Chapter 1: prologue

‘Almost there.’

 

What many would eventually call; The Saviors from Heaven, were setting the stage for the final act of the play they had been putting on throughout The Castle. 

 

[Castles: An enormous maze of floors and rooms, all with their own traps, monsters, and objectives—leading you to the eventual boss room—where an unknown number of deities are waiting to be challenged!]

 

In just a month’s time, the three of them had cleared the first castle—something even the largest Guilds thought would take at least six months to even prepare for.

 

[Guilds: The name of a group of players who have grown too large for the party limit and have established an organization for themselves!]

 

They had been at it for nearly three hours—with the second boss’s health bar slipping into the danger zone. 

 

‘Finally some red.’

 

Currently attached to the ceiling of what used to be a ballroom, was their—forcefully appointed—leader—Zero—putting his new Skill to good use as they approached the finale.

 

[Glue: Allows the user to stick themselves to any surface for a small duration, mastery of this skill changes the duration!]

 

He knew this was ballsy—but they needed the head start, they needed the bonus rewards for doing it first, they needed everything that came with the territory of becoming the strongest.

 

They were already a symbol of what you could truly become in the game for a lot of players—and since they wouldn’t join a Guild, which allows you to give a name to your party—the other players had given them one instead; The Three Masks.

 

“Skill’s about to go on cooldown, it’s now or never you two.”

 

The other two members of his party were sitting in position—Maeve was waiting on the signal—hiding inside the boss’s enormous shadow with the use of her Shadow Step skill.

 

[Shadow Step: Allows the user to step into shadows like pools of water, mastery of this skill allows for free movement within!]

 

While Kazuka was hiding behind a fallen pillar—cycling through his inventory to switch to the right weapon.

 

“HUAAHHHHHEEEEIII”

 

Another deafening roar from the boss—her next attack was almost charged and ready.

 

This second boss—had an oxen head, with horns that spiraled like a ram’s—the torso was some sort of rock creature, while the lower half was that of a snake—the defining feature had to be the six arms that were coated in some sort of corruption—giving them a black coloring—contrary to the maroon shading of the rest of her form—the brilliantly colored flower on her tail looked like it was going to bloom any moment now—the petals had been slowly growing throughout their fight and none of them knew what would happen when it did. 

 

This had been a two boss process—one God and one Goddess—on a power level way beyond the rest of the island. They had fought some incredible monsters—but nothing like this.

 

If what happened with the first boss’s flower when it bloomed is any indication—it will give her some sort of buff to sway the tide in her favor.

 

‘Shit.’

 

Zero dropped from the ceiling—the skill holding him in place had worn off—he moved behind the boss, just outside of her view.

 

The boss’s six arms were down to just one—a faint but familiar aroma permeated throughout the area—the flower on her tail began to glow and the petals rapidly unfolded–sending thousands of tiny spores of light in all directions.

 

“Maeve now!”

 

Zero’s voice echoed throughout the area—sending a shiver down the boss’s spine—he used one of his skills—hoping to get ahead of whatever was about to happen.

 

[Shout: This skill enhances the user’s voice, creating a random buffing effect throughout the area for all party members, and a random debuffing effect on enemies!]

 

Both Maeve and Kazuka took the buff as their go ahead—launching their joint attack.

 

Maeve pulled herself from the shadow—springing to the ceiling in an instant—she wore a long hooded cloak. The silky material was a midnight plum—the kind of shade that was only purple under the right lighting—giving it a black coloring most of the time instead—long sleeves covered her hands—keeping her daggers hidden from view as she readied herself to attack.

 

The daggers were new—given to her by The Forest Elder in the North-West countries of Vol. Thin obsidian—jagged edges—a metallic hue—the blades were simple in design—they looked more like misshapen rocks than masterly crafted weapons. 

 

[Nephthys’ Daggers: The Goddess was said to have used these to cut a rift from the Underworld to Arrithia, so that her son could play with the other deities’ children—they allow the user to make invisible hits that will open when the daggers are placed back into their inventory—all damage is dealt at once—cuts are reset if daggers are not holstered before a seventh hit!]

 

She kept the hood over her long auburn hair at all times—and her face—just like the others—was hidden behind a snow-white wooden kabuki mask. 

