Within the world of EndGame Online

One week has passed since the boss fight on the first island, but the memories are still fresh in my mind. The preparation for the fight was far from adequate and many deaths could have been prevented if it was not rushed by those larger guilds. Hundreds of people died while fighting against the Black Widow, yet already people have forgotten their sacrifices and moved on.

The second island has been opened up ever since, and is set with a dark and desolate theme compared to the first island. The whole place is reminiscent of a creepy Halloween forest. From the teleportation hub, it is clear that this island is far smaller than the first one, but once down on the land, this is hard to tell.

Gem. Ilyena and I were part of the first few people to arrive here. After doing a quick walk through of the teleportation hub, we returned to the portals and entered the second island. The teleportation between these portals was similar to the teleportation crystals, so there was nothing new with them other than the destinations.

We emerged in the centre of a large clearing and the sounds of people fighting was present on all sides. Apparently the first players to traverse on the island triggered an event, which caused a host of skeletal monsters to surround the portal area. Some of those who arrived were unable to fend for themselves in the new environment and soon perished, but the majority quickly learned to stay together.

The base level of these skeletons was 15, so they provided a generous amount of experience to those who killed them; however, it was not easy to clear them. There were a few skeleton variants mixed in the fray, and they caused the greatest damage. Some players had grown complacent while fighting the level 15’s, so when faced with the higher level ones, they did not cope well.

It took a couple hours, but eventually a perimeter was set up using whatever we could scrounge together. Nearby trees were taken down, and rocks were moved. The first priority was to make a basic barricade. Players were commissioned to bring building materials onto the second island before teleporting, because we soon found out that getting back to the main teleportation hub was not as simple as arriving here.

Around 24 hours later, a temporary fort was set up around the portal encompassing an area of 200 square meters. Players kept streaming in constantly, which caused the fort to become more and more crowded. The real estate nearest the portal had become prime land, but there is no way to regulate it. The larger guilds such as the Sacred Order, Shadowguard, and the Wings Of Liberty have each carved out their piece. While the remainders are left to set up stalls and shacks wherever they could.

Many players who teleported over had found themselves getting stuck on this side. The use of the portal to get here is free; however, it costed 10,000 Tor or 1 gold to return. It was found through trial and error that travel between already conquered floors was free; however, the second floor had yet to be cleared. Also, the teleportation crystals do not work between islands, so there is no escaping the fee.

Those of us who hunt efficiently can gain enough money to return every night, but the majority cannot afford this. Many of the drops, such as bones and rotten armour, are not valuable enough due to the vast quantities being produced by all the players. It has gotten to the point that no one is willing to buy them, and the rarer drops can only be found and not sought.

However, despite many people dying each day, it has not been total despair. Progress is constantly being made, and although the dungeon has not yet been found, life still goes on for the rest of us.

"Switch!" A feminine voice rings out. It is coming from a petite assassin dressed in full leather battle gear. Her armour has iron plates fastened for extra protection while not hindering her movements. Her face is obscured by a veil, but that only adds to her mysterious charm. She has just finished dealing a massive strike to her opponent and is backing off to allow me to take her place.

The opponent is a skeleton warrior. It is equipped with an iron shield, iron helm and iron battle axe. It's body is composed of dirty white bones with the remains of flesh hanging off in various places. It's eye sockets hold a sinister deep red glow, giving life to this vengeful spirit that cannot find peace.

A yellow health bar hovers above it's head, which shows it's remaining health in this world. A yellow health bar signifies 10-50% health, while the remaining two colours green and red show >50% and

An arrow flies by, tickling my ear, as it heads toward the skeleton. It lodges itself with the eye socket of the knight and I take advantage of the opening to crush the opponents head with my iron spiked mace. Weapons that deal crush damage are most effective against skeletal monsters whereas stabbing weapons are the least effective. This is due to the inherent structure of bone being strong against vertical stress, but weak against horizontal stress.

The skeleton warrior's skull gets caved in, but he is still holding onto his life. Skeletons are like the cockroaches of the monster world. Never dying until it consumes every last drop of their health, whether it be from a severed hand or leg.

