Tobias led his team down the dungeon corridor, light from the Wizard’s magical orb lighting their way. They had spent hours clearing the dungeon of lesser monsters and were approaching their goal.

As the passageway curved to the right, they got their first glimpse of their final objective. A huge archway was carved in the stone, and magical runes glowed an ominous red. Behind the arch, they could see a creature that easily stood twenty feet tall and had a head that looked like a cross between a bull and a lion, with both horns and a mane. It was a brownish-red color and covered in coarse black hair with a body that was basically humanoid with huge bulging muscles that would make the Hulk jealous.

The monster roared a challenge and pointed at them with a black-clawed finger.

The corridor leading to the archway suddenly began to fill with an undead army, summoned to protect their master from unworthy adventurers.

Dozens of mummies groaned, reaching out as they shambled toward Tobias and his team. A Mummy King led the way, hatred of all things living radiating from his glowing red eyes.

It was the largest resistance they had faced since entering the dungeon, but they were an experienced team, and Tobias had no doubt they were up to the task.

Real2Be—Tobias Martin, Level 20 Knight DefconOne—Matthew McKinney, Level 19 Paladin Garish1—Garrett Cromwell, Level 20 Wizard 2Smart4U—Tasha Smart, Level 19 Ranger KitKat533—Kateryna Volkova, Level 19 Assassin

They had been in countless battles and had faced overwhelming numbers before and instinctively knew how to handle the situation.

Matthew, who had the strongest defensive armaments, stepped forward. He extended his enchanted shield, creating a temporary barricade to give Garrett time to start casting and Tasha time to start shooting. Both did so immediately.

The Mummy King reached out a hand that now glowed orange, and a whirling sandstorm materialized in front of him. With a push of his hand, the whirlwind hurtled toward the group of adventures.

The tornado of sand slammed into the Paladin’s shield and flowed around it into the rest of the party.

Mummy King attacks Real2Be with Sandstorm. Attack does 5 Health points damage. Sandstorm causes Temporary Blindness. Temporary Blindness resisted and does not take effect.

Sandstorm was a particularly nasty spell, not because of the damage done, which was minimal, but because of the high probability of causing blindness. Tobias had resisted, but not everyone in the party had been so lucky.

“Damn, I’m blind now,” Matthew called into his headset.

Everyone else quickly called out that they had resisted the blindness. They were fortunate that only one person had been blinded.

“Stay here. Keep the shield up and protect Garrett and Tasha,” Tobias replied. “Kateryna and I will handle the rest.”

A huge fireball suddenly erupted from the Wizard’s hand and sped toward the oncoming undead army. The Mummy King swiped a hand in front of himself, sending the fireball veering off to the side, leaving himself unscathed. The mummies on the left side of the tunnel were not so lucky, and half the mummies began to burn.

Tasha had also been busy during the first exchange. Half a dozen mummies were shuffling forward with arrows protruding from their animated corpses.

Tobias drew his sword and stepped around Matthew’s shield wall, intent on getting to the Mummy King before it could cast another spell. His sword, Epic Blade, was the perfect weapon for this task with bonus damage against undead creatures and the chance for a critical strike every time he swung the sword.

Name: Epic Blade, Longsword

Damage:

32–48 points base damage + 20 points versus dragons, demons, and undead creatures 50% chance of critical strike versus opponents with 100 Health points or less 25% chance of critical strike versus opponents with 200 Health points or less 10% chance of critical strike versus opponents with more than 200 Health points

Requirements:

Strength 15 or higher Agility 15 or higher

Attack Cost: 5 Vitality points

Arrows continued to fly overhead, each one thudding home in a mummy, causing it to stumble backward before shambling forward again.

Kateryna was only a step behind Tobias and broke to the side, rushing into the mass of low-level but highly numerous mummies. The Assassin dodged and spun, her dual swords leaving a trail of death—well, second death, as the mummies were technically already dead.

Tobias used his Analyze skill as he approached the Mummy King to see exactly what he was up against.

Name: Mummy King

Level: 15

Size: Medium

Health: 310 / 310

Vitality: 235 / 255

Strength: 18

Stamina: 17

Agility: 10

Intelligence: 12

Wisdom: 18

Charisma: 15

The Mummy King reached out his hand again and unleashed another spell before Tobias could reach him. This one slammed into the Knight, staggering him for a moment.

