CHAPTER 3: MONSTER IN FRONT OF US

The taller male of the group stepped forward and extended his gloved hand toward Lucas. "Darkstar, we would like to invite you to join our team."

Lucas looked at the hand with wide eyes; someone wanted him on their team?

"Shikigami" Lucas gave his name and shook the hand of Darkstar.

One of the females of the group stepped to Darkstar's side, her eyes devouring Lucas in the process.

Lucas saw the look she was giving him and he quickly averted his gaze elsewhere when their eyes met. He had to admit it, her avatar was good-looking. Her brown hair and blue eyes were striking, she wore a tight body suit that hugged her body revealing its curvaceous edges.

"The name is Trixie, nice to meet you Mr. Shi-ki-ga-mi" Trixie introduced herself seductively spelling Lucas Ingame name.

Not knowing how to reply, Lucas merely nodded and retrieved his hand which was still holding onto the handshake.

Darkstar looked at Trixie with a scowl present on his face. "Hold yourself, Trixie."

Trixie rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out at Darkstar. "Fine"

Darkstar turned his attention to Lucas who was standing there, nervousness written on his face.

"Don't mind her!"

Lucas nodded, he took a look at the group once again. He could tell they were a bit stronger than him, so why? Why did they want him in their group?

"Mind I ask something?" Lucas said staring Darkstar in the eyes.

"Sure,"

"You guys look strong why would you want someone like me in your group?"

Darkstar placed his hand on his chin and grinned at Lucas. "Because you are strong, we saw how you handled the wolves and your familiar was impressive."

Lucas understood they had been eavesdropping on him.

His eyes were drawn to the hooded fighter and he could've sworn he knew the person, his hair was rather familiar.

But he ended up dismissing it.

"We will be taking the first floor, want to come with us?" Darkstar said drawing the attention of Lucas.

Lucas thought for a moment and nodded. "I'll be there, where will we rendezvous? I have to log-out."

Darkstar fidgetted with something in front of him and Lucas saw the status window appear in his line of sight.

[First Floor invitation]

[Riot guild meeting spot, Hysteria tower base]

[Time: 13:40]

"I will be there," Lucas said as he pressed the log-out icon on his screen.

His avatar shimmered into particles as it disappeared releasing Lucasʼ consciousness from the game's interface.

Trixie looked at Darkstar with mixed emotions after Lucas left. "You know, you'll regret this in the future do you know that?"

Darkstar turned to Trixie and stood right in front of her, his body towering over her. "To win you have to do anything, what's a simple summoner? He can just restart again."

—

The pod opened and Lucas opened his eyes, he removed the head gear and looked around. The lights in the room were on, which meant it was already nighttime.

He got out of the simulation pod and removed his body suit— neatly folding the suit, he looked at himself in the mirror and chuckled bittersweetly.

He had been like that for as long as he could remember, his father always told him that it was because of the complication concerning his birth. The day he was born and the day he lost his mother before he got to know her.

Lucas left his room and found his father sitting at the dinner table when he got to the living room.

He took his seat at the table and looked at the food, he was not feeling hungry, and his appetite vanished when he realized what tomorrow was.

"So are you OK? I didn't want to disturb you in your game." His father spoke placing the spoon he had in his hand on the table.

Lucas just sighed, he looked at his father with eyes brimming with tears. "I'm not, I haven't been feeling OK these past few days. My body has been weaker, sorry I did not tell you."

His father knew what he was talking about, ever since Lucas was born, he had a weaker immune system which made him susceptible to infection easily. The sterile environment the hospital treated him in, helped him for the first 4 years of his life.

By some miracle, he got better to be allowed to the outside but the doctors did say he would not live beyond 22 years and in recent years he had gotten sicker.

"Don't worry, we will figure everything out. We will get you the needed help." His father assured him.

Lucas nodded and quietly ate his food.

After he finished eating, he placed his plate in the sink; bid his father Goodnight and went straight to his room.

He took the suit, wore it, and got the headgear. He got into the pod and closed his eyes allowing his consciousness to be transferred into the game.

[Welcome Shikigami]

Lucas's avatar appeared in the game in the area where he had logged out. He looked at the night sky and smiled, the moon was always beautiful— he envied the stars, they were so free. Not bound by reality or sickness, just living their lives up in the sky.

"I better make my way to the tower." He mused and started his walk to the next town in Hysteria.

He arrived at the location they were supposed to meet. His eyes looked around the NPC's walking about the town— the simulation was on point, had everything a town would have in the real world.

A minute passed with Lucas looking around and he found them, Darkstar, Trixie, and the others stood at the base of the large tower that pierced through the sky. He walked over to them only to stop in his tracks.

"So what are we going to do once we get inside?"

"Kill Shikigami, get his familiar, and clear the floor."

"What if he finds out?"

"Mirage that's the thing, he won't find out not if someone tells him"

Lucas couldn't believe his ears.

Darkstar wanted to kill him and get his familiars? He purposely approached him just to do that?

He turned his attention to the hooded figure who dropped his hoodie and it all made sense to Lucas. The man who hurled the fireball at him was part of the group.

With the information in mind, Lucas approached the group who noticed him.

"If it isn't Shikigami! You ready?"

Lucas nodded and inched away from Darkstar who tried to pull him into his embrace.

The gesture confused the group but they ignored it.

The group of six passed through the walls of the tower and were immediately transported to a staircase with multiple doors leading up to the roof from what they saw.

"So we have to go to the top huh?" Trixie asked looking at the staircase.

"Seems so."

The group minus Lucas began making their way up the stairs to the door directly at the ceiling.

