The Ripper snapped his fingers and I was free. My body was back under my control.

People murmured around me, and I could feel the hostility growing as I tried to back away and get myself out of the pillar of light beaming down on me, but the illuminated column followed me perfectly with every step, tracking my body with perfect mathematical precision.

“Who are you!?” I screamed at the sky. “What do you want from me!?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” The Ripper replied. There was a touch of hostility in his voice where there hadn’t been before. “How does it feel, Jack? Being powerless? Being on the outside of things?

“Get your Bindstone ready,” D hissed in my ear as the players around me moved closer.

“There won’t be time,” I whispered back.

“Get it ready!” he repeated.

The Ripper waved his hand and I heard the Level Up sound ring out and the celebratory rainbow colored sparkles burst around my body.

“I’m gifting you some levels. Let’s make you level…20,” The Ripper said with a smile. “Just to make sure we make things… fair. But this is the second condition for escaping this world: whoever manages to kill Jack for me will be gifted with a free ride home.

A simultaneous murmur came from the crowd. Even those who hadn’t been looking at me now all had their eyes on me.

“Good luck, Jack!” The Ripper laughed.

Someone beside me screamed and leapt forward at me. An axe swung in my direction. I ducked out of the way and the blade struck an archer standing behind me.

“Hey, watch it!”

“Get him!”

“Guys, don’t!” someone else shouted. “This is what he wants! For us to turn on each other!”

“Come on!” D shouted, reaching out for my arm. But a group of three players pushed him aside and squared off with me.

“Sorry, Jack,” one of them said. “Nothing personal.”

He raised his sword to swing, but I quickly activated Warrior’s Charge. The Ripper must have allocated my experience for me, because the burst of strength in my legs was unlike anything I’d ever felt before.

I bowled through the players in front of me, knocking them aside like bowling pins. As I passed D, I snatched him by the collar and dragged him along beside me. The charge ended and we both carried our momentum into a sprint through the crowd.

I took the lead, using my level 20 strength to smash people out of the way. Even my melee blows were dealing significant damage.

Please don’t score a critical hit and kill someone!

“This way!” D shouted.

An arrow struck me in the back, but the damage was insignificant. I quickly checked my health pool. 110!

Someone leapt at me with daggers drawn, but another player slammed into him before he could reach me and sent him flying.

“Thanks!” I shouted as I raced past.

“No problem!”

“Don’t do this!” someone screamed. “We can’t fight each other!”

I could see the edge of the crowd, but I couldn’t tell who was on our side and who wasn’t. I barreled through a group of five who definitely weren’t intent on helping us, scattering them aside like bowling pins.

“Don’t let them get away!” The Ripper cried out, howling with laughter at the chaos he had created. Someone howled behind me and I glanced over my shoulder to see a mob of players throwing themselves on some poor bastard.

“Got him!” he shouted, drawing his dagger. He stabbed at the fallen player with a flurry of blows.

“I’m not him!” the player screamed, trying to fend off the attack.

“That’s not him, you idiot!”

“Get your Bindstone out!” he shouted again. We were almost to the edge of the crowd. Quickly, I found my Bindstone in my inventory and selected it. “Follow me!”

D drove a full blown Sparta kick into the chest of a knight wearing starter plate mail blocking our path. The strike to his armor rang out like a cathedral bell as he toppled back. As he fell, I saw our salvation.

We had reached the edge of the crowd, but as I burst through, I saw something even worse. The edge of the plateau.

“What now!?” I shouted.

“Fucking jump!”

“We’ll die!”

“Use your Bindstone on the way down!” D shouted, shoving people out of his way. Someone slammed a mace into his side, chipping off a good chunk of his health.

“You can’t use it while moving!” I bellowed as the edge of the plateau raced towards me.

“It’s a glitch!” D roared. “Now jump!”

My feet kicked stone and propelled me into the air. As I hurtled over the edge, and looked down to see the ground beneath us, far, far beneath us, a moment of peace came over me. I was weightless, soaring through the sky like a bird, escaping the horde of players behind me. A moment ago, they had been my comrades, just like me, but now many of them wanted me dead.

“Now!” D shouted, shaking me from my brief moment of peace as he activated his Bindstone. Quickly, I used mine and felt the familiar pulling sensation.

“It worked!” I shouted through the air as we both plummeted towards the ground.

Using a Bindstone wasn’t instant, and normally, you had to stand in one place while the animation completed. But D was right—the glitch was working.

But the ground was hurtling towards me. The wind was a roar in my ears as I screamed towards the Earth like a meteor.

D vanished into thin air, but I was almost at the ground.

I’m not going to make it, I thought as I closed my eyes.

But then, the sound of rushing water filled my ears.

My eyes snapped open to the purple-blue twisting tube of portal space.

“Ha ha!” I roared with laughter as the portal sucked me away from the plateau. “We made it, D! We made it!”