The next thing I know, everyone was dragged away, picked off one by one.
I thought the druid may create a sinkhole, may move a tree to block our path and lead us to an endless maze, the druid may change the ground into quicksand and slowly consu us as we suffocate unable to move as we struggled.
I thought there would be monsters going haywire on us from multiple angles, surrounding us like mini little Titan of Ashen Barks, yet, there were only confusions.
As Marc disappeared, and the four of us were looking back to see where he went, that was our second mistake, because right afterwards, we suddenly felt rustling coming from the front, and we turned to see that Akira, who was out of our vision; was also gone.
No sound of struggle and, no screaming. She had just... stopped existing, as if she was never real.
"Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck." I spamd the hell out of my voiceline as I gripped tight on my sword.
My body were screaming and telling to run, but my brain refused for so reason, perhaps addrenaline, confusion, and just the pure thought of whatever voodoo was the world cooking up next and how I could cheese it.
"Everyone, get closer!" Rina yelled, which snapped Hailie back from her fear and confusion, and snapped back from my fighting urges.
"Back to back!" I added.
We did just that, closing the distance until our shoulders pressed together. I felt Hailie’s trembling hand brush my arm. The angelic sll of Rina’s hair and the faint sweetness of Hailie’s robe perfu filled my nose, especially when the rears of those two scraped against mine... Mhm, heavenly, beautiful.
Yet, my lust died down quite fast as I realized the situation was much more better than the imdiately temporary pleasure.
I could hear the faint crackling of wood and tree branches, like the forest itself was shaping.
"This could be... The druid’s doing... But I don’t know where to go from here." I comnted.
"I knew we should’ve just head back to Avalon..." Rina clicked her tongue.
The sound ca before the panic, a wet, crunching noise beneath us, followed by the soft shift of soil.
Then sothing coiled around Hailie’s ankle.
"Eh?" she whispered
Then a gasp of fright ca from her, before I could even look, she was yanked off her feet and dropped her staff, though she barely managed to grab onto it last second.
Little Hailie didn’t even have ti to scream properly, in one blink and one second she was there, the next she was already several ters away, being dragged into the dark pines.
"HAILIE!" I scread, bolting forward.
"Cory, wait!"
Rina gave another ’tch’ in annoyance and imdiately sprinted to follow right beside , with her bow drawn, she pulled out a fire arrow, planning to burn this place to the ground, yet I heard shifting once more and turned around to look at her as I ran.
My worst fear ca true, because when forest moved, a hidden root rose and caught her ankle, sending her tumbling face-first.
I guess that’s one thing no one could really defend against, right?
"Rina!" I yelled,
Then, the dilemma ca, I stopped my footsteps, my body were already turning towards Rina, who was being drag away, while my eyes were darting back at the disappearing trail of priest white robes being pulled away.
I hesitated. That mont of indecision—one heartbeat too long—felt like an eternity.
Then I, obviously, chose the rich kid that had been sheltering and feeding and giving free food, free electricity, free gaming set up, free bathroom, free maid (though a horrible human being for one).
I sprinted toward Hailie, adrenaline roaring in my ears.
She reached a hand out toward , eyes wide and terrified as a vine was over her mouth, stopping her from making a scream.
I barely caught her wrist and wrapped my leg around a tree trunk before the root could pull her any further into a distant clearing. Its speed was so fast I think we’re already like a kilotre away from where we were standing.
With one hand on Hailie’s grip, the other hand gripped my sword, and I struggled a bit, before ultimately yanking both Hailie and the vine closer, enough to create a gap for to get in there and cut the roots in half.
Sparks flew as steel t sothing that was definitely not wood, it was like cutting through rubbery flesh.
The root screeched, a low, unnatural groan that vibrated through the dirt as it recoiled, snapping away.
Both of us collapsed backward, gasping, covered in dirt. My hand was still gripping hers so tightly it hurt.
"Hailie... Hailie, are you alright?"
"Oh... I’m fine, Cory! Um, did you get hurt? Here, let heal y..."
She must’ve noticed the utter cosmic horror in my eyes, the way my jaws dropped, because she stopped talking.
Hailie turned around to see the sa thing, and she dropped to her rear, also in complete shock.
There was a shadow above us.
A colossal one, I’d argue taller than the atmosphere of this world.
A single trunk... No, a tree trunk would be rely an ant to this thing if it was comparable to a human.
