This chapter: 5147 words

Current stats: 25004/50000

A new chapter has arrived and with this I reached the midway point! Hurray!

Another warning to the weakminded, if you didn´t like the last chapter,well, chances are, you won´t like this one either.

On another note, I made a map, a pretty bad map, but I was wondering whether you guys still want to see it. I´m just no good at describing geographical settings~ or rather, I get bored of it fast and keep them short. Well, just vote on the poll and we´ll see.

By the way, I just noticed, this is the first chapter that doesn´t start in a time skip... what does that say about my writing? xD

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"I want you to send the army away." The GM´s sonorous voice resounded. He had forgotten to turn the loudspeaker option of, so the entire army heard him. Their prayers kept going, though, as their voices, filled with devotion continued to assault his eardrums.

"My god! It shall be done." The chubby man saluted awkwardly, then decided bowing might be more appropriate. He was simply too excited to see his god to think clearly.

When he was about to relay the order to his subordinates Udo remembered the original purpose of this expedition. The immortal army, which was called by that name due to the fact that it´s members had a tendency to return at a temple after death, was a threat to the entire continent.

The immortals were ruthless mercenaries who sold their sword to the highest bidder and would even assassinate children without a moment's hesitation. Their greed was almost legendary as was their strength. This battle had more than proven that the stories were not exaggerated. Against an entire army of tens of thousands of people this puny group of perhaps 200 immortals had lasted until the aurora struck.

They were frightening. What a cruel game of the fates had created the most ruthless creatures of the world to also hold the curse of immortality and powers only below the gods themselves. And to make matters worse these existences which were neither bound by reason or allegiance had decided to make the world their enemy.

The rulers of the land saw no other choice but to fight this devastating threat.

In order to counter the immortals the most talented mages of the world had been gathered in the city of Blocksberg to create a spell with the ability to incapacitate the immortals. Killing them was useless as they always revived. Sealing them proved to be impossible and too insecure. But breaking their mind... this idea had potential. In a rushed work which took 9 months of planning and seventeen tests, that cost thousands of lives, the 'aurora', a spell that would doom its victim to an eternity of mental suffering, was created.

It would be a lie to say the creators weren´t proud of their brainchild. There were however those who thought the method too cruel, even if it was to be used on the immortals exclusively, but in the end opposition was shut down and the aurora was used with supreme success.

The army had assembled on this day to cast the aurora on the remaining immortals and end the threat to their realm. Many had given their lives to cast it yet the aurora was dispelled by a single person.

No, by a god.

It was obvious in the way he stood on thin air. Obvious in the way his words reached even the farthest corner of the battlefield with ease. Obvious in his sheer power.

Where the immortals were unable to lift a finger against the aurora this god had decimated the spell without an effort.

Udo thought about this deed carefully and remembered the prophecy of the age of gods. The description of their powers and even the appearance matched this divine being. Gods were always surrounded by symbols of light. Their true bodies remained hidden as not to destroy any who gaze upon them.

He had waited for this day, longed for this day. This was his god. He would serve him.

Yet he found himself torn. His god sided with the wretched immortals. As his servant, Udo felt the need to tell his god of the immortals´ atrocious deeds.

"Your highness! Before the army retreats we should take these criminals prisoner. " Udo pointed towards the players.

The GM narrowed his eyes. He was in a strange mood ever since he had mourned his mistake. Anything could blow his fuse now.

"Criminals? What did they do?" He managed to ask calmer than he felt.

"They are murderers and thieves, your holiness. These immortals are heartless monsters who sell themselves to the highest bidder. They would murder their mothers for the right price. Even prince Seth of Eisgrab was murdered by one of them as they attempted a coup d'état."

The GM rang down the need to just delete the enemy army. If they could create a new spell, they might be able to create a cure as well. Deleting them was akin to crushing his only hope to save the insane players. He wanted to fix his mistake more than anything.

"I want you to forgive them. They may have sinned but their punishment has already been dealt." The GM pointed towards a magician who was merrily making snow angels in the blood drenched dirt.

"I want you to let them go and find a cure to their ailment. There will be a reward for the one to cure them, now please leave and take that army along."

Udo stood transfixed. His eyes moved around uneasily and he opened and closed his mouth like a fish. The GM couldn´t put a finger on what was going on inside him, when he once again realized how different the game was now. This kind of conversation should have been impossible. NPCs were not meant to react to GMs in any way. He should not have been noticed in the first place. Yet it was clear to him that the entire army, sunk in prayer as they were, clearly saw him.

