Roxy, Rox, and their Thief were still meters from where Ren was, and another Gelatinous Cube halted them from moving forward.
And before they knew it, they were surrounded from all sides.
“Shit!”
Roxy was contemplating of squeezing between the monsters’ gaps while there was still at least a meter opening between the creatures. But she was afraid that their sticky grip would catch them off guard.
But hesitating wasn’t also a good option. It was only a matter of time before the monsters would reach them. Their only hope was the Gelatinous Cube at their front, which was still at least five meters from them. The opening it created from the others was wide enough and perhaps they could pass through it without being dragged into their gelatinous body.
Despite knowing what to do, Roxy and the others froze in their spot. Their brain was functioning still, but their body refused to obey, for they were scared of the outcome.
A series of bullets shot straight behind them, and four stones moved the turnstiles before a series of trash dropped onto the ground. The Gelatinous Cube in front of Roxy and the others was attracted to the piles of debris near it and turned the other side, giving the group enough breathing space to move forward.
“Move it!” Ren shouted.
His voice knocked some sense into Roxy and the, and they bolted towards Ren, moving past that widening gap created by the monster at their front.
Roxy could now breathe easily when she went ahead, seeing the light that was Ren’s face. But her smile dropped when she realized that Ren had a severe expression on his face. Looking behind her, a gasp pushed through her mouth and what she saw shook her entire core.
Their Thief was already swallowed by the Gelatinous Cube that was gaining from their back. Their indecisive action caused the monsters to close the gap between them without them knowing. While Rox wasn’t fast enough to escape, a sticky hand managed to grab his foot, dragging him into the Gelatinous Cube.
“Go!” Rox screamed at his sister. He knew there was no saving him when he was caught. There was no escaping the Gelatinous Cube’s sticky hands.
“Rox!” Roxy clasped her mouth with her hands when the Gelatinous Cube slowly consumed Rox from the legs and waist until his face was all that was left floating outside of the cube jelly’s frame.
“It’s up to you now, sis! If you die, I’ll curse you nonstop and make sure that you remain single your whole life!”
At Rox’s words, Roxy’s worry for her brother disappeared, and her middle finger extended at him before she went to the next area without turning back.
Ren sighed as he watched Rox gave his last grin before he was swallowed entirely by the Gelatinous Cube.
In this game alone, they lost their sniper, one of their Thief, and Rox. Now there were only six of them left.
Ren took a deep breath before he proceeded to the others. When he turned the turnstiles, the area revealed to him was new. There were no more wheels to turn. No more piles of trash to avoid and no more Gelatinous Cube to escape.
It was an empty room where the only thing present was a black hole staring face to face with him. Worry bubbled in his heart when he couldn’t find his group and when he decided to search around, the black hole moved and pulled him into its depth.
. . .
. . .
When Ren came to, he was already in another dimension where lightning thundered above the dark clouds, and brick walls and stones made an open dome where an arena sat at the center.
The thunders weren’t loud, though. In fact, it only served as background while the real noise came from the player’s murmurs.
“Ren!”
Ren’s attention flickered to his group that was waving at him with all smiles.
“Dang. I thought we would never get out from that hell hole.” Leonel released a deep breath. “That dungeon took years of my life. Especially since we couldn’t do anything with the monsters. Though we’re just running here and there, it felt scary not to be able to do anything but await your death once it caught you. Who designed this game anyway? Are they sadists?”
“At least that was over,” said Nikolai.
“On a side note. We still have six members left and a full item. Something to be thankful about” chimed Sumeri.
“Items that you stole from us!”
Ren and the other’s attention shifted to the other players, who were glaring at them nonstop. If stares could kill, Ren and his group would already be ten feet under.
“Give them back, or there will be hell to pay!”
Looking at the angry mobs, Leonel took a step back and scratched his head. “Did we steal from all of you?” he dryly laughed. He couldn’t remember since it was chaos in that chamber.
The other group cracked their muscles and took a step forward. “If you don’t want to get mob, you will give us all your items.”
There were at least more than twenty of them, and their faces were out for blood.
Nikolai cowered over his sister’s side. “I-isn’t this bad?”
Sumeri gulped the nervousness she felt. Yes. It was bad. Against those numbers, they were powerless. Stealing from others was good and all until they rallied against them.
Didn’t Ren thought of it? Sumeri looked over at Ren and found that the man was so calm it got on her nerves.
Did he have some kind of a plan? Sumeri’s hope rekindled. Surely he must have thought this far if he was so confident to steal from so many guilds.
Ren stepped forward. The seriousness on his face and the confidence in his stance made Leonel and the others hope that he got everything under control.
Ren raised a hand over at the other guilds while some took a step back from his intimidating presence.
The corner of his lips then rose in a challenging smirk while he ushered with his fingers to come at him. “If you still didn’t have enough back there and still wanted to reduce your numbers and die, then come at us.”
. . .
. . .
All heads whipped in Ren’s direction, their mouths hanging open.
“H-hoi, Ren” Leonel wanted to reason with him, but he knew that face. Ren was seriously going to fight everyone!
“M-mister . . . I don’t think it’s a good idea.” Even Nikolai wasn’t so sure about Ren’s decision.
“Are you sure?” Sumeri asked though her eyes were blazing, ready to fight if ever.
Roxy stepped forward and swung her giant axe while cracking her neck from side to side. “I’m kind of pissed at the moment, and you guys came right on time.”
The thunder sparked in the background and heavy tension rose in the area. One wrong move could ignite the battlefield.
“There will be no fighting until the last war stars.”
—-
A/N (Doesn’t consume coins)
No. of BONUS Chapters left = 2 🤣
Whew! I can finally see the end of the tunnel 🤣
We’ll publish all Bonus tom. Sorry it took this long ğŸ™�
Thank you all for the support! 💗
Happy Weekend!