“How’s it looking?” I asked, handing Melina rations of bread that were stored in the back cupboard.

“They finally got it back up and running, but we're not sure how big of an impact eight hours will be. If anything the first and even second waves heading through the gate should mostly be corps, but that’s not a bad thing.”

“How so?”

“They're going to throw bodies at it,” Cassius said, saddling up to Melina. “Cameras are set up, we should be receiving a live feed in a few minutes. Corps usually hire just about anyone that can hold a weapon, most of them have never been in a raid party let alone a raid group. A bunch of them, I'm guessing more than eighty percent will die to the Leviathan.”

“What about the other twenty?”

“I’m guessing another ten will die to environmental hazards and the rest who make it past the gate will either make it to the inn by tonight or be killed by the night spawns. It takes a full party of us to take down one of the random encounters, how do you think an untrain battalion is going to fair.”

A light buzz echoes across the room, as the camera’s transmission lit up.

“This is Aladay on camera three, I spotted the first group. We have about ten thousand players heading down, ninety percent of them are corps, the other looks to be some of the mid-tier guilds. I have no sight on the Leviathan yet.”

“I’m surprised, I would have thought all the high ranking guild would be rushing to get here as soon as possible.”

“No, they are smarter than that,” Cassius said. “They know that if they charge in right now, it's going to be a cluster fuck. They are biding their time planning and making sure they have as little casualties as possible.”

“Leviathan spotted,” Aladay said in a muffled voice. “I have harpooners incoming.” Players dressed in a low-level gear all swam towards the waterfall with increasing urgency. A spray of harpoons splashed towards the waterfall as each one penetrated the flowing current. Like a whip, everyone had their harpoon gun ripped out of their hands while others who had tied the rope to themselves were dragged up like pieces of debris in a hurricane.

“I specifically wrote down that harpoons guns don't work,” Cassius said, shaking his head at the camera.

The Leviathan swam towards the group of players, its jaw open, swallowing up anyone in its path. Upper management who wore a more elaborate attire shouted out orders as the monster dove down into the dark abyss. Bursts of magical attack followed the monster, their illuminating glow fizzled as they disappeared upon reaching their max range. Like clockwork players tossed out nets each one flashed with a faint red glow. The monster shot out from their left, this time speeding towards them like a crazed hyena. Many of the nets made contact with the monster each one dangling off the fins and spikes around its face like pieces of string. The nets, however, were too small to have any effect at slowing down the large behemoth, that was until the small cores on each lit up with a blue electrical glow causing the monster to writhe in pain.

“At least they got that part right,” Cassius remarked.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

Opening the guide, Cassius pointed to a small icon next to the monster. “See this lighting symbol?”

“Yeah.”

“Next to it are two plusses, which means the monster is extremely susceptible to lightning damage and paralysis.”

“Full attack,” one of the corps yelled her armor distinguishing her as a high ranking player within her company. All the corps swam towards the monster with a variety of different weapons in hand. An array of sparks of electrical flashes carved at the monster as it thrashed back and forth. Next to the monster’s head was the paralysis icon, the number next to it stacking until it hit the max limit of nine hundred and ninety-nine.

“Oh that's smart, they're going to stun lock it,” Melina said, watching the thousands of players swarm the monster.

System: [Great Leviathan] Health: 96%

“Look at that, they are keeping up with its regen,” Cassius remarked.

In the back, members of the upper management surrounded themselves with protection auras. Lining themselves up with the waterfall, they had several members hit them with high impact attacks. Flying past the waterfall each one hit the pillar-like a deflated balloon.

“Myre on camera four, I have confirmation of breach,” she said hiding behind the head of statues. Setting up rope lines, one of the players tied it to himself. “Aura still good for another minute,” he said bracing himself for another attack. Blasting out of the waterfall he was received by hundreds of players each one grabbing the rope and swimming downwards against the pull of the water.

System: [Great Leviathan] Health: 92%

“Dam, they are really doing it,” Cassius said. “Too bad Kain is not here, he would have loved to see this.”

“Where is Kain?” I asked.

“He’s with one of the scout teams.”

“This is Kyle on Camera five, I see six people past the gate all of them corp.” One of the corp removed an item from her inventory and place it on the ground. A small golden square base held aloft a purple diamond rhombus the top of which held a small flat disk. Poking at it, the woman shook her head.

“What is she doing?”

