53 Too Far

The group stood before the barrier with grim expressions plastered on their faces. Clay and Exile stood at the front. Ready to take on the first wave. Just as Clay was about to touch the barrier and start their escape. Something happened that made Exile Exile grin.

"Wait!" Exile's eyes went to the notification that had just appeared in his mind.

[Milestone Reached: Followers 52/50… Awarding +1 Stat Point… New Milestone: Followers 52/100]

Clay raised an eyebrow at his companions as he wondered what was going on. But Exile did not elaborate. He merely gestured to wait a moment. 'It's obvious what I should pick.' With that thought, he sunk the new point into endurance.

[Congratulations! You have reached Level 4!]

With that notification, Exile grinned. He had taken the next step, which was always a good feeling no matter what game he played. 'To think I almost lost half my progress!' Exile shook his head as he pulled up his status.

[Name: Exile]

[Title: God of the Hearth]

[Race: Local Deity (Human)]

[Tier: 0]

[Level: 4]

[HP: 70/70 (55+15)]

[DP: 10/10 (8+2)]

[Strength: 5]

[Endurance: 14 (11+3)]

[Speed: 7 (6+1)]

[Authority: 10 (8+2)]

Exile nodded with satisfaction before glancing towards Clay. "You can start now."

Clay rolled his eyes as he wondered who was really in charge. Exile had given him that order so naturally. 'Forget it, it's probably just a slip of the tongue.' Clay turned his attention back on the barrier as dispelled his doubts.

When his palm touched upon the barrier, it slowly became translucent. Revealing that Exile's warning was true. Although Clay had taken precautions and listened to Exile's advice, he had still hoped that the latter was wrong.

Rows of Lost Warriors were waiting on the other side. As Exile cast his gaze over them, he realised that this time would be different compared to the time in Allevia's tomb. The Lost Souls over there had been pressed against the barrier in a frenzied mob. But the Lost Warriors were waiting in organised formations. Calmly waiting for them to step out from the protective area.

Exile frowned as he looked over at them. 'The formations are more densely packed in a straight line from the barrier to the exit. But if we try to go through the edges where's there's less of them they'll have time to reorganise and block our escape.' Exile did not like the level of intelligence that these mobs were displaying.

It was as if they were trying to give them some hope, only to crush their morale when they attempted to exploit them. However, he had to admit. It was a fresh feeling to be put to the test like this. 'Come to think of it… What's with these guys? Why can't they enter the tomb? When we first arrived, it did not look like they were guarding it. Instead, they looked like an army trying to break in…'

It was just a random thought of his, but Exile thought it may be relevant to the lore of the game world. 'Could it be that they're actually the remnants of an invading army? Or the survivors of the force that killed the God?' Maybe he was just leaping to conclusions. It was also possible that the developers just thought that they would make a good enemy at this stage of the game.

"They've got holes in their formation around the edges… That's our ticket out of here!" Clay's eyes lit up as he studied the mobs.

The others in the group nodded with his assessment. Except for Exile, who raised an eyebrow at Clay's statement. He felt like slapping himself in the face after hearing that, but he restrained himself.

"No, take a look at their layout. Those holes are positioned so that they can be filled. That will buy this army enough time to seal off our escape." Exile pointed out the holes and their proximity to the areas where there were more mobs gathered. "The actual weak point of this is to go straight through them."

Clay raised an eyebrow as everyone turned to look at Exile as if he were crazy. "What makes you say that?"

"If we go straight through, they don't have enough room to manoeuvre. This'll prevent many of them from being able to use their weapons." Exile shrugged his shoulders. "They're trying to trick us into going through the formation in the areas that they can deal more harm. This lot in front of us is nothing but an intimidation tactic. They want to scare us off from using this route."

A couple of gasps accompanied his explanation, but Clay was not convinced. "Why would that matter? They don't have to worry about hitting their own team. It's not like they'll do any damage."

Exile considered Clay's argument before shaking his head. He finally realised something that had been nagging at his mind for some time now. "Have any of you hit each other while in a party?"

The others looked confused by Exile's question. However, Clay's eyes went wide as he thought he understood what point Exile was attempting to make. "Of course we haven't. That would just cancel attack."

"Right, and most gamers would never make that mistake for that reason. But have you ever seen a mob in this game accidentally hit another?" Exile's mind raced to piece everything together.

"No…" Clay raised his eyebrows as Exile's argument was becoming increasingly convincing.

"Well… I have." Exile's mind wandered to the trial where he had to make the mobs hit each other to advance. 'I think that trial was trying to make me aware that this game is different.'

Exile's expression sank as he put everything together in his mind. 'The developers are really going too far with the realism.' He shook his head as he realised the degree of difficulty that would accompany team fights that were known to be messy. 'Everything in the game can probably commit friendly fire…'