“If you smash the head then your friend dies,” I said, without even looking up at the elf girl. Killerguy and I were still on the ground, me on top of his back. Killerguy was scared and absolutely still. There was silence for a few moments. I did not hear any sound that suggested Bono’s head had been cracked open.

“Um, you might like to put me down on the ground,” Bono said to Roxy.

“What do you want me to do?” Roxy said, suppressing her anger. She was talking to Killerguy, not me.

“Put down the head of course!” Killerguy said desperately. His name and personality were really such a mismatch.

Bono was lowered down.

“Fine,” Roxy said, “the head is on the ground. Now let him go.”

“Get up,” I barked at Killerguy, yanking him up, careful to keep the knife at his neck at all times. My shoulder was flaring, and my health level was declining. But I had to ignore all that if I was to survive the present mess.

Roxy was glowering, maintaining a combat pose to strike at the first opportunity.

“Let him go,” she repeated to me.

I shook my head.

“First you put down all your weapons… there, near that bush,” I said, pointing at a random bush closer to me than her. Roxy didn’t budge.

“You want me to hurt him, eh?” I asked Roxy. I pressed the blade of the knife against Killerguy’s neck, cutting just the surface of the skin. Killerguy let out a high pitched shriek. Roxy pulled out her sword, ready to swing it at me.

“You do any mischief like that and he will be dead,” I said. “Now, go on! Put all your weapons by that bush!”

This time Roxy did as told. She placed her weapons on the ground.

“Now let him go,” Roxy ordered me.

I let out a sound of exasperation. It was not just the situation, but my shoulder too that was making me irritable.

“Get rid of those daggers as well, darling,” I said to her. She had thought I hadn’t noticed them. With a permanent scowl on her face, one by one Roxy pulled out her daggers and set them down.

“Are you happy?” she asked me.

“Now move away,” I said to her, “don’t keep standing near your weapons and expect me to let him go.”

Roxy backed away a few meters.

“Hey,” Killerguy said to me, “aren’t you him?”

“Who?” I asked, calculating what to do next.

“That guy, the king of the clans of monsters,” Killerguy said.

“It is really him!” Roxy exclaimed as she recognized me.

“Yes, it’s indeed me,” I said.

“You came for the peace agreement with the elf king, didn’t you?” Killerguy asked.

“I did,” I said, “and then he cheated. You players don’t deserve peace!” I said the last few words with much contempt.

“Hey, I did as you told me to,” reminded Roxy, “now let him go.”

“Look, we’ll just go away, all right?” Killerguy vowed. I could feel his heart beating rapidly since his body was pressing my own. “I understand the elf king did not do the right thing… and… and to be honest I think you are the good guy even though you are an Evilun. The elf king cheated. That was not like a king at all.”

“Shut up,” I snapped. I was well aware that he didn’t mean any of those words. If I didn’t have a knife against his throat his opinions would have been very different.

“Let him go,” Roxy hissed again. I pursed my lips. Roxy had done exactly as I had asked her. Maybe it would be okay to spare their lives?

“Okay, you can go,” I said to Killerguy. I pushed him towards Roxy, and at the same time I leapt to the place where Roxy had kept the weapons. I picked them up and armed myself. I nocked an arrow into the bowstring.

“Buzz off,” I yelled at the duo. Roxy hugged the thief who was sniffling. I found it pretty stupid. Who cried inside a game? That too in the arms of a virtual elf girl.

“We are going, we are going,” Killerguy said to me in a quivering voice, holding up his palms. The two of them began to move away. I strode to Bono.

“You all right?” I asked him.

“I am,” Bono replied. “But you look beat up.”

I was conscious of that. I was slouching because of the pain on my shoulder. It was a dull throb but it was consistent.

“Watch out!” Bono warned all of a sudden. Roxy had picked up a boulder. She meant to crush me with it.

“No Roxy!” Killerguy implored, “Don’t do that!”

But Roxy ignored her bonded player and she hurled the stone at me. I ducked and it sailed just above me, thankfully causing no harm.

I picked up the bow and arrow that had fallen from my hand. I let loose the arrow. My aim was Roxy, but it was Killerguy I hit, right in the throat.

He clutched his throat, gurgling blood, and he tumbled onto the ground. Roxy yelped and rushed to his side. I lodged another arrow in the bow. This time my aim was accurate. Roxy collapsed on top of the thief, dead.

I advanced cautiously to them. To ensure that Roxy was not playing dead I stabbed her in the back. I noted the lack of repulsion as I carried out the act. Time in Dharti was changing me.

For a moment I just kept looking at the elf and the thief that I had just killed, panting with the exertion from the last few moments. I thought of Killerguy. He had definitely not wanted Roxy to throw the boulder. For some reason I felt pity for him even though I knew that he would just respawn wherever he had kept his respawn stone. But then he would be down by a level and perhaps he would lose Roxy.

I kept staring at them for a few more moments. I shrugged, justifying that I had done nothing wrong in protecting myself.

***