Out of the Frying Pan

When Jay awoke, it was less than 2 hours before the clock hit 0:00:00. There wasn't enough time for another dungeon run, so instead Jay took to organizing those they could, protecting those willing to listen, and creating defenses around the apartment complex.

Fortunately, it wasn't a particularly large building and had space between it and the surrounding buildings. Otherwise, such defenses would have been nearly impossible and likely useless.

Weapons were distributed, everyone that could downloaded the game or practiced magic in the meantime. Jay didn't particularly need the practice since he was raising walls, but he did want to make sure he was fully prepared for the start of the game.

Reaching into his inventory, Jay pulled out the last 2 items he had. The Steel Fox egg was of the normal variety, but he was hoping that he might be able to change that. As he pulled out a Den Mother Core, Jay focused on combining the two.

It was risky, but it would be well worth it if he succeeded. Even with his high will stat, it was extremely difficult. He felt himself rapidly exhausting his energy and mana and pain soon racked his mind.

Still, Jay kept at it. He needed this. Humanity needed this. After several minutes of intense concentration, the two items finally merged.

[Steel Fox egg upgraded. Adamantine Steel Fox Den Mother egg received.]

As much as he wanted a cool pet, Jay knew this was most deadly in Andrew's hands. He couldn't help but sigh as he traded it to Andrew, but it could mean the difference between life and death.

Andrew set down the egg, facing it with his hands on it. At first, his hands seemed to glow. The longer he continued, the more the glow affected the egg. By the time he finished and opened his eyes, the Den Mother egg was hard to look at.

Suddenly, the egg fell open with a startling crack. The Den Mother was significantly larger than Bluejay had been. It was already the size of a large dog and that was just at level 1. Andrew had already assured him it would grow as it leveled, so Jay was eager to see how strong it could get.

Sarah, Andrew and Jay pulled out all their meat and began feeding the two pets. The more they ate, the bigger they grew. By the time they stopped, Bluejay was the size of a horse, his wings fierce and beautiful. The fox was the size of an adult black bear, but leaner and more intimidating.

Perhaps it was something Andrew's class did, but both seemed to shine. The fox even looked stronger than the first-floor boss that Jay had started to grown accustomed to.

As the minutes ticked down, Jay made sure that all the mages had full mana and everyone else had a weapon. At the front was Pete, his baseball bat now sporting spikes and looking nastier than ever. Behind him, in line with the mages, Jay spotted Kyle readying his spells.

In fact, each of their earth mages looked intimidating. Decked out in matching Adamantine Armor, their army was looking fierce.

[Monsters will begin spawning in 3. 2. 1.]

[Good luck citizens of Earth. As the Seventh planet to join the game, may I offer you a piece of advice? Stay hidden, be ready and don't fight the big boys. Planet Three learned that the hard way. May the game begin.]

Across the entire city, the world went dark. All electricity died (save for their phones) and the previously clear sky suddenly was swallowed by dark clouds.

These were not ordinary clouds however, and they quickly descended towards the earth. As they did so, more and more creatures flew out from within. Some were just birds. They might be a bit bigger, faster or more dangerous, but they were just birds. Then the scary monsters started coming.

Phoenixes blazed a path through the sky. Gargoyles were infused with life as the clouds reached them, suddenly taking to the air. Pegasi, harpies, and manticores burst through. More unidentifiable monsters followed in their wake.

As the clouds touched down to earth, all manners of snakes, wolves, bears, and who knows what else broke loose. And the worst part? They were the only ones that could see it.

While most seemed inclined to run away to populate unreached corners of the world, there were those that were hungry for blood. A man was snapped in half by a rampaging cyclops. A small family crushed under a six-legged giant rhino. A child, stolen from his cradle as his parents watched him float off in the unseen arms of a wind elemental.

And then blackness. Jay couldn't see. He couldn't hear beyond the stomping of monster paws and claws. He could even smell the uncooked meat they had just fed their pets. It was the single most terrifying moment of his life.

Just as suddenly as the clouds came, they lifted into the sky. They retracted, condensing and growing steadily smaller until they finally disappeared altogether. And that's when he heard the cries.

Terrified people, running from unseen nightmares, flooded the streets. Monsters collapsed buildings, ran through homes and took delight in the free buffet in front of them.

Jay had thought they'd have low level monsters to start. He couldn't have been more wrong.

[Due to the high population density, this zone has been designated a level 50 zone. You are highly recommended to leave immediately. Failure to comply may result in gruesome death.]

"Everyone, stay calm. We need to evacuate now. We're in a much higher-level zone than we're prepared for, so we need to get out of the city. Who knows the quickest way out?"

