Is this really a Game?!

Chapter 787 Returning to Earth: The Challenges of the Rest of the Team

Reign woke up in his room and stared at the ceiling. He and Laura had a couple of hours left before the system would teleport them back to Earth, whether they liked it or not.

Looking to his right, he saw Liara's face which was right on his right arm. Last night, she had come to his room again. They both knew that last night would be the final night Reign would spend here. Neither one of them said a word, Liara had knocked on his door and went inside before both slowly undressed each other and spent the night passionately.

Waking up, Reign showered before getting dressed, as did Liara. Neither one spoke a word once again, and before they left the apartment, Liara suddenly grabbed Reign by the collar and kissed him before quickly leaving, which made Reign chuckle for a moment before he left as well.

He met up with Laura and the two made their way to the main building of the region, where the leaders of all the regions had gathered.

The leaders gathered for a council, discussing the strategies to continue liberating their world from the demonic influence. The importance of maintaining communication and coordination between the regions was emphasized. The leaders were determined to continue the fight against the demons, even though they knew the demons would be more prepared for their next assaults.

Reign and Laura gathered their belongings and prepared for their return to Earth. Basred, along with the other leaders, accompanied them to the portal that would take them home. Basred spoke to them with gratitude and determination.

"Laura, Reign, your presence and the artifact have given us new hope and a chance to fight back against the demons. We'll continue the struggle here, take care of your own planet, and don't let something like this happen there too."

Reign nodded, "We will. And we promise that we'll return with reinforcements to help you in the future. Stay strong, Basred."

Basred extended his hand, and Reign shook it firmly, knowing that they were parting as allies with a shared mission. "We'll be waiting for your return, may the system watch over both our worlds."

Laura also expressed her gratitude. "Thank you for welcoming us and for your courage. We'll do our best to protect Earth and return with more help as promised. Stay united and resilient."

With heartfelt farewells exchanged, Reign and Laura stepped through the portal. The familiar sensation of being transported through space and time enveloped them. When they arrived back on Earth, they were met with a stark contrast to the world they had just left. Earth remained a place of peace and natural beauty, untouched by the demonic invasion.

The moment they stepped through the portal, they were greeted by a bunch of merchants and adventurers who were in the square of Doncaster. The players surrounded them immediately upon recognizing the familiar faces of Reign and Laura.

"Hahahahaha, Reign and Laura are back, call mister Wolf and Shadow, they're back!" A team of players yelled as Reign chuckled.

"Seems like we weren't the fastest this time around."

"Well, we weren't the last either, so it's not that bad, only Beast and Tank are left, I wonder when they'll arrive," Laura said with a smile as a bright light shone behind them.

They glanced back, only to see Beast who was staring at them.

The three didn't even have enough time to say anything before another flash of light blinded them from the side and Tank appeared as well.

"Hey, did we actually all arrive at the same time?!" Tank asked with his mouth wide open as he stared at them ( AN: He's pretty much doing the Chris Pratt open mouth scene from Parks and Rec )

"Seems so, that's a bit weird." Reign commented as he glanced back, only to see Wolf and Shadow coming to them with Greenie running behind as well.

"Greenie evolved as well." Reign said as he smiled. Everybody from the team was now Tier V, they were mid-way through the Warrior Realm.

"Well, I didn't expect to find everybody in the square today," Wolf commented with a smile as Reign and the others started hugging one another and talking with smiles plastered all over their faces.

"How did this happen anyway, they told us you two arrived at the same time, but they didn't say a thing about these two," Shadow said as he put his arm above Beast's shoulder and grinned.

"Well, we got transported to the same place, the planet where Laura had gone through two challenges before, as for these two, I got no idea where they were, they did teleport back individually." Reign spoke as the others all glanced at them with interest.

"Wait, the same place, really?"

"That can happen, why did none of us get teleported to the same place too?"

"How was it, why did both of you get teleported, what was it like, what did you-" Shadow started asking tens of questions, prompting Reign to sigh before looking at him with annoyance, which made Shadow stop before he laughed.

"Sorry, sorry, I was just interested, come on, let's go to our place, we can talk there."

The entire team went back and sat down in their building before they all started talking about where they were and what they did.

All of them had been sent to a new location, except for Tank. Each time he had been teleported for a challenge before, it was the same planet as this time.

It was a large planet that was currently at war. Tens of empires and hundreds of kingdoms were warring against one another, many alliances were made, and many betrayals had taken place. He had first been teleported to a small kingdom. Thanks to their low strength, he had managed to help them out, and the next time he was teleported, he was once again teleported there, but this time, the kingdom was bigger as it had joined an alliance.

This time, he was directly teleported to an empire, the one that led the alliance. The most powerful person in the empire was none other than the emperor, who was rumored to be a Tier IX, at the very least, he should be a powerful Tier VIII.

Beast had been to a planet where seemingly no humans lived. He was sent into an enormous jungle, and even though he was close to a huge mountain, one that he actually climbed to the very top, occasionally using his flying beasts, he was unable to see the end of the jungle.

Many different kinds of beasts and monsters lived there, and there were many that were intelligent. Beast had joined with some and fought alongside them against other groups of powerful monsters in order to fulfill his challenge, which was what he believed to be a simple task, find an Apple of Power.

The apple turned out to be near the center of the jungle and was protected by multiple Tier VI monsters. The apple was the fruit from a giant tree that seemingly connected the sky and the ground, Beast had noticed it when he first arrived in the jungle.

It was a difficult task, but he managed to do it as there were more than enough apples on the tree for the Tier VI monsters, and he waited patiently for them to gather them before taking one as well and then fleeing from the scene.

Wolf had been teleported to a planet that was enveloped in ice, which made his powers weaker than usual, and his task was to kill a powerful ice drake, which was a Tier V monster that had recently evolved.

As for Shadow, he was transported to a new place, but he had no idea what the world looked like as he was actually inside a giant cathedral the entire time. He had to complete a series of tasks from a shadowy figure there, and each task required him to go below the ground where there was no light.

"Upon finishing it, I actually met Hades, who gave me a personal mission." Shadow suddenly said, prompting Reign and the others to stare at him.

"He showed me a scene, a planet, it actually reminded me of the one you spoke of, Laura, as it seemed devoid of any life, the ground was charred, it seemed very hot and there were many demons present."

"Oh, and there were two suns present, not one!"

Reign and Laura's eyes narrowed as Shadow continued talking, neither one of them stopping him.

"Anyway, Hades told me that I need to find something, a 'prison' of sorts he had made many years ago, he told me he sensed it after a long time and wanted to test me."

"He said it didn't expect me to do it quickly, he said it would probably take me decades or centuries, but that he would greatly reward me for it."

"Oh, and I saw a huge monolith there, it was shooting some kind of red beam in the sky, Hades said that is how he sensed the prison, I wonder where that is exactly."