Mummy King attacks Real2Be with Death Stare. Attack does 50 Health points damage. Death Stare causes Fright. Fright resisted and does not take effect.

“Grrr!” Tobias growled as he stalked forward, sword held out to the side, ready to strike.

The Mummy King stepped forward to meet the Knight and punched out with his right hand. Tobias dodged to the side then swung his sword forward with one hand, striking a glancing blow. He grabbed the hilt with his second hand and swung forward with all of his strength. The two-handed strike hit the Mummy King in the midsection, cutting through the desiccated body.

Mummy King attacks Real2Be with Punch. Attack dodged. No damage done. Real2Be attacks Mummy King with Epic Blade. Attack does 36 Health points damage. +20 damage against undead creatures. Strength 20 increases damage by 50%. Total damage: 74 Health points. Real2Be attacks Mummy King with Epic Blade. Attack does 48 Health points damage. +20 damage against undead creatures. Strength 20 increases damage by 50%. Total damage: 92 Health points.

Tobias stepped back, sword held in front with two hands, ready to strike again. Before the Knight could attack, two arrows struck the Mummy King in rapid succession, and he stumbled backward. A second later, a lightning bolt slammed into his chest, and the Mummy King exploded in a shower of rotting bandages, decayed flesh, and bone fragments.

Tobias looked to the side just as Kateryna drove both of her swords into the last remaining mummy. It crumpled to the ground as she withdrew the swords and with a twirl, slammed them back into their sheaths. A quick glance around the corridor told him the battle was over.

You have been awarded 13,500 experience points for slaying Mummy King.

You have been awarded 34,200 experience points for slaying 38 Mummies.

Experience points will be divided amongst all participants in the battle.

With the battle over, Matthew’s Temporary Blindness expired, and the Paladin could once again see.

The rest of the party joined Tobias near the fallen body of the Mummy King. No words were spoken—none were needed—as they looked toward the archway with sinister glowing runes and the dungeon master beyond.

Garrett cast healing spells on all members of the party that needed it, then drank a Vitality potion to recharge after expending much of his Vitality casting spells, both during the battle and after.

Once they were all healed, they strode toward the archway and the huge monster that waited on the other side. They stopped just before the archway which was the boundary of the monster’s range.

Tobias used Basic Analyze to assess the threat.

Name: Marduk, Demon Lord

Level: 23

Size: Gigantic

Health: 480 / 480

Vitality: 460 / 460

Strength: 20

Stamina: 20

Agility: 19

Intelligence: 17

Wisdom: 15

Charisma: 10

Higher levels of the Analyze skill would have provided more information, but he didn’t need higher levels of that particular skill to know that the Demon Lord was powerful and could end them all very quickly.

He’s a big one, Tobias thought to himself.

To be precise, the Demon Lord was the largest and highest ranked monster they had come across in the six months they had been playing the game.

He glanced to the periphery of his VR goggles which showed that his Health bar was full, as was his stamina bar. A bar at the bottom showed the full Health level for the monster. No other icons were present.

Looking down at his wrist, he tapped the back of his left gauntlet, and his inventory screen popped up. He scrolled through his potions, weapons, armor, and special items.

Magic wand, no. Strength potion, no. Stamina potion, nope (this was not going to be a long battle, one way or another).

He eventually found the items he was looking for and repositioned them to the top of his inventory for easy access.

Satisfied his items would be quickly available when needed, he swiped to the left, bringing up the map of the region. It showed him the position of his team as well as the monster they were about to face—the Demon Lord who was apparently named Marduk. Each member of his team was represented by a blue dot while the monster was a red dot. Below each blue dot was each person’s game handle. Several tunnels led into the chamber behind and to the side of the demon.

Their strategy would be similar to the one employed against the mummies, at least to begin with. Matthew would lead the way, his enchanted shield creating a defensive barrier while Garrett and Tasha began casting and firing arrows. Tobias and Kateryna would then rush into the room toward the two nearest side tunnels, one on each side. As soon as they were clear, Garrett would charge the demon, attempting to draw his attention—and hopefully deflect blows long enough for the rest of the team to do some serious damage.

The goal was to keep the demon distracted while Tobias waited for the right moment to finish off the monster. That’s what the Level 20 Knight with maxed-out strength and the most powerful weapon in the game was good at doing.

