Off Limit System

"Chloe! Chloe!" Dane patted the girl's cheek, which looked dirty and had several scratches. "Snap out of it, Chloe! Oh my God!"

Hearing Chloe's low moan, the girl touched her forehead and moaned again. "My head..."

Chloe slowly opened her eyes and blinked. She seemed surprised to find herself leaning on Dane's lap. The girl looked left and right, seeing no one but the two of them.

"Where's Ulrich? Has he been eliminated?" Chloe asked, sounding concerned.

When he wanted to be sarcastic, Dane was telling Chloe that she should be thinking about her own safety right now. Not about a man who was arrogant, self-centered, and, of course, cunning. Or, in one short word, Ulrich.

"He's run off to who knows where," Dane replied honestly.

"I need to find him."

"We just saved you." Dane was distraught and said it on purpose.

Chloe tried to sit up and looked at Dane. "I'm sorry. Thank you for your help."

"My name is Dane."

Of course, Chloe wouldn't remember Dane when they were in the first level. But they repeated the level together twice. That's why Dane told Chloe his name right away.

"Thank you, Dane," Chloe repeated.

Dane stood up and held out his hand to Chloe. When the girl greeted him, Chloe seemed to still be unsteady on her feet. The girl moaned again as she bucked at her waist.

"Shall we go now?" Chloe asked.

"Wait, but I need your help," Dane said firmly.

"What kind of help?"

The young man handed her an ebony branch, though Chloe looked confused as she accepted it.

"What's this for?" she asked in surprise.

"If Ethan comes, you can use it as an arrow, right?"

"I guess I can. But why would I shoot Ethan?" Chloe's eyes widened in disbelief.

"No, it's the Harpies he's attracted."

"Harpies? Those flying things?"

Dane nodded. In the distance, Ethan's figure could be seen running across. Behind him, harpies chased him from the sky.

"Ethan is coming. Get ready!" Dane said.

A burst of fire shot out at Ethan. The young man dodged with his shield, then ran as fast as he could toward Dane and Chloe.

Chloe raised her bow slightly, the ebony wood ready to fire, just waiting for the target to come closer.

"Where shall I aim at it? I don't know where the creature's heart is," Chloe asked.

"Right in the middle of the chest." Dane was pretty sure.

"What if I miss?" Chloe looked panicked.

"Shoot it in the wing, and we'll take it out on the ground. Just make sure we get the ebony back."

"To stab the creature in the chest?"

Dane nodded again.

As Ethan approached, Chloe suddenly replaced the ebony wood with an arrow. She released a hand that shot toward the Harpy's wing.

But the arrow was easily deflected. This drew the Harpies' attention to Dane and Chloe.

"What are you doing??" yelled Dane.

"I thought she could have been wounded by a regular arrow!"

Dane is really panicked now. "I told you the plan, Chloe!!"

"Sorry! My only intention was to save the ebony! You said stab her in the chest!"

In a flash, the Harpies flew toward Dane and Chloe, screaming in a shrill voice. Without hesitation, it instantly spat fire from the sky in one breath.

"Whooaaa!!" Dane and Chloe howled.

They tried to dodge by jumping to the side, dropping their bodies, and rolling on the ground.

Ethan, seeing this, immediately threw a shield at the Harpies. He did this again to distract them, and what Ethan did worked. Worse, Ethan threw the shield so hard that it was caught by the Harpies.

"Oh, no, no, no!" Ethan quickly shook his head.

The Harpy's form was beautiful, but its face was so ugly. Wildly when it grinned at Ethan. With claws on its feet, the creature threw the shield with full force. Ethan ducked as the shield hit the ground.

Smoke billowed from the ground, creating a large gaping hole.

Chloe seized the opportunity, immediately attaching the ebony to the bow. Without hesitation, the woman fired her attack at the Harpies' flank.

*CRACK*!!!

"AAAAKKK!!" came the howl from the Harpy.

