《Lost Adventure》


 Chapter 1 - Lost Identity

    Cold and awkward were the two words that the naked man would describe himself in what appeared to be a crematory room. He was clueless as to how or why he was there. In fact, he couldn''t recall his last memory at all. But the feeling of being cold scared him for some reason, he didn''t like it at all.


    His eyes scanned around the room for clothing of any kind until he found a set of clothes placed on a table near him. Blue jeans, black shirt, briefs socks, shoes, and a jacket. He tried the set on and they all fit perfectly like a glove.


    "These have to be mine right?" He asked himself, believing that they had to be.


    The man tried to remember his name but nothing was coming to mind. He must have died if he was at a crematorium and so there must be some records about him in the building. And with that thought, he decided to search the building for anything about him.


    But what was odd, he thought as he roamed, was that it was too quiet. He couldn''t be the only person in the building. There had to be at least one other person working there.


    He could tell it was daytime based on the view he was seeing from a window, perfectly normal outside. Although, there didn''t seem to be any neighboring buildings.


    His thoughts would come to a stop when he finally heard some noise coming from a corner hallway. Curious, he quietly went over and peeked to discover something gut wrenching.


    There was another man hunched over a woman''s corpse munching on her body. The sight was shocking at first and nauseous after.


    ''A zombie!?'' He thought as he continued watching it feast. He wasn''t believing it to be a zombie and decided to view it as a cannibal, maybe some deranged man. He didn''t have a good look of the person to confirm it was a zombie but it was definitely dangerous.


    The man didn''t want to confront the crazy man and instead wanted to find a way to escape. There had to be a back exit, possibly the other hallway near the room he had left, was his thought.


    So he decided to turn back, keeping quiet, till a sound of a man echoing from the hallway had just peeked. There was a loud thud that startled him followed by a growl that could only be the cannibal.


    His legs spent up not wanting to know what was going on behind him. The exit had to be in the other hallway. He hadn''t looked when he left the room he was in.


    Footsteps could be heard behind. No, it wasn''t just footsteps. It was running and the shout could be heard behind saying ¡°Hey! Help me, please!¡±


    The man had no weapon on himself, if he had, he would feel more confident facing the flesh eating guy. But even so, despite not wanting to test his chances, he halted himself after feeling an urge to stand and fight to help the person asking for his assistance.


    ¡®Fuck, I can''t believe I''m doing this.¡¯ He thought, he looked to his left which was the autopsy room. ¡®Maybe there''s something I can use there?¡¯.


    He rushed in frantically searching for a weapon of any kind that looked like it could do good damage. But all that was in there were small knives, hammers, tools, etc. There wasn''t anything he could find to use to properly fight off the cannibal.


    The sound of running was getting closer and he looked at the autopsy cart with an idea.


    An older man with glasses and gray facial hair appeared into view looking visibly hurt holding his left hip. He seemed to be one of the doctors who must have worked in the building. The doctor locked eyes with the man and asked once again for help.


    Not long after, the one person that the man had been waiting for came into view. He wasted no time as he jammed the cart into the body of the deranged person. The being was slammed into the wall next to it, giving out a shriek before becoming unconscious.


    Upon closer inspection, the being looked pale, almost a light gray color. It wore a white gown, had stitches on different parts of its body. But above all, there was blood and pieces of human flesh around it''s mouth.


    The man could only conclude that this person had to be something much more than a regular cannibal. This was a crematorium, a place for the dead to be turned to ash. If this was an actual living person, they would be in a place like a hospital. This had to be a zombie.


    He then thought about one other thing, himself. ¡®Was I dead? But how could that be possible?¡¯ He was confused.


    His thoughts were cut off when the doctor spoke after catching his breath. ¡°Fuck! Thank you so much! I was hiding in one of the rooms since yesterday before mustering up the courage to try to make my escape.¡± He was exhausted from sprinting for his life.


    ¡°Yeah, of course.¡± The man told him as he kept looking at the deceased corpse. He wanted to be sure it was for sure dead. When he did look at the doctor, he noticed one distinct feature of his appearance which was his amber colored eyes that bothered him for some reason in a bad way.


    The doctor had calmed himself down and looked at the zombie with disgust. ¡°Bastard nearly got me before locking myself in a room. But I''m even more grateful that you arrived to save me.¡± The doctor said with a smile, his eyes still looking uncanny.


    The man just nodded in response, he wasn''t able to shake off the strange feeling that something appeared to be off about the doctor. He felt that the doctor was hiding something from him as he kept glancing at his amber colored eyes.


    The dead woman and the side of the doctor''s injured hip came to mind. He wondered what sort of events had transpired with the zombie encounter. ¡°There was a dead woman on the floor at the end of the other hallway you came from. You wouldn''t happen to know what happened to her would you?¡± The man questioned him, the doctor had to have at least heard her before her life faded.


    The doctor paused for a moment, as if he was hesitating to answer. Then the doctor parted his lips, about to speak, when suddenly a loud screech came from the other end of the hallway.


    There at the other end stood a frail lanky figure. It was the woman''s corpse now animated. Her flesh from her limbs torn and shredded from becoming the previous monster''s feast. Her head twitched to the side, her gaze locking into her first victims.


    ¡°Shit!¡± The doctor yelled, his voice shaking a bit as he looked upon their new foe.


    The man turned to the cart and grabbed the handle, readying it for another charge at the zombie.


    But he was interrupted unexpectedly when the assumed defeated zombie animated once more, shoving the cart to the side and throwing itself at the man. The zombie was now pressing himself against the man who was resisting with all his might.


    The zombie snapped it''s jaws at it''s prey, blood and bits of flesh falling out on top of the man''s face. The man took quick glances at the doctor, who seemed to be frozen in place, hoping he would come to his aid like he did for the doctor.


    ¡°Don''t just stand there! Get him off me!¡± The man shouted as he kept doing everything he could not to get bitten.


    The doctor''s facial expression turned into a face of amusement followed by an evil grin that seemed to confirm the man''s suspicions. The doctor then replied. ¡°Sorry young man, survival of the fittest, as they say!¡±, the backstabber then turned away, bolting to what could be the exit that was at the end of the hallway.


    And as the sound of the doctor''s footsteps sprinting off towards his freedom got quieter. The man''s anger rose higher and higher. It was at that moment that he was no longer fearing for his life anymore, instead, he was filled with rage. He knew something was off about the doctor. Yet, he did not trust his intuition and allowed his escape to happen.


    The sound of footsteps approaching him from the other end of the hallway brought him back to reality. He knew there was one more threat he had to deal with and he had to hurry.


    Now fueled with hate and a burning desire to get back at the doctor, he went all in contesting with his attacker. It was a struggle against a being with inhuman strength but with his goal of kicking the doctors ass in mind, he slowly started to turn the tide. He noticed a part of the zombies head was badly damaged from the crash he cause, exposing it''s brain.


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    Quickly, he held the zombie at bay and reached for the biggest knife he could find that fell from the cart before stabbing at it''s weak point repeatedly. Each strike powered by venting frustration.


    He could feel the zombie getting weaker with each stab, the man''s hand getting bloodier as he kept going. He was so missed that the doctor had turned his back on him after receiving his help. If he made it out alive, he would make it his mission to hunt down the doctor.


    And with his last stab, the corpse was now truly lifeless. His attention then shifted to his next target after shoving off the defeated zombie.


    He was going to get up and ready himself for his next encounter, but something strange appeared in front of his face. It was a light blue screen with white text reading, ¡°First Blood!¡±, followed by ¡°Now creating Character Profile!¡±.


    The moment was so random that the man didn''t realize that the other zombie had caught up to him and reached it''s head through the blue screen, causing it to shimmer and disappear, startling him some what.


    The man reacted fast enough to back up in time before possibly getting a hickey from the woman. However, one of his legs was grabbed by the woman as she prepared to take a bite out of his foot.


    Luckily, the arms of the woman were weak enough to yank away his leg from the undead. There wasn''t much muscle on her arms, seeing as they''ve been eaten from the previous zombie.


    And with a trusted kick, he propelled the woman back, causing her to stumble against a wall and on to the floor. It was enough time for the defender to stand back up to retaliate.


    His focus was back on the cart once more as his weapon of choice but this time he was going to beat the brains out of this wicked undead.


    With both hands gripping the handles of the cart, he lifted it and rushed over to the zombie, who just stood up and swung the cart at it''s head. Blood and teeth splattering across the walls, the monster fell back on it''s side again.


    Wasting no time, he charged up another attack, slamming it on the woman''s head. Bits and pieces of it''s brain flying out. The man didn''t not stop, continuing to vent his anger from the doctor''s actions. Relentlessly smashing the cart again and again and again.


    It was only a minute until he stopped bashing the cart, when another blue screen appeared once more with white text reading ¡°Are you finished yet?¡±.


    He wondered what the hell this blue screen was about, it was so strange that he questioned if this was all a dream.


    The man decided to ignore it and continued on making a mess of the undead corpse. Actually, at this point, most people wouldn''t call it a corpse anymore. To psychopathic killers this was a work of art and it needed a couple more touch ups.


    The same blue screen popped up, ¡°Would you please stop! You''ve already won!¡±, it pleaded this time. But the man, once again, ignored it. He would stop when he wanted too, although the weird blue screen was concerning to him, he wasn''t finished venting.


    Five minutes went by before he slowly came to a stop to admire his masterpiece. His whole body was exhausted between fighting for his life and getting a bit too creative with his work. He dropped the banged up cart, now deformed, letting it clatter on the floor.


    Another blue screen appeared reading ¡°First Title Obtained!. Title: ¡®Psycho Blood Artist!¡¯. Effect: When drawing blood from a foe, you receive a +3 in both Strength and Agility for 10 seconds in combat. Cooldown: 90 Seconds Per Foe. Stacks up to 5¡Á.¡±


    When the man finished reading it, he wondered what it was all about. It seemed like something he would receive from completing a quest or something from a video game. The words ¡®Strength¡¯ and ¡®Agility¡¯ were video game related keywords. ¡®This is so bizarre.¡¯ He thought.


    Once again, another chat window appeared. ¡°(-_-) you done now?¡±. It asked, the man felt like whoever was messaging him had emotions, especially now that it was being sassy. The man nodded responding to it''s question.


    ¡°Good.¡± It replied. ¡°Because now I can share the important bits of information to you before leaving. I have more contestants to inform after.¡± He was curious about what it mentioned about ¡®Contestants.¡¯.


    ¡°Congratulations on surviving your first encounter with a mob and slaying not just one, but two! Because you survived, you are now registered into the new game event ¡®Lost Adventure!¡¯. The rules are pretty simple I promise. Survive or meet the conditions of each quest, objective, etc. Using whatever means necessary. You were too busy making a mess of the poor zombies that you didn''t realize your Character Profile was created. All you have to do is say the magic words ¡®Open menu¡¯ or think of it and a blue screen, similar to the one you''re reading on, will appear with a list of options.¡± The system paused for a moment, seemingly wanting the man to try it out.


    He spoke the command, and like it said, a blue menu window did appear with a list of options. These options were the following: Character Profile, Inventory, Party, Quest Information, Forums & Communications, and ???.


    The option ¡®???¡¯ made him curious, he wondered why it was named that way and when he tried accessing it, it wouldn''t open. He decided to ignore it for now and instead check out his profile.


    As he opened his character profile, the system chatted again. ¡°From here, you can check your current status such as your health, mana, stamina, etc. And you get stronger as you level up everytime you obtain enough experience points from a couple of things, such as slaying mobs or completing events. This is all basically a video game, which I''m sure you''ve played a few, only catch is you have one life. Fun right!¡± It indeed, did not sound fun at all to the man.


    ¡°Well, that''s all you need to know for now contestant. I''ll be taking my leave now, please put on a good show for us all! Buh bye!!¡± The system said in a cheerful tone before closing the window.


    The man was left to himself again once more. He wanted to chase the doctor down right away but assumed that he was probably long gone by now and instead wanted to assess the situation he was in.


    Basically, from his understanding, he is apart of a game that has real life consequences and that includes dying. The name of the game is called ¡®Lost Adventure¡¯ and he has to survive through all sorts of challenges which range from defeating monsters to completing events of any kind. All of which he will have to do if he would like to survive another day and get stronger like in a video game.


    He still wondered if this was all a dream, this whole situation seemed looney. For now, he would have to accept it.


    The man looked over at his profile, hoping that it would include his name at least that would give me some comfort as to who he was.


    His stats for himself were as followed: Level: 1; Health: 300; Stamina: 300; Mana: 100; Exp: 67/100; Strength: 3; Agility: 4; Endurance: 5; Intelligence: 3; and Wisdom: 3.


    There was also the keyword ¡®Titles¡¯ which had a drop down list that only contained ¡®Psycho Blood Artist¡¯, for the moment. He thought it was both odd and interesting that there were hidden titles like the one he got that could be obtained through amusing means.


    He saw some other information that peaked his interest. It was the following: Karma: 90% Good/10% Bad; Class: None; Age: ??; Name: *@^*@((@^/¡Â¡Á][@&;@?,x.


    He was confused, why couldn''t he see his name? It made no sense to him and the same thing applied to his age. It was as if the system was hiding it from him. He had an idea of what class could be, but he wasn''t sure how Karma would affect him.


    ¡®Maybe there''s a record of me in this building that I can find. That was what I was originally going to do.¡¯ He thought, he was hoping he could find his identity. Even just the first letter of his name would suffice.


    The man went searching for clues, revisiting the corner hallway he found the first zombie. As he walked down the hallway, he found an open door with dents that looked like a hammer was banging on it. It had to have been the room the doctor was hiding in and the zombie was trying to break in.


    He then thought about the woman, ¡®The doctor must have sacrificed the woman to protect himself. Selfish bastard¡­¡¯ He would vow to avenge her death.


    He also remember paving her whole corpse into the floor, splattering everything everywhere. He felt guilty, he let his anger get the best of him. ¡®I went a bit too far¡­but fuck that doctor!¡¯ He thought balling his fists.


    The reception desk came to mind, thinking he could use one of the computers to pull up files that could give him something.


    He rushed further down but not much once he saw what seemed to be reception. There were chairs for guests, some friendly portraits and photos on walls, and the reception desk with two computers. The room was simple but gave a welcome feeling.


    The man was anxious and hopped onto one of the computer''s but when he did, it asked for a password. He scanned around his area for a hint and spotted a sticky note on a picture of two children with the words ¡®4EverLove¡¯.


    He imputed the words and it worked, his eyes shifted around the screen until it locked on to a link leading to a record of the patients from a website. With one click, a window opened up to the crematorium''s website of records.


    His hand guided the mouse, surfing through a list of recent patients. The game he was in could not have altered whatever was on the internet, he had to believe his name was on record and he would know it was his.


    He spent about 10 minutes scrolling when he stopped and stared at the screen in disbelief once again and then with anger soon after. Once more he saw a name typed as shown: ¡®@%@&#%^^@%&#*&¡¯.


    Deep inside he wanted to throw the computer across the room but calmed himself down and wondered if he could at least read any info about him, maybe how he died.


    The man clicked on his record description with some hope only to lose his shit again because everything about him was full of random gibberish nonsense.


    ¡°I. JUST. WANT. TO. KNOW. MY. FUCKING. NAME!¡± He yelled out, not caring if any more zombies came running in.


    He had to give himself a moment to gather himself. ¡®Why the hell is the system preventing me from seeing my name?¡¯ He wondered if the system was toying with him, like it was taunting him.


    The man had a thought, ¡®What if I print out my information and have someone else read it to me?¡¯. He had to try, it was his only hope that he could think of.


    Calmly using the computer without wrecking it, he printed out his information of decrypted words and went to grab his documents.


    But when he touched it, they disappeared. Instantly, he spun around, stomped to the pc monitor, lifted it and chucked it at a wall. The monitor went flying, caving it into the wall and shattering the screen.


    What he didn''t realize was that there was a notification window telling him ¡®¡¯¡Â^#&@,@*@(%#^ Documents¡¯ added to inventory.¡¯. He felt embarrassed, thinking the system was being petty.


    The notification window automatically closed and the man took a deep breath, closing his eyes before exhaling. ¡®I really need to calm down more.¡¯ So far he was not good as controlling his anger. Slaughtering and making artwork from a corpse showed that much of his control over his emotions.


    ¡®What am I supposed to call myself if I meet someone? Will I ever find out who I truly am?¡¯ He wondered.


    His mind drifted trying to think of a name for himself, something that was at least simple and not too flashy.


    Suddenly, he dropped to a knee with a hand on his head with a look of pain. He felt as though his head was splitting open, his eyes remained closed as he tried to bear through the intense moment he was experiencing.


    In his mind, a flashing image appeared of a man dressed in what appeared to be a warrior cosplay. The person wore a billowing cloak, clad in armor, a huge sword on his back, with short hair. That was all the man could make out of his appearance as it was vague and kind of faint but he could tell that he seemed to be an adventurer.


    ¡°Hey B-Barry¡­¡± A voice called out. ¡°Please¡­Barry I''m sorry!¡± The voice sounded distressed, a hand reached out towards the warrior presumingly named ¡°Barry.¡±.


    His headache began to diminish after a minute and was able to stand up again. ¡°Open menu.¡± Were the first words he said, in a tired voice, as he recovered himself. He was still feeling the aftermath of his mind being split.


    His hand motioned to touching his profile on the menu window and glanced at his name once more. ¡®Name: #^&$_/#>>&#^>*@.¡¯.


    No surprise, he still could not see his name. He was too tired to be mad or disappointed anymore so he just sighed.


    ¡®So I''m likely not that Barry guy I saw in my mind then if I still can''t see my name¡­¡¯ He figured because he couldn''t see at least his first name.


    But despite not being able to know his real name, he was actually a bit happy that he was able to remember something at least. The name Barry didn''t ring any bells and the image of a guy with a huge fucking sword with a cloak seemed like a movie actor or something.


    After a moment, he felt alright again and decided on something that was very important to him at the moment.


    ¡°Barry, I don''t remember or know you but I''m borrowing your name because it''s all I can remember.¡± Barry said as he looked at the ceiling, almost as if he hoped this Barry was listening to him.


    Barry then turned to the entrance doors and walked out but not before voicing his opinion. ¡°But damn is Barry such a boring name.¡±.

 Chapter 2 - The Road Ahead

    It was after 5pm, the sun was setting and the weather was warm with a nice breeze going by, as Barry cruised down the road in a SUV from the crematorium.


    One hand on the steering wheel, the other out the window feeling the wind fly by. He was enjoying the cruise, it was soothing to him. Just him driving down a long stretch of road with no one but peace itself.


    He didn''t have a clue where he was, but he knew that the fresh tire tracks that he found outside the crematorium had to have been the doctor who fled in another vehicle. He had no memory of anything important so his current goal was tracking down the doctor.


    Eventually, the road was going up hill with no view of what was over it. So Barry slowed down, creeping up the hill, not wanting to hit anything he couldn''t react too.


    ¡°...fuck!¡± He cried as he immediately freaked before moving any further. There were a couple of cars parked a bit over the top of the hill he could see.


    Barry put the vehicle in park and stepped out of the vehicle to inspect what was over. He marched up the hill with a sigh, thinking that the road up ahead must be backed up by a bunch of other abandoned cars.


    ¡°I bet there''s going to be a crap ton of cars blocking the road¡­¡± He assumed.


    And when he reached the top, he was half right. Not only were there a stretch of cars blocking the road but there were his favorite stress relievers roaming about.


    ¡°Fucking wonderful! Of course it''s zombies that jammed up the roads.¡± Barry slammed his hand on the rear of car as he said. Looking up ahead, down the rest of the road leading into a city, he saw hordes of zombies wandering about. ¡°Well this is going to be a challenge to overcome¡­¡±


    He decided to try looting the cars that were near him since there weren''t any zombies. Quickly, he spent 30 minutes scoping out the cars and storing anything useful into his inventory.


    After looting the cars, he had obtained the following: snacks/food to last a week; 2x first aid kit; 1x multi-tool knife; 1x guitar; 1x baseball bat; 20x baseballs; 1x baseball helmet.


    He felt okay with his finds but did have an idea with the baseball equipment he had found. Another thing that he noticed from the items he had gathered, was that they had their own descriptions.


    For example, the baseball bat had a rarity description stating that it was a ¡®common¡¯ item, with 60% out of 100% durability, and an attack damage of +10. But something else like a plain white t-shirt he found would say ¡®Thin plain jane white t-shirt, what do you expect?¡¯.


    Barry wanted to equip the baseball bat and helmet, and when he thought of them, they appeared on him. Helmet and bat equipped.


    He wasn''t confident he would do a great job at accomplishing his plan but it was the best plan he had so far if he wanted to obtain some quick exp.


    Barry stood on one of the cars on the hill, he planned on hitting a couple of the cars down hill to trigger their alarms in order to attract a huge crowd of zombies. And when that happened, he would hopefully do the spectacular finish to his scheme.


    He commenced his plan, battering the baseballs towards the direction of cars he wanted to hit. The first 5 balls were going astray but after a few more, he started landing them on the cars he wanted.


    The moment the balls landed on the cars, they would immediately start blaring out their lights and setting off their alarms. He had made 4 car alarms go off with all the baseballs he had.


    ¡®Need to work on my form more but this is good enough.¡¯ He criticized himself. The ruckus the cars were making lured in the zombies around them. He watched them bash and claw at the vehicles before making his way to his own car.


    Barry got back inside his car and slowly backed up down hill and quickly backed up even further once he was on flat ground.


    When he decided he was far enough away from the hill. He stopped and started reving the engine to full throttle in park for a moment.


    ¡®This better work as well as I picture it in my head.¡¯ He hoped. This would be the sickest way to gain some experience points, he thought.


    With a swift shift of the gear to drive, he sent the car zooming as fast as it could. When it reached the hill, it started to slow down a bit but it kept moving.


    And when he felt like the car was going to be sent flying, he immediately hopped out the door and rolled on the ground tumbling to a stop.


    Barry swiftly got back on his feet, darting towards the direction of the car alarms just in time to see the SUV land on top of the group of cars surrounded by zombies.


    By the looks of it, there were about 60-80 zombies around the cars. And when the SUV collided with them, an explosion went off and blasted them back to the underworld.


    In an instant that it happened, Barry received multiple notifications saying ¡®Level Up!¡¯. He couldn''t help but feel good about what he had accomplished. It was something cool and managed to gain him multiple levels without much effort.


    Excited, he checked his profile and saw that he was now level 7. He also had a total of 30 points available to spend on increasing his stats.


    As excited as he was to have a bunch of points available to spend, he had to be smart. Right now he still needed to get through this road of walking dead. But he wasn''t going to dump all his points into his physical stats. He might need to save some for later in case he needed to switch up his build.


    After a moment of thinking, he decided to settle on holding half of his points for later. The other half, he was going to invest 6 points in agility, 5 points in strength, and 4 in endurance.


    His health and stamina increased significantly after submitting his points. Barry also noticed that he received a couple of small boosts in his health, stamina, and mana that must have been from just leveling up. But regardless, he could feel a boost of new found physical prowess circulate around his body.


    Suddenly, a chat window popped up in front of Barry''s face. ¡°(^_^) Heya! How''s it going contestant! I saw what you did and the viewer''s LOVE it! Driving a car off the hill and nose diving into a spectacular explosion, that''s awesome! However, I kinda wanna spice things up seeing as how you just got a bunch of levels¡­¡± The same mysterious person messaged Barry through the system.


    Another window appeared next to the chat window with the text, ¡®Event Objective: Survive 15 minutes while avoiding the fog of death; Penalty: Death (^_^); Reward: 1x Uncommon Starter Gear Kit; 1x Random Grade D Skill.¡¯.


    Once Barry finished reading the objective, he turned around behind himself with curiosity, wondering what this ¡®fog of death¡¯ looked like and how far.


    There in the distance, not close, was a massive purple fog that was approaching him. Barry couldn''t believe what was going on but expressed his current state with ¡°You gotta be fucking-¡±, before getting cut off by the system.


    ¡°Good luck! \(^_^)/¡± The system told him before closing the chat window.


    With no time to process what was happening, he instinctively started booking it down hill.


    With his newfound agility, it being at 10, he could feel as though he was much lighter from before and it surprised him. With his enhanced physical prowess, all he believed he could avoid almost every possible zombie confrontation on the long stretch of road. He could simply hop over the cars if he had too and his stamina was pretty good.


    As he zipped past the cars down hill and was about to reach the area of explosion he caused, the system once again opened up another chat window.


    ¡°Hmm (??? ), it seems like you moving a bit too fast for my liking. So¡­say¡­do you like dogs?¡± The system asked.


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    Loud howling could then be heard from behind Barry, which caused him to glance back to see what appeared to be wild feral undead hounds running down the hill. ¡°Enjoy! ????(? ?? ? - ? ) ?¡±. The system told him before closing the window.


    Barry had mentally put the system on his shit list after the the doctor for being a stuck up prick. ¡®Fuck this guy.¡¯.


    Even worse, while Barry was distracted looking back, a zombie that was hiding under a vehicle reached out grabbing one of his legs. He tripped over, landing on his side, shouldering the impact.


    He then looked to the zombie and before it could take a bite out of his leg, he bashed it''s head with the handle of his bat till it died from caving it''s skull in.


    He was about to get back up and move again but stopped when a window opened in his face with the option ¡°Loot.¡±.


    ¡°Uh, yes!¡± He said with hesitation and it opened a list of items that the corpse had. Each item in a square slot that he could either take individually or use the ¡®Take all.¡¯ option.


    ¡°I don''t have time for this! Just take all!¡± He shouted, if he wasn''t in such a rush, he would take his time looting the useful stuff.


    Barry then thought about the crowd of zombies he had blown up. ¡°Should I greed or not?¡¯ He thought, these were high stakes. ¡®...Greed.¡¯. He decided.


    He was close by the explosion of where it had happened. Fire was still lingering around and he had to take caution not to catch on fire.


    Barry scurried around the fallen dead, looting everything he could without even taking a glance of what they had.


    He peeked behind himself and noticed that the fog had already reached down hill, along with the hounds who were not far behind. ¡°Time to go.¡±.


    Dashing down a path, out of the fire, he kept working his legs as fast as he could. Brushing past a couple of zombies and slugging any that got in his way. Yet, he could hear the hounds gaining on him.


    Then, when he checked behind himself again, one of hounds had leaped on top of one of the cars ahead of him and lunged towards him with it''s jaws unhinged.


    But thanks to his 10 in agility, he managed to narrowly avoid the hound''s attack just barely by side stepping, dodging the attack.


    He now had a closer view of his new enemy. A part of it''s skull was showing along with other visible exposed parts of bone and torn flesh around it''s body. It''s fur was a light gray color, it''s eyes were sharp and milky colored reddish-orange. The beast snarled at Barry showing it''s jagged teeth.


