Andrew's vision flashed red as the flames hit his shield its durability dropping to 30%. A wave of fire flowed over him as he lost 10% of his health doping him down to 40%. With a quick flick of the thumb his avatar Axe moved out of the torrent of flames revealing the bulky dragon its wings furled up by its sides its mouth still spewing the flame like particle effects.

Grimacing at the poor animation quality he silently sighed. It's not like he could expect much from the first VRMMO ever made. Besides even if the graphics sucked it was still a fun game, even now his heart raced at the preserved danger he was in.

Lifting his hand he lunged it forward as his Avatar followed his actions raising its halberd to spear the dragon's flank. It struck with a shower of sparks a poor animation that was followed by an equally poor blood splatter effect. Still Andrew smiled in satisfaction as his attack did damage bringing the beast down to 50%.

"Tank's at thirty, Axe pull back and get ready to use Inspire. Group two prepare to use your attack skills." the barked orders of their guild leader Avantus brought Andrew back to reality as he quickly moved into position.

"Bull move in to draw aggro, Jhon move to the southern cave entrance and take care of the adds that spawn there. Everyone move on my mark!" Avantus' commands had a hint of desperation to them not surprising as they had wiped ten times on this boss already. The Crystal Dragon wasn't even a difficult boss fight at least not conceptually. You just had a dragon in a cave with a northern cave entrance, a southern cave entrance, and a eastern cave entrance. Adds would spawn from one of the caves entrances periodically and when the boss hit the 40% health mark it would enter an enraged mode and attack more frequently. Than at 15% health the dragon would fly up and dive bomb the unit with the most aggro it was basically a one hit kill and the shock wave that the attack produced had ended many of their runs right at the end.

What made it more frustrating for all involved was that it would probably be the last raid they managed to do for while as real life problems made it unlikely that the guild would be able to meet up at this level for months.

The Rosen Fang Guild wasn't very big most of them were high school students from the same state school and most of them had been sent out on a summer camp trip. Andrew wasn't really sure why or how so much of the school had been roped up in what was basically a glorified community service trip, he didn't even know why his parents were so adamant to send him.

"Mark!" the order snapped Andrew from his musings as he activated his skill Inspire. The screen light up as the skill activated, his health jumping from 40 to 60% and the symbol of two crossed swords with a plus next to them popped up.

Feeling invigorated at the attack plus bost Andrew drew farther back to watch as the second group unleashed their attack skills the rain of particle effects smashed into the dragon, the light slightly disorienting him. The plan this time was rather simple they would push the boss till he was just at the edge of entering his berserk state then wait for the big cooldown skills they had used to come back up. A slight flicker distracted him for a moment.

"Fuck lag at a time like this!" a member of the second squad cursed, Andrew cringed at the implications the sudden roar shook his screen further disorienting him. The group's fears were realized as the raid boss entered its enraged mode. Swearing under his breath he turned and started running towards John and his squad two things happened when the boss started to rage.

First its attacks would increase in frequency and in damage. Next the adds spawn rates would double. While Axe moved to help John he was momentarily distracted by a screeching sound.

'was that a car?' the thought had barely entered his head when it was disturbed by Tanks shouting.

"Damn it Bull you better get your ass in position so help me god i'l..."

"Can it Tank I'ant retarded I know what i'm doing you bastard!" Bull retort caused Andrew to chuckle a little as two of the most mild mannered members of the guild got into a cursing match.

A popping sound distracted him again 'Gunfire, fireworks?' the screen shock again but this time it didn't seem to be from a game mechanic.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?" Avantus yelled, surprising Andrew. Avantus was a college student and shouldn't be experiencing the same connection problems he was?

Avantus has gone offline!

'...w what?' the sudden pop up surprised and confused him why would...?

Tank has gone offline!

'...!?!?!'

Bull has gone offline!, Sin has gone offline!, winterfurry has gone offline!

his screen continued to fill with notifications as the world filled with static and a blinding light began to grow...

...brighter...

...brighter...

...brighter...

...then nothing...