A large, metallic object struck mightily against a monstrous creature. The metal struck true as this large, hunk of iron vibrated, sounding a heavy ring in the air. The monster fell to the ground with a thud, shaken from the unmoving object.

The metal object the man carries was an oblong shield. This hunk of iron looked too heavy to wield, too big to carry.

The man donned in a metal chest plate stepped forward carried by his leather boots. He stared down at the creature, revealing his fury in the blue pupils of his eyes, as his fists clenched within his leather gloves. The monstrous-looking creature stared back. Its large, eyes almost as wide as its face saw the man in front of it, as if acknowledging its impending doom. It began to turn tail and run with its fleshy, bird-like feet as it saw the enraged adventurer.

Just as the creature bolstered forward with its hind legs, however, the man slammed his shield down on the creature, landing harshly breaking both its asymmetric skull, and ribcage. An eye popped out, and blood spurted out of its crooked, angular mouth forcefully due to the ruthless impact. The man’s shield, greaves and leather boots were now covered in a mass of fat, blood, and guts, implicating the number of monsters he has hunted down.

Another one of these creatures snuck up behind him, readying its sharp, whip-like tentacle arm and razor-sharp claw. He noticed this immediately as he lifted his bloodied metal slab, striking the creature with its blunt edge... Again, just like all the others, this creature stumbled and fell to the ground.

As the asymmetrical creature fell, the man slammed the bottom side of his shield on it once more. It shrieked a waning, violent cry. At that instance, the shieldsman watched how this creature's tough, and rigid body popped like a delicate newborn under the man's humongous shield.

The area was littered with corpses of farmers and other humans who have lived there, along with the monsters in shreds—crushed and mangled in a weird anatomy due to the strong, blunt, force of his shield.

However, despite the numerous beasts he killed, the number of monsters just doesn't thin out, as he witnessed many more of the residents being raided and slaughtered by them. He felt his exhaustion grew.

The man panted due to the mental strain of combat, caused by his long durations of fending off the creatures... with much failure.

The man looked all over his surroundings, as the futile efforts he has endured finally dawned on him. He felt his shield, heavy, and the armor on his chest, drag him down...but this did not stop him, as he began to be consumed by his wrath. He shouted in the middle of these farms, attracting the dispersed creatures that surrounds.

More of these creatures started to surround him. He let them approach. And once they got into range, he began swinging his shield with precise and far, quicker movements in a fit of rage. They far outnumber him however, as these beasts wrapped their tentacles all over him attempting to restrain his movements. Some weren't so lucky as the man was still able to violently smash them away in a single hit, while some began to claw and bite on him with their asymmetrical, wide mouths.

The shieldsman knelt on a knee, as he felt the weight of one... then two of these beasts pounced at him from behind. They climbed on his back to grab a bite of him. He grabbed hold of one of these creatures behind him, throwing them away.

Still, throwing them away was not enough as their immeasurable numbers proved far too great, overwhelming him. Death must be nearing his doorstep.

Then at a distance, he noticed three people approach the farms, also dealing with the creatures forcing their way through—swordsman in darkened armor, a rogue in a gambeson, and a ranger in a leather vest and chainmail.

Arka and her group saw the shield-bearing fighter, being overwhelmed by these monsters. Seeing him, they went toward his location in brute force.

Arka swung her sword into three consecutive creatures splitting them in two through their stomachs. Banelfsing jumped at these monsters, hitting two in adjacent with each other, knocking both of them down with his knees as he stabbed them in the head with his daggers. Mikrim fired a shot with her bow prepared beforehand, with careful accuracy. As she fired, her bluish-white arrow split into several ones in mid-air, as each arrow homed in on the creatures surrounding the man, killing them instantly.

Gloomperil registered to the index—A small notification window appeared for the trio.

The shieldsman was surprised at their proficiency in killing these Gloomperils. But most especially his attention turned to Mikrim who, without a doubt, just cast magic at the creatures that surrounded them. The monster on his back was hit, staining his face and back with its guts.

The corpse of the Gloomperils circle the man in a pool of blood thereafter. Arka approached the shieldsman, offering her hand out to the kneeling person. "Are you-"

However, she stuttered and was once again at a loss for words. She was troubled, causing a wrinkle to form between her eyebrows.

At that moment, she saw the man's face upon closer inspection and recognized him. It was the shield player whom she saw in the tavern a few hours back.

