Chereads / Outta CTRL / Chapter 2 - Party of Three

Chapter 2 - Party of Three

Right before Alice spoke, a siren blared so loud it attracted all the nearby monsters to their direction. Jiwoon looked outside, and saw a firetruck with a few men in uniform standing on top of it.

He was about to go help them, but before he moved, a giant worm-like monster several times larger than the truck emerged from the ground and swallowed it whole. It sunk back into the endless pit it dug in the road. Nothing was left of the people who were there mere seconds ago.

This world is full of dangerous monsters, so one must be very careful. Jiwoon knows this all too well, as he has a secret not even Alice knows. The account he currently has, is actually his 101th account, and that he's been playing since the Beta launch. He's died so many times he got the achievement [Century's Death] with the title [Centurial Being].

While Jiwoon was searching nearby for any survivors, he saw someone who looked familiar. It was a man with hair that looked like it was trying to mimic a lion, and a body that as large as a halfbreed between a human and a giant.

By pure luck, Jiwoon found his teammate, with whom he'd fought in countless dungeons side-by-side. Now they were three out of four members, with the only person missing being a powerful healer that no one knew the real name of. The only thing they knew about them was that it was a woman.

Jiwoon ran up to his friend, Dylan, known in the game as Dandy_Lion. Before they reached each other, a building appeared out of the ground, taking the form of a tower. It looked very similar to the dungeons of the game, but something about it was different.

Because it appeared underneath them, Dylan, Jiwoon and Alice were standing a few thousand meters in the air on top of the building that towered over the skyscrapers like toys.

They searched for a way down, and found a staircase leading inside the dungeon, with a man sittng in front of it. When they got closer, the man looked shocked, and asked how they cleared the dungeon so fast.

Before they could answer or ask how to get back down, the man opened up a menu, giving them no time to speak. The man was not a human, but an AI created along with the dungeon. He was a merchant, selling high-grade weapons and magic trinkets.

Dylan was about to buy something, but was stopped because he had no money. Since none of them had any money, the merchant was angered and chased them away. When they ran down the stairs, they entered a pitch black room.

Suddenly, the area was illuminated by torches with feint blue flames. At the center of the room was a monster that would normally be in the Labyrinth. He had the head of a bull with the body of a man. Or, at least, shaped like a man. He was a beast that was 8'ft tall, and muscles that some can't gain even after spending their whole life in the gym.

They tried to run back up the stairs, but the door behind them shut. They knew there was no escape, and that their only option was to kill the boss. The only thing in their favor was that his attacks were simple... until he entered his frenzy state that is. When frenzied, he attacks faster and he has no attack pattern.

Jiwoon came up with a plan, guaranteeing them victory. As long as they don't get hit, they're good. With that in mind they charged at the minotaur, hitting and dodging as much as they could. Of course, a plan with this level of depth is bound to be shattered.

While attacking, Dylan got hit. He wasn't a very dexterous player, so his speed was lacking quite a bit. After only one hit, he was trapped in a barrage of slashes, each attack dealing a chunk of his health.

Jiwoon threw his sword at the minotaur, diverting it's attention long enough for Dylan to get out of its range. Now they were once again disadvantaged, because Jiwoon, their strongest team member, just tossed away his weapon. It's not gone, but it might as well be with where he threw it.

The monster was close to entering it's frenzy, and they were barely holding on when it was predictable. After a few more attacks, the monster stopped moving. It opened it's eyes, now bloodshot, and it had a fiery aura surrounding it.

The person it caught in a combo this time was Jiwoon, but he was able to escape with one of his movement abilities. It started attacking everyone, switching between who it was hitting. When they were about to die, the door opposite to the one they descended from, opened.

Standing there was the only two members from a rival team, one they always clashed with. It was a duo with races that were far from human. One being an angel wielding a shotgun, and the other being a demon with an axe in each hand.

They started attacking the minotaur with light magic and dark martial arts. After only a few seconds, he was completely obliterated. Before Jiwoon and his friends could even utter a word, the two left for the merchant at the top of the tower, with the door closing behind them.

They just barely survived, but had those two not arrived their story would've ended and we'd need new main characters. While gathering themselves and standing back up, a portal appeared in the room.

They stepped through it, and got warped down to the entrance of the tower. They were finally out, but they weren't finally free. The same wyrm that took out the firetruck before they found Dylan noticed them, and then dug underground.

They could feel the floor moving, and Jiwoon grabbed both Alice and Dylan, dashing out of the way right before it emerged from underneath them.