The GM shook his head and sighed in dejection. There were many things he would have to come to terms with. This was not the place, he reminded himself again and again.

Udo seemingly misinterpreted the GM´s sigh and hastily spoke up.

"Retreat!" His voice was loud enough to be heard all over the battlefield because he used a conical magical item to amplify it. The item was a meter long and looked quite heavy, but Udo held it with ease.

The army got up from their kneeling positions and began retreating in an orderly fashion. The earth seemed to vibrate as thousands of feet moved in unison. Bad memories of the aurora entered the GMs head and he immediately shook them off. This was not the time.

"Your holiness. There is something this lowly servant wants to know. What is your divine name?" Udo was practically lying on the ground as he asked. Maybe he thought it was some taboo and expected some punishment for asking. The GM smirked at that thought. He was still crept out by the worship and felt the entire situation was ironic.

"You can call me GM."

"Your holiness Jii-Emm, my unending thanks. Praise our god Jii-Emm!!!"

Finally the noisy army commander Udo left and he kept his word, taking the entire army with him. The GM watched them leave like a lover would watch the departing train until it disappears on the horizon, or so it seemed to the sane players who could not know about the icy expression the GM hid beneath his hood.

The GM just kept staring, lost in thought. How could he help these people? The entire god affair would keep them safe for a while, that he was sure of, but that wouldn´t return their minds to a functioning state.

The players watched the GM in rising suspicion as he just kept staring. They were plagued by the same doubts as before. This person had let them suffer despite having the ability to help. He had ignored them for two years. Now he was being worshipped by their enemies and let them leave with their lives intact.

It was unfair.

Truly unfair.

Why did their enemies live while their friends and comrades had lost so much.

Unbeknownst to the GM the players started directing their anger towards him.

It was all his fault. He could have avenged them with ease, but he didn´t.

Why were they the only ones to suffer?

It was unfair.

Within their minds the seed of a new truth took root.

The GM was a traitor.

With that dawning realization one player forcefully gathered the last willpower she had left and approached the GM from behind.

"You disgusting vermin. Get out of my sight." A young woman of maybe 22 years screamed at the GM. Her red hair was in disarray and her brown eyes showed a crazed determination. Her leather clothes displayed that she was an archer. A bow with a broken string was fastened to her back and blood ran down the side of her head from a cut that was hidden beneath the red curls.

She began attacking him with her bare fists, teeth gritted in rage. Surprised the GM turned around. She kept hitting him, not caring about the prompt in front of her eyes that declared the GM indestructible. If anything it merely added fuel to the fire.

"This is your fault! You let this happen! Why did you even show up? To gloat? Bastard! Asshole! Just get the fuck out of my sight! They are as good as dead and it´s YOUR FAULT!!!" She screamed in rage and increased her speed. She kept hitting him with inexpert punches, that broke the bones in her hands.

She didn´t care.

She was an archer but turning somebody into a porcupine didn´t give her the same satisfaction as a punch to the gut. She just kept hitting. Punch, punch, punch...

Whenever her fury was about to fade with a single look towards the aurora victims the fire within her soul was relit, stronger every time. The wrath only grew.

Her screams had awoken more players from their stupor. They watched the young archer vent. They listened to her accusations and found them... plausible. It was the GM´s fault. Why didn´t he safe them when he so easily could?

They were like this because he didn´t answer their pleas. One by one fires of rage were lit ablaze inside the remaining hundred or so players chests. They got up and approached the GM, somewhat reminiscent of a zombie army with their warped faces and unsteady gait.

Confused and startled by this turn of events the GM found himself alienated by the players. But no matter what he said. They wouldn´t listen to him. More players approached him and despite knowing that none of them could hurt him, their crazed faces and the sheer anger propelling their attacks scared him.

Hadn´t he tried to save them? No, he had in fact saved them. Without his interference they would have been taken in by that army and before that they would have become victims of that wretched spell too. So why the hatred?

It was useless. He was unable to reason with them. They kept shouting "It´s your fault!". And with every shout the GM felt his mind go blank and guilt assault him.

"It´s your fault!"

"No, I stopped the spell, I-"

"It´s your fault! Because of you he became like that!"

"I did what I co-"

"You could have easily stopped that!"

"..." With every accusation thrown his way the GM ´s mental defenses were weakened. Why was it that all of this rang true somewhere deep inside of him? Yet his mind refused to accept it.

"Screw you!" In a last attempt to remain sane he teleported himself back to paradise.

The sudden silence was deafening.

Sure, there were birds singing alluring songs, waves and the swaying leaves creating a calming background music but the GM heard none of it. The beautiful scenery looked as bleak as a gray wall.

