The Isekai Game

The Castle on the Lake (Weekend #3)

What a fine day. The virtual sky was perfect. Like a dream of royalty, the players lavished themselves as such. Who else in the city of Miami could say they spent their day walking on stone pavements with purple hues? Or how many can say they walked in a majestic fountain that changed colors?

There was one thing nearly no player can say. At the center of town was a huge castle that governed over the land. It was surrounded by a lake with guards et every drawbridge. It appeared the town was left with a fraction of its radiance.

Everybody wanted a taste of the royal life. But the only way to get in was through El Chales. Benji, Mike, and Teddy would host parties as usual. Many thots would come in an attempt to break every rule. Director Larz and security always had to keep an eye on those three.

El Chales was always coming into power and wreaking havoc. Why not? As long as they beat the game it shouldn't matter. A few parties in and out of The Isekai Game never hurt anybody. Unless of course, Steven was trying out one of Benji's motorcycle tricks. Or maybe if Steven got too drunk.

But not too far away from that castle, just along the outer edge of the lake, were a couple of bullwugs patrolling. These slimy three feet tall frogs wielded their spears ready for instant jabs. They stayed in packs of ten to fifteen. Not really powerful alone, but together they were quite troublesome.

They were perfect for alarms. No many players had water abilities. Not many job classes taught water style abilities. It was a rare skill to learn from the game. After that, there was the actual study material and course to learn it all. The best part, even water users barely ever use their rare ability.

Unfortunately for El Chales, right along that lake's shore were two girls who didn't care. Mimi sat hidden behind a rock, shimmying her shoulders. Though quiet, it was apparent that she was talking loads of smack under her breath. They had been hyped for the entire week for this.

Kiki, who was sitting next to her, swirled a ball of flames in her palms. The flames turned green, matching her gross witchy eyes. She massaged those flames into a disc that Mimi couldn't help but noting didn't let off any heat... weird.

From a flick of Kiki's wrist, the flames disappeared. The bullwugs were set on fire. The green flames shot to their lungs. Even the ones underwater were burned to death. That smell in the air which reminded Kiki of a nice meal was hindered by Mimi's air ability which restricts scents.

They waited to make sure no enemy was alerted. Maybe fifteen minutes passed before they were satisfied. That still water was their target.

"There's an Aboleth under there," said Kiki holding a knife-hand in the general direction.

"Damn, no wonder why there's a water tunnel going that way. I really don't feel like dealing with one of those," said Mimi.

After a thought, she shrugged her shoulders. It was whatever. They walked to the water as Mimi performed a few hand seals. The water slowly split open to create a tunnel. It was small enough not to rupture the water much. It was perfect for their plan.

Walking in, the entrance closed. Mimi and Kiki continued uninterrupted by any lake creature. Looking up they could see the sun's light shine through the deep waters.

"Not gonna lie, I'm gonna miss this," said Mimi pressing her hand against the edge of the water.

She loved how the motion of water was simulated. It was something of a fantasy game. The way she could pull her fingers through each little bumpy wave to feel the cool gush massage her knuckles was unreal.

"Yeah, I am too," said Kiki stepping next to a large rock.

That rock flipped open into a worm bigger than Mimi's two legs. A thick giant claw on its head grabbed at Kiki's leg.

Kiki jumped forward next to two other large rocks as Mimi threw a kunai into the worm's large eye.

The worm squirmed as the two other rocks also flipped open. With two balls of fire in her hands, Kiki slammed them into their eyes. She dug it deep to kill every nerve in the worms.

Mimi noted that there were more of these rocks on the path. A lizardfolk, larger than Mimi, dived in towards her.

She parried his blade with a kunai before stabbing its gut with her sword.

"Quick, just run!" yelled Kiki.

Lizardfolks dived in. Mimi kept focus to hit each one that got close with a kunai. Kiki led her well to stay away from the rocks. But the swarm got big.

"Tzzzn!" was heard from Kiki's palm, signifying a high concentration of fire.

An ambush of more than five lizardfolks was just up ahead. Kiki thrusted the red flame in her palm to shoot down the tunnel.

The second it struck in between the ambush, it compressed to nothing. The lizardfolks felt the shift in the air to get away. The end of that thought was welcomed with an explosion of fire that instantly incinerated their very scales to ash.

"That thing is up ahead," said Kiki sprinting past the dead lizardfolk.

"Good. Cause I hate running and I can't keep this water up forever".

Kiki's eyes turned green, matching the flames that sprouted across her arms. In less than a minute the tunnel widened to a giant water chamber. The ground was soaked with ankle-deep water. A giant tail, the size of a windmill, smacked into the wall.

"Oh no you don't," said Mimi as she tightly sealed away the walls.

There was now no way in nor out until Mimi was dead or weakened. Like a whale, the Aboleth stared down with its three giant crimson eyes. Its squid-like tentacles from its head were flapping uncontrollably.

It squinted its eyes as it prepared to attack.