End Online: Volume 5

by D Wolfin

  “So, what happened?” Mason asks the very question I am thinking, his eyebrows raised.

  “I-I stood guard over my lady all night to ensure no misfortune befell her.” The shining knight stammers through an obvious lie.

  Verde looks at him and explains the whole situation with a single sentence and a shrug, “I slept on the bed and he sat in the corner.”

  I can’t help but laugh out loud as Prince Charming’s face turns as red as a tomato.

  Once the morning antics are done, we leave the inn and search through the city for a tattoo artist and a bazaar to sell all of our junk items. Our current total toward starting a guild is twelve thousand gold coins. We need a total of twenty thousand to charter it.

  We find a tattoo parlor first. The price for a single tattoo is actually quite expensive, the cheapest being fifty gold coins. We brainstorm several ideas and draw a few designs for what we could get.

  My design is the one that everyone accepts. It is just the silhouette of three people, a shorter female with long hair, a tall man and another with a hood on. Those three people are walking forward, with a small wolf at the front.

  When the tattoo artist receives the design, he redraws it with more tribal pattern worked around it and makes it look much more tattoo-like. Mikhail’s party watches as we all get the same tattoo, and decide to get one of their own design as well. They are all in the same guild after all.

  We emerge from the shop at noon, everyone looking at the new tattoo on their left shoulder. Unlike a real tattoo, there is no pain, redness, or bleeding. Our clothes cover the tattoos quite effectively, except for Fen, Verde and Mason who currently have their shoulders exposed. Verde deliberately changed to a sleeveless leather cuirass in order to show hers off.

  “Hey, how about we just make this our guild symbol and save our money?” I jokingly ask, but everyone seems to take it seriously.

  “It would be difficult,” Mason ponders while counting something with his fingers. “A guild is entitled to purchase land, set up a base, and has numerous other benefits. If we give up on that and recruiting more players, we can do it.”

  Verde also has a concern with the formation of a guild, “We also need a guild name.”

  “We shall be known as Knights of Salvadore!”

  “Nay, we be known as ‘he Fortuitous Com’atriots!”

  Everyone gets heated up discussing our guild name. At this point, I can’t tell them that I wasn’t being serious, but this bickering is giving me a headache.

  “All your name choices are horrible!” Verde calls out aghast. “It needs to be something simple that relates to us. We have explored all over and continue to move from one place to another. The Wanderers. There, that is a good guild name.”

  ‘That’s actually a pretty good name,’ I think to myself.

  Everyone finds it difficult to refute, and before I know it, The Wanderers has become our guild name. Another squabble breaks out over who is the guild master, vice-guild master, and so on, but we end up agreeing on all six of us being the senior guild members. If we get enough money and officially form our guild, any new players will become junior guild members.

  We explore in high spirits while keeping an eye out for a bazaar to sell our items. I am still troubled over the fact that I was only joking earlier and wonder what would happen if they found out.

  The streets of Sphinx are all quite wide and have a hot wind blowing through them. I place my hand on the sandstone wall of a nearby building and feel the coarse material. An illusory heat haze hangs above the ground that causes the air to ripple.

  With only several thousand players residing within the city, there are numerous areas completely devoid of them. In these residential streets, the NPCs carry about their daily lives as they normally would: hanging wet clothes to dry, applying some form of heat resistant clay to cracked sections of the houses, bringing home shopping, and even children playing joyfully on the street.

  Doubling back several times and asking a few stray players for directions, we eventually find a great big bazaar full of various players and NPCs hawking their wares. Everyone splits up, and we enter the area as three groups of two.

  The bazaar is a large open square with NPCs who continually sweep sand into the four corners. There are a few large stalls around, but the bazaar mostly consists of fortified sandstone kiosks. One of the players I spoke with earlier warned me about the sandstorms that sweep through the city and surrounding area every week or so. Most structures are built quite sturdily to withstand them.

  I sell most of my junk items to an NPC who pays handsomely for them. Just over twelve hundred gold coins for the lot. It is only after the transaction that I realize exactly how many pieces of ‘Common’ and ‘Rare’ tier equipment I have been carrying around.

  Walking through the bazaar, I come across one particular kiosk that gives me a feeling of nostalgia. The prices are slightly higher than normal, but the weapons and armor are extremely similar to those you would see in Swordbreak.

  While looking over the weapons, a familiar voice greets me, “Well, if it isn’t the famous Lost! What a coincidence meeting you out here.”

  “What a coincidence indeed, you stalker!” I shout in surprise at the man behind the counter. It is none other than Mouse. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  “I was here first, who are you calling a stalker?! I just happened to be doing some travelling in search of new items and ended up here.”

  “Just happened to end up here my arse! This place is so far out of the way you can’t just happen to end up here!”

  “Oh, so how did you get here?”

  “Several things happened and I… happened to end up here…”

  “Hah! That’s what I thought!” Mouse gloats triumphantly, sticking his nose up in the air.

  Mouse being in a place as remote as this is completely shocking, but he does have some useful information he has collected from the local rumor mill. Apparently, the nearby mountain range is home to a myriad of powerful monsters. Most of the local players will go to the outskirts there or venture into some caves at the base of the mountains to power level. As a result, nearly every player in this area is levelled above 300. Some are even nearing level 400.

