The Valley of Echoes was a massive bowl shaped depression situated just beyond the Wailing Woods. Normally it was a quiet and scenic landscape filled with low level wind elementals and grazing digital deer.
Today it looked like the staging ground for a medieval world war!
Sebastian stood on a high grassy ridge overlooking the valley. He had his hands buried deep in the pockets of his ragged Drifter trousers. The wind tugged at his starter tier cloak. He looked down at the spectacle below with the clinical detachment of a scientist observing a colony of particularly aggressive ants.
There were easily ten thousand players packed into the valley. It was a sea of shifting avatars and glinting armor and nervously drawn weapons. The sheer volume of character models rendering in one location was causing the localized environment to lag. The grass textures were flickering and the ambient wind audio was stuttering in a loop.
But the chaos wasn't entirely unorganized. A brutal hierarchy had quickly established itself at the center of the valley right where the massive and glowing red spawn portal was currently pulsing with dark energy.
The major guilds had arrived and they had brought their egos with them.
Forming a massive and interlocking ring around the spawn point was the Crimson Skull guild. They were easy to spot. Hundreds of players were all wearing matching red bandanas tied around their arms or helmets. They had pushed the unaligned and solo players back with sheer brute force. They formed a meat shield wall of heavy Guardians and Berserkers.
Standing at the front of their formation and yelling aggressively at anyone who stepped too close was Viper. The guild leader had somehow managed to scrounge up a replacement helmet after Sebastian had forcefully detached his previous one from his shoulders on the bridge.
Directly opposing them and forming a secondary and incredibly shiny blockade were the Golden Lions.
Sebastian actually let out a genuine bark of laughter when he saw them!
Baron_K was standing at the vanguard of the Lions. The rich kid had apparently respawned after being crushed into a two dimensional pancake in the sewers. He was no longer wearing his diamond encrusted armor. Instead he was clad in a backup set of plain steel plate. He looked significantly less majestic but twice as furious. He was pacing back and forth and screaming orders at his subordinates and glaring daggers at the crew of Viper.
They were holding the perimeter and violently threatening any low level player who tried to get close to the boss spawn. They wanted the Guild Token. They wanted the monopoly.
"Idiots," Sebastian muttered. "A Level 30 boss is coming and they're wasting time measuring dicks."
As his silver eyes scanned the perimeter a flash of pristine azure silk caught his attention.
Off to the eastern flank and away from the loud posturing of the Skulls and the Lions was a smaller and much more disciplined formation of players. They wore dark blue tabards embroidered with a silver rose.
It was the Blue Rose guild.
Unlike the toxic player killer guilds Blue Rose operated more like a corporate syndicate. They were organized and efficient and well funded. They were mostly made up of real world family members and trusted employees.
Standing near the front of their lines was Valerie.
She looked significantly better than the last time Sebastian had seen her in the marketplace. The fruit juices and blood splatters had been washed from her high tier cosmetic robes. She gripped her beautifully carved oak staff tightly and her knuckles were white. The temporary pain immunity buff from the potion had likely worn off but the raw and unyielding fire in her eyes remained.
She was arguing with a tall and older player wearing heavy Paladin armor. He was likely the current guild master of Blue Rose.
Sebastian didn't need to hear the audio to know what they were saying. The Paladin was pointing toward the massive red spawn portal and clearly advising caution. He wanted to hold back and let the Crimson Skulls and Golden Lions take the brunt of the initial attacks of the boss.
Valerie was shaking her head violently and gesturing with her staff toward the center. She wanted to push forward. She had tasted the raw and adrenaline fueled power of max stamina combat in the market and her survival instincts were screaming at her to take the initiative. The Arcane Valkyrie was waking up.
Sebastian smiled a little.
"Slow down, princess. You can't just hit a World Boss with a stick."
Deciding he had seen enough of the pre game show Sebastian began his descent.
He didn't sneak. He didn't activate his Void Walk. He simply strolled down the grassy ridge and walked directly into the massive and surging crowd of ten thousand players.
He looked entirely out of place. Surrounded by players desperate to look cool and decked out in the best iron and leather gear they could buy or loot, Sebastian was a walking symbol of poverty. His grey cloth tunic was stained with dirt and toxic sludge. His boots were scuffed. He didn't even have a visible weapon drawn. Just the rusty hilt of an iron dagger poking out of his belt.
He moved through the crowd with that same heavy and unstoppable momentum he always used. Players instinctively stepped out of his way as their brains subconsciously registered the top predator apathy radiating from his digital posture.
He walked right up to the front lines. He stopped perfectly in the empty area between the Crimson Skull blockade and the Golden Lion vanguard.
"Hey! Trash! Get back behind the line!" a Crimson Skull Guardian yelled as he slammed his sword against his shield. "This is guild territory!"
Sebastian slowly turned his head. His dead and flat eyes locked onto the Guardian. The player actually swallowed hard and took a half step back as his bravado evaporated.
Huh?
The commotion drew attention.
Viper heard the shout and turned around. The moment his eyes landed on the ragged Drifter his face contorted into a mask of absolute and unhinged rage!
"YOU!" Viper shrieked as his voice cracked. He pointed a trembling and armored finger at Sebastian. "It is him! That is the hacker! That is the guy from the bridge!"
The Crimson Skulls immediately drew their weapons and the entire flank tensed up.
Hearing the scream of Viper, Baron_K pushed his way to the front of the Golden Lion formation. He took one look at Sebastian and his face flushed a violent and apoplectic purple!
"YOU!" Baron_K roared, his voice echoing loudly. "You little rat! You stole my ring! I will pay ten thousand silver to whoever brings me this fucker's head!"
Instantly the entire dynamic of the valley shifted. Two rival guilds seconds away from fighting over a World Boss were now entirely focused on a single and unarmed Level 10 Drifter in dirty clothes.
Thousands of solo players watched in stunned silence. Who the hell was this guy? How had a player in starter gear managed to piss off the two biggest guild masters on the server in less than twenty four hours?
Even Valerie standing with the Blue Rose guild noticed the commotion. Her eyes widened as she recognized the cold and deadpan face of the businessman who had sold her the miracle potion.
Sebastian stood in the center of the hostile ring. He looked at the twitching eye of Viper. He looked at the red face of Baron_K.
He let out a long and highly exaggerated sigh.
"What is this, a damn support group for losers I beat up?" Sebastian asked, his voice calm and loud enough to be heard over the hum of the portal.
Viper roared and raised his broadsword. "Kill him! Turn him into paste!"
Baron_K drew his steel sword. "Lions! Crush him!"
Both guilds surged forward! They were eager to claim the bounty and settle the grudges of their leaders. Over a hundred heavily armored players charged at Sebastian from both sides with weapons raised and battle cries tearing from their throats.
Sebastian didn't flinch. He didn't reach for his dagger. He didn't even drop into a combat stance. He simply looked up at the sky.
"Right on fucking time," he whispered.
CRACK! BOOM!
Before a single blade could touch him the massive red portal in the center of the valley violently imploded!
The sky physically cracked like a shattered mirror. A shockwave of pure and corrupted dark energy blasted outward. It hit the charging guild members like a localized hurricane. Players were thrown off their feet and tumbled backward into the dirt as their health bars took a massive and immediate hit from the ambient aura alone.
The ground shook so violently that players in the back rows fell to their knees. The low frequency hum escalated into an ear splitting and agonizing screech.
From the shattered remains of the portal a massive clawed paw easily the size of a carriage stepped onto the grass.
[System Alert: The Doom Howl Wolf has spawned!]