[ 00:00]
[ Game has begun ]
Blinding lights swept across the restaurant to give way for a reign of silence till the game duration elapses.
*. *. *.
Max opened his eyes in a fairly large crowd. He could barely see his surroundings as everywhere was covered in thick smoke.
"Good day, Players."
The soothing voice of a female echoed all over the place.
"I request your attention so please look at the sky."
Hundreds of gazes were averted to the sky and they pictured the shadowy figure of a woman.
"I am Nisha, the guardian of the boundary between other parts of the world of the Harbingers Of Death and the inverted realm. You all have been summoned here for a different game task from that of other players at their respective locations. Your aim at this point will not be to slay each other but to get rid of beasts you have never encountered in the game. The moment I grant you all access to the inverted realm, you will be greeted by a different place entirely where things are usually bizarre. On this, you shall be grouped into teams to fight against the beasts and the team that ends up with the highest points will have each member handsomely rewarded. Killing a beast grants a player two points so imagine all members of a team working together but note all beast kills in the inverted realm will not count in the world ranking and as such a player's rank will not increase. So far, I have given all the important details concerning this game. If your team is likely to come across things that I did not state, note that I do not consider them necessary but expect the players to know how to distinctively deal with situations. The most important thing to note is ' A player may die in the inverted realm at his or her own risk '."
Suddenly, an aggressive movement of black energy swirled forming a big hole on the ground in front of the crowd.
"You may hop in," Nisha's voice came as calmly as ever as if the movement of the black energy meant nothing. "Remember, you don't have much time as the realm is unstable, it allows access to it within 6 hours and blocks access to it after the supposed time so every player is to leave before the dine minute or be trapped until the next 6 hours at which it will reopen."
In twos, threes, and in increasing order of numbers, the players began jumping into the swirling energy which they would immediately disappear through.
*. *. *.
The sky was grey. There was no presence of stars, a sun, or even a moon to indicate the time. The sky was empty and void of any celestial body that gave a source of light but the place was bright enough for the eyes to see despite its dull appearance.
The grasses and trees looked dead yet they did not shrink or even fall on the command of the wind. The ground had patches. This aspect was the hardest for Max's brain to process a perfect description for. There were holes as large as planets in the ground that portrayed darkness inside of them. The ground itself had broken parts, some of which could be considered a large plot of land were seen floating in the air. Wretched-looking houses, huge rocks that had this similarity to asteroids, and many other objects that he didn't even know had names, floated in the air.
Even the clouds that were normally stationed in the sky were randomly scattered around the place. Some clouds arranged themselves in mid-air, some on land and others in the sky as they were supposed to be stationed. The worst sight he would have ever imagined stood in the reality of this strange place. Enormous one-eyed Lizards with bat-like wings grouped in numbers flew in circles at different areas in the sky. There were all stationary in the spots in which they flew.
"What the hell is this place?"
The voice interrupted Max's daze and brought him back to reality. He looked behind him to see five other people, three boys, and two girls.
"Um, Are we a team?" One of the girls, dressed in black baggy pants covered in chain designs and a black body-hugging tank top, asked.
"I guess since we're together," Max replied. "Besides our devices, all read squad 15."
The others glanced at their wrists to see 'SQUAD 15 ' boldly written on the device.
"Since we're a team, let's begin with introductions before we begin what we came here for," The other girl equipped with a bow and arrows strapped to her back, said. "I'm Avery, nice to meet you all."
"Haruka," The girl dressed in black waved.
"I'm Van," The guy with the greatest build in the group said.
"Flynn here," Another guy who was covered in tattoos from his neck and arms down to his feet.
"I'm Ashton," The last guy introduced himself.
"And I'm Shadow Demon but just call me Max," Max introduced himself as his eyes skimmed through the information on the lots pronounced as his teammates.
Player Name : [ Flynn ]
Rank : [ Mortal Being ]
[ No. 5215 ]
Number of kills : [ 20 ]
Skill(s) : [ Tattoo Manipulation ]
[ Next skill to be unlocked over the next 15 kills ].