“It's a transmission pylon, she's trying to see if she can make contact without using a HUB. Until the Leviathan is dead it’s going to be pretty useless,” Cassius said.

“Why is that?”

“The Leviathan is the gate boss, it’s like a physical barrier that separates all connection from the mainland. Once you destroy the guardian the game generates a new passage that will make it easier for people to communicate within the region.”

System: [Great Leviathan] Health: 80%

“We have a problem,” Aladay said pointing the camera towards the monster. The Leviathan’s body grew a deep red as its face contorted in anger.

“Aladay, do whatever it takes to keep the camera on the monster,” Cassius said.

“Yeah, no prob…,” Aladay started to say before the camera cut out.

“Shit, Myre I need updates, can you see anything?”

“No, I can’t see anything past the waterfall. If you want I blink the camera over.”

“No, I don't want to lose another one. Just keep a tally on anyone making it past the falls.”

“As of now, I have a count of 26 corp group making it past the gate.”

“So about a hundred and fifty people.”

“This is ridge team,” Kain’s voice blurted from one of the cameras. “I have visual sight of about sixty.”

“Is Sen still with you?” Melina asked.

“No, she’s with camera nine over at swamp.”

“Base to swamp can you hear me.”

“Harriet here, no visual.”

“Harriet I need you to meet you Ridge team, we have all duds.”

“Cassius you want to stay at base and keep the comms running.”

“Sure,” he said with a slight reluctance.

“Let's go,” Melina said pointing to me.

Before I could get a word in, Melina was already out the door, here staff held firmly in her hands. Casting her flight spell we hovered past the long span of sparse grassland that separated the inn from the ridge. Landing down just behind the center division Melina threw up her own small camera.

“Camera ten active.”

“Yeah, give me a second to arrange you,” Cassius said.

“Over here,” Don said, his voice a small rumble.

Melina walked towards an open field, her staff held out as if waiting for a monster to jump out. Like a flash, she disappeared putting myself in a bit of a daze. “Keep up,” Melina said, her head sticking out of an ethereal shimmer. Pacing myself towards her direction I passed through a bubble-like barrier. I was immediately surrounded by the smell of cooked meats along with small tables and stools made from sections of a fallen tree. Standing in the middle was Sen, her wand held out as she concentrated on a spell. Next to Sen was Harriet, Don, and Kain who was grinding his weapon with a whetstone. Opting to not take a seat on the wooden post, Melina stood next to Sen her UI open giving everyone small details regarding the plan. Sitting down on the open seat, I looked at everyone, their faces scrunched up with excitement.

“I want you to take the left flank with Don, and Kain, keep it to a minimum.”

“No promises,” Kain replied, the table in front of him stacked with an abundance of different weapons.

“So what are we...” I started to ask before the sound of a flare popped at the edge of the ridge.

“Sid, get ready,” Melina said grabbing a long sword off of Kain’s table and tossing it to me. “ Avoid the nicer looking ones and stab them in the heart, you will crit more often.”

“What?” I protested before the shimmer of light around us fell. The bright sun dug into my eyes as I held my hands up blocking a majority of its rays as it slowly dipped past the tree line. “That way,” Don said, grabbing me my shoulder and spinning me around towards the ridge’s incline.

Panicking I paced my running trying to keep up with everyone around me. Sen hovering next to me murmured a spell as four ethereal fists materialized behind her. Each fist was imbued with a different element, one was engulfed in a blaze of fire, another was a crumbling boulder, the one next to that was made of bone-chilling ice and the last one which was almost see-through was made of a light purple fog. Pointing her wand forwards the fist rocketed past her setting off a series of explosions, each one erupting in its different elemental attunement. Unable to keep my footing, I tripped on a small rock that jutted out from the ground. Looking up I saw a mace the size of my head come whirling at me like a soccer ball.

Before making impact the thump of firebolt slammed the front of the man wielding the weapon. The man jerked back his motion curving the weapon away from my head barely missing it by an inch.

“Bruh, stop sucking like a noob,” Kyle said, giving me an arm. Patting me on the back, he dashed off, his ire set on another enemy.

