Chapter Four: First Mission

“The nearest portal is in Whitehall Street. Portals can only be penetrated a minute after they open.”

Mason shoved a whole slice of bread into his mouth and munched as he walked on.

He walked out the alley while drinking water from the bottle, he had gobbled down all the five slices of bread. He secured the half-filled bottle in his bag and darted down the road.

Whitehall Street was a thirty minutes walk. It laid bare with destroyed houses. It was the administrative area of Griffin City and was home to the city hall that now laid in ruins right in front of Mason. A faint glow of purple shimmered behind a slanted pillar amongst the ruins.

Mason gasped as he recognized what it was, it was his only chance to complete his mission. He charged at the pillar.

It could've been mere luck or he had a good timing, there was no monster around. He took sharp breaths, “Here goes nothing,” he said before leaping through the portal.

The travel was too quick, he landed face first on soft soil. It was like another world with vegetations everywhere, like Griffin City without its elegance, technology, infrastructures, factories and massive population.

Leaves rustled around where he stood, he tilted his head to either sides. The rustling continued, with squeaks following. The bushes danced with vigour, a few shrubs snapped and broke off from their roots.

A herd of rodents, about the size of a cat, leapt out of the bush. One clung to his bag with one leap.

“Ah, get off,” he yelled while he tried to push it off.

Others leapt on him, and in seconds he was a human heap of rats. He screamed and struggled until he couldn't. The rats scattered, leaving his weak body which was decorated with blood and their teeth marks.

“Would host love to respawn? Host’s body is critically damaged,” the system's voice echoed in his mind.

“Yes,” Mason replied, his voice was barely a whisper.

[Host has been respawned]

He got up and looked around. He was in another territory far away from his initial spot.

Up ahead of him was a gorge.

“System where can I find this emerald eye?” Mason asked, glancing around but the system gave no reply. The surrounding areas were covered with marshes.

He sighed and was about to make a step when he heard a hiss. A monster emerged from the marsh. It had the face of a lizard with limbs, but it's body was streamlined like that of snake down to the tail. Its fangs shot out of his mouth as it slithered through the dense bush towards Mason.

He didn't wait to see it up close, he darted off.

“What's with that moron?” A man said from a distance from where the monster was chasing Mason.

“Probably an adventurer who just joined. He has no sense of direction,” another said as he sharpened his arrow.

Behind them was another group of people all dressed and armed to the teeth with different weapons and gadgets.

They all bursted in laughter when the slithering monster pressed down Mason and sunk its fangs into his neck.

“What an idiot. Ha ha ha! He barely made it through,” one of them mocked him from their spot.

Mason respawned in different locations but each time, he was attacked by monsters. In a span of five minutes he respawned a dozen times and had met new species of monsters.

He panted and bent on his knee. He had just been respawned at a gorge. He scanned around and he spotted his prize — a moss-inflicted gargoyle statue that spewed out water from its mouth into the gorge. A green item in its eye reflected the beam of sunlight.

“Bingo,” Mason said. He rushed for the gargoyle and maneuvered his way to the top of it. He dislocated the emerald eye from the sockets.

He hopped down and dusted his body.

“Finally_” he paused when hisses echoed around the gorge. Several of the limbed snakes emerged from the river around him, probably the first had invited his whole clan for a meal.

They crawled out towards him. He was surrounded, no way to escape. He closed eyes and waited for his fate.

The stings, the throb, the pain of death — he was about to feel it again. A ray of hope shone on him, a portal had just materialized at the far end of the river and six others appeared in a span of minutes that he couldn't count.

With a deep breath, he ran through the slithering monsters. He hardly made it past the first three.

[Host has been respawned]

He sat up by the bank of the river, gasping and grappling his chest. Lifting his head up, two portals still glowed with faint hues of purple. He rushed for one of it, as the other disappeared. The reptiles chased after him, not ready to let their prey go. He hopped in, the portal closed and he landed on his back on a tarred road in a blink.

He shielded his sweaty face with his palms as the blinding beam of the afternoon sun dawned on him.

“Hey kid,” someone called out to him. He bounced to his feet and turned in the direction of the voice.

It was a man in police uniform, holding a baton. Behind him, there were two others standing idly by their patrol car.

“Show me your pass, right away,” the police man said with an outstretched palm as he got to Mason.

“What?”

“Don’t play dumb. You just hopped out of a damn portal, show me the pass.”

“Um, I_ lost it.”

The police man sized him up, “You lost it? I'm supposed to believe that?” he questioned.

“I thought I had it.”

“Listen boy. If I see you around any portal without a pass, I'm going to make sure you spend a month eating papers in a cell. Y'all think this is some sort of fun hustle?”

“Get out of here,” he ordered Mason.

Mason nodded and brushed past the man. He looked back to see another set of people step out of another portal. His eyes caught theirs in a stare before he walked on.

The group displayed their pass to the policemen and continued in the same direction Mason went. As he cornered in to another street, they tailed behind him with so much intent in their eyes.