Is this really a Game?!

Early in the morning Reign and the others were having breakfast in the castle dining hall. It was something they hadn’t done in a while as they usually stayed in their territory, many glances were sent their way as the dining hall was filled with mostly people who went out to hunt in the nearby forests. Even though they and the other squads had cleared out most of the monsters that stood between their territory and the forest next to it, it was still not completely safe as some stronger wandering monsters could be seen occasionally.

To the great surprise of Reign and the others, there were still students and staff members of the university in the castle, compared to the people in the town, they didn’t have to fight against monsters at the beginning of the game, the whole university and its surroundings were turned into a safe zone and they were safe. That however led to them being lax in the beginning phases of the game, most of them didn’t want to fight and simply stayed inside the castle, which continued until Eldar announced the monthly fee for staying there.

More and more people took up weapons and fought but when Reign managed to conquer the territory most of them simply took refugees there in hopes of leading a safe life. The accommodation they got in the territory was bad, to be frank, the mud houses the hobgoblins made were crude and uncomfortable, a lot of them happily reminisced about their rooms in the castle that were better.

As more time passed more of them were able to see how the players that went hunting changed. Not only did they give off a different kind of aura than before but the weapons they had, the armor on their bodies, and even the housing they had managed to build or buy in the territory slowly became things that made others jealous. Of course, the jealousy wasn’t the kind that you will see in movies or tv shows where people suddenly become evil and start plotting to kill someone simply because they are better than them.

It was simply the kind of jealousy where people started thinking something along the lines of why this person, are they really better than me?

Could I do the same, killing monsters and becoming stronger, earning more money and buying a better house, or staying in the castle? That way of thinking changed some people, those that were still afraid of fighting tried to craft, either by making weapons or armors, sewing new clothes, preparing food for other players and taking a small fee for that, the different things that people could do to make money were numerous and a lot of people started doing them.

That led to more people taking up weapons or crafting, which in turn allowed the underground city’s economy to boom, the tax was of course paid to Reign, and thanks to the system there was no way to go around it. Reign didn’t want to act like a tyrant and take a lot from the people that tried to be better, that would simply incur hatred from them and more people would in turn never try anything, so he simply put the tax at 5%, the lowest one available.

Thanks to all of that the castle and the territory had about 200 fighters in total, of course amongst them only about 60% were above level 10 while the rest were still weak.

The stares from the players in the castle were different now, there were no envious looks or angry ones amongst those in the castle, even those that simply went hunting a couple of times a month to get enough coins to stay in the castle were looking at them with smiles, Reign and the others were the ones that saved the people from the town and they were idolized by many.

Suddenly, something happened while they were eating, the nice and friendly atmosphere in the dining hall turned sour as a notification was heard.

[ Attention players, the first even is starting, the castle will soon be besieged by a horde of low-level demons, please eliminate them quickly otherwise rifts will be formed and stronger demons will come out, resulting in the complete annihilation of the safe zone. ]

[ Special event “Demon Invasion 1” will start in 2 hours ]

Reign and the others were looking at each other with confused faces, everyone, in fact, was doing the same. Their lives were going nicely right now as they managed to hunt many monsters and become stronger, most squads were in the middle of deciding where they were going to fight today and now, they were told that they have to fight demons otherwise the castle will be destroyed?

Give me a freaking break! 𝒃𝒆𝙣𝒐𝒗𝙚𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝒎

That would be what most people thought after hearing the announcement.

Most people started panicking, nobody knew the strength of the demons that were going to invade, what if they were all above level 20?

Almost all of them were certainly going to die if that was the case, amongst the many player squads only about 3 of them were strong enough to fight such opponents, excluding Reign and the others of course.

People shouted as they didn’t know what to do, some quickly got up and tried to leave the dining hall, trying to hurry outside in order to find out what they were going to do, chaos was present in the dining hall, that was until a loud shout made everyone stop.

“Everyone calm the f down!” Tank mimicked his skill in order for his voice to be heard by everyone, Reign and the others already covered their ears while those near them thought they were going to lose their hearing after the thunderous shout. People suddenly stopped and looked in their direction before calming down, they completely forgot about them in the chaos, no matter how strong the enemies are, Reign and the others would definitely be able to defeat them, right?

“Alright everyone, get together with your teams and slowly leave the hall, I’m certain that both the captain and vice-captain are outside and that they will brief us about what’s happening and how to deal with it.” Reign clapped his hands together as he looked at the players with a serious expression.

“Don’t worry, we will be right there on the battlefield with you guys, as long as the enemy isn’t far above our level then it will be fine, for now, let’s go out and see what we have to deal with exactly.”

Slowly everyone made their way outside, looking at the backs of Reign and the others made them feel a sense of security, some of them actually hated that feeling, they didn’t want to be protected every time things went south, they wanted to be powerful enough to lead others as well and to stand side by side with Reign and the others, but of course, they knew that such a thing was simply a dream right now. Many of them clenched their fists and promised that when this ordeal was over they were going to spend more time hunting in hopes of catching up to them.

As everyone left the castle they were able to see Eldar and Jack standing on the platform, seeing the orderly line behind Reign Eldar nodded happily before talking.

“I know the announcement right now gave everyone a fright, don’t worry, the invasion won’t be anything that is too hard for you to deal with, the system is fair and it creates these events for one purpose, that is to make the players stronger, of course, if any safe zone becomes lax and their players are weak it will be overrun and they will all die, but honestly that rarely happens.”

“The demons coming this time will start off with waves of the lowest leveled demons, well, they’re not even demons, to be honest as they are simply far too weak, anyone that has fought a couple of goblins should be able to deal with them, of course, more waves will come and stronger demons will come out, at the end I think the level of the demons will probably be around level 25- 30, that’s mostly because Reign and the others are so powerful.”

“If you’re lucky then 25 will be the highest level of opponent that you will face, if you’re unlucky however then perhaps we might see level 35 ones as well. Now before any of you ask, no, I cannot help you, Jack also cannot help you, the soldiers however can, but you will need to pay a fee to take them with you, honestly, with Reign and the others there with you I’m not sure if you will need their protection, but that’s up to you.”

Hearing Eldar’s words made everyone breathe out a sigh of relief, since the demons, in the beginning, are going to be so low-leveled that means that they had a chance, perhaps this will be a good opportunity for people to earn some experience and level up.

“Captain, where will the demons attack from?” Reign suddenly asks Eldar.

“Ah, well, the first couple of waves will definitely be in the direction of the gate, for the others, I won’t know until more waves pass, they could all come from the front, they could also come in multiple directions, I will try to notify you when I find out.”

Reign nods at Eldar before turning around, they still had about 2 hours before the invasion begins, he was going back to the territory to tell everyone what Eldar just told them, his plan was to take as many players back here, as long as the demons attacking them were at level 20 – 25, they would be able to take care of them without any difficulties, but he wanted to give a chance to the others, the more players fight and kill the demons the stronger they will become, not to mention that this will be something everyone will remember and it’s possible that a sense of camaraderie will be formed.

Before Reign was able to get to the portal however he was surprised to see many players coming out of the portal, they were all equipped and ready to fight.