Part 1: The Picnic and The Soldier
The central plaza of the Starter Town was vibrating with the energy of thousands of players waiting for the barrier to lift.
The massive Universal Teleportation Gate, a swirling vortex of blue mana, hummed ominously.
"Four minutes!" a guard shouted.
In the middle of the tense crowd, Titan was bouncing on his heels.
"We're going on a trip!" the boy cheered, adjusting his oversized backpack. He looked like he was heading to a summer camp, not a death zone. His bag was stuffed with snacks Luna had packed.
Valen smiled, patting the boy's helmet. "Stay close to me, okay?"
"Okay!"
Behind them, the rest of Eclipse stood in a tight circle.
They checked their gear for the tenth time.
Jax spun his daggers. Roger cleaned his scope. Lyra tuned her lute. Luna checked her potion belt. Kael grunted, adjusting the straps of his heavy portable forge.
Elian stood still, his eyes closed, counting the seconds.
"Ten seconds," Elian announced.
Titan's bouncing stopped instantly.
The smile vanished. His posture shifted. He lowered his center of gravity, his hand gripping the handle of his massive shield. The child was gone; the Tank had arrived.
Roger tipped his hat. "Game face, kid."
HUMMMMMM.
The barrier shattered. The gate roared.
"Go!" Elian commanded.
They stepped into the light.
Part 2: The Ping
[Welcome to Floor 14: The Whispering Canyons.]
The light faded. The air was dry and dusty.
They stood on a ridge overlooking a vast network of red-rock canyons. The wind howled through the ravines, creating an eerie, whistling sound.
They were still together.
"Caelum," Elian ordered immediately. "Eyes. 500 meters."
Caelum, standing in the center of the formation, removed the cloth from his eyes. He didn't open them physically, but he opened his mana sense.
He stood frozen for three seconds. Then, his face paled.
"Contact," Caelum whispered urgently.
"Direction: South-East. Distance: 200 meters and closing fast."
"Count: 47 players."
Elian frowned. "Forty-seven? A raid group?"
"Levels," Caelum continued, his voice tight. "Most are Level 9 to 13. But there are three signatures that burn brighter. Two are Level 16. One is Level 19."
The team stiffened.
Level 19? The highest recorded level in the Starter Town was 15.
"They're smurfs," Roger spat. "Or they used XP potions."
"There is more," Caelum added, turning his head North. "400 meters. A massive sinkhole. Inside... something cold. I cannot read its level. It feels like a void."
Elian's mind raced.
They found us in ten seconds. We teleported to a random spawn point. That's impossible.
Unless we were marked.
He looked at Titan's backpack. He looked at Valen's cloak.
The market, Elian realized. Someone planted a Mana-Tag on us while we were shopping.
"They are rushing us," Caelum warned. "They know exactly where we are."
"We can't outrun them in this terrain," Valen assessed, looking at the narrow canyon paths. "And we can't fight a Level 19 head-on without preparation."
"We don't need to outrun them," Elian said cold, his eyes scanning the canyon geography.
He pointed to a narrow choke point between two cliffs, leading directly toward the massive sinkhole Caelum had detected.
"Positions," Elian barked. "Floor 14 isn't a Chaos Zone yet. We can't kill them."
"But if their HP drops below 10%, the System forces a respawn. They lose a level and drop an item."
Elian drew The Reaper's Edge.
"We aren't going to kill them. We are going to de-level them."
Part 3: The Eyes in the Sky
"Caelum," Elian commanded. "You are Command. You see them. We don't. Guide us."
"But... the Plausibility..." Caelum stammered.
"Don't use your mana to attack," Elian corrected. "Just observe. Whisper the coordinates to us. Be our radar."
Caelum nodded, taking a deep breath. "Understood."
The group split.
Titan and Valen stood openly in the center of the narrow pass—the bait.
Jax and Isara (who wasn't there, but Elian wished she was) vanished into the rocks.
Roger climbed a high spire.
Elian hid in the shadow of a boulder, coating his blade in paralytic poison.
Two minutes later, the enemy arrived.
They didn't march; they swarmed. Forty-seven players wearing mismatching gear, but moving with the discipline of mercenaries.
Leading them was a massive warrior in red plate armor—the Level 19.
"There!" the Warrior shouted, pointing his greatsword at Titan. "The kid! Secure the tank, kill the rest!"
They charged.
"Wait for it," Elian whispered into the communication crystal.
The vanguard of the enemy group—ten players—rushed into the narrow pass.
"Now," Caelum's voice echoed in their minds. "Sector 4. Rockslide."
Roger fired.
BANG.
He didn't shoot a player. He shot a precariously balanced boulder on the cliff above.
The rock crashed down, sealing the path behind the vanguard.
The enemy group was split. 10 in the front, 37 stuck behind.
"Titan!" Elian shouted.
"World Eater!" Titan roared.
He slammed his shield into the ground. A golden dome erupted, blocking the path forward.
The ten trapped players slammed into the barrier.
"Roger, suppressing fire," Caelum directed. "Three mages casting at 2 o'clock."
BANG-BANG-BANG.
Three mages dropped their staffs, bullets tearing through their hands. They couldn't cast.
"Jax, backline," Caelum whispered.
Jax dropped from the canyon wall behind the trapped group. He was a blur of steel. He didn't aim for hearts; he aimed for hamstrings.
Slash. Slash. Slash.
"My leg!"
"I can't move!"
Valen stepped through Titan's shield.
"Sun Strike!"
He unleashed a horizontal wave of light. It didn't kill them. It burned them down to 15% HP.
Elian moved last.
He stepped out of the shadows like a ghost.
He walked up to the panicked, trapped vanguard.
"You're in my way," Elian said.
He swung The Reaper's Edge.
It was a single, wide cleave.
Five players were hit. Their HP dropped to critical.
[System: Player HP Critical. Emergency Recall Activated.]
ZAP. ZAP. ZAP. ZAP. ZAP.
Five players vanished in flashes of white light, leaving behind random items—boots, a helmet, a bag of potions—on the ground.
"Five down," Elian said, looking at the Level 19 Warrior who was still stuck behind the rockslide, roaring in rage.
"Forty-two to go."
"Caelum," Elian said. "What's the status of the creature in the hole?"
"It's waking up," Caelum replied, his voice trembling slightly. "It hears the noise."
Elian grinned.
"Good."
He looked at the rockslide separating them from the main force.
"Let's introduce them to the neighbor."