The voices echoed within his head.

He walked a few steps towards the ocean, , yet thoughts of the aurora entered his head.

He dropped to his knees, then fell face first into the white sand and cried, unable to bear the pain.

His body had left the assault but his mind replayed it over and over.

The memory of a wailing person, running in circles while ripping his hair out, entered his mind.

"It´s my fault" he whispered, getting sand into his mouth in the process. Breathing in even more sand as he started to hyperventilate.

Dizziness fogged his mind.

Screaming, shouting.

Punches, so many punches.

All deserved.

The aurora was so beautiful.

Why did he have to watch? If only he had closed his eyes. If only he had known what would happen... But did he truly not know? WoodPriest had told him about it and he hadn´t taken her seriously enough. If only.. If only.. if...only.

Sand stuck to his wet cheek as tears kept flowing out. He was ashamed of himself for acting like a child. What would crying do? Nothing. Yet the pain was so real, it was almost physical.

After what felt like an eternity of despairing he turned around and stared at the crimson evening sky. He had pondered long and hard and the GM had in fact reached a conclusion. With a stern expression he defiantly stared at the sky and spoke in a raspy voice.

"It´s their own fault. They could have left the game! It was obvious that the game was bugged, right? IT`S YOUR OWN DAMN FAULT! YOU HAD A CHOICE!"

The memory of WoodPriest assaulted him. The energetic person, who was so happy to see him, her savior... He dismissed the thought. She could have just left the game.

Suddenly the GM felt free. If anything happened to anybody in this shitty buggy game he wasn´t at fault. Nope, not his fault. No way. He was the only person here who was unable to log out. He was the only victim! The others made their choice.

Whether they encountered something awful... well, sucks to be them, right? Better luck next time.

"Hahahaha...HAHAHAHAAA!!!" In his relief the GM laughed not unlike the aurora sacrifices. Birds took to the sky in fright at the wretched sound.

The GM decided to do as he pleased.

All of them made their choice. All of them. That included his friends. He would keep them from harm, that much was sure but even if they met a fate worse than death, the GM would surely be sad but... they had made their choice. The reason why anyone would remain in this game for two years, whatever this reason may be for his friends or all the other players... it didn´t matter to the GM.

If you make a choice you have to shoulder its consequences. The players could blame him all they want. It was ultimately their own fault.

Slowly his mind started to return to its usual state, or was it? He felt tranquil.

There weren´t only bad sides to this entire development. A hint had appeared! Finally the GM had a hint to solving this mystery. Why were they trapped in the first place? Was it really a virus? The new knowledge he had acquired would help him immensely. There were so many theories he wanted to test. So many possibilities.

It was time for some experiments. Those NPC surely wouldn´t notice if some of them disappeared right?

A new goal in mind the GM got up and shook the remaining sand of. He still had lots of time before he would meet up with his group. It was time to catch some guinea pigs.

The GM entered his invisible mode and teleported himself to the city of Lavender in the east of the continent.

The city was located in a valley surrounded by mountains and could only be reached through a well maintained tunnel system. If somebody ever tried to attack the city of Lavender, the defenders would have an easy time shutting down the tunnels and sitting the siege out.

Thus it was strange that close to the town the war between immortals and the nations army was carried out. What lead to this development was again a mystery to the GM. The most important thing at the moment was to locate some of the soldiers who formed the army only a few hours prior.

They surely camped outside the city as there simply weren´t enough barracks to accommodate them all in Lavender. There were sure to be some among them who would sneak out of the camp for a night of drink and play. The GM only needed to look out for them.

Despite the fact that he could easily kidnap a few soldiers directly from their main camp the GM wanted to draw as little attention as possible. Seeing as he did not know how the virus affected the NPCs he didn´t want to burn any bridges just yet.

Going for the disobedient soldiers was his best option for now as people would attribute their disappearance to alcohol or criminals in the city. Maybe, and that would be the best outcome, they would think the people the GM was about to kidnap were deserters.

For this reason the GM started to take a leisurely stroll around the main street of Lavender . The scenery from two years prior had changed significantly. It seems like the world advancement had been gradually sped up.

The GM felt like a blind fool for not noticing the anomaly earlier. He had been around NPCs and cities often enough to see the changes in their behavior, their speaking patterns and the advancements in their technology first hand. Yet the changes occurred gradually and maybe that was the reason why he could have missed it in the first place.

Noticing a change by looking at the before and after is easy but by witnessing the changes slowly and getting accustomed to the small and unnoticeable changes he had lost sight of what the game had been like before.

