enough to see that its health bar was in the red and he shot it to death in moments. His rifle turned out to be an effective weapon, the .50 caliber rounds tearing fist sized holes into the giant winged lizard. Upon killing it he hit level 7 and a team wide notification popped up.


    Your team has slain the infernal drake.


    Tim proudly set off to base to spend his gold, he was sitting on 1068 gold and felt that he shouldn¡¯t stay out any longer. It would be good to see the team after his small victory.


    He wondered what he would be able to buy.

 Chapter 4: Wombo Combo

    Christine read the drake notification and decided to head back to base to spend her gold. As she walked she evaluated her laning phase.


    At first she¡¯d loved her dress, the whole idea of escaping into a video game reality had kept her and Mel sleepless and talking for hours at many a sleepover. To wake up as a goth bride had massive appeal and suited her style, she was glad she felt comfortable in the dress. This had quickly turned to disappointment however when she¡¯d been only able to cast the protective shell at level 1 and then later when she¡¯d learned the hard way that it only repelled magical attacks.


    Christine surmised now that she was a hyper scaling champion, because as weak as her level 1 and 3 were, her 6 was insanely strong. Upon turning 6 she had gained full control of her dress and could hide in shadows around her. She could dip in and out of the shadows becoming targetable and untargetable, even shadow walking short distances - a few meters at most. To do it she literally hopped from one shadow to another whilst intangible and if it was close enough she¡¯d teleport.


    She had the freedom of imagination to customize the shape of the dress to suit her needs. She had decided upon a ¡®Doc Oc¡¯ style setup for combat. Two long shadow legs would prop her into the air while she swiped at her opponents with two more long shadow arms that struck like scorpion stings.


    She hadn¡¯t managed to kill her opponent, as he had run the first time she had tried to fight him. He simply farmed her minions under his tower. She thought she¡¯d done pretty well even if she hadn¡¯t gotten a kill like some of her teammates had. At least she didn''t die and lose her tower like the bottom lane boys.


    When she got back to base she guessed that enough time had passed that it should be night but the sun still blazed like it was midday. She hated the sun. Her father had died of skin cancer two years previously, and she was now paranoid about exposure.


    Her mother made her look sane however, the woman was now agoraphobic. She hadn¡¯t left the house in two years. Christine had been taking care of herself since a week after her 14th birthday. If it weren¡¯t for Mel''s family she may have been taken off of her mother. A case worker had come to check on her living conditions around 6 months after her dad died. Neighbors had been complaining that her mother wasn¡¯t taking care of her. Mel''s parents, who lived on the same street, had been there when the case worker arrived. They had been the adults that answered the ladies'' questions. They had promised that they would sign whatever form they needed to ensure that I would be looked after at home. There would always be a safe house with a hot meal and a bed if I needed it. They¡¯d talked to the rest of the street and everyone sort of looked out for us after that. Mr Giannis would mow our lawn when he did his own. A social worker saw my mother 3 times a week and most nights I ate dinner at Mel''s and only went home to shower, sleep and put my mother to bed.


    She went to the shop and spent her gold, upgrading her mana crystal into a lost chapter. It transformed into a loose stack of papers with runes inscribed onto them. She stashed them into a pocket in her dress and waited for her team. The boys respawned and shortly after Tim and Mel returned.


    After some waiting for Mitch and Craig to get to level 6 through killing monsters in the jungle nearby the team was ready to try to fight together again.


    The plan was simple: they would show up in the middle lane, wait for the enemy team to gather and Mel would engage them, then Craig, Tim and Christine would follow up with damage while Tim supported them with heals and shields.


    They made it to the midlane and at first things went great, the enemy team gathered as five immediately and the two squads faced off from across the lane.


    ¡°Mel, are you ready?¡± Christine asked her.


    Mel nodded and charged in, heading straight for the boy with the marbles who darted into the bush and up to the river, his team scrambling to follow him as Mel gained on him. Christine went into Doc Oc mode and her new height allowed her to see Mel in the long grass about to walk straight into the boy with the marbles.


