Chapter 28

  The party popped into existence exactly where we’d logged out in front of Charlie’s Crypt, and I instantly shifted to Wind Rogue, blinked away, and then dove. We hadn’t had enough warning to get Greg to check our surroundings so . . . I sort of panicked. The Mike incident in Rivermoor’s Inn put me on edge every time we logged in, and while I was mostly sure he hadn’t tracked us to the dungeon, that didn’t mean some other threat wasn’t waiting for us.

  Once Greg confirmed the coast was clear, I made my way back to the group. Mie was sitting on a stump watching the other two. Clara was all up in Fred’s face, a finger digging into his chest. They were arguing about something, and after looking at the life credit count that was now clearly visible on everyone's nameplates, I thought I might have an idea as to why . . .

  Turned out . . . Fred, still had two credits, while the rest of us were sitting at zero. He had told us he only had one left, before giving up one for the Charleston ritual. That little rat bastard.

  "You ass,” Clara said bitterly. “You let me feel awful for saying I had zero. When you had three left the whole time!”

  I raised an eyebrow. She’d lied too, just about having more life credits. Maybe not your place, Clara.

  “I know! I’m sorry! But if it helps, I really thought you would all be hiding your true credit numbers as well!” He sounded flustered, and he glanced around looking at all the zeroes. “Clearly I was the only one who had the choice to lie about my number of credits.” He looked down at his feet.

  "Oh, for crying out loud!” Clara shook her head and moved away.

  There was the sound of cracking knuckles from Mie’s direction. She stood up from her seat and said, “If you guys haven’t noticed . . . the Black Zone is moving already.”

  I clapped myself on the forehead for forgetting phase two had started and immediately pulled the global map back up. The Black Zone was creeping its way ever so slightly toward the island’s shore from every side apart from the north. Since the white ring was halfway into the ocean on the northern side of the island, there the Black Zone approached much more slowly. But on the south side of the island, where we were, it was moving faster to make up the gap. I zoomed in as close as I could to the wall of black, trying to judge its speed across the terrain. There was a ruler indicating the distance in meters. I watched it for a few seconds and could breathe easier. It was going pretty slow. About a meter every couple seconds. Still, I didn’t know if or when it would speed up. We had to hurry.

  I looked up at the others. Their glazed-over eyes indicated they all had pulled up their maps and were also looking at the Black Zone. The poison of fear slithered through me, but I compressed it away, crystalizing it. I managed to say with some confidence, “Everyone ready?”

  One by one, they all nodded. We all summoned our mounts, and after a moment, they pushed through bushes and tree leaves surrounding us.

  As I mounted my steed, I thought about Commander Matt and the orders I had left him. Did it really work?

  I looked at my map as the path forked ahead. Instead of heading north, back to The Hallowed City, I led the party east. Towards The Notch. I looked at Mie. She wore a grimace and was shaking her head. She still wanted to head north. My plan of heading to the dungeon worked. By now she should see that maybe, just maybe, I know what I am doing. But she didn’t pitch a fit, and she kept her silence as we rode east. My abs clenched as we passed the path heading north back to The Hallowed City. We would be cutting it very close on staying a safe distance from the Black Zone . . . but I had a hunch that I meant to see play out. I closed my eyes, praying a silent prayer as we continued east essentially toward the Black Zone, the decision final.

  A short day’s ride later, we found ourselves back in the village of The Notch, sitting at the bar in The Bucket . . . with Eleanor. She was sitting far too close to me and kept trying to rub my ankle with her foot. Her store window opened up for me again, which I firmly closed. Commander Matt wasn’t here, and so I was anxious to follow this hunch and get moving . . . but Eleanor’s store window kept getting in my damn way.

  “Why does THE KING look like he just was out in the sun for a whole day?” Clara asked. Unfortunately, everyone in the party had started referring to me as THE KING, in a successful effort to piss me off. It was often said in a loud sarcastic voice.

  “What?” Mie said after knocking a glass of Perdon down. Then she burped and said, “Oh. That’s Eleanor. They had sex, it’s a thing.”

  The strong heat that had risen around my neck intensified. “God damn it, Mie. We did not have sex,” I growled, and then gulped as I exited the store window hovering in front of me only to have it show up again. It listed a ton of items . . . all of which had titles that were crossed out and replaced with ‘coitus.’

  She was coming on strong . . . which was—I assumed—due to my new royal title and general area reputation. I didn’t like that sentient NPCs could initiate the store window. Stupid ass game. I glanced at my map . . . hating the waste of time. Hopefully we can move on soon enough.

  “Really, Eleanor?” Mie said. “You like his new dwarfish look?”

  “Okay. We can change topics now—” I said, cutting in, only to also get cut off as Mie kept talking.

  “How do penises even work here?” She said it as if that was a totally normal thing to ask. I saw her empty glass, which Fred had just filled, clunk to the bar once again.

  I pinched the bridge of my nose as an awkward silence hung in the air—until Fred said, “Normal. They work normal.”