The shieldsman just stared at Arka in front of her close helmet and then to her hand, confused about her sudden halt of speech. Arka slowly closed her hand into a weak fist, as she felt the sudden hesitation.

Banelfsing looked at the man and Arka, understanding the conundrum that occurred. "Do you need a healing potion?" He helped Arka state her intentions. Mikrim walked next to Banelfsing, watching the scene.

Arka looked at Banelfsing upon hearing him answer for her. Then, she looked back at the shieldsman and nodded at him. She felt disappointed failing to say what she wanted.

The man looked at the three of them who understood his concerning condition. Mikrim came forward as she started to take out a small healing potion in her leg bag. "Here, you can ha—."

"No, I... I'm fine..." The man interjected her offer however with a wave of his hand. A stony-faced expression was seen with his eyes and mouth rested, seeming unlikely to crack any kind of smile. Banelfsing observed them from a distance with crossed arms.

He began standing up with the support of his tall, and broad, shield; stained with the blood and guts of monsters. Arka, Banelfsing, and Mikrim watched as the shieldbearer stood from where he knelt.

So, this is the shield player... Arka thought as she looked at him, absent of any weapon, as her eyes followed to the shield the man held.

She identified this as a Pavise—a type of oblong shield used in Italy, named after the city of Pavia, used in the 14th and 16th centuries.

Arka then looked above the player's head and began to focus on it. However, the player’s username would not appear. She assumed it was related to the bug in the system.

"Can you tell us what happened here?" Banelfsing asked the man.

The man looked straight at Banelfsing with his distant glare, shaking his head. "I have no clue..." The man said with his deep voice as he looked down, further revealing his sour expression. "I was with my party on our way for a field hunt... when all of a sudden, these monsters appeared everywhere—heading towards the city and..." He tightened his fist. "I was left alone to defend these farms." It seemed the shieldsman recalled something that induced anger within him.

Arka looked all over the farms they were on as she understood the thought behind what the shieldsman said. Each house was littered with the corpses of the people that lived there, eaten away by monsters with their exposed abdomens and bone as their organs splayed all over the ground. More of these devastated corpses are seen throughout the fields of the farm, with the same ravaged mess. It was clear that this shieldsman was trying to defend the NPCs in this area, but has failed to do so.

Understanding his feelings, she looked back at the shieldsman with a concerned look, unseen behind her helmet.

Mikrim held a troubled look in her eyes after she saw the scene around them. Banelfsing approached them, remaining quiet.

"It's no use staying here," Banelfsing and Mikrim looked at Arka who spoke to them. "There has to be more monsters on a rampage in the city right now as we speak," she began to walk past them as she said this, and stopped to look at them. "We'll know for sure what's happening... We'll get to the bottom of this,"

Agreeing with her, both approached her as they began to run onward towards the city.

The shieldsman however called out to them putting the party to a stop. "Wait," he said as he felt impelled with a weight of responsibility. Arka, Banelfsing, and Mikrim heard his sudden call. "Let me come with you,"

“What’s your name?” Banelfsing asked him.

“Halvund,” he said.

The four continued running down the path toward the city. Everywhere they looked burned with the roaring flames set ablaze by these monsters. The clouds dyed in a tint of red due to the flames within the city reflecting it. Trees and bushes burned on the short, masonry walls among the bricked path the four ran on. It didn't take them long until they reached the eastern gates of the grand city, only to find more players fighting these monsters.

A pack of Bor-kulitz and Nightcullers surround these five players. One of them wields a claymore, smashing its blade into five of the beasts, ceasing their onslaught. Seeing this, the four rushed in for an ambush from behind the creatures to help fend them off.

Halvund slammed his shield against one, yelling a battle cry attracting the remaining pack. Once they were distracted, Arka and Banelfsing swung their weapons in sync, aiming for the monster's weak spots. Mikrim fired her bow, calling a mass of homing arrows upon the creatures, killing and throwing off some of them instantly.

Arka, Banelfsing, and Halvund hunted for the remaining injured Bor-kulitz and Nightcullers that resulted from Mikrim's storm of homing magic arrows. It didn't take long to finish them off until the foot of the eastern gate’s entrance was now wasted with the mangled scraps of these creatures.

The five players looked everywhere dumbfounded. Arka, Banelfsing, Mikrim, and Halvund approached one of them.

"I-Is everyone alright?" Arka asked them.

Still awestruck with their half-parted mouths on what happened, the man with the claymore answered. "Yeah..."

