Evil Clown Evolution [A VRMMORPG Adventure]

Toma was still sitting beside the bed, his eyes fixed on Zetia's motionless face. She still had not woken up, even though he had already done everything the support operator had told him to do: remove the headset, lay her flat, make sure she was breathing normally, and keep checking for any unusual changes.

The support operator's voice kept replaying in his head. No critical abnormalities detected. We recommend continuing to observe the user. Sixty minutes, they'd said. If she stayed like this past that mark, they'd send someone.

It had already been forty minutes.

And she still had not woken up.

Would she really be okay?

Toma leaned closer and held his fingers beneath the girl's nose, checking her breathing again. The soft breaths against his skin felt steady and normal. Then he placed a hand against her forehead. Her temperature seemed normal too, maybe just a little colder than usual.

He'd told himself he would wait right here until her eyes opened. That was the plan. He would not move an inch until she was awake and talking again, complaining about something, anything, as long as it meant she was fine.

Then his phone buzzed on the floor beside him.

He almost ignored it. Almost.

But it kept buzzing, over and over, notification after notification stacking up on the lock screen. They all came from the same handful of gaming forums and news feeds he'd bookmarked out of habit, along with alerts for topics directly related to him and the things he considered important.

Necroton under attack. Elder Bloom Behemoth. Level 215 Raid Boss.

Raid Boss? Level 215?

"I'm not reading that wrong, am I?"

Another notification appeared.

City walls collapsing. Casualties rising.

Then another.

Vesperion Guild engaged. Six members holding the line alone.

"Vesperion Guild? And six of them?"

They really had come to the city, just as Siki had told him earlier. And six members was nearly half of their entire guild.

Toma's stomach dropped.

He scrolled through a few of the headlines with shaking hands, and the more he read, the worse it got. Necroton wasn't just his territory in some abstract sense. It was Igrio out there. It was Lucia, Elora, every maid and knight he'd spent weeks building trust with. People who thought their prince had finally started caring about them.

If that city fell while he sat here doing nothing...

He turned back toward the bed, his attention settling on Zetia's peaceful, unconscious face.

"...I," he muttered. “Need to go.”

He didn't know if she could hear him. Probably not. But he said it anyway before pushing himself to his feet.

Before leaving, however, he called Lina. He had already told her what happened earlier, but he needed to update her.

"Where are you going? Is Zetia okay?"

"She's stable. That's what the support line said. I need you to keep an eye on her. Something happened in the game. A real emergency. I have to go back in."

"Right now? You just said she's stable, not fine. I wasn't supposed to be back for another two hours."

"I know. But if I don't go now..." He paused for a moment before continuing. "People are going to die. People I actually know this time."

There was a brief silence from the other end.

"Alright. Don't worry about it. I'm heading back now."

Toma's grip around the phone loosened slightly.

"Just do what you need to do," Lina continued. "I've got her."

Toma climbed into the capsule device, his thoughts still tangled between Zetia and what was happening inside the game. But there was no time to hesitate now. The lid closed above him, and Toma let his eyes fall shut.

He opened them again to the familiar sprawl of the royal capital, standing on the same road where he'd logged out earlier.

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There was no time to waste on the scenery.

He immediately summoned Fang, while Faria approached from nearby with Lucia and Elora, as though the three of them had already been waiting for his return.

Without wasting another second, Jester set out with them and rushed toward the battlefield. By the time they arrived, six members of the Vesperion Guild were already fighting the Behemoth.

And damn, they were struggling. Six players from the strongest guild in Eternal Legacy, and even they were having this much trouble.

Jester reached into his inventory and pulled out a heavy axe of gleaming golden metal.

[Warchief's Cleaver of Dominion | Epic | Weapon | Two-Handed]

The moment it left his inventory, the weapon automatically adjusted itself to match its wielder, taking on the perfect size and proportions for Jester's human form.

There was no time to think things through carefully. He needed every advantage he could get, and right now, he only had one card left that could make a real difference fast enough.

"Lucia."

He focused on the bond between them and activated the skill without hesitation.

[Legendary - Chaos Bound: Perfect Assimilation Activated]

[Cost: 90% of total Mana, 70% of total Stamina.]

[Assimilation with target Lucia has been successfully completed.]

[Temporary Class Unlocked: Royal Sword Saint.]

[Due to weapon compatibility limitations, 5 skill sets have been successfully assimilated and unlocked.]

A flood of unfamiliar strength surged through his limbs, sharpening his senses, tightening every muscle into something faster and harder than before. His grip on the axe steadied instantly, the weapon somehow feeling lighter despite its weight.

