Chapter 3: Harshness

"I've come back to the same spot I died?! This is the works of that chain earlier!"

Maverick realized the situation he had been put in. He was bound to respawn in the same location over and over again unless he got away from the raging jaws of the gritting wolves and changed his spawn location after an hour.

"Go forth, rascals! Devour the fool!"

Its raspy voice scratches the itch on the wolves' heads, thus causing them to act on its will and turn their angst towards Maverick who starts running for his life.

His body still remembers the immense pain he underwent after being ripped apart limb by limb. His neck choked on the subtle aching of the inches-deep fangs that tore his neck like paper. It hurts but Maverick could not stop from running away.

"No, no more! It hurts so much!"

Superfluously, Maverick was regretting his decision to play in the hardest possible difficulty. He thought that it would just be a fun experience, however, none of it was fun except for his first kill where a quick rush of adrenaline filled his mind with toxins that boosted his excitement.

"Go away!"

He yelled, staggeringly through the blood-stained path he came from before as he was mindlessly following the scent of the fumes.

Roar! Grrr!

Their fangs were ready to gnaw on Maverick's clothes, then through his soft skin. They hastened and two of the packs jumped up in front of him, stopping Maverick in his tracks.

With just a dagger and a wooden shield with him, Maverick knew that he could only do little against the fury of the controlled beasts. Nonetheless, Maverick bit his lower lip and bravely faced the terror brought forth.

"Haaaa! You're not killing me this time without one of you getting killed!"

His way of fending off the gradual approach of the wolves was by fiercely swinging his dagger and wooden shield.

"Still trying to defend yourself?" The Dark Froozbear walked with confidence with the smirk on its face never faltering. "I know your kind. You are immortal and would continuously come back to life, which is great to repeatedly feed my rascals and have them evolve and become accustomed to human meat!"

The Dark Froozbear's true intention was to have his rascals adapt the apt for human meat so that it could invade a village and have its controlled beasts devour more meat. The type of wolf Dark Froozbear is twice the size of a common wolf and is reluctant to eat human meat because of the high acidity it causes to their stomach when consuming large portions.

The acid reflux causes hallucinogens to the wolves, rendering them vulnerable to much bigger monsters such as the Froozbear and Bigfoots.

"What are you?!"

A wolf managed to land its fangs on Maverick's leg but the guy immediately used his shield's edge to hit it in its head and stab through its eye where blood spilled and splattered.

Growl! Agitatedly, the hurt wolf let go of Maverick's leg but two more attacked him from behind. Its weight was put onto Maverick, pinning him down until he could not move any further as he painfully met his third demise in the game.

[You have died.]

[Your looted items and earned EXP will be confiscated as a penalty for dying.]

His vision was blurry and bloody until everything turned dark, then he was back into the void where the light was lost and silence was loud.

"My skin's... crawling in pain."

Mentally, Maverick was exhausted and the pain induced by the ferocious beasts never left his body. It remained excruciatingly aching as the timer for his respawn counted down.

He was curled up in the void, one with darkness, and added to the silence.

"I should stop playing."

He spoke his mind, immediately going to the game's menu.

"If I don't, this will make me crazy. I can feel it."

The psychological trauma was building up. If he does not do something about it, like fight the fear, or avoid the cause of the mental distress, Maverick might actually get traumatized. His mind was still leaning on the "gaming experience", thinking of his death as a part of the game he was playing. However, if it continues and he repeatedly dies of immense pain, Maverick would have a hard time coping with the experience.

In response to fear, Maverick browsed through the game's menu and looked for the quit icon. Frustration loomed around him when the said button was nowhere to be found.

[Entrants must play the game for 12 hours straight before quitting. It was written in terms and policy. Once 12 hours of gameplay has been done, Entrants can stop playing and continue anytime.]

[You will spawn after 5 minutes.]

Maverick watched the timer get close to zero, wishing that it would stop so that he would not have to go back to that excruciatingly cold forest that inflicts mental and physical trauma upon him.

"No! Stop that clock! I don't wanna do this anymore! Their bites and clawing on my skin still remain! I can feel it deep within my bones!"

He was shuddering, clutching his hair as he progressively got worse. How much Maverick refuses to respawn and play, he will have to face it and push through. He can either save himself or plunge himself into complete mess and chaos.

***

"Ten million players have been given access to Entrants worldwide to play the game!"

Those players get early access to the game for a whole week with surprise gifts and weapons they can get through preordering. Being one of the first is highly advantageous in the long run because it is an open world game with different stories that follow each other, plus the difficulties set in various settings.

"Every country has its own server. And depending on that country, they can merge with other servers so that more players can team up and experience the diversity!"

Entrants chatter, excited about the game while beta testers are exhilarated to conquer the game and acquire valuable pieces of equipment they can sell for a fortune.

"Each of you will be allowed to style your character but your height and appearance will remain the same to avoid fraudulent actions! This way, it will be easy to distinguish who's who and what's what! Moreover, You can adjust the realness of the game. The pain can be minimized through settings or you can also maximize it for a better or worse experience!"

As per the previous version, the difficulty choices remain the same with "impassible" being the easiest and "impossible" being the hardest. However, the settings of the difficulties will be different from the earliest version, thus giving the game a newer experience and an unknown thrill to it.

"I'm just here to enjoy the game and not feel constant frustration, so I'd be choosing easy or medium."

Not everyone is as competitive as others. People play for fun and the excitement of the game. It should not always be about competition. What matters is that you are having fun playing, relieving stress not further stressing yourself. Stop being toxic. Just be a good gamer.

"Can't we at least get an insight on the settings of the difficulties?"

"Yes! We wanna know!"

"And can we change difficulties at any time?"

The question of mass was asked and they awaited the answer.

The person speaking in front of everyone, present on a screen inside the game, shook his head.

"No can do. It's a surprise. As for changing the difficulty, you'll have to finish the game first and how to finish the game will be answered once you are playing the game! Moreover, just like before, you are expected to play the game for 12 straight hours!"

With that, no further explanation was given to all of the Entrants. They stood there with the same option as everyone else with friends and families deciding to go on an adventure together through the unknown.

"I'm choosing Expert Mode!" Shouted a man in his late 20s as he raised his hand in the air and slowly dematerialized into thin air.

Gradually, the man materialized and the first thing his senses noticed was the extremely humid surroundings he was in.

From beneath the mouth of towering volcanoes rages the boiling and scorching magma. Hovering over the tall earth were fire dragons breathing sultry flames of oblivion, burning smaller monsters to dust as they fell down and scattered in the air.

"WTF is this?! There's nothing but flames here!"

[Welcome to Expert Mode: Ruined Abaddon]

[City of Engulfing Volcanoes]

Unaware Entrants began spawning randomly around Ruined Abbadon. Some had instantly gained their first death, unlocking an achievement in the game.

[You have died.]

[You will spawn after 1 minute.]

[You have unlocked the achievement "First Demise".]

Like rain in the sky but from the dark clouds from an erupted volcano poured the Entrants like blazing lava and ash. And those who were not accustomed to the heat began regretting their choices.

"Man fuck this!"

~