After all said and done, I plopped straight down onto the dirt, my butt hitting the ground harder than it should have and I felt my colon shattering in half… Exaggeration, of course, although I did let out the most dramatic groan I could muster.

"Ugggghhhhhh…"

Sound like a middle aged white man.

Not a single monster touched me, not one barky fist grazed my armor, your indistructable roach queen was alive well and dandy.

But I still felt like my whole body was shredded from the inside out. My throat was sandpaper from all the screaming, had too much fun with every order, every call-out, every frantic "move left, rotate tanks, pop buffs!" had been grinding my vocal cords raw.

The Lil-titans didn't bruise me, only I bruised myself, then I would blame them for my injuries and… God I need to stop getting so political.

"Guess what, everyone," I muttered to nobody in particular. "Shot-calling in VR raids is apparently a cardio workout, someone please invent a throat potion."

Jack chuckled, the sound he made incited me to lift my head a little, and for once, his tone wasn't the clipped, guild-leader voice he always used, it was lighter and more human, that tone I recognized whenever I eavesdrop on him talking to his team.

"You did well," he said simply, lending out a hand, to which I hesitated for a second, before taking his hand and getting up while dusting myself, he continued. "Calling micromovements like that, using everyone like chess pieces that work together for a greater cause despite putting themselves in danger? I have no doubt it's you this time, I always would remember your playstyle."

I scratched at my cheek, embarrassed, pretending I was only busy cleaning dirt off my new sword. "Well… I just didn't want you guys getting clobbered like idiots."

Jack gave me a half-smile, leaning on his sword like it was a walking stick.

"I'd say it's more like you doing your best to calculate things two steps ahead of everyone while keeping yourself alive, your perception is impeccible. You kept tempo with the raid, better than I could've. That's hard, and even I know that…"

Something twisted in my chest, a strange warmth that wasn't from adrenaline.

I had always admired Jack Kendrick, J97, back when he was the guild master and I was the awkward, undergeared gremlin hanging out at the bottom of the roster, yes, our history go wayyy back, more than a decade at this point, but he probably didn't recognize me because I used a different username back then and quit the guild after like 8 days.

He had charisma back then too: clear words, truthful leadership, no fake sugar-coating. He was the spearhead people wanted to follow, even when raids went sideways, I used to hover quietly at the edge of his groups, thinking, damn, he's the kind of leader I'll never be.

"Better than you could have? No, you're being generous." Maybe I smiled a little too much when I admitted, "I always thought you were reliable, you know, even back in the old days. Charismatic, upfront, honest… your optimism is infectious."

He looked surprised for half a second, then grinned, like I'd accidentally patted him on the back harder than expected.

He spoke.

"That's… nice of you to say. Thanks you, CJS69, though, I still find it ridiculous that a crazed one like you is a female."

"God damn lovebirds…" I heard someone muttered.

And then, just like that, the little weird hetero moment was shattered.

CLAP

The Titan of Ashen Bark slammed its massive hands together again, the echo ripping through the clearing like a thunder strike. I flinched so hard my avatar shivered, startled, not scared, by the way. I glanced down at the wristwatch and tilted my head slightly, trying to make more sense at a 45 degree angle.

"Oh god… Not this one." I whispered, eyes widened, "It's the earthwake one!"

My stomach turned to ice.

The Titan had already shown us four of its six, the ground split, the the debuff, the explosion, the spawn swarm. But this one was by far the worst, I could not fathom having to fight this.

"No, no, no… Fuck… Not this flat area." I scrambled to my feet, waving my arms like a maniac. "Everyone! Start climbing! Climb something, climb anything! The boss's legs, the trees, your tank's shoulders, I don't care, GET TO A HIGH GROUND, NOW!"

"You heard her, guys!" Jack turned to tell everyone, before dashing towards a tree himself, "Help AquaHalo move! He's holding a large baggage!"