 

The mask was minimal—she matched the colored strokes to her cloak and its shape mended to that of a wolf—the slits for the eyes were casting a dark shadow, keeping her crystal blue eyes hidden just like the rest of her body.

 

The boss’s health bar was still thick, but it was finally in the red—which meant her name should appear after one more hit.

 

Maeve activated her skill.

 

[Leap: Create a magical circle that acts as a trampoline—the magical circle can be placed in any location that are in the user’s view]

 

Maeve propelled forward—her body a blur as she sliced through the air with a faint whistle. 

 

The boss slithered her long body backwards into the spores and with each one that disappeared—a tiny piece of her arms started to regrow.

 

Maeve was bouncing around the area so fast that she was invisible to the eye—even the boss was unaware of what was happening. 

 

Her focus was entirely on Kazuka.

 

He had emerged from behind the pillar, with a war hammer held at his side—a long silver shaft that had been wrapped in some sort of worn brown leather—an emerald was embedded in the bottom of the hilt—the head was completely cracked and should be falling apart, but the magic of the emerald was keeping it together.

 

[Dum Dum’s Hammer: A war hammer created with the intent of killing a God, but was broken on its first swing by an inexperienced warrior—it grants its user the ability to triple their attack strength, but once the attack has been cast, they cannot change directions!]

 

“I’m going in.”

 

Kazuka rushed forward—the opening in the ceiling allowed the sunlight to shine through—honing in on his armor—a smooth metallic surface that—like his bald head—became a mirror in the sunlight. The shape was more rounded than rigid and it gave him a much larger build than he actually was. 

 

When choosing his mask—he knew it had to be an animal—but he didn’t have a favorite—it wasn’t something that had ever crossed his mind—but he was a fan of eating chicken.

 

He had spent extra Onyx to convert the silver metal material of the armor to a vibrant hot pink—matching the strokes of his mask—the bright colors made him the shiny star of this show when he wasn’t hiding to switch weapons.

 

[Onyx: Currency used by Players in Arrithia!]

 

Every step he took made the castle shake causing more debris to fall from the walls and ceiling. 

 

He activated the effect of his war hammer. The golden aura of the buff from Zero mixed with the emerald shade of the hammer’s own effect—giving him five times the strength.

 

‘Oh yeah, that’s the stuff, now how am I…’

 

Kazuka didn’t know how he was going to shatter her skull from all the way down there—but he trusted his teammates with every fiber.

 

 ‘…no going back now though.’

 

The hammer was suddenly engulfed in the emerald’s aura—locking him in place for an upward swing.

 

Maeve angled the last magical circle just between the boss’s horns, shooting herself through them toward Kazuka. She flipped the daggers back down into her sleeves—holding them for the time being.

 

She landed behind Kazuka—scanning the area around them for Zero. 

 

This moment relied on all of them—but Zero’s Teleport skill was potentially the most important piece.

 

[Teleport: Allows the user to teleport to a fixed location that they can see. Mastery of this skill allows the user to teleport other players!]

 

‘There you are.’

 

Zero had teleported himself back onto the ceiling—using the same skill to hold himself in place again. 

 

He watched as Kazuka charged forward—waiting for just the right moment.

 

Maeve couldn’t take her eyes off him—everything was riding on this. 

 

She saw in her peripheral that Kazuka was closing in on the boss—he had a few more meters before she could holster the daggers.

 

Zero smirked under his mask—the dark red strokes that made up the owl design were hidden below his black hood. It wasn’t a full cloak like Maeve’s, just a covering for his short jet black hair—it also made it look like he had a cape, hut he did wear armor below it—a mix of reds and golds with traces black on the outside edges—smooth on the surface, overlapping like scales throughout—it was made of some sort of metal, but form fitted to his body. 

 

Just like Kazuka, he had spent extra Onyx to make the slits of the mask glow—his a faint mix of purple and black flames.

 

‘Okay, I think it’s time.’

 

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Zero teleported down to the floor—placing a hand on Kazuka’s back, while also matching his speed.

 

Maeve watched as the two of them teleported away—revealing her to the boss. She holstered the daggers—activating their effect. 

 

The boss staggered backward from the six consecutive hits atop her head, collapsing into the decaying castle walls. She slithered back upward as her name plate shifted over.

 

[Goddess of the Sky and Heaven] shifted to [Egyptian Goddess Nut]

 

Nut’s chest began to glow as an Ankh carved itself into it—glowing with a blinding white light. 