With eyes that looked at the cityscape as if he had never been to this place before the GM now took in every possible change and compared, really compared the NPCs of the past and those of the present.

News of the successful campaign had obviously spread like wildfire and people were celebrating the victory on the streets. Stalls with food and games of chance lined the streets and people crowded the narrow roads.

They were smiling, laughing and some were debating politics. There was a group of women who leisurely, shopped for clothes and drew the eyes of many men with their beauty.

None of those events should have taken place. NPCs were not advanced enough to do so many minor actions, as the computer behind the program could only calculate so many actions at once. If this was the only city then there was a chance for this many sidecharacters to appear alive, but if this was how the entirety of the game looked like now, the GM could barely imagine how much work the processor had. The game should lag like this, yet the scene the GM witnessed was fluid and realistic to all of his senses.

The GM then tried to gauge the games technological progress.

Two years ago most cities were in a state reminiscent of the industrial revolution. There were many poor people milling the streets, looking for jobs and content to work twelve hour shifts of back breaking hard work in an ironwork factory.

Pollution was everywhere as coal was burned to fuel machines and furnaces. Back then the cities seemed so dirty. In contrast the streets had become very clean now.

The pollution still hung in thick smoky clouds on the city and dyed white houses in shades of grey. The shabby huts of the slums had been entirely replaced by a proper looking residential area with grid like planned streets. The older parts of the city were not planned at all and created a charming chaos which sharply contrasted the planned areas pragmatism. The buildings heights had changed as well, they had mostly increased and made the narrow streets seem even smaller.

To his surprise the GM even discovered a park close to the center of the city, a clear sign that people had become wealthy enough to spend their free time on enjoyment and relaxation.

There were even people selling newspapers and plenty who bought them. The GM figured some form of education had been implemented as otherwise nobody would buy those newspapers. There was also a printing press or some other technique which allowed the newspapers production in the first place. Out of curiosity the GM took one of the newspapers when he thought nobody was looking and read some of it.

The newspaper was printed the day before so they didn´t write about today´s events yet.

On the first page yesterdays news about the battle between the nation´s army and the immortals was the first thing of interest the GM read. He was shocked to see how much trouble the players had caused in this brief span of two years. They had literally made the entire continent their enemy by killing the crown prince of the southern kingdom of Gefrierbrand.

"Glorious battle for the sake of the world!

The immortal army which has been reported to be hiding within the southern reaches of the Lavender valley, has finally been encircled by the union army. A never before seen battle is about to ensue as our brave soldiers risk their lives to eradicate the atrocities.

The army will be lead by the leader of the highgod faith Udo Trost. His leadership belongs to the finest our beautiful continent has to offer as he has already successfully brought down the cannibalistic heathens of Arnam and the unholy death angels of Halif within the past two years. With excellent personnel like him and the united powers of the righteous union victory is assured.

According to the council of magic the use of a classified anti personnel spell has been sanctioned and will further increase our brothers´ chances of success.

..."

The GM was slightly disturbed by this. It was a fact the man called Udo had enough influence to order the army´s retreat. But the GM had trouble combining the image of a man in suit leading an entire army to several successful campaigns and the chubby and weird man...

The news of a union being created in order to eradicate the 'immortals' also didn´t sit well with the GM. This would mean that even more NPCs were being affected by the virus. Just how many were there by now? The fact they noticed that the players are technically immortal is a bad sign in the first place.

While he was at it the GM took a look at the other articles as well and quickly became intrigued. It seemed like there were many new inventions being created each day and there were four pages of the newspaper thoroughly dedicated to describing these apparatuses. The thing that caught the GMs eye was a description of a steam powered machine that could power a cart, as the creator himself said. The thing was undoubtedly a steam engine. Soon there would be trains connecting the entire continent.

There were some magical inventions too but most of them were simply too classified to be published in a newspaper. Magic seemed to still be in the hands of the wealthy, but that too was about to change as there were already outcries of injustice printed in the newspaper as well. Maybe a real revolution was upon these countries.

"Think for yourselves!

We live oppressed by the nobles of our own lands. The new ideas that are born within the confines of our minds are nothing but a reminder of what we cannot achieve as long as we belong to the rich like cattle and spirits. The power lies within us! Those who gained their riches through centuries of exploitation cannot be allowed to rule. It is only through our own will that the best results can be achieved. Let us create a new world order! An order that brings equality and justice to everyone. So start thinking about your own wishes and realities in order to get rid of the mind controls the nobles put in place against all rebellious thoughts..."