    ¡°Mitch, get a ward down there now!¡± she called and Mitch scrambled ahead and pulled a suspicious, flashlight shaped device from his robe and threw it into the bush. Immediately Mel could see a glowing red outline of the enemy ADC in front of her and she dived to the side as a black marble whizzed past her head. Christine shout out a tendril of shadow from her dress and caught the marble, allowing the magical detonation to go off harmlessly without hurting her team.


    Mel chased the ADC into the river and the team ran behind her to keep up. The enemy team was above them in their jungle and the ADC ran to meet them as Mel gave chase. She cast her ultimate, growing greatly in size to the point where she was literally Mega Mel. In her titanic form she took a few short strides and then raised her foot to stomp the enemy team under her giant boot. The enemy Midlaner with the reflective abilities raised his shield to block Mel and she turned her heel at the last second pivoting her foot to land a few meters away from the enemy team but causing a shockwave that took most of them off of their feet. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.


    Craig and Tim saw this as an opportunity and sprinted into the enemy jungle, Christine watched as Mitch, hot on their tail, also entered the choke point. The enemy team was getting to their feet as the boys closed in, but to Christine''s horror from her vantage point she saw that there was only four of them standing in front of her teammates. That¡¯s when the enemy support stepped out of a bush in their jungle, she¡¯d been obscured from vision. She dived forward into the choke point then turned and opened her book unleashing her ultimate ability. A sonic screech hit Craig, Tim and Mitch slamming them into a wall just as the enemy jungler leaped into the air, screaming ¡®CANNONBALL¡± he then curled up into a ball tucking his knees into his chest before impacting the ground causing a seismic shockwave of his own that bounced the boys again into the air knocking their health bars down. Mel, who was nearby, was knocked off her feet by the shaking of the ground. The boy with the marbles fired a sparkling ball that expanded into a large bubble with a lightning storm inside of it that caught the boys in the air, suspending them and striking them with lightning bolts. Her opponent from the midlane and the enemy top laner then stepped forward and both swung their weapons in wide arcs causing blasts of energy to erupt forward that eviscerated the last of their health.


    Enemy triple kill!


    ¡°Ah shit, wombo combo.¡± Christine said.


    Mel picked herself up and engaged the enemy team but was quickly repelled back, signaling Christine to retreat.


    Christine did not retreat, she stalked forward with her long limbs and shot out a tendril from her dress, piercing the enemy support through the back killing her instantly. The moment her shadows touched blood her eyes glazed over and she felt her teeth elongate and sharpen. She became a literal nightmare, jumping into shadows and reappearing twenty feet in the air stabbing out randomly with her dress and taking shark sized bites out of anything that got close to her. At one point she appeared behind her opponent mid laner and he spun with superhuman speed raising his shield to block a snap of her jaws only to have his shield CHOMPED in half with a loud crunch of breaking wood and steel.


    Christine ate his head.


    An ally is dominating!


    Mel had died somewhere in the heat of battle and eventually Christine was the only person left alive. She was covered in gore that slowly faded from her body and a string of announcements popped up.


    Pentakill!


    Aced


    She grinned to herself and headed to the midlane, destroying the minions and then the enemy tower.


    Your team has destroyed a turret.


    She checked her inventory and was shocked to see 2031 gold so she headed back to the shop to buy her first complete item - an Archangel Staff. The staff granted her ability power, mana, haste and when she reached 30% HP a passive would kick in granting her a shield. Best of all though she could actually wield the staff and found it was useful in directing her shadow tendrils with increased precision and more powerful strikes.


    When her team respawned the boys begrudgingly congratulated her on her performance in the team fight. Not one of them met her eyes.


    Mel however gave her a huge hug.


    ¡°Ignore them, they¡¯re embarrassed. I¡¯m so grateful to have you in my life and on my team.¡± Mel said with a smile.


    Christine smiled back.


    ¡°You¡¯re my best friend Mel. I wouldn¡¯t want to be here with anyone else.¡± she said in return.


    ¡°Hey Christine please don¡¯t take this the wrong way¡­¡± Tim started and everyone tensed up turning to look at him.


    ¡°Your abilities are terrifying. Genuinely scary.¡± he said.


    Craig and Mitch nodded.


