The red beam of light didn't just mark their location; it screamed it.
It punched through the concrete ceiling of the boiler room, through the five floors of the dormitory, and pierced the night sky like a god's finger pointing directly at Bhy Khay.
[GLOBAL EVENT: THE KING'S BOUNTY]
[CURRENT HOLDER: BHY KHAY (Lvl 4)]
[REWARD FOR KILLING HOLDER: 1000 COINS + GUILD TOKEN]
[TIME REMAINING: 59:50]
Elara stared at the holographic text floating in the air, her face draining of color.
"One thousand coins?" she whispered. "Bhy Khay, people will kill their own mothers for ten coins right now. For a thousand... the whole campus is coming."
Bhy Khay didn't look up at the light. He was looking at the loot on the floor. He grabbed the [Silk Robe (Rare)] and tossed it to Elara.
"Put that on," he ordered. "It gives +20 Mana and +10 Physical Defense. You look like a victim in that ruined uniform. Look like a Mage."
Elara caught the shimmering white fabric. She didn't argue. She pulled it over her torn clothes. Instantly, the fabric resized to fit her perfectly, glowing with a faint blue aura. She looked less like a scared student and more like a Player.
Bhy Khay equipped the [Broodmother's Fang]. It was a nasty, curved dagger dripping with green liquid.
[WEAPON: BROODMOTHER'S FANG]
[EFFECT: PARALYTIC VENOM (Slows target by 50% for 5s)]
[PASSIVE: SPIDER SCENT (Low-level arachnids will not attack you)]
"Listen to me," Bhy Khay said, checking his map. The red dots representing enemies were moving. Fast. "We can't hide. The beam follows me. We have to move."
"Where?" Elara asked, gripping her goblin shank in one hand and her staff in the other. "Every exit is covered."
"The roof," Bhy Khay said.
"The roof?" Elara looked at him like he was crazy. "That's a dead end! And the beam will be even brighter up there!"
"Exactly," Bhy Khay smirked. It was a cold, terrifying expression. "If we're going to be a lighthouse, let's make sure the ships crash on the rocks."
They sprinted up the stairwell. The dormitory was eerily quiet, but the sound of shattering glass came from the lobby below. The hunters had breached the front door.
"I see the beam!" a voice shouted from downstairs. "He's on the move! Upstairs!"
"That's Rex," Elara hissed as they reached the third floor. "The captain of the rugby team. He's... he's bad news, Bhy Khay. He was Level 3 before we even entered the dungeon."
"A jock," Bhy Khay muttered. "High Strength, low Intelligence. My favorite target."
They burst onto the roof.
The wind whipped at them, carrying the smell of smoke and ozone. The red beam was blindingly bright here, shooting straight up into the clouds.
Bhy Khay ran to the edge and looked down. Three stories below, in the courtyard, a group of five students was looking up. They were armed with fire axes and baseball bats wrapped in barbed wire.
"There he is!" Rex shouted, pointing his axe at Bhy Khay. "The Laptop Boy! Hold him there! We're coming up!"
Elara backed away from the edge. "They're blocking the stairs. We're trapped."
"No," Bhy Khay said, turning to face the stairwell door. "We're waiting."
He looked at the massive HVAC (Air Conditioning) unit on the roof. It was loud, vibrating heavily.
"Elara, how much Mana do you have?"
"50/100. The Robe regenerated some."
"Good. When the door opens, I need you to cast [Grease] on the floor in front of it."
"Grease? I don't have that spell!"
"Yes, you do. It's a variation of your ice magic. Don't freeze the water. Just cool it until it becomes slush. Slippery. Frictionless."
Elara nodded, understanding the physics. "Okay."
BAM. BAM.
Someone was kicking the metal door to the roof.
"Open up, Bhy Khay!" Rex's voice boomed. "Hand over the Token and we'll make it quick! Or we can toss you off the roof!"
Bhy Khay stood directly under the red beam, arms crossed. He looked like a raid boss waiting for challengers.
CRASH.
The door flew open.
Rex charged out, followed by three other guys in varsity jackets. They looked strong. Brutal.
"Get him!" Rex roared, stepping forward.
"NOW!" Bhy Khay shouted.
Elara thrust her hand forward. [SLUSH].
A patch of semi-frozen, oily ice coated the concrete directly in front of the door.
Rex, moving with full momentum, hit the slick surface.
"Whoa!"
His feet went out from under him. He slammed onto his back, sliding across the roof like a hockey puck—straight toward Bhy Khay.
The other three guys slipped and crashed into a pile at the doorway, cursing.
Rex stopped sliding right at Bhy Khay's feet. He looked up, dazed, gripping his axe. "You little—"
Bhy Khay stepped on Rex's wrist. Hard.
"High Strength," Bhy