Virtual Reality : Dystopian Tales Online

011.3 | Bug Bites

They are calm people. Upon seeing the bullish scenario, none of them panicked. They just silently went over to the area of the accident at the fastest pace possible. Clover and Frass seized the forward position, brandishing their offensive weapons, and lunged unto the beetle in a tremendous bang.

The impact of the offensive attack forcibly struck the beetle down, inadvertently making the ground sink. Xavier came in after them and quickly recovered the two mangled bodies in his arms and hopped out away from the beetle. Alexa and Jase hauled Xavier behind them while Aries and Shin jumped in to join Clover and Frass.

The four melee fighters hacked the beetle with no mercy. The terrible silence between them clarified that none of them were happy. Marlene and Marcus are the group's pampered little masters. Who would be happy to see them in this miserable state?

Even Clover would not allow the two to undertake some heavy jobs. This kind of terrible m******e is something he could not stomach.

Xavier merely ignored the raging beasts behind him and focused on the twins. He checked the status bars of the two players and saw there was still a layer of HP left. He uttered a sigh of relief. At least they could still be salvaged.

He almost thought they were done for real...

"Is there anything for us to do?" Jase asked.

He hastily pulled out several HP potions with shaking hands that caused the bottles to fall. Fortunately, the bottles in this type of potion are sturdy, so they won't easily break in a slight fall. Xavier gently shook his head as he rejected Jase's offer and reckoned him to calm down.

"No worries, there's no need for that."

Xavier muttered a few words that caused the ground where the bodies were held to be light up. Two golden circular enchanted circles extended from the epicenter with an increasing radius to lock the body inside. Scriptures with complex characters erected from the circumference of the circle that is then capsulated the bodies in the form of nets.

Leon added a buff to the restoration process. His necromancer archetype did not allow him to heal wounds, but he could support Xavier hasten the process. The golden light shone more brightly in a pulse-like heart, beating slowly. Specks of dust flew out from the magic circle that made grasses and wildflowers grow upon meeting the ground.

The bodies that were unrecognizable, grown bones and tissues at a visible rate. It took at least five minutes to have all the skin and bones back. Jase looked at the scene with genuine astonishment and thought that these people are really elite. He never thought even a mangled corpse can be restored like that!

He had been on many organized expeditions and joined various parties. He had contacted several Elven healers whom he thought were excellent at crowd control and healing. At most, these people can add buffs to their teammates to increase their skills and hasten the healing process. Nobody would do something like restoring a corpse.

They can be resurrected anyway, so nobody makes a fuss out of it.

Marcus is the first one to wake up. He sat up abruptly in alert, materializing a g*n on his palms. He discovered Xavier and Leon crouched beside him. The boy stared at them for a while before lightening his hold from the g*n. He glanced on his other side and saw Marlene waking up.

"Drink a potion first. You are still not in full health," Xavier suggested.

Marcus took out two Advance HP bottles from his inventory. He drank the red potion instantly, then handed the other one to Marlene. After seeing their HP gauge increase to a safe line, only did Xavier back down in relief. He stroked his chest in comfort from the dread that came upon him.

Leon went beside Marlene to assist the girl sit up. He asked, "What happened? Why are you here?"

"Brother, we didn't mean to come here," Marlene carefully said. Her brows furrowed, thinking of the events that took place earlier. "We were pulled out."

"What do you mean? You were pulled out?"

"I hear someone calling us - a gentle, feminine voice," Marlene described."She is pleading for help."

"Then why did you appear here? This place is quite far."

Leon calculated the distance and could tell nobody will go here unless they were lured. It is also strenuous to call someone with a distance, so it is a question why that seeking voice made them appear here. Marlene tried to recall the events, but the process seems vague.

"We heard gunshots earlier," Xavier asked the younger twin brother. "You will never fire shots unless necessary."

Marcus nodded. He doesn't talk frequently, but if he did, it means something is important. A voice undergoing the stage of transition replied. He said, "We barely tread a few steps. Suddenly, that beast appeared. It... It hauled Rene away, so I fired to immobilize it."