    ¡°We watched from above while you¡­ single handedly tore apart the enemy team.¡± Mitch said nervously.


    ¡°I¡¯ll remember not to get on your bad side.¡± Craig said.


    ¡°Guys, we¡¯re on the same team. Just be normal.¡± Christine said.


    ¡°What do you mean? I think that¡¯s a normal reaction to witnessing the birth of a serial killer.¡± Tim said.


    ¡°Hey Christine, thanks for carrying the entire team on those dainty and beautiful shoulders of yours. Why yes of course you can start a massage train, go ahead boys. These shoulders need attention and love.¡± Christine said sarcastically, turning her back and looking over her shoulders at the boys.


    Mitch walked forward and raised his hands and Mel grabbed him, planting him firmly in place. She shook his head at him and he raised his eyebrows in confusion.


    ¡°What¡¯s next, girls?¡± Craig asked them earnestly.


    Mel graciously accepted the change in subject and decided it was time to go all in.


    ¡°Remember the dragon?¡± she asked Tim who frowned and nodded.


    ¡°My greatest triumph, yes. How could I forget?¡± he said.


    She ignored him and continued to explain.


    ¡°Well that¡¯s a Scuttlebug compared to our next team objective. There¡¯s no solo killing this one. It¡¯s going to take everything we¡¯ve got to destroy it as a group and we will be putting ourselves at a massive risk of being attacked by the enemy team while we try to kill it.¡± she said.


    Tim did not look pleased. The other boys avoided eye contact and looked at the ground as they realized what Mel was referring to.


    ¡°What¡¯s it called?¡± Tim asked.


    ¡°Baron Nashor.¡± Mel said.

 Chapter 5: Baron Nashor

    Tim took one look at Baron Nashor and turned around and walked the other way. Mel reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder but he shrugged her off.


    ¡°Tim, wait, we need you!¡± Mel said.


    ¡°Forget it. You¡¯re all insane.¡± Tim replied, stalking off into the jungle.


    Mel picked him up and put him over her shoulder, he indignantly slammed his fist down on her back.


    ¡°Put me down!¡± he demanded.


    ¡°Not until you calm down. We need to work as a team and we can¡¯t do it without you. I promise you¡¯ll be the furthest away from it.¡± Mel said.


    He stopped squirming.


    ¡°Really?¡± he asked.


    ¡°Yeah really. Your job is going to be to sit back, scout for the enemies to make sure we don¡¯t get jumped and keep shooting it. That¡¯s it hotshot.¡± Mel said.


    ¡°Ok you can put me down¡­¡± he grumbled.


    Mel gently placed him on his feet and he straightened out his khaki¡¯s doing his best to retain some dignity. He eventually gave up and joined the group as they walked towards the Kaiju in the pit.


    That was the only point of reference that Tim had for the beast they wanted to engage.


    ¡°It looks like a Kraken mated with a Lapras.¡± Tim tried.


    The group¡¯s heads snapped towards him as one.


    ¡°Did you just make a video game reference?¡± Christine asked.


    Tim shrugged.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe you.¡± Christine said.


    ¡°First you act like a complete noob and now you¡¯re quoting Pok¨¦mon? Who are you?¡± Mitch seconded.


    ¡°Guys. Focus up, this is Baron Nashor.¡± Mel said, redirecting the group''s attention.


    In the pit, barely submerged at all by waist high water stood a purple creature the size of an airplane. It was a worm of some kind with tentacles lazing around in the water and a four pronged toothy mouth. Two more mouths sprouted from tentacles that rose from where its shoulders should be filled to the brim with sharp looking teeth. It opened at least a dozen glowing purple eyes as the group neared.


    ¡®This is it! Remember the plan and make sure I¡¯m the only one getting hit or we¡¯re doomed!¡± Mel screamed. She activated her ultimate, suddenly rivaling the giant worm in height if not stature. She ran forward and dropped her shoulder, crashing into the worm with a mighty boom.