I wasn't exaggerating, I sprinted right up to the Titan, practically walking on the wall, before jamming my blade deep into its barky shin, and clung onto the hilt like my life depended on it.

My avatar must have looked ridiculous for those idiots below, a random girl dangling off a tree-giant like some rejected mountaineer.

But the raw panic bubbling out of me made my voice crack:

"I don't know if you remember anything from the PC version, but this is a team-wipe skill!"

And they listened. All ten of them, the raid party scattered in a frenzy.

SolsticeRun and Thornhand grappled onto the boss's leg plates. Buster2k was literally hugging its heel like a koala. LyraBell and Feral_Moon scrambled up tree branches like panicked squirrels. Emberline scrambled halfway up a slope, her avatar jittering with desperate climbing animations. While DaggerDan and J97, whom I presumed got sufficient speed, stayed back and started practically dragging AquaHalo by his arms.

Then the Titan moved.

It bent forward with horrifying slowness, I could hear the sounds it was making, similar to an avalanche happening, like a mountain deciding to bow, crackling, thundering, very loud and obnoxious sound of the Empire State Building-height monster.

Before I knew it, its massive bark-knotted fist slammed into the ground.

Its fist was large, sure, but not large enough to kill the entire raid effort, but, the shockwave that was sent through the earth was bloody murder.

The forest floor buckled, ripples of force exploding outward like liquid stone. The wave hit the player mobs below, and in one horrifying instant, hundreds of them were erased.

One second they were screaming war cries, the next they were ragdoll corpses scattering like autumn leaves.

The entire raid population went from a chaotic sea of names to a graveyard of fading tags.

I held tighter, my knuckles white on the sword. "Don't let go! Just… don't let- FUCK"

A tiny, trembling voice crackled over comms: "…I can't hold on anymore."

My blood chilled, that was the voice of PyroPuff.

"Wait… Where is-"

I glanced over as she slipped.

Her little mage avatar, all puffy robes and tiny staff, tumbled from her perch.

She hit the ground just as the next wave of shock rolled over, the explosion tossed her body like a ragdoll, she didn't die right there, the damage weren't enough, but one more shockwave was sent and I watched as her HP bar flatlined instantly, before the raid party count went from 11 to 10.

[PyroPuff has been eliminated]

There goes another week or two of grinding to get your level back up to wherever you were.

I stared at the notification, heart hammering.

My throat burned with frustrated words: "You guys need… Seriously, I mean, you guys SERIOUSLY need more physical training for your character, at least put on some Attack items, gosh"

No one replied to me as they were too busy hanging on like bugs on a windshield, too terrified to speak as they also saw their beloved teammate, one of the two ranged DPS gone while no one could do anything.

The Titan paused, its fist lifting once more, bark cracking, glowing veins of molten red under its surface.

"Get down, we have to be ready!" I yelled.

Everyone slid down from their precarious holds, off branches, bark ridges, and slopes, I heard sounds of their boots hitting the earth with unsteady thuds.

Buster2k rolled his shoulders with a groan, LyraBell was already checking over the others with glowing hands, while DaggerDan shook splinters out of his hair.

There was still a plenty bunch of people in the raid, considering two players will come flocking in after one die, so their battered spirit wasn't an issue.

We began to tighten ranks again, shields were raised, arrows were nocked. No one wanted to be caught unready.

And then, the sound of system notification.

Phase I completed.

Phase II will commence in 6 hours.

Top contributors:

#1: Lion's Parade Raid Team 1 [Party]

#2: Destiny-Raid [Party]

#3: Opiased [Player]

#4: Bloodbather [Party]

#5: Kwanna [Party]

The voice rang like iron through the forest, cold and mechanical, cutting through every ragged breath.

I plopped down on the ground once more, arms spread like the snow angel, and I just started looking up into the bright skies with a hand over my forehead to block the gleam.

"I…" I gulped, "I completely forgot about the saving people thing, didn't I?"

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