  Gross, Fred. C’mon, man. Too far.

  The door swung open, interrupting the immensely uncomfortable moment. A group of village NPCs filtered into the inn’s common room.

  Good. They’re here.

  They were all low level, and mostly made up of farmers. Some were sentient, and some were . . . not. I saw the same broken one from before turn ninety degrees upon entering and start slowly humping the wall over and over, making his way along it. I looked at the more sentient ones, and for a moment I briefly imagined what it would be like to have been locked in the world as an NPC farmer. God, that would suck.

  I shook my head, clearing the train of thoughts as I watched them come in one by one with their dirty trousers, pitchforks, and somber expressions. I had asked Mark the general store owner to round up the village for me. At first it had been a tall ask, but between my reputation with The Notch and pointing out the now completely black horizon to the south . . . despite it being midday still . . . he’d agreed.

  When the last few villagers filed in, I took a deep breath, firmly closed Eleanor’s store window, and turned away from her to face the crowd.

  Now, at this moment I thought about the last few months and the shit we had been through. Our bodies had been torn, broken, and cut open and in half. Our heads had been bashed in and cut off. But . . . as I got up on a wooden chair, I realized all of that had been easy. Compared to what I was about to do, all that stuff had been cake.

  I turned to face the crowd, and my mouth went completely dry. I licked my lips, cleared my throat, and croaked out, “So, uhh . . .”

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  “SPEECH!” Mie called out, definitely intoxicated . . . again.

  I closed my eyes. God help me.

  “Thanks, Mie,” I said while laughing off the awkward start.

  Then I began talking in earnest, stumbling over my words, because that was just how I was when talking to a large group. “So uhh, yeah as Mark probably told you, there is a Black Zone made up of . . . basically death . . . headed our way, and so you all will probably want to get out of the area real soon to avoid . . . not . . . dying. I—I mean we—could use your help if you are willing by joining my—our—army.” I cringed a little bit at my stumble there and glanced over at my friends.

  Clara silently mouthed, ‘THE KING,’ and giggled into her hand while raising her glass toward me. I ignored her, took a deep breath, and continued.

  “The time is here,” I said, remembering what Eleanor had said way back when, during our first conversation in this very same room. She had said it softly, not meaning for me to hear it. But I had heard, and it was those words, ‘I heard a rumor the time is coming’, more than anything else, that helped me understand that as real as some of these sentient NPCs seemed to be, they’d known the end was upon them when players had started showing up at their doorsteps. “We need your help.” My voice cracked, so I raised my voice, continuing, “We need your help to survive this hell, and if you help us . . . I promise—”

  I cut off, noticing a few lines appear in my feed. Oh . . . that was way easier than I thought it would be.

  You successfully warned the occupants of The Notch of their imminent demise.

  Your reputation with The Notch has increased astronomically!

  You received the title ‘Bearer of Bad News’!

  You received 50,000 XP!

  You gained 89 followers!

  My breath blew out, and despite the comparatively low experience gain, I knew my hunch about recruiting villages and towns had been dead on. Relieved, I stepped off the stool. Everyone was looking at me as I climbed down.

  Regardless of what I did now, these folks would all die. Whether from the Black Zone, or this server or reality getting reset or however that all worked, they would all die. We might as well use them. I reminded myself that whatever asshole was in charge of all of this had placed these NPCs here for one purpose. To die.

  I glanced at Clara, whose eyes had hit the floor. She hadn’t been a fan of the idea, and I couldn’t blame her. I wasn’t a fan either. But we needed all the help we could get. And anyways . . . like I said . . . they were all dead anyways. I hated myself for thinking it, but I couldn’t save anyone. I wasn’t that na?ve.

  The farmers and village folk murmured and talked to each other.

  The innkeeper began filling drinks in great numbers, and quite a few folks stayed around to grab a drink before heading out. I couldn’t help but think it might be their last. But the farmers and village folk alike sat down at the bar and the tables, and the noise level began to grow to hearty levels. It seemed a touch insane to me that they could remain cheerful, but maybe my speech had given them some kind of hope . . .

  Nah, I sounded super dumb.

  I made my way through the throng and found Fred talking across the bar to the innkeeper, his fat dwarf neck all red and sweaty as if he was either half drunk or . . . blushing. Probably both. This place’s NPCs were all horny as hell. Maybe bringing this group . . . is a bad idea.

  “Fred. You have a second?” I motioned my head to the side of the room where it was less crowded.

  “Uhh, sure,” he said with a questioning look. He looked painfully away from the innkeeper and followed me over.

  I turned to face him, opened a trade window, and placed the three resurrection stones within. “Here, I want you to have these.”

  “Huh? Why?” he said, looking confused.

  It seemed obvious to me, but this was Fred . . . so I explained. “The rest of us don’t have any life credits left. If our party wipes, we will be left watching you from our Soul Spaces. Only you will reappear. If that happens and the stones are stuck in my Soul Inventory, then they’ll be worthless. I need you to take them. Put them in your Soul Inventory for now and only take them out when you plan on using them . . . ideally on one of us.”