    Barry didn''t want to waste any time with the hound so he fainted a retreat by pretending to turn away. This caused the hound to perform another lunge attack at his back, believing he was wide open but was met with a swing of his bat to the face.


    The beast flew back, hitting the side of a car and remained staggered for the moment. Barry then took the opportunity to continue legging it away.


    There were more hounds heading his way, along with the inevitable fog of death. No way was he going to stop and finish off the hound just for some loot and exp. He barely took any damage but his stamina was about halfway empty from running and defending himself so far. He also had a couple of swings left for his bat it seemed because it''s durability was getting kind of low.


    ¡®Should I use the rest of my remaining points?¡¯ He wondered, the thought of somewhere down the line needing them to switch up his build, made him hesitate. ¡®No, I just need to tough it out.¡¯.


    He was making some decent distance between the fog and himself until two more hounds halted his advance by blocking him on both his front and back. Not only were there just the hounds, but there were still zombies encircling his area. He turned his back towards the side of the car he was next to, keeping watch of the two hounds.


    He focused up, waiting at the ready in this life or death situation he was in. The evil beady eyes staring into his soul, the groans of the other zombies approaching his location.


    The first move was made by one of the hounds on his right but he countered it by slamming the side door of the car in it''s face. The hound was staggered, knocking back and shattering the glass of the door window.


    The second hound took it''s chance while he was distracted and pounced on him, sinking it''s teeth into his bat. Barry laid there on the ground face to face for a few moments till he managed to kick the canine off.


    The hound caught it''s fall, stabilized itself, and tried again but was also slammed in the muzzle by a car door. The beast was taken aback, giving Barry enough time to zip past.


    He had to get on top of the cars and long jump across to the next vehicle because there were too many zombies roaming about, the farther he went.


    He wasn''t keeping track of the time he had left for the event and wondered if he could see if he opened the quest info option.


    And when he thought it, the quest board magically appeared displaying all of the event''s information. However, he was only able to take a glance of it for a moment because a hound had knocked him over on top of a trailer, face first.


    Barry groaned in pain from slamming his head but the next thing made him clench his teeth to avoid shouting in agony. The canine had pierced it''s fangs into one of his shoulders and tugged on it.


    He tried swinging his bat at it''s head but another hound had arrived and sunk it''s jaws into his batting arm. Barry was now restrained and saw from a HUD displaying his current health and stamina which were ? HP and ? stamina. Things were looking dicey.


    Zombies were swarming around him as the hounds were holding him down, chewing on him. The fog was closing in and he seemed to be shit out of luck. ¡®Am I really going to die here? This early?¡¯ He thought, bearing through the pain the best he could but let loose a small yelp.


    Once again, unexpectedly, he started experiencing a headache again and blacked out.


    Another vivid dream played in his mind, he could faintly see a figure playing a video game with someone next to him on a couch it seemed. The person playing set his controller down, seeming frustrated.


    ¡°Why did you stop?¡± The person next to him asked, almost shocked.


    ¡°My health was low and I can''t figure out the attack patterns of so many enemies around me. Some of them are too unpredictable and their attacks seem delayed. It''s stupid! It''s much faster to die and try again.¡± The person responded, letting out a big sigh.


    ¡°Dude, just keep fighting. You haven''t even touched your consumables at all! You''ve been hoarding those since the very beginning, their meant to be used, not to be collectables.¡± The guy''s friend replied with encouragement.


    The guy shook his head. ¡°But I might need this more later-¡±


    ¡°Bro! You''ve been saying that since the beginning too! Later, is now! So use them.¡± The friend responded instantly, knowing what he was going to say.


    ¡°Fine! I''ll waste my consumables but I still won''t make it past those annoying pricks.¡± The guy huffed and picked up the controller to try again.


    After a couple of moments went by, the person playing stood up from the couch and shouted in anger ¡°Yeah! Fuck you all!¡±


    ¡°I told you, just use your resources and don''t hoard them all¡­by the way, you''re still ass bruh.¡± His friend said in a jokingly manner.


    The guy playing turned to look at him, Barry couldn''t see their faces but knew the guy was staring at his friend with an expression saying ¡®Really?¡¯.


    Barry''s day dream came to an end and he was back to reality. The hounds were still holding him down and the zombies were still all around the trailer he was on.


    Anger began to rise from within, he was not about to die without giving it his all. ¡°Open inventory!!¡± He yelled out and his inventory appeared, his eyes locking onto the first aid kits and snacks.


    ¡°Consume!¡± He commanded, depleting the resources he auto selected in his mind. Barry''s HP and stamina went back to full, using 1 med kit and half of his snacks.


    Facing the hound clenching down on his batting arm, he started headbutting it with his baseball helmet until eventually it let go. He swung his bat into it''s face, stunning it briefly. Barry then knocked the bat at the one trapping down on his shoulder.


    It, however, was the last time he would ever use the bar because it dematerialized. It''s durability had been reduced to 0 from that last hit, assuming that meant it could no longer be used. Barry stood back up and noticed that the fog was only a few yards away.


    One of the hounds got back up and leaped at him but Barry was ready. He bucked up, pulled his head back, and bashed his helmet into it''s snout, depleting it''s durability but taking it out.


    The second one recovered and tried to attack Barry as well, but he decided to contest the beast by catching it in mid-air.


    Although, he was on his knees when did catch the canine, he was able to slowly lift it from the bottom and when the fog got close enough to him, he tossed it into the fog. The hound growled but was enveloped into the fog of death, ending it''s life completely and earning Barry another ¡®Level Up!¡¯.


    He panted from exhaustion, he had ? stamina left and ? of his health but he knew he had to keep going. Barry was on top of the trailer and saw that there weren''t any cars close enough for him to long jump on.


    The zombies swarmed from all around and he had no other choice but see how far he could get from leaping across the zombies. So he sprinted across the trailer and gave it his all, clearing over a large gap of undead, yet still falling on top of a couple of zombies.


    The zombies that he fell on broke his fall but he could feel the ones around him clawing and even taking bites. His HP was dropping steadily, Barry thought about using his last med kit when his health would get close to the danger zone.


    He was close to getting out of the crowd but had to fight and worm his way out the rest of the way.


    Channeling his inner rage, he squirmed and struggled free from the undead''s grasps. Managing to stand up and doing all that he could to swim through the blockade of zombies.


    He was getting critically low on both HP and stamina so he decided to use up his last resources of med kit and snacks, recovering it all back. Barry could see a glimpse of his freedom just a bit more ahead.


    Barry shoulder tackled, slugged, kicked, shoved, and did his best to tough it out. And when he reached the end of the sea of evil undead, his freedom was in clear view. A long stretch of clear road towards the city.


    The only problem was that he was on the ground being pulled away from the zombies behind him. He kept doing his best to crawl forward but was having a hard time making progress.


    ¡°I.Will.MAKE IT!¡± He encouraged himself. The fog was closing in and his death was sure to come. He had done all that he could to make it as far as he could, Barry continued to struggle even if it seemed like it was pointless.


    ¡°I WILL FIND OUT WHO I AM!¡± He shouted as his whole body was being dog piled on by the undead. He was not ready to succumb to this sick game of the system.


    And seconds just before the fog of death had reached him, he received a message of relief. ¡®Congratulations! You''ve completed the objective and will now be rewarded!¡± A notification window appeared.


    And just then, Barry''s body began to feel lighter, the weight of the zombies on him was gradually being lifted it seemed. He realized the zombies were despairing and after a bit, it was just him.


    ¡®1¡Á Uncommon Starter Kit, 1x Random Grade D Skill added to inventory¡¯. The notification window told him.


    Barry laid there on the ground, turning with his face looking at the sky. It was officially nightfall, he had survived his first event and obtained some rewards in the process


    ¡®I''m so tired, if I had invested a bit more into strength and agility, those hounds might have been easier to handle.¡¯ He thought.


    Butt then he remembered the system had added in the hounds because he was moving faster than it was expecting. ¡®Actually, that would have been made things harder for me.¡¯.


    He wanted to lay there and rest all night long, but knew he couldn''t. He would have to seek shelter in one of the abandoned cars or something.


    It was a long day for him, waking up naked with no clear memory of his past or how he got in the crematorium. It was all a bizarre start for him. Then being told that he was in a life or death game called ¡®Lost Adventure.¡¯. It all still seemed like a dream but it was all real.


    ¡®And the fucking doctor!¡¯ He called up his fists just thinking about him. How would he like to end him, Barry wondered.


    Wanting rest, he got back up and started motioning towards a van that was close by. He opened the back of it and found a couple of boxes stacked inside. He would look through them once he got rest.


    Barry locked the doors and laid down, closing his eyes shut and hoping to fall asleep fast.


    Not even a minute goes by and a blue screen pops up emitting it''s usual blue light. ¡°What the fuck is it now¡­¡± he grumbled, his eyes opened.


    It was a chat window, but this one wasn''t from the asshole system person that would talk to him, it was from someone else it seemed.


    Apparently, the chat window was local, so it was coming from someone in the area. And the text was highlighted in yellow with an @everyone. ¡°@Everyone. Help, I''m in Millawauke City on Rhodes Street inside a bakery store. Please, I don''t want to die!¡±


    Barry was shocked to see a message from someone else, maybe this person could read the documents he had brought.


    Regardless, Barry''s response to the text was simple. ¡°I''m tired, good luck man and good fucking night.¡± He said to the screen and shut his eyes once more.

 Chapter 3 - Inner Conflict

    Time went by, maybe 8 hours till Barry awoke from his slumber. His back and neck ached from sleeping on the hard floor inside the van. ¡°I need to go out and stretch.¡± He mumbled, rubbing his back and neck.


    He opened the back door and stepped out, letting loose a yawn and began stretching his body all around. It was early morning and the sun was just coming up, peeking its bright orangish face out the horizon.


    Barry could see the city of Millawauke ahead down the road. If he had a working car, he could get there in less than half an hour or so. He would have to inspect the vehicles nearby for one with keys and worked.


    He went over to the van and began looting anything valuable that was inside the boxes. Barry rummaged through them, finding only tools for handyman work for the most part. Nothing of value he saw so far, he frowned, getting upset with his luck.


    He then went through his final box and saw something emitting a faint light. Barry stuck his hand inside, shoving around the useless junk and found a glowing silver chest. It was slightly bigger than his hand and was locked, he assumed it required a key of some kind to unlock it.


    ¡°This looks like it might contain something good, too bad I need a key it seems to unlock it.¡¯ Barry stored it in his inventory for later when he did find a way to open it.


    Barry then remembered the rewards he obtained from completing the event. ¡°That''s right! Almost forgot about them.¡± He opened up his inventory to look at what he had.


    In his inventory, he had stacks of undead monster parts, a multi-tool knife, 1,780 gold, 1x silver chest, 1x Uncommon Starter Kit, and 1x Random Grade D skill. He wasn''t sure as to what the undead parts were for but he held on to them, thinking there had to be some way to use them.


    He opened the starter kit and two health potions, a shortsword, and a set of PT clothes with a windbreaker jacket was materialized in front of him. He equipped his items which provided him a boost in agility, endurance, and strength. It also had a full armor set effect since he wore the entire outfit, which granted him a +20% increase in stamina recovery.


    The shortsword he was given had +35 attack, with +1 in both agility and strength. It also had a higher durability than the bat he was using so it was definitely a better weapon overall.


    Barry then looked to the random Grade D Skill and used it. A slot machine magically appeared in front of him, the arms handle tilted slightly towards him, almost as if asking him to pull it down. So he did just that, wishing for something decent.


    The slots spinned with a countdown of lights flickering above it. He was anxious to see what he would get, his heart was beating a bit faster than it would normally.


    Eventually, when the final light turned on, the slots immediately came to a stop. A burst of confetti came out from the machine, along with party whistles sounding off that Barry thought was weird.


    ¡®Enhanced Vision (Grade D) obtained!¡¯ A screen window appeared, informing him. He saw a icon distinguishing it, which was a singular eye looking sharp and focused with a 3D grid in the background of the icon.


    ¡®Passive/Toggle Ability: The user can will the ability to toggle off/on. When toggled on, the user can spot collectables and their rarity, hidden loot if looked hard enough, and known enemies easier. Also allows the user to see the HP of enemies. Current Grade: D; Exp till next Level: 0/10,000¡¯.


    Barry was interested in the skill, although it lacked offense or defense capabilities, it was more a utility skill that he knew he would come to appreciate. Being able to identify loot and their rarity from distances, as well as, spot enemies from far away and see their HP.


    He then went to his profile window and began adjusting his stats. Barry saw the boosts that he was getting from his outfit and sword alone which was (+1) in strength, (+4) in agility, and (+2) in endurance next to his base stats, separated. He assumed once he unequipped his items, those bonuses in parentheses would disappear.


    He then noticed a drop down menu labeled as ¡®More Additional Stat Info¡¯. He pressed on it and found a list of keyword stats labeled for resistances, armor rating, HP regeneration, stamina regeneration, magic regeneration, and bunch of others. He could also see a compiled list of his skills, traits, and such that he had at the moment.


    His armor rating was 75 at the moment which seemed important to know seeing as he was fighting zombies. Barry figured it meant his physical defense but didn''t know how it was calculated when taking damage.


    Anyways, Barry invested 5 points into strength and 3 points into endurance. He wanted to have more strength and endurance because he didn''t want to have a repeat of what happened towards the end of the event he had accomplished. His speed was decent already, especially with the bonuses he was getting from his equipment. Increasing his intelligence and wisdom would do no good since he didn''t know how they would help him and had no way to utilize the stats.


    Satisfied with his preparations, he spent the rest of his time searching for a working vehicle for his journey to the city ahead.


    Barry tried his ability, ¡®Enhanced Vision¡¯, thinking about it and his eyes flickered a light blue for a moment and he saw the world a bit differently.


    Every item or object that he was focused on or in sight, had text above them that read what they were with a type of color. For example, the sword that he was holding had green text reading ¡®Starter Shortsword¡¯. And when he looked at one of the wrenches he found in the boxes, it had black text reading ¡®Basic Wrench¡¯.


    Barry was curious what the colors meant between the two items and thought it must have meant the rarity. The wrench was a common item while the shortsword was an uncommon item. He then continued his search for a working vehicle.


    He checked the van but no keys were inside and he didn''t know how to hotwire a vehicle. Barry checked every other car in his vicinity but they were all either broken down or keyless. ¡°Am I going to have to walk there?¡± He questioned the unknown, dreading how long that would take.


    Barry took another glance around and spotted something that made him shout ¡°Seriously!!¡±


    [Transition scene]


    ¡°This,¡± Barry was huffing and puffing. ¡°Is fucking stupid.¡± He complained, as he rode a bike he found on a car rack.


    It took him an hour and a half to get near the city. His investment in endurance had made his travel a lot smoother with having more stamina but it still tucked. But as his environment got more city like, he slowed down and decided to get off the roads to avoid being a visible target.


    Barry came to a stop next to a map post that had flyers with purple text saying ¡® Map of Millawauke City¡¯. He went to grab one and it disappeared, followed by a notification reading ¡®Millawauke City has been updated to World Map!¡¯. Then the map of the city appeared on it''s usual blue screen.


    On the map, there was a white circle with a red arrow pointing in one direction. There were buildings drawn around with the names of the streets and such. He assumed the white dot was him because everyday he turned, the red arrow would turn the same way. He also discovered that he could zoom in/out by just pinching and expanding. He could also do a couple other things like pinning waypoints with each one a different color.


    He searched the map for the street that one person was requesting for help at. The street was much farther down north-east. Barry marked the street as a waypoint and planned to take the alleyways to avoid confronting too many zombies on his way over.


    The doctor also crossed his mind and he hoped that he would find him in the city and make him pay for abandoning him.


    Barry got moving on foot taking the alleys. He spotted a few test dummies, zombies, wandering to try out his new sword. No way was he a professional swordsman or expert fighter, but he had to get accustomed to fighting in general.


    With his first target, he swiftly managed to cut down his enemy in two slashes before it could react to his movements. The rest of his foes charged forth at him but he was much faster than them, evading their actions with ease and cutting each one down as he watched their HP deplete to 0 with his ability.


    He was able to feel the temporary buffs he was getting from the title he had gained, ''Psycho Blood Artist''. It provided him a boost in strength and agility everytime he drew first blood from his foes, stacking up to 5x only. If he had max stacks, it would not refresh everytime he would attack another.


    Barry would loot the fallen dead afterwards before moving on. He would keep glancing at his mini map as he went, checking the distance between him and the waypoint.


    Eventually, he would come to a halt when he heard commotion going on down a different path. ¡°They keep coming! I don''t see an opening!¡± A man shouted, they sounded distressed.


    Barry rushed to the direction of the sound to inspect the situation. He wanted to know if it was worth assisting whoever was over there.


    When he arrived, Barry peeked from the corner of the alley and saw a little boy being shielded by what he could assume to be his father.


    The father was fending off a crowd of zombies that were circling them arounf a bus. The father was wielding a stop sign, flailing it at the zombies.


    He seemed to have invested a lot of his points into his strength because each zombie that came into contact with his weapon was torn from their waist. However, despite his immense strength, he appeared to be getting tired quickly which meant that he had to have low endurance.


    Barry started weighing his option of helping ot not. The situation seemed like too much of a hassle with a hordes of zombies to deal with, if it was smaller then maybe but still. He didn''t know the people and they didn''t look to have anything of value.


    ¡®Jumping in would just cause more problems for myself. Besides, I get nothing out of helping them.¡¯ He thought, making up his mind by turning away from the situation.


    He walked two steps away before his body instantly froze in place and felt a burning sensation of discomfort inside, he clutched his chest. ¡®What is this?¡¯ Barry was confused as he leaned against a wall.


    ¡°Dad!¡± The boy cried out as he watched his father almost get hit by a zombie that lunged at him.


    Howls could then be heard from a distance which could only mean one thing, the hounds had decided to come out and play.


    The father kept fighting on, paving away the zombies making minimal success towards creating an escape path but knew deep inside he was likely to succumb to exhaustion.


    ¡°Son,¡± The father panted. ¡°I''m going to use everything I''ve got to charge through to get you out. Then I want you to run.¡± The father ordered, as he continued to fight off the hordes.


    ¡°No, don''t do this dad!¡± The son cried, not ready to possibly lose his father.


    The father did one more good swing before picking up his child, cradling him close to his chest as he gave out a big war cry, charging through the crowd of undead.


    He tackled every single zombie he came in contact with, knocking them to the side like they were nothing and eventually making it out of the swarm.


    The son got back on the ground, tears in his eyes but with a weak smile. ¡°Dad, you did it! Let''s run now, come on!¡± The boy said, pulling on his father''s arm.


    The father was motionless for a moment but stood up slowly with his knees shaking. He placed a hand on his son''s head and rubbed it before bringing him in for a hug. ¡°Dad?¡± The son said, sounding worried.


    ¡°I can''t go with you son, my body is too weak right now to follow¡­but my will to keep them away from you is still strong. Just know that I''ll always love you.¡± The father told his son in a weak but loving tone. He turned his back to his son, facing the coming wave of zombies, raising his weapon with both hands.


    An undead hound appeared on the scene, leaping onto a nearby car glaring at the father with it''s hungry eyes.


    The father braces himself for his last stand, determined to ensure nothing got past him. ¡°We can make it dad, please don''t do this!¡± The boy pleaded.


    The hound readied it''s hind legs and pounced towards the dad with it''s fangs opened wide, along with the zombies that marched their way to the family.


    ¡°AAAAAH!¡± The father shouted out loud, pumping himself up and drawing everything he had left within.


    The dad was prepared to launch a counterattack, but strangely the hound had halted mid-air in front of the family. It was then pulled back, getting flinged towards the hordes, knocking a good amount of them over like bowling pins.


    There stood Barry in front of them, sword ready to cut down anymore foes that came close. He then looked over his shoulder, glanced at the father and son yelling ¡°GO!¡±. His tone of voice seemed as though he was mad.


    The two stood there stunned, they were shocked to see that someone had arrived to their rescue. ¡°FUCKING GO! NOW!¡± Barry ordered once again, gripping his sword with both hands even tighter.


    The boy was the first to react to his command and pulled on the father''s arm once again. This caused the father to break out of his daze, speechless, and followed his son from behind through the alley.


    The zombies continued their assault, charging towards Barry now. The canine recovered, probably pissed that it''s tail was yanked and tossed away like a rag doll.


    Barry, with his agility and strength, rushed around the zombies and began leaping on top of cars and open spots with less zombies. He heard the howl of the hound from the back, probably calling for more doggies to come out and play fetch.


    All the while, Barry was irritated. Not because of the people he just saved but because of why he did it. ¡®Why did I get myself in this situation? I knew this would happen! Fuck!¡¯.


    He had planned to walk away and leave them too their fate but something inside had compelled him to help them escape. Even if it seemed illogical or more trouble than it was worth.


    A couple of zombies got too close but were dispatched swiftly. ¡®I just put myself at risk for nothing to gain. WHY!?¡¯ He questioned himself, continuing onwards.


    Two more hounds were spotted dashing out of the corner of a street towards him. He reacted to one of them jumping at him by sliding under and slashing it''s belly a few times, dropping it''s HP down by 50% and kept moving.


    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    The second one tagged in but missed it''s attack, smashing head first into a car window.


    As more noise was made, more undead was sure to follow and soon Barry had created a train of undead following his lead.


    Barry''s eyes scanned around for the highest building that he could find and spotted an apartment building quickly running to it. He leaped, grabbing hold of the ledge of a window and pulling himself up.


    A hound, the first one he made a fool of, caught up and bit down on one of his legs. Barry gritted his teeth and endured, stabbing it through the head, subduing the beast.


    He moved fast climbing up to the roof, utilizing the edges and anything he had a firm grip on. Eventually, he managed to get on top of the roof and laid flat on it. Taking a moment to regain his stamina.


    Barry was glad he had increased his endurance and have the 20% increase in stamina regen from the armor set he was wearing.


    Not long after resting for a bit, a blue screen appeared. ¡°(,,?o?,,) wow, how heroic of you to step in and help a father and son. Once again you amaze me and the viewers watching!¡± It was the same person that had interacted with him from the beginning.


    ¡°Fuck you! Just get on with the next round of bullshit you have.¡± Barry marked back at the mysterious person.


    ¡°(????-)? oh no, not yet contestant. You''ll have to wait a bit longer before you and a bunch of others face what we have in store for you. It''s a big surprise that I''m sure you''ll enjoy. But since you want a challenge so badly, I''ll send a little something your way¡­¡± The system responded with it''s usual sassy tone.


    Suddenly, Barry could hear something making a ruckus. It wasn''t coming from below, but instead in the air somewhere. Quickly getting back on his feet, he looked around his surroundings until he spotted something in the sky. He focused his sight and saw faintly what appeared to be multiple HP bars.


    Needless to say, he once again was on t he move and dashed to the door that lead to inside the building but realized it was locked after messing with it. Breaking down the door would require time that he did not have.


    Barry went to the edge of one side of the building and jumped across to the next roof, trying the next door but no dice. ¡°Damn it!¡±


    Barry heard the sounds of cawing in the direction of the flying mobs and looked towards it. ¡®Crows?¡¯ He discovered his new foes were a swarm of undead birds. About a hundred or so, he could not see a way of fighting them with just a sword, there were too many.


    He had to find shelter quickly so he kept running till he could find another way to enter a building but saw that he was running out of buildings to cross over.


    The crows were closing in and he only had two options left which were; break his fall on top of a car and cause an alarm; or jump through a building window.


    Barry chose the latter, he spotted an apartment building and sprinted full speed towards it. He had glanced back to see that the birds were about a few yards away which pumped him up even more.


    And at the last moment, he transferred all of his momentum into one giant leap, clearing a the gap between him and the apartment window he was aiming for.


    He crossed his arms around his body, bracing for impact. The birds zoomed past him, he could hear their wings flapping hundreds of times in his ears before crashing into a bedroom and tumbling on the floor, slamming into a wall.


    He got up and dusted himself off of the broken glass. The system chat window appeared. ¡°You''re very tenacious, I''ll give you that contestant.¡± The system complimented. ¡°Most of the other contestants would have acted like a deer in headlights at the sight of these mobs of undead. But YOU, you react to almost any situation thrown at you with clear and precise focus.¡±


    Barry went out of the bedroom and planned to rest a bit somewhere else in the building. ¡°I don''t need your praise, so you can stop.¡± He responded coldly.


    ¡°Ouch, how rude. But I''m sure me and the viewers would like to know what motivates you to keep moving through this nightmare of the dead.¡± It said.


    Barry roamed down the halls trying to find an open room to enter. ¡°How about getting the chance to meet you so I can strangle you into telling me my identity. I know you are prohibiting me from learning anything about myself.¡±


    There was a moment of silence for a good bit. Barry found it odd for the system to stop it''s sassy and mysterious personality. Then it responded. ¡°Sure contestant ( ? ? - ) ?, I believe we can arrange that. In fact, it might be sooner than you think.¡±


    Barry''s eyes lit up for the first time at hearing that he could know about who he was. ¡°Are you lying? You better not be.¡± He asked in a serious tone.


    ¡°Absolutely! However¡­¡± The system stopped for a moment. Barry glanced out the windows of the hallway and saw HP bars in the sky heading his way. ¡°...you''ll still need to survive if you wish know!¡±


    Barry double timed and checked every doorknob of every door he came across, but none of them were opening. Down the hall, he heard glass shatter and saw the same flock of crows flying towards him. Their caws echoing the hallway.


    And almost on queue, he found an open door, zipped inside, and locked it. He also spotted a cabinet close by and moved it in front of the door for good measure.


    He could hear pecking on the door, it was like multiple drills were working their way through the door. Barry felt as if there was no escaping these types of enemies. He had to think of a way to eliminate them all but how was the question.


    Barry thought about the time he blew up a bunch of zombies but how was he going to reenact it again¡­


    His eyes looked to the kitchen stove and thought about tampering with the gas line and lighting a fire. He found a candle on a counter and assumed there had to be matches or a lighter somewhere.


    He looked out the living room window and saw that he was about two and a half stories high. There below was a crashed truck with a trailer behind it. He had no other escape option if he was going to pull this off.


    Using his ¡®Enhanced Vision¡¯, he managed to locate matches in a disorganized drawer and grabbed the candle with him to the stove. The birds were almost done breaching through the door as he heard the cabinet shake.


    Wasting no time, he swiftly opened the oven hatch to find and open the gas lines with the multi-tool knife from his inventory. Barry prepared the candle, lighting it and placing it under a glass jar before turning on the oven.


    ¡°I¡¯m practically jumping all over this damn city.¡± He complained, then saw something going on further down the street he was going to fall on to soon.


    There was a group of people running towards his direction fending off a horde of zombies. ¡°Fuck! Why the hell are they bringing more zombies to me!¡±


    The sound of the door being breached and the cabinet being tipped over brought him back to his situation.


    Barry bolted to the window as he threw his multi-tool knife at the glass jar with the candle and shielded his body, shattering through the window.


