Afterlife Dream

The raids were going to be deactivated!

As soon as the announcement was made, the chats went crazy again.

"WHAT THE HELL? I THOUGHT THAT THE POINT OF THIS GAME IS TO GET LIFE POINTS! HOW CAN WE GET LIFE POINTS IF WE CAN NOT ACCESS THE RAIDS?"

"FORGET THE LIFE POINTS! WE CANNOT EVEN EXIT THE GAME ANYMORE!"

"I WANT TO SPEAK TO THE GAME MASTERS!"

My head started to throb. It was no longer the question of getting end-game equipment or Life Points. Players below level 120 no longer had the option to exit the game! Heck, players ABOVE 120 might even not be able to exit the game if they could not complete the raids. Just how many players had completed the raid? Was BlackPuma not the only survivor so far?

A megaphone was used, and a huge banner with text flashed across the sky. It was BlackPuma.

"All cities and towns, please pick a representative. Twelve members will come to pick you all from your current map at 8 AM today to have a meeting at Paradise Island, Oakstone Tavern."

8 AM was merely an hour away.

DragonTalon and I met up with Kitty and Wolfhound. We found them at the center of Marsh City with all players who were at the Marsh City at the moment. Kitty winked us over when she saw us.

"Antares, DragonTalon, come here.

Guys, these two are my friends from guild Twelve..."

Those who stayed at Marsh City ranged from level 25 to 45. They looked at us with big eyes and open mouths, seemingly enchanted by our Native Islander look.

That was a touch of sarcasm, people. We looked like hula-hula dancers and not adventurers. I had seen the female attire before. The girls looked cute with the flower crown, the strapless top, and a skirt made of palm leaves. The guys looked horrible.

Nevertheless, the low-level players did not fake their admiration and we were greatly thankful for that.

"Are you here to pick a representative up? Oh my gosh. But it is not 8 AM yet. Why so early..." a rogue girl looked particularly distressed. Kitty put her arm around her in a reassuring manner.

"Amy, don't worry. We are all just going to talk about the current problem. They are all very, very nice people."

The rogue girl stuttered, "I... I just started playing a few days ago. I don't know anything. We know nothing! How can we even participate in the meeting???"

Kitty sighed.

Wolfhound turned to me and DragonTalon, "Guys, why don't I represent Marsh City for the meeting? Our home is in Marsh City. When Giant Mushrooms go rampage in Marsh City, naturally I will fight with everyone in Marsh City."

I patted Wolfhound's back.

"That's good."

A message came from Aurendiria, questioning me and DragonTalon about our whereabouts. When we mentioned that we were both in Marsh City, she requested us to please pick up the representatives of Dai City, Marsh City, and Fairy Forest and head to Paradise Island. The request was not strange because there was only a single-line path from Dai City to Fairy Forest.

It would take some time to go back and forth, so we left Wolfhound to fight with the Giant Mushroom while we went to Dai City to pick up their representative first. And then, together with Wolfhound, we planned to slowly move forward to Fairy Forest and then take the ship to Paradise Island.

Unlike Marsh City which sustained some damage from the Giant Mushroom's attack, Dai City did not seem to be largely affected. I was quite surprised. All buildings still stood upright. Not even one of the construction site beams was askew.

While I was looking at the building condition, DragonTalon was looking for something else. When he did not find it, he turned to me with a frown.

"Antares, where is everyone?"

"What do you mean? They are..."

I looked around in confusion. DragonTalon was right. There was no one wandering about in Dai City.

The city was supposed to be full of low-level players, ranging from level 5 to 15.

I remembered that I used to spam Dai City Party Quest to quickly level to 15. After Dai City Party Quest was abolished, the players would have to grind hard to gain experience. What a pity.

"Maybe they went grinding outside?" I offered.

"Impossible. Did we even encounter a soul on the way here?"

When he was right, he was right. The grinding maps were empty. Not one player was seen killing outside. What did that mean? That meant that everyone was here, in Dai City.

Out of old habits, our feet took us to the Dai City Party Quest waiting area. Before we even arrived, we already heard the cheers and cries of an excited crowd. All low-level players who were staying at Dai City for the time were gathered in the waiting area. I was a little puzzled. Was the Dai City Party Quest not abolished?

I tapped on an archer's shoulder.

"Brother, are you waiting to get into the Party Quest? Is it still on?"

The archer pursed his lips at me in irritation.

"Brother, did you manage to sleep through this morning's ruckus? Did you not hear the villain's announcement? Of course there is no more party quest. Not only in Dai City but everywhere in Afterlife Dream!"

"So... why are we all here?" I asked, gesturing at the bunch of people who were gathering around the NPC.

The archer laughed.

"For fast money and experience of course. Now don't disturb me. Wait one more minute and you will see."

DragonTalon and I stepped back and waited. The other players murmured among themselves.

"Soon."

"Fifty seconds."

"Forty."

When they finished counting to zero, the Red Bubble boss appeared and stomped hard into the ground. I expected it to run rampage, but it could not. It merely jumped up and down on spot, because it could not get past the stone stairs to wander around. The boss was glitched. All the players around it quickly attacked it. Having been bombarded by so many people, the Red Bubble boss' HP quickly went to zero. After the boss died, those who attacked gained a bunch of experience according to the amount of damage they contributed. Gold too was distributed in a similar fashion.

I whistled at the brutal scene of the Red Bubble boss getting gangbanged by players.

DragonTalon cleared his throat.

"Ahem. Guys, we would like to take a representative from Dai City to join the meeting at Paradise Island. Who is going to come with us?"

The players looked at each other.

"You go."

"No, you go."

"I don't want!"

"I'd rather be here and level up and farm gold."

"Yeah, whatever happens in the other maps don't really concern us."

Ah, really.

"Guys, don't you plan to level past 15 eventually? Do you not plan to leave Dai City? Are you sure you don't want to know what is happening out there and how people plan to solve the problems?"

The low-level players started to waver. In the end, a level 8 axe warrior stepped forward and offered to be the representative from Dai City.

"Big brothers, I am only level 8. I cannot benefit from killing the boss yet. What about taking me with you? I will represent Dai City for this meeting."

The other players happily agreed with the axe warrior's suggestion.

"Very good, Greenwood. Don't forget to come back and share with us the meeting result!"

Greenwood thus came with us to Marsh City to pick Wolfhound up.

At Marsh City, the players had come up with a similar strategy as those at Dai City. They found the spawning spot of the Giant Mushroom and gathered there to kill the boss as soon as it manifested. While the Red Bubble boss spawned every 15 minutes, the Giant Mushroom spawned every 30 minutes.

The four of us continued our trip to Fairy Forest to pick up the last representative before we went to Paradise Island. As soon as I entered, I understand why the world chat was full of distressed cries of players.

Fairy Forest safe zone was a forest town that was built with one-meter-wide bridges that connected two big trees. There were four levels in total. All four levels were infested with the mini-boss, which was the Undead Tree Stump.

Unlike the Dai City where the Red Bubble boss was glitched and Marsh City which had a few players with a higher level than average to protect the town, Fairy Forest was mainly full of players who looked forward to taking their second job advancement test over and over again until they succeed.

These poor players were now hanging pitifully at ladders that connected two levels, careful not to touch the Undead Tree Stumps. As soon as they saw us enter, they immediately burst into tears.

"Please help... Please help us. I cannot keep hanging like this. My arms hurt so much..."

"Friends, please help us kill the Undead Tree Stumps..."