Prisoners of VR

"Woof, you're finally here." Lace shouted as she rushed towards Rahu in a hurry right after she spotted his arrival.

"I logged in right after I received the message," Rahu said, thinking that it might have been slightly long here due to time flowing at ten times the speed of reality. "Did the Dungeon Boss revive?"

"The two Mid-Bosses already did. If we are judging by their order of death, the Dungeon Boss might have revived by now. We just couldn't see it." Lace explained, "The revival time seems to be 24 Worldcraft hours."

"That's troublesome," Rahu said in worry.

"Trot came to that conclusion too. Why is that?" Lace tilted her head in confusion, "Come on, don't keep me guessing here."

"Your two friends have yet to log in, right?" Rahu asked, saying after Lace nodded, "Let's guess that they need a day's rest to recover their stats fully. They can log in after that. But, a day in reality equates to ten Worldcraft days. In contrast, the creatures of Worldcraft can revive within a Worldcraft day."

"Aha! I got it!" Lace clapped aloud, causing a couple of people nearby to glance at her. She seemed oblivious to their stares and said in realisation, "Theoretically, the Dungeon Boss can revive every day. So, it can recklessly attack us. But if we die, it'll take us ten days to revive. So, even with smaller numbers, they can overwhelm us."

"You've summed it up neatly." Rahu expanded upon her conjecture, "Every time it revives, it'll be at full health and stats. In comparison, we're only getting progressively more exhausted. But to rest, we must go to reality. Two and a half hours there is a day here. That's not enough time to recover anything for us, but the animals here are brand new by then."

"So, death is their ultimate tool against us." Lace shuddered.

The duo jogged their way to the Grass-Faced Monkey Dungeon and observed an empirical wall being built there. The branches of trees serving as a pillar were broken off, trimmed, and then used as logs to patch the gap between the pillars.

A good number of trees had been cut and transplanted to act as the wall. It was still a work in progress though as large patches of the wall were empty.

"The pace of progress is slower than I expected." Rahu frowned as he looked around. The number of people working on the walls was less than what he observed at the start, "What happened to the rest?"

"They were killed." Lace sighed as she pointed at the sky.

Rahu stared up and understood the reason. Gliding high across the sky were the Elite Monkeys, carrying stones, heavy pieces of branches, and even Bamboo Spikes. The moment they selected a target area, they dropped the items, using the bombardment to kill the Elven Race workers.

It was stressful working in such a situation. They couldn't concentrate on building a wall. And the moment they focus on their task and gloss over the existences in the sky, a rock or branch would fall on their head and kill them.

Rahu observed an Elite Monkey glide through the sky as it flew through the forest and proceeded towards the cliff. It curved up towards the end of its flight path, raised its angle of attack to stall, and then landed on the cliff wall. From the height advantage there, it observed the people working on the wall below, screeching from time to time.

They were communicating. These Monkeys observed the Elven Race and relayed information to the rest. There existed a group in the air that didn't carry anything. They would land on the cliff, communicate with the scouts there and then climb high up on the cliff.

Once they leap from there, they would glide their way back deep into the forest and inform their superiors about what they found out. As a result, the Monkeys were gaining intelligence on their invaders in real-time.

"You're here, Woof." Trot ran out of the forest, dodged a hail of stones, and panted as he arrived next to Rahu, "Things are getting worse."

"What's happening in the interior? Are our people doing some damage against them?" Rahu wondered.

"We're getting slaughtered." Trot expressed his worries, "After its revival, the Female Mid-Boss has cunningly laid out traps on narrow paths. Many lost their legs as a result. And those that moved through the open paths were showered with rocks. And worst of all..."

He groaned in frustration, "The Monkeys treated those with severed legs and prevented them from bleeding to their deaths. They then gagged their mouths to prevent them from committing suicide, tied up their hands, and then hoisted them high up in the trees like scarecrows."

"Intimidation tactic, huh?" Rahu turned serious.