Tobias smiled, looking forward to his part. He hadn’t told the team he was going to try something new.

The item he had moved to the top of his inventory wasn’t a strength potion or even a defensive potion.

Name: Wayward Traveler potion

Effect:

Increase speed of travel across the landscape 200% increase on roads 100% increase on flat land 50% increase in forest, hill, mountain, and swamp terrain.

Duration: 30 minutes

This wasn’t a combat speed potion that would give a ten percent boost to speed. The travel speed potion was designed to move you across the game map quickly. It was an extremely useful potion for added speed while traveling. Using it in combat was not recommended, though, because it was hard to do anything but go forward in a straight line. He would never try using it in combat with a standard controller, but he really thought his particular gaming system would give him the control he needed to make it work.

Time to see if I’m as smart as I think I am, Tobias thought as he gripped his sword—Epic Blade, the game’s namesake—in his right hand.

It was time to take this demon down. “Matthew, give us a barricade. Tasha, Garrett, light him up.”

Matthew stepped forward, leading the team through the archway. Once on the other side, the Paladin quickly raised his shield, creating the barricade they hoped would absorb the demon’s first attacks. Tasha and Garrett began shooting and chanting as soon as they entered the room while Tobias and Kateryna burst in, heading for the tunnels on either side of the demon.

Once the Knight and Assassin were clear, Matthew rushed forward, intent on taking the brunt of the Demon Lord’s first attacks.

Marduk reacted quickly, but not as expected. He stretched out a hand at Garrett, and javelins shot out from each finger.

The entire team froze, watching helplessly as three javelins impaled the Wizard before he even finished casting his first spell. The Wizard turned to smoke and vanished.

“Ahhh, dammit,” Garrett’s disembodied voice came across his headset.

That was the thing about Level 23 monsters. They frequently had instant-death level attacks, especially if you didn’t have high-level armor. By the time Garrett rematerialized at the entrance of the dungeon—where the last checkpoint was—and found his way back, the battle would almost certainly be over.

They were an experienced team, though, and the loss of one person didn’t mean all was lost. Tasha had continued to launch arrow after arrow into the demon, ducking behind the archway when Marduk turned his attention—and his lethal javelins—on her.

“Keep that bastard busy until I get back,” Garrett said. “I will be there in a few minutes.”

Tasha popped back out from behind the archway and fired three more arrows with her mystical bow. “Take your time. We’ve got this,” the Ranger said, ducking back behind the archway again as more javelins sailed through the spot she had occupied a split second before.

With Marduk’s attention focused on the Ranger, Matthew turned back to the monster. The Paladin strode forward muttering an incantation, his shield held high. A moment later, his sword began to glow a bright white.

“I’m gonna send you back to hell!” the Paladin shouted.

Marduk turned his attention on Matthew and bellowed, “I will enjoy hearing your screams in the eternal flames, human!”

Now that the monster’s attention was on Matthew, Kateryna rushed in with glowing daggers in each hand. She darted between the demon’s legs, slashing both with her daggers.

Marduk roared in pain and reached down to grab the speedy Assassin but got nothing but air.

Matthew took full advantage of the monster’s attention shifting to Kateryna and charged, sword raised high. The Demon Lord was too fast, though, and swung around, a huge mace suddenly appearing in his hand. The spiked head of the mace crashed into the Paladin’s shield and sent him flying. He crashed into the wall and didn’t move.

Matthew didn’t vanish, though, so he hadn’t been killed, just stunned.

Tobias watched as his teammates attacked Marduk—some hitting, some not—and waited patiently for his turn. He glanced at the Demon Lord’s Health bar in his peripheral vision and was encouraged to see it was down to eighty-five percent. Then watched it tick back up to eighty-six percent.

Great, a self-healing monster.

They definitely couldn’t wait around for Garrett to return if the Demon Lord was going to keep healing himself.

“Looks like you’re the last man standing again, Tobey,” Kateryna quipped now that Garrett had been killed and Matthew was out of commission.

“Of course, when you boys are done, us girls can finish him off,” Tasha chimed in.

It’s now or never, Tobias thought as he glanced down at his gauntlet, tapped it to bring up his inventory, then double-tapped the travel speed potion. A running man icon appeared in the upper right of his peripheral vision.

“Don’t worry, Kat. I’ve got this.”

The Level 20 Knight charged Marduk with his sword held out to his right. He was running so fast with the aid of the potion that he nearly ran past the monster before he swung his sword.

