The Devil's Cage

Kieran PMed Lawless and waited for his reply. It was a little different this time. It took Lawless a whole minute before he wrote back.

...

Lawless: Accidents might happen!

2567: Accidents?

Lawless: Yes, all sorts of accidents!

Lawless: After the beta test, there were players who ditched their virtual helmets and didn’t log in again for over three months.

Lawless: Then… accidents started to happen.

Lawless: Two of my friends, who were also beta players like me, decided to leave this deadly game. Three months later, one of them fell down the stairs and broke his neck, and the other one got electrocuted while taking bath.

Lawless: Every player who stopped playing the game has died in an accident. There were no exceptions.

Lawless: It was like Death came and took their lives.

...

It took Lawless almost two minutes to type all these words. It seemed like he did not wish to remember the tragic death of his friends.

Kieran had been too busy working to make a living to watch movies, but he did remember hearing about a movie where all the actors had died in all sorts of different accidents.

For such a thing to happen to him… He dared not even imagine it. Everything was too peculiar. Any kind of small incident or item could be the very thing that could end up killing him.

It was far scarier than his illness. After all, the progress of his illness could be monitored using medical methods, while those peculiar deaths had occurred without a warning.

It was just like the Grim Reaper’s scythe. Once the time had come, the scythe would appear around the player’s neck and drag them off to the underworld.

Kieran took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down.

He knew that panic and fear would do him no good. They would only make things worse and eventually make him fall into a whirlpool of despair.

Kieran already had some relevant experiences after all. This was not the first time he had felt threatened in his life.

Three years ago, when he’d gone for his regular medical checkup, the discovery of his genetic illness had thrown Kieran into despair. He could still taste the feeling on his tongue.

If Kieran had not had enough hope and expectations for his own life, he would have killed himself long ago.

However, back then, he had chosen to be strong, and he was going to do the same now. He didn’t even need to give it a second thought.

He had a new goal for his life. He didn’t just want to keep living. He wanted to lead a better life than before.

His chest wes burning with hope, and within mere fractions of a second the warmth in his heart spread throughout his whole body, getting rid of the biting cold.

"Well, it’s already better than it used to be, right?" Kieran thought to himself once he calmed down.

Then he messaged Lawless again.

...

2567: Is there really a way to log off the game?

2567: Like for real. A safe way.

(Kieran’s words emphasized how serious he was.)

Lawless: Yes!

Lawless: After you finish the 30th dungeon!

(Lawless’ affirmative answer made Kieran frown a little. He was so sure that there had to be someone who had done it before.)

2567: Has anyone done it before?

Lawless: Cornelia the Witch!

Lawless: A maniac. A scary woman.

Lawless: Remember what I told you before about the Legendary Skill book that sparked a full-scale war? That was that crazy woman’s doing!

2567: Then?

Lawless: Then that b*tch tricked every veteran there was back then, and killed almost a hundred players with her bare hands!

Lawless: It was because of that incident that the numbers of players that went through the beta stage was cut into half.

Lawless: Truth be told, when the system notified us that that woman was gone, everyone was relieved. Including me. Back then, no one dared opt for the team dungeon without a Team Contract, because everyone was scared of getting her on their team!

Lawless: Once you came into contact with her, it didn’t matter if you were a friend or a foe. She killed everyone!

...

Lawless went into BS mode again and started to describe how scary Cornelia the Witch had been. Kieran just scanned through his words, not bothering to answer any of his crap.

"There’s still chance! As long as there is one, things can still work out!"

Kieran felt extremely relieved. If someone had really left the game for good, then so could he.

Even if it took him 30 dungeons to get free. It was still better than nothing.

"Cornelia the Witch, huh?" Kieran pronounced the name lightly. There was no special meaning to it. He only saw her as an opponent he needed to catch up with.

As he kept scanning through his chat with Lawless, he soon discovered another hidden message.

...

2567: To my knowledge, there were 3,000 beta players back then, and only 1/3 of them were able to finish the newbie dungeon.

2567: Those who got slaughtered by Cornelia the Witch must have been only half of the players that remained. Seems like there was quite a number of players who had decided to stay on!

Lawless: All thanks to that guy!

2567: Who?

Lawless: The one who hired us for this quest, the one that works for his client who wants to finish this dungeon, that evil businessman, Monien the Broker.

Lawless: I might not like him, but I gotta give it to him. He is smart. After he finished the newbie dungeon, he used the forums to notify the other surviving players to be careful.

Lawless: Most of us believed him, but there were also exceptions. I am one of the ones who believed him and were lucky enough to survive. As a result, I now owe him a favour. Well, basically everyone who survived owes him a favor, I suppose.

Lawless: That prick really knows how to call in his favours, too. Not only did he gather the veterans and founded the secret bazaar, but he even got a hold of some rich kids and millionaires and started a Point Trading System for Union Coins, just to allow us poorer players to survive within the game!

2567: What a guy!

(Kieran really meant it. Founding the secret bazaar and the Point Trading System was enough to impress him.)

Lawless: Yeah, he really is something! He was the only one who was able to acquire a Unique Title. How good could he possibly be?

2567: Unique Title?

(Kieran unconsciously looked at his character window. His title was Crocodile Hunter. It was plain and without any ambiguous meaning. Obviously it was not a Unique Title. Kieran wanted to ask Lawless about his title, but once he realized that Lawless would start spilling a ton of BS again, he wisely chose not to mention it.)

Lawless: Unique Title, a title with a unique distinctive effect!

Lawless: In other words, if any player acquires a Unique Title, other players will not be able to acquire it anymore.

Lawless: There have been many players trying to get a prestigious Unique Title, but no one has succeeded yet.

Lawless: I can guarantee that there won’t be another Unique Title player in the foreseeable future!

2567: Are you sure about that?

Lawless: Of course! After all, The Witch and the Broker are not something you can just copy! Even my own Dragon Killer title is not a Unique Title. Those other players should just forget about it!

...

It was all still good until Lawless began to boast again. Then Kieran had to roll his eyes.

He was sure Lawless’ crap would not just stop there. Just as Lawless was describing how he had killed the Burrow Dragon with the rocket launcher for the fifth time, the team chat started to ping, notifying them that someone else had come in.