World Online

Jake looked at the chasm that was created from where he stood and the army itself.

All of the wolves behind him no longer moved, while all of the beasts that had gone forward gave up their lives.

And now, everyone was focused on a singular entity in the horizon. A monster to gigantic, it seemed to be able to touch the very sky.

"This is the hit to morale I was hoping never to face." Jake sighed as he shook his head.

He knew that he had to move back to his side of the army soon enough, and focus on taking damage reports.

The first battle was over, and although it was fairly easy, it wasn't going to be the end of it. Far more was going to happen very soon.

He glanced at Phoenix, who stared at the beast behind Jake with her mouth agape.

"If even the freaking guild leader is like this, then how will anyone expect the others to behave normally. Who is going to raise morale when the leaders are also down cast?" Jake thought to himself.

He started walking back to where he was supposed to stand, slowly and calmly.

And he was the only one calm here, because he knew of the existence of the world giant a long time ago.

He had fought them before. Everyone in the world was expected to fight the world giant. A weekly endeavor that would eventually down it into a slumber, before it rose once more.

This was the true gold mine of treasure though. The biggest contributors were given the best rewards.

Soon enough, people would come to hail the world giants are resources that were too scarce. They wanted more of them in fact.

"I need to cheer them up. But how the hell can I do that?" Jake thought to himself once again.

By now, he was almost at the right end of the army, with Myriad Arrows and Kierch standing by each other, glancing at their guild leader.

"What the hell were you thinking? In the middle of all those wolves, why did you think trying to attack the wolf king was a good idea?" Myriad Arrows scowled.

"What do you think would have happened if you were the first guild leader to die? And in front of everyone, with a foolish act like that." He added.

"Calm down. Do you really think that what has already passed is our biggest problem right now? Right now, the biggest problem is that giant in the horizon. What do we do now? We have to raise morale." Jake growled.

"Raise morale? And how exactly do you plan on doing that? Do you know exactly how delicate the situation is right now? A giant that shouldn't exist is standing right there, as if telling us that it is our next opponent. How do you plan on beating that thing?" Kierch said.

"The expeditions exist because we should be able to clear them. That thing probably isn't something we can defeat right now, so maybe we won't face it right now." Jake said.

"Maybe that is a beast that we will face much, much later in. And how the hell are we the first ones to take a look at that thing? I never heard anything about the giants before. Many guilds came here before we did." Jake said, frowning.

And as if the game heard him say this, it gave its answer.

[The world giant is watching a worthy opponent coming its way. It will be waiting for you in fifth checkpoint.]

A giant screen hovered in the middle of the sky.

And it was big enough for the entire army to look at it.

Jake turned around to look at this message. As he saw this, he just shook his head.

"All these games, I swear to god, one day I might just lose it. A worthy opponent? Just what the hell is the game rambling on about?" Jake sighed and said.

The message disappeared soon enough, and as it did, the giant with two bright, eyes could be seen turning away, slowly disappearing, walking away.

"Thank god that thing left." Myriad Arrows took a deep breath.

"Thank god? We have to face that thing in the fifth checkpoint? How will we be able to face something so big? How will we face a monster like that?" Kierch asked.

To this, Jake smiled.

"The fifth checkpoint is a long time away. You will have to calm down a little. For now, just focus on what we have to do right now. What we did right now, wasn't even the first checkpoint. It was maybe the first step of the first checkpoint." Jake said.

"There is a long way to go. It is because of impatient folk like you that people get disappointed so easily. Don't go off telling everyone that we will be able to finish the expedition in a month or something."

"We have a long, long way to go."

Kierch scowled, but he still kept his mouth shut.

"Fine then. Now, it is time to see who won the bet. To see who killed the most wolves." Myriad Arrows smiled.

"How is this fair? I forcefully stopped the fight, and now I have to pay for it? I killed the wolf king. That has got to count for something." Jake shook his head.

"It counts for something alright. But as you two went about on your killing spree, I took the time to get higher ground, and as I did, I was able to take on a few hundred more wolves than you both did, easily." Myriad Arrows cockily smiled.

"All that talk, but I don't trust any of you. That is why, I prepared this nice gadget." Jake smiled as he snapped his hand, bringing out a small device.

"A device to take care of every bet that will come our way."

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