Her body swayed, twisted, and fell to the ground. Ethan wasted no time, immediately grabbing the shield and running as fast as he could toward the Harpies. The young man jumped as he drew his shield. Ethan held the Harpies' body with the guard with all his might and sat on the creature almost twice his size.

Obviously, Dane and Chloe were approaching. Thinking quickly, Dane pulled an ebony branch from Harpy's wounded wing and threw it at Ethan.

"Stab her right in the chest!" Dane shouted.

Ethan's hand caught the ebony branch; he saw something faintly glowing in the center of the Harpies' chest.

"Goodbye!" Ethan hissed triumphantly.

CRACK!

A fatal stab plunged into Harpy's chest. The creature let out a low groan, then didn't move. Ethan crawled to the side and let his body fall to the ground. He felt exhausted.

"We did it!" Dane shouted happily.

A holographic screen appeared before each of their eyes.

[MISSION LEVEL THREE: THE FIELD]

[STATUS: SUCCESSFUL. OKIPITIES DEFEATED]

[LEVEL FOUR OPEN]

[LEVEL THREE TOP FIVE RANKINGS: ETHAN MANNON, DANE RANDOLPH, CHLOE SIMMER, ULRICH SCOTTS, PERCY MYERS]

[FIRST PLACE: ETHAN MANNON. LEVEL UP: 8. GOLD 10.000]

[SECOND PLACE: DANE RANDOLPH. LEVEL: UP 8. GOLD 8,000]

[THIRD PLACE: CHLOE SIMMER. LEVEL UP: 8. GOLD 6.000]

[FOURTH PLACE: ULRICH SCOTTS. LEVEL UP: 7. GOLD 4,000]

[FIFTH PLACE: PERCY MYERS. LEVEL UP: 7. GOLD 2,000]

 

"WOW!!" they exclaimed in unison.

"We're level ten, Ethan!" Dane shouted in excitement.

"Who's Percy Myers?" Ethan asked.

Then, from the direction of the street where the battle was taking place, a young man with a spear limped toward them.

Chloe snorted quietly. "He got a free reward for escaping the war."

"Just like your lover Ulrich, right?" said Dane sarcastically.

Feeling that what Dane said was true, Chloe glanced at Dane only briefly. The three of them had been instrumental in the success of the level three mission.

"He's not my boyfriend," Chloe replied quietly.

The young man named Percy immediately ran towards the three figures before him. He looked relieved and happy.

"I'm Percy!" he said, half shouting. "Nice to meet you."

Percy's hand reached out to Ethan, struggling to reach his feet. Ethan took the young man's hand and got to his feet. "Thank you," Ethan said.

"No, I'm the one who should thank you. I was surprised to see the hologram screen appear and suddenly be declared successful in passing level three."

"You're welcome," Dane replied.

"Are you a team? Since the beginning of the game?" asked Percy curiously.

Chloe, Dane, and Ethan looked at each other.

"Yes, we've been together since the first level," Chloe replied quickly. She looked at both Dane and Ethan. "We were, weren't we?"

"Yep," Ethan nodded.

"That's awesome! No wonder you made it. Good teamwork," commented Percy.

"We should be at level four soon," said Chloe.

"And where's the one named Ulrich?" Percy looked for the other figure who had declared victory in level three.

"Probably looking for mushrooms." Dane shrugged indifferently.

Ethan was pensive, he thought; if they were leveling up and had even passed a few levels, did they have to finish level four? Shouldn't they have returned to the Medieval by now? The OFF LIMIT game really confused Ethan.

"Ethan? Are you okay?" asked Chloe.

"I was just thinking, if we already won this level, why would we finish level four?" Ethan said. "We've already unlocked the next few levels."

"Maybe the exit is on level four," Dane said. "Like when Terry was eliminated."

Dane's theory made sense. The game had two levels to complete. One story to get into the game, then another level to get out.

"Maybe," Ethan muttered.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Chloe said.