Chapter 51

Jae's eyes widened. "And that's a super rare weapon. That mob's attack speed was insane. And that skill must've been deliberately designed to break items. Maybe it aims for the weapon's weak point, or maybe-"

"It doesn't really matter now, does it?" Toyo interrupted. "We're in bad need to head back to Trevica and patch ourselves up."

Jae's heart sank. If we go back now, we might not make it back in time to help fight the Boss.

Still, there was nothing else to be done. Toyo was right.

They had to go back.

"I'm sorry man," Toyo said softly, "I know how badly you wanted to help these guys out."

Jae waved his words away. "Don't worry about it. These things happen. In a way we did help, killing that lizard mob. That thing could've killed one of them if it had the element of surprise."

Toyo nodded. "You're right. I mean damn, that thing gave us both problems." He began walking out of the door they had come through. "You coming?"

Jae quickly pulled up his messages. "Yeah, I just need to let Diabel know that we're heading back so they don't come looking for us."

Typing quickly, Jae tried his best to ignore the disappointment building within him as he sent the message.

We ran into a mob with a skill that destroys weapons and armor. Too banged up to keep going. Teleporting back to fix our gear, then we'll try to catch up. Don't worry about hanging back, I know how important this raid is. Take down that Boss.

"Alright," Jae sighed. "This room is too small to teleport out of though, we have to step into the other one."

Toyo nodded, his foot already halfway out the door. "I know, I'm just waiting on you. Can't let you out of my sight now that you're defenseless, you know?"

"Shut up," Jae said as they walked through the door together. "I'm still more dangerous than-"

Jae found himself looking down in sudden confusion as the floor opened up beneath them. Jae's spine tingled in terror as the feeling of weightlessness engulfed him. For a moment he could hear Toyo crying out in shock as they both fell, and then there was nothing.

"You alright?"

Jae opened his eyes slowly. It was dark, but he could see that they were in another small stone room, with only one door leading out. A torch burned in the corner, offering a small measure of light around them. Beside him, Toyo was struggling to his feet. Sitting up as he rubbed his head, Jae looked at his health.

"I'm back in the red. That's twice in the last five minutes."

Toyo extended a hand. "Same. I've only got two health crystals left. You?"

Taking Toyo's wrist, Jae got to his feet. Craning his neck to look above them, he could just make out the hole in the floor they had fallen through.

"I'm still at four. Let's both take one of mine." He gestured at the hole above them as he handed one of the health crystals to Toyo. "Looks like we found a trap."

"Heal!" Toyo sighed as his health returned to the halfway point. Jae quickly followed suit.

"I'm so done with this place." Toyo said grimly. "Let's just teleport back to Trevica and call it a day."

Jae looked down apologetically. "Sorry man. We spent pretty much all our money on this raid and the whole thing has been a bust."

"No need to apologize, I agreed to this too. Neither of us expected things to go so bad."

With one last sigh, Toyo accessed his menu and equipped his teleport crystal. "Ready?"

Equipping his own, Jae nodded in the affirmative.

In one voice, the two brothers shouted the activation words.

"Teleport, Trevica!"

Nothing happened.

Looking around in confusion, Toyo tried again. "Teleport, Trevica!"

Shaking the teleport crystal in his hand, Jae repeated the phrase several more times. Still nothing.

"What the hell's going on?" Toyo asked. His question was rhetorical, but Jae answered anyway.

"It must be a glitch. I haven't heard of this ever happening before."

Toyo shook his head as he began pacing the room. "No, it can't be. Kayaba said on day one that he made the game completely fair. Besides, the guy's a genius who takes pride in his work. In every interview I ever watched, it was easy to see that his ego comes from making games without a single bug. He's an evil son of a bitch, but still a genius. I just can't see him letting something like this slip."

Jae looked at him in disbelief. "If Kayaba had wanted to make the game fair, he wouldn't have given everyone in it only one life. Everyone knows dying is an unavoidable part of RPGs."

"Whatever the reason," Toyo replied as he picked up his sword, "We're stuck down here. Message Diabel and let him know we could use some help right about now."

"Already on it," Jae replied as he swiped away the screens. Upon reaching the friend list, he was about to begin typing when a small notification screen popped up.

You are unable to send Messages in this area

Stunned, Jae had to read the notification several times before he could believe it. Leaning in beside him, Toyo quickly read the message before throwing his hands up in anger.

"What the fuck is this?"

*****

If you like the story please vote and share it with your friends

How is the new cover, is the plot going as you thought? Do you have any suggestions comment below

Before I said I will upload every 2 days from middle of May instead of that I am doing this

Top 200 ranking - 1 extra chapter

Top 100 ranking - 3 extra chapters

Top 20 ranking - 5 extra chapters

What are your thoughts on this system

Please comment down