  The only downside to this desert, much to Mouse’s dismay, is the limited crafting materials. This includes ores, herbs, and other useful crafting items. There is the possibility they may exist in the mountains, but no one can safely enter to find out.

  The rest of the ingame day passes relatively peacefully. The following day, the city is ravaged by a sandstorm and we are forced to remain in the inn all day. Verde, despite my original opinion, turns out to be quite the alcoholic.

  On the third day, both parties head south out of the city to see just how powerful these monsters are. Halfway there, a shocking notification appears before us.

  Alert: Battle For Supremacy

  With ‘The Seven Realms’ update coming soon, six brand new realms that any player above level 50 can explore will be added to the game. The original three kingdoms will enter a battle for supremacy where only one will remain and become the seventh realm.

  The rules for the battle are as follows:

  ~ Any player who is killed may not revive for 72 hours.

  ~ A city is considered to have 'fallen' if all local players have perished.

  ~ A city is considered to have 'fallen' if the enemy successfully invades the city and reaches the central castle.

  ~ All player kills will yield 2x the normal experience and have a 2x chance to drop equipment.

  ~ All players who acquire the title MVP will receive special rewards at the finale of the battle.

  ~ Have fun!

  The battle has already begun and all players of the three kingdoms will automatically be teleported back to their own city 60 minutes from now. Please use this time to finish your current activities and prepare.

  The Battle For Supremacy will take place over the next 31 days.


  At the end of the battle, if there is more than one kingdom remaining, the system will decide the victor based on most enemy players killed and friendly forces remaining.

  Kind Regards,

  - Idea Imagine

  The notice takes me, and everyone else, by complete surprise. That means in exactly one hour, Verde, Sir Laurence, Fen and I will be teleported back to Grenton.

  “Seeing that we will be teleported back within an hour, I have an idea,” Mason says over party chat.

  The archer explains how Mikhail and his group have been far too suspicious for a while now. Even after the boat trip to this land, they have followed us around for no discernable reason. His plan is to shake them off for good by killing them and sending them all back to Swordbreak.

  CaptainGordon is against this initially as he is also from Swordbreak and will be teleported back shortly, but when Mason explains that there is a strong possibility they won’t be able to log back in for the next three days and he can easily leave the area, he agrees.

  Sending a silent signal over party chat approximately thirty minutes before the teleportation begins, we turn around and attack Mikhail’s party without warning. They must have been expecting this since they unhurriedly prepare to receive our attack.

  I attack Mikhail the Stalwart first. He raises his weapon to defend and counter while I am ten paces ahead of him, but unfortunately for him that is only my after-image. I am already directly beside him, my real body exposing itself the moment my blade cuts through his neck, causing a critical hit.

  Mikhail turns in shock, and I click my tongue when I see that a critical hit practically ignoring all his armor didn’t even manage to take twenty percent of his health. Moonkite and the other two members make a move to flank me, so I beat a rapid retreat from their encirclement.

  A thunderous boom sounds in the area and Mikhail is blown back ten meters, his health falling to a dangerous state. He sits up and glares at CaptainGordon and the smoking gun in his hand.

  “A gun?! That can’t exist in this game!” he shouts in shock.

  His party members react slowly, disbelieving what just happened. They move to both attack us and protect the nearly dead guildmaster while he recovers health. Mason fires off arrows to cover us while Matrix acts as a meatshield in the face of MoonKite’s attacks.

  SomaHealer supports the enemy with healing spells and passive buffs while Lockon, having witnessed her strength, focuses his volley of arrows on Fen. The wolf girl is forced to keep moving and doesn’t have a chance to counter-attack.

  “Mason, CaptainGordon, attack Lockon. Do that and we will win,” I order my team mates over the party chat with victory in sight.

  It isn’t that the other side is weak. In fact, they are exceptionally strong, but so are we and they are lacking in numbers.

  Mason changes targets to focus on Lockon, taking the other archer off-guard and causing him to stagger backwards. CaptainGordon fires another round from his pistol cannon. Unfortunately, the bullet only glances Lockon, but it is still enough to allow us to quickly kill him before SomaHealer can heal him.

  As Lockon dies, I am pleasantly surprised to see that none of us have gotten a player killer’s mark. This validates that the Battle For Supremacy has already begun and he will not be able to log back on for the next three days.

  Mikhail stands back up with over half his health restored and joins the fray. His attacks are not strong, but skillful enough to force Matrix into a corner and nearly kill him.

  Fen comes to the rescue, no longer under the barrage from Lockon. She forms several glowing ice bolts, which screech through the air before piercing SomaHealer from all directions and killing him instantly.

  With only Mikhail’s elementary healing skills, they don’t have enough stamina to battle us equally. Sir Laurence has a few higher-tier healing skills that he casts on Matrix and Verde when they are hurt, rapidly recovering their health points. He stubbornly refuses to use his healing skills on me though, which is frustrating and causes me to ‘accidentally’ hit him with a few throwing knives. The damage is minor, and he pretends as if the little knives do not even exist, infuriating me further.

