The world around Alphonse spun violently. Spatial pressure felt as though it were squeezing his internal organs, forcing gravity and directional orientation to collide within his head.
As the light faded, the sharp scent of sulfur and hot steam from the freshly scorched swamp assaulted his senses.
Alphonse dropped to one knee. He clamped his right hand over his mouth, while his left hand clutched his violently churning stomach.
"Ugh..." A stifled groan escaped his throat.
"Hah?! Who is it?!"
An arrow of light was already aimed squarely at Alphonse's forehead. However, the moment Arcus realized who had emerged from the spatial distortion, the tension on his face shattered.
The Sirius Piercer bow was lowered, but his expression shifted into one of profound disappointment.
Arcus suddenly dropped to his knees, tilting his face toward the night sky with his arms outstretched in dramatic agony.
"Oh, Gods! Why do you mock me?! Do you despise the grandeur of my prologue so much that you sent this Dictator to end it so quickly?!"
Tears began to pool in the corners of Arcus's eyes. "My tale had only just begun! I was supposed to be the chosen one of destiny, walking alone to conquer the horizon!"
Alphonse, who was still trying to hold back his nausea, stared at Arcus with a flat gaze. "Stop shouting such nonsense... You're making my head ache even more."
Arcus ceased his lamenting. He snorted in annoyance as he stood up and dusted off his immaculate maroon suit.
"Your face is deathly pale. And why are you clutching your stomach?"
"The sensation of teleportation in this world... is not the same as the game," Alphonse answered hoarsely.
He stood up slowly, regulating his breathing until the nausea subsided. His eyes then swept the surrounding area.
The swamp floor had turned into glass that still emitted thin wisps of smoke. It spanned hundreds of meters, yet not a single monster corpse remained.
"Where are the corpses of the [Swamp Lizards] you were fighting?" Alphonse asked, his eyes narrowing behind his monocle.
Arcus smirked, letting out a haughty laugh that vibrated the air.
"Of course they have all vaporized into dust! The welcoming party just now was far too boring. I should have been greeted by a World Boss or at least thousands of high-tier monsters, not mere grunts numbering only in the hundreds."
THWACK!
"Ouch!" Arcus rubbed his head, which had just been struck by Alphonse's hand. "Why did you hit me?!"
"You idiot," Alphonse hissed, his forehead twitching as he held back his anger. "All those monsters are a source of funds. Their pelts, fangs, and cores are money. Why did you destroy everything leaving nothing behind?!"
"A true artist cares not for loot! Besides, they were only low-tier monsters," Arcus retorted, defending himself with his bizarre artistic integrity. "A battle must be concluded with grandeur! That is what you call artistic integrity!"
"Grandeur for whom? There is no audience in this swamp, Arcus!" Alphonse massaged his temples. "You killed Level 20 monsters with [Tier S - Nova Blast]. Do you know the meaning of the word 'Overkill'? You just burned a pile of money merely to satisfy your ego."
Arcus turned his face away, "Ordinary humans will never understand art."
However, before he could continue his rambling, Alphonse had already touched his shoulder.
"What are you—"
"Silence. Vrischil is already waiting," Alphonse cut in coldly.
His free hand moved quickly, weaving runes in the air.
A teleportation magic circle lit up beneath their feet once more.
"Wait! I just ate an entire turkey before I logged in! Give me time to prepare—"
The light swallowed Arcus's words. They vanished from the desolate swamp.
On the freezing ice plains, a white star descended from the sky.
Its light dimmed like an evaporating illusion, leaving Vrischil standing alone amidst a blizzard.
The bone-piercing cold immediately touched her skin, but her combat attire possessed sufficient resistance to block the extreme temperature.
Vrischil opened her eyes. her vision was clean, devoid of HP bars or UI navigation.
Transmigration to the real world. This body... is incredibly light, she thought to herself.
she drew Fractal Ruin. The sword blade, crafted from interwoven transparent crystals, gleamed, reflecting light from the ice plains. Although it looked as fragile as glass, the blade felt weightless yet radiated a strange magical density in her hand. she channeled mana into the weapon.
Instantly, the crystal sword blade shattered. Sharp fragments hovered around her, dancing to the will of her mind.
Vrischil dispersed the fragments across a radius of hundreds of meters. Through the magical perception she embedded in each shard, she could sense the tiniest details of the surrounding area—from shifting ice pebbles to the whistle of the wind at the edge of the frozen sea.
After recalling her fragments, Vrischil walked across the snowy plains. her mind was focused on her comrades. she was certain Alphonse, with [Tier EX - Akashic Terminal], would find her soon.
Suddenly, the ice surface before her exploded.
A giant polar bear emerged from behind the shattered ice boulders. Its claws were made of sharp ice crystals, its red eyes full of ferocity.
[Frost Giant Bear]. A Level 50 monster.
The bear roared, vibrating the cold air, and lunged toward Vrischil.
The Elf remained calm. she drew Fractal Ruin, but instead of utilizing all the fragments, she only channeled mana into a single, tiniest crystal shard. The shard was enveloped in a lethal black aura, emitting a faint stench of death.
[Tier A - Aura Scorpio]
The black crystal fragment shot out as fast as a bullet, grazing the bear's cheek before hovering back to Vrischil's side.