"Can you tell us what happened?" Mikrim asked them away as she swung her bow over her shoulder.

The man with the claymore remained quiet, as another player in their team stepped forward, holding a flail. "I don't know the details... but a group of monsters suddenly appeared and charged into the city, killing players and the NPCs..." the man with the flail placed his fingers at the side of his temple and closed his eyes, as if remembering something he saw. "During our fight though, I saw a small group of players heading into the castle."

The castle...? Arka was confused about knowing this. Until now, the game's castle wasn't accessible by anybody in the game. That's because approaching the castle alerted the vast line of guards that stood throughout the stone bridge. No one can cross this bridge as they were all underequipped. Players also assume it was because it was unreleased content of the game, which was the reason for the place being heavily guarded, and easily a death trap.

"Are you sure? But the castle's off-limits to any player that waltzes in there. It's kill-on-sight just by walking past the first, two guards..."

"Look, I don't know why, okay? I just know what I saw... I'm certain of it." The man with the flail told Banelfsing.

"Then, we'll have to check that place out ourselves," Arka said. She began to walk forward.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed her shoulder, stopping her movement. "Hold on," It was Banelfsing who stopped her. "Why're you being insistent about heading there?"

Arka saw Banelfsing's concerned look at her. He let go of her shoulder. "Ara, let's just call it a day... let the devs fix this. We're already near the city anyway,"

Arka recalled Stan's words to her. 'Everything you know about this world isn't what you think it is. It's best you direct your fun to somewhere else.'

"Remember what I said at the tavern?" Arka asked Banelfsing.

Banelfsing held a blank stare, attempting to recall their conversation earlier. "You mean, the portal people?"

"Yeah, the portal people..." Arka said. So, you were listening... She thought.

"So, you think they got something to do with this...?" Banelfsing said.

"Yes, exactly," Arka nodded saying this.

Banelfsing scratched the back of his head. "Do they matter that much to you...?"

Arka nodded at Banelfsing. "Y-Yes. There's just something more to this game than you think. And it's not just for me... I believe it's something that we all need to find out," she said.

Banelfsing looked into Arka's eyes... or at least, behind the darkness that covered her eyes behind her close helmet. He second-guessed and thought about what he should do. He thought it wasn't a good thing for somebody to obsess over something like this, and could be detrimental. Other than that, what if they found nothing there, only to end up risking their avatars by a game-breaking bug? Or what if they end up finding a dead end after heading there? It would be counter-productive. Most importantly, pointless.

Still, perhaps it wasn't a bad thing to try and find out what has been going on lately in the game. Somewhat, he was also curious with all the strangeness going on in Helsfate.

After a short pause, he made his choice. "Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to keep going with you. But if things don’t go well, we log out."

Arka nodded at him. "Got it," she said.

Mikrim then spoke up. "With everything going on with such a game with good potential as this, I think I'd feel pretty bad not doing my part as a tester to report any bugs to the devs. So, I’ll keep sticking with you two,”

"I'm here to see through this 'till the end," Halvund said raising his shield. "I'm not going until we're done here,"

Arka nodded to them both. "Thanks for accompanying me on this one then,"

Just then, the man with the flail spoke up. "Wait, sir, Baneflsing... you didn't know?"

"Know what?" Banelfsing turned to the man with the flail.

"The logout feature's busted at the moment," He said.

Halvund showed a troubled expression on his face upon hearing this. His mouth turned down. "What do you mean?" He asked.

The man with the flail opened his system settings menu and went over to his virtual logout symbol.

"I mean, we can't log out..."

Upon hearing this defining sentence, Banelfsing, Arka, Mikrim, and Halvund opened their menus.

As each of them looked at the logout button, a small, red, text appeared on top.

You cannot logout during combat. The text dyed in the color of red, said.

"You can't be serious..." Mikrim was perturbed. The middle of her eyebrows creased upon seeing this unexpected message.

Arka and Halvund stayed quiet upon this troubling revelation they saw.

"Then we have no choice after all..." Banelfsing said.

Arka held a bemused look within her helmet upon seeing the words that floated, spelled out on her HUD.

Arka persisted a few more times on selecting the logout icon on her system settings menu. No matter how much she tried though, the same, red text kept reappearing on top of this icon.

Afterward, she dissolved the menu that hovered over her HUD. She looked at the burning, grand castle beyond the open gate of the city.