The sound of metal on metal could be heard as Kain charged at a pack of players wielding his spear to cover a majority of his body like a shield. Charging a line through most of the grunts he was stopped by two high-level corps, each one having multiple bubbles of protection around them. Twitching his fingers the spear disappeared and in its place was a large claymore. Grabbing it with both hands he made wide swing trying to whittle down the enemy shields. One of the corps switched to a sword and shield parrying many of Kain’s attacks. The other corp held a small dagger which she stabbed at Kain every time he was parried putting multiple stacks of poison on him.

Silver streak arrows tore through the enemy backline as Myre ran past the underside of the ridge making quick work of their healers. A man in a white and gold robe sent out pulsing orbs of light each one bounding in a zigzag direction making their motion hard to read. Dodging the orbs, Myre set off another volley of arrows before feeling her body grow stiff. “Gotcha bitch,” a woman in an identical white and gold robe said, here hands grasping towards Myre keeping the binding spell in place. A blast of icicles the size of bricks shotgun Myre taking chunks of her health. Multiple different spells followed up quickly taking her remaining life and sending her to respawn.

Looking up, I could see Melina and Sen both darting back and forth between other mages like a dog fight. Spell and arrow rained down on them as they set off large scale blast towards the middle of the enemy pack.

With the sword in my hand, I charged at a man whose whole attire was a dull leather brown. Aiming for his midsection the sword pierced him like a piece of butter. Yeah, I mumbled to myself before getting smacked with a shield to the back of my neck. Keeping my hand in front of my face, I could feel the hard thud of his mace slamming against my chest, each one sending a shock through my system. Holding out the sword, I panicked jabbed at his shoulder hoping to make contact. I could hear and feel each hit as the man purposely stabbed himself as he relentlessly attacked me. After what seemed like forever the man stopped, his body fading as he dropped to the floor. Looking at my health I could see that it was quickly regening like the attack never even hit me.

Pushing myself up off the ground, I aimed my sight on a new potential enemy, this one wielding a bow. Rushing at her as I did for the last person I held out my sword keeping it tighter to my body. With a heavy stab, I pushed back, not wanting her to have an attack of opportunity I made a side step to her flank. With another thrust, the sound of a sharp metal rang across my head denoting that I had made a critical hit. The woman spun around with her bow swiping at me with the front end. Having no real use in close combat she dropped it and brought out her secondary weapon, two hand crossbows. With another swing of the sword, the blade past though her, her form wavering like a mist. A coursing pain ran its way through my back as several notifications popped up next to my name.

System: You have been affected by [Poison].

System: You have been affected by [Bleeding]

System: You have been affected by [Blight]

System: You have been affected by [Slow]

Darting my eyes over to my health I could see that with just those two arrows she had brought me down to thirty percent. My health bar stopped regenerating its movement reversed as it quick ticked down to zero.

Another attack slammed against my back, the shattering of glass could be heard as a cool liquid poured across my body. All the debuff icon instantly disappeared as I watched my health ticking back up. Pushing my eyes back up from the fuzzy floor, I made a quick scan of the horizon as my vision snapped towards the same person that had shot me. She was twenty yards in front of me, her body obfuscated by a grove of trees. Her hands jutted out behind the wooden barrier as she let loose another set of arrows. With a bounding leap, I jumped towards a cropping of bushes that was barely tall enough to cover my knees.

The spray of skittering dirt and rocks landed towards my side as Racked slid next to me. “Looks like your not faring too well,” she said pulling out an item from her inventory.

“I got one person, so I’ll take that as a win.”

Rachel pulled out an orbicular glass-bottled which was the size of an orange, its content sloshing around as the liquid swirled in hues of green and reds. Holding out her hand like she was planning to hand me the bottle, she hurled it against my chest, the content seeping into my skin like a hot press.

System: Health 100%

Flying overhead, Melina was swarmed, their tactics changing as they, instead of hurling spell at her, threw their bodies trying to drag her down to the ground. With the precision of a hummingbird, she nimbly dodged the corps reaching out at her. Following up behind her were bright darting missiles which illuminated the fading sky as they zoomed towards the corps sending them crashing to the ground.

A low rumble echoed across the horizon as I peeked up behind the small shrubs. Don, as well as other members of his guild, marched in unison their shield held out keeping everyone within a fifty-meter radius engaged. Kain savagely ripped across the field like a starving wolfpack his claymore strikes landing with deadly precision. The sun slid its last sliver of light below the horizon as shots of light sparked the sky from the inn. “Bag it,” Cassius said, his voice emanating from the cameras dotting the battlefield.