The bear continued its charge, but its pace slowed drastically after merely three steps. The giant creature stumbled and fell, its body convulsing violently.
From the tiny scratch on its cheek, necrosis spread at a horrifying speed. Its flesh blackened, oozing thick, foul-smelling blood. Within seconds, the polar bear died with a dying whimper.
Vrischil approached, staring at the giant bear's carcass. The putrefaction process had apparently not stopped; its thick flesh and fur were still hissing softly, continuously decaying and slowly melting into a thick black liquid right before her eyes.
In this world, my poison debuff does not cease after the target dies. This is far more lethal than the game system.
she cleaved the monster's chest open with a single motion to extract its Monster Core. Right as she pocketed the energy stone, her senses caught a spatial distortion behind her.
Vrischil reacted instantly. All the fragments of Fractal Ruin were coated in [Tier A - Aura Scorpio] and surrounded the fluctuation point like a predator's fangs.
At the same time, her body faded.
[Tier A - Vanish]
Alphonse appeared amidst the snowy plains.
The nausea struck again, but this time he managed to endure it better. Beside him, Arcus instantly collapsed face-first into the snow, trying to dry-heave.
"Ugh... you really want to kill me," Arcus complained weakly.
Suddenly, the atmosphere turned chilling.
More than a dozen black sword fragments stopped exactly one centimeter from Arcus's vital points—his forehead, neck, and heart.
"W-what?! Vrischil?! Let me go!" Arcus screamed, his voice jumping two octaves in terror.
The fragments instead advanced another millimeter, nearly touching Arcus's skin. He shrieked pitifully, seeking refuge behind Alphonse's robes.
Alphonse chuckled softly. "Enough, Vrischil. It is me."
From behind Alphonse's back, Vrischil's figure slowly emerged. her sword fragments merged back together into a pristine, whole crystal blade, which she sheathed with a soft clink.
"I figured you would find me," Vrischil said flatly. her sharp eyes glanced toward Arcus. "Why did you bring this blonde clown with you?"
"Hey! You're so cold, you polar Elf!" Arcus exclaimed, regaining his courage now that the sword fragments were gone.
"That cold personality of yours is the reason you'll never have a boyfriend! Who would want a woman who carries a poisoned sword everywhere?!"
Vrischil merely glared at Arcus with murderous intent, causing Arcus to scurry back behind Alphonse's robes, shivering.
"I brought him because the three of us are indeed the only ones who landed in this wave," Alphonse stated, quelling their squabble.
Vrischil's face shifted slightly. "Only us? Where are the other Pioneer members?"
Alphonse sighed. "Information from the Akashic Terminal states there are ten thousand players who arrived in the initial wave. Our other core members are most likely in the next wave. I do not know when that will occur."
Alphonse's expression turned incredibly serious.
"There is a more pressing matter. One hundred and twenty-seven players have already died within a matter of hours. In this world, there is no respawn. Death is real. And our entire wealth in the inventory... it has all vanished."
The ice-cold air of the plains seemed to freeze instantly.
Arcus gasped. His hands swept through the empty air repeatedly in a panic, searching for the system panel. "Impossible... my expensive suits... my hair gel..." he complained with a choked voice, immediately slumping weakly onto the snow.
However, Vrischil's reaction was far more horrifying than Arcus's wailing.
The silver-haired Elf stood frozen like a statue. her eyes, usually sharp and flat, now widened.
Clink!
her grip loosened without him realizing it, letting Fractal Ruin simply fall and strike the ice surface with a sharp, ringing clink. Vrischil did not even look down as her precious weapon lay discarded upon the snow.
"V-vanished?" Vrischil's voice trembled.
"Hundreds of millions of gold coins in the main treasury... thousands of mana crystals... and millions of mana stones I just bought from the market right before the server shut down..."
she stared at her own hands, clad in combat gloves, as if searching for remnants of gold dust there.
"I was the one holding all of our guild's treasure. And now it is all gone. We are..."
Vrischil swallowed hard. "...we are completely bankrupt."
"Ground zero," Alphonse nodded mercilessly. "We are currently nothing more than vagrants with only the clothes on our backs and the weapons in our hands."
"If we do not find a settlement or resources in the near future, we will starve or freeze to death, rather than dying by a monster's hand."
Hearing the words 'starve to death', Arcus suddenly sprang back up. He laughed discordantly while clapping his hands, desperately seeking an escape from the bitter reality.
"But look at the bright side!" Arcus pointed to his own eyes. "My eyes are now free from the seal, the render distance is gone! I can see everything to the very edge of the horizon!"
He leaned his face close to Alphonse, pointing at his own eyes. "You see this, I have the vision of gods, while you only have the weak eyes of an ordinary human!"
Vrischil ignored Arcus. She pointed toward the carcass of the [Frost Giant Bear], which had now become a puddle of black liquid.
"You are correct. The loot system is also gone. Monster corpses do not vanish into pixels. And my poison... its effects are far more dangerous here."
"And one more thing," Arcus smirked widely. "There are no more Skill Cooldowns. I can rain arrows upon this world endlessly."
Alphonse fell silent for a moment, looking at his two friends.
"Our power has indeed increased exponentially, but so have the consequences of every action we take. Starting now, we are no longer playing a game. We are in a real world."