_ _ _
Player Name : [ Haruka ]
Rank : [ Mortal Being ]
[ No. 4980 ]
Number of kills : [ 198 ]
Skill(s) : [ Chain control. All skills relating to Chain control ].
[ Next skill / Chain control-related skill to be unlocked over the next 30 kills ].
_ _ _
Player Name : [ Van ]
Rank : [ Mortal Being ]
[ No. 4999 ]
Number of kills : [ 170 ]
Skill(s) : [ Submerged Electrical Speed, Thorn cloak ]
[ Next skill to be unlocked over the next 20 kills ]
_ _ _
Player Name : [ Avery ]
Rank : [ Mortal Being ]
[ No. 5000 ]
Number of kills : [ 162 ]
Skill(s) : [ Elemental flight / Wind Levitation ]
[ Next skill to be unlocked over the next 25 kills ].
_ _ _
Player Name : [ Ashton ]
Rank : [ Mortal Being ]
[ No. 5015 ]
Number of kills : [ 139 ]
Skill(s) : [ Weather Manipulation ]
[ Next skill to be unlocked over the next 20 kills ].
They all had good stats and Max was impressed. Soon, the team began scouting for beasts.
"Too bad, this squad 15 writing won't let me see anyone's rank," Haruka sighed, keeping her gaze intent on her wrist.
Max barely even remembered there was even a device on his wrist that constantly displayed his rank. He actually couldn't do anything with the device as the system granted him access to even more fantastic features.
"Now that I think about it, why did they even bring us to this strange place?" Ashton asked.
"To kill beasts," Haruka replied in a sarcastic tone.
"I know that but this so-called inverted realm is so much different from the other side," Ashton pushed on his point.
"It's called an inverted realm like you said, which technically means it's the opposite of the other side or should I say the upside down part of the game," Avery explained.
The group soon came to the edge of the ground on which they had set their feet. Looking ahead, there was a large hole that separated them from the next ground after hole.
"The inverted realm of the game...Just like a glitch," Avery said staring at the dark hole whose end was nowhere near the reach of the eyes.
"A glitch?" Max asked.
"Games have glitches. If this place is referred to as an inverted realm and everything here looks incomplete like an unfinished artwork then it is possibly a glitch," Avery further explained. "But then, now I see the purpose of Ashton's question. Why would we be sent to kill beasts in a glitch? Besides what kinds of beasts would be living in a glitch?"
*. *. *.
Somewhere deep in the inverted realm, the glitch of the world of the Harbingers Of Death, screams echoed all over the place where everything stood upside down in the air.
The screams continued nonstop. As a result, hundreds of pink-colored beasts with slimy skins and no faces, possessing long necks, long arms, and long legs, began making their way out from whatever corners they had hidden.
Their skins looked more like one supposed to be considered inner skin. It was as though their skins had been ripped off to the last layer but this was their true skin.
As soon as the beasts had begun running out, the screams increased and the creatures scattered themselves into groups as they spread into different parts of the inverted realm.
*. *. *.
Finally, the last person, Max firmly held onto the thick chains that had been placed as an aid to cross over the hole that led to another surface.
As he got to the end of the long chain which clung to the edge of the other ground, he was helped by the others onto the land. Seeing that everyone had crossed over safely, Haruka held out her palm and the chain let go of each end before slurping back into her palm where it had come from.
Screams traveled throughout the place till they reached their ears.
"What the hell is that?" Flynn held his ears as the sound was deafening.
"It's been announced that we're here. They've come for us," Avery quickly said as if the words hurt her mouth.
A horde of horrid pink-colored beasts speedily made their way from miles away, easily jumping over every hole they came across.
A gust of wind swept under Avery's feet and she was lifted into the air as she took out an arrow and placed it against her bow.
The arrow swiftly drove through the air and multiplied into nine more arrows that spread out in different directions. These arrows pierced through each of her targets and a loud bang followed. The beasts struck by her arrows immediately exploded into bits.
She had quickly taken to action before anyone else had and ten of the beasts were already down but that did not deter the increase in population of the beasts set out to attack them.