    He plummeted down, hearing the roar of the apartment exploding, sending the roasted birds back to rest. He once again gained another achievement title that was named ¡®Roasted Chicken Fiesta!¡¯.


    Barry dented the roof of the trailer when he landed, shouldering his fall and feeling a bit of pain, while also getting the air knocked out of his lungs. Thankfully, he had a good amount of health. But he was now at 60% HP and 55% Stamina from everything that had happened to him so far.


    ¡°Did you see that!?¡± He could hear someone shout out. ¡°Someone fell out of that window that just exploded!¡±


    ¡°We have bigger problems! Keep running!¡± Another replied, reminding them that they themselves were also in danger.


    Barry slowly got up, rubbing his shoulder that mitigated his fall damage. ¡®Time for another shit fest that I didn''t ask for.¡¯ He was not enjoying his day so far.


    He saw 3 men, 1 woman, and 1 teenage boy, sprinting their way leading a group of zombies to him. There were a ton of health bars he was seeing, which made him decide a very easy choice. Leave.


    Looking at the map, he had a couple more blocks left to head to his destination. But honestly, at this point, he felt it was a hassle just making his way to it, with everything that''s happened so far to him.


    Yet, since he had nothing better to do besides looking for that doctor, he still planned on going because it was close by if he just kept moving.


    ¡®I''ll fly past them and keep heading down. In fact¡­¡¯ He invested 5 of his available stat points that he was reserving into his agility. ¡®...there, I should have an easier time.¡¯.


    Just when he was about to move, he heard what seemed to be a short whistle but sharp. He then heard the cry of a woman in pain. Another whistle was heard and then it was a man who shouted in pain. The two sounds were from the people who were trying to flee.


    Barry looked ahead and noticed that there was a new type of enemy. It was a skeletal undead with sharp bones protruding out of it''s body. One of it''s arms held a bone shield while the other was in the form of a narrow cannon. There were two of them and they were firing spears of bones that could pierce through car doors.


    The rest of the group halted, unsure of whether to help or not. The teenager made his decision to go back and help the two adults who were limping. Another guy went to help but the last man shook his head and kept running.


    Barry sighed and continued with his plan to flash past them. ¡°Just ignore them and keep going. There''s no reason for me to help.¡± He told himself, he didn''t know them and he really didn''t want to expend any more energy helping.


    So he dashed as fast as he could, trying to conceal himself the best he could behind the cars around him.


    More rounds were fired and the limping man was hit in the back, falling down. ¡°Kyle!¡± The boy and woman shouted.


    The teenager had reached the man and began supporting him on one side. The injured woman was still behind slowly following. Zombies were closing in on her eventually.


    ¡°Kat! We need to help her!¡± The injured man named Kyle said, grunting in pain.


    ¡°I''ve got her, just keep going you two!¡± One of the men from the group responded, rushing past to help. He bashed a couple of zombies that were around her before assisting.


    ¡°Just leave me and help Eric and Kyle. I''m only going to slow you guys down.¡± The woman said, holding one side of her injured leg.


    ¡°No, we can do this. Believe me!¡± The man tried encouraging her, despite how ugly things were looking.


    The two undead skeletons kept firing at the group who had to stop and take cover. But the woman tripped from her injured leg causing the man who was helping her to also fall.


    Rounds of spears flew past them as they ducked. They could do nothing but stay low for the moment while the zombies motioned towards them.


    Barry was witnessing it all go down and all the while thinking ¡®Don''t do it. Don''t do it.¡¯ He wanted to go about his day, having had enough action.


    And yet, something inside him burned, urging him to leap into the fray again. ¡®No! Leave them!¡¯ The feeling intensified. ¡®No!¡¯ His legs began to turn in the direction of the helpless. ¡®I DON''T WANT TOO!¡¯.


    The man and woman hadn''t realized but a few zombies were about to attack them as they laid low. One of the zombies lunged at them but was decapitated by a swing of Barry''s sword.


    He swiftly did the same to the other zombies near him and man handled one of the bodies by gripping its arms and sides with both hands. Using it as a meat shield for the bones pears. It''s body was slowly becoming a porcupine.


    The two strangers noticed the firing had stopped and saw Barry using a zombie for cover. ¡°Who-¡± Kat, the brunette woman, tried to speak but was cut off.


    ¡°Why did you make me do this!?¡± Barry yelled at them like a madman. ¡°I just fended off another swarm of zombies for some other people, got chased by fucking crows, jumped out of a fucking building and now look where I am again! In more deep shit trouble! A damn party I never asked for!! He was so pissed.


    The two people were unsure of how to respond. They just looked at him and the zombie who was already over qualified to be considered a porcupine.


    Barry clenched his teeth for a moment, he was so mad at himself for stepping in mostly but also that the people weren''t leaving already. ¡°That means, GET FUCKING MOVING!¡± His voice boomed.


    The two got back up and scurried on out of there. But then the woman looked back once and replied back. ¡°Thank you crazy guy!¡± And the two continued leaving.


    Barry could understand sounding crazy, what he couldn''t understand was why his body had killed itself to help.


    A shot flew and grazed one of his legs. He winced, it wasn''t bad but it did agitate him. He was ready to vent out his frustration at the bastards before him.


    Peeking around the porcupine he was holding, he spotted the two new enemies and took a charging stance. ¡°How many can I stick on this body to make a shish kebab?¡± He wondered and started storming ahead towards the two bone heads.


    He rammed into crowds of zombies like a spartan before eventually reaching the skeletons and ramming one to the side with his make-shift shield.


    Barry let go and counted the number of bodies that stuck on his kebab. He frowned ¡°Just 5 huh? The spikes weren''t long enough I guess.¡± He had thought he would have stuck on more.


    The second skeleton tried firing at Barry but since he was close to it and had good enough agility, he was able to close in the gap between them before it had a chance to fire.


    Barry struck at it''s cannon arm with his sword but only managed to nick the bone. ¡®Shoot, figured a sword wasn''t going to do much against these guys.¡¯ He would need a blunt weapon of some kind, or something to pierce through bone.


    The first skeleton he had knocked over, had a bone spear protruding out of it''s cannon and tried to take a stab at Barry but dodged it by bouncing off the second skeleton''s shield. This caused the spear attack to stab through the shield and remain stuck.


    ¡®Perfect!¡¯ He landed on the lance that was stuck in the shield and repeatedly started kicking at the second skeleton''s hand that was holding the shield. It tried to stop Barry with it''s own lance but he managed to grasp it. ¡®Almost got it¡­¡¯ He could hear the bone hand cracking, also it''s HP was taking small ticks of damage from his kicks.


    His stamina was nearing 25% but he eventually managed to break it''s hand and take the shield. Ripping it off the spear as well.


    The second one was shieldless but yanked away it''s spear away from Barry and tried stabbing him but he evaded the attack. He then followed it up with a shield bash, knocking it to the ground.


    The other one took it''s chance to attack him, actually managing to stab him at the side of his shoulder. It hurt but only fueled his rage.


    He turned to feint an attack, causing it to raise it''s shield, but Barry placed a hand on it, slamming it to the ground and vaulting over. Raising both legs, targeting it''s head and releasing the full force of two kicks, cracking it''s skull. It stumbled back but Barry pressed the attack, continuously pounding it''s skull with his shield.


    The other skeleton tried to sneak a stab at Barry but he was expecting it and guided the lance, driving it into the first skeleton''s skull, defeating it.


    He was getting exhausted and had to wrap it up. He swept his final foe off it''s feet with his shield and pinned it to the ground.


    Raising his shield high, he used the edges of the shield to strike at it''s neck, cracking it little by little until he decided to ditch the shield and start pulling on it''s skull.


    ¡°I''m. Sick. Of. All. This. BULLSHIT!¡± He yelled, yanking the skull off, along with its spine, raising it into the air. He was really going through the motions, Barry was exhausted.


    He wanted to rest but the sounds of zombie moaning in the background got him back on his feet. He looted the bodies of the fallen and got back to moving to find some shelter he could find. There was a clothing store that he entered through a shattered window and went inside the employees break room, locking the door.


    Barry saw a couch and laid on it without hesitation, he was slumpt. ¡®So tired¡­need rest¡­¡± He felt like he had done 10 or so marathons in a row. He would describe his day as a bunch of pointless rescuing which was a waste of time and energy.


    There was a fridge and pantry nearby. He wondered if there was any food inside and got up to check. Scoping about, he realized that the power was out and so almost everything in the fridge was spoiled. The pantry on the other hand, still had some snacks in it to consume for stamina. He used up one of his health potions and consumed some snacks to recover almost all of his health and stamina. He would take a kickback to recover the rest.


    Suddenly, the TV in the break room came on strangely. There was no electricity in the building, so how could it turn on without any power source?


    A smiley face emoji came on screen and Barry instantly figured out the reason why.


    ¡°Greetings contestants!¡± A cheerful male''s voice said from the TV. ¡°I''ve been enjoying the spectacular show you have all been putting out today. From the tragic display of self sacrifice, to the acts of heroism that made me cry. You have all gotten a taste of near death and survived up till now. Which is why, I believe everyone is ready to face the main event!¡±


    The image on the TV changed like a PowerPoint, switching between images. ¡°This event will require teamwork and I mean it! It''ll be sorta like an Easter Egg hunt you humans call it. There are 4 objects that you must collect in order to complete this event. On your map, you will find 4 waypoints to these objects and you must destroy them all together. You all have 24 hours to complete this event. All who participate will gain a little something but the top 3 contributors will obtain an even bigger reward in ranking order. Simple enough right?¡±.


    Barry knew there was some catch to this event and awaited to hear the rest.


    ¡°There is one very important thing I should mention¡­¡± The systems voice trailed off and almost on queue, the floor started to tremble causing Barry to fall to his knees.


    It was a massive earthquake for a moment and then it stopped. ¡°...someone else has come out to play with you all. Good luck contestants!¡± The TV exploded, shattering the screen.


    Barry bolted out the room to look out from the store windows. What he saw made his spine tingle a bit from shock.


    There in the distance down the street a massive crater was formed. A hill of moving corpses shifted down the road with a throne of skulls and bones.


    Sitting on the throne was what appeared to be an undead king clad in armor and wielding a halberd pointing it in the direction it commanded it''s hill and legion of undead to go. And above it''s head where it''s HP bar would be was red with a skull and bones crossing.


    ¡°Oh hell no¡­¡±

 Chapter 4 - Man On The Run

    A parade of undead marched down the streets of the city with their king sitting on its throne, overseeing his army doing what they did best. Clearing and hunting down stray people out and about in his streets.


    Luckily the boss monster was roaming in the opposite direction of the streets where Barry was originally planning to go. Which also happened to be the same spot where one of the four quest items was at.


    Him and everyone in the city had less than 24 hours to find the objects or they would all be damned to hell for not doing so. Barry was confident that he would contribute his end of the quest, but he wasn''t sure if the rest of the people would as well.


    Barry arrived at the street he had pinned on his map finally. It was weirdly quiet with no mobs nearby in sight except for what seemed like another group of survivors he just now noticed in front of a bakery. He assumed that it had to be the one that the person in the chat said.


    He got closer to the group as quietly as possible until he was able to eavesdrop on what was being said.


    It was a group of three men with weapons in hand. ¡°The thing is in there, this has to be the place on the map.¡± One of them said.


    ¡°So go find it!¡± Another responded, nudging his pal to go inside.


    ¡°It''s fucking dark in there dumbass! We go in there together, so let''s not be idiots.¡± The smart one suggested and went in, the rest following behind. Barry shadowed them from the back, keeping his distance.


    It was a fancy bakery, WAS, with bread, pastries, cakes etc, all spread out around the store. It smelled kinda sweet but stale. Tables and other pieces of furniture were flipped and scattered about. Display cases shattered and what not. The men had to use their phones as flashlights with one hand as they inspected the place.


    Barry felt a sort of similar sensation to the ones he would get when he tried resisting to help someone. Only this time, it was a good feeling, the smell of stale baked goods despite being spoiled gave him some serenity. He wondered why it made him feel this type of way compared to the other times. ¡®Could it be that I liked bakeries?¡¯ He wondered.


    The men stopped their investigation when they heard banging coming from the back. All eyes were on the back door to the kitchen. It shook violently, the pounding beating to a certain rhythm.


    The leader of the group did some hand signals and moved towards the door. His men followed at the ready for when he would open the door.


    His hand gripped the door handle and swung it open, revealing a fallen zombie that happened to look up for a moment to see an axe aimed at it''s skull, ending it right then and there.


    They all waved their phones in the kitchen, checking for any undead. When suddenly, two hands shot up from behind a counter. ¡°Don''t hurt me! I''m a survivor!¡± It was a woman''s voice.


    The leader waved his hand down, telling the others to lower their weapons. The group of men shined their lights in her direction.


    The woman rose from behind the counter, squinting her eyes from the multiple lights being aimed at her. ¡°Could you ease on the lights please? You''re all blinding me.¡±


    The lights stopped spotlighting her, she had white skin and blood red hair, her eyes shined a bright red in the light. ¡°Did you kill it?¡± She asked, her voice sounding shaky.


    ¡°What? This thing¡± One of the men replied, poking at the fallen zombie. ¡°Yeah, it''s a goner for good. It won''t be troubling you anymore beautiful.¡±


    ¡°We''re here for one of the quest items but also realized that someone had called for help at a bakery on this street. We assume that you were the one to make that request?¡± The leader asked the woman in a calm tone.


    ¡°Yes, that was me. I stayed hiding inside one of the counters waiting for help. I was so scared.¡± She weeped.


    The men looked at each other for a second and one spoke. ¡°You can tag along with us. We''re a pretty strong group ourselves.¡±


    ¡°Really!? Just you three?¡± She asked, wiping away her tears.


    ¡°Hell yeah, we''re all level 4s and have come a long way with handling these freaks. We can honestly probably clear this quest on our own.¡± The leader replied, sounding cocky.


    ¡°Really now? I might take you up on that offer than good sirs.¡± She responded in a cutesy tone.


    One of them grinned. ¡°We would be more than welcomed to-¡± The one speaking had stopped talking abruptly, the woman had disappeared in front of their eyes in a puff of black smoke.


    ¡°H-huh? Where-¡± The person began to gargle on something and started spewing out blood on the floor. The other two turned with their flashlights to see one of their men lay on the floor deceased after some twitching.


    ¡°H-He''s dead!? Where did that woman go-¡± The other man wasn''t able to finish his sentence as the leader watched his last man get stabbed in the back of his neck with a knife.


    The leader was the last one standing and started panicking. ¡°W-Who are you!? Why the hell are you doing this!? We just wanted to help!¡±


    The man then tripped over one of his deceased friends, falling flat on the floor. His hands came into contact with the blood that was pouring out of his pals throat. ¡°Tell me!¡± He pleaded.


    His body was flipped around with a dagger pointed at his neck. ¡°You all were hiding your true intentions from me from the start. So drop the innocent act filth!¡± The scarlet woman had appeared in front of the man, her blade slowly inching towards his neck closer and closer.


    The man''s facial expression turned into a face of anger, he then spat at the woman''s face. ¡°Fuck you bitch! You would have had it-¡± He didn''t get to finish his sentence due to a dagger being stabbed through his throat.  He tried gasping for air but all it did was seep out blood.


    The woman stowed away her dagger into her inventory and stood up. ¡°Mouse, you can come out now. I''m done with our guests.¡± She said, as if there was someone else in the room with her.


    A little girl climbed out of one of the counter cabinets and moved towards one of the dead players then started looting. ¡°This guy just has junk, Anna.¡± The little girl told the woman, sounding disappointed.


    ¡°Same here, this group was a bust. We should keep searching for those quest items. One of them has to be in her somewhere.¡± Anna replied before searching the room for the item.


    Barry was hiding around a corner with a view of the kitchen, watching it all go down. He was able to catch glimpses of the woman, Anna, teleporting behind the group of people multiple times. He wondered if that was a type of skill or ability similar to his.


    He then tried to get a closer inspection with his ¡®Enhanced Vision¡¯ but stepped on a piece of broken glass, making a crunching noise. ¡®Shit!¡¯ He thought, automatically he assumed that his cover was blown and when he looked to the room, the woman and kid were gone.


    Instantly, he faced the other way with his sword drawn and swung it behind himself. He figured since the woman could teleport based on what he saw, that she had already done so. He was right.


    The woman, surprised at how he knew that she had teleported behind him, reacted fast enough to back off. Her eyes locking onto Barry with both knives drawn. ¡°Perceptive bastard you are, I assume you know of my skill already huh?¡± She questioned him, not dropping her gaze for a second.


    ¡°Yeah, I know about your houdini act. Care to try it again?¡± Barry took a loose stance, he was ready for another one of her tricks to defend against. He could also see her HP bar, he assumed the reason was because he saw her as an enemy.


    She looked at him, almost as if she was studying him it seemed in Barry''s eyes. ¡°What? Think I''m bad news as well like the rest of those guys you murdered?¡± He asked.


    Anna looked irritated then. ¡°So you did see everything that happened? Well believe me, I know they had bad intentions because I have an ability that tells me so. I did the world a favor by disposing of them.¡±


    Barry gave it some thought, it could be possible that she was telling the truth, but then he remembered that she said she was the one who sent out the SOS message he saw the other day.


    ¡°You and those guys were talking about a message that was sent out calling help here. I just saw you kill three guys on your own, why would you send that message if you were this strong already? Seems suspicious.¡± He wanted to know if she was a malicious person herself.


    She sighed, not lowering her guard. ¡°Alright fair, you got me there. I only did that so that it would be easier to get loot, have people come to me and take half of what they have. That''s if I see that they''re a decent person, otherwise they end up like those idiots, I rob them of their life. Trust me, I only kill the scum.¡±


    Barry remained focused, he still had doubts about her motive for sending out that message. ¡°I don''t trust you and I believe you feel the same, yet we both are trapped in this crap shoot of a nightmare. So how about we both cooldown, sound fair?¡± He suggested.


    Anna gave it some thought and shook her head. ¡°Mmm, yes and no. I happened to be here first for the quest item and making it as the highest contributor sounds pretty good. So how about I let you leave and go on about your day and I stay here? Sound fair?¡± She countered with a smirk.


    ¡°You''ve been here for how long and you still haven''t found the item? How can I trust you to even find it with the amount of time you''ve been here? No, I''m willing to bet my life that I can find it within 10 minutes. I guarantee you I will and when I do, it''s mine to keep¡± Barry was confident that his vision would be able to point out where the quest item was.


    The scarlet woman laughed, she found it funny that some stranger thought they could do a better job finding the item than her with their life on the line. ¡°You''re funny, fine. I''ll give you 10 minutes to find this damn thing but if you don''t, you die and I''m taking everything you own. Now go sniff it out detective.¡± She stowed her weapons.


    Barry did the same before moving on into the kitchen, he then saw the little girl that Anna was talking to. She sat on a counter dangling her legs with a smile, waving at Barry. ¡°Hi sir! My name''s Luna, it''s a pleasure to meet you before your final moments.¡±


    Barry looked at Luna then back at Anna. ¡°You mean it''s a pleasure to meet someone who will make your sister look so stupid for not finding something so obvious.¡± He countered, sounding confident.


    Luna giggled at his response, looking back at Anna who also couldn''t help but laugh.¡±Get a load of this guy Luna, so full of himself. Let''s hope he has something worth of value when he''s dead.¡± Anna said.


    Barry ignored her threat and began his search. Normally, items or objects would have a colored text above them, depending on what they were. He would mainly see black font that meant they were commons. But when he saw the undead boss with his halberd, there was an orange font color with the text ¡®???¡¯. He assumed that his skill just wasn''t at a high enough level to read it.


    He figured maybe these quest items would also look somewhat similar in that aspect.


    Barry rummaged through the room, looking inside cabinets, drawers, even the fridges but nothing stood out to him¡­except for one broken tile that stuck out halfway underneath a counter.


    ¡°What''s the issue, wise guy? Can''t find it?¡± Anna mocked with a grin.


    Above the broken tile, there was yellow text reading ¡®???¡¯. He flipped the counter over which startled Luna but caused even more amusement for Anna. ¡°Oh, so now you''re deciding to break shit. Someone''s looking desper-¡±


    The woman stopped talking when Barry lifted the broken tile and found a small hatch. He lifted it open, revealing a vase that looked like an antique and a small potion vial filled with green liquid.


    The name of the potion was green and it read ¡®Endurance Potion +2¡¯ which had to mean that it was an uncommon item. He would drink it at that moment without hesitation, receiving a small boost in his stat. To him it tasted like a hard candy that was liquefied, green apple flavor.


    The vase had purple text that read ¡®Noble''s Ashes¡¯. He could only assume that this was one of the quest items that he was supposed to gather based on the color. He then placed it in his inventory.


    Once he did that, the three of them in the kitchen all received an announcement notification, saying that ? quest items had been obtained.


    The woman was speechless, she couldn''t believe that the item was simply in the floor tiles. She had been pacing around the room the whole time trying to find the darn thing.


    Barry looked at Anna and couldn''t help but express a small smirk. ¡°I told you, you weren''t looking good enough.¡± He said before he motioned past the two.


    Anna remained in place, fists balled but keeping her promise to let him go with the item. Luna could tell that her sister was pissed and couldn''t help but laugh at her.


    Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    As Barry walked past them and out the room, Luna waved bye and said ¡°It was nice meeting you sir! She''ll get over it, don''t worry.¡±.


    ¡°See that your sister does and thanks for staying honest with your promise. Survive till then.¡±. He responded before making it out of the building to move on to his next find.


    The two sisters remained in the room, Anna looking completely defeated as she leaned against a counter with frustration. ¡°How the hell did he manage to find it that fast and easily?¡± She complained.


    ¡°It''s alright, we can go look for the others. Besides Anna, we can still track where he is from the mini map. Look, the item is still on screen.¡± Luna had her map open, it showed Barry who had hold of the item moving in the direction of the next item.


    Anna checked it out on her map and saw that she was right. ¡°You''re right, maybe we can go pick up one of the other ones, and if he''s dead then we can get his as well.¡±


    Luna smiled. ¡°Yup!¡±


    Anna rubbed her sister''s head, she felt better now. ¡°Come mouse, let''s get moving.¡± The two sisters then got moving out of the building themselves to gather their own quest item.


    [Transition Scene]


    Barry roamed the alleys once more, making his way to a quest item that was further south apparently near a park. He also noticed on the map, a big red circle with a skull and crossbones symbol moving sorta in his direction.


    He kept moving, hearing the sounds of fighting in the streets. There were more active people it appeared, the quest had made the situation everyone was in, more urgent. Forcing more players to come out of hiding to help with completing the quest.


    As he was rushing through the alley, he spotted a group of people halting at the end of the alley. ¡°Hey! He must have one of those items? It''s gotta be him!¡± One of the people shouted before they all started charging towards him.


    Barry was shocked at first but quickly turned away and ran, he didn''t want to waste any time handling these fools. ¡®Are they seriously planning to mug me for this? Weren''t they told that this was supposed to be a group effort event?¡¯ He was irritated.


    When he turned down another corner, there was another group that was making their way over. ¡°Him! He has one!¡± Another claimed, they too steamed towards him.


    Barry was furious, so mad at how stupid these people were acting. Rather than going to look for the others quest items, they would rather waste time by stealing from someone who had already claimed one. And with this act of childishness, he brought his sword.


    ¡°You''re all a bunch of fucking idiots! I can''t trust anyone here can I? I help a couple of people and this is how the world thanks me? That''s alright, I have no issues with slaughtering you all!¡± He voiced out his inner rage, he could now see HP bars hovering above the people''s heads.


    As the two parties were closing in on Barry, the ground below him, unexpectedly, started illuminating a circle of light from a man-hole. ¡°Hidden Event Room Unlocked! Would you like to enter?¡± A blue screen appeared, asking him.


    He was so ready to fight back against these people and vent out his frustration, but instead he decided to bite his tongue and hold back as he had an opportunity to escape this madness from wasting time. ¡°Yes, get me out of here.¡± He responded.


    And with his affirmation, the light illuminated even brighter, engulfing him and making him disappear in the next moment.


    Barry could see nothing but white for sometime before his vision slowly came back. He blinked a couple of times and assessed his surroundings.


    He was in a circular stone room with lit torches around that illuminated the place. There was a big portrait of a king armed with a halberd, pointing it in a direction. The king sat on a warhorse in a commanding but righteous pose. It had to be the undead king when he was alive, Barry assumed.


    There was nothing else in the room, it seemed based on his vision. From what he was seeing, looking at the portrait, were the words ¡®King''s Proud Moments¡¯ in yellow font.


    Barry was curious and touched it. Instantly he felt a jolt in his body, followed by a slight headache. His vision was losing focus like he would when he would remember a memory fragment of his but this was different. He started seeing flashes of images, images that he knew weren''t his but the king''s.


    Those images being the king when he was human, living his glory days. Happy times with his family, ruling over a prosperous kingdom, and watching the days go by with a smile.


    His vision came back eventually, although somewhat with a migraine, but then saw the portrait push back and slide over. Behind the portrait revealed a small chest. He wasn''t sure why he saw bits of the king''s past life when he was happy but acknowledged it.


    He opened the chest which contained a common item that was a small music box. ¡®This is it?¡¯ Barry was kind of disappointed to find just a common item that he wasn''t sure what it was for. Still, he pocketed it in his inventory.


    Barry was at least glad that he was able to get away from the nonsense that would have happened before.


    The same circle of light appeared in the center of the room, probably a way back to the city. To where, he didn''t know but he still went to step into the light. Another blue screen appeared in front of him, asking if he wished to leave and with a simple ¡°Yes.¡± He was teleported away.


    When he reappeared and looked around, he realized that he was in a park. Opening the map, he was at the destination for the next item to snag. ¡®Wow, how convenient.¡¯ He thought, happy that he didn''t have to.


    That moment of relief would soon disappear when a human body is sent soaring over him, crashing into the dirt. He faced the direction the body flew from with his sword in hand.


    There were people engaged in combat against more undead that surrounded a pond. Of the usual zombies, there were three 6ft tall undead knights, each with a shield but different weapon. They appeared to be guarding the pond which had to mean that the quest item was in here.


    Barry tried to count how many people were in the area which seemed to be between 20-30 people trying their best to make it past the knights and their mob of zombies.


    The knights were fending off any players that tried to make it past them, which resulted in them getting tossed back. These knights were in-sync with each other and were no pushovers. Barry figured it would be good to observe them for now while he fought off any zombies that got too close to him.


    One of the people who was having a somewhat difficult time fighting off some zombies took a glance at him and shouted. ¡°Hey! What the fuck are you doing!? A little help here!?¡±


    Barry felt bothered by his voice and ignored him, part of his attention was finding an opportunity to slip past a spot that was unguarded by the knights but couldn''t find one.


    He was thinking he might have to engage one of them to draw in aggro, so that someone else could sneak past and retrieve the item. ¡®Guess I''ll be a team player for now.¡¯.


