The player stood up and approached the tree warily looking around to make sure no one was there. He was unaware of my presence since I was too small to be seen.

What was I to do now? Should I reveal myself? How do I stop the player?

But if I intervened it would become only more obvious that there was something very important at the base of the tree.

The player had his hands on his hips, his lips pursed as he observed the bush. My heartbeat in my chest was like someone was thrashing a punching bag.

The player’s interest however seemed to fizzle out. He was about to stroll away, when suddenly he whirled around and kicked the bush aside.

He saw the small door and his lips curved, activating the dimple below his eye.

Enough.

As he leapt for the door, I transformed myself into a massive stone giant and fell on him. My weight alone was enough to crush the player to death.

My objective achieved, I became a manture and flew back up to my tree branch. Once there I turned to my small Littlefut form to avoid detection.

I was considering whether I should drag the corpse to a different place, when the warrior whom I had thought to be lifeless coughed, much to my horror.

He parted his eyelids weakly and looked up at me. He snorted and chuckled.

“I have messaged all my friends,” he muttered victoriously and froze. This time he truly died, his still eyes continuing to stare at me, retaining the ghost of his last laugh.

I hit my small fist on the branch. The bastard player had informed all his friends. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. A group of players were approaching from far away.

At once, I messaged all of my monsters to prevent anyone from coming in my direction.

A thought crossed my mind if I should uproot the tree and take the door away.

I gave it a shot. Once again I changed to a stone giant, clutched the trunk of the tree and pulled with all my might.

I became exhausted, but the tree wouldn’t move. I gave up.

The players drew closer.

My monsters were trying their best to stop them, but despite everything the players were finding a way to get past them.

A sparkle on the ground a few meters away. A sacrifice stone lying alongside pebbles. Was there anything I could sacrifice to stop the players?

Nothing came to my mind. At least not anything I could sacrifice without facing disastrous consequences, that would be worse than the players getting to the next level.

A shadow above. A player on a flying carpet. A high level wizard. A female, her chalk white hair billowing behind her. This was the first time I was seeing any player flying after the attack had commenced.

I was quick, and my hands acted like they had a mind of their own. I uprooted a different tree and hurled it at the female like a fat javelin. It hit the side of the flying carpet, disbalancing it. Something shiny fell down.

I realized that it was one of the sacrifice stones.

So the female had learnt that things could be acquired by making a sacrifice! What could she have sacrificed in order to get that magic floating carpet?--spells, abilities, even levels. The possibilities were many.

The carpet meanwhile re-stabilized itself. The female’s hand sparked and she sent a bolt of blinding electricity my way.

I made a quick movement to dodge. But I would have done better to change forms, which I didn’t. I was too big in my stone giant form. A wholesome target.

I went rigid as the bolt kissed me. Explosions of pain followed, and my health began to plummet.

From the corner of my eyes I noticed that a player, a thief, was in very close proximity to the door.

The electrical attack was making me stiff and I used this to my advantage. I allowed myself to tumble forwards, right on top of the thief. When he stopped wriggling underneath me, I was assured that he was dead.

But more players had come, and there was the hovering female too.

I realized that I had to lose this battle, or else I would lose the war. I would lose the tower and my only chance at having legs in the real world. I had to sacrifice the first level.

With a roar, I pushed myself up, despite the incoming electricity.

I tossed the thief’s corpse towards the female. While it didn’t hit the carpet, it momentarily disconnected the spell.

Not wasting time, I ran. As fast as I could. I ignored the overwhelming pain that my body complained of. I needed to save my life.

The players were more interested in the door than they were in me, so despite half-hearted attempts to catch me by some of them, I was able to leap past the lot.

Once at a safer distance, I turned back. The victorious female was descending towards the tree on her carpet.

She would take everyone to the second level. I changed into a human and allowed myself to slump down, my mana and health levels pitiful. Had I let myself be tortured by the electricity for only a couple of minutes more, I would have lost a life.

***

The day converted to night in the blink of an eye, like someone had turned off a switch. Second level.

At least it would be harder for the enemy to spot me in the darkness. Gritting my teeth, I pushed myself up, using a shrub for support.

Monsters were banging on the ‘door’ of my mind.

I took a breath, preparing myself to give them a mental pep talk.

“Yes, my friends,” I messaged all of them. “We have lost the first level. But we must defend the second level at any cost. Find the pond and protect it hard. And now somebody please bring me a health vial. I am dying!”

I was beginning to feel very dizzy and just hanging on to consciousness, when a Skhite came to me. The health vial he brought looked like it had been dipped in blood, and only the Skhite knew how he had acquired it, but the inner fluid was untouched and clean.

I emptied the life giving concoction in my mouth and watched as my health shot back up. The pains in my body went away. I was eternally thankful that something like health vials existed in the game world.

Perhaps in the distant future even the real world would have similar medicines. A patient could just drink a health syrup and recover in no time.

“The players are searching the bases of all the trees now,” the male head of the Skhite said. Oddly, only now I realized that the Skhite was a two headed fused couple. I was reminded of Nora and Nadir

“Do you know Nora and Nadir?” I asked them.

“Yes,” the smooth-chinned female head replied. “But they are neutral ones.”

“How are they even managing to be neutral ones?” I asked.

“They and many others secretly farm a crop that produces evilese.”

My heart soared hearing that monsters were engaged in agrarian activities, even without me to guide them.

“And why aren’t you doing the same?”

It was clear from the faces of the couple that they just liked being a nuisance to players, even though it was risky. The male came up with a witty retort, before I asked the fused duo to leave.

“Because there should be somebody to bring a health vial to the Evil King when he needs it.”