"SCREEEEEEEECH!"
The boss monster's cry echoed through the tunnels, causing countless of its minions to emerge from the dark corners, flooding the players.
"Into positions!" GodSlayer, the leader of the party, yelled, raising his shield to receive the attack, the rest of his party following in suit, excitement running high. They had spent hours underground, exploring the dungeon, and now, they were finally about to complete it. All they needed was to get rid of the minions, hunt down the boss, and they would complete the quest they had been working on for weeks. Victory was just in front of them…
All of a sudden, a dark shape rushed past them, kicking off the ground and soaring above the minions' heads, eventually landing right in front of the boss. Then, without any delay, the black-clad man pulled out a pair of daggers, engaging with the boss in a one-on-one fight.
"You fucker!" GodSlayer yelled. "The boss is ours!"
"Heheh," the black-clad man, X, only chuckled in response, not interrupting his assault.
Why would he? An opportunity like that didn't happen every day. Skilled as he was, soloing the boss with all of his minions was too much even for him. Maybe if he spent a fortune on health and mana potions, but that would defeat the purpose. With GodSlayer's party taking care of the mobs, though, he could easily steal the boss kill and get the main reward.
And the main reward meant the highest cash-out. It was such easy money, it'd be a shame to let it pass him by!
"Ugh…" GodSlayer groaned, watching the boss's health bar slowly drain. He wanted to rush to its side and get in X's way, but he was locked in a fight with the mob, unable to move forward. "Everyone, charge ahead!" he could only scream at his party, madly swinging his axe.
But his party members were also blocked. Until they dealt with at least a part of the mob, enough to clear a path, they were helpless to do anything about the outsider stealing their kill.
"SCREEEEAAAAACH!"
Eventually, the boss's health dropped critically low. It let out an ear-piercing shriek, launching its claws at X in one last desperate attack-
X swiftly dodged to the side, the claws missing him by an inch. Then, he dove underneath, spotting an opening, and slashed his dagger across the monster's stomach, stabbing the blade as deep as he could, the gushing blood spilling over his hands. The little remaining health had been drained, the bar disappearing from above the boss monster's head.
[The boss monster has been defeated!
Contributors: X]
The bright announcement screen lit up the dark caves, causing GodSlayer's heart to drop.
He failed. After all the hard work, his party failed to finish the quest. X wasn't a member of his party, so clearing the dungeon wouldn't be fully attributed to them… And if they wanted to give the boss monster another go, they would have to start the whole dungeon all over.
The dungeon that took them hours to complete. From the very beginning…
"Damn you!" GodSlayer yelled, losing whatever self-control he had left. "You fucker, if I get my hands on you-!"
"Hey, watch out. There are still monsters around," X nonchalantly gestured with his head at something behind GodSlayer.
"…What?" Without thinking, GodSlayer glanced back…
There were still monsters around, alright. But they were just the leftover minions that his party hadn't been able to finish off during X's fight with the boss. Now that the boss was gone, they were all fleeing in chaos, with no will left to fight. Some of the party members chased after them, trying to get a few more kills and score more exp, but to GodSlayer, they were all just whatever. Neither a threat nor a worthy reward.
"You-!" He turned back to X, veins throbbing on his temple, even more annoyed by this stupid diversion-
But X was already gone. In the time GodSlayer took to look back, he had already disappeared into the darkness, escaping the dungeon and the mess he had left behind.
***
"Gah!"
Zack took a sharp breath, squinting as the capsule's top opened, causing the bright LED lights to hit him right in the face. He slowly lifted himself up, blinking a few times as he waited for his eyes to adjust.
"Welcome back!" a cheerful voice of a young testing center assistant greeted him from the side. "How was your dive today?"
"Mmm. Good," Isaac Reed, player ID: X, mumbled in response.
"That's great! Are you done for today?"
"Mn."
Zack climbed out of the capsule, stretching his limbs. Having just woken up after a few hours of gameplay, he was quite stiff and groggy, not in the mood to engage in a chit-chat with the assistant.
Not that there was any need for him to - the assistants were there only to operate the capsules and monitor the vitals. Any bug or experience reports had to be submitted online, directly to the developer team. With that short exchange, Zack's conversation with the assistant was over.
Or so he thought.
"Oh, by the way," as he was putting his shoes back on, the woman spoke again. "I'm not sure if you have been informed, but today is the last day of the testing phase."
"…What?" Zack paused, looking up at her. "Testing's over?"
"Yes… I'm sorry, I know it's so sudden. We also have only heard about it today…"
"Hmm…"
That was… a bit unexpected. Then again, it had been a few months, and the game was functioning perfectly. At least Zack hadn't encountered any bugs. While he was not a developer, and so his opinion didn't hold much weight, as far as he was concerned, the game was ready for release.
There was only one problem.
"Does that mean that the capsule is going to be put on the market soon as well?"
"That…"
The assistant hesitated, glancing at the machine standing next to them. At the moment, the massive capsule was the only hardware capable of operating the cutting-edge virtual reality game of Sky's Descent's caliber. However, it wasn't something most people could afford to have. Costs aside, who had enough free space to squeeze it in at home, especially in the cramped city apartments?
Not knowing how to answer, the woman just rubbed her neck, changing the topic. "Since it's the last day, would you like to take another dive? There are still two hours left until closing time."
"Hmm…" Zack glanced at the clock, pondering for a minute. Two hours were not enough for anything significant, but since it was his last chance, perhaps he could hunt some lesser monsters. Milk the testing as much as he could. After that, it would no longer be so easy to make good money just playing games…
Just as he was about to respond, though, chaos and noise coming from outside attracted his attention.
"X, you fucker! Get right here!"
…It seemed that GodSlayer was diving from the same center as Zack. There were only five of them in the whole country, so it wasn't all that surprising, but still.
What rotten luck.
After failing the quest, the man must have immediately logged out, determined to look for X in real life. And judging by the ruckus, he wasn't alone.
Well, now that it came to that, Zack certainly wasn't going to stick around. Although his real identity was confidential, and he could technically escape by logging back into the game… With how pissed off GodSlayer was, he was probably going to do a stakeout, waiting for all the players, interrogating them all.
Especially since it was the last day.
Zack accidentally ended GodSlayer's chances of ever completing that dungeon, at least in the beta testing phase.
…Not that he had any regrets.
Wasting no more time, he grabbed his bag, and quietly sneaked out of the testing center before GodSlayer and his party were able to get a hold of him.