    With the stack buffs he was getting from his title ¡®Psycho Blood Artist¡¯, he felt confident that he could manage to hold his own against one of the knights for a little bit. He zoomed past the guy that was struggling, hacking and slashing the zombies that came in his way, indirectly helping the man.


    Barry then chucked a fallen zombie corpse at one of the knights that was already distracted by a few players, using it to conceal an attack that was aimed for one of it''s joints that was slightly exposed from gaps between the armor.


    The knight swiped it''s shield in an arc, knocking the body and the other players back but missing Barry. He had managed to react fast enough to hop over the shield and strike at an exposed gap in it''s arm wielding it''s shield. The slash wasn''t deep but he did see that it had taken about 5% of it''s HP. ¡®Tanking fucker aren''t you.¡¯ He figured.


    The two were now locked in a duel against one another. Barry launched another strike at the knight from the left but was responded with a swift deflection from it''s own sword. It then followed it up with a shield bash but narrowly missed, Barry having to dash to the side to avoid it.


    More players tried to make it past the knight while Barry distracted it which made it difficult for the knight to focus. It tried to attack the players but everytime it did, Barry would try to aim at it''s exposed gaps in it''s armor, causing it to defend itself. A few people had managed to make it through almost unharmed. ¡®Perfect.¡¯ Barry was relieved that his plan to aggro the knight was working.


    But suddenly Barry could feel his speed and strength dropping at different moments in his duel, the stacks that he had accumulated with his title were slowly wearing off. He would have to attack new zombies that he hadn''t fought before in order to regain those stat bonuses, yet at the same time he couldn''t because he had to distract the knight.


    The fight was eventually turning from a draw into a one-sided duel with the knight who seemed would be the victor in the end. More zombies were now being called for inside the pond to rip and tear down the people that were in the pond. ¡®This isn''t looking good, I really hope they find the item quickly.¡¯.


    Block, evade, block, was all Barry was able to do now that his temporary buffs were gone. He was locked in combat with the knight, his stamina was getting drained with each moment, he had to do something.


    He glanced back and saw that there were people still behind him, simply watching him as they fought off a couple of zombies, unsure of whether to jump in or not. Barry had an idea but it would possibly require their lives. Once again he felt a burning sensation inside that was uncomfortable ¡®No, not again.¡¯.


    A much older man, one of the people fighting off some zombies, shouted. ¡°Leave it to us! Get in there and find the item!¡±


    The feeling inside Barry seemed to dissipate somewhat but still lingered, he was still able to move on his own without his body acting on its own. He decided to accept the man''s words, it would be the first person that actually offered him help.


    Barry waited for the best opportunity to bypass the knight and when he did, he gritted his teeth and darted in. When he did, he ate a slash that went across his back as he ran through, yelling out ¡°FUCK!¡±. His HP had dropped to 65%.


    The people that were behind him had stepped in to engage the knight from attacking Barry, they were it''s new distraction that he had to thank.


    In the pond, the few people in it were either fending off zombies or looking for the item, having made no progress it looked like.


    Barry started his search by dunking his head into the water multiple times until he spotted where the item was. Despite it looking weird to most people, this was not a time to laugh and he was willing to look ridiculous if it meant finishing this damn quest.


    Eventually he would find yellow text once again with the same name ¡®???¡¯ above it where it was. He rushed to it and started digging up the dirt in the water until he felt something metal and pulled it out. It was a tin capsule.


    Inside was a golden engraved ring with purple text above it saying ¡®Noble''s Ring¡¯. Along with it was another potion vial with purple liquid inside with green font reading ¡®Wisdom Potion +2¡¯. He swiftly pocketed the two items.


    Every person there then received a notification window indicating that another quest item has been retrieved.


    One of the people fending off the zombies in the pond looked at Barry with a smile. ¡°You did it! Awesome man-¡± The man did not get to finish his sentence as he was launched into the air by one of the undead knights wielding a warhammer.


    ¡°Oh shit.¡± Barry hopped back, just barely avoiding the knight''s hammer slamming down, splashing a wave of water all around. The rest of the players that were with him were either defeated, ran away, or trying to survive in the moment.


    He turned around to scurry away but bumped into another knight, falling on his assistance. He tried to zip past between it''s legs but got hit by this knight''s weapon, which was the lance, on his way out. His HP was getting close to danger levels now.


    No way was he capable of fighting off both knights, he had to get out there quick. Getting back on his feet, he sprinted away to try and escape.


    Barry would glance back at times as he made his way out of the park, only to find that the knights were slowly but surely gaining on him. He would try to scale the tallest building he could find nearby, hoping they wouldn''t be able to catch him in time.


    He picked a decently high office building and leaped off a car, grabbing hold of the ledge of a window and proceeded to climb. He looked back and saw one of the knights lift a mini car and chuck it at him. He leaped above again, avoiding the car and grabbing onto the next window. ¡®Great, now they¡¯re throwing crap at me.¡¯.


    The other two knights began demolishing the building structure, trying to cause it to collapse while the other one threw a variety of large objects at him. He felt like he was in one of those old arcade games with that italian plumber.


    Barry could feel the building losing stability and just when he reached the top, the whole front of the building came crashing down. He did not dare to look back down, he laid on his back panting from exhaustion. He was at 10% stamina or so, he needed a rest or something to get back on his feet again.


    All he needed was two more items and this whole quest would be over. He looked at the map and saw that the rest of the items were in the west, but something had alarmed him.


    The red dot that, indicated the boss, was moving at a steady pace towards him and it was nearby.


    The building began to shake and Barry instantly got up when something erupted from beneath the roof. It was two of the knights that decided to join him up top. ¡°Could you guys just fuck off¡­¡±.


    One of the knights lunged forward, thrusting it¡¯s sword at him dead center. Barry reacted by diving off the building and landing in a dumpster that was in the alleys. He was back on the run again.


    He quickly got out of the dumpster, now smelling like spoiled meat and rancid eggs.


    Barry leaned against one of the building walls trying to catch his breath. A blue screen popped up and a voice spoke, it was the same one he heard from the TV announcement. ¡°Heya contestant! It seems like you are on your last legs, still feeling confident that you¡¯ll make it?¡± The system¡¯s tone was sad, it was as if he was going to be disappointed if Barry was going to die.


    Things were looking very bleak for him, but even still, he was determined to make it out of the mess he was in. ¡°I will make it out of this shit hole of an event and YOU WILL tell me about myself. So DON¡¯T count me out just yet!¡± Barry felt a fire igniting inside him, he was even more motivated to keep going.


    ¡°I LOVE IT!¡± The system shouted in excitement. ¡°We want to see you succeed and watch how far you will go as you proceed through ¡®Lost Adventure!¡¯.


    Barry noticed the ground rumbling with the sound of thousands of footsteps and ghastly moans in the air. He looked ahead and saw a tidal wave of corpses entering through the alley. And there sitting on top of a hill of undead was the king staring down at him with it¡¯s cold red soul piercing eyes.


    ¡°Now show us contestant! How badly you want to live!¡± The system then closed the window, awaiting Barry¡¯s next point of action with wonder.


    Barry looked behind and saw the knights had caught up to him. HP and stamina at critical low, resources low, and the burning desire inside to make it through the wall of death he was facing.


    His eyes scanned for a way out but there was none¡­except maybe another man-hole that he could use to escape like before. And there was one that he could spot ahead towards the king.


    Barry gathered everything he had inside and exploded in a burst of speed. The air breezing past his ears, watching his stamina drain rapidly.


    The king rose from his throne in a striking and powerful pose with his halberd raised high, possibly ready to strike Barry down as soon as he got close.


    Barry was now choking, gasping for air. He dolphin dived towards the man-hole before his stamina was depleted and hoped he would be given the option to teleport.


    The king was a couple of seconds away from taking a swing when the same window about a hidden room appeared, asking him if he wanted to enter. The man-hole had illuminated it¡¯s same bright light around him.


    The king twirled his halberd around and swung it at his head just before Barry shouted out a demanding ¡°YES!¡±.


    The light from the man-hole swallowed him and once again his vision went white.


    He reappeared in a similar room as the one before. Barry laid still, unmoving. His body wanted to rest but he himself wanted to press on. When he looked up, there was another portrait but this time with the image of a kingdom up in flames.


    Barry crawled forward to touch it and when he did, he felt his head being filled with images like before.


    He saw the people of the kingdom coughing, thousands of civilians ill and being treated in churches. Then he saw a mob of people enraged with torches and weapons, burning down buildings that were housing the ill. Chaos erupted in the kingdom it seemed.


    The images stopped filming in his head and he came back to reality. The portrait pushed back and slided over, revealing another small chest. He reached up and grabbed it, holding it in his hands close to his chest.


    The light in the center of the room illuminated again, calling for him. Barry got up on his knees and stumbled over, his vision shaking.


    ¡°I need to¡­I need to complete¡­this stupid fucking quest¡­¡± He collapsed on the ground in front of the exit, going into a deep sleep.

 Chapter 5 - The End of the Nightmare

    It was a bloodbath around the city, the zombies were more restless than ever before. The regular zombies were somehow stronger, possibly because the game was reaching its end.


    Anna, the scarlet woman, stood above a building watching the madness happen from all around. She was also looking at the map of the city, seeing only the location of the boss and the last quest object, which was up north but also near. She had already claimed one of the items.


    ¡°Where the hell did that guy go?¡± She asked herself, wondering how he disappeared off the map. ¡°I know he has the two other pieces for the quest, so why isn¡¯t he on the map?¡±


    Mia then appeared from the door leading to the top of the roof. ¡°I¡¯m done looting! There wasn¡¯t much to find worth taking, though.¡±


    Anna walked back to patted her sister on the head, who then smiled. ¡°Good job, Mouse, we only have 3 hours left to retrieve the last item, and hopefully that asshole will appear again.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re still salty about losing the item? Get over it, sis.¡± Luna laughed a bit.


    ¡°Hush up, Luna, it¡¯s time to go.¡± Anna kneeled down with her arms behind her, ready to give her sister a piggyback ride.


    Luna got on her sister¡¯s back and held tight. Anna started to move towards the final quest item and bolted off. Leaping across building to building. Luna was enjoying the experience of soaring through the air with every moment.


    A couple of minutes went by, and they were making pretty good travel distance until something fast zoomed by that almost hit the two. Anna slowed down and halted onto a building, lying low.


    The two inspected where it came from by peeking over the top of the roof.


    It was a group of skeletons on undead horses, armed with a shield and a cannon like arm. One of them noticed them peeking and fired a couple of speeding spears of bone, logging inside the side of the building¡¯s structure.


    ¡°Seems like those guys managed to tame some horses.¡± Luna said.


    ¡°So it seems¡­¡± Anna replied, her voice trailing off as she heard something in the distance. ¡°...what is that sound?¡±


    The two scanned their surroundings, trying to locate the noise Anna was hearing, until she stopped to look in one direction at something in the sky.


    She could see what appeared to be birds, hundreds of them, soaring through the skies shrieking. ¡°Those crows are new, we have to get out of here.¡± Anna hoisted Luna on her back and was back on the run again.


    She weaved through the barrage of flying bone spears being sent her way. Anna had a high agility score, so dodging each shot wasn¡¯t too difficult. The birds were slightly slower than Anna, but eventually Anna would need to seek shelter before her stamina would become an issue.


    Something then caught Luna¡¯s attention while she was riding on her sister¡¯s back. It was as if a figure kept blinking in and out of her peripheral vision. She couldn¡¯t see what it was exactly.


    ¡°There¡¯s something else following us! I don¡¯t know what it is exactly, it keeps disappearing.¡± Luna warned.


    Anna acknowledged it and kept focus, keeping a look-out for this unseen foe. She spotted a library building that she could enter through the door on the roof.


    She hurried over and dropped Luna, ¡°Unlock the door.¡± She asked, and Luna got on it, pulling out her lock picking tools while she stood guard.


    The birds were far enough to not worry about at the moment, but the unseen enemy Luna was talking about was on her mind.


    A few moments went by when Luna heard a click, ¡°It¡¯s open!¡± She informed and opened the door.


    The very moment Anna turned back around to walk through the door, she heard faint footsteps and turned back around to see nothing. Then suddenly, a ghoulish like undead took shape in front of her. It had pale gray skin with beady black eyes, long sharp claws, shark like teeth and a frog like tongue sticking out.


    The instant appearance of the undead spooked Anna, causing her to stumble back through the door, bumping into Luna. She slammed the door shut, avoiding one of it¡¯s claws from slashing at her and instead hearing it scrap onto the other side of the door.


    ¡°Found the fucker that was tailing us.¡± Anna was still a bit shaken up. ¡°Be careful and stay close, there might be more of them that turn invisible.¡± She held her little sister¡¯s hand firmly.


    ¡°He was that ugly, huh?¡± Luna joked.


    Anna didn¡¯t respond as they walked on downstairs to the upper floor of the library. When they arrived in the main library on the highest floor, they each received a notification of the last quest item being found.


    ¡°That¡¯s great, saves us the trouble of having to go look for it.¡± Anna was relieved but was still concerned about how they were going to complete the quest without the rest of the items that the other guy was holding on too.


    ¡°Anna, the people who retrieved the last item are heading our way.¡± Luna was looking at the map. ¡°...and the undead king is too!¡±


    Anna grumbled, ¡°Perfect, why not bring the whole circus.¡±


    In the center of the whole library was a singular pillar with a gap that had a view to both the high and low level floors. Each floor containing shelves of knowledge, there were cozy chairs, couches, tables, etc. The place would be great to relax in if it wasn¡¯t for the whole world going to shit.


    Anna was unsure if she should run even further away, since the undead king was technically coming over to say hello.


    She decided that they would hang tight for a bit by hiding in the upper floor close to the stairway leading to the roof. So that''s what they did by trying to find the best spot inside to hunker down.


    It was complete silence in the library, it had seemed it was just the two of them alone.


    Anna kept a watchful eye, using her passive from her Assassin¡¯s Class. With it, she was able to heighten her senses even further and perceive any ill intent from any being she had sight on, any person that had bad motives in the current moment would emit a red aura around them in her eyes. But so far she wasn¡¯t seeing or hearing anything at all as they moved through some bookshelves.


    That was until Anna noticed one of the bookshelves shake ever so slightly, along with hearing tiny tap sounds. There was nothing there when she looked.


    With Anna caught off guard, an unexpected tongue lashed out from behind her, wrapping around Luna and snatching her off the floor.


    Anna heard Luna yelp and saw a ghoul on top of a bookshelf holding her sister captive. Rage rose inside Anna, and she dashed at the ghoul without hesitation.


    But the moment she tried to attack the creature, it placed Luna in front of itself, causing Anna to stop her attack. ¡®What the fuck!?¡¯ She was surprised that it was intelligent enough to use her sister as a shield, knowing she wouldn¡¯t hurt her.


    The ghoul went back to being invisible, only concealing its entire body, making it seem like Luna was floating by herself. The ghoul then took off with Luna, having Anna to chase it down to save her sister.


    It led the sisters to the center of the library, with the creature sticking to the center pillar, still unseen.


    Anna was not able to perceive the creature¡¯s red aura with her passive because it was invisible, but she still had a trick up her sleeve that she could use.


    She leapt from the floor, towards Luna with knives in hand, ready to strike down the ghoul where she suspected it to be at. The ghoul once again tried using Luna as a shield to block her assault, but instead, Anna blinked in a cloud of black smoke.


    She then reappeared behind Luna above and thrusted her dagger down onto the supposed location of the ghoul and managed to land her attack. The creature dropped Luna, retracting its tongue, and tried to retaliate against Anna.


    Anna dodged its claws before swiftly stabbing it into the head and then teleporting below to catch Luna to prevent her from crashing on the 1st floor flat like a pancake.


    When she did catch Luna, Anna teleported once more to the 2nd floor, then performed a barrel roll as she held onto her sister as they tumbled to a slow stop. Anna and Luna heard a loud thud coming from the 1st floor. When Anna got up, she inspected the sound and saw that it was the ghoul that she had killed.


    ¡°Are you hurt?¡± Anna asked her dear sister, showing concern.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine- Look out!¡± Luna reacted fast enough to push her sister down, avoiding the bone spears that were being fired at them from the first floor. It was the skeleton crew that had dismounted their horses and were actively on the move inside after breaching through the entrance.


    Anna planned to go back out through the roof again, so she took Luna and began hopping from railing to railing, skipping the stairs as she quickly tried to jump between floors. Once they had reached the top floor, she backtracked to where they came from.


    When they arrived at the stairway, Anna could hear the door from above being breached, then saw a swarm of crows breaking through the door from above and then make their way downstairs.


    The two immediately turned back around, locking the door. ¡°We¡¯ll have to try making a way out of the front entrance.¡± Anna was not liking the current situation at all, it was just one bad thing after another.


    Anna heard more of the bookshelves near them shake, and she instantly knew it was more of those ghouls. Holding Luna close to her, on her back, she stormed off.


    She dashed to the center and jumped off, both avoiding the barrage of bone spears and landing on each railing of each floor. Her stamina was getting kinda low at this point, but she was determined to protect her sister with everything she had.


    When she landed on a bookshelf from the 1st floor, two spears flew towards her, grazing both of her legs. She gritted her teeth from the pain before falling, tilting in a way that her chest would come into contact with the floor, so her sister wouldn¡¯t get hurt.


    ¡°Anna!¡± Luna quickly got off her sister¡¯s back to check on her.


    Anna lifted herself from then floor and rubbed her sister¡¯s head, assuring her that she was alright. ¡°Tis but a scratch Mouse.¡± She told her with a smile.


    Two skeletons appeared from both ends of the bookshelves they were between and fired their shots. Anna and Luna went prone again, avoiding the shots, both of them landing into the skeleton¡¯s shields.


    Anna picked up Luna and vaulted over the bookshelves, aiming straight for the entrance. More skeletons and zombies showed up, they could hear ghouls from behind trying to restrain them with their frog like tongues.


    Anna dashed through the shower of spears, weaving between zombies, a few spears nicking her body. And when she thought she was close enough to the entrance, Anna threw Luna over the wall of skeletons, just enough for her to teleport in the air and catch her before landing back on the ground.


    The two had made it out of the library of fuck all. Anna was incredibly exhausted from zooming around, but she kept running away as best as she could at the moment.


    ¡°Anna, maybe we should go to the others and hand off our item to them. Let them deal with the enemies.¡± Luna suggested, not wanting to see her sister push herself any further.


    Anna shook her head. ¡°No, we can only trust ourselves to protect it.¡± She turned to enter a random clothing store and dropped Luna down. ¡°Short break mouse.¡±


    Luna brought out a couple of the supplies she had been looting, replenishing mainly Anna¡¯s resources like her HP, stamina, and mana. The way mana was restored was either by passively letting it regenerate naturally or by consuming current drinks such as soda, juice, etc.


    After about 5 minutes, they decided to head out on the run again but paused when they felt a bit of rumbling that seemed to intensify. It was coming from the streets. They peeked out and saw a large mass of people running away from something that was completely understandable.


    There were two large 15ft tall giants that were simply meshes of zombies and flesh slapped together. All performing their duties as the giants natural body movements. The giants shoved vehicles around with ease and were even capable of launching zombies from it¡¯s body towards the people. Around it, were about all the different types of undead that she had face before. Those being the classic zombies, hounds, skeletons, and ghouls.


    ¡°This is not our problem, I¡¯ll scoop up the item when they are dead.¡± Anna said as she shook her head, she only cared about her and Luna¡¯s survival at all cost.


    Anna knelt down and motioned for Luna to get on her back, but Luna did not. ¡°Luna?¡±


    Luna was looking at the map of the city and had a look of being both surprised and thrilled. ¡°We may want to stick around now, actually¡­¡±


    Anna was confused, ¡°Why¡¯s that?¡±. She then brought up her own map and found out what Luna meant. ¡°About fucking time that asshole shows up!¡±


    There on the map further down were two objects stacked on top of each other for the quest, moving towards them at a steady pace without stopping.


    ¡°Anna, we need to stay and help everyone else until that guy arrived. All 4 items need to be together in order to complete the quest, and we only have about an hour left.¡± Luna figured fighting as a group rather than as individuals would be better. The more people they had, the greater their chances of making it through the event currently. The announcer did say it would be better to work together.


    Anna looked at the ceiling, clenching her teeth with disgust before finally responding to her suggestion. ¡°Alright fine. I won¡¯t just stand by for last pickings¡­I would like to give that guy shit for being late.¡±


    Luna smiled. ¡°That¡¯s the spirit! Teamwork makes the d-¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t finish that sentence, this is only temporary.¡± Anna gave out a yuck face before leaving on her way out the store entrance.


    The other people were almost close by with the new friends they had made along the way. ¡°Stay away from this area and let the grown-ups handle this. Got it Mouse?¡± Anna ordered her sister.


    ¡°Sure, I¡¯ll be safe away from the trouble. So go all out, sis!¡± Luna encouraged, throwing out a high five before scurrying off to go hide.


    Anna mentally prepared herself for the army of the dead that paraded the streets ahead. Closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath, she went into her stance, getting ready to bolt into the fray as she tied her hair into a bun.


    ¡°Finally, I can finally¡­¡± And when she opened her eyes, they shined a crimson red shimmer of color, from her perspective she could see a multitude of undead enemies that gave off a red aura. ¡°...LET LOOSE!¡±


    In an instant, she bolted forward, pushing back a gust of wind from her initial start, daggers in each hand that she had obtained. Anna zoomed in a beeline, breezing past a couple of the people that were running away before zigzagging through a couple more people who were struggling, helping them out with quick and efficient stabs in the head.


    In the eyes of the people that were fending off the army of zombies the best they could, Anna was a whirlwind of steel blades, a cloud of daggers sending these undead fiends back to the afterlife. Some people who were helped by Anna would take a moment to catch a glimpse of her dance like movements as she travelled further down like a vicious ballerina.


    A couple of hounds tried using pack tactics against her, one lunging in as a distraction while the other set up for the perfect moment to chop down on her neck, but she was aware of her surroundings. Anna slid under the first hound and threw two knives at two other hounds that had leapt after, landing both attacks in the center of their heads, subduing them. The first hound tried again with another attack, but she simply side stepped it, plunging her dagger into it¡¯s skull, finishing it.


    Further, she continued, helping out each person she came across. Her assistance with the people in the fight was boosting the morale for everyone, everyone that was further behind her were able to push up and help the rest and so on.


    Eventually, she would encounter the two giant meshes of zombies, evading a slam attack from one of them with ease. Anna took the chances she got from dodging these slow but heavy attacks by slashing at its arms, but it wasn¡¯t looking like she was able to do any harm to it. This enemy was just a tank and wasn¡¯t sure where it¡¯s real weakness was at.


    ¡®How am I supposed to handle you two?¡¯ She wondered, shuffling to the side to avoid another slam attack. Nothing was coming to mind of how she was going to eliminate this massive hulk of animated corpses. Her daggers and strength weren¡¯t enough to dice up it¡¯s body into pieces.


    Anna decided she would deal with as many of the zombies and ghouls as possible. The skeletons were more time-consuming to handle with their boney exoskeleton like armor. So she went back to help out the other people, but was then being shot at by more skeletons. She took cover behind a car with some other people.


    ¡°Hey!¡± A man with a beanie and scruffy beard called out to Anna.


    Anna turned to look at the man, ¡°What!¡±. The windows of the car they were hiding behind shattered, bone spears breaching through.


    ¡°The Name¡¯s Kyle, but that¡¯s not important right now. You seem pretty capable of dealing with these zombies, I see. So I¡¯m thinking you must have one of the quest items, seeing as how it looks on the map. Yeah?¡±. He questioned.


    ¡°Yeah I do, I assume that¡¯s why everyone here travelled down to meet me here with the whole monster mash!¡± She responded, sounding a bit irritated.


    Kyle laughed at her joke, which irritated her even more because that wasn¡¯t her intention. ¡°I knew it was you when I saw you dancing around slaying these blighters!¡±


    More undead came from around the vehicle, and Anna had to get out from cover to swiftly dispatch them all while avoiding hostile fire. ¡°Now! Isn¡¯t! The time! To! Conversate!¡± She yelled back, finishing her sentence with decapitating a zombie before going back to cover.


    ¡°Right, my fault.¡± Kyle apologized. ¡°Listen, my brother and sister have one of the quest items, but they¡¯re back behind us. They¡¯re names are Eric and Kat, go look for them while we hold the frontline, seeing as how you have fancy feet and all.¡± He asked with a slight smile.


    Anna was hesitant about agreeing to go find his siblings and taking the quest item from them, but didn¡¯t question him given the dire situation. ¡°Fine¡­hang tight. The other two quest items will be on the way as well.¡±


    Kyle was confused as to why she meant the last quest items would arrive as well but nodded. ¡°Understood Bloody Mary!¡±


    That comment ticked her off and caused her to dip out of there before she felt like hurting him for making another stupid comment.


    She looked at her map as she moved to track down where Kyle¡¯s siblings were, helping out the backline as she zoomed by. Freeing people that were restrained by ghouls by cut their tongues off and ending them personally, those things creeped her out the most out of the undead.


    As she made her way, she heard a voice call out ¡°Eric!¡± with her acute sense of hearing and followed it while using the map. The map had led her to an alley, spotting a teenage boy wielding an iron pipe and a brunette woman holding a shovel. Both surrounded by a pack of hounds.


    A bright, luminous light rose from the man-hole that the two were standing on, to which the woman shouted a firm ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°Hey! I¡¯m here to-¡± Anna stopped her sentence when she saw the two siblings disappear from their position. She was astonished and pissed at what had just happened. ¡°Fuck! No! Why!¡±


    The hounds turned to face her and decided on feasting on her instead of the two that had just disappeared from the scene. ¡°I don¡¯t have time for this!¡± She dodged and weaved through their bites and claw attacks, giving each one a quick stab in the head, defeating them.


    Anna wasn¡¯t sure what to do now, she inspected the spot where the two were at previously. It was a normal man-hole they were standing on, but nothing was happening when she stood on it. ¡°What?¡± She was so confused.


    Suddenly, the sounds of cars crashing and rubble falling drew her attention back to the mayhem that was happening in the streets. Anna could only think that the giants were pushing even further down, causing more destruction.


    When she stepped back out to see what was going on, that was not the case. She found that it was instead 3 undead knights in dark ebony armor wrecking everything around. ¡°Another group of enemies that I don¡¯t match up well against. Great!¡± Things were looking more grim than ever.


    She had to at least try to distract the knights before they slaughtered everyone else. So she jumped in and engaged one of the knights wielding a lance and shield.


    Anna attempted to target the straps to its helmet if possible, her first strike towards it was waved off by its shield, surprising her of how fast it was despite being in armor. ¡®It¡¯s reaction time is faster than it appears.¡¯ She thought.


