Chapter 24

  Ben ran through the streets in a panic. He ducked behind one of the many cars that littered the road. He hadn’t found even one with a live passenger.

  He huffed heavily and sat on his butt. He could feel a rhythmic tremor on the ground periodically. He gripped his shield tightly and tried to make himself look as small as possible.

  While Ben waited, he heard screaming that filled the night time air. It was far enough not to draw attention towards him, but close enough for it to be clear what the cause was.

  Ben gritted his teeth and forced himself to ignore it. It wasn’t like he could help anyway. He had one goal in mind and he was already on the brink of death just trying to accomplish that.

  Ben brought up his system window to view his inventory.

  “Only two health potions left,” he thought.

  Ben frowned bitterly while inspecting his health. Less than 50%. His blood soaked body told the tale of what he had been through.

  What little armor he had was on the brink of collapse. The shabby leather that covered him was heavily torn and riddled with claw and burn marks.

  “I can’t afford to waste these potions. I can make it another few hours and let my natural healing work. I can make it,” Ben thought.

  Ben dismissed his inventory window and dared to peek past the trunk of the car he was hiding behind. What he saw made him freeze.

  A gigantic elephant-sized dog stood in the middle of the road. It sniffed the blood-drenched pavement, clearly searching for something, or someone.

  Ben still hadn’t gotten used to the size of those demons.

  [Level 10 Hell Hound Eiite]

  Ben gripped his shabby wooden shield tightly. His hand was quivering. He forced himself to look away and hid with his back to the car.

  The hound continued to get closer. He looked down at the low-quality magic rod in his hand.

  “I can’t believe I haven’t found anything better after all this time,” he thought.

  Ben couldn’t lament his fate for long because he could feel the beast nearing. Ben stilled himself and gritted his teeth. He knew how tough this fight would be. He dismissed his rod. It disappeared from his hand and was replaced by a faint flash of light. A clear vial filled with red liquid replaced the rod.

  “I don’t have a choice,” he thought.

  Just as he was about to drink the potion, a loud noise to the side drew the attention of both him and the hound.

  A group of people rounded the corner a few blocks away. There were about a dozen. Half of them had weapons and armor of some variety. The others were unarmed.

  A woman with a bow fired constantly at targets that Ben couldn’t see. A man with a long, ornate staff waved it to send small balls of fire towards the same direction.

  “Why the hell did you choose a fire mage speciality? We are fighting demons!”

  “How was I supposed to know that before picking my-Ah!”

  The man’s sentence was cut short by an incoming fireball that exploded in the middle of the group and sent him hurdling to the ground. A swarm of creatures became visible to Ben.

  A large group of small humanoid creatures flew through the night sky and rained balls of fire down upon the group of survivors. They had red skin, and black wings. The fireballs they hurled from their hands illuminated the bloody streets.

  [Level 7 Hell Imp]

  Ben had never seem that many imps grouped up at once. A man with a large shield trailed behind the group. He acted as the primary tank that absorbed most of the damage. By the sight of him, he wasn’t doing too well. Ben could see that the man was at low health.

  He was engulfed in a faint white light. A woman behind him touched his back to deliver a weak healing spell. It barely put a dent in his health. Ben could see that she was low on mana.

  The others in the group didn’t have weapons at all. They wore normal clothes and looked terrified. One woman held a baby in her arms. Another man looked notably older. Elderly. He was clearly the one slowing the group down the most.

  Ben contemplated running forward to help them, but one thing stopped him. The hell hound.

  It released an ear piercing howl which made Ben want to cover his ears. He didn’t, but many in the group of survivors did.

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  The group of survivors were already being swarmed by the imps but many looked at the hound with terror-stricken expression.

  “Another hell hound?”

  “Oh god, Oh god!”

  “Run!”

  The group barely got the chance to react as the hellhound sprinted down the street to join the fray.

  The elderly man was the first to go. Ben had to look away at the grotesque sight of the man being torn apart.

  “Lolo!”

  “He’s gone!”

  “No!”

  Ben gritted his teeth. He already assessed the situation. Not only were they no match for the hell hound, they still had the swarm of Imps to deal with.

  “How did they survive this long like this? Making so much noise, drawing so much aggro at once, pulling multiple groups of enemies. So reckless. Dammit,” Ben thought.

  Ben forced himself to look away. He couldn’t lose the opportunity to escape. He wanted to help, but he knew he couldn’t. Ben understood the truth. They were all going to die. Revealing himself to help would have been suicide. If he died, he would never be able to protect those he cared about.

  With a heavy heart, Ben sprinted away as quietly as he could. He did his best to ignore the pain-filled screams that filled the night air behind him.

  Ben quickly sat up in his bed. His body was drenched in sweat. It took a moment for him to catch his breath.

  Ben looked around to inspect his surroundings. He was in his bedroom. The moonlight shone through the window. He got up out of bed and headed to the window to look out on the quiet and peaceful suburban neighborhood.