    It wasn¡¯t knocked off balance but it was pushed back into the wall of the pit where Mel tried to pin it. That¡¯s when Craig stepped in and activated his ultimate in front of the group for the first time. His spear started glowing and he jumped high in the air, slashing the air with his spear in front of him and causing a huge arc of energy to shoot out from his spear and nail the Baron in the side, causing its health bar to appear. It had taken approximately 2% damage.


    The crack of gunfire ran out and Tim steadily shot at the creature, on his third shot he nailed one of its eyes and its health bar dropped another percent. Mitch hung back as Mel had instructed him, he was virtually useless in the fight and they needed to save his ultimate for their getaway if the enemy team showed up.


    Christine let herself be enraged and climbed high with her shadow tendrils. She began to swipe and stab at the body of the worm as Mel grappled with it. Eventually Mel worked her hands around the back of the head of the vicious creature. Nimbly dodging strikes from the side heads as they snapped forwards like vicious vipers.


    Having established the clinch position, Mel started firing knees into the belly of the worm. Christine backed off to give her room and the health bar of the worm started steadily ticking down with each knee as Mel fired them off in rapid succession.


    The Baron gave a cry and tentacles shot up from the river around them knocking the team off balance. Mel was unaffected due to her size and kept beating the Baron up single handedly. Its health went down to 75%.


    This went on for ten minutes, with the team utilizing all of their abilities except for Mitch. When the health bar fell to 10% disaster struck.


    ¡°Tim it¡¯s getting low, scout check.¡± Mel called over her shoulder.


    Tim paused his shooting to slam the butt of his rifle on the ground, sending out a golden shockwave that revealed 5 red enemies clustered on the other side of the pit wall. Upon being revealed they charged into the river as a team.


    ¡°MITCH NOW¡± Mel screamed at the top of her lungs, her ultimate had run out and she was now normal sized.


    Mitch leapt from his hiding place and used his ultimate ability, a golden cross shot out from his body and when it struck the enemy team all 5 were suspended by their wrists in the air, their feet bound together.


    Craig fired off his ultimate again which had recharged during the fight with Baron and his arc of energy slammed into the enemy team as they were suspended in the air. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Tim was right behind him firing his net and as Mitch¡¯s ultimate wore out the team was binded to the ground by the large net. Slamming down with a crash of armor and broken bones. Then Christine went beast mode and just eviscerated everything in the net until the same notification popped up as last time.


    Pentakill!


    ¡°Ok I have a feeling you might get nerfed.¡± Mitch said.


    Christine, having returned to fighting the Baron, looked at Mitch with disappointment.


    ¡°Can¡¯t you just be happy I¡¯m on your team?¡± She said tiredly.


    ¡°Not really you¡¯re very distracting.¡± Mitch said.


    Christine rolled her eyes and continued to fight the giant worm.


    The team eventually killed the Baron and two notifications popped up.


    Your team has slain Baron Nashor


    Your team has received Hand of Baron buff


    ¡°Guys we have recall now!¡± Mel called out excitedly.


    The team saw in the bottom left of their vision there was now a glowing purple ¡®B¡¯ that when they focused on with their vision activated the recall spell. They all teleported back to base and spent their gold. Christine had a long staff and she took her veil off so she could put on a witches hat.


    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Tim asked.


    ¡°Rabadon''s Deathcap, it amplifies my magic.¡± she answered.


    ¡°Can you help me to decide what to buy?¡± Tim asked her.


    ¡°Sure, just get something called a phantom dancer if you can afford it.¡± she offered.


    Tim bought the item and the dagger he had bought earlier transformed into a hooked sickle like blade with a dagger hilt. It seemed ghostly and when he held it he found that he could run faster than before.


    ¡°This is wild. Thanks Christine.¡± he said.


    The team completed their purchases and headed straight down the midlane, to their surprise the enemy team was still dead. They smashed the towers, and then the inhibitor. They worked their way up to the nexus with a purple glowing wave of minions. As the health bar of the enemy''s base fell, a pit of anxiety rose in Mel¡¯s stomach.


    She wondered what would happen once they completed the game, her mind going to dark places as she prepared herself for a cruel twist. When the enemy nexus reached zero health the world seemed to pause. She looked around at her team and they too, were frozen in place.


    Victory!


    The notification sprang up before everything went dark.