    The knight had prepared a thrust attack with its lance and executed its maneuver. Anna hopped over the lance and dashed across it, attempting another try at its helmet.


    The knight flicked its weapon upwards, tossing her in the air and threw out a couple of quick stabs, knowing that she wouldn¡¯t be able to dodge at all in the air.


    But she was prepared for its counterattack and played her surprise trick. She teleported from behind the knight without it noticing, managing to sneak in two cuts on the helmet straps through the small openings of the armor.


    She then quickly swiped the helmet off before the knight spun around to try and swat her with its shield, but she had teleported away from it, reappearing on a car. ¡®I actually managed to remove its helmet, nice!¡¯


    When the knight turned to face her, it revealed it¡¯s pale gray fugly face, half torn mouth with decaying teeth, ripped flesh, and yellow-orange eyes that stared at Anna with madness.


    Anna was ready to try to deal with the knight now that she was able to expose its head out in the open, but was caught off guard by another knight who swung it''s hammer at her. This caused her to urgently teleport away again to avoid being clobbered.


    There were now two knights that she had to deal with, the chances of her attempting to beat the first knight was pretty much out the window seeing as how good they were at fighting back. The two knights engaged her, Anna nimbly avoiding each attack they threw at her the best she could without having to teleport away. She couldn¡¯t rely on her teleportation too much because she didn¡¯t have a lot of mana to use it excessively, if she did, then maybe she would have a better shot at handling the two.


    Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    Whenever she would go after the one without its helmet, the other was sure to defend its pal from any opportunity she saw to take at attacking its weak point.


    More people tried to back her up but were overwhelmed by the knights physical capabilities, so the people kept their distance from the knights and focused on dealing with the lesser undead.


    Anna was starting to look pretty worn down from fighting both of the knights after a while. She was sure she could take down the vulnerable one if she really tried, but that would depend on some factors such as how tanky it was in terms of health, and it would cost her all her mana and stamina.


    With all her attention focused on the knights, a couple of stray shots from some skeletons ahead flew by, hitting her shoulder and hip. She fell to the ground off a car in pain. The knights took this moment to capitalize on it.


    The first knight, with its lance, charging towards her like a straight arrow. The second knight followed behind with its hammer ready, Anna was forced to teleport away behind a bus, attempting to hide from the two.


    However, this would not work out for long, the second one knew Anna would blink away and remained watchful of its surroundings. It dashed up to the bus she was hiding behind, smashing it and catching Anna by surprise. Anna hopped backwards a couple of times to try and get away, but then saw the lancer rushing towards her, forcing her to teleport again before she got skewered.


    She reappeared behind another car, lying low, hoping they hadn¡¯t found her yet. ¡®These guys synergy and teamwork are so on point that it''s scary. I don¡¯t know if I can drag this fight on for long.¡¯ She was fatigue, Anna wanted to leave to save herself and get Luna out of here but knew she couldn¡¯t, she had to buy more time.


    Cars from all around were getting knocked to the side by the knights, trying to find out where she was hiding, she tried moving but was too exhausted to get back up and when her position was about to be exposed, she teleported away to a random location.


    Anna reappeared lying in front of a knocked over car. She had played all of her cards and was out of luck, when she looked up, she saw the fugly looking lance knight. With her last bit of energy, she threw a dagger at its forehead, which stuck in place. The knight seemed a bit unfazed, probably needing a couple more hits in the head.


    She then flipped it off, ¡°Fuck you.¡± She told it with hate. ¡°Would have had you if your buddy didn¡¯t show up¡­¡±


    The lance knight responded to that comment by prepping a final thrust with Anna closing her eyes accepting her fate. ¡®Sorry Luna¡­¡¯


    Suddenly, something big crashed into a car near her. She turned her head to the side to see what it was and looked shocked. It was one of the knights, but this one had an arm amputated and only wielding a shield in the other. Its helmet was banged up, unsure of what was capable of even denting it.


    Both Anna and the lance knight looked onwards and spotted the hammer knight locked in combat with someone, it seemed. The hammer knight had blocked an attack with its shield and was pushed back against a couple of cars.


    The lancer decided to ignore Anna to assist its comrade in undead arms. Anna was both relieved and curious what was so dangerous that was causing the hammer knight to struggle and prompt the other to come and help.


    She would very soon discover who it was that was giving the knights a challenge when she heard a loud and angry voice that sounded familiar and would fill her with rage.


    ¡°I¡¯m in a fucking hurry right now! So let¡¯s get this rematch out of the way quick!¡± Barry yelled out, directing it towards the two knights who stood side by side with each other, watching for Barry¡¯s next move.


    Anna couldn¡¯t help but yell at him from afar, ¡°In a fucking hurry, my ass! Where the hell have you been!¡±


    The two knights dashed in together, with the lancer taking the lead of the charge. It initiated the attack with a piercing thrust that could punch a hole into a building, but Barry twirled around it and slashed down on its arm, cutting it off with swiftness. He was wielding the sword of the other fallen knight that he had defeated.


    Next was the hammer knight who remained concealed behind its pal and was preparing its own attack, swinging it at Barry from a blind spot. But Barry was able to react fast enough, strangely to catch the swing with a single hand and yoink it off its arm.


    He was now dual wielding both weapons, a sword and hammer in each hand. Barry dashed up to the amputated knight in an effort to finish it off with a couple of bashed to the head, but the other knight ran up front to block it assault with its own shield. Despite it looking like a losing battle for the knights upon Barry¡¯s return, they still remained in sync, looking out for each other.


    Barry pummeled away the shield to the side and aimed at its shield arm, cutting it off and slamming his hammer on its helmet, caving in its skull. There was now one last knight remaining, it looked at Barry for a moment, almost as if it resented him for what he had done to its brothers. ¡®Do these knights actually have emotions?¡¯ He wondered.


    The knight, who had its arm amputated, picked up its lance and got into a charging stance. Barry humored it, allowing it to ready its self and for him to get into a stance of his own to challenge it.


    And for some reason, Barry felt some sort of excitement for allowing the knight to retaliate back at him for defeating its battle buddies, if these knights truly did have emotions, then he acknowledged them for their in sync combat skills. Maybe in their past life, they were true friends as they went to war with each other, looking out for one another. But things were different, they were slaughtering people and were part of the world¡¯s problem now¡­and yet Barry couldn¡¯t help but feel some sort of appreciation for looking out for each other.


    ¡°You knights are something else, I give you that. You all sure gave me a rough time back at the park and could read each other''s movements, and I acknowledge your teamwork, but you all need to be rid of this world.¡± Barry acknowledged the knight, hoping it could understand him.


    The knight remained still for a moment, maybe taking in his words. Then, in an instant, it bolted forward with its lance, cracking the concrete it stood on and zooming past Barry with a gust of wind following it.


    ¡°However¡­¡± The knight then fell to its knees, still clutching its lance in hand before falling to the ground completely with its head decapitated. Barry had counterattacked with a swing of his own sword, the side of his torso had been nicked but not too bad. ¡°Despite the situation, I¡¯m sure you and your buddies were great defenders in your past lives. Rest well.¡±


    He then looked over to Anna, who was still lying on the ground, and rushed on over with both weapons still in hand. She was shocked, speechless as to how easily he defeated them all. Anna wondered if he was as strong as he was before, as he was now. What would have happened if they had actually fought.


    Barry was the first to speak, ¡°I took a nap.¡± Barry said bluntly, responding to her previous question of where he had been.


    Anna took a moment to process what he meant when he said that after watching his showdown with the knights and realized what he meant, going back to being furious. ¡°YOU SLEPT!¡±


    ¡°The quest item, hand it over.¡± Barry asked, placing his hand out.


    Anna shook her head, ¡°What? Hell no! I got mine fair and square.¡±


    ¡°We¡¯re on a time limit with less than 30 minutes, you¡¯re not in any condition to say no. I¡¯ll simply kill you for it if I have too.¡± Barry responded nonchalantly, bringing his sword to his shoulder, letting it rest.


    Anna was frustrated, he was right that she was in no condition to fight anymore and that she should hand over her item. So she opened her inventory and pulled out one of the quest items called ¡®Noble¡¯s Silk Scarf¡¯. She handed it over to him ¡°Here, take it. Just remember I contributed.¡±


    ¡°Will do.¡± He replied with a nod, stowing away the scarf. His entire body surged with newfound energy, he felt a lot stronger after obtaining the third quest item. Anna noticed this and thought it was strange, wondering how gaining another quest item would make someone stronger. He had also became level 9 as he carved and fought his way to retrieve Anna¡¯s quest item after awakening from his sleep.


    ¡°I was just about to retrieve the last one from a group of people but they disappeared in a flash of light. I have no clue where they went on the map either, just like how you vanished a long while ago before. Any idea why?¡± Anna questioned, curious as to what happened to him.


    The sounds of destruction and people shouting down the end of the street brought their attention. The two giant hulks of zombies were continuing their stroll down the road, bulldozing everything in their way.


    ¡°I do know where they might have gone, and when they return, have them give me their quest item. That way I can end this damn nightmare, once and for all.¡± Barry answered, clutching both his sword and hammer in hand.


    Anna sighed, irritated that she was taking orders from someone who stole from her twice. ¡°Whatever asshole. But tell me, what¡¯s your name at least since I¡¯m helping you basically getting the highest reward from this event.¡±


    Barry got ready to dash off into the fray, his legs in a stance to take off as he looked back at Anna one last time. ¡°It¡¯s nothing special, just call me Barry.¡± He said, then blasted off from his initial start, a gust of wind blowing against her face.


    Anna thought about his name for a moment as she continued lying on the ground taking a moments rest. She had to agree with him on that. ¡°I would have thought your name was something edgy but wow¡­that is a boring name.¡±


    The two giant hulks were demolishing the city as they went, crushing and assimilating any of the people that tried to stop their rampage. Tendrils would creep out of the hulk of meshed zombies, grabbing corpses of any kind to merge it with itself. This tendrils would also whip out and attack people as well, possibly even stabbing them if able.


    ¡°How can we fight these things!? They¡¯re literal giants that won¡¯t go down!¡± One of the people struggling to fend off the monsters panicked.


    A giant swung its meaty arm at a group of people who froze in terror, their lives flashing before their eyes. When, almost on queue, Barry arrived in time to obliterate its arm with a swing of his hammer. Zombie, human, corpse parts of all kinds went scattering about, showering the people.


    The giant tried retaliating against Barry with its tendrils, each one whipping out in a consecutive rhythm but he evaded each one with ease, slashing back with his sword in his other hand. Tendrils would continue to emerge out of the hulk to try to slow Barry down for it to wind-up another fat slam attack but it didn¡¯t matter. Barry would dash forward, dodging its tendrils and breaking apart its arm with his hammer. He then took this opportunity to jump it and give it a personal clobbering.


    He landed on it¡¯s shoulders after slicing up any of it¡¯s tendrils that appeared to defend itself before bring the hammer down on its body. Barry continued to break away the layers of the body, he figured the only way to defeat the monster was to keep bashing it till the whole body crumbled apart. But he would soon realize what was really hidden under all these layers of dead corpses.


    There inside of the body was a glowing orange-yellowish head of a zombie with tendrils connected to the giant it had created, this was the true weakness of the giant. The strange creepy zombie head tried stabbing Barry right in the center of his head with a spear like tongue from its mouth but he tilted his head to the side to avoid it.


    ¡°Playtimes over you damn parasite.¡± Barry told it before plunging his sword into the zombie head, causing the hulk of flesh to collapse, breaking off into pieces of all kinds. The people who were watching Barry¡¯s one on one fight with the giant were astonished, he had defeated what seemed unstoppable with ease.


    The last giant was nearby, giving more of the people a rough time but now that Barry knew these foes weakness, he had a much easier time handling the next one. He charged at the next puppet of corpses, subduing it in similar fashion but faster. His display of conquering the two giants, boosted the morale of the people around him, giving them some hope to cling on too. But even still, Barry needed the final item to finish this hell they were in.


    The ground started shaking to rumble and from down the streets he could see the cause of it. Barry took a deep breath and let it out, mentally preparing himself for the real challenge that was about to come. ¡®This time¡­this time I am ready for you and I won¡¯t run away.¡¯ He encouraged himself.


    A wave of zombies and bones flooded the streets as they came towards him, either shoving or consuming everything that came into contact with it, wailing out a moan of suffering and dread. The people that were behind Barry looked onwards and retreated, not wanting to be swallowed by the tidal wave that approached. And there seated on top of the wave of undead on a throne of skulls and bones was the one who sealed their way out of this event. The Undead King.


    Barry gripped his weapons in both hands, hammer and sword, locked in focus at the big bad of the quest. He took his stance to begin his assault in an attempt to strike down a king as the storm approached him. All he had to do was stall the king for about as long as he could for the last item to get to him.


    When the wave of undead came rolling close enough, he leapt on top of it, the flooring feeling a bit awkward given that it was made of corpses and bones. Two spirals of undead hands protruded out of the wave towards Barry who readied his weapons. ¡°Go time.¡±


    He lunged forward evading the first attack and responding to the other with a swing of his hammer, cold dead hands went flying around. The king waved his hand at Barry, commanding his sea of corpses, sending more appendages of attacks at him but Barry repelled each move, steadily making his way to greet the king personally.


    The sea of undead had hands that rose from above, trying to grasp at Barry¡¯s feet but were either too slow or weren¡¯t strong enough to hold him down. Spikes of bone shot out from the sea, trying to impale him but did nothing but slow him down just a bit.


    This was when the king began to rise from his throne, halberd in hand pointed skywards. Walls of flesh and bone rose, blocking off Barry¡¯s path only to be paved and cleaved through with both sword and hammer. He kept paving his way until there were no more walls to tear down and discovered that the king had disappeared.


    There was a moment of silence aside from the clattering of bones stirring up from the sea Barry stood on. He stood ready to act at whatever was about to be thrown at him.


    The sea began to shift and walls of undead, much thicker than ones from before that he demolished, stuck out around him, caging him in like an arena. The walls circled around him, getting smaller and smaller. A gap quickly opened up from one section of the walls, a halberd swung out almost cleaving Barry¡¯s head if he hadn¡¯t reacted fast enough. This continued as the space inside the arena continued to minimize, limiting his range of movement.


    ¡®He¡¯s getting tricky now, I¡¯m barely managing to avoid his attacks.¡¯ Barry wracked his brain, trying to come up with a way to get him out and quit playing peek-a-boo. ¡®This might be stupid but it¡¯s the only plan I¡¯ve got.¡¯


    Barry waited for a moment that the king would strike again and when he did. He dropped his hammer and grabbed onto the halberd when it poked out. He was then pulled inside the walls and that was when he met face to face with the king himself.


    When the king pulled back his halberd within the walls of the dead, Barry and the undead king locked eyes with each other. Barry could see the glowing wicked crimson eyes that gazed into his very soul as it shrieked at him before waving his halberd outward, knocking Barry off as well as dropping the make shift arena he had created.


    Barry tumbled across the sea of undea but caught himself and stood back up with something to say to the king. ¡°No more tricks king! Let¡¯s just have a proper 1v1 duel, you and me!¡± He then pointed his sword at the knight, hoping that if the knights he had fought had emotions, then the king must also be able to understand him as well.


    The king stood tall and proud, taking a moment to decide if he would agree to his duel. Then it raised its weapon towards the heavens before sweeping it around and aiming it at Barry, agreeing to his challenge.


    For the first time ever since Barry awakened, he felt thrilled. He wasn¡¯t sure if it was adrenaline but he was genuinely feeling some sort of excitement as he was about to fight the king himself. He couldn¡¯t help but smile a bit, ¡®Why do I feel this way? When I should be worried about completing the quest¡­did I enjoy fighting in my past life or is it because of another reason¡­¡¯ He wondered, hoping he would survive this hurdle to uncover more of his past.


    The sea of undead settled down, zombies and other sorts of undead stopped fighting the people which was confusing to them. It was pure silence, the two challengers stared down at each other, waiting for the other to make a move.


    Barry knew he was on a tight schedule so he couldn¡¯t wait too long and made his move first. He stepped up, dashing towards the king with a fake right swing that switched into a side step lefty. Too bad for him, the king had seen right through it and parried it with ease, knocking him on his back with the bottom of his halberd.


    Barry recovered from his fall quickly and attempted to try again but it was the king¡¯s turn to attack, starting with his own swing of his weapon that was ducked under but turned into a shoulder tackle that staggered Barry who tried blocking it.


    The king then followed it up with a spin of his halberd that ended with a final thrust with the spikey tip of the halberd. Still trying to block the attack with his sword, Barry was sent tumbling back as he gritted his teeth, his sword slightly cracked from the blow.


    As far as Barry knew, he had no actual fighting experience aside from when he first woke up to slay zombies. The knights and the king were true fighters with tons of experience under their belt, he was only able to survive up till now because of his fearlessness, pure instinct, and one other factor that he had obtained for himself recently from his slumber inside the last hidden room¡­


    When Barry stopped himself to regain his balance, he charged again once more. ¡®Just gotta keep trying, I¡¯m no professional combatest but still¡­I have to try.¡¯ He swung his sword again at the king after a bit of footwork that he mixed up, utilizing his agility the best he could but was blocked by the king with no effort. He kept trying, again and again but was making no progress. At this point, the king seemed to be messing with him because Barry wasn¡¯t being retaliated.


    ¡®Is he toying with me?¡¯ Barry wondered how many opportunities the king had to hit him if the king wanted too. Then he got an idea.


    Barry charged once more with his sword prepared for a downward slash, the king readied again to parry Barry¡¯s next move for the thousandth time but this moment would be different.


    Using his momentum, Barry let go of his sword and and slided under the king¡¯s legs, grabbing his ankles and pulling him down to the ground. ¡®I don¡¯t have any true fighting form unlike you and the knights. But I at least know when to resort to fighting dirty if I have too.¡¯


    The king was taken by surprise and tried to turn on it¡¯s back to face Barry but was being restrained with him on top. Barry began throwing out right and left hooks at the king¡¯s skull, watching his HP bar slowly chipping away. Each time Barry felt the king was going to free himself, he would stop to readjust himself to prevent the king from breaking free.


    The king could do nothing but get pummelled repeatedly by Barry, the king was simply put into a lock. Barry was confident that eventually with enough hits, he might actually be able to win against the boss without having to destroy all the quest items.


    While Barry wailed on the king with his fists, a shiny golden cross necklace with an angel dangled from his neck above the king¡¯s head but just enough to be seen. As the king struggled to free himself, he caught a glimpse of the necklace with his leering eyes and immediately something awakened inside of the once noble ruler.


    Dark purple malicious aura started seeping out of the king that Barry would slowly come to realize until it was too late to react to what was about to happen next. The aura enveloped the king around himself before unleashing it in a pulse, knocking Barry off of him. The king would then rise from his feet with his halberd back in hand with newfound strength that at had emerged from within.


    Barry picked himself back up and looked upon the king¡¯s new form with curiosity and caution ¡®This can¡¯t be good. I had him restrained and suddenly he¡¯s back stronger than before¡­¡¯ The king¡¯s HP bar was a bit below 50%, Barry was bothered by this sudden turn of events.


    The king twirled his halberd and flung it around in arcs, this time sending out blades of purple energy at Barry, who went wide eyed, not expecting the king to have any range attacks in his arsenal of moves.


    He weaved through the ranged attacks with some effort, it seemed that each attack was getting faster and faster the more blades the king sent out.


    Eventually, it got to the point where Barry couldn¡¯t keep up and took a hit to the chest, it felt like he had been hit with a sledge hammer in the chest more than getting slashed with a blade. He stumbled back from the attack, not realizing that the king had dashed up to him in a flash, striking him with the spike at the end of his halberd, sending him flying back.


    Barry skidded across the floor of corpses, trying to slow himself down by stabbing the floor with his sword until he came to a halt. Barry tried thinking of another game plan to take down the king but this new form of his was something strange, this dark energy that he was emitting from within was dangerous along with his new set of attacks. With time of the essence, he had to keep going on till the final quest item would arrive.


    The king began to manifest a dark purple skull using his mysterious aura that he channeled, shaping it as big as a bus before sending it outwards towards Barry.


    Barry couldn¡¯t avoid the cackling purple skull attack but he could try his best to dampen it with an attack of his own. He readied his damaged sword with both hands, waiting for the right moment to counter it as he took a gulp of air before exhaling it as he countered it at the last moment.


    The two attacks collided, Barry felt a bit of impact from the king¡¯s attack but wasn¡¯t too bad seeing as his own swing of his sword dampened the damage he took.


    As the purple skull dispersed in a cloud of smoke, Barry saw a light of hope appear before his eyes. A screen notification appeared, stating that he had leveled up and asked something crucially important that just might turn the tides in his favor. ¡®Character class loading in progress¡¯.


    Barry¡¯s confidence rose once he saw the notification, he wondered what sort of class he would get that would aid him in his current fight. ¡®Downloading Character Info¡¯ it read with a loading bar starting up but something odd happened.


    The bar never moved and the screen began to glitch and flash red with words reading ¡®error¡¯ on repeat. It keep doing it until finally the screen turned red with words that shook him to the core ¡®Character Class creation failed. Not enough info obtained.¡¯ and the screen disappeared.


    ¡°What!?¡± Barry shouted, dumbfounded as to how there wasn¡¯t enough info of whatever it required to create his character class. His light of hope that he believed he saw was just a mirage, he had nothing else that would help grant him an edge in his fight.


    Suddenly, by surprise, a gauntlet reached out from within the smoke, grabbing onto Barry¡¯s collar and lifting him up. The smoke dissipated, revealing the king who was the one picking him up. He looked around Barry¡¯s neckline and found what he was seeking.


    Barry tried to free himself from his grasp by kicking and trying to pry open the king¡¯s clutches but no attempt was successful, as he watched the king stick his halberd into the ground and pluck the golden cross necklace from his neck before tossing him aside.


    As Barry landed on the floor, he could feel his entire body losing strength and stamina drastically. He laid there on the sea of corpses, nearly exhausted to death.


    That necklace he had obtained from the last hidden room was what granted him the power to overcome the knights and survive up until now against the king. The necklace was only wearable for this specific event and provided him a huge boost of stats for every quest related item that he had in his inventory. But now that it had been ripped off himself by the king, he lost all his stat buffs, reverting back to his original stats but too drained to continue fighting.


    He looked at the king who eyed at the necklace, almost as if it was admiring it. Barry still had 3 of the quest items but needed the 4th to end everything. ¡®When is the last item coming? Theres less than 5 minutes remaining¡­¡¯


    Then as if on queue, he heard a voice call out to him it seemed. ¡°Hey! Crazy guy!¡± The nickname sounded familiar to him. He turned behind himself to see the same brunette woman he had savd before next to Anna.


    ¡°Here! Finish this!¡± Kat then threw out a satchel to him. Inside was a crown for a noble queen and a single rose in a durable glass jar.


    He grabbed them with what little strength he had while the king stayed distracted with the necklace. Barry then received a notification stating he had obtained all quest items. All he had to do now was destroy them all and this whole nightmare would be over, luckily the hammer that he had dropped before was withing arms reach and he grabbed it in hand.


    Barry brought out all of the quest items he had obtained, but when he did, he would unexpectedly receive another headache the same as usual from before. ¡®Why now??¡¯ He then saw more images of the king¡¯s past life, only this time it was the king watching his wife¡¯s final moments before her passing as his kingdom fell out of control from the plague and to the riots. Then Barry saw the queen lying in her bed ill with her husband at her side, listening to the same music box that he had obtained from the first hidden room he visited. There was a single rose in a flower pot next to her and she also wore the same necklace that he used in his fight against the king and his army. These were not his memories that he was playing in his head but it was similar to the ones he saw in the hidden rooms.


    ¡°What are you doing!?¡± Anna called out, bringing him back to reality somewhat. ¡°Destroy them!¡±


    Barry lifted his hammer and tried to bring it down upon the items that laid out. Yet, for some reason once again, he wasn¡¯t able to bring himself to smash them because of some strange force inside that would prevent him from doing what he wanted. His vision blurred and he blacked out again, Barry knew that this time he would remember something that was his.


    In his mind, he faintly saw a person sitting in a chair playing a video game intensely for one moment and then in the next moment stop and stare at the screen for sometime, possibly thinking hard about something.


    The person sighed and set the controller down before talking to himself, ¡°Man, what an ending. That was such a good game, I loved the boss fights and the NPCS with tons of character depth. But man¡­the villain of the story had it rough! He suffered so much for his people, making lots of sacrifices only for the world to turn against him. He stuck to his morals and kind hearted nature for a long time until his mentally couldn¡¯t take it anymore and decided to turn his own back against the world. I only wish there was a different route I could have taken to try and save him or even redeem himself, but I don¡¯t think there is?¡±


    The guy then got on his phone to try and look up online if there was a secret ending and when he thought he found something, he jumped from his seat and shouted ¡°Fuck yeah! There is! But damn, I have to do a 100% run for this, fuuuuuck¡­well whatever. I¡¯ll do it for you big bad, even though your not real, I believe you deserve a better ending than this!¡±


    The gamer picked his controller back up and started his next playthrough of the game to try and get a 100% completion run. Barry¡¯s memory fragment would soon fade away as his vision returned back to normal and his headache almost gone. He still held his hammer up high above the items, the king returning his focus back at him from a few yards away when he saw the ruler prepare an attack with his weapon.


    Barry thought about his recent memory and the items, he sighed and shook his head ¡®This is going to be fucking stupid, god dammit!¡¯ He thought.


    Just then the king lunged forward, swinging his halberd at his head. ¡®THIS IS STUPID!¡¯ Barry then raised all of the objects up in front of his face, which surprisingly caused the king to halt his assault.


    Barry then quickly spoke to the king. ¡°King, I¡¯ve realized you¡¯ve been seeking these objects that were once your faithful and loving wife, to remember the good times you once had with her. Not only were you a loyal husband, but you were also a prosperous, highly respected, and noble ruler of your once great kingdom in your past life that I have seen. The fall of your kingdom must of really crushed your soul knowing there was nothing you could do to stop the plague going around and the mass riots that arouse. So king, I apologize for holding your keepsakes hostage, it was very cruel of me to do so and I hope with these returned to you, that you will finally find peace once again.¡± He then laid out the objects of the king¡¯s sentimentals, one by one as well as playing the music box as the last item. Barry also stayed down, kneeling with his head tilted downwards.


    There was a moment of silence, Barry checked how much time was left and there was only less than a minute. The king stood still and raised his halberd high towards the sky as the sun was beginning to rise. A bit of worry sweat teared down from the side of Barry¡¯s head, he was starting to regret the choice he had just made.


    The king then plunged his halberd downward, Barry could hear the attack coming and he closed his eyes, believing that this was the end of his journey and knowing he would never find out who he was before in his own past life.


    But a second passed and he heard a notification windom pop up, opening his eyes, he found a window with the text ¡®Hidden Quest Achieved! Hidden Quest Details: Give the king back at least 3 out of 4 of the hidden quest items from the hidden rooms along with the rest of the main quest items. Bonus rewards will be received!¡¯.


