Rollercoaster ride (II)

*Mike's Perspective*

Mike watched in disbelief at the craziness of the whole event. He had thought that dungeon diving was slaying monsters in a simplified form without any external obstacles blocking their way. A simple raid that one would see in a game, but this whole circus act was merely insane.

He cursed under his breath at their luck. These past two days weren't going in their favor. The last game pitted themselves amongst each other, making the tense air between the two guilds worse.

Luckily, they were able to get past that trouble and didn't need to slaughter one another. Instead, they fought the oncoming waves of monsters that came to rip them apart to steal their protecting stones.

It wasn't as bad at first, but the number of waves grew ridiculously large, making them stressed as they did their best to hold out. A few more unsuspecting events appeared before them, causing more complications. Just thinking about it made Mike frown as he pushed down the past thoughts away.

Especially since his guild had lost a large number of people just from the last event. If it wasn't for Dairen's quick action, he knew that they were bound to be wiped out.

Mike refocused. He had watched the whole scenario happen with the first group that had gone on the ride. They were slaughtered--instantly.

Strapped in, served as a meal to the Ryzar. It was just too good to be true for it to be a smooth ride.

"We need to get on," Red spoke in a bit of low whisper, she was looking back and forth at Snow's group and at the coming rollercoaster.

With a loud squeak, the nine-seater roller coaster stopped in front of them. A hiss of metal unclicking against each other loudly rang, opening up the metal belt.

Unsightly blood, guts, and gore were present on the cart itself, making anyone looking at it step back disgusted. Pieces of skin and bones were left behind, even a few hands tightly gripping on the metal bars.

Nobody moved.

They couldn't for fear of what would happen. There was no protection. There was no way for them to jump off the cart without dying from the heights. The bars made it such a way, they were meant to be packaged neatly for Ryzar's food.

Three full circuits?

Mike didn't even know if it was possible. But what could he do, but get on to get out of this hell hole called a dungeon? He knew that every dungeon dive was different. Even if this was his second one. He had read about the many other dungeons that were worse than the ones they were in.

With great effort, which surprised him, he took the first step in.

The others followed, allowing them to pick up a bit more speed.

Red was the last one to enter as the bars clicked close. With a groan, the cart lurched forward, throwing her head back.

Mike started to wrestle out of the bars, allowing him to move a bit more freely with his hand tucked out.

"What are you doing?!" Red hissed, she was sitting right next to him. They were being chugged upwards.

"Getting comfortable," Mike spoke, he could feel himself uncomfortably waver as he looked down. The steep fall made him gulp, realizing how high he was up in the air. The drop was far.

"You're going to hurt yourself!" Red reached over and pulled on his armor, her fingers slipped, making Mike waver.

Quickly, Mike grabbed a hold a bit tighter, glaring at her for shaking him up. "We can't be sitting here at all times. We need to make sure to be ready if something happens."

"Yea, but if you die, it's game over."

"Which is why I'm counting on you to protect me with your magic."

"I'm not crazy strong like you guys."

"You're an elite. It's enough."

Red gaped for a moment, words unable to form, but she shook her head up and down.

The rollercoaster reached to the very top. It slowly overcame its hurtle, lurching downwards with an extraordinary speed that Mike would have fallen off if he didn't stay seated.

Speed continued to pick up, becoming faster and faster as the rollercoaster swerved, turned, looped, and even snaked across the ground. The first circuit was completed quickly as it blazed into its second.

Mike had his heart thumping up in his throat. He wasn't a rollercoaster guy, but that didn't mean he was terrified. He knew what he needed to do, but fighting against his screaming body wasn't helping.

With great effort, he reached over towards his back pocket, taking out a globe of explosives. He tightly wrapped his fingers around it.

Mike was thrown back into his seat as the rollercoaster took a sharp turn. Four out of seven small orbs slipped out from his very hand, falling down onto the ground.

A loud booming sound of explosives went off like firecrackers, leaving behind a massive crater on the ground. Some unfortunate Players that were nearby were blown back, getting injured.

Mike turned pale, realizing his mistakes. His hands shook.

Red gave him a questioning look; he looked away not to be trapped by her gaze.

"Mike!" Red's voice cracked out in a scream.

Mike snapped towards the direction of Red's sudden scream.

Incoming from the right was Ryzar's large beak opened wide, heading straight towards him.

Red blurted out, "Shield!"

A blue forcefield appeared before her, protecting Mike temporarily. He gulped, realizing how close he had gotten to death. He couldn't help but rub his neck a few times unconsciously.

Ryzar's beak smashed against the barrier. The tip of its beak cracked through. It bought Mike a quick second that he needed

Quickly, Mike twisted out of his seat, rearing back as his hands with the explosive in hand. He threw.

The four remaining balls of explosive made contact, shattering both the barrier and pieces of the Ryzar's beak, leaving an ugly crack. Sprays of black blood splattered over them as they went underneath, leaving the Ryzar quickly behind.

Mike was pleased with the injury that they had caused.

Not even a moment later, Mike notices a glimmer of a red barrier that he didn't see before on the Ryzar, collapsing.

"Attack!" Mike roared, he wanted to leap out of his seat to jump at Ryzar, but he knew such an act was costly.

Red, who was finally done screaming, threw a firebolt. A streak of fire blazed across the air, straight into the broken jaw. A puff of black smoke smeared across its beady eyes, blinding it.

"Nice job." Mike threw up a thumbs up at Mike, telling her she did an excellent job.

"We aren't done yet," Red replied. "We need to last to the third circuit!"

The rollercoaster was once again, going up the steep incline.

"We'll make it," Mike confidently spoke. He was getting excited at the thought of pushing through the end. The damage he had done was enough to disable the Ryzar for a moment. "We have too."

Mike could see the Players fighting on the ground, clearing out the GilEyes. Ryzar's panicking anger crushed a few and put the rest into chaos.

A streak of light blurred on the floor, twisting and mixing in together with the stripes of blacks. Magic was cast everywhere as the HilEyes died in droves.

For the first time, in a long time, he actually was starting to enjoy the ride. He watched Ryzar flail around, unable to protect itself, but just as quickly as the Ryzar was stunned for a moment from his attack, it changed directions.

The Ryzar stumbled, flapping its wings. It's beady eyes snapped towards Mike, homing in on him. An angry hiss escaped its beak. With a squawk, it aimed straight for Mike once again.

"Oh god, it's coming again!" Red was screaming, but her voice was being quickly muffled out by the wind.

Mike fumbled in his pocket, trying to pull out more beads. He got too comfortable with his attack and forgot to get ready for a possible second. His mistake cost him time as his fingers were unable to grasp another.

"Flame Tornado!" Red screeched, she was turning blue as nausea set in.

A burst of flames erupted from the ground, creating a tornado. Ryzar smashed into the towering tornado where it almost covered up Ryzar itself.

Mike was amazed at the amount of powerful energy that Red was able to summon up. For a moment, she would single-handedly destroy the Ryzar by herself. But before the tornado could even last for a minute, Red leaned over and barfed out her meal.

Luckily, they were able to escape out of harm's way as the rollercoaster finally came to an end.

With relief, Mike sunk in his seat for a moment letting his adrenaline calm down. He wasn't sure if he had enough energy to go through another ride again.

The bar clunked, opening up for them to step out. A large digital sign was posted overhead, counting the time for the next run.

"Let's hope it's enough." Mike's legs gave out, he didn't think that he was that stressed. It took a moment of his time to get up and turn towards her. His hand reached over, helping her out.

Red gratefully took his hands but missed as her legs shook. "I don't think I can ride again."

Mike didn't want to go for another ride.