As we walked deeper into the forest, the Griever's level started to increase rapidly. Soon, cheers turned into screams.

The first we heard, was not too distant, and yet, we couldn't save them. A pack of six grievers, annihilated a whole team. And the last player, was taken down right in front of my eyes.

Frustrated, Shu and Matthew charge forward recklessly, knocking off two grievers each. I shoot down one griever and, Amber and Sarah confronted the others before they could flee.

Matthew falls onto his knees and looks down as he says crying, "Only if we were here on time..."

Sarah hugs him from the back as she speaks in a low voice, "It's alright, we all tried our best.."

I could say, even Sarah felt guilty too, so did all of us. We couldn't save them, and now all of them are dead! All we did was watch them die. I grit my teeth, and clench my first, staring at the spot, where I saw the last player being ripped apart.

Anderson grips my shoulder, and faces towards the whole team as he speaks, "Black Knights, I know it's hard on all of you, but this isn't the time to mourn and feel guilty for those whom we have lost. If we keep worrying about the past, all we would find is defeat. Also, I wouldn't want to see someone close to me die. So, cheer up black Knights, we've yet to have even worse circumstances to face."

I step forward and speak, as he pauses, "Andy you're right. I know it's hard to take in, especially when we couldn't save them, even after doing our best. But to think towards the positive side, I can say that they hand fought until their last breath. If you wanna avenge their death, then let's go kick some grievers!"

I walk towards a tree, and remove my knife. I chop down few chunks of wood and some vines. Shu read my mind, as he picked up the chunks and tied them up with the help of the vines as ropes, making a gravestone like structure.

Sarah takes the bark and crafts some words on it 'Bravery to be remembered, a sacrifice to be honoured, the world will not forget the spirit you have shown. R.I.P.'

Then, Anderson takes the board and fixes it to the ground, where the last of their team passed away. I gaze at the tomb, as the woods gets consumed by silence once more.

Time passes by, and then Matthew gets back onto his feet. "I guess we'd better be making a move now!", He says.

Suddenly, Amber draws out her scythe and points it at matthew, it's sharp curved edge touching his hair. Matthew looks at her, stunned.

Amber glares at him, and then shouts, "Mr. Matthew, if you dare cross your line and go do reckless stuff again, I swear I'm gonna drop you off at a nearby safe zone. That goes for you too, Shu!"

"Hey! That's not fair!" Shu groans.

"Wait? So we do have a safe zone here too?", Sarah asks, with a questioning look.

Anderson answers, "Well, all fantasy games usually contain safe zones. But I'm not quite sure about this one."

"So we really can't risk our chances huh?" I sigh as I say.

"Yeah, we have to be careful from now on" Sarah replies.

Analyzing the current situation, I realized all our health bars were dropped down to 70%. And due to Matthew's and Shu's recklessness, their health guage had dropped down to 50%, as it started to turn yellow.

We got back to our track once again, keeping an eye out for grievers and other players in need. According to the map data, there were around 50 grievers left in the entire map!

As we went deeper, it started to turn darker and harder to find grievers. The distance between the trees started to decrease, making it easier for the grievers to sneak and attack.

We kept for walking for hours. It started to get even more harder to spot grievers as their number started to decrease.

To ensure teamwork, the team decided on a formation. Matthew and Sarah were chosen as vanguard. Amber and Anderson were chosen as support, and Shu and I for long range targets. Now, it was easier to knock off grievers, taking least damage.

But, it was disrupted, when we heard the second scream. A few metres away, we could continuous firing of bullets and the Howls of grievers nearby.

Shu sprints forward as he shouts in distress, "I have an uneasy feeling someone's in danger!" We follow him.

After few metres of running, we could see a man running towards us, and firing his rife aimlessly in the air. Behind, there were three grievers chasing him.

Suddenly, Anderson stops as he aims for a tree. Then, I could see a grievers jumping over branches, it's claws digging through the wood as it goes. But, how's that even possible?!

Anderson shoots fireballs at the grievers as he shouts astonishef, "That's a level 30 griever!"

Yup, not only it's level and stats, but also it's appearance began to change. Huge claws and spikes protruded out of its body that made it possible for them to even climb! And now, even their speed gradually started to increase.

Shu and I aim at one of the grievers, and shoot it down. But, before I could even react for the third one, the griever suddenly jumps onto a branch right above him. At this rate, neither Shu nor I can aim at the griever, before it pierces right through him!

Suddenly, Matthew dashes forward, going one on one with the griever. The griever changes switches its target, as it turns towards Matthew and plunges at him. The girever pierces it's claw into his chest, as he pierces his sword into its neck.

The griever then, drops, dead. All of us rush towards Matthew who, suddenly started to turn purple.

Sarah catches him, as he moans and loses balance. "Oh no! He's been poisoned!", She cries out loud.

"His health's starting to reduce slowly. We need to do something!", Amber whimpers, as she bursts into tears.

"But we do not have any potions!", Anderson says, shaken.

Well, the fact is that we haven't bought any potions the previous day. By the end of the day, we had spent almost all the coins we had, and also we had never anticipated this might ever occur!

"Umm excuse me? Do you need help?", I hear a voice saying, from behind.

I turn around to see the man we saved, a skinny middle aged looking player, as he says, "Well I do not have any potions either, but I do know how to make a poison potion, using the herbs here."

"Really?!" We all shout, relieved.

Apparently, his name was Carl, and he got separated from his team, when they were attacked by a pack of high levelled grievers. Gravely injured, he and his team ran for their lives, towards the nearest safe zone possible. To protect his team, he took a diversion making sure the grievers chase him. That's when we had met him.

But we hadn't got any herbs either. So, we decided to divide our team into a group of two, and then go on a quick search for the ingredients.

I was teamed with Anderson, while Shu was teamed with Amber. Sarah and Carl decided to stay back with Matthew.

Well, But, there was one more problem. It started to get darker, as dusk started to draw closer. Also, as we went deeper, the trees started to get closer, making it easier to fall into an ambush by the grievers.

So, we decided on few rules. Try to avoid as many grievers as you can. If you are spotted, immediately sprint back to the current location. But, do not engage in any kind of battle.

Before we part ways, we hug each other. We all knew this was way beyond risky. But we made up this decision, only cause of team faith.

Before we go Anderson speaks out, "Guys, I hope you know this is a do or die thing we are doing here. Ofcourse, I wouldn't want you to die, but I rather die than see someone close to die. So, keep up the spirit guys, and let's get back alive."

Everyone shouts, "Black dragons, fight!!" And then, we sprint forward, parting ways into darkness, where you may never what may happen next.