But he wasn't able to stop it.

His guns are unbought but created. With the help of Clover, he was able to customize at least ten guns with excellent performance. The weakest g*n he possesses could penetrate ten blocks of cement. He wielded a middle-grade g*n to render the boss, but the bullet only bounced back.

Since the first weapon did not work, he took a higher grade one. But the bullet force also did not work. He enraged the large beetle from his continuous firing that resulted in him being struck by its horns and almost got killed. At least, he did not use a silencer in his guns that attracted the attention of the older players.

Xavier pondered over Marcus' words and thought that things were not simple. It is impossible for them to not notice the two walking away. They are close to them too, so they should have heard if someone is asking for help. In the case that someone handled a spell, they should have detected it too.

"Where could this beetle come from?" Xavier mumbled. "Leon, do you know where this beetle belonged?"

Leon thought for a while, then shook his head. "This is the first time I am seeing it."

"Then is it possible that this is from the higher dungeon floors?"

"It can be," he nodded."Aberrant bosses can go on any floor, so that is a possibility."

The four players are still battling with the beetle. There had been sparks coming from the weapon scraping the thick shell. The continuous attack caused the area to be shrouded with clouds of dust and plant debris, yet the beetle was still standing alright. Actually, it didn't seem to receive any damage at all.

Clover received a message after executing an attack. It made him turn around to look at the sender. Xavier signaled the two players were fine and even had them stand up beside him. The darkness that crowded Clover's eyes slightly dissipated as his rushed movements slowed down.

He stepped out from the encirclement as the others covered his position. The calm look he has is betraying the tension he is exuding. He grabbed the twins by his side and gave them a hug. The twins responded cordially, telling Clover that they were fine.

"Naturally, you should be fine," Clover agreed."There will be no next time."

"Older brother, you're so worried!" Marlene pulled out from the hug, then went beside Clover to hook her arms on his. "We are still fine. We're good!"

"Of course, you are good. Who would dare to say you are not?"

The system's development on the enhanced sense means that the players will experience anything that can be felt. This includes the sense of touching objects and the pain accompanying them. Clover knows the feeling of dying in this game and it wasn't pleasant. He could not believe that the twins just experienced it.

"What is with this gigantic insect? It is not suffering any damage at all!"Jase exclaimed.

Aries, Frass, and Shin have been utilizing the weapons that they rarely took out. Aries' cue stick took its third form, a double-sided scythe, while Frass had used three of his five mascot puppets. Shin had been changing swords too, from the ones that could give ten slashes per move up to the single used ultimate s***h. As yet, these attacks seem to only slide the shell and move on.

"This is looking ungood," Xavier stated. "Let's just go out from here. I'm certain it won't be able to follow us once we are gone."

They have no choice. They just attacked the large beetle out of spite. There is no intention of wanting to defeat it, so all they could do is to retreat. He had sent them a voice message about the plan.

The non-melee group already got ahead while the four players are stalling time. Leon and Lexa walked on the front to block whatever trouble will arrive while Jase and Xavier are supporting the back part. The twins walked in the middle and were also vigilant of their surroundings.

On their way, Leon perceived something. The numbers had fallen to a unusual state of a negative. It is getting lesser and lesser as if wanting to reach down the zero score. To his understanding, zero represents the stillness of an object. Non-living things like a ball and paper have a minimum zero cap. Living objects are constantly moving, so they should possess sheerer numbers.

Yet, the trend the numbers are falling is informing him that the surroundings are rapidly dying..

A vine coming from the side suddenly appeared, shooting towards his direction. Leon abruptly outstretched his hand to prevent the vine striking his face. However, before the vine knocks him, it changed direction. It instead winded the arm that hindered it, then pulled him.

Leon had no chance to support himself from the sudden pull. If not from Lexa immediately anchoring him and Marcus shooting to the source of the vines, he would have been carried by the creature. Xavier heard a groaning sound coming from the source of the vines.

"Someone is there." Xavier activated a protection spell that moved the surrounding plants and creeping vines to create a small moving blockage. He immediately scourged the source of the groan to see the person whom Marcus hit.