"Yeah, and it's working great." Trot said, "Those that simply wished to fight retreated in fear. The ones unable to stand the gore returned to the village and decided to practice with their Grass Sticks. After all, those killed by the Monkeys lost their Grass Stick Skill too."

"Without a Skill, they cannot increase their stats. And since there's no economy here, no one has the money to buy a Skill." Rahu figured out the scheme at play, "Only after people have equipped all six Skills would excess Skills appear in the market. We have a long way to go to reach that point. Until then, users without Skills can't accomplish anything in Worldcraft."

"Many of those are searching for the Elven King to beg for a Grass Stick Skill. But," Trot shook his head, "He's elusive. None managed to find him."

"Shouldn't this scheme be the handiwork of the Dungeon Boss?" Lace said as she stared at Rahu, "Can't you kill it once again?"

"I can't," Rahu shook his head, "It's too risky. I can kill the Dungeon Boss, but then I won't have enough Brainpower to defend against any traps. A misstep and I'll die and lose my Skills. Since I'm the only one with the Dungeon Boss's Skill, if I were to die, the Dungeon Boss's advantage will further increase."

"Not many people dare to enter the Dungeon now." Trot sighed, "At this rate, we'll never finish the wall. Moreover..."

As Trot pointed at a spot on the cliff, Rahu frowned, "I noticed it too."

At a spot on the cliff two hundred metres above the ground, a group of Monkeys had huddled together and were drilling into the cliff wall. Tying a rope around a Bamboo Spike, they pulled the rope's ends alternatively, causing the Bamboo Spike to rotate at rapid speeds.

This allowed it to drill through the cliff wall. The problem with this was that the Elven Race users below were employing the same method to create their wall. The Monkeys were imitating their actions.

And the fact of the matter is, they were building a platform on the cliff to allow them to stand comfortably. Their platform only consisted of a single Bamboo Spike. They were Monkeys and not Humans.

Therefore, a group of Monkeys could casually stand on a piece of bamboo as if it were flat land. This allowed them to camp out and observe the actions of the Elven Race.

A Monkey glided through the air and landed on the cliff walls, carrying with it a bag weaved from grass. Within it were fruits. The Monkey hung the bag on the Bamboo Spike and sat comfortably. It picked a banana from the bag, peeled and calmly ate the fruit.

It then threw the peel towards the ground, aiming it accurately to slam it into the face of an Elven Race user that just entered the Dungeon.

"What the fuc...a banana peel?" The Elven Race user stared up and noticed the Monkey on the cliff wall, raging when it taunted him by flashing its buttocks. He roared as it shook its buttocks and ran up the cliff. "I'll kill you!"

The Monkeys were lodging more and more Bamboo Spikes into the cliff wall, starting from an altitude of thirty metres until around two hundred metres. This allowed them to swing from one platform to another without issues. More and more Monkeys began to camp at the cliff and observed the people, learning their ways.

"The core issue we face is that the Monkeys are united under the banner of the Dungeon Boss." Trot said as he observed the Monkeys creating an elaborate net, "But we don't. So, what do you say, Woof?"

"Are you a leader material?"

"Leader..." Rahu wasn't confident. The Grass-Faced Monkeys were part of a species. They were born and grew up in the Grass-Faced Monkey Dungeon, as their Worldcraft lore stated.

So, they grew up as a collective whole. In contrast, even though the user's side consisted of the Elven Race, they weren't one.

Neither were they born as part of the race nor did they grow up in Larkrood Village to share a collective sense of belonging. Moreover, they came from all over the world, from various social, economic, linguistic, religious, and cultural backgrounds.

Most of the users came to have fun, a break away from their stressful lives in reality. Asking them to follow someone was impossible. That would be no different from reality where they lived under the whims of politicians and rich businessmen.

"A leader is useless for us. None would follow," Rahu muttered as he arrived at a conclusion after some thought, "What we need is a pioneer, a gamer that sets a record. Only a speedrun can ignite the competitiveness of our gamer souls. But first,"

He began to think up a plan, "We need to change the mindset of the users from explorers to gamers."