"Uwa!" A skeletal hand reaches to grab my ankle, but I give it a quick punt over to Ilyena, the female assassin. She nimbly knocks it out of the air, thus shaving away the last of it's health.

"Nice!" A feminine voice says behind me. I turn around to see a beautiful red haired girl around the age of 18. She is dressed in full leather armour as well, but styled to provide full range of motion for shooting arrows. Her slender hourglass frame is clearly outlined by form fitting armour; however, she does not use this to flaunt before others. This female archer's deep crimson eyes sparkle with innocence accompanied by a bright, incandescent smile that illuminates her beauty.

"Thanks, Gem." I reply with a smile, "Let's collect the drops and move on."

"Un" The female archer, Gem, nods in reply.

"How close are you to reaching level 19?" We've been fighting every day since coming to this graveyard-like island.

"A few more skeletons and I should be able to hit it."

"Alright, how about we hunt around 10 more before heading back?"

"Okay!"

"Alright."

The entire island is covered by a dead forest. Gnarled barren trees stand upon a desolate forest scape. There is little to no undergrowth and the only creatures able to exist here are already dead.

A clattering comes from 20 feet behind us and Ilyena is the first to react. The opponent is a single regular skeleton. On their own they are no match for us, but if a horde appears all we can do is run. We found this out the hard way a couple days ago. They surrounded us on all sides, but somehow we were able to break through their enclosure.

Ilyena flanks it's right side while Gem attracts aggro by firing an arrow direct at it. After Ilyena's first strike lands, it is my turn to attack. The iron mace in my hand weighs heavy as I bring it down upon the opponent's rib cage. Shattered splinters of bone splay out from the site of impact, and the skeleton's upper body collapses upon itself. Ilyena then finishes it off with a quick slash across it's spine.

"Watch out!" Gem yells from behind, "Another two skeletons are headed your way from the left!"

Ilyena and I turn our heads at the same time. Sure enough, two skeletons are inbound. One skeletal archer and one regular skeleton.

"I'll take the archer."

"Okay. The plain skeleton is mine then."

"Deal."

As we are speaking, an arrow lodges itself with the trunk of a gnarled tree only a few feet away. At least these skeletal archers don't have an aim-bot.

Gem fires a couple shots before we could reach them. I watch as one arrow threads the needle between of pair of rib bones and exits out the other side. This catches Ilyena's attention as well and we both stare at the arrow in disbelief. The skeletal archer, unperturbed by the event, lines up it's next shot.

However, by this time I have reached the skeleton.

I swing the mace horizontally in a sweeping motion, but it gets blocked by the skeleton's bow. Despite that, the skeleton gets knocked stumbling back a few feet. It's red eyes displaying loathing and distain for the living.

An arrow lodges itself in the crevices of it's spine and I step in for the kill. These skeleton archers are level 18, but they are still no match for us. Ilyena and I are currently level 22, while Gem is 18. However, we're not normal. The average player is around level 17 right now. The skeleton collapses as the fire in its eyes fades away.

"Phew."

"Look you long enough." Ilyena's unimpressed voice sounds out behind me. I turn my head and see her sitting down upon a rotting log in a relaxed posture.

"Yeah, yeah." I sarcastically reply, "Next time you can take the archer while I watch."

"Pfft..."

"Alright you two, I'm only a sliver away from reaching level 19." Gem interjects with a voice of reason, "Let's kill a few more then we can be done for the day."

"Alright."

"Mm."

And so, we spent another 15 minutes out in the forest, watching as the skies begin to turn dark. During the night an evil fog stretches through the land giving the monsters a 1.75x buff. This was a big change from the 1.5x buff the normal monsters receive on the first island. Thankfully, it is limited to this island.

A few kills later...

*Clang!*

An arrow hits a rusty helmet atop a skeleton’s head. It causes a large dent to form as it pierces into the metal. That last hit brought the skeleton’s health to 0, and it breaks apart into pixilated dust.

“Level 19!” Gem jumps with enthusiasm.

“Congratulations!” I give her a smile, “Let’s head back now.”

“Mm.” “Un.”

The three of us have activate our teleportation crystals and the blinding white light once more envelopes us as we are send far away.