  The surviving Mikhail and MoonKite glance at each other and attempt to flee. They are quite quick, and against anyone else they may have a chance of success. It is unfortunate they are comparing speed with Fen and myself. We catch up to them with a flash and quickly cut them down. I even use my Dire Flame to kill them in case they escape.

  The battle is over twenty minutes after it began. I can only imagine how angry Mikhail and his party will be after not being able to log back in for the next three days.

  We all sit down on the sand and I break out a few cooking tools. I begin roasting a slab of meat similar to pork with a moderate application of herbs and some homemade broth to ensure tenderness.

  Before teleporting back to our respective kingdoms, we may as well enjoy one more good meal together.

  “To The Wanderers!” Mason calls out enthusiastically once the roast is served.

  “To The Wanderers!” Everyone apart from Fen shouts back the words, confirming the bond between us.

  The wolf girl stares at the grilling meat with lust and casually says, “The… Wanderers…”

  Chapter 34: Battle for Supremacy Commence

  -Lost-

  As the moment of teleportation arrives, a grey fog crackling with lightning surrounds us. Apparently, teleportation is a high-ranking spell and has the flashy graphical effects to go with it.

  As fog and an occasional flickering discharge fills my vision, I begin to experience strange sensations all over my body. I feel as if I were falling through the air or beginning to drift off into sleep. The fog disappears as quickly as it appeared. Instead of being surrounded by the desert I was in mere moments ago, everything around me is covered in white. The sudden change in not only location but also temperature causes my pupils to dilate in shock. This is an area I have not been to in a long time: Iceridge.

  I had known I would appear here, but even that foreknowledge failed to prepare me for the suddenness of the shift. With me are Verde and Sir Laurence, looking just as perplexed as I am. Fen is here as well, grabbing onto my arm and leaning into me. Frowning at Fen’s calm composure whilst having most of her skin exposed, I wonder if the wolf girl is feeling the cold at all.

  Verde hastily changes her equipment to thick clothing under her armour and a cloak over the top to keep herself warm. Sir Laurence remains a mystery as none of us know what he wears beneath his full body suit of shining silver armor. The fact that he wore that in the desert is impressive enough.

  ‘Come to think of it, she is technically an ice wolf. It would not be abnormal for her to not feel the cold,’ Verde and Sir Laurence look at me as I silently nod to myself.

  “Looks like we are all back where we started,” I cheerfully say, pretending like I wasn’t just nodding to myself in my own little world moments ago.

  Verde looks around with nostalgia, “It feels like it has been so long, yet everything is the same as ever.”

  We’re in a large square lined with various residences, restaurants, and two inns. Other players who have been teleported back to Iceridge crowd around us. If I recall correctly, there are countless areas just like this one throughout our home city. I suspect that each of them are also all full of players.

  Several clumps of snow fall off the roofs as a large gust of freezing wind blows by. One unlucky player is directly beneath some of the falling snow and instantly gets buried. He quickly digs his way out, but still shivers and curses the cold nonetheless.

  “NOOO!!”

  A loud scream sounds two meters behind me, causing me to visibly jump in fright.

  The strangest part of the voice is that it seems so familiar to me. The four of us turn around and see someone who only Fen and I know. It is Mouse. I am initially surprised that he teleported so near to us as we were quite far from Sphinx, but it dawns on me that he was still probably
the closest player from the Kingdom of Glace to us.

  “Mouse, what’s wrong?” I ask tenderly as I stand next to the crying merchant with Fen looking over my shoulder.

  “My wares! They’re all gone!” He screams loud enough to attract the attention of several more players in the area.

  “What are you talking about Mouse? How are they gone?”

  “I was teleported back to Iceridge, but all my wares for display remained! I’m finished!”

  “All of them!? You had all of your goods on display?”

  “Course not! It was only 10 percent of my wares. But the loss! Such a loss!!”

  My eyes instantly become lifeless while looking at the merchant as I fully realize the situation. He has lost 10 percent of his goods and is only crying over spilt milk, so to speak. However, the scene he creates from such a small loss is the truly tragic thing.

  I calmly pat him on the back, wish him the best of luck, and walk back to the party with Fen.

  “What was all that about?” Verde asks, still puzzled over the situation.

  “It’s nothing. Merely someone making a scene because he lost a few of his toys.”

  I can’t help but look back at Mouse, who is currently a mess on the ground. Several people who are still unaware of the situation have taken my place in consoling him; some people even offer him a couple pieces of gold, which he reluctantly accepts.

  As we’re putting the scene further behind us, yet another interruption arrives. A player dressed in white and gold runs into the square and rapidly climbs up onto the roof of one of the nearby residences.

  “Hey, I know we climbed on the roofs in Grenton, but isn’t it dangerous here with the snow?” I ask Verde and the prince as we watch the player standing up on the roof.

  They nod and grunt their approval. Just as we had predicted, his footing slips and he slides completely off the roof. The scene causes laughter to ripple through the crowd wherever it was seen. Even I laugh lightly at seeing the fool fall from the roof in one of the most clichéd scenes of them all.