Lucas stood behind them watching their backs, he still couldn't wrap his head around the fact they invited him to kill him just for his familiar. They were twisted human beings that's for sure, but it was a game, a game where there were no consequences.

Or so he thought.

[Shikigami gate open: Ryuk]

Lucas opened the Umbrella in his hand and Ryuk came out of its abyssal confines. "Master!"

"Good to see you too Ryuk," Lucas replied knowing what Ryuk meant by saying his title.

Lucasʼ eye glowed and the familiar shikigami Kanji was written on his pupil synchronizing his vision with Ryuk's.

"Ryuk, can you make a cloud? I'm tired of walking."

"Understood master!"

Ryuk puffed out a human size cloud from his mouth and Lucas got on top of it before they started to make their way up the stairs behind the group that went into the ceiling.

When they got through the ceiling, they watched in astonishment at the room they were in.

It was wide and had multiple pillars sporadically holding the ceiling, treasure piled up at every corner of the room making it glow a dazzling color from the reflective surfaces of the gold, diamond, ruby, and sapphires in the room.

At the furthest ends was a throne made from skeletal hands, the armrests were made from the bones connecting the elbow to the wrist and the backrest was a skeletal rib connected to a menacingly looking skull.

On the sides were multiple doors all which Lucas assumed were leading to the room if the many players gathered there were any indication.

"This is too easy!"

"Very easy!"

Lucas heard some of the players say followed by loud cheers.

He couldn't feel at ease, it was as if something was going to happen any moment; like the saying, the calm before the storm.

"So Lucas, are you going to travel with us from now?" Darkstar said as he came to Lucas.

Lucas only shook his head, he did not need traitors who were only out to get him.

Before anyone could react, a large cleaver smashed on the floor sending a shockwave that sent the forefront players flying in all directions.

The attack was followed by a boisterous beastly roar that sent tremors across the room, petrifying the once nonchalant and jovial players to the core.

The game status window opened in Lucas's line of sight.

[First-floor boss]

[The boar of destruction]

[Monster level A]

Lucasʼ jaw dropped. They were supposed to fight a level A monster? He had trouble with a C-level monster and this behemoth here was their next adversary.

[Attack: 140]

[Speed: 100]

[Defense: 120]

[HP: 23,500]

[passive: Axe of the boar King- every time the boar king swings its cleaver, its attack speed increases by 30 points and maxes out at 5 stacks. The attacks not only get faster the shockwave produced gets stronger]

[Ability: Boar's rage- once at 50% HP, the moveset of the boar King changes and channels his rage into his attack and defense growth which increases its attack and defense by 40% of its initial defense and attack. The attack speed decreases by 70% and its speed drops to 0. Neglecting speed and attack speed for defense and attack power]

Even with the downside, bringing the beast to its knees was a tall task. A monstrous task at that.

The debris cleared as the physical appearance of the boar king appeared— It stood at 15 feet and 55 inches tall. Its red skin beamed vibrantly like a pool of blood. The monster had two tusks protruding from its mouth, its obsidian eyes glared at the people beneath it. Its muscular arms buffed to show its size coupled with a round belly; it wore a pelt with large tusks wrapped around the waist. The two cleavers in hand.

"What's this monstrosity,"

"The administrator never told us of this on the first level."

The chorus of doubts flooded the room agitating the beast.

"Shikigami, are you going to help?" Darkstar glared at Lucas who was not paying attention to them but the beast.

Sighing, Lucas opened his Umbrella and the obsidian pigment associated with the Shikigami summoning.

From the Umbrella came out the wolf and Ryuji, but this time the wolf was different. It did not have the purple mane, instead, the mane was like fire, it radiated an aura of an alpha. The wolf stood at a height of 7 feet 6 inches.

Surrounded by his familiars, Lucasʼ pupil became different. It had three more Kanji for shikigami which made him see the world through the shikigami eyes.

Everyone seeing the familiars watched Lucas in confusion, they were wondering what he was going to do.

"Now then Ryuk, Ryuji, and Wolf," Lucas said drawing the attention of his familiars.

He pointed the now-closed Umbrella toward the monster standing there; The familiars nodded and prepared themselves for combat.

"Ryuk Create a cloud and Ryuji torrent of flames, and Yok pounce," Lucas commanded.

The three beasts roared to the heavens and Ryuk opened the playing field for them, he huffed out cloud cover which moved above the beast.

Ryuji opened her mouth and shot out a sea of flames above the head of the players there, covering the distance between her and the Boar king.

Yok used his superior speed to dart across the room, sidestepping the players underneath him as he took a bite out of the arm of the monster just as the flame hit and the thunder struck the behemoth causing it to scream out in pain.

[Boar king lost 4,500 HP]

[Critical passive triggered]

[Additional burn inflicted]

[Boar king lost 3,000 HP]

[Temporal paralysis inflicted.]

Lucas looked at the status window; the assails he just sent did little to nothing to the beast aside remove 7,500 HP from its max HP. That was barely even half of it.

The players seeing that suddenly got the courage, the courage to stand up and fight.

But as soon as hope appeared, it got snuffed out.

The Boar king roared shaking the room and sending Yok flying with a swing of its hand.

[Yok lost 6,800 HP]

Lucas gritted his teeth, retribution didn't activate and his heavy hitter lost a chunk of its HP just from one Swart.

The Boar King hurled the cleaver and everyone watched as bodies flew, blood followed before the said bodies turned to particles signifying that the characters had died.

From 200 players gathered to only less than 50 in just two attacks.

"Unreal,"