  He nodded slowly, seeming to comprehend, and confirmed the trade. “Okay. Can do, Sam.” His eyes had been flicking past me toward the bar the whole time I was talking to him.

  I sighed. “Go have some fun, Fred. But we leave soon.”

  I glanced around the room. Everyone seemed to be preoccupied and, for once, ignoring me. I should say almost everyone. Despite being surrounded by a group of red-necked farmers, Eleanor’s eyes were locked onto mine from across the entire room. Your reputation with the Notch has Increased astronomically. Ohh. Ohhhhh no.

  She bit her lip as her bra . . . which was now in a dainty hand, dropped to the floor.

  I quickly ducked out of sight and made my way out of the packed inn, crouching to stay hidden. Once I was outside, I was greeted with a pleasant sight.

  A battalion of one thousand black-hooded riders came galloping into the heart of the village. They all wore golden arm patches bearing the crest of The Hallowed Kingdom—a simple mountain shape. When they reached me, the rider at the front smoothly dismounted, and we grasped each other’s arms. “Commander,” I said, nodding toward him with respect.

  “For the love of god. Call me Matt, sir,” he said while shaking his head.

  I had given him three orders: to prepare an army, to meet us at the Notch with a small force, and to protect their king . . . me. I gave him a few more detailed instructions, like to try and avoid the mindless NPCs, women, and children, which, as I looked at the horsemen, seemed to have worked. This was just one battalion. If everything had gone to plan, there should be a much larger force waiting for us at The Hallowed City. I had handed him all the gold coin I could spare to help with that effort, but technically, since the whole city was following me, I doubted he even needed it.

  Right now, assuming again my orders were being followed, I suspected and hoped that back in The Hallowed City, my army was getting organized for war. Weapons, armor, and armbands were probably being distributed, supply chains, runners, and everything in between were being organized as well. It was still weird to think of them in that way. As my army. I fully expected to see other armies in the end though, and I was sure I wouldn’t have been the only one to come up with this idea. The NPCs in the area had been all level twenty to thirty, which I assumed was based on the zone’s level recommendation. If another player had managed to capture a level thirty to forty, or a forty to fifty zone—which I could now see on the map—that would be a big problem. I even saw zones that went up to level one hundred. I thought about how we had barely managed to kill The Black Queen, and it seemed unlikely that another group would have been successful in an even higher-level area. But I didn’t know that for sure.

  A few things still bothered me about having an army. First was the fact that I was indirectly going to be for real causing a lot of players to lose their last life credit . . . and essentially killing them. Not to mention the sentient NPCs who would lose their lives. It felt wrong because they felt so real. Are they really all going to die? The Black Zone will eventually cover the whole map, I reminded myself. They will all die. Even the players would die, save a single party.

  “What’s the word?” I asked Matt. “I half expected you to be here when we got in. The dungeon took us way longer than I expected.”

  He nodded quickly and grimaced, clearly frustrated. “We had some delays getting everyone equipped. I had to pull in half the Kingdom’s smiths to outfit all the new recruits. And training . . . has been a complete shit show. Most of them have never held a weapon in their lives. But the good news is your army awaits your command.” He saluted then, and as he did, I glanced behind myself to make sure none of the party members had seen the gesture. I would never hear the end of it if they saw that.

  “Sounds good. But please keep the saluting to a minimum,” I said softly while rubbing my eyes. God, I’m tired.

  I pulled up my map and watched the Black Zone’s progress for a moment. Nine days was not a lot of time, and unfortunately for us, we were about as far away from the white ring as you could get. The Safe Zone being so far away was devastating. The map was enshrouded by fog of war, but now, like Tittles had said, it showed all the areas. The Hallowed Kingdom was but one of many similarly sized zones. There were quite a few between here and the white ring.

  “Send runners to whoever you left in charge at The Hallowed City. Have them lead the army northwest through Havens Way, through Riverwood Forest like we planned. Have them wait for us at the town of Pendle.”

  I glanced at the mass of riders behind the Commander. This was our battalion escort, which consisted mainly of true soldiers. Matt continued to fill me in on the details of the force he’d raised.

  The army currently consisted of fourteen battalions in all. Fourteen thousand soldiers. I had been happy with the number of women who wanted to fight, but I was still hoping to double our forces through recruitment if possible. I had also come to find out that NPCs only had one or two abilities, which were mostly things like Enrage, Harden, Parry, etc. Still their presence was welcome, and if nothing else, they would be my eyes and ears as we traveled.

  “Send men in groups of five to the remaining villages in this area. Have them recruit any that are willing, but move quickly.” I wasn’t sure if that would work. Can they gain followers on my behalf? I looked back at my map and watched the Black Zone. It really was moving faster than I would have liked.

  It was time to move. To Rivermoor, The Hallowed City, and beyond.