    Barry looked to his shoulder to find the the king¡¯s halberd a few inches above it, looking as if the king was vowing him. He then looked up at the king and was able to see that half of his face was human bearing a smile. ¡°Thank you, little knight. May your journey hold good fortune, farewell¡­¡± The king told him before fading away into ashes that scatter with the wind.


    Barry couldn¡¯t help but feel relieved. He sat back looking upon the morning sky exhausted. ¡°Holy fuck¡­can¡¯t believed that actually worked.¡± He so glad that his action was the right one.


    Suddenly, he heard cheers from all around himself, scanning about he realized that a mass of people that were in the fight against the undead army had gathered around. They roared with joy as all the undead turned to dust, disappearing from the city completely. The nightmare had was finally over¡­or so it seemed.


    An unforeseen event began to happen, one person began to glow faintly before slowly becoming dematerialized, breaking down until they were gone. People from all around began to panic, wondering what was going on.


    Anna herself was beginning to disappear and looked at Barry. ¡°Barry, do you know what¡¯s going-¡± She was gone.


    The brunette woman, Kat, he remembered this time, too was beginning to vanish from the world as she looked at him. ¡°Barry! I don¡¯t know what¡¯s going on but I know that my family is safe because of you. If we see each other again, I¡¯ll return the favor-¡± Kat was removed from the world as well.


    All around he saw people disappearing and as his eyes gazed everywhere, his eyes stopped as he sighted someone that sparked his rage once more.


    ¡°DOCTOR!¡± He shouted out loud, spotting the very same doctor that had abandoned him from the very beginning.


    The doctor was with a group of people and was in fact the last one of the group that had remained. The old man with amber eyes heard Barry shout out in a fit of rage and looked at him with those same leering eyes before dashing off into an alley way.


    Barry tried getting up to chase him down but fell back down, his body was too tired to move. His hand was the first to begin dematerialize, watching it travel down to his body. He wanted so bad to go after the doctor but wasn¡¯t able to. ¡®I¡¯ll fucking get you, I swear I will-¡¯


    His vision then went white as he had just disappeared from existence, his mind and body was then elsewhere in the void where he was able to see at least one blue screen window that appeared that read the words, ¡®End of Tutorial¡¯

 Chapter 6 - And So It Begins

    Teleporting was something that Barry wasn¡¯t too fond of, he had only teleported a few times before when entering the hidden rooms from the city where the tutorial took place. So when Barry materialized back in his physical form, he felt a bit light-headed but recovered quickly after a while. Before then, Barry was fatigue from his battle with the undead king, but since he teleported to this unknown place, he felt back to normal.


    However, when he took a look around the place he was in, he was in disbelief. Barry¡¯s eyes widened when he looked up and thought he was in the cosmos, up in space. He could see stars twinkling, planets in the distance, comets zooming by, it was all so beautiful and mesmerizing. He also wasn¡¯t the only one that was there, all around him were hundreds, possibly thousands of other people. There were also tables of delicious looking food and drinks with cozy couches, chair, etc.


    The ground or floor that they all stood on was white and fluffy, almost like they were walking on clouds. There were different aesthetic structures that were placed here and there, such as water fountains, marble pillars, fascinating statues, etc.


    Chatter filled the air, mainly about what was going on and if everything was a dream, an alien abduction that happened without them knowing, or something else. People were coming up with all sorts of conspiracy theories to try to explain what was going on.


    Although Barry didn¡¯t much like the situation that they were all in, what was more important to him was recovering his lost memories. He was forced in this game of life or death and accepted that there was no getting out of it for now, he held hope that he would break free from the game but for now he was focused on remembering his past life.


    Barry tried opening his menu, but was unable to for some reason. He wanted to know what sort of rewards he had obtained from completing the tutorial, especially since he completed it differently than what was intended.


    So he picked a cushy chair to sit on and waited for whatever was about to happen.


    Barry waited for about 15 minutes when something occurred. Smoke swirled up in the air from the floor, circling around into a sphere until it stopped at a certain size. Everyone watched with curiosity, wondering what was going on with this strange phenomenon that took shape.


    After a few moments, the ball of smoke busted out, expanding it into a smokescreen. The smoke cleared away in less than 10 seconds, and there floating in the air was a person, a man with pointy ears similar to elves that he had seen in movies. This elf like person also wore a top hat with light gold shades, he had a sinister smile with his hands behind his back.


    The elf then spoke his first words, ¡°Welcome Contestants!¡± his voice booming in a cheerful tone.


    When Barry heard his voice, anger stirred up within as he rose halfway from his chair before realizing that his abilities and menu were locked at the moment. This was the person that was chatting with him from the beginning till now. He wanted to run up and choke the elf, but after calming down, he also realized that it would be stupid to assault someone that could very likely kill him in an instant if they felt like it. Barry plopped back into his chair, feeling defeated.


    ¡°I, and many others like me, applaud you all truly for making it past your tutorial! You may call me Ven! I¡¯m sure you all have hundreds of questions that you would like answered, but sadly, I am here to clear away the most important ones before sending you all away to the true start of your ¡®Lost Adventure¡¯! The elf chuckled at the last bit he said, people whispered to one another in the crowd.


    The whispering stopped when one person from the mass decided to speak, ¡°So you and a bunch of others are responsible for forcing us all into this sick game of yours?¡±


    Ven gave a dramatic expression of shock when he heard them say such a thing, ¡°What!? Me? WHA- nooooo. I¡¯m not the one responsible for getting you all in this at all¡­I¡¯m simply one of the many moderators who HELP the ones who¡¯ve registered you all in this ¡®game¡¯. He replied with a smile.


    ¡°Everyone in this place are not the only ones participating. Your whole world, ¡®Earth¡¯, is participating. I, and many others like me, will see to it that ¡®Lost Adventure¡¯ becomes one of the biggest hits of entertainment out there for the gods that are watching!¡± When the elf mentioned the word, ¡®gods¡¯, the room got even noisier. People were surprised that they were truly being used as some form of entertainment for actual gods, some wondered what they¡¯ve done to anger the gods to force them into this game.


    ¡°That tutorial that you all went through was just a taste of the harsh challenges everyone will face in the future. I advise you all to work together as a team in unity, rather than as individuals, if you all wish to survive. And oh, by the way, those enemies that I chose for you all to fight against were my personal choice.¡± More chatter filled the room, amusing Ven even more.


    ¡°I decided on a tutorial around zombies, undead, because of how popular and familiar those types of monsters are to people of your world. And they are my personal favorite when it comes to horror movies and TV shows. Buuut anyway, I should tell you all that despite it being a tutorial. Anyone who died in it, will unfortunately remain dead.¡± Ven made a frowny face, acting as if he actually cared for those that kicked the bucket.


    Cries and sadness filled the place, those who lost loved ones during the event mourned for their loss, wishing this all thing was just a terrible dream. The elf then switched up his expression by turning it into a happy face. ¡°Yes, sad I know, however; any items, rewards, skills, etc. That you obtained from the tutorial, all of that is yours to keep.¡±


    ¡°FUCK YOU! We didn¡¯t ask for this, you shit bag!¡± A man with tears, but full of rage, barked at Ven. The man began throwing whatever he could up at Ven, each object or food bouncing off an invisible force field that seemed to surround him.


    A bunch of other people joined in, tossing stuff at Ven despite nothing being able to reach him, the people were simply doing so as a way to vent out their frustration and depression. The elf remained still in the air, this time with a blank expression, as he watched these guinea pigs throw a tantrum in his eyes.


    Barry was expecting the whole time for Ven to retaliate back at these people for trying to defy him, but was amazed that Ven did nothing to stop them, he remained still and allowed them to vent. Barry understood the anger the people were feeling, not loss, but angry that they were all being used as entertainment.


    A few minutes went by until the people calmed down, still hurt inside, Ven then spoke with the same poker face ¡°You all done now? Have you all had your fill?¡± He asked in a calm tone.


    This sort of shift in mood sent chills down most of the people, the room went silent, expecting Ven to thrash at them for trying to attack him. After a couple of seconds, Ven¡¯s blank expression turned back into his usual happy attitude. ¡°Alllllrighty then! I shall continue where I left off, where was I? Oh! That¡¯s right, I should inform you all about something unique and interesting that will help you all a ton.¡±


    Ven then removed his hat from his head, revealing his spiky blonde hair under his hat that stuck up like tall grass. He reached his hand inside his hat, pulling out random trinkets and miscellaneous items, until he stopped after pulling a massive dry-erase board for everyone to see, along with a hand pointer stick. Some people were amazed of how the board could fit in a normal-sized hat.


    The board floated in the air with him, he tapped on it with his stick, getting everyone''s attention. ¡°Allow me to start by informing you all on ways to obtain more experience points that will help progress your way to leveling up and becoming even stronger.¡± Drawings were magically forming on the board, with Ven not having to do anything but provide helpful advice to the contestant.


    ¡°As you all know, when you level up you receive a small increase in some of your stats such as your health, stamina, and mana, but more importantly, you receive some stat points that you can use to invest in whatever stat line you choose of your own choice. Allowing you to make the best build possible that works for you. And with each level you gain, the required experience points needed for the next level is increased and so on. You receive exp, experience points for short, from performing a couple of things. Those actions being; slaying monsters, completing quests, using specific items that grant you more exp, discovering secret areas and much more.¡± Ven¡¯s board assisted with his explanation to the contestants, pausing for a moment to give them a moment to digest the information he provided.


    He then continued giving advice after a moment. ¡°Now, when you reach level 10, something special happens to you all! Well, maybe for some of you it may seem special, others not so much maybe? But when you reach level 10, you will all obtain a Class, which is basically something that you will specialize in. A Class is created for you based on who you are as a person, that means reading into your past lives, your personality, EVERYTHING! Even your darkest, most humiliating secrets that you have been keeping locked away. But anyways, I say that it won¡¯t be special to some or most of you all because there is a likely chance that people will have the same kind of Class. But that¡¯s okay, because at a higher level, a special surprise will occur that will make those who don¡¯t feel special, feel extra special.¡±


    When Barry heard him explain about Classes, he thought about his chance to obtain a Class during his fight with the undead king but was denied one because the system apparently didn¡¯t have enough information about himself. He then also thought about Anna¡¯s ability to teleport and figured that she must have obtained a Class that specialized in being stealthy and tricky.


    ¡®Is the reason why I was denied a Class because I don¡¯t know who I am myself? Therefore, meaning, the system doesn¡¯t know either so it can¡¯t make one based on who I am?¡¯ That was the only possible explanation he could think of to explain the error that had occurred.


    Not having a Class was definitely going to make every challenged he faced a lot harder. He would have to compensate for not having a Class of his own somehow. Be it having stronger items, having better tactics, or even obtaining more skills/abilities like how he got his ¡®Enhanced Vision¡¯ skill.


    Ven picked up where he left off after giving the people sometime to talk amongst themselves. ¡°Aside from gaining a Class once you have all reached level 10, I want to talk about the trials and quests that you all will be facing as you try to survive on your journey through ¡®Lost Adventure¡¯. I¡¯ll begin with talking about the quests you all will be facing, the difficulty of the quests will depend on your capabilities, I¡¯ll say. So if you are a weak person, your challenges will likely match up to your level¡­however, if you stay weak for too long and provide no form of entertainment for the gods, then I will have you kick the bucket by cutting your lifeline with an impossible challenge.¡± A sinister smile creeped around his face as he chuckled a bit, this made most of the people nervous, hoping that they would find a way to get stronger fast.


    Barry felt frustrated as he explained about the quests and challenges being matched based on their current capabilities. From Barry¡¯s previous experiences, every time he got stronger or seemed like he was doing well, Ven would throw more bullshit at him, making things even worse than before. He knew that based on what he knew about Ven, becoming stronger quickly would only up the difficulty for himself because Ven would make it so. But Barry couldn¡¯t afford to remain stagnant or weak forever, he would eventually have to grow strong enough to overcome the challenges he would face. Barry would have to accept whatever Ven threw at him.


    A random person then raised their voice to ask Ven a question. ¡°So if everyone on Earth is apart of this life or death sort of game. What do we get if we win?¡±


    There was a moment of silence from Ven while the people chanted in agreement, wondering what would happen to them if they survived to the end of the supreme beings sick game.


    Suddenly, Ven bursted out laughing like a maniac from a prison asylum. The audience was filled with a mix of confusion, fear, anger, and distress. ¡°Haha, wh-what do you all get if you win!? That¡¯s hilarious!¡± Ven couldn¡¯t stop laughing for a bit before calming down.


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    ¡°Ahem, I¡¯ll tell you all what you get from overcoming the harsh, dangerous, extravegant trials that ¡®Lost Adventure¡¯ will have to throw at you all¡­¡± Ven then paused for dramatic effect and weirdly enough the sound of drum rolls could be heard from all around.


    ¡°...a wish, anything that your heart desires or even wants from your dreams. If you make it through to the end, the all mighty ones from the beyond will grant you what you want most. So with that said, fight and struggle till there is no more life within you!¡± Ven encouraged the people, who responded with mixed feelings of hope and doubt.


    Barry didn¡¯t believe a damn word that came out of Ven¡¯s mouth, this elf was a total nutjob in his eyes. A wish that would be given to anyone that was able to clear this stupid game was too cliche and likely a lie.


    ¡°Annnnd in case anyone is concerned, which I know most of you are, Earth is in chaos as ¡®Lost Adventure¡¯ is going on. However! You and the rest of the people of Earth can still save it as you progress through ¡®Lost Adventure¡¯.¡± When Ven said that Earth could be saved as they go through ¡®Lost Adventure¡¯, all eyes were locked on Ven with attention.


    ¡°As you try to clear each ¡®level¡¯ or ¡®world¡¯, whatever you want to call them, there is a chance that you might encounter a way to travel back to your world for a certain amount of time. You may return to your world to help fight and reclaim and rebuild what was lost during your time before you are pulled back into the world from whence you left. Of course, we and the gods will obviously still be watching you all from afar for the entertainment that you all will graciously provide for us. But you will have a moment to visit your once lovely world once more, so it¡¯s a win-win in my perspective!¡± Ven cackled, receiving a lot of groans from the crowd, they were getting fed up with Ven¡¯s jokes.


    Ven placed both hands on the side of his hips with a pouty face. ¡°Awww, don¡¯t be like that everyone. Here, I¡¯ll tell you all something that will surely give you all some ray of hope that I¡¯m sure you all will want to hear!¡± The people began to quiet down, despite Ven being a total asshole, they all figured it was important to hear whatever he had to say.


    ¡°Now I understand most of you only made it this far because of others or by sheer dumb luck, but I¡¯m about to inform you all that the gods will now, from this point on, be allowed to sponsor you on your journey. That means, providing you assistance through means of resources, information, or even skills/abilities. Of course, there are limitations of what they can provide as you progress, but it¡¯s still valuable to have the assistance of a god by your side. But I will tell you, choose wisely, because you are only allowed one god as your sponsor!¡± Ven informed.


    Suddenly, shortly after Ven speaking, Barry began to see dozens of notification windows popping up in front of him. Each one reading something like ¡®Majestic Topaz Dragon offers to be your sponsor! Do you accept?¡¯ or ¡®The Blazing Fist of Justice offers to be your sponsor! Do you accept?¡¯. All sorts of offers were given to Barry from various different gods, demigods, deities, etc.


    A bunch of other people from the crowd seemed to be amused by the different gods that were willing to offer their aid to them. Barry continued to receive offers from all these powerful higher beings, it honestly intrigued him how many offered.


    He knew that having the help of a god would be very beneficial for him during his journey, especially since he didn¡¯t have a Class at the moment. However, he didn¡¯t know any of these gods or how strong each of them were, who was the strongest or would benefit him the most. It would be like taking a gamble of whom to choose.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have to choose a sponsor as of now, contestants. But remember this¡­¡± Ven spoke raising his voice to make sure everyone could hear him. ¡°You are only allowed ONE sponsor, so once you decide on one, you can¡¯t have another. But if you decide at a later time, you are probably dead already.¡± Ven smiled as he pretended to slit his throat with a toy knife.


    Barry thought about the offers some more, continuing to receive multiple notifications asking for him to accept one of them, he didn¡¯t have to choose one at the moment so there was no pressure. But ultimately, it wouldn¡¯t matter to him because he had already made up his mind easily.


    ¡°No,¡± Barry said firmly, directing it towards the higher beings that watched over them like playthings for their enjoyment. ¡°I never want to be under somebody¡¯s thumb or be treated like a pet or servant of any kind. I¡¯ll walk through this journey with my own strength or die trying. Call me ignorant or a fool, I don¡¯t care. I won¡¯t be accepting any of your offers, so fuck off!¡± He insulted the ones above all, flipping them the bird.


    Barry stood his ground, meaning every word that he said. His words sparking a fuse in the constellation of gods and such. He would then start receiving death threats from what appeared to be his inbox for messages from all kinds of higher beings that tried asking to be his sponsor. There were very few that sent him messages, admiring his choice to refuse any sort of help, but overall, there was a lot of negative feedback.


    After giving a bit of time to the contestants, Ven resumed his talk. ¡°Now I know that you all are curious about many other things, such as explaining how your stats work, what sorts of items you might find, or how to use the gold that you might have obtained but sadly this is where I cut you all off for now. I hope that you all manage to put on a thrilling show for all of us watching from the comfort of our homes! Continue to survive through ¡®Lost Adventure¡¯ and we will eventually meet again!¡±


    And with his final speech and a snap of his fingers, all the people in the place began to glow and teleport away to their next unknown challenge.


    Barry awaited his moment to disappear as he looked at Ven with hateful eyes. And just before it was Barry¡¯s turn to go away. Both of their gazes met and Ven smiled, waving at him. Barry could then see him mouth the words ¡°See you again¡­¡±


    Barry¡¯s body emitted a glow of light and disappeared from the cosmos. He could see nothing again until something strange appeared in front of him.


    ¡°Error! Breach into ¡®Lost Adventure¡¯ from unknown source¡± A blue screen with the text read.


    Barry was getting curious about these errors he was getting, he was beginning to think this game ¡®Lost Adventure¡¯ was maybe incomplete or something with these errors.


    ¡°Unknown file now being uploaded¡± Barry read, he wondered what could be breaching into the game and what the file contained. A progress bar was on-screen now, and Barry watched until it filled in completely to 100%.


    ¡°Resuming contestant¡¯s transfer to ¡°Unknown World¡±¡¯ Barry was getting very interested about this. It could be dangerous with whatever world he was about to be transferred too, but the words ¡°unknown¡± and ¡°error¡± made him really want to see it all.


    Barry¡¯s transfer process continued until he finally materialized to the world that he was being sent too.


    He reappeared, falling a couple of inches above some colorful green grass. All around him were lively looking trees and bushes, he was in a forest with healthy vegetation and saw a flock of birds soared past him from above in the sky which was a light blue clear sky. Rays of sunlight beamed through the small gaps in the trees.


    Barry got up on his feet as he scanned his surroundings. Nothing dangerous seemed to pop out anywhere, everything just looked peaceful. He then remembered the rewards that he had obtained from clearing the tutorial.


    He could now open up his menu and sift through his inventory for the rewards that he had obtained. Those rewards being; 20k gold coins, a ¡°Ring of Regeneration¡± (Rare), a pair of gloves called ¡°Explorer¡¯s Gloves¡± (Rare), and finally a random Grade B Skill obtained from the Undead King based on the description it had. Barry assumed that the skill had to better than his ¡°Enhanced Vision¡± skill because it was a Grade D.


    He equipped the ring and the pair of fingerless-gloves, he also consumed the ¡°Potion of Endurance +2¡± that he wasn¡¯t able to drink from when he obtained it at the park in the city. The ring granted him a +20% boost in Health Regeneration; and the gloves provided him a +5 Agility, +10% Attack Speed, +10% Sleight of Hand, and 10% Climbing Speed. Barry felt goodness in his heart, receiving rewards as great as these made him as happy as a person that just came back home from shopping from a mall.


    Barry¡¯s eyes then fell upon the consumable skill from the Undead King. The skill was random, but also a Grade B, so it had to be good; especially if it was a hidden reward that he had obtained from the tutorial.


    Barry selected the skill and consumed it. When he did, an orange orb of light appeared out from his inventory screen and spiraled around him until eventually being absorbed inside his body. His body began to change internally, he could feel himself getting stronger physically, his mind being more clear as well.


    ¡°Grade B - ¡®King¡¯s Commanding Presence¡¯ Skill Obtained!¡± A notification read. He then looked over the description of the skill ¡°Passive: +25% Strength, +20% Agility, +25% Endurance, and +10% Armor Rating to user and allies. Activation Ability: +25% Strength, Agility, Endurance, and +20% Armor Rating (300 Second Cooldown/120 Second Duration). Grade B Exp: 0/50,000 Till Next Grade Level.¡±


    Barry was amazed by what the skill provided him, especially since it offered him a passive buff in his physical prowess and granted him an even further buff if he chose to use its activation ability. The part about it being applied to allies that he deemed friendly was also a nice touch, possibly in the future he will have to work with others, but for now it was just him.


    He had no proper fighting style and mainly relied on his instincts and physical stats to overcome the enemies that he had faced so far. His fight with the knights and the king were examples of how inexperienced he was, the necklace he had obtained at the end carried him so far with the massive boost in stats it provided. ¡®I¡¯ll need to learn or obtain someway that will help me fight better than just relying on pure stats alone. Being scrappy will only take me so far till I hit another wall.¡¯ He told himself.


    As he was thinking to himself, he heard the cries of what seemed to be children in the forest he was in. Barry stopped what he was doing and rushed off in the direction of the noise with haste.


    ¡®Great, just when I finally have some time to myself, some bullshit has to call for me to intervene.¡¯ Barry complained, sighing, but still making his way to the commotion.


    It was not long till he was able to track down the source of the cries. There, surrounded by a pack of hungry wolves, were a group of children in terror. ¡®Ah, actual living wolves instead of undead ones, still dangerous as ever.¡¯


    Every time the children tried to move, the wolves would snarl at them, causing them to react with more cries. Barry watched from behind a tree, waiting for the right time to jump in. There were 5 wolves, one of which seemed to be the alpha of the pack based on its size and darker fur color.


    Picking up a couple of rocks, he tossed them somewhere farther from the children but nearby.


    The distraction from the rocks caused the wolves to look away from the children, giving Barry enough time to dart towards the leader of the pack.


    He propelled off the ground forward, locking onto the alpha with fists at the ready, zooming past the other wolves, sucker punching the animal with a right hook into its snout. Barry saw that his punch had dealt around 30% of its health as damage from his ¡°Enhanced Vision¡±. The alpha was caught off guard and stunned from being hit in the nose, allowing Barry to continue to wail on it fast enough before the other wolves had a chance to defend their leader. The alpha was no more.


    The children were both shocked and happy to see that someone had arrived to their rescue, they then all rushed to get behind Barry for cover.


    Two wolves from the pack leapt at Barry from his left and right, but he managed to catch both of them by the necks, halting them. ¡°Sit. Down.¡± He commanded with authority before throwing back the wolves against some tree trunks.


    The wolves looked at Barry and then at their fallen alpha, they were able to rack their brains together and came to the conclusion to run far, far away from the new alpha on the scene. All together, they backed away and retreated deeper into the forest.


    Barry turned towards the children, checking if any of them were severely hurt.  ¡°Are you all alright? Anyone bleeding or anything bad?¡± He asked with concern.


    They looked at each other, making sure none of them were harmed, before one of them replied. ¡°Y-Yes sir, I think we¡¯re all okay.¡± A boy spoke, seeming a bit rattled still.


    Barry looked at all the children once more, then nodded. ¡°Good, then carry on and hurry back home before those wolves return.¡± He told them, then turned away from the children, walking away on his own.


    He walked for a few moments before noticing footsteps from behind himself. When he looked back, he balled up his fists, prepared to clock whatever was following him. But to his surprise, it was the same group of children he had saved. The kids were startled at first from seeing how quick he spun around with his fists ready to pound them it seemed.


    Barry instantly lowered his guard, realizing it was them, and spoke. ¡°Do you all need something? Why are you all following me?¡±


    ¡°W-We¡¯re s-scared sir. We don¡¯t want to go back alone.¡± One of them said, all the children nodding in agreement. ¡°Can you take us back home?¡± Another asked, there were still tears in their eyes.


    Barry was befuddled, ¡°W-What? Listen, I can¡¯t-¡± He stopped speaking mid-sentence, he was going to deny them, but once again he felt the same feeling he would always get at times. The urge to help.


    ¡°I-¡± He was not able to deny them help, no matter how hard he tried. The kids watched him deep in thought, almost like he was struggling against some unknown force.


    And in just a few more moments of watching Barry battle against himself, he finally caved in. ¡°Aaaagh! Fine!¡± He shouted, spooking the kids once again.


    He calmed himself down, stuffing his hands in his pockets and letting out a heavy sigh. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m sorry¡­gaaaah.¡± He apologized for his outburst. ¡°Lead the way kids.¡± Barry told them, sounding defeated.


    The kids huddled up in front of him, guiding Barry back to their home with Barry tailing from behind, hands still in pockets with a mellow look. ¡®Why the fuck can¡¯t I say no to anyone. Why!?¡¯ He thought. ¡®This shit¡¯s really pissing me off every time.¡¯

 Chapter 7 - No Denying Help

    Only an hour had passed since Barry decided to walk the children back home, still feeling bummed out about feeling forced to say ¡°Yes¡± because of these unknown urges to help everyone he met. He wanted to know why he couldn¡¯t just tell someone ¡°No¡±.


    Regardless, he was stuck with chaperoning them back home, but along the way, he asked them what they were doing out in the forest. Their response was childish but bold, saying that they all wanted to go out beyond their homes and explore what was out there, maybe possibly finding some treasure.


    They also asked him not to tell their parents why they travelled so far deep into the forest when they returned, especially about them almost being devoured by a pack of wolves. They feared that they may never get another chance to explore again if their parents found out. Barry simply nodded and promised not to snitch on them, he didn¡¯t care what would happen to them after he was gone.


    A couple more minutes went by as they followed a trail that lead out of the woods, into a wider open field with some small hills and what appeared to be a village in the distance.


    ¡°There!¡± A few of the kids yelled, sounding excited. ¡°That¡¯s our home!¡± Another said before breaking away from the group towards it, the rest following from behind.


    Barry continued walking a normal pace with a ¡®I don¡¯t care anymore¡¯ face towards the village. The poor guy just wanted to finish escorting them back and be on his way.


    But as Barry got closer, he was able to make out the layout of the village clearer. ¡°Oh fuck.¡±


    The village seemed to be home to about a 100 or so people but the houses, buildings, everything, looked to be in shambles. The windows were shattered, door hinges hanged, fences were breached. There were people scattered about, appearing in distress, picking up their belongings, assessing the damages that had occurred. Barry concluded that from the looks of it, the village had to have been recently attacked or invaded.


