A Game World! Rise of the Quadruple Server Lord

The sound of a melodic clicking echoed in the room while the fire burnt down the woods to a crisp. 

Two figures remained in the room, Goliath, who stood at the edge of the room and Zon, who sat in the middle. 

There was a tense silence between them, both busy with their thoughts. Goliath glanced at a wall clock above the chandelier, an arched brow etched on his face. 

'When did that get here?' He wondered when footsteps echoed, grabbing their attention in unison. 

Two figures walked out from a corner of the room, Bryan and Paxton. 

Bryan waved at them with a smile before walking up the stairs while Paxton smirked at them and walked after. 

"Let's check out the visitor's room, shall we?" 

Paxton spoke up while Bryan excitedly nodded and continued up. 

They watched them in silence until they disappeared from their sight, a heavy sigh escaping Zon's lips. 

"Zachary's the one with the red task". He said. 

Goliath flinched, turning towards him with an intrigued expression. 

"Isn't it too soon to judge?" He asked. 

"He's suspicious. I don't think Zachary is his real name either. Why do we let him walk around". 

Goliath scoffed. "We tested him too, you know". 

A sudden silence remained after, Zon shifting away from the stairway and looking into the fire. 

"True". 

*****

The creaking of a door echoed as footsteps resounded on the wooden floorboard. 

Two figures walked into a dark room, a whistle echoing as a torch was lit. 

"This place is scary sister". 

Naomi said as Risa shone the light around. 

"Don't get scared. Just think of this as a scary-themed play in an amusement park". 

"Easy for you to say". 

Naomi walked behind Risa, both exploring the room with the single candle of light. 

It illuminated its ambience on the surface of the walls and furniture, but other than the basics, the girls didn't notice anything much. 

"Why bring us here?" Risa wondered. "The Server sure is weird". 

Naomi sighed. "I'm more concerned with why it insists on killing us". 

Risa laughed lightly. "It's the rule, Sis. Survival of the fittest. There's a reason why we have so many powerful players in our time and age….especially with the rise in Glitches". 

Naomi sighed. 

Ever since they were little, these two had been inseparable. It was tested even more during a Glitch incident in their hometown, many years ago. 

A level 5 Glitch opened up in the middle of their town, and all sorts of calamities stepped into their world to cause utter chaos. 

"Yeah…you're right; it probably needs stronger players to face the high-class monsters". 

Glitch monsters were what these calamities were called, unperturbed by the world's principles. They stumbled upon Earth many years ago and made it what it is today. 

"It is what it is, sister…now, let's get out of here. This place sickens me". 

Naomi giggled at her sister's reaction as they turned towards the door. 

They were about to head out when a third presence suddenly poked his head over the candlelight and blew it off. 

"What? Risa?! Why did you turn it off?" Naomi cried out in surprise as they stumbled upon each other. 

"Wha–What are you talking about? You were the one that poked your head over the candle, right?" 

Naomi blinked and shook her head. "Wha–What?" She muttered when the two remained silent. 

"You're kidding, right?". She broke the silence after a few seconds. 

At that moment, a creaking sound echoed, followed by a thud as the door was suddenly shut. 

The two girls whimpered in shock as they huddled together. 

"Turn it back on! Turn it back on!" 

Ruth shook as adrenaline pumped into her system. 

She searched for the matchbox they had found outside the room, attempting to turn the light back on. 

Soon, the sound of the match stick striking the matchbox, over and over again, echoed until the ambience returned. 

They sighed, their images forming shadows on the wall while the warmth embraced them. 

At that moment, Naomi narrowed her gaze as it focused on the shadows on the walls. 

".....there's…there's someone..". 

She muttered, confusion laced in her tone.

"So–SLICE

The image of a blade flickered with the light as a thin line drawn through the ambience. 

What followed after was a splash of blood and a sudden thud. Naomi remained on her knees in shock, her hand touching the warm ink on her face while an object rolled over to her knee. 

She glanced down, her breath quickening and her gaze bulged out in shock as the facial features of the object revealed its origin. 

With a shaky and teary-eyed expression, she screamed. 