    ***


    The team woke to find themselves in a clear box, stacked on top of other clear boxes filled with people in groups of five. As far as they could see there were just human beings in clear boxes as far as the eye could see in every direction. Their cells were bare, with no furniture, bed or even toilet. They were wearing the same thing they had on at school before the game started.


    Mitch was trying to communicate with the people in the box next to us but they just stared back blankly, unable to hear anything he said.


    A smooth electronic voice began some sort of introduction:


    ¡°Humans of Earth, welcome to the Galactic Federation. Your species has been selected  to be inducted into our society due to your inability to become a type 1 civilization. Ten Earth seconds prior to our intervention, your species launched nuclear explosive devices that would have destroyed your planet. Rather than allowing this to play out, the Federation utilized the special powers in clause 4.3.1 of the intergalactic treatise of interplanetary subjugation (ITIS) allowing for the complete enslavement of the human population following a standardized Higher Intelligence Test.¡±


    The group looked at each other aghast, each shared mirrored expressions of horror. Their future was to be slaves for some alien overlord?


    ¡°In accordance with the guidelines set in place by the ITIS this test will be administered in several stages to accommodate the wide variety of intelligence levels displayed by the human race. A game setting familiar with a majority of humans was selected and the initial test against low level AI¡¯s resulted in 62% of participants passing the first stage. The other three billion, forty nine million, five hundred thousand and six humans have been granted the full rights of a slave to the Federation and shipped off to appropriate working situations.¡±


    Mitch started retching in the corner, sweat covered his body in a thick layer.


    ¡°From now on all participants will compete against other humans in remaining matches. The Galactic Federation is required to inform you that all matches are being broadcast live to over 10 trillion households across the galaxy. You¡¯re famous!¡±


    Nobody in the group said a word, this was too much.


    ¡°Every win will now go towards increasing a team''s rank. If a team is able to reach the rank of Diamond they will be given full citizenship to the Federation along with a small annual stipend. They will not be slaves and will be able to gain employment in the federation. If a team reaches the rank of Master they will be able to grant freedom to one human of their choosing each, provided that human is still alive. If a team reaches Challenger, they will become the custodian of all of humanity and will be given a fresh planet located at the inner rim for their species to live peacefully as part of the Federation. Losing a match will knock you out immediately and all team members will be assigned privileges and rights based off of your corresponding rank. Below Diamond however the ranks do not grant freedom. Please see the rank thresholds below.¡±


    A holographic display popped up in the box showing a ranking system.


    IRON (1 win VS AI)


    BRONZE (2 wins)


    SILVER (5 wins)


    GOLD (10 wins)


    PLATINUM (25 wins)


    EMERALD (100 wins)


    DIAMOND (500 wins)


    MASTER (2500 wins)


    CHALLENGER (3 wins vs Federation Citizens, this option is only accessible by players at Diamond rank or higher)


    The team looked around at the humans surrounding their cell. Mitch was aghast as he looked into the eyes of the people in the cell next to theirs. They were now enemies, all of them. The aliens'' first move was to separate the humans from what made them human. They¡¯d destroyed their sense of community.


    Mitch held hope that he could reach Diamond but as he looked at his team he was less sure. They seemed to be distraught at the prospect of facing other humans, it was time for the support to be supportive.


    ¡°Listen guys. I know this is a lot to take in but we have four League players on our team along with¡­¡± he nodded in Tim¡¯s direction.


    ¡°Whatever that is. Anyways my point is that we didn¡¯t just scrape by and beat the AI. We came back from losing a team fight to grinding them into dust. They couldn¡¯t even respawn before we ended. Conversely over a third of the population on earth couldn¡¯t work it out. A third of Earth lost against bots.¡± he said.


    Mel frowned and interjected ¡°Mitch I love what you¡¯re trying to do but consider how much of the world''s population is able bodied and neurotypical. How much of the world was geriatric or prepubescent? I think all of those people accounted for the bulk of that result. We need to be really careful in games moving forward. I think they¡¯re about to get a lot harder.¡± she said.


    A holographic display popped up on the side wall of their cube.


    KEEP PLAYING?


    /  YES    /     NO   /