Last Shelter Online

“Hiro, I am really really sorry!” shrieked Liberty in guilt, truly sorry for shooting Hiro with the bazooka.

Hiro looked around to see where he landed. However, as he reflexively clung to the nearby wall, a notification suddenly popped up.

[Game Over!]

[White team has made it to the door]

[White team wins]

[The losers will be destroy]

….

“Jacob, Jacob, wake up!” In the gathering room of the ‘Everlasting’ guild base, several members of Everlasting were seen relaxing until they fell asleep. One of them was Jacob. He fell asleep while sitting on the sofa.

Cara who had just arrived woke him up violently, making Jacob startle and end up falling to the floor.

“Cara, you surprised me!” Jacob yawned then looked at Cara with his eyes still half closed.

“Did you see NightFall? I looked for him everywhere, but he is not here.” Cara sat on the sofa previously occupied by Jacob.

“You’re looking, Hiro? What for? You know for yourself that he is not easy to find.”

“I have information that might interest him. Damn—where did he go? His status is very strange. This is the first time I’ve seen a player with that status.” Cara grumbled, feeling annoyed. She had been looking for Hiro everywhere. Even to the tavern that Hiro often visited. She had even asked several NPCs.

“Huh? What strange status do you mean?” Finally, Jacob was fully awake.

Cara shared the screen that her HUD was showing, so Jacob could see what she was looking at.

In the screen that appeared in front of the two of them, Cara was opening the friendlist, then opening NightFall’s profile. In the profile section, there was usually a status that showed whether the player was online or offline. However, this time, the status in the display showed that NightFall was lost.

This status had never been seen before, including Jacob. He had only just seen that kind of status now.

“What does it mean?” Jacob asked curiously.

“I don’t know,” Cara replied with a shrug.

“It looks like we should ask Noah. He usually knows a lot. Did you see him?” Jacob asked. He was sure of that.

Cara once again shrugged her shoulders. Noah wasn’t in the guild base either.

Jacob opened his friendlist to contact Noah and ask him over the phone. However, his eyes stopped at Player Liberty’s status. It showed the same status as Hiro.

“Liberty’s status is also lost. Is this just a coincidence, or are the two of them missing together?”

Cara raised an eyebrow, looking like she was deep in thought. However, in the end, she shook her head in confusion.

[Calling Noah]

“Yes, Noobie knight?”

Noah answered quickly.

“Do you know where Hiro is?”

“Of course I don’t know. You think I planted a tracker on his body? Maybe he went to a dungeon or something.”

Hearing what Noah said through the video call, Cara immediately remembered that this morning she had seen Hiro and Liberty together.

“You’re right, Jacob. They both go together. But where? Why is their status so weird?”

“What strange status?” Noah asked, suddenly feeling curious.

Jacob finally asked about the meaning of Liberty’s and Hiro’s status. And Jacob’s guess was right, Noah knew what that status meant.

“They got lost. In a dungeon that misleads the players. I’ve read about it somewhere.”

“What? Then, how? Can they survive?”

“They can… We just need to find them and help them clear the dungeon.” Noah explained, as if he had memorized everything he had ever read.

“If Hiro can’t just conquer that dungeon, do you think we can?” Jacob asked again, feeling uneasy. He didn’t know that something like that could happen in a game.

“There may be one dungeon condition that is not met. That’s why the dungeon misled them. Ah… I suddenly remembered when I saw that status.”

Jacob and Cara looked at each other questioningly.

“When I entered the Minotaur dungeon before I met the three of you. I checked my status changed to lost.”

…

Hiro and Liberty manage to get out of the strange chess game room and get a white key.

The key was only given to them after they walked through the white door, so Hiro was sure that it was not the key to open the white door.

“What else now?” Liberty asked, starting to feel bored and tired.

“I am very hungry,” the girl added. She whined like a child.

Hiro couldn’t have the heart to tell her to continue walking. However, he also didn’t have any food supplies in his inventory.

Inside the dungeon, the two of them couldn’t access the marketplace. The only edible items in Hiro’s inventory were buff potions, HP, and energy.

“I’m sorry, Libe. I didn’t know it would turn out like this,” said Hiro, feeling sorry for Liberty who continued to clutch her stomach.

“It’s not your fault, Hiro. I’m glad I could go with you. But still… I’m so hungry. Do you think we can get out of this place?”

Hiro took a deep breath.

“I’m sure we can. It’s just that I don’t know how long it will take.”

“Alright, let’s continue on our way,” Liberty decided. She suddenly changed her mind and walked ahead of Hiro.

However… having just walked for a while, they once again stopped when they saw a giant wooden gate towering above them. The height of the gate might reach 10 meters from the floor of the room.

There was a keyhole on the surface of the gate that Hiro could still reach when he jumped.

“Uhmmm Hiro, are you thinking of what I’m thinking?” Liberty muttered, then backed away to stand by Hiro’s side, not daring enough to approach the gate alone.

Ding!

[You have found the boss area]

[Two Parties required to enter]

“Damn.”

[Finding players nearby]

[…]

[no players found]

[please try again!]

“How could I find a party inside the dungeon? What’s wrong with this game?”

“Maybe this time we have to take a rest, Hiro.” Liberty tried to calm Hiro’s down.