More than 100,000 players were staying in the capital, and all of them went to the portal at once, resulting in a vast crowd in the garden.
A few hundred players died in the crowd by getting trampled over by the other players.
Everyone was trying to save their skin without caring for others.
It was yet another mayhem.
However, that was a feast for the monsters.
Two weeks ago, when Aria went to the forest to complete the NPC quest, she encountered a secret lair of the monsters who were planning to attack the capital. But she single-handedly had defeated all of them—which delayed the monster's attacks and the fifth's plan.
A giant flying monster shot a fireball at the people and killed over 100 players. The other monsters also started attacking the players and the NPCs, killing them in an instant without giving them a chance to save themselves.
For instance, the players could fight back, but the NPC couldn't.
Within the next 10 minutes, over 95,000 players ascended or descended to high or lower floors. 2,000 players died in the process, while the rest were trying to fight the monsters to save themselves.
But NPCs were still dying.
'I don't know what's happening, but I have to get out of here!' Aurora thought as she made her way to the garden like the rest of them.
"No!" an NPC woman yelled as the monster pinned her down to kill her.
Aurora stopped on her track after seeing that. She placed her hand on the hilt of her sword and thought, "What should I do?!"
Aurora was a level 1 player, and all her stats and skill had been reset. While the monsters were unknown levels.
'Should I run away or save her?!' Aurora had to make a quick choice.
'If a similar situation happened in the real world where the portals appeared and monsters came out of it, what would happen?'
'There won't be any skills or power-ups in the real world.'
Just like that, the NPCs were in the same situation.
Monsters suddenly invaded their world and began causing havoc.
Aurora compared the scenario with the real world.
The NPCs were also human, alive beings who felt all the emotions. Just the players, they would die for real if they are called. They would never respawn again.
Aurora couldn't watch someone die in front of her, especially when she could save them. So, in the end, she decided to help the woman.
She stealthily dashed to the monster and cleaved its neck from behind.
[Leveled up!]
"The first few levels are always easy to level up…" she muttered with a sigh.
"Thank you for saving me! May God bless you!" The NPC woman thanked Aurora and ran away.
Aurora looked at the destruction caused by the monsters and the dead bodies of the players and NPC.
"Does this look like a blessing to you…?" she muttered.
Aurora then made her way to the garden to descend to the lower floor, but a sudden thought crossed her mind.
'The level requirement to ascend to this realm was level 10. If I descend now, I will have to wait and level up to 10 to come back here again.'
Aurora wasn't sure if she should descend or not because what would Zach think if he found out Aurora wasn't there?
What if he thought Aurora left him?
However, Aurora wasn't worried about that since she could easily let Zach know about her location by messaging him.
Besides, Zach could meet Aurora again by descending to the beginner's realm.
'Alright! I will descend first and then inform Zach about this,' Aurora decided.
When she reached the garden, she saw the dead bodies of the players and NPC who tried to pass through the portal but either got trampled by the other players or killed by the monsters.
"So cruel…" Aurora gazed at the portal from a distance and noticed the NPCs were gathered around it but weren't passing through.
"Why aren't you passing through?! Let's go!" she yelled as she jumped on the pedestal.
A nun standing among the NPC walked forward and said, "We cannot pass through the portal. We belong to this realm, and we can't leave this world. We are stuck here…."
It was the same nun who worshiped Zach as a god.
"….!"
"You are kidding… right….?" Aurora stuttered on her words as she had no idea about that.
The nun quietly shook her head and said, "Thanks for looking out for us. All the other players didn't even care about the NPC. May God bless you…"
Aurora gritted her teeth in anger and yelled with a furious look on her face: "What god are you talking about?!
She pointed her finger at the destruction and the dead bodies around them and said, "Can't you see what your God has done?!"
"This is not done by my god. My god is kind, and he fights for us. He protects us. And he is the lord. As his first follower, I must protect his dignity. I won't let—"
The nun stopped when she had a closer look at Aurora.
"You know my god? You are connected to him…" the nun bowed down to Aurora and said, "My deepest apology for my behavior!"
"Stop all this! And pass through the portal!" Aurora yelled.
"But we can't—"
"Did any of you even try to pass through the portal?!" Aurora pulled the nun and dragged her to the portal.
However, a colossal leg appeared from the sky and crushed the pedestal with the portal.
"…!"
With that, the portal was destroyed, and no one would enter or leave the first realm.
Everyone present in the garden looked up to see where that colossal leg came from, and they saw something that sent chills down their spines.
There was a crack in the sky, and beyond that crack was fire, lava, and monsters.
It was the crack to the first hell.
Human-sized monsters were pouring out of the crack as though it was the swarm of the bees.
Then, two giant hands grabbed the crack and widened the crack, and soon shattered the sky as though it was a piece of glass.
Thousands of demons, high demons, and titans jumped out of the crack and spread all around the capital.
***
Total players in the game- 1,493,814
0 new players logged in.
2222 players died.
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Author's Note- Demons make their entry to Gods' Impact!