Is this really a Game?!

Reign continues staring into the empty space in front of him.

(He knows about the voice?)

Reign was asking himself in wonder. The voice was something that he started hearing in this dungeon, never before did anything remotely similar happen to him. For the man to actually know of it was incredibly suspicious.

(Maybe … maybe he knows what I am.)

That was Reign’s final thought before the others get to him. They were all worried and didn’t know what had happened, why did Reign attack the man, and what exactly happened in the end?

Reign simply told them that he and the man spoke telepathically and that they agreed for a friendly spar, but that he was beginning to lose control over his emotions a bit during the fight so the man stopped him and calmed him down. They all breathed out a sigh of relief, except that Wolf and Shadow both glanced at each other with slight worry in their eyes.

(Why, why are you lying to us Reign?)

Shadow thought while looking at his best friend. Wolf had a similar thought but they both decided to stay silent, if Reign was not telling them something then there had to be a reason for it. When he was ready he will tell them, it was as simple as that.

In the void, Raegan and the other three were looking down at Earth. Kristy was first to step forward and question Raegan.

“What happened in the end Raegan?” She looks at the back of Raegan as he was looking at Earth, his mind full of thoughts at what just happened.

“Nothing to worry about, there was simply something special about the boy and I decided to investigate a bit, I did go a bit overboard in the end though.” Raegan turns around theatrically as he shows a wide smile to them. The little girl and Aurroth show relief at his words while Kristy simply continues staring at him.

“I saw it.” She utters in a shallow voice.

“What?” Raegan asks while being taken aback at her words.

“I saw his eyes Raegan, I was confused at first but then I remembered,” Kristy says with a slight tremor in her voice.

“Kristy.” Raegan looks at her with a worried look on his face. His right hand clenches into a fist as memories of long ago start surfacing.

“They were the same as yours back then, same as the night when you-”

“ENOUGH!” Raegan suddenly shouts in an angry voice. His whole demeanor changes as his hair was floating in the void as blood-red mana was visible all around him. Aurroth and the little girl start sweating nervously as the pressure released by him was shaking their very soul.

“There he is, the “Wingless Demon” Raegan.” Kristy laughs mockingly as Raegan’s lips tremble a bit. “The crazed look in your eyes, the blood-red mana around you, it’s the same as I remember.”

Kristy says with a shaky voice. Her lips tremble slightly before she bites her lower lip with teary eyes.

“Kristy, please, don’t speak of it to anyone else, or-”

“Or you’ll kill me?” Kristy looks at him defiantly. “Just like you –”

“Or I won’t be able to protect you, Kristy, not anymore,” Raegan says while looking at her with a gentle expression. Kristy was taken aback by his words but before she could say anything Raegan turns around and disappears.

“Wait, come back!” Kristy shouts while looking around her. “Raegan, come back!”

“I don’t think that he can hear you miss Kristy.” Aurroth suddenly appears beside her.

“Honestly, I would listen to his advice, he truly cares for you.” Aurroth smiles at Kristy before stepping into the void. The void ripples slightly as a dark portal emerges from it. Aurroth walks through it and it closes with a red flash.

Kristy clenches both her hands into fists as she looks at the void in front of her. With anger, she turns around and walks towards her friend.

“Kristy?”

“I’m alright.” Kristy immediately says while they start walking away from the planet they were just on.

“Let’s just go back home.”

“Uhm.” The little girl simply nods as he grabs Kristy’s sleeve while they were traveling. Pretty soon they were both far away from Earth.

“All gone huh, it’s really annoying to constantly look over that kid.” A voice could be heard as the white-clothed man steps out from a ripple in the void.

“But I’m afraid that’s all that I will be able to help you out, for now, the rest is up to you, Reign.” The man looks down at Earth with a gentle smile on his face and reminiscences about the past. With a slight smile on his face, he turns around and disappears.

Back in the dungeon Reign and the others had just finished taking a short break before going down to the city. Reign luckily wasn’t feeling weak from his earlier battle, all of his strength and mana was at their peak when the battle had finished, but they all still decided to take a break just in case.

“Everyone ready?” Wolf asks while getting up from the hard soil of the dungeon. The rest nod and get up as well, a tough battle awaited them in the city below. Hundreds of hobgoblins could be seen walking through it. With serious expressions on their faces, Reign and the others start descending.

They were going to try a more stealthy approach this time. Fighting all those hobgoblins is possible, but they would rather skip that part and go straight towards the center of the city where a giant building was located at. That was probably where they needed to go to find the anchor point and the final boss of this dungeon.

Thinking about how they would soon be able to finish their quest they all got excited. The quest was the hardest one they did so far, not to mention the longest as many days had already passed since they embarked on their journey. With quiet footsteps, they all slowly go down towards the city.

There was a clearing around the city, it was probably made by the hobgoblins for protection, after all, they would be able to quickly spot any approaching enemies from the makeshift towers they had made around the city. A short wall could be seen circling the city as well. With a height of about 2.5 meters, it really wasn’t anything special and one good hit would be able to break part of it.

But again, they were going stealthily this time so they would first need to take out the guards in the towers before proceeding inside the city. The buildings inside the city were built close to one another and it shouldn’t be a problem to jump from one to the other and get to the center building that way.

Beast aims at one of the three towers that were overlooking their way. Each of the towers was manned by two hobgoblins and it won’t be an easy job to kill both before the second one gets alarmed.

Shadow thought about attacking from long-distance together with him, but his daggers couldn’t hit an enemy that was further away than 30 meters.

The towers were some 150 meters away from them. The distance was the whole clearing as they were hiding behind some rocks that were located at the beginning of the clearing. Such great distance wasn’t an easy obstacle for hitting a target.

Using his skill Beast enhances his vision this time. Wolves naturally had a better vision than humans, in a straight line that is as their side vision was worse than a human’s. With the improved vision of his wolves, Beast was now able to clearly see the hobgoblins in the tower.

Notching an arrow on his bowstring he slowly pulls it back. He waits for a couple of minutes, waiting to see if there would be a chance of the two hobgoblins intersecting. One was sitting down on a rough wooden stool while the other was looking to the side of the tower. Finally, after some time the standing hobgoblin turns around and goes towards the opposite side of the tower.

Beast takes a deep breath and calculates the distance and the time the arrow will take to arrive at the enemies. Letting go of the bowstring he can clearly see the arrow flying in a straight line towards the two. The stool wasn’t very short and as such the sitting hobgoblins head was at the same height as the chest of the other.

Thud 𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗹．𝐨𝗿𝗴

Without ever knowing what happened the two hobgoblins suddenly freeze. An arrow pierced through the side of the walking hobgoblin, entering through his right and exiting through his left side before plunging deep into the sitting hobgoblins skull. The hobgoblin’s heart had been pierced and as such he slowly goes down on his knees before falling face down on the boards of the tower.

As the arrow had almost exited through the back of the head of the other hobgoblin, the end that was sticking out of it was not long and as such was hard to spot from a distance. All that other hobgoblins would be able to see is a hobgoblin looking up at the ceiling of the dungeon.

Beast was successful, quickly he goes to the right side, eager to clean up the other two towers before they start with their stealth mission. The other two towers were pretty much the same size and height, with two hobgoblins in each. After waiting patiently Beast was able to kill all of them with a similar tactic. The only different one was the third, as both hobgoblins were actually sitting down. For them, Beast risked it and came closer while notching two arrows on his bow.

Luckily for him, his skill with the bow was enough to allow him for a precise shot and both of the hobgoblins were shot through the head as the result.

As the obstacles were removed it was now time for everyone to enter the city.