    Barry picked up the pace to catch up with the kids, entering the village with the kids. The adults nearby had spotted the children and were checking if they were alright before scolding them for making them worry. Barry couldn¡¯t help but chuckle inside to see them all receive a stern talking too.


    He then realized something about his appearance that he should have thought more about. His PT clothes, that served as his armor, made him stick out from the rest of the villagers. Everyone else looked like proper folks living off of their farmland. ¡®I¡¯m definitely going to be questioned about my clothes in this world, aren¡¯t I?¡¯


    Soon after looking around, he was approached by a mother of one of the children. ¡°You must be the one who guided our children back here. We were all so worried what had happened to them during this dreadful raid that recently occurred. We thank you so much!¡± She said with a look of relief as she shook Barry¡¯s hand, expressing her gratefulness.


    ¡°Uh, yeah. No problem ma¡¯am.¡± He replied with a slight nod, hoping she wouldn¡¯t care about his attire.


    The woman¡¯s eyes seemed to be examining him, her eyes focused on what he was wearing. ¡°I don¡¯t mean to sound rude, but I am curious, where did you get these clothes from? They seem to be a different type of style from any other I have seen.¡±


    ¡®Shit.¡¯ He cursed in his head.


    ¡°Wow, the texture feels like its high quality! Where are you from?¡± She questioned, curious of where his clothes were made.


    Barry thought about making up a place on the spot, but decided to just spill out some of the truth of where he came from. ¡°I¡¯m from a place called Earth, it¡¯s waaaaaay over yonder, that way.¡± He lied, pointing in the direction he came from. ¡°Yup, I basically travelled down here in search for adventure. So I¡¯m really new to the area and such.¡± He hoped that the mother would buy his lie without thinking too much.


    The woman smiled in amusement. ¡°Ah! You¡¯re an adventurer! I¡¯ve never heard of ¡®Earth¡¯ before, but I have seen adventurers like you before who help those in need. You must be a very strong adventurer to have come all the way here. We could really use your help as of now, we would greatly appreciate it.¡±


    Barry was caught off guard by the woman grabbing his hand and dragging him towards an elderly person who seemed to be the village chief. People from the village looked at him with curious eyes, wondering who he was.


    The poor adventurer cringed at being trapped in another possible request that he wouldn¡¯t be able to deny as much as he wanted too. ¡®Fuuuuuck¡­¡¯


    The village chief was just done talking to some of his people when Barry and the woman arrived. ¡°Ned! I¡¯ve found someone who can get back at those pesky Kobold¡¯s for raiding us. He also happens to be the person who escorted the missing children back to safety and claims to be a strong adventurer from a far away place known as ¡®Earth¡¯.¡± The woman was putting a lot of effort into making Barry sound like an immensely strong, fabled hero of legends.


    Barry was not liking anything that was going on at the moment, he was trying so hard to keep a fake smile. The term ¡°Kobold¡± sounded familiar, but he couldn¡¯t remember what they were exactly.


    The village chief, Ned, stroked his white beard with one hand while tapping his staff with his other. His eyes looking at Barry from head to toe. ¡°So¡­an adventurer from ¡®Earth¡¯ you say?¡± He said, almost as if he doubted Barry¡¯s lie. ¡°How far away is it from here?¡±


    Barry clenched his teeth for a brief moment. ¡°Far, far, far down that way. There¡¯s a small continent surrounded by water with a bunch of other smaller islands. It¡¯s really hard to find, I promise you, we don¡¯t get many visitors there, which is also why I left the darn place. Haha.¡± Barry replied, with more complete and utter bullshit on the spot, hoping Ned would believe him.


    Ned squinted his eyes at Barry, trying to decide whether to trust his words or not. ¡®Please don¡¯t question me anymore, old man¡­¡¯ Barry didn¡¯t know how long he could keep lying to the people around him.


    After a few more seconds of being inspected by Ned, the old man smiled. ¡°Well then, young man, you must have faced a lot of tough challenges and ferocious monsters along the way.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, actually, the most recent type of monsters I¡¯ve fought were zombies. Those undead were something else, but nothing I couldn¡¯t handle.¡± Barry at least wasn¡¯t lying about fighting undead, so he sounded a bit more truthful in the face of Ned.


    ¡°That¡¯s amazing, I would not know what to do when confronted with such relentless beings of the dead. I¡¯m sure a lot of us would love to hear your heroic stories of your travels, but let me inform you more about our current predicament at the moment.¡± Ned then waved his staff around. ¡°As you can see, our village was recently raided by Kobolds. The most important things that were stolen from our village, were food and money that we had collected in order to pay for our village¡¯s protection fee from a band of orcs.¡±


    Barry knowledge of what Kobolds or Orcs were was fuzzy, he thought that if he asked what they looked like, the people would become even more suspicious of his identity. ¡°Ah yes, Orcs and Kobolds. Both nasty little bastards, especially Kobolds, they''re nothing but troublemakers.¡±


    The woman chimed in, ¡°I don¡¯t know about the Orcs being small, but those little devil lizards are indeed mischievous buggers. They may not have harmed anyone, but they robbed us of our payment for the Orcs. And if we don¡¯t get it back, those brutes will tear this village down to the ground!¡± She looked really worried as she explained.


    ¡°It¡¯s alright, Pam, we¡¯ll manage somehow. Especially since we have a brave and mighty adventurer in front of us willing to help.¡± Ned nodded towards Barry with a grin, who smiled back slightly, he was not ready for what was going to be asked of him next.


    ¡°But honestly,¡± Pam continued. ¡°Those Orcs have been slacking lately, and some of the men have to stave off the wolves and wild boars that come here to eat our crops or feed on our animals. It¡¯s not even worth paying the Orcs anymore.¡±


    Ned turned to Barry. ¡°Please adventurer, I know we don¡¯t have much to offer for now, but we promise to repay you in full in the future if you give us some time.¡± He asked him with concern.


    The supposed adventurer wasn¡¯t sure if he wanted to lend his help to these people, who had nothing left to offer after being raided. ¡°I¡­I¡¯m not sure if¡­¡± Barry felt something tugging on his heart, causing him to fumble with his words as he tried to resist the urge to say yes.


    The people in front of him looked at him with pleading eyes, hoping he would become their savior. ¡®I really don¡¯t want too¡­¡¯


    Just then, he felt a tug on his jacket. He turned around to see the same group of children he had saved before. ¡°Please mister, It''s not much, but my friends and I have a bunch of cool things we have in our collection to give to you.¡± The kids then presented handfuls of odd shiny bits of miscellaneous things like colorful rocks, miniature figurines, toys, and a dirty key.


    At first glance, Barry felt like declining the offer because it looked like a bunch of junk. However, because of his ¡°Enhanced Vision¡± skill, he was able to spot 2 valuable items from their collection.


    He saw that one of the pebbles, a white colored one with red polka-dots, was named ¡°Lucky Pebble¡±. It was a Rare item based on the font color. The other was the dirty key that simply said ¡°Silver Key¡± that was also Rare.


    Barry knelt down and nodded to the children, taking the two specific items from the pod. ¡°I¡¯ll agree to help you all out, but I¡¯ll be taking these two as advanced payment. Got it?¡±


    ¡°Deal!¡± The children cheered, happy they were able to convince Barry to help the village. He pocketed the items, which concealed him transferring them into his inventory.


    Barry then faced Ned. ¡°Tell me the direction of the Kobold¡¯s, and I¡¯ll do my best to retrieve what was lost¡± He told him with a firm nod.


    The woman and village chief were ecstatic to hear him accept their request. ¡°The Kobolds retreated further east, we have encountered them before out of our home, but this is the first time in a long while we have ever been raided before.¡± Ned informed.


    A quest notification window appeared, telling Barry that he had accepted a side quest. It also informed him of the estimated location of the Kobolds'' domain on the map. He checked it out and noticed that there was some sort of fog of war on his map, aside from the village and the path he travelled to get there. There was a large transparent yellow circle highlighted east of where he was at that was labeled ¡°Location of Kobolds Den?¡±. Barry assumed the Kobolds'' den was somewhere within the circle, he would just have to search for it.


    He also looked more at the quest description, which basically said that the village needed help recovering the goods they had lost within the given time limit. He was given 3 days. The penalty was nothing which was new to him because it had always been death. The reward was 200 gold, 1,000 exp and a ¡°???¡± item. He wondered what it was.


    ¡°Hey sir, you¡¯ve been looking at something for some time. What¡¯s caught your eye?¡± The mother asked, trying to find what he was staring at.


    Barry closed the system windows quickly with a thought and turned his attention back to the people in front of him. ¡°Sorry, I thought I had spotted a Kobold spying on us.¡± He lied, squinting his eyes, trying to make it seem like he was really looking for one.


    The woman gasped when he mentioned seeing a Kobold. ¡°I think it scurried away, so I should really go chase after it. Bye!¡± He told them and started sprinting towards the direction of the Kobolds den.


    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    ¡°Wait! Adventurer!¡± Ned called out, causing Barry to halt and face back around. ¡°What is your name?¡±


    ¡°Barry! Just call me that!¡± He replied, hoping he wouldn¡¯t be questioned anymore about himself.


    He then continued running afterward towards his destination down a trail that lead out of the village, following along a river stream that travelled back deep into the forest again.


    Barry kept going at a regular jogging pace for about an hour before slowing down when he heard a loud roar that had to have come from a large beast.


    He was curious of what sort of unique creatures he might encounter in this world, and given that he had a fair amount of time and would make it to the yellow circle in a few more hours, he decided to check out the source of the noise. Tracking down the sound led him slightly off course from his destination, but wasn¡¯t far.


    There were a group of bushes rustling that he saw as he got to where the vicinity of the noise came from. He slowed to a halt behind a tree, waited for a moment in case something was going to jump out of the bushes, which nothing did, then proceeded to get closer.


    When Barry did, he discovered some sort of stone cove with a large nest inside with skulls and bones of different kinds all laid out. In the center of it was an egg, about the size of a human child, at least 3ft tall and a 1ft and a half wide. This looked like a home to a large beast, more likely the one he had heard.


    Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw something he had never seen before. There was a short nearly 3ft tall lizard looking creature that stood on two legs, wearing a leather armor vest with a backpack. It had orange-red scales and green eyes with its usual reptilian slit pupils.


    The being then crawled on all fours, its short tail wagging high in the air, trying to be stealthy it seemed as it got closer to the beast¡¯s den.


    ¡°??Hmm, hmm ??¡± The strange creature hummed, Barry watched from concealment with a mix of curiosity and second hand embarrassment because the creature was trying to be stealthy but wasn¡¯t doing a great job.


    ¡°??Almost there to take the egg??. ??So that Puck can take it back to his friends??.¡± The creature was not even thinking about how loud he was singing, and that made Barry cringe, facepalming himself.


    When the small lizard being got close enough to the den, it swiftly scurried to the egg and sniffed it a couple of times while slightly knocking on it. ¡°Yeah, Puck thinks it¡¯s good egg. Yeah!¡± It said to himself with a smile and nodded before grasping it on both sides, lifting it up.


    The little guy seemed to be struggling a bit carrying the big egg with its arms, wobbling from side to side with each step. He appeared to be having a difficult time watching where it was going because the egg also blocked a bit of his view of where he was going.


    Barry wondered if these things were the Kobolds that the villagers were talking about. Then suddenly, Barry could feel the ground vibrate a small bit and hear twigs snapping and bushes rustling. ¡®Something¡¯s coming.¡¯ He thought and was intrigued to find out what it was.


    The reptilian creature continued to hum to its own tune until suddenly it began to emit an odd sparkle of cyan glowing aura with an expression that looked like he was about to sneeze. ¡°A-A-Achoo!¡± The reptile sneezed away from the egg while, also to Barry¡¯s surprise, snorted out a spray of flames.


    It fell to the ground outside the cove, egg still intact, and got back up, hoisting the egg again after wiping his snout. ¡°Itchy nose, Puck need to be more careful with egg¡±. It said.


    Then the short being felt a looming presence from behind it with heavy breathing over its neck. ¡°Hmm?¡± The clueless creature turned around to find out that it was the one thing that he should have really tried to keep silent about.


    There standing over the short lizard was a 7ft long bear like beast that could have stood on both legs, making it appear even larger. It came across as being a mix between a bear and a platypus, a massive beast with muscle and thick fur, a beak with small sharp visible teeth, and hook like nails on its hind web-like feet with pointy claws. It also had a long, thick flat tail like a platypus that it slammed into the ground as it stood up, agitated that the critter was robbing its egg.


    The little guy froze still in terror at the beast that was about to maul him to death. ¡°H-Hello-¡±


    The beast unleashed a fearsome thundering roar at the lizard, cutting off it¡¯s sentence and making him stumble back, almost dropping the egg on the ground.


    The platybear swiped its claws at the lizard, while also trying to avoid hitting its own egg by accident. The little guy narrowly dodged every swipe as it scrambled to its feet, forgetting about the egg. ¡°Puck, sorry! Puck no take egg, so leave Puck alone!¡± It pleaded.


    Barry found it amusing of the turn of events, watching the lizard get chased down by the beast. But then he wondered if these were the Kobolds the villagers meant, because if that was the case, then he could help this one and have it lead him to its kin. ¡®Yeah, this is a good opportunity to find the den quicker¡¯


    After evading a couple more attacks from the beast, the Kobold decided to take a stand against the beast. ¡°Puck told you to leave him alone! So now stupid bear will face the full power of Puck!¡±


    The Kobold took a deep breath, the same magical aura from before emitting around his body, and flipped around facing the beast.


    With his chest puffed out and his arms pulled back, he let loose his mighty special attack upon his attacker¡­or so he thought. He had unhinged his snout, exhaling only a small puff of smoke from his mouth.


    The tinny Kobold, shocked that he didn¡¯t get the outcome he was expecting, looked back up at the platybear with horror in his eyes. ¡°U-Uh, Puck was on-only joking.¡± He then covered into a ball as he watched the beast resume its onslaught.


    And just when the platybear¡¯s claws were about to connect with the defenseless Kobold. The beast was shoved to the side with a shoulder tackle from Barry while it stood on two legs. This caused the bear to stumble to the side, resulting in it tilting over and knocking into a tree. ¡°Damn, it¡¯s heavier than it looks.¡± Barry muttered.


    The small Kobold looked up from it¡¯s cowardice pose, wondering how it was still alive. ¡°Huh? Who are you?¡± It asked with curiosity.


    Barry turned his head towards the Kobold and replied. ¡°Someone who just saved your life! So hide while I handle this!¡± He ordered.


    Without question, the Kobold rushed off to find a hiding spot while Barry wrestled with a near 2 ton beast that was fueled with angry mama bear rage.


    The platybear recovered from the tackle and got back on all fours, locking eyes with Barry now. It growled and roared at him, ready to throw down. ¡°Come on! I¡¯m itching to fist fight a bear in my life for once! Let¡¯s go!¡± Barry challenged, waving his hands towards himself.


    The beast seemed to acknowledge his challenge with a slam of its tail on the ground and charged towards him with near unstoppable movement. Barry knelt down for a moment, getting into his sprinter pose, before bolting forward to contend with his opponent.


    As soon as the two were about to come into contact with one another, the creature tried to bash Barry with its beak, but he evaded it by leaping over it and landing on its back. Barry gripped the thick fur of the beast as it took him for a joyride.


    The platybear bull rushed to every tree, boulder, anything it could try to use to smash Barry¡¯s body against, but he would always shift around to avoid being knocked off. Slowly, he would eventually reach the head of the creature and commence wailing on its head with one fist while holding on with the other.


    His attacks were dealing tiny amounts of damage as he watched his enemy¡¯s HP bar slowly chipping away. It was at times like these that Barry wished he had something like a sword to fight with, his previous one being destroyed near the end of the tutorial.


    Barry kept bonking the beast until it decided to flip itself over on its back, sliding against the ground in an open area. He was forced to let go or be crushed under the huge creature from underneath.


    The two got back up, with mama bear taking the first initiative with a swing of its tail. Barry reacted fast enough to fall back prone, avoiding it barely, brushing past his hair and hearing the air go whoosh. The tail instead slammed against the side of a tree, uprooting it and knocking it over. He was thankful to have avoided the attack.


    When he got back up, the creature used its momentum it had created from twirling around with its tail and swiped at him. This time he couldn¡¯t dodge the attack and instead chose to try and halt it.


    He held his ground as he used both hands to grab holding of one of it¡¯s paws that was sent at him, causing him to grit his teeth from the strain that was being piled on his arms from stopping the attack, his knees feeling weak from the force, buckling a bit. ¡®Damn! This bear is strong!¡¯ Had his endurance and strength been any lower, he might have possibly been seriously injured.


    Barry wondered if he would have to activate his new skill, ¡°King¡¯s Commanding Presence¡±, to have a better chance at defeating the bear.


    His heart was racing, but not from fear, he felt excited, the thrill of being in an intense fight like he had with the Undead King. ¡°No.¡± He didn¡¯t want to use it, he believed he could handle the angry mama bear with how he was at the moment.


    Using all his might, Barry shoved the paw aside and lunged closer to the beast, aiming straight for its gut area. He rammed his right fist into it full force and heard a loud belch erupt from the creature. ¡°Here¡¯s a second helping!¡±


    Barry fired another straight punch into its gut once more, this time the creature proceeded to vomit something it had eaten from earlier.


    The creature¡¯s HP was around 65% from all the tango dancing they were doing, especially from being the two punches in the gut he landed.


    Barry was about to deliver another blow, but had to retreat back because the platybear began going nuts. It was now on a rampage, although its movements were dizzy-like from being clocked in the gut twice.


    He couldn¡¯t risk going back in without getting smacked around by it, so he did his best to keep away from it. Weaving through the trees and boulders, using his terrain to his advantage the best he could, it only slowed the beast down by a bit.


    Eventually he would back track to where they were before, near the platybear¡¯s den. From there, the creature began to slow down, showing some signs of exhaustion. Barry was in a similar condition as well, but was still pumped to keep going. He was having fun.


    Barry¡¯s eyes then caught an item that sparked his interest in the bear¡¯s den with green font named ¡°Cold Steel Sword +2¡±, an uncommon item. He could really use it to dish out more damage than with his fists.


    He darted to the den, causing the platybear to chase after him.


    Barry grasped the sword from the pile of bones and side-stepped to the far right, dodging the bear¡¯s charge, watching it slam into a stone wall. He gripped the sword with both hands and hacked at its legs, wanting to hinder its movement. The blade didn¡¯t cut deep, possibly because of the fat and muscle, but it did do considerable damage to its health.


    The bear back kicked Barry, being blocked by his sword, yet managing to nick the skin of his knuckles with its hook like nails from its legs. He started to feel strange, the hand that was nicked felt like cramping up, followed by intense pain. ¡®What the hell? Are those hooks on its back legs venomous or something?¡¯


    Barry had to suck up the pain and endure it, one hand was barely functional, and he had to more careful from now on. The platybear turned around and continued its assault, biting and swiping at him in a fit of rage.


    He dodged each attack, responding with a couple of his own with one hand wielding his weapon. The swings of his sword, scratching its beak, as well as its paws. The beast was getting even more frustrated.


    It then gathered all its might, standing high on its back legs with its tail in the air as well. Barry was expecting for it to belly flop on top of him, anticipating its next move and deciding to jump out of the way. That was a mistake.


    Instead, the beast slammed its tail into the ground, causing it to shake and for him to lose his balance, falling on his ass. It then leapt into the air, his last few moments cursing out loud before being pressed into the ground laid with skulls and bones of its previous victims.


    There was a moment of struggle from underneath the bear, then soon after it stopped. The platybear felt content, happy that her intruder must have suffocated from being crushed from its own weight.


    Discomfort was the first feeling it felt, followed by aching, then pain, and finally, agony. The bear let out a bellowing roar, it felt its belly being stabbed from underneath. It couldn¡¯t take the pain anymore and slowly rose from the ground.


    There, from underneath the platybear, was Barry with his sword plunged deep inside it with a face full of anger. ¡°Yeah! Didn¡¯t think I would stab you enough? You tricked me in the first half of your body slam, I¡¯ll give you that. But I¡¯m not dying today!¡± Blood began seeping out from the gaping wound, he could see its HP depleting at a steady pace.


    The platybear was unsure of what to do, it could try and press its weight against Barry one more time, but that would only cause his blade to dig in deeper.


    Eventually, the platybear would succumb to the slow and fatal blow it had received, dying to Barry¡¯s blade. When he realized he had won, Barry stowed away his sword and struggled to worm his way out from underneath the 2 ton bear like creature. ¡°That was a long and intense fight. Glad I found a sword, otherwise that would have taken longer.¡± The mild paralysis from his one hand was slowly going away, soon his hand would return to normal.


    He looked around the den with his vision, scoping it out more now that he wasn¡¯t fighting for his life. Aside from the loot he obtained from the platybear, he was able to find 300 gold and an uncommon book named ¡°Magic Mikes Book About Peace of Mind¡±. Everything else was common or complete rubbish.


    Barry then walked out, now searching for the Kobold that he had just saved. ¡°Hey! Little guy, you still here!?¡± He called out.


    A few moments went by when Barry heard rustling in the nearby trees, he stood ready to face whatever was coming his way.


    ¡°Puck! Puck is here-¡± The same Kobold from before appeared among the trees, landing face-first into the ground by accident.


    Upon closer inspection of the creature, he would think that other people would find it cute with its small stature and slit pupil eyes that seemed adorable.


    Barry spoke, ¡°Saw that you were having some trouble with that platypus bear or whatever, figured I¡¯d lend you a hand with snagging that huge egg. I¡¯m assuming your name is Puck?¡±


    The Kobold got up and nodded with a smile. ¡°Yeah! Puck is Puck¡¯s name, thank you so much for helping Puck with the scary platybear.¡± Puck¡¯s tail wagged, possibly a sign that he was happy.


    ¡°Yeah, no problem. Hey Puck, are you a Kobold?¡±


    ¡°Yeah! Puck is Kobold, Puck¡¯s family is also Kobold and live that far that way.¡± The little guy then pointed in a direction. ¡°Puck came here to get platybear egg for family offering.¡±


    Barry grinned inside, cleared his throat with a cough, and began to put up an act. ¡°Well Puck, I happen to be a very strong fighter when it comes to fending off monsters of all kinds. I¡¯ve travelled across seas slaying krakens, the desert where fierce scorpions roam, and the mountains where giants rule. If you would like, I could escort you back to your kin.¡±


    Puck jumped with joy, ¡°Yes! Puck would very much like you to protect Puck and take him to family.¡± Puck then shook Barry¡¯s hand with excitement.


    But the moment Puck touched his hand, he experienced another headache again. ¡®Again?¡¯ He thought, Barry knew he was about to experience another possible memory fragment.


    His vision blurred till he blacked out, delving back into the depths of his mind again.


    This time he saw a group huddled around a campfire, all of which that still looked like ghostly apparitions, the same as before and were hard to make out. However, one particular figure stood out to him, it looked like Puck¡¯s silhouette.


    The supposed Kobold and the rest of the people chatted and watched as the fire danced. ¡°Look! Watch Puck stuff his mouth full of potatoes!¡± Puck said to them before grabbing what seemed like potatoes he assumed, shoving each one into his mouth till he couldn¡¯t fit anymore.


    ¡°Dada!¡± Puck croaked with his arms stretched outwards, proud of his accomplishment.


    One person, someone that looked like an elf, turned to look at him and said ¡°Puck, as impressive as that might be, it¡¯s also disgusting. Please spit them out.¡± The elf who was a woman asked with a bit of concern in her voice.


    Another person, possibly human, laughed at the sight of Puck¡¯s show of talent. ¡°Hey, you can¡¯t tell me that¡¯s not funny.¡± He told the elf.


    ¡°Because it¡¯s not, it¡¯s-¡± The elf stopped talking when the two heard Puck begin to choke. ¡°Puck!¡± She called out, immediately going to his side and heaving his stomach till he spewed out all the potatoes he had stuffed.


    ¡°Awww, Puck almost ate them all, but you made Puck cough them out.¡± The little Kobold blamed the elf for saving his life.


    ¡°W-What? Puck I was-¡± The woman tried explaining herself to the little idiot but was cut off by the man¡¯s burst of laughter.


    The woman then stood up and said, ¡°You know what, screw you both. I¡¯m going to bed.¡± Then walked away, most likely pissed.


    The memory then ended and Barry¡¯s vision returned to normal, his headache gone.


    ¡°Hey!¡± Puck was in front of him, looking concerned for his well-being. ¡°Are you feeling sick?¡± He asked him.


    As Barry gathered himself together, he looked at Puck and asked him. ¡°Puck, have you ever met anyone besides someone like me before? A human? An elf? Maybe share a campfire with them?¡± He was genuinely curious, he wondered why this memory fragment included Puck in it. He also wondered how he, himself, could have ever encountered an elf back on Earth if that was also him at that campfire, no way they could have existed.


    Puck thought about it for a moment but shook his head. ¡°No, Puck has seen humans, but don¡¯t know what an elf is. Puck also no share campfire with humans.¡±


    Barry was even more confused about what he saw, ¡®Why the hell was Puck in my memory?¡¯ He decided to set it aside for now and focus on clearing his current side quest.


    He stood up and looked at Puck. ¡°I¡¯m ready to go now, let¡¯s get going to your family.¡± He waved a hand, signalling him to lead the way.


    Puck nodded with a small smile, but then pointed at the egg of the platybear. ¡°Let Puck grab egg first.¡± He told Barry, then rushed to secure it.


    ¡°Need help?¡± Barry offered as he watched the Kobold struggle having a proper hold of it.


    Puck shook his head. ¡°No no, Puck got it. Besides, Puck need exercise to get stronger.¡± He then tried to get the best possible form he could get before telling Barry that he was ready, embarking on their journey to Puck¡¯s kin.


    The Kobold led the way and after a moment he asked Barry a question that he should have when they first met after the defeat of the platybear. ¡°Hey, what¡¯s your name?¡±


    Barry was never going to be able to avoid this question for as long as he lived, he too would like to know his true name himself. Regardless, he responded to Puck¡¯s question. ¡°You can call me Barry, Puck.¡±


    Puck¡¯s tail wagged a bit, happy to know his saviors name. ¡°Barry, that¡¯s a cool name. Puck like it.¡± Puck¡¯s comment genuinely made him chuckle a bit.


    ¡°Well, you¡¯d be the first to think so.¡±

 Chapter 8 - Infiltration

    The two took a stroll further into the forest, with Puck taking the lead, carrying the huge platybear egg. The Kobold wobbled to each side, somewhat similar to a penguin.


    As they travelled deeper, the trees were getting denser and denser. The roots of the trees were slowly overlapping the grass above the ground, eventually they would be walking on tree roots rather than the ground.


