Over a period of five days, over 400 players moved down to the last level of the dungeon. Mind you, the bosses in each level respawn every twenty-four hours, so although we were able to avoid some, we couldn’t avoid all of them. By the time we reached the last level, there were just twenty of us left. We couldn’t wait for those who died to reach us because our resources were also running low. It was annoying how realistically the system recreated the feelings of hunger, coldness and so on… but thanks to Celestina’s holy blessing, we didn’t have to worry about the cold too much.
The last level was the smallest and had a diameter of about twenty miles. Most of our vehicles had been destroyed by monsters, so the last trek was going to be on two cramped vehicles. The biome of the last level was called the Gate of Elysium, where the Dragon of Reality protected the World’s Egg atop a mountain of ice. Without a doubt, those left here were the best players in the game, from both major factions of the Senate of Jerusalem.
Celestina drove the truck, and Laila kept her company by sitting in the passenger seat. I just hoped they kept an eye on any approaching monsters, even though most of them could sense our strength and kept out of our way. Most of the space at the back was taken up by the resources and weapons we had brought here, leaving only space for me and Peter Keaton on one side, facing Eilis Grangewood and Nanashi.
Nanashi wore a white hood that hid his eyes, and he carried what looked like a guitar case on his back to use his bard buff skill, which would double our strength and increase Eilis’ strength by sixteen, but it makes sense that her skill would work best on his partner.
Eilis herself was a ginger-haired Elf archer, but there was nothing Elvish about her black armour. The armour was crafted by one of the best blacksmiths working for the Elite faction. It cost about £500,000 unless you obtained the materials from the bosses and had someone with a high enough crafting level to turn them into usable armour.
We had already planned before coming down here, and we still had enough people to put our plan in place, so there was nothing to do until we reached the summit of Mount Olympus.
“So how did you two meet anyway?” Peter Keaton asked, trying to make some small talk.
“I met Laila a long time ago at an art class.”
Naturally, it was Eilis to respond. It wasn’t that Nanashi didn’t know English, as he talked to us during battles, but he wasn’t very talkative even then.
Eilis crossed and uncrossed her feet and stretched her arms.
“You haven’t heard of it? We met in the game thanks to the system. At first, I wasn’t surprised when the system couldn’t find anyone to match me with. It’s not surprising given how good I am. But anyway, when I was about to give up on this game since I couldn’t find a suitable partner, I heard that someone had managed to beat the fifth boss on his own, so there was no way that I was going to let anyone have him. Of course, Nanashi fell in love with me at first sight, as anyone would, and the system accepted our choice for a pairing as well.”
“I see you are very confident in yourself.”
“Because I have reason to be. I have never failed in anything in my life. This game is just going to be another stepping stone in my life.”
“I wish you well in your goal, but haven’t you already been defeated by the White Dragon a few times already?”
“Hmph! That is just a temporary setback. I will kill that dragon this time without fail. What the hell was the Academy thinking when designing that monster? Maybe they are just stalling for time because I have been blazing through all their content. That’s the only reason which makes sense.”