This text went on for an entire page about the injustice of the current system. There was no telling what would happen next or when exactly it would happen. Many people were discontent and the kingdoms would most likely become republics if none interfered.

Those were some important news the GM almost couldn´t believe he had missed all this time. He had heard of the assassination of the crown prince of Gefrierbrand before but never even suspected that the players were behind that. The entire matter happened almost a year ago if he wasn´t mistaken.

No doubt, the players were still as naive as him when they did the deed and were caught red-handed in their coup. When the game was still a game an act like this would only have awarded them some infamy points but now the situation was apparently different.

The GM pocketed the newspaper for now and decided to read the rest of it later. There was an agenda he had to attend to now.

Directly in front of his eyes a group of young men made their way through the crowd. One of them was boasting about his achievements during the battle against the immortal army and made himself the perfect target for the first disappearance of the night.

The GM followed them without any hesitation towards a bar. It was a rough place filled with brawny men and sassy waitresses in revealing uniforms. The group took a seat in the middle of the room and immediately ordered drinks for the entire bar. They were in a festive mood as they had just survived a life and death struggle and needed to shake the fear of death of. Boisterous stories of their heroics were shared with the other patrons and merry songs were sung in drunken stupor. The GM sat in a corner of the room, sipping some wine he had taken from the bar owners storage, enjoying the merry atmosphere while listening to the unlikely tales the soldiers spun.

"And I´m telling you, that woman looked like an angel but she swung a war hammer bigger than herself like it was nothing! She needed only one swing to kill dozens of my comrades, luckily I was smart enough to duck and got away unscathed. The monster seemed angry when she saw I survived and charged at me with incomparable speed. I couldn´t help but notice her skirt flying up as she revealed green panties. Can you believe it?" One of them excitedly recounted.

"How the hell did you survive? She charged at you right?" A bearded muscleman asked.

"Well, that´s the strange part. I must have said 'green' when she approached and she heard it as she turned red and instead of plainly killing me called me a pervert and bitchslapped me until I fainted."

At this point the entire bar roared in laughter at the thought of a monster woman who could swing around a giant hammer acting shy like a, well, strange girl. The GM chuckled along. He figured that was probably a man, playing as a girl just to do things like that.

Another soldier, eager to outshine his friend´s tale, began talking.

"Some random woman? Bah that´s nothing! One of those immortals was more shadow than man! A grisly creature who appeared behind people without a sound to slit their throats in a second and disappear again. I watched my comrades fall to him one by one, like a ghost that guy. I don´t even know why I survived. He just killed everyone but me and went to the next group."

"Liar, I saw you playing dead on the floor like some sissy. Hahaha- uff"

"I did not-!!!"

The storyteller had punched the other one in the gut and was barely held back by the others before he could do more damage.

"Get out of my bar!" The bar owner threw the aggressor out without a moment's hesitation. He probably knew that those kinds would end up breaking his furniture if he left them alone. The other soldiers simply laughed it off and continued with some friendly banter.

The GM followed the one who was thrown out, because he thought the man would be an easy target separated from his group and as if in accordance to the GM´s wishes the drunk man wobbled into an empty alley.

This was his chance.

He had had a long time to prepare the command he was about to use. It was the same packaging command he was searching for during the battle between the NPCs and players. In a split second the man had disappeared and the GM found a name in his packaged objects list.

Packaged items(1): 'Ethan Longer'

The GM didn´t hesitate any longer and returned to his island.

A cool sea breeze greeted the GM and the quiet humming of crickets mixed with the ever present sound of waves. The stars shone brightly and the waning moon that stood proudly in the night sky, was reflected on the black mass that was the ocean.

Before he could start his tests, what kind he didn´t know yet, the GM needed to plan and carefully think about what he wanted to know about this virus. Many questions came to mind. Were the affected NPC controlled or were there only slight changes to their settings? Can the new setting be overwritten? Were they aware of their past selves? Were they aware of the virus or the change that was happening inside them? Where were the differences between affected NPCs and the normal ones? Were all of them affected? Was there a way to counter the virus? And most importantly, was there a way to exploit the virus to help him hack the system and finally log out?

After a cursory look at the NPC´s code the GM understood that it didn´t significantly differ from other NPCs he had fixed in the past. By the looks of it this was a thug who originally belonged to a band of thieves. He should actually be considered a mob but for some reason he was an NPC...

Strategies and plans flashed through the GM´s head as he thought of the possibilities. They would have to wait for another day though, as he still needed some rest before he resumed adventuring with his friends the next day.