Is this really a Game?!

“Reign.” Neil nods to Reign as he sees him, with a quick stride he comes over to him as the latter simply stares at the tens of players exiting the portal.

“Neil, this-”

“We heard that you and the others had spent the night in the castle so most of us knew you would be here, getting ready to fight, although I don’t know how strong the demons are I am certain of your strength, do tell us what to do and how we can help,” Neil tells Reign with a wide grin on his face, the other players that were coming out of the portal behind him were mostly lower leveled players, but they still came, even without knowing how strong the demons were going to be.

“Thanks, Neil, let’s gather everyone first, I’ll brief you on the situation.” Reign pats Neil’s shoulder before the latter nods at him seriously and goes back to the others. He quickly gets all the player groups to gather at one place as Reign stands in front of them and explains what was happening. After hearing that the demons will be quite a low level in the beginning phase of the invasion most of the players had happy expressions on their faces, they were actually worried that they were too weak and that they wouldn’t be of any help. 𝒷𝒹𝓸𝓿𝓁.𝒸ℴ𝓶

Knowing that they could fight the enemies at the beginning was a big morale boost to them, it meant they could take some pressure off from Reign and the others and let them conserve their strength for the harder part of the invasion. Of course, it wasn’t all good news, after they had heard that in the end, they will be facing against level 25 opponents at the very least most of them had fear plastered on their faces, it was to be expected as such opponents could kill a group with ease, not to mention the level 35 ones that could potentially show up.

“So like I mentioned to the others previously, don’t worry, as long as the monsters stay below level 40 then me and the guys are certain that we will be able to defeat them, for now, everyone should make sure that you are well-rested and ready to fight, the first couple of waves will be a good chance for you guys to gain experience and level up,” Reign tells them before turning around and going to Shadow and the others.

They were looking at the map of the castle and the surrounding areas, there was one location that was marked, it was about 200 meters away from the gate and it was the place where the initial waves of demons will come from. Everybody was busy running around the castle, players were trying to find any equipment that would be helpful to the coming battle while some squads decided to go and try to gain a level before the invasion begins, Neil and the others talked with them as they were concerned that the players would exhaust themselves before the battle but after many of them promised to only attack smaller parties of low-level enemies they relented and let them be.

More and more players arrived at the castle as time passed, some were squads while some were solo players that preferred to go hunting by themselves. Solo players were quite rare as most people wouldn’t be brave enough to go into a forest by themselves and fight the monsters, not to mention that most monsters traveled in groups, and killing them wouldn’t be easy, even Reign and the others had difficulties fighting stronger monsters at the beginning of the game, especially the kobolds.

Those players however still existed, most of them were strong, stronger than the others at the same level, because they hunted by themselves they were mostly unable to fight larger groups of enemies, but because they didn’t need to share any of their exp they still managed to be at the same level as the others, some were above the average level as well.

As time ticked about 200 players were gathered in the castle, only about 5 minutes were left till the invasion begins so everyone was getting ready to head out, most of the players were nervous, even though they readied themselves to fight and wanted to help everyone they still couldn’t help but be afraid, nobody had ever seen demons before so it was a question of how they would look like and how they would behave and attack.

Everyone went to the forest, the monsters quickly scattered after feeling the mana from Reign and the others, a couple of players were already there, Reign had instructed them to build some defenses, a couple of players had awakened Earth-type abilities and they used their skills to either create some trenches or earth spike that could be used to defend against stronger enemies.

Reign and the others would make sure that no casualties would happen, with their speed Reign and Shadow were certain that they would be able to save anyone if they were in a dangerous situation, not to mention that Laura and Beast could kill the monsters from afar as well.

As the timer finished a large portal opened about 50 meters from Reign and the others, the place where they were was coincidentally a clearing in the forest, Reign was certain that the system made this the place where the invasion would begin to make it easier for both sides to fight.

The demons came out and the players all suddenly got pale in the face.

Small, red goblin-like creatures were amongst the first ranks of the demons. Their bodies only resembled the goblins because of their height and build, but other than that they were very different, their bodies were as red as blood as many parts of it were devoid of skin, and flesh and muscle tissue could be seen.

Some had maggots crawling out of their bodies before getting back inside the flesh. Other demons were similar to animals such as dogs, they had larger fangs compared to normal dogs while their bodies were black and malnourished. Their stomachs were ripped open as black blood oozed out of them. Human-like demons were also present, only that they were devoid of any skin.

Their skinless bodies bled continuously as they howled in pain while walking towards the large group of players. Most of the players were dumbstruck at the sight of the demons, never before had they seen such hideous creatures, not to mention fighting against them.

The demons quickly spotted them and they all charged towards the group. The first wave had about 300 low-level demons and most of them were between level 1- 3, while a couple of them were at level 5. They weren’t going to be a threat, but the problem was that all the low-level players were frozen in fear as they looked at the demons who were charging at them with bloodlust.

“Dammit, we can’t let them be like this.” Reign curses as he looks at the players behind him, he glances at the others before they all charge out to meet the demons. Even though there were more than 300 enemies they were pitifully weak compared to them and even thousands of them would probably be killed by the group without it being an issue. Of course, that wasn’t what Reign and the others wanted to do, their goal here wasn’t to simply kill all the demons, they still wanted the weaker players to gain experience so they made sure to only incapacitate the demons, breaking their legs and arms while sometimes cutting them off.

Seeing the horde of demons being decimated in front of their eyes made most of the players feel a bit better, they realized that even though their appearance was awful they were still nothing when compared to Reign and the others, their strength was about the same as theirs. They slowly steeled themselves as Neil and Cameron started giving out orders and making sure that they went out to fight, as more than half of the demons were immobilized they would be good practice for the players who could kill them in order to regain some confidence.

“That was definitely not what I expected the demons to look like, I can only imagine what kind of grotesque beings will come out later,” Neil says as he stands next to his party and Cameron’s. Everyone nods in agreement before focusing on Reign and the others.

“No matter what happens, we’re incredibly lucky to have them on our side, we would still be sneaking around the town in fear if not for them,” Cameron adds as he looks at the party with a glow in his eyes.

The players quickly crossed the distance between them and the demons before starting to fight, they used their weapons to kill the defenseless demons with shaking hands, the demons growled and screamed at them with their otherworldly voices as they were being slaughtered by the players who were giving it their all not to vomit from the sight.

Slowly most of the demons were dead while about 50 were staring at Reign’s group while standing still. Reign and the others suddenly call to the players and tell them to group up before they suddenly back away, that was the last test that Reign had prepared for the players, they had regained most of their confidence after killing all those demons, but now he wanted to see how well they would fare against the demons. The players outnumbered the demons 2:1 and it shouldn’t be a problem for them, but if fear takes place then they would be useless.

The demons look at the retreating Reign in confusion being setting their sighs on the other players, with a ferocious shout they all charge at them. The players gulp nervously as they wait for the demons to approach before fighting against them.