The structure, the monolith, the fucking deity’s cock, a giant pillar of living wood rose out of the earth and stretched upward past the clouds, past what any human mind could comprehend as being imaginable, past what I thought was even renderable geotry of Darkmoon Adventure VR.
I craned my neck back as far as I could, but I couldn’t see the top. The leaves glowed faintly in patterns like veins of gold.
"C- Cory... Cory?" Hailie’s voice trembled as she stuttered a few tis. "Cory... what is that?"
"I... I don’t know... I genuinely don’t know."
My heart dropped into my stomach. I’d never seen this before, not in Early Access, not in any patch notes and definitely not in the lore compendium.
"This isn’t in the ga," I whispered. "What even is this..."
The wind howled as a way to signal our doom with the sight of ravens flying. I stared with my eyes twitching like a stroke as I saw those branches twisted like ribs of so ancient creature flexing its body.
Then I saw them—Marc, Akira, and Rina—all entangled in roots that were dragging them upward, into the sky.
They were still moving, struggling, their armor clanking faintly as they rose higher and higher toward the sky, and I couldn’t see where they were ending up, because... That’s the clouds blocking my sight just one fifth of the way up this "trunk"
"Rina! Akira!" I scread. "Marc, hold on!"
"What do we do?" Hailie’s voice cracked, high-pitched, panicked.
"I don’t... Let’s, okay, I have a plan, we could maybe try-"
Sothing cold wrapped around my ankle.
"... Hailie, run." I whispered,
It tightened so fast I barely had ti to react before it ripped off the ground. My sword slipped from my hand as I was hoisted upside down, spinning mid-air as dirt and leaves swirled around my face.
"Cory!" Hailie shouted, diving after .
"Hailie, get back!" I yelled, clawing at the vine around my leg.
But she didn’t listen, she grabbed my fallen sword and sprinted under , her robes fluttering.
"Hailie, no!"
"It’s okay!" She yelled, "I just drank a speed potion, I can run!"
Before I knew it, Hailie hurled the sword upward, and I saw the silver glead in the sun.
I caught it mid-spin and swung, I scread loudly as a war cry as I brought the blade down across the vine.
Snap
For one terrifying instant, everything went silent.
And then I was falling.
Wind tore through my ears, roaring like thunder. The forest floor spun farther and farther away until it beca a distant blur. Everything was loud it drowned out my thoughts. My limbs flailed uselessly; my short hair snapped against my face like flags in a storm.
I could sll the ozone, that bitter-tal scent of lightning mixed with pine. The air grew warr the faster I fell, the friction of speed turning the world into a vibrating blur.
I must have been at least a three football fields up (normal football, not tackling football).
"Okay, okay, okay... think, Cory." I muttered, gripping the hilt so tight my knuckles hurt. "Exploit... fall-reset... cancel animation fra. I can do this, I can reset my animation and state of character, practically resetting my velocity to zero at the last possible second like double-jumping, yeah yeah, that, and I can do that.."
I’d land safely. I could do this, I’d done it before a million tis.
But then the sky darkened.
Out of nowhere, a black cloud ford above —like ink spreading through water—and a single bolt of lightning tore through it.
It struck square in the chest.
"FUCK!"
I didn’t feel pain due to an old unpatched debug-intended exploit I’ve been using ever since fighting those 3 random players on the way to Wroeg’s Hollow, of course, but the flash disoriented and sent my body into shock, unable to move my fingers.
"FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCKKKKKKKKKKK!"
This fall was going to kill , because fall damage counts straight into the health bar while ignoring armor, buffs damage resistance, damage reduct-
SPLAT
The next thing I knew, the pod hissed.
A rush of cold air hit my skin as the VR seal disengaged. I gasped, blinking, and the real world poured back in.
I’ve barely been online for half an hour, I believed... The tower of Worsetingale took 3 minutes, and the walk into the forest took like 5.
The faint hum of the mansion’s ventilation, the sll of plastic and tal and that faint citrus scent from the cleaning spray the maids used on the ga room floors.
When the lid lifted, light poured over , and I just... collapsed.
I saw Gerald—Hailie’s personal butler—sitting on a stool near the door, just reading a book. He seed pleasantly surprise to see log out before Hailie, and before the two hours were up.
My knees hit the soft paddings of the ga room, and I stayed there, gasping, sweat sticking my hair to my face, my pulse hamring in my throat.
"I fucking died... I fucking died..."
"I FUCKING DIED?!"
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