"I know the city like the back of my hand. I'll lead," chimed a voice from the back. A scruffy teenager from the second group came forward. "I'm George. If we head straight East, we should be out of the city in under 20 minutes. Or it would be without monsters, anyway."

"Thanks George. You lead the way. Everyone, we need to go. Do your best to keep up and don't stop moving no matter what. Protect those you can, but don't risk yourselves. Good luck, and let's go."

Mobilizing speech delivered, Jay turned around to follow George. The teen had already started sprinting away and Jay did his best to follow. As they ran, he quickly realized a problem; they had parents and young kids.

That part of the group was moving way slower than everyone else. He may not be that athletic, but at least Jay had a few levels. He ran back and picked up a small kid. His parents looked at him uncertainly before they all sped up together.

Even with the weight of a kid on his back, Jay was faster and had better endurance than he ever had before. He followed the group, quickly outpacing several other runners. Countless monsters lashed out as he ran by, but he avoided most with ease.

Some monsters were particularly fast or persistent and cut his arms and sides as he ran. Still, he didn't give up. When a building collapsed in front of him, Jay was prepared and hurled himself over it. He may not have cleared it in a single bound, but it was still impressive.

Ahead, he thought he made out some of his other strong fighters. Red hair bobbed as Sarah chased after George, shooting arrows left and right. She even managed to take down a few weaker ones, disabling those that she couldn't kill outright.

Andrew was on Bluejay's back, the fox beside him. He lashed out left and right, severing outstretched monster limbs and slicing through wings.

Kyle ran just like everyone else, just behind Andrew and his pets. When he could, he threw up a wall or a spike to help his friends.

And then there was Pete. As an athlete, Pete was already strong. Rather than run ahead, Pete stayed back to protect the parents and kids. When a monster would swing at them or blow fire, Pete would be there to take them down. It was gruesome, but it was also super impressive.

Being the highest level and in the middle of the pack, Jay was in the perfect spot to help out. His mana was recharging faster than ever, letting him throw up walls and shoot lightning and fire at offending monsters. Some did damage and some just slowed them down, but at least it gave them a shot.

After countless minutes of running, Jay finally saw green. He broke out into a field outside the suburbs, but still he didn't stop running. His strength was starting to fade, but he pushed on. He wasn't sure where the kid's parents were, as he lost them in the panic.

He hoped they were ahead of him, rather than behind. Their numbers had definitely fallen, though. There were considerably fewer people ahead of him and Jay didn't even want to check behind him. The longer they were here, the more danger they were in.

[You have entered a level 40 zone. You are highly recommended to leave immediately. Failure to comply may result in gruesome death.]

[You have entered a level 30 zone. You are highly recommended to leave immediately. Failure to comply may result in gruesome death.]

[You have entered a level 20 zone. You are highly recommended to leave immediately. Failure to comply may result in gruesome death.]

[You have entered a level 10 zone. You are highly recommended to leave immediately. Failure to comply may result in gruesome death.]

[You have reached a safe zone. No monsters may spawn or enter a safe zone so long as the duration has not been exceeded. Safe zones are not permanent structures and may change as regularly as every 3-5 months. We hope you enjoy your stay.]

Falling to the ground, Jay took a moment to feel his aching muscles before looking around him. The area didn't seem particularly new or different. It seemed to be an extremely small town, boasting only a few houses. To his surprise, they seemed unharmed but vacant.

In terms of people, he saw about 10 people already up and helping. Sarah had started an outdoor grill, sending some of the metal mages with food for the exhausted group. Someone had found first aid supplies and a few people went around bandaging the injured. One came to offer Jay some help, but he just waved them away.

He could see more people heading their way, but the numbers were low. Maybe 5 or 10 were behind him in total, from what he could see.

Jay was happy to see that Pete was among them, but he looked especially battered. His armor was scorched and chunks were ripped out of it. Even as he stood there bleeding, he turned to Jay.

"How many? How many did I save?" He was clearly referring to the kids and parents, which there were scarily few of.

"Enough. You did your best and you saved as many as you could." And it was true. Chances are, half these people wouldn't have made it without Pete. For that matter, most of them wouldn't have made it without Sarah, Andrew or Kyle, either.

Everyone had played their part. And until they got stronger, that was going to have to be good enough. The last stragglers came in bearing terrible tales. They'd seen worse monsters than those ahead of them, and what they said drilled fear into the hearts that heard them. Before long, Pete came over to quiet them down, but the damage was done.

This was it. A group of about 20, and only 4 kids. Only one full family made it out, and that was a big enough miracle as it was. And then Jay heard a shout.

"We found a level 1-10 dungeon over here!"