The Royal Demand (IV)

New Patch has been updated. All Zenith bags from henceforth will no longer hold an infinite amount. The set number will be half a million. Extra slots to refine the Zenith bag have increased. The whole world will have an active Zone Alpha placed in effect. All attacks and defenses will go into real-time. Fatality, wounds, dismembered body parts are active, and many more. The protection of the Hero will have come to an end. All magical boosts placed on the Fire Continent's borders will not be functioning anymore. Siege wars between cities are now possible.

Dive synchronization: Safety features have been upgraded and inputted into your Deep Dive gear. Safety procedures for personal health have been updated in the Avatar. Players will be forced out until one's body's needs and personal health has been taken care of. Players will not be allowed to log in if the safety health rating reaches below fifty percent. Please understand that this world is a game. We appreciate your safety and your life. Thank you for your understanding.

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Allan gasped with a scream. He was the loudest of the groups to cry out in outrage and fell defeated onto the ground." This is an outrage. It's sacrilege. How could they do this to us?" He burst into tears.

Even Zero couldn't help but stand there shocked. The Zenith bag has been very useful in his collection of items. He picked up everything and anything that could be sold. Now he had to waste extra money buying bags if he wanted to carry more.

"I can't live like this." Alan rebuked as he stomped around, furious. "This is like stealing from the merchant's life and blood."

"Quite exaggerating." Zeraph rolled his eyes. "There are always profits to be made around this situation."

"But but-" Alan's lips were twitching. He was already ghastly pale from the news that was brought before them.

"By this rate, they're trying to make this game as close to reality as possible." Agnis's voice rung through the group. "I'm assuming the beginning stages for the Adventurers to have time to get used to the game and even build up guilds are over. It is now the frontier, the age of exploration."

Zero thought he saw Alan's soul leave his body; he became lifeless like a zombie still lost in his own thoughts at the whole news.

"That's not the major problem here, you guys." Zeraph cut in. "We've got the issue with the holy protection of the Hero's Will ending. This means no more protection from monsters coming straight into the Fire Continent. As a result, our lives will become more difficult, possibly even some stray high-level monsters that could wipe out a small village."

"It's alright. We can power level together and beat them all." Jack hoisted his large battle hammer over his shoulder. "Working together will get us through. Just like the Real World quest."

"This and that are slightly different matters. We're talking about the Electric Continent where the Land Sharks appeared from. We won't know what else could be more dangerous than the monsters in the Fire Continent. So we should be careful where we go and not split apart from the group."

"Don't worry so much. You're going to have creases in between your eyebrows, and they're going to become permanent if you continue."

"I am not worried. I am just stating the obvious thing. We need to watch each other's backs."

Everyone understood and nodded one-after-another. Not many lights peaked through the thick forest, nor could he hear bugs, crickets, or birds singing their familiar songs. Thick vines covered densely around the forest as a light mist covered the ground. Instead, the stale smell of decayed plants hung in the air.

They had begun to walk through the winding paved roads of the Forgotten Forest. Jack was always checking behind him to see if anything was following them. Zero led the group, and Zeraph was stationed in the back, covering their rear. Agnis had her bow out, ready to shoot at a moment's notice. It didn't take long before monsters swarmed them.

"We've got baby spiders coming in from the right," called out Zeraph. He shot a couple of arrows in the direction of the Baby Spiders. They were all level 125 and did not run away from Zero's group. Instead, large swarms of them were coming toward them.

"Where?" Agnis sharply turned towards Zeraph. Her face turned white like a sheet. She already had a couple of wind arrows knocked in her bow. The moment she saw them, arrows were sent flying like missiles. She was not a fan of bugs. Especially spiders, centipedes, and millipedes. Already the Baby Spiders were looking like little porcupines. Right after, she sent a blazing blue fire that incinerated the Baby Spiders in seconds. The Baby Spiders were appearing from the dark forest, one-after-another like a swarm of undead that never stopped.

Jackhammered down with a thunderous roar on top of a Baby Spider. "Hammer Falls!" An earth-shattering ability that sent out a shock wave stunned the surrounding Baby Spiders. Alan was shooting with his slingshot. Even though the merchant class usually focused heavily on trades, they had a couple of abilities and weapons that allowed them to fight. They weren't completely defenseless.

Zeraph dashed around, zigzagging in between each Baby Spider. Zero following closely behind with his twin set of daggers, Excursion. Both were engaging in close-quarter combat that required more skill to avoid the swarm.

Zero couldn't help being satisfied with his small group. Even though they did not have a healer class, the small team of five did exceptionally well, playing off each other's strengths and weaknesses.

Jack acted more like a tank that could handle the heavy swarms of monsters. Zeraph and Zero were crowd control that darted in and out of the Baby Spiders, picking them off quickly and efficiently. While Agnis used more of her fire ability to decimate them in seconds. On the other hand, Allan took care of the Baby spiders with a slingshot that was about to ambush the group to draw their attention away, allowing the group to come back and kill the Baby Spider.

"Zero behind you!" Alan yelled as he aimed and hit the Baby Spider in the head. The monster turned toward Alan in rage as it clacked its hairy pincer-like jaws towards him.

"Thanks!" Zero whipped around and dashed forward with daggers in hand. He did a quick turn and rushed in towards the Baby Spider. "Trinity Fall!" In three continuous sharp movements, a blazing trail of fire erupted from his dagger, adding additional damage. The Baby Spider bursts into flames as Zero slices away the Baby Spiders' legs and three-fourth of its health.

After, Zero did a four-hit combo that finished the Baby Spider.

Hopping from one monster to the next, Zero made his way around the group in a full circle. He was busily fending off the Baby Spiders coming down from the trees while Agnis impaled them with her arrows, thinning the crowds.

"Hammer Falls!" Jack yelled. Thirty seconds later, he yelled the same skill again. "Damn these critters. These annoying bastards just keep coming."

"It looks like they're starting to thin out," Agnis replied. She nailed a Baby Spider perfectly in its eye and whacked a falling spider out in the air with her bow. "At this rate, we should be finished with them soon."

In minutes, the Baby Spiders were dispatched with barely any loss of health.

"That wasn't even a warm-up," Zeraph started with a smirk. He stashed away his sword into his belt and walked up towards the group.

Zero and Allan were scurrying around collecting fallen loot on the ground as if they were competing against one another for the upper hand.

"We'll equally share the loot," Zero said to his team. Usually, when there were groups, the loot was split up equally for cash at the end of the hunt. Everyone agreed with Zero's statement.

Zero noticed a couple of new plants beside the tree.