  He still could hardly believe that the world was so peaceful. Even after a year, he couldn’t easily relax. His nightmares grounded him and were a constant reminder of what was to come, and what he had to prepare for.

  Ben grabbed his left hand with his right. He had to stop it from shaking. He closed his eyes and whispered a quick prayer. The habit calmed his nerves.

  After a few minutes, he returned to his bed and hoped for a dreamless sleep.

  [Welcome back to the world of Eternity. Your fatigue debuff has been removed. You have gained the Well Rested buff]

  [Well Rested]

  [Effect: Significant bonus to experience gain and attributes for 3 hours]

  Ben was quick to dismiss the log-in notification that he received upon reentering the game. His attention was drawn to a much more pleasant text.

  “Welcome back.”

  Ben turned around to see Eve standing a few feet away. She held her arms behind her back and swayed in that patented Eve way. Ben smiled.

  “Thanks. You too,” he said.

  Eve smiled bright. Even though Eve still wore the wolf mask which covered most of her face, Ben was stricken by the beauty of her smile.

  He had to remind himself that Eve was an avatar, and not a real person. That thought helped calm his hormone-crazed brain.

  “Have a good night’s rest?” She texted.

  Ben hesitated. He didn’t want to lie. He rarely had a good night’s sleep but he didn’t want to make that her problem.

  Ben shrugged.

  “Could have been better. Anyway, are you ready for today? I plan to really push it as much as possible. I won’t be playing tomorrow because I have church, so I want to get as far as possible today,” Ben said.

  Eve nodded in understanding.

  “Same for me,” she typed.

  Ben raised a brow. He had the urge to question her. What church did she go to? He knew she was Orthodox, but not much beyond that. Did she attend a Russian Orthodox Church, Greek? Ben forced those thoughts away. It shouldn’t matter. He was still mindful of her privacy.

  Ben turned his attention towards the gigantic orc fortress in the distance. Eve walked next to Ben’s side and also looked down at the fortress.

  The fortress was about a mile away. They had to go down a particular path in the orc valley to get to it. Eve was able to find the hidden path with no problem, given her Eyes of Truth ability.

  Being a regressor didn’t give Ben much of an advantage when it came to finding hidden things like dungeons and treasure areas. Maps were randomly generated with each visit. Ben knew that secrets existed, and he knew what to search for, but without Eve, he could have spent hours searching for the hidden passageway. Her ability truly was a huge boon.

  The fortress walls were massive and extended so far in both directions that Ben and Eve couldn’t see the end of it. The walls were at least 50 feet tall. There was a massive gate where orc troops periodically exited from.

  The fortress looked to be the size of a small city. It reminded Ben of the Gates of Mordor. It was actually the first raid in the world of Eternity.

  Normal dungeons could be completed comfortably by a well coordinated party of appropriately leveled players. A level 7 dungeon could be completed by a group of five or six level 7 players, as long as those players knew what they were doing. An elite group of players, like Beta players, could maybe complete the dungeon with a group of four. Though few chose to do that because their clear speed would be slow.

  Raids were a different beast altogether. Raids usually required at least 20 players to complete. Multiple parties were formed to create the raid group.

  Not only were the enemies tougher and much more numerous, but there were often special features about raids that made the dungeon especially difficult.

  Ben understood well what they were getting themselves into. Eve did as well. Ben noticed how nervous she was. She clutched tightly into her skirt.

  “Are you really sure about this? Maybe we should farm a little bit more?” Eve typed.

  Ben looked down at Eve with a confident smirk.

  “After everything you’ve seen, you still don’t think we can do it? I thought you said I was broken,” Ben said.

  Eve picked up on Ben’s teasing manner. She placed her hands on her hips and stuck her tongue out at him playfully.

  “You are broken. I just want to make sure that you are sure. Regardless, I’ll follow you no matter what,” she typed.

  Ben was mildly surprised that Eve picked up on his playfulness. So much so that she immediately matched his mood. Ben was often told that his sense of humor and delivery were far too subtle and dry, so misunderstandings were common. Eve being able to accurately read his mood and tone was a nice change of pace.

  Ben pondered Eve’s words for a bit.

  “You’ll follow me no matter what?” He thought.

  Ben was still getting used to that idea. It wasn’t completely foreign. In his past life, he did have a few loyal followers in the guild. None of them were present when he was betrayed. After a year of reflection, he figured that that was intentional.

  Eve showing such loyalty, so early, was still offputting. Mostly because Ben didn’t think he deserved it, yet Eve’s loyalty was hard to doubt, given all she had already done for him. He had noticed her resolve and bravery in the face of death. Even though it was a game, he knew how scary Eternity could be, especially with the pain-setting set to max.

  Ben had the urge to reassure her, if for no other reason than as a show of appreciation for all she had done for him so far.

  “I have some good news that should make you feel quite a bit better about what we are about to do,” Ben said.

  Eve tilted her head to the side curiously.

  “Really? What is it?” She typed.

  Ben grinned.

  “I still haven’t chosen my class upgrades.”