    Regardless, according to Barry¡¯s map, the two were on the right path to encountering the den of the Kobolds. ¡°Your home sure is guarded by a lot of trees. They must keep it safe from outside invaders.¡± Barry said.


    ¡°Yeah! Trees around Puck¡¯s home, keeps it safe from nasty monsters.¡± Puck replied.


    Barry then remembered the time Puck sneezed flames out from his nose. ¡°Hey, I remember seeing you sneeze fire out of their nose. Can all Kobolds do that?¡± He wondered, it would be good to know in case he ever had to fight his kin.


    Puck gave out a nervous chuckle, ¡°Uh, Puck is the only one that can do that. Puck¡¯s family can¡¯t do it, they tell Puck not to burn them when Puck is around.¡±


    That was good to know, Barry didn¡¯t have to worry about dealing with a bunch of flame breathing lizards. ¡°Wow, so you must be special, huh?¡± He complimented.


    ¡°W-What!? No, Puck is cursed. No one like Puck¡¯s evil mojo, whole family is fears Puck and no want him near them all the time.¡± The little Kobold sounded sad as he spoke about his ¡°Cursed¡± ability.


    Barry noticed this and decided it would be a good opportunity to butter him up in his vulnerable state, especially since he saw Puck as a gullible little guy. He wanted to be quick friends with him before they arrived at Puck¡¯s kin, that way he could vouch for him.  ¡°Cursed? How could they say such as thing; you¡¯re not cursed, you¡¯re gifted!¡±


    ¡°Gifted?¡± Puck¡¯s eyes twinkled.


    ¡°Yeah Puck, being able to spew out flames is pretty cool. Of course, you have to be careful when doing it with those around you, but you can get better at it with some training over time. Think about it, you could make large campfires for your kin, cook up some meals, use it to scorch down foes, the possibilities are endless. So no, I don¡¯t think you¡¯re cursed, buddy.¡± He patted him on the head with a slight smile, he hoped this would be enough to open the door to his heart.


    Puck remained silent for a moment, thinking about what Barry said. To him, it was the first time he had ever heard such kind words in his life so far. It made him happy. ¡°Thank you, Barry! You¡¯re the first person to tell Puck that.¡±


    Barry felt he had won over his friendship completely and smiled back. ¡°Of course Puck, I¡¯m glad you¡¯re able to see from my perspective.¡±


    Puck then remembered something else, ¡°Oh! Puck can also do something else with his mojo, Puck can make things fly, but only small things.¡±


    This made Barry even more intrigued in Puck¡¯s abilities. ¡°Really? Well, I can¡¯t wait for you to show me later, that¡¯s something to look forward to.¡± He wondered, just how ¡°Cursed¡± was this little guy.


    The two continued a bit longer until Puck stopped at a certain point in front of a big wide tree, the amount of sunlight that came through the trees was very little, the lighting was dim with all these trees clustered so close.


    ¡°We¡¯re here!¡± Puck dropped the egg on the ground and walked up to the tree. Barry wondered if there was a secret entrance somewhere because his ¡°Enhanced Vision¡± wasn¡¯t picking up anything.


    Puck then clawed at the tree, latching one of his fingers on a piece of tree bark, pulling on it. And to Barry¡¯s surprise, the bark pulled outward, revealing a hidden passage within the hollow inside the tree.


    ¡°Here, secret entrance to Puck¡¯s home. Come!¡± The Kobold said as he hopped through the door, walking a few inches before plunging downwards into the unknown with his huge egg.


    Barry followed inside with caution before shutting the door behind, putting him in complete darkness. He walked a few steps like Puck did and suddenly fell down on his ass, then proceeded to slide down, the air brushing past his face. ¡°What the hell!¡±


    He soon would see small glowing stones embedded into the walls and ceiling around him as he slid in a spiral, dim light that provided him some sight. His body would continue to take swerves and loopy loop turns. ¡®I think these Kobolds like to implement fun into their work, because this is some secret entrance they¡¯ve made.¡¯ He thought.


    Finally, after about a minute of going down what seemed to be a children¡¯s slide, he was able to see a bit of sunlight at the end of his ride.


    And when he arrived at the end, his body exited the tunnel off a ramp, sending him flying in the air before landing off a ramp, sending him flying in the air and landing on a pile of plant fibers and other stuff that was woven together to create a cushion.


    He felt a bit nauseous, but not too bad; he rose from the padding and looked up to scan his surroundings, looking even more surprised than he was when he discovered the secret entrance to be a slide.


    A gigantic tree remained rooted in front of him from a distance, in the center of the area of what seemed to be a massive flat circular crater, the walls about as high as the giant tree could reach in the air. Above the edges of the crater were the huge trees that he saw, blocking off any would be intruders from entering. The only other way anyone could enter was by taking a dive off the ledge where a waterfall gushed out at the top of one of the edges, leading into a large pool of water that would branch off around the crater in a semicircle.


    Looking up above on top of the tree branches of the ancient looking tree, he saw handcrafted houses, holes serving as entrances leading inside the giant tree, and other Kobolds roaming about. The scenery was stunning, Barry couldn¡¯t believe what he was seeing.


    ¡°Barry!¡± He heard Puck call out, looking to his right he saw Puck next to the large cushion pile. ¡°Welcome to Puck¡¯s home! Come on, Puck show you inside.¡±


    The supposed adventurer got out of the pile and followed Puck to his massive home, the more he saw of this world, the more he wanted to see. He was genuinely finding everything he saw interesting.


    There were a big double door entrance crafted as part of the tree, that was guarded by a couple of Kobolds with a small outpost in front of it. They wielded weapons of all sorts, some crafted and others probably found or likely stolen.


    When the two approached the entrance, a few Kobolds rushed up to them and stopped about 10 feet away with their weapons drawn. ¡°Halt! Who¡­uh¡­what we say again?¡± One asked another, forgetting their lines. Barry had a face that read, ¡®Are you kidding me?¡¯.


    ¡°Dodo head! You supposed to say ¡®Who eats here.¡¯¡± The other guard corrected, slapping the other on the head for being incompetent.


    Another then joined in, giving their own opinion of what the correct phrase is. ¡°No no, you both stupid! It¡¯s, ¡®Who naps here!¡¯¡±.


    Barry couldn¡¯t believe his eyes, he thought Puck would be the only one of his kind that acted like a child, but man were these Kobolds something else. ¡®These Kobolds can craft a super slide as their secret entrance, build a home out of a massive fucking tree, and raid villages. Yet, they can¡¯t remember their phrases for guard duty.¡¯


    Barry was both embarrassed for them and relieved, believing that his mission would be a cakewalk.


    The three guards bickered amongst themselves, forgetting about Barry and Puck in front of them. Barry would find their argument very amusing overtime, listening to who was right and who was wrong.


    Puck then wobbled past the guards with his egg that seemed to cover his whole body. ¡°Come Barry, let¡¯s go.¡± He whispered to him, continuing to the big double doors.


    Upon approaching the doors, Barry noticed there were slits in the tree above the doors, wide enough for arrows or even spears to be launched out from. After a few moments, the doors opened up, allowing them inside.


    When the duo walked in, Barry was even more impressed by what the inside looked from within. There was a wide open area in the center of the room with a stage and throne that was crafted from wood, stone, gold, gold, more gold, and some jewelry. There were pulley contraptions that served as elevators leading higher up into the hollow tree to different rooms in the treehouse and tunnels.


    There were also glowing rocks placed around, acting as torches to illuminate the inside, just as they did for the secret slide he went on. Slopes and bridges were created as well to be used to traverse to different sectors of the place. Everything was so interesting to him, despite the Kobolds silliness, he had to give them credit for creativity.


    Puck spotted a formation of Kobolds marching along with a cart filled with goods of different kinds, led by a Kobold with a crown, going to a tunnel that went down below the ground, presumingly the treehouse basement. Puck jumped up and down with joy, ¡°Barry! Follow Puck, hurry!¡± He then scurried along, trying to catch up with the group.


    Barry joined up, getting a few weird and confused glances from the other Kobolds that were inside. He admitted that he did stick out from the rest because he was a human. But since they saw that he was with Puck, they assumed he wasn¡¯t a threat and ignored him for now. Especially if he passed their most secure and trusted post guards for clearance.


    The two caught up with the other Kobolds and their delivery cart, marching deeper and deeper, more glowing stones were embedded into the walls to light their way. Barry wondered if they were going to their treasure vault for gathered goods, if so, he would be happy to know where they were so he could snag all the good stuff.


    As they were walking, Puck whispered to Barry, ¡°Puck excited for you to see big surprise. Puck think you will like it.¡±


    Barry¡¯s mind ran around, trying to think of what he could possibly see that made Puck so excited. For all he knew, based on what he¡¯s seen so far from these Kobolds, it was probably going to be something really stupid or silly¡­maybe something cool and innovative.


    A few more minutes went by of anticipation, wondering what he was about to see next, before they finally arrived in front of a pair of double doors made of stone and wood. The Kobold with the crown knocked on the doors a few times and waited a few moments before it opened up, revealing a grand room that amazed Barry.


    Inside was a stone room where he saw mounds of gold and loot that pinged every single item that he saw with his ¡°Enhanced Vision¡±, he couldn¡¯t believe what he was seeing. Aside from the gold, and based on the text color of the items he was seeing, the majority of them were Common, but some were Uncommon with at least one Rare item that he saw resting on a silver plater.


    ¡®I just hit the mother load.¡¯ He wanted so desperately to snag everything that was inside and run out, but he knew to wait for when the moment was right. ¡®No, later I will take everything, but damn is this a good find.¡¯


    There was a large stone cliff that was leveled above the ground floor that peaked out. A person would have a clear view of all the treasure in the room if they were to stand at the tip of it. There was also an area of open space in the center of the room, near where the peak of the cliff almost aligned with the space below.


    Barry was excited to see what else he would find once he scoped out the room more, he was also curious to find out how much gold would be collected from the room once he looted.


    The Kobolds pulled the cart towards the center area and awaited on stand by, with the crowned Kobold stepping up front with a staff that had a red gem onto it. Barry looked at his staff, mainly focused on the red gem that stuck at the end. The gem was a Rare item based on its cyan font color, reading ¡®Power Stone of Might¡¯.


    Barry grinned slightly. ¡®Yup, taking that too.¡¯ Barry had regretted accepting the villagers request, but now he was glad that he had accepted.


    The one with the staff tapped the ground a few times before speaking in a loud voice. ¡°Hello, oh great one! It is I, Durg! The most handsome, brave, loyal, and amazing leader of the Kobolds! Here to give you gifts! Please accept!¡±


    Puck whispered to Barry, who was next to him. ¡°That Durg, Puck and other Kobolds listen to him. Only he able to talk to powerful one. He only like Durg.¡±


    Then after a couple of moments, a loud terrifying roar boomed around the room, startling everyone, including Barry a bit. The next thing that happened was he saw bright red flames shoot up behind the cliff in the air. The other Kobolds besides Durg coward in fear at the sight of the flames.


    Everyone in the room awaited for whoever was over the cliff to make their appearance. Barry was curious what or who it could be that had almost everyone in a state of fear.


    Suspense filled the room when suddenly two large wings with crimson red scales expanded out behind the cliff and slowly approached to the top. Barry¡¯s eyes widened, realizing what it could be. ¡®No way, that¡¯s a fucking dra-¡¯


    If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Poking out from the top of the cliff was the head of one of the most magical and ferocious beings in all of fiction, a dragon. ¡°Ah, what sorts of goodies do my little servants find for me today!? It better be worth it to disturb my slumber¡± The crimson red dragon¡¯s voice echoed around the room, it picked at its dagger like teeth, flicking out a piece of meat that was stuck between its teeth.


    The dragon rested on top of the peak with its arms crossed over one another in a classy pose. The fabled creature¡¯s sharp eyes looked below at its new loot that was on the cart, then at its pawns, but the most odd thing that stuck out from the rest and demanded his attention was none other than Barry.


    Its expression turned into a face of curiosity and shock. ¡°Who is this human? Why is he here!?¡± He questioned his servants, all the Kobolds faced towards Puck who had dropped his egg on the ground, no longer concealing himself.


    ¡°Puck brought friend here, oh great one! Friend¡¯s name is Barry, he helped Puck steal platybear egg for you and kill it. Barry is strong, scared of nothing and no one!¡± Puck did some poses to support his claim of Barry¡¯s capabilities of being a true warrior.


    Durg, the leader of the Kobolds, looked at Puck with disgust, ¡°Puck, you stupid! Humans not allowed inside home! Durg will-¡±


    The dragon interrupted Durg, ¡°Easy Durg, it''s alright. This human proved to be useful by retrieving a valuable find for me. But I am curious as to why he did such a thing for a mere Kobold, especially one that is Cursed.¡± The dragon eyed at Barry now, his draconic gaze staring directly into his very soul.


    Barry had to take a moment to think about what he was going to say, he wasn¡¯t entirely knowledgeable about what sort of abilities'' dragons had besides being flying lizards that could burn castles to the ground and were rulers of the sky. They were not to be fucked with, was about as much as he could remember from his lack of memory. He wondered if they could tell if he was lying or not, he would have to choose his words carefully.


    ¡°Human?¡± The dragon asked once again, this time in a more commanding tone. Its nostrils flared a bit, steam seeping out.


    Barry decided on the words he would use and answered the dragon¡¯s question calmly. ¡°I wanted to help Puck because I genuinely wanted to know more about how Kobolds live their daily lives. I come from a far away place called Earth, and I have never seen them before, so this all very new to me.¡± He then remembered to add something on to his sentence. ¡°Oh great one!¡±


    The dragon took a moment to think about what Barry just told him, probably wondering if his words were truths or lies. ¡°Hmmm¡­perhaps you can be of some use to me, Barry. You may stay and observe these underlings of mine if you wish. Should you provide me with even more unique finds to add to my collection, you will be greatly rewarded.¡±


    Barry nodded. ¡°Of course, I¡¯ll stick around and provide you with my services if it means I can learn more about these Kobolds and be rewarded all at the same time.¡± He was glad that the dragon was actually allowing him to stay.


    But just when he thought he was in the clear, the dragon rose from his spot and stretched out it¡¯s long neck towards Barry, now face to face with the mere human. ¡°But should you betray my hospitality, Barry¡­¡± It spoke in a low, spine-chilling tone before unleashing a jet stream of fire off to the side of him and Puck. The poor Kobold coward behind his egg while Barry remained calm and composed in place, despite feeling the intense heat from the flames.


    The dragon then continued, ¡°I will scorch you and that cursed buffoon to a crisp and have you two for my next meal. So remember this, I¡¯m allowing you to live.¡±


    Barry acknowledged his warning with a firm nod. ¡°Noted.¡±


    The red crimson dragon lifted its neck up and returned to its resting position as before. ¡°Good, now leave the cart and let me be. Return back with more findings as soon as possible, my servants. Now be gone!¡±


    The Kobolds left the cart, turning back around to their treehouse from above ground. But as Barry was going back, he took a quick glance at the cart they had brought in. One of the particular items that stood out from among the rest was a mysterious clear orb with wisps of blue orbs swirling inside. ¡°???¡± was the name of the object, the font color was orange, similar to the undead king¡¯s halberd that he couldn¡¯t read. This had to be an even higher rarity than the items he had. Thinking about snagging the item motivated him even more to raid the room.


    He then continued to walk out with the Kobolds back to the surface. ¡®Stealing from the treasure room just became a lot harder with a big, scary dragon sleeping inside.¡¯ Barry thought, he had to retrieve the villages¡¯ stolen loot, and at best, anything that looked extremely valuable.


    The group returned to the 1st floor of the treehouse, and the first thing that Durg does is confront Puck with hostility. ¡°Puck!¡± He shouted, startling the now timid Kobold.


    Puck looked down at his feet, scared of what Durg was about to do to him. The leader of the Kobolds planted his staff down as he glared at Puck, ¡°Why you get help from human? Only you supposed to bring egg back alone! How dare you show human where we live, you stupid head!¡±


    Puck¡¯s body shook, nervous of how to reply to his superior, ¡°P-Puck was not strong enough t-to fight platybear. Puck needed help from Barry, he s-saved Puck¡¯s life.¡± Despite feeling afraid of Durg, he wanted to defend Barry¡¯s place at their home.


    Durg shook his head and got even angrier. ¡°No! It no matter, because you supposed to do it alone to prove you is useful to family. But still, you are weak and cursed with bad mojo.¡±


    Barry watched as Durg was egging on the poor Kobold, as mad as Durg was towards Puck, he himself was feeling something rising from within. A sense of hatred and frustration was building upside Barry, his vision would then unexpectedly blackout as he experienced another flashback episode, a fragment of his past memory.


    He would see vivid scenes of ghostly apparitions of a man being talked down on by what seemed to be their boss or manager from somewhere they worked. ¡°You can¡¯t do the simplest things right! What do I pay you for!?¡± The boss yelled at the person, who seemed to be in a similar state as Puck.


    ¡°I told you to stack those boxes over on the left section, 10 minutes ago! Why are you still working on getting them done!?¡± The boss continued to vent.


    The guy then replied in a calm tone, trying to defend himself. ¡°There''s too many things to put away, I¡¯m the only one working on them and all of them are heavy. Also, you just told me to do this on short notice, so-¡±


    ¡°Oh! So it¡¯s my fault you¡¯re not able to get this easy ass job done? Is that right?¡± The boss interrupted, even more irritated, slamming their foot down.


    The guy didn¡¯t respond, but Barry could feel the guy¡¯s rage from within, the boss wasn¡¯t the only one that was getting agitated. ¡°When I tell you to move these boxes, I want you to move with a damn purpose and get it done as fast as possible. You have no excuse for being this slow, so hurry the fuck up. This shit better be done as soon as I get back.¡± The boss then turned, stomping away.


    The guy remained in place, staring at the floor with his hands now balled into fists. He then mumbled something that Barry could barely hear. ¡°Fucking bitch...¡±


    Barry¡¯s vision came back and now saw a scene of Durg pushing Puck on the floor with his staff with a grin forming on the slimy bastard¡¯s face. ¡°You worthless Puck, no one like you. Puck need to be taught a lesson for everyone!¡±


    It was at this moment that Barry¡¯s temper couldn¡¯t be contained inside, instead voicing out his feelings in a fit of rage. ¡°Hey Durg! Why don¡¯t you fuck off and go act high and mighty somewhere else! It¡¯s not fair for you to yell at Puck for bringing me and a huge ass egg back to your home.¡±


    Puck was surprised to hear Barry insult Durg for bashing on him, but Durg¡¯s reaction was different, he remained heated and turned to face Barry. ¡°Quiet human! You not supposed to be here, you lucky to even be alive after meeting dragon. So stay out of this, big dumby head. No talk back to-¡±


    In an instant, Barry pulled out his sword from his inventory, kicked Durg down in a flash and pointed his sword at Durg¡¯s neck. He was not having any of Durg¡¯s shit. He then heard and saw Kobolds from around him that had their weapons drawn and aimed towards him. Puck was unsure of what to do as he stood there, shocked of what was going on.


    Durg smiled, noticing that all the other Kobolds were at the ready to defend him as his life seemed to be in danger. ¡°Ha, you really are big stu-¡± He stopped speaking as Barry pressed the blade closer to his neck, cutting into his scales slightly, seeping out a small bit of blood.


    Barry was aware of the many Kobolds that stood ready to attack him if he dared to kill their leader, but he was not in the clearest of mind to being caring about that. Rage was all that he currently was feeling from watching Puck being bullied by the shit bag that laid under his foot.


    He then leaned in closer to Durg¡¯s face, speaking in the most sadistic and threatening tone he has ever voiced. ¡°Durg, you really, really, am ticking me off like a fucking time bomb right now with the way you are treating Puck. It brings me back memories of how someone once treated me, and I tell you, I¡¯m this close to bringing your life to an end. I give ZERO fucks, how many Kobolds there are, in here that will avenge your death. It will be a damn field day for me to practice my way with the sword, slaughtering each one of you.¡±


    Barry paused for a moment, watching Durg¡¯s face slowly turn into a face of terror, he believed that his words were sinking deep inside his small pea brain of his, but had to mix in a couple more words that would get his threat across. ¡°And if you think for a fact that I won¡¯t have the balls to kill you, think real hard about what would happen. I would be way more useful to serve as the leader of the Kobolds and your, oh great one, with my particular set of skills. The dragon couldn''t care less if you were gone from this world. So I ask for the love of all the Kobolds in this shelter, please,¡±


    His voice got darker. ¡°Don¡¯t. Say. Another. Fucking. Word. Understand?¡±


    Durg looked like he was about to shit himself, remaining on the floor speechless. Never has he encountered a human so horrifying that made him not want to move a single muscle in his body. ¡° Do. You. Understand?¡± Barry repeated slowly, causing Durg to nod his head frantically with fear.


    ¡°I hope so, Durg.¡± Barry then turned towards Puck, who was curled up in a ball peering through his hands watching everything unfold. ¡°Let¡¯s go Puck, don¡¯t worry about anything else. Show me to your room.¡± He said calmly.


    Puck took a moment to process Barry¡¯s words and nodded slightly. ¡°Y-Yes, Puck take you.¡± He then walked to one of the make shift elevators, using it to take them to another floor.


    Kobolds from all around the treehouse who were armed, stowed their weapons but kept a watchful eye on Barry as he passed by. His threat towards Durg may not have been entirely directed towards them, but they still feared him in their minds. Someone that pressed their leader down with no worry of backlash was someone to watch out for. None of them had ever done so.


    Eventually, Puck would lead Barry to a small room that would require Barry to hunch through the doorway and find a spot to lay down with his back against the wall. Inside was a bed made of plant fibers and such in the shape of a nest. There was a makeshift chest, some collectables like toy figures and some handmade tools.


    Puck then sat in his bed, still not over of the fight between Durg and Barry. ¡°Well, this is Puck¡¯s room¡­¡±


    Barry noticed this, unsure of what to say to break the ice break them. At the moment of his outburst towards Durg, allowed his emotions to get the better of him and instilled fear not only towards Durg but also towards Puck, probably. His word about him slaughtering all the Kobolds if Durg wouldn¡¯t leave Puck alone must have scared him, he thought.


    ¡°Hey Puck, I didn¡¯t really mean I would slaughter every Kobold here¡­maybe none-lethally but definitely not kill¡­besides Durg. But again, I didn¡¯t come here to kill Kobolds. I came because I actually find your kin interesting and want to know more if possible.¡± Barry explained, he did want to know more about his kind but withheld his true reason.


    Puck was a bit relieved to know that he didn¡¯t mean to kill the rest of his kin besides Durg, but that wasn¡¯t the real reason why he was sad. ¡°Puck-¡± He was interrupted, when his stomach started rumbling. The little Kobold got embarrassed, ¡°Puck hungry. Puck forgot to eat.¡±


    Barry wondered if he had anything in his inventory to share to eat with Puck, he actually wondered when was the last time he ate, remembering the few times he consumed snacks before but not actually physically chowing down on them.


    When he took a look at what he had, he saw that there was some meat that he had obtained from looting the platybear¡¯s corpse. Barry wondered how that worked, when he didn¡¯t even skin the beast. Ultimately, he didn¡¯t want to think about it and brushed it off to the side. He also had a few soda cans left from back on Earth, bringing those out to along with the meat.


    Puck didn¡¯t realize from before when he pulled out his sword from nothing, but when he saw him bring out the food, he was amazed. ¡°Wow! You know weird mojo stuff too! Puck think thats cool!¡± The little Kobold was ecstatic to know that he wasn¡¯t the only one to know mojo.


    ¡°Let Puck cook meat.¡± The Kobold said, taking the meat near the doorway on a slab of stone, so when he cooked it, the smoke would air out. A blue aura of what could be magic, channeled from with Puck as he thought about cooking the meat for his friend and himself. And in a few moments, he blew out a small jet of flames, searing the meat to a medium rare over time. Despite being inside a tree as their home, it was pretty fire-resistant and would probably require an even more intense degree of flame to ignite it.


    When the meat was done, Puck chopped up the meat and served it to Barry on another smaller slab of stone. ¡°Hope you like it.¡±


    Barry ate with his hands, greasy as it was, it was about average and could definitely use seasoning, but given that it was cooked by a Kobold with fire breathing capabilities, it was good. ¡°I like it Puck, you did a decent job. Thank you.¡± He complimented, continuing to eat, while also cracking open a soda and sipping it.


    Puck was glad to hear Barry liked it, he was also curious about the strange tin can that he was given by Barry. He opened the can the same way Barry did, using his claws, then slowly took a sip. He paused for a moment, his tail wagging, he was now about to experience something for the first time ever in his Kobold life. A sugar rush.


    ¡°Puck really like this drink! What¡¯s in it? Why it taste so good? Did you make it? What it..¡± Puck¡¯s pupils were expanded, ranting non-stop about trivial stuff in a hyperactive mood.


    Barry watched Puck ramble on and hop around like a kid high on sugar, he was both amused and regretted giving him something he couldn¡¯t handle. ¡®What have I done¡­¡¯


    All of a sudden, he was receiving, yet, another headache with his vision slowly going blank. ¡®Again?¡¯ He was about to see another memory fragment it seemed.


    He then saw a scene of Kobolds surrounding a lone one on the ground. ¡°Why you shoot out fire? You almost burn us Puck. Go! Leave us alone.¡± One of them shouted at Puck with hate in their voice.


    The scene then shifted to another incident of Puck apparently doing something wrong with his bad mojo. And every time, a Kobold would tell Puck to stay away from them.


    It then shifted to a scene of Puck sitting on top of the highest branch of the treehouse, looking at what appeared to be a night sky with stars twinkling above. There he could see a flying comet shoot across the sky.


    Puck looked up at the comet and spoke with both hands in a prayer pose, his tone being that with hope in his voice. ¡°Puck wish to be normal, Puck no want to be cursed. But most of all¡­Puck wish for a good friend.¡±


    The memory fragment then ends and Barry is brought back to reality. Looking down at his feet, he finds Puck curled up sleeping, probably out of energy from tiring himself out.


    Barry then felt something in the palm of his hand, it was a handcrafted star amulet made of raw ore of some kind. From his sight, it was called ¡°???¡± with the font color being black, a common item it appeared to be.


    ¡®Why would a common item be unreadable? That doesn¡¯t make any sense to me? I can understand higher rarity items, but this is weird.¡¯ This made him curious, he stored it inside his inventory anyhow.


    He was able to check the time of the day on the map, seeing that it was nighttime. Barry looked at Puck and thought back on the memory he just had.


    ¡®I wonder why this is the second time I¡¯ve seen you in my memory fragments. I don¡¯t understand how that''s possible if I¡¯m from Earth, and you¡¯re from¡­well, this world. But I know that, you might be able to help me recover my memory somehow.¡¯ He hoped that he would figure out the reason why.


    Barry then looked at his quest and sighed. ¡®Alright, I guess it¡¯s time to go rob a dragon.¡¯