Ubel CH2.1

"Hey buddy, it looks like you're having a hard day. Why don't you take care of the small fry, and we can have a chat. Does that sound good, friend?" The armored man's tone sounded so reasonable. Lightning crackled along my hand, and for a moment, I was about to kill the last of my family. "Why hesitate? You're already level 23; that takes a lot of killing, maybe even a village worth." The man said.

From the man's tone, I could hear the grim smile. Looking at this situation from an outsider's perspective, I did kill an entire town, and what was one more person at this rate.

"Not to be rude, my man. My name is Red, not that it's a big deal or anything. Most people do know me by reputation. I'm quite high on the PVP leader boards."

"I won't kill my sister. I don't care how powerful of an adventurer you are." I said.

The man shook his helmeted head and reached behind his back to grip the handle of an absolutely massive sword. I blinked, and the massive blade's tip nearly poked me in the eye. 

"Role play is fun and all even this close to shut down. But she's an undead abomination under the control of the King in Yellow. If she's allowed to get free, she'll search for the nearest person to infect. After she eats enough people, she'll become really damn smart. All those blemishes will disappear, and she'll blend into crowds of NPCs." Red said.

I stared down the weapon, about to chop me in two. No matter what, I couldn't back down, no matter how crazy adventurers were outside their legends.

"I'm not playing a role. Black Rei helped me and claimed it gave her a class without a slot. I have no idea what you mean by starting a new game. Please help me save my sister; she's the only family I have left." I said.

"It's not fair that the game world's AI programs are so good at mimicking real people. Black Rei, let me see if she's even relevant." The adventurer brought up a stat screen before snapping her fingers. "She's the crazy Shakespeare speech girl. You said teaching gives a new class and one that doesn't require an open slot. That is quite the incentive."

A crash alerted me before a hunk of rotten wood hit my chest, and my sister pushed her head free. "If you teach me, I'm sure you'll get it too."

"Aren't you crafty guy trying to bribe me with things you have almost no clue about to get your way? Alright, let's see what it takes to become a mentor. What do you know of monsters?" Red asked.

I gave the question a moment of thought before answering. "They are creatures mutated by mana."

"Not at all. This is the end of the world, so no mods are here to censor me. Monsters are creatures created by the DEVs to test their ability to create monsters." Red said.

The revelation was not something I could even understand. "Why would they do that?" I asked.

"This entire world is a game, and we use it to escape the boredom of everyday life," Red said.

I looked at my sister, sweet Marie, who used to put flowers in her hair and help me pick fruit. The beings above, even the gods, did this to her for fun. I felt my teeth clench as more roofing fell away.

He seemed to take some kind of perverse pleasure from my reactions.

"Your sister isn't in that shell any longer. The only way to bring her back is to capture her soul in Carcosa and place it into a new body. What you see is only a puppet of flesh and the King in Yellow's curse." Red said.

"How can I trust you?" I asked.

"You can't either believe or don't, but either way, one of us will destroy her either before she escapes or after. Between the two of us, you're the only one who could use the xp." Red said.

More of the roof fell as she struggled to get her swollen gut free. Yellow stains covered her once brown dress, slowly spreading more like ink on white paper.

"I don't want to make you feel like you have to do this, but it would go a long way in showing me if you're worth teaching or not. There isn't much time left, and I'm not sure if the world will be here when it's gone." Red said.