The skill would only last for a short time. Once its duration ran out, Jester would be left with barely enough strength to keep fighting. But if those few minutes were enough to turn the tide for the six people already fighting for their lives out there, then that was enough.

A blond man in polished white armor approached Jester, looking every bit like some wannabe shining knight from an old heroic tale.

"Allow me to give you a quick briefing, Your Highness," Siki said.

"We need every hand we can get. Listen carefully. This thing regenerates whatever damage we deal unless we hit the right spot. Those buds along its tentacles, the flower petals, they have to be destroyed first. Once one breaks open, its mouth stays exposed for about five seconds, and that's the only window we get to hit its actual core. Miss that window, and we're back to square one. We need to destroy as many of those buds as possible first. It'll reduce the amount of damage this thing can throw at us."

"I don't need a lecture from someone who's spent the last hour getting tossed all over the battlefield," Jester said flatly, already turning Fang toward the fight. "Petals. Core. Got it. Try to keep up."

Siki let out a short laugh. "Alright. I like that confidence, Your Highness. Let's hope you can back it up."

There was no more time for words. Jester immediately climbed back onto Fang, with Elora following behind him without hesitation. Beside them, Lucia mounted Faria.

Then they moved.

Fang and Faria shot forward together, racing straight toward the towering monster. But before they could get far, another figure suddenly swept past the group like she had been carried by the wind itself.

"Need a lift?" Clover shouted. "I'll give you the fastest ride you've ever had! Get in before it collapses!"

Jester immediately understood what she was planning.

"Go, go, go!" Clover yelled. "I'll keep clearing the air above you so nothing else drops on your head while you're up there!"

From the other side of the battlefield, another massive tornado swept toward them, tearing through the dust as it rapidly closed the distance.

Fang immediately launched straight into the swirling vortex.

The world spun sideways as the wind seized them, hurling them upward at a speed that stole the breath from Jester's lungs. Faria followed a heartbeat later, with Lucia crouched low against her back.

They broke free of the funnel high above the battlefield, and for one suspended second, Jester saw the entire fight laid out beneath him. Then gravity remembered they existed, and Fang's claws found purchase on the nearest tentacle with a bone-jarring impact.

The surface beneath them wasn't stable. It writhed and shifted under Fang's paws like solid ground trying to become water, and the entire tentacle suddenly whipped sideways without warning.

Fang immediately broke into a sprint, claws digging into the monster's flesh as he raced along the twisting limb. Every few steps, he had to leap over ridges and snapping growths that rose in their path, landing only to launch himself forward again.

Elora clung tightly to Jester from behind, barely managing to keep herself from being thrown off. On another tentacle nearby, Faria was having just as much trouble, fighting to keep her footing while carrying Lucia through the violent movement.

Below them, Siki and the others were already closing in, spreading out around the monster as they prepared their own attacks.

"Hold on!" Jester shouted.

The tentacle twisted sharply. Fang's claws lost their grip.

For one terrifying moment, they were airborne, tumbling off the side of the monster's massive limb with the ground far, far below.

Then countless green vines burst up from beneath them, rapidly weaving together into a web-like net that caught them in the middle of their fall.

Jester's stomach lurched as the vines absorbed their momentum. He twisted around to find Elora with both hands raised, her whole body trembling from the effort of holding the vines steady.

"I have you, Your Highness!" she called out. "Just a little further!"

Fang regained his balance almost immediately. His claws dug into the woven vines, muscles tightening beneath Jester as he lowered his body.

Then he launched. The vines bent beneath the force before snapping back, throwing Fang upward like a living springboard. His body shot through the air toward the monster's tentacle once more, with Jester and Elora holding on tightly.

Fang slammed back onto the writhing limb, claws scraping across its surface before finally finding purchase.

Jester didn't waste the reprieve.

He kicked off Fang's back and landed in a low crouch directly on the tentacle. Lucia dropped beside him a second later, her blade already drawn.

Meanwhile, explosions erupted one after another across the monster's massive body as Siki and the others successfully carried out their part of the plan. One by one, the petals were torn apart under the relentless assault.

Then the monster's mouth finally opened. This was their chance.

"Lucia, now!"

Fang surged forward even faster, with Faria racing alongside him. With the incredible mobility of their two mounts, Jester and Lucia had the best chance of reaching the exposed core before the five-second window closed.

Everything depended on the two of them now.

Jester tightened both hands around the massive axe, his fingers gripping the handle with all his strength as the open maw rapidly drew closer.

This had to work!