Tobias felt his right arm vibrate as his sword bit into Marduk. He was going too fast to strike a second time and skidded to a stop on the other side of the chamber—to be more precise, he slid into the wall with a loud crash. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his Health bar flash and drop to ninety percent. A quick glance at Marduk’s Health bar showed it was down to seventy percent.

Real2Be attacks Marduk with Epic Blade. Attack does 48 Health points damage. +20 damage against demons. Strength 20 increases damage by 50%. Total damage: 92 Health points.

I’ll take that. The Knight thought to himself, then attacked again.

Instead of charging straight back the way he had come, Tobias charged at the other side of the monster so he could take a swing at its other leg. As before, striking and speeding past before Marduk could even react. This time, he was able to control himself and stop before smashing into the wall.

Real2Be attacks Marduk with Epic Blade. Attack does 44 Health points damage. +20 damage against demons. Strength 20 increases damage by 50%. Total damage: 86 Health points.

Knowing the monster was already healing himself, Tobias launched back into the fray, this time attempting to strike at both legs as he raced past. He almost stumbled into tragedy—literally—as he nearly lost his balance while trying to run, swing a sword, and spin at the same time, failing to strike the demon at all.

Marduk was already starting to figure out what was happening and was quicker to react this time. Combined with Tobias’s stumble, the Level 20 Knight nearly joined Garrett back at the checkpoint.

Real2Be attacks Marduk with Epic Blade. Attack dodged. No damage done. Marduk attacks Real2Be with Spiked Mace. Attack dodged. No damage done.

Despite the close encounter, the Knight was still relatively unscathed and was encouraged to see that the monster’s Health was down to fifty percent now. Of course, it almost immediately started going back up.

The Demon Lord was clearly learning—the AI in this game was amazing—and probably wouldn’t fall for another speed attack like that.

“Be bold or go home,” Tobias said to himself and tapped his inventory screen again.

He double-tapped a second potion.

Name: One Hit Wonder potion

Effect:

Deal double damage with melee attack Chance for critical strike increased by 25%.

Duration: 1 attack

A sword icon with a plus next to it appeared under the running man icon. The Knight nodded to himself and charged the demon.

Marduk was expecting another speed attack on his legs and moved to intercept—just as Tobias had anticipated. Instead of speeding past the monster, he ran straight at him and leaped. He planted his right foot on the monster’s knee, pushing off, then planted his left foot on the monster’s other leg, leaping up the beast parkour-style.

After three leaps, he was soaring toward the monster’s head. The Knight swung his enchanted sword with every ounce of his Level 20 strength. He felt the sword bite into the creature’s relatively unprotected neck as he soared over the top of the huge monster.

Tobias landed behind Marduk and spun quickly to face the Demon Lord again. He noticed his Health bar at zero percent just as Marduk slammed into the ground face-first. Well, it would have been face-first if the demon’s head hadn’t been separated from his body.

Real2Be attacks Marduk with Epic Blade. Attack does 96 Health points damage. +20 damage against demons. Strength 20 increases damage by 50%. Total damage: 140 Health points. Epic Blade has delivered special attack Critical Strike to Marduk. Marduk has been killed.

One Hit Wonder potion has expired.

A moment later, Marduk turned to smoke and faded away.

You have been awarded 50,000 experience points for slaying Demon Lord.

Experience points will be divided amongst all participants in the battle.

Tobias looked around and saw that Matthew, Tasha, and Kateryna had all survived the battle. Garrett was racing down the corridor to their location.

Music began to play. Something like “We are the Champions” but different enough that Queen probably didn’t get any royalties.

A portal appeared in the tunnel directly behind where Marduk had been standing. It would return them to the Hall of Champions. Tobias wasn’t sure what levels and quests would be waiting for them, but he was sure there would be something new since new levels, quests, and even entire worlds were coming out every week.

Garrett joined the group, standing where Marduk had fallen, and they walked toward the portal. Returning to the Hall of Champions would mark this particular level complete so they could travel to the next level.

Tobias let his friends go through the portal first. As he stepped through, he saw something curious out of the corner of his eye. A new gateway appeared in the tunnel where he had been standing before his attack on the Demon Lord. An elf girl emerged from the tunnel, beckoning to him just as he disappeared through the portal to the Hall of Champions.