He manipulated his elements to command the shrubs to make way. Xavier traced the fallen vine and found the end of it just a few meters away from Leon's position. Signs of hurrying footsteps can be detected on the ground that ushers him to a nearby tree hole.

Xavier cautiously moved towards the tree hole. The area has been enclosed by the thick crown of trees, so it is a bit dim. The solitary light that he had is from the blotches of light that managed to pass through in between the moving leaves.

The closer he gets, the clearer his sight had become. He could now see a person crouching under the tree hole. The person is wearing a black cloak covering their entirety that made them quite invisible in the dim surroundings. Xavier thought that the person's cloak is familiar.

"You..."

The cloaked person suddenly looked up. Half of the face is obscured with a mask that only allowed Xavier to observe the person's black-irised eyes. An odd feeling of familiarity rose in his heart that made Xavier halt. The other person seems to jolt, too, looking equally stupefied.

But it is bizarre, ah.

Xavier could tell that the gaze the other person is conveying him is special. It is as though they had recognized someone they want to see after a long time of waiting. He possessed the eyes of someone who had lost hope and found the source of life again. A stifling sensation made Xavier want to cry.

Those eyes too are familiar.

It prompted him of his late older sister.

However, the moment only lasted for a few seconds. The rich emotion brewing from the other person's eyes quickly extinguished, replaced by a monotone emotion. A glittering object is reflected from its hidden hand that plunged forward intending to wound Xavier.

Xavier might be distracted for a bit, but he didn't allow his guard down. He intercepted the knife easily by blocking it with his arm, then holding the other person's wrist to squeeze it. Astonishingly, the other person did not resist his attack and thus was easily subdued. The other person had fallen into his embrace.

There is no thrill. Xavier thought he would engage in a tough fight. He supported the other person in his arms to let them stand up. However, the hold of the embrace tightened as if securing him in place. Xavier had a bad premonition as he tried pushing the person away.

They didn't budge. The grasp is extremely firm. Xavier squirmed to loosen the hold when suddenly the other person pulled his head down to the side. The stranger whom he thought owned a rather haggard voice said, "Please, live. Don't give up."

Please live...

Don't give up...

Before Xavier could ask any more questions, the stranger strongly pushed him away, which made him lose balance and fall. They looked at Xavier with a longing gaze, then vanished without a trace. Xavier confusingly rubbed his butt as he pondered over the bizarre encounter.

Did he know that person?

As he is mulling over the situation, a thundering crash erupted from the background accompanied by an obvious tremor. It didn't take a second more when he heard a roaring voice calling someone. Sitting up from his position, Xavier rushed up to see what is happening.

Leon had adopted the position of securing the other members. They are nearby and were easily sighted by the Xavier. In this position, Xavier had a clear overview of the surroundings. It seems that the slab of marble Aries is talking about is just nearby.

The ground continued to rumble as the intensity of the fight became more heated. Smokes of dust covered most of the coverage that merely allowed them to see the sparks and outline of the people involved. At this moment, a person was thrown out from the circle of fight that looked like an airplane crashing down.

The figure went straight to the slab of marble that resulted in a crater surrounded by cracks. The player fell to the ground after getting pasted to the wall for a while. Xavier hurried over to relieve the injured player. Colorful magic spells were thrown out in the air to increase the output of magic.

Clover groaned as he tried to shift his body up. Familiar waves of pain pulsed in his charred body, inadvertently causing him to want to cry. He carried over some fatal injuries, like the wound on his head or the half amputated leg, that made him lose a good deal of blood. His complexion became pale as death comes over.

"Wake up," Xavier placed a hand on Clover's head injury."It won't take a while."

 "It hurts..." Clover lightly mumbled. He looked at Xavier, then closed his eyes again. "It hurts..."

"Yes, it is, so you stay put. It won't take a minute."

Marlene came over to hasten the curing process. A jolly sound came out from her lute that made the surroundings livelier. Clover opened his eyes once again. But there are no people. No, not that there are no people. It is as if the time had stopped.

In his eyes, time is always slow.