"Ahhhhhh!!!!" 

Throughout the mansion, the people grouped together glanced around in confusion. 

Down in the room, Goliath and Zon glanced at each other before they both rushed up the stairway towards the source of the voice. 

The sound of footsteps projected in the house, as they weren't the only ones concerned with the scream. 

Dollina and Ferralo, Kenhi and Jonn and finally, Zon and Goliath. 

They met up in the hallway, their gazes flickering towards each other as they headed towards the door. 

"Where's Bryan and Paxton?" 

"Help!" Another cry projected within the walls of the room causing the six people gathered to stop in their tracks. 

"Wasn't that Bryan? Are they stuck?" Dollina asked. 

"Or is Paxton the killer?" Zon interjected, their gazes flicking towards him. 

At that moment, Dollina bolted towards the source of the voice, Kenhi grunting as he walked past the men to catch up with her. 

'"Lady Dollina, wait up". 

He cried out as he rushed after her. 

The remaining four glanced at each other and continued in the direction of the girls' screams. 

A few minutes passed and the four men had found their way in the room where the girls once were. Each had their own candle of stick, which illuminated the room brightly compared to the last. 

They looked around in confusion, turning the torch around, but it dawned on them at that point. 

"Wasn't the voice coming from here?" Goliath asked. 

"I thought so too….but…no one is here" 

Zon looked around in confusion, pointing his torch to the ground where he froze. 

"....I've found the reason why she screamed though". 

The others turned their candles towards him and came forward in haste. The candles together illuminated the area a lot better, and the sight before them was both comical and sickening. 

On the floor was the body of one of the sisters on her knees, her decapitated head held on her arms and a message written in blood in front of her. 

"What does it say?" 

Goliath asked, a stifled groan escaping his lips as he turned away in disgust. 

Jonn clicked his tongue while Zon and Ferralo continued to stare at the dead body. 

"Find me". Ferralo read, a tense silence suffusing the room soon after, but Zon broke it, hesitation lingering in his voice. 

"Is it safe to assume that we have a real killer at our hands?" He asked. 

Ferralo sighed. "With the looks of things…maybe we do". 

****

A few minutes had passed and all eight remaining members of the group had arrived in the room, two figures standing out from the rest. 

Bryan and Paxton were held accountable for the dead body and the missing sister, but it seemed like the group weren't able to join the points together. 

"So, what you're saying is both of you got trapped in the visiting room?". Zon repeated, his tone laced with disbelief but their response had made him doubt his disbelief. 

Paxton nodded while Bryan gestured as he replied. 

"I'm telling you what we experienced! The doors suddenly shut and the bed fell over Paxton! I thought he was dead until those two came over to help!" 

Zon narrowed his gaze while the others remained silent. 

At this juncture, it was difficult to believe anything but despite them being suspects, there was another figure missing and without trace. 

"How about the girl? Which of them even screamed?" Ferralo wondered, shifting his gaze between Bryan and Paxton. 

"I presumed it was Naomi, considering Ruth didn't sound like someone with a high voice". 

Kenhi replied with his fingers stroking his chin and his head nodding.

He seemed pleased with his answer without realizing the others had turned towards him. 

With a sigh, Zon looked away. "At least we know one person that's incapable of doing it." 

"I think the girl, Naomi, is the killer. Why else would she go missing?" 

Jonn interjected. "If you ask me, she's doing this whole disappearing act to throw us off guard." 

There was a tense silence, the others lingering in the clouds of their thoughts. 

"That is a possibility."

They all hummed in agreement. 

Their confusion lasted only for a little while before Zon cleared the air. 

"Let's handle this matter, piece by piece. Ten minutes isn't nearly up yet but in the next, the killer would have to reveal themself."

"True…" 

"In that case, let's continue. There's a lot more room to cover up in those hallways." 

"Agreed….in the meantime, Goliath and Zon, watch over those two. If the killer is among them then they'll have to die after the second ten minutes have run out". 

Ferralo said as they turned to leave. 

'How nice…' Paxton thought as a sigh escaped his lips. 'What now, killer?'