(Leo's POV)
"Hahaha…..Yes, I feel it now" Leo said out loud, a big grin spreading under his mask, as he ran on the road alongside Ben, while Dumpy rested on his shoulders.
The excitement that he felt at the mere thought of facing a city full of hostile enemies was something abnormal, as most players in his position would feel scared or intimidated.
'Why am I so excited? Why is my heart beating faster and faster, although I'm most likely approaching my death? Why do I love the thrill of the hunt so much that the thought of facing a million enemies is exciting for me?' Leo wondered, as he placed a hand on his heart and felt his heart throb loudly.
'Regardless of what happens today… I'm going to be the first and only player in the game who will ever get to face ALL other players at once. A fight like this… I will perhaps never experience it again,' Leo thought, as his grin became even wider.
Regardless of the outcome, today was going to be a defining moment in the history of Terra Nova Online, and he was just glad to be the main character of this event.
No other player in the game was ever going to recreate what he was going to experience today, and just that thought of getting to experience a legendary event, made Leo's blood boil with excitement.
As of now, he had no real idea about how dangerous it was going to be once he entered StrongHaven City, but he knew it wouldn't be easy.
If ChaosBringer had resorted to warning him in all capital letters not to enter the city, Leo understood that the situation had to definitely be extremely dire for him to do so.
'If I die… I still have one death evasion token left. I can just use it and flee for my life' Leo thought, preparing himself for the worst-case scenario.
Since he was still holding onto his last death evasion token, Leo had faith in his ability to use it and get out of the city if the worst came to pass. Yet, at this point he was definitely hoping for a better outcome.
According to his calculations, by the time he reached StrongHaven City, there would be about two hours of gaming time left in the day and Leo's best hope was to survive until nightfall—when he planned to infiltrate the palace under the cover of darkness and start his raid on the royal family.
Attacking the palace during the day was akin to committing suicide, since he believed that the common players were sure to breath the gates and rush inside should they know that he was there, and hence Leo did not wish to take such an extreme path.
He wanted to instead reach StrongHaven City before nightfall, and reach the gates of the palace right around the log-out time, to enjoy the full night of peaceful solo gaming, fighting against the Emperor and his guards.
Leo knew that if he was caught fighting the royal guards while the rest of the players were still active, then he would have no chance to survive, as he knew that he did not have the ability to fight the royal guards, the Virex Corps and the top ranking players of the righteous factions all at once.
"Are you scared boy?" Ben asked, once the city walls started to come into view, as although they were still a few kilometers out, Ben could already see the large number of men covering all the walls around the entry gates, acting as sentries for all incoming visitors.
"Nah–" Leo replied, as although he knew that the fight was about to begin in just a few minutes, from the moment they approached the gates, Leo did not feel too threatened by it.
Whatever was to happen was going to happen, however, with Ben and Dumpy by his side, he was not afraid to even charge through the gates of a city if he had to.
"Well it's good not to be scared….. I'm not scared either, but in-case I don't make it, just know that I was a dead man before I met you, and that teaching you has given my life new meaning. I'm grateful for all our time together" Ben said, as he covered a small tear forming at the corner of his eyes.
"Oye, oye, oye old man, why are you talking like we are heading to our deaths? The two of us stood against the fucking demon king and his minions and didn't die. There's no chance in hell that these puny humans get us" Leo said, as he reassured Ben that they were not going to try, while also lightening the mood.
"Gosh you sound like that frog" Ben complained, as his face turned into a slight frown at the mention of the word 'Puny human' by Leo.
"Huh? What? Did someone call me?" Dumpy said, suddenly waking up at the mention of the word frog, as after spending most of the day asleep on Leo's shoulders, he woke up at the perfect time, just as the trio was about to reach the city.
"Speak of the devil…."
"And he shall arrive" Ben said and Leo completed, as the duo gave one another a knowing nod.
In more ways than one, the two of them were really akin to father and son, as apart from sharing the same skill-set and sense of humor, the two also had the same crazy look in their eyes, right before they were to go on a hunt.
Possessing balls of steel, both men were not really afraid of death, and had absolute faith in the superiority of their skills, which made them the deadliest duo in the entire game world.
As if their duo was not perfect enough already, they were somehow joined by an egotistical mythical frog, whose skills were by no means inferior to their own, and somehow the three of them became the most unlikely trio in the history of the Unity Empire.
The trio of old man, kid and frog, with ambitions to shake the world.
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/// PS- The new cover for Terra Nova Online is finally up! Do check it out, also I'll also post a copy in the comments below ///