LoneWolves (4)

The air shifted around me and reformed on a plain. Tall walls formed a triangle shaped area. I looked it over for a second. It could be a pizza slice formation if all the guilds had a similar area.

In the wider section of the very long thin triangle was a poor excuse for a stone tower. The ground around it was already lined with rocks that had fallen off. The tower had its own HP gage even [100:100] how sad this tower was weak. A baby iron snake could of killed it.

At the other end a weird black mist like portal was spinning around with its own countdown now started.

[Opening in 15:32]

The rest of the LoneWolves had appeared as well. I looked over the stats for the BlackWolves. They were only levels 7-8 how weak. Probably government employees only working 9-5. They would never survive as true gamers.

I walked into the tower to check it out. It was just as boring on the inside with a rickety staircase leading to the top like it could actually be defended from up there. I froze the area over before I was willing to walk on it. Then I went up.

The view was okay I suppose. I could slightly see over the walls. As expected nine other towers were poking up. I could see other players checking out the top's of theirs. Nothing interesting though.

Unless I could somehow jump to the wall from here? Nah too far if I missed I'd end up injured or dead. I went back down. And looked around my guildmates.

It was like the game was forcing us to be a team whether we wanted to or not. Hmm how much longer would I be able to be a 'team player' before I went insane and abandoned them?

[Opening in 1:32]

"We have a plan or something" asked PurpleLily.

"Nope" I replied. "Do what you want and kill monsters. Simple enough right. Let's see who can take out the most." A weird grin crossed my face.

"Um excuse me, but shouldn't you be taking this more seriously? You do know if you die the AI doesn't do respawns. It kills you in real life." NightSong the leader of the Blackwolves said.

I looked at her, "We are a solo guild, our only rule is there are no rules." With that I stalked off.

I didn't have time to deal with their whining. Sure they were right dying was game over, but I felt more interested in this world then the real one anyway. Reality was very dull and boring. Besides, being scared and fidgety would only lead to you making more mistakes.

I wasn't scared of death. Sometimes I had wondered if being reincarnated like in novels might even be better. I could lose my insanity complex. Heck maybe I'd even get a harem out of the deal! Did I want a harem? No actually that might be worse. Okay staying alive it is!

Let's make my new life's goal to destroy Mango. Just like a novel hero.

{Opening in 0:01]

The gate turned dark purple and spat out a dog beast. A single one, how boring. I left the Blackwolves at the tower where they could 'defend.' Who on Earth would want to defend though, if you're on the defense you're not winning! Commence the attack!

I charged forward, the other solo players seemed to have the same idea as me. Well guess I'd have to try not to get in their way then.

"Person with the least kills has to buy everyone else dinner!" I yelled as I jumped at the beast.

"Good lord they are all insane!" I heard NightSong comment.

Perfect, okay government time for you to owe us a free meal!

An evil grin crossed my face. Ah shoot I was too focused on them and Firefly got the kill. The portal's message changed.

[Wave 1 defeated next wave in 0:30]

Hmm how many waves? Oh wait it says out of fifty.

The next wave released two beasts and I lunged at one only to be shocked when it dodged me and instead headed for the tower. Interesting we weren't their goals.

I tossed one of my daggers and it fell with a yelp. Silly doggies after taking down a million of you I know all your weak spots! I retrieved my knife as the message changed to the next wave. This was starting to be a little fun!

Wave three, wave four, ...…..wave ten...….wave fifthteen.

"Good lord we are the smallest guild but these guys are monsters!" I heard NightSong yelping again and felt like smirking. We are the elite solo players.

Wave twenty....wave twenty four...

A loud crash sounded near us. One of the other towers had fallen? Which dumb guild went and screwed up?

Wave twenty eight another crash sounded and I frowned two towers down. What were those guilds doing? Idiots. I did not want to find out what a punishment was if we failed. The AI might just decide to fry all of us alive.

Wave thirty two..... Crash three down. A pity I couldn't scale the walls and defend the towers myself. I would have to add climbing or some sort of movement skill to my list in the future.

I tossed out an ice wave knocking down six dog beasts before the Blackwolves could be overrun. My trust in them was very low.

Wave forty three...….. crash. Four towers down. We could only afford to lose one more. I gulped. Just as I thought, you couldn't trust anyone but yourself to get a job done right. Anyone who relied on teamwork would fall to the mentality of someone else will get it.

Wave forty four... crash. Those cashew brained fools! I wonder if I could just break down the divider wall?

Forty six...forty eight....forty nine...…fifty...….Crash.

Oh no, that was one too many...

I gulped as I killed off the last of our beasts. A few seconds trickled by.

[Challenge status: Over, Results: Failed 4/10 remaining...….calculating punishment.]

Wait is partial credit a thing? Please let it be a thing. This is way too much fun to die already.

[Punishment fate: failure to complete: All monster waves now being transported.]

"Transported?" NightSong asked. "Where?"

I had a really bad feeling about this.

[New mission: Rescue type: Protect your reality from the dog beast waves. Additional punishment: Avoid the sinkhole mines.]

Huh what did that mean? A sudden pain spread through my body and I noticed everyone else collapsing around me. Finally the pain was too much and I was forced to close my eyes. My conscious jerked back into a dark dive tank space.

I opened the lid and peered out. My room, everything appeared normal. I got to my feet and move outside to look around. That was when I saw a jet plane flying and writing messages in the sky.

[Time till dog beast attack 17:39]

Wait what? How were they going to end up outside the game. My brain fumbled with the question for a moment then my heart nearly stopped. The AI had control of everything electrical. That included factories. It wouldn't be too much of a stretch for it to create the monsters from the game and set them loose.

If that was the case. I gulped, out here we didn't have any skills and weapons. Failing had consequences that were way worse.

[Time till dog beast attack 11:23]

I had ten minutes to find a weapon capable to destroying a dog beast. Assuming the AI followed the same in game specs, I just needed something sharp enough to target their second weak point. The back of the neck. An electric cable ran there. If I could cut it the dog beast would power out.

"Focus" I hissed to myself. Best weapon for me would be a knife. I was too weak for a heavy type weapon and in reality I had no skills to properly wield a sword. Where could I find a strong knife in ten minutes.

Let's see my room, no blades. After this challenge I would have to stock up on weapons for sure. Gym, it might have some weights to throw at them, but again I am rather weak. Agility and speed are better suited for me. Bathroom, nothing of use. Trashcan? Last resort. Cafeteria, not unless I wanted to spork it to death. No wait maybe the kitchen would have a chopping knife.

I headed for the building it was the best option. It was empty at the moment and I slipped into the back kitchen area. Pots, pans, hmm a frying pan might make an okay shield. No actually I put it back, it would slow me down and take too much effort to carry around.

Oh now we are talking. I said seeing a large array of cutting boards and a tub of knives in various sizes.

"Now come tell me who is the sharpest?" I asked the knives in front of me.