 

Her blood red eyes shifted to black as Eyes of Horus etched around them—continuing to echo the same white glow.

 

Maeve’s attack slightly lowered the health bar—giving them the boss’s real name.

 

The five arms had been reformed up to the elbows—with the corrupted black seemingly expanding onto her shoulders and back—healing all her wounds—thus causing her health bar to start sliding back to the right.

 

Maeve pulled up the sleeves of her cloak—pressing her hands against the ground to activate another skill.

 

[Inversion: Allows the users to select a target and invert their orientation, mastery level changes capability of size!]

 

Nut’s entire body flipped instantaneously—completing inverting her to where the tips of her horns scraped along the floor.

 

“Don’t miss my dude.”

 

Zero teleported Kazuka and himself just below Nut’s head, where Zero used another one of his support skills.

 

[Starlight Guidance: Debuffs the user, but grants a two times increase in the buffed’s attack power]

 

The skill coated Kazuka in another golden aura—attaching itself to the previous two buffs.

 

Kazuka swung the war hammer upward—turning the floor to splinters with its force—creating a wall of debris between him and the boss.

 

Nut tried to reorientate herself, but quickly became trapped in some sort of wiring. 

 

She let out another roar as she tried to move about, completely entangling herself in place. 

 

‘Good work Maeve.’

 

Zero teleported himself away as Kazuka landed the hit on the top of the boss’s head—they expected a roar to follow, but there was only the thunder clap of the hammer and the rush of the shockwave that followed.

 

The power of all their buffs on top of Kazuka’s base level strength had been directly focused into her skull—sending a ripple up through the body—transforming her into millions of tiny droplets that quickly faded away as they rained down.

 

[Egyptian Goddess Nut Defeated]

 

[Castle of Vol Cleared]

 

[Teleporting Party]

 

They had instantly been teleported back to Kayapa Village—located deep within Xuesong—a forest in the South–West of Vol.

 

Kazuka was the first to open his menu—the dull pink colored display illuminated his mask slightly.

 

“It's supposed to happen now right?”

 

Zero and Maeve both nodded back at him—silence filled the void between them—what was there to say—they did what they set out to do—no—it’s actually what they had to do.

 

—

 

It was no more than a year ago—Zero had been approached in the real world—it was a developer on the game.

 

She told him about God Slayer—how it was going to change everything—not because it was the world’s first full dive virtual reality game, but because the methods that they used to create it were unorthodox.

 

It isn’t a game they actually designed, it’s a portal to an entirely different world.

 

Zero didn’t believe her at first—why should he? 

 

This isn't a Japanese Light Novel or a Korean Manhwa—this is the real world—but—there was a little bit of him that wanted to believe her.

 

“Why are you telling me this?”

 

She told him about what happens after the first Castle is cleared—how there will be a set of system announcements.

 

[Congratulations Players!]

 

[The First Castle Has Been Cleared!]

 

A set of system announcements that most will laugh at because again—this isn’t a fiction.

 

[Now The Real Game Begins!]

 

[Teleporting All Players!]

 

She told him how everyone will be taken to the same area in the world—a new island that wasn’t in any of the previews.

 

[Welcome To Sidra!]

 

“Again, why are you telling me this and not the police or something?”

 

“You don’t even believe me, why would they?”

 

[Your Menus Have Been Updated!]

 

“People are going to die regardless, but a lot less of them will if you three help.”

 

[Pain Nullifiers Disabled!]

 

There it was—she said three—that’s what’s really going on—another eSports recruiter.

 

Unless.

 

Is she really telling the truth?

 

[Bodies Enhanced!]

 

“Why us, we’re nobodies, we play games for fun.”

 

[Senses Enhanced!]

 

“Yes, but you know just as much as I that you three could do it.”

 

[Character Models Locked!]

 

“If we lose?”

 

[Resetting!]

 

“Then we better hope the others who get trapped inside come up with a team as good as yours.”

 

[Death Is Now Permanent!]

 

We had a year to prepare ourselves—to learn the game inside and out before launch day—all without actually stepping foot inside—we were in for the fight of our lives.

 

[Logout Function Has Been Disabled!]

 

[Welcome To The Realms Of Arrithia!]

 

[Good Luck!]

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