Second World Novel

The force of the explosion accelerated Jack’s flying speed, throwing him further away than Wind Jet’s normal distance. He ended up flying past the others who had come out earlier and landed behind them.

When he looked back, he saw the house was already in ruin. His spirit weapon’s finishing mode had destroyed most of the interiors. Only a part of the roof was still intact, which had now fallen to the ground. Some of the creatures were still wriggling atop that partial roof.

Jack unleashed his soul breath before his beast form duration ran out. This soul breath took care of the still-alive creatures on the roof.

His beast form ended when he walked back to the others, who were watching him in awe.

Stefan and Naomi were especially wide eyes. Naomi said, “I heard that the player who becomes the king of Themisphere has a beast form that transforms into a dragon. Are you truly the king…?”

“I’ve already said I am. You, people, are the ones who don’t want to believe it,” Jack replied.

“Do you think we got all of them?” The elven girl, whose name was Windy, asked. She was the only native in this group now.

The others looked at the destroyed house. It was burning. This pocket world had turned out to follow more closely to their past world’s rule. The detonation had caused sparks inside the house which triggered additional explosions that produced fire.

They couldn’t see any movement from the flame.

“I think we got them all,” Grace said.

“Do you think those were all of them?” Windy asked again.

The others looked around at the question. It was mostly dark. Even Spring Crown and Grace couldn’t see if there were any more of the creatures out here.

“Let’s find someplace to hide instead of finding out the answer to that question,” Spring Crown suggested.

Everyone agreed.

They had scouted this place earlier so it didn’t take long for them to find a second hiding place. It was a house similar to the one that was destroyed, except this one didn’t have an open roof. Most of its walls were still intact. They started barricading its openings with anything they could find.

They took turns keeping watch from the third floor’s windows. The ones who didn’t keep watch rested on the ground floor. Not all of them could sleep, though. They waited restlessly for the night to be over and for sunlight to return.

When the sun was finally up, they peeked outside. It looked the same.

“Do you think those things only come out at night?” Stefan asked.

“I think so. They only appear once the sun is out,” Tom said.

“I guess this is a mechanic in place to make sure the game ends,” Jack said.

“What do you mean?” Stefan asked.

“It means it is a preparation for a scenario like the one we have here,” It was Spring Crown who answered the question. “We are two different teams, but instead of killing each other like the game intended. We are buddying up to each other. Even if this world shrunk as Aglea mentioned. We can just sit together, refuse to kill each other, and let the game continues endlessly. But with the addition of these night creatures, it becomes a race to see which team survives the last.”

“Or maybe these creatures can also be a punishment for two opposite teams working together,” Tom offered his opinion.

“That is also a possibility. So, leader, should we honor the game’s rules and back to having a deathmatch with these fine folks?” Spring Crown asked Grace.

Grace shot Spring Crown an annoyed glance. The guy should know full well the answer to that question.

“We have lost quite many members just in one day,” Grace sighed sadly. “Our team is down to four. If the ones who ambushed us yesterday come back to hunt us, we will have difficulty fending them off. Our tools had mostly run out. I propose we follow Jack and look for the members of his team. By moving together, we can better protect each other.”

“Okay. I guess we can put the deathmatch to a later time. You lots hear the leader, right? Let’s move!” Spring Crown commanded.

“He makes a good second-in-command,” Jack said to Grace.

“Why, thank you! Please put in the same words for my actual boss, wherever he is. Are you sure he is truly on your team?” Spring Crown asked.

“Do you think I can mistake him for someone else?” Jack asked back.

“I suppose not,” Spring Crown said and walked out of the house.

Seven of them stood on the street. Four from Grace’s team and three from Jack’s.

“Let’s get the motorcycle,” Spring Crown said. They had left the vehicle in front of the burnt-down house. They were in a hurry to get to another hiding place to think about bringing the motorcycle.

𝒏𝒪𝑣𝗲𝒍𝗇𝔢xt.𝓬𝑂𝓂

“We should also search for the weapons from the fallen ones,” Jack proposed. “It has been proven we can use them as long as the original owner has died.”

“Good. I will need a melee weapon as well. Slingshot is good, but it’s not dependable when the opponent appro–Ouch!”

Spring Crown was speaking while walking toward their previous hiding place. He suddenly recoiled as if he had bumped into an invisible wall.

“F*ck me…!” Spring Crown cursed while massaging his nose. His hand went forward and touched something solid in the air. “There is a barrier!'”

The others went and touched the unseen wall. Jack did the same. There truly was one.

Jack was reminded of the time when he was in the tutorial period. This invisible wall was the same as then.

“But… This is not here last night,” Windy said.

“The world has shrunk,” Jack said.

“Yeah, this must be what that b*tch host mentioned,” Spring Crown said. “Every day, we will lose more area until the land we can move in is the size of ten-by-ten meters.”

Grace punched the invisible wall in frustration. The motorcycle and their fallen comrades’ weapons were on the other side of this barrier.