The desert devoured us for eternal hours. The environment's fidelity was overwhelming, even excessive; every grain of sand and gust of dry air bore witness to a ruthless hyperrealism.
The heat soon took its toll. Piercing dehydration and exhaustion weighed down my steps. It was the mechanic of a survival game pushed to its limit, with the difference that here, death wasn't just a screen message, but an absolute end.
"We'll die before we get there," Ha-jin declared, deploying his interface. "I'll use the last gift. Don't waste yours, Takamori-san."
I nodded in silence and wiped away the sweat stinging my eyes. That final premium "gift" was an emergency item with an almost mocking description: Use in extreme crisis to save your life. Upon activation, a cartographic map and a two-liter bottle of water appeared in his hands.
"The description wasn't lying; it's a lifesaver. The water washes away fatigue. Here." He handed me the bottle without hesitation.
"Thanks, Haji-kun."
I took a sip of the special liquid and felt the coolness restore my muscles almost instantly. After a moment's hesitation, he drank too. I was grateful he gave me the first turn; it would have been impossible for me to drink freely if he had gone first.
Despite the crisis, the shadow of an "indirect kiss" loomed between us. For a second, culture carried more weight than survival; a faint blush appeared on his cheeks and shattered my composure. I felt the heat rise up my neck and adjusted my mask, irritated at having such a ridiculous reaction given the circumstances.
"Anyway..." I commented, barely regaining my neutral tone. "At least we have a map. Is there a settlement nearby?"
He scrutinized the map with renewed focus.
"There's a small town halfway through. The system dropped us midway to the objective, but we can't let our guard down," he stated. "The map warns of 'sandworms' in this sector."
He described the area as a territory for colossal beasts lurking beneath the surface. Although the highest concentration seemed to be in remote regions, the danger was constant. We couldn't afford to lower our guard.
We moved toward the settlement in a deathly silence. In an environment where death lurks around every corner, that calm was more unsettling than a battle cry. As we crossed the threshold of the hunting zone, Ha-jin signaled me to stop with a sharp gesture. He unslung his rifle and scanned the horizon through the telescopic sight.
After a few seconds of tension, he handed me the scope so I could witness the horror for myself.
Eight hundred meters away, the sand wasn't just moving; it was boiling. Through the lens, I watched a struggle that defied all logic. A trio of players was locked in an agonizing battle against five colossi.
The sandworms were bus-sized nightmares, covered in skin of a putrid, sickly brown hue. Their maws were rows of teeth that rotated like industrial saws, while their flanks sprouted bony protrusions that sliced through the air like blades.
The most terrifying thing, however, was the slit in their abdomens. From there, tentacles equipped with prehensile hooks sprouted, slithering in search of living flesh.
[LVL 18. Sandworm]
That level was an absolute death sentence. Despite the disparity in power, the players coordinated their movements with a desperation that made my heart ache.
The Vanguard wielded a Resonant Blade. The chrome-alloy blade emitted a low, constant hum, vibrating with a lethal red light that tore through the dust-choked atmosphere. With surgical precision, he managed to sever the hide of one of the specimens; the steel sliced through the flesh while the man dodged the monsters' strikes by mere millimeters.
Beside him, the Bastion held the line with his Kinetic Aegis. The hexagonal tower shield made of matte metal took an impact that would have pulverized any human, but its energy cells glowed amber as they absorbed the kinetic force. Immediately after, the warrior struck the ground; the shockwave stunned the beasts and allowed him to intercept direct charges with his body.
Under normal conditions, that technical mastery would have guaranteed their victory. But exhaustion was already devouring their reflexes. Their movements became slow and heavy, weighed down by a fatigue that the system did not forgive.
The worms did not miss. They exploited every millisecond of weakness to lunge and shatter the formation with their lateral blades. Amidst the chaos, the Entropic tried to conjure a spell, but the constant pressure from the annelids prevented him from completing the mystical sequences.
They were trapped in a dance of attrition where the air felt as heavy as lead. The slightest mistake would mean the end.
"We have to intervene, Takamori-san," Ha-jin declared as he stood up. "A larger group will increase our chances of survival."
"I agree," I replied. I had no intention of playing the hero, but I refused to witness another single death.
We set off, covering the distance with our lungs burning under the toxic air. The din of combat took on a terrifying clarity: the hum of the Resonant Blade tearing through the air merged with the dull impact of the Kinetic Aegis.
We arrived exactly at the breaking point. The Vanguard, caught in a steel frenzy, plunged his blade into a worm's nervous system. The beast collapsed in an explosion of viscous fluid and sand.
The triumph lasted only a heartbeat.
A second annelid emerged from the depths, right beneath his feet. The circular maws snapped shut over the warrior's torso before he could react. The sound of his bones breaking was a dry snap that settled into the back of my neck.
"Hold on!" Ha-jin roared, but his voice was lost in the gale of violence.
The Bastion tried to cover the Entropic's retreat. He activated his shield's charge, and a shockwave halted the advance of two monsters, but fatigue drained his energy instantly. One of the worm's lateral blades slid through an unprotected flank, severing his arm with surgical ease.
The man fell to his knees, his face pale with shock, before another beast crushed him under its colossal weight.
Only the Entropic remained. The young man backed away with trembling hands, trying to trace a rune that never managed to glow.
The slit in the lead worm's abdomen dilated. Tentacles sprouted like nightmare whips; hooks sank into the boy's flesh and dragged him inside. His screams of agony were abruptly silenced when the slit sealed shut, grinding him in a dance of suction and viscera.
We stopped dead. Silence returned to the desert, broken only by the hissing of the beasts searching for a new trail.
Ha-jin gripped the stock of his rifle until his knuckles turned white. I felt an icy chill down my spine. It wasn't fear; it was the certainty that, in this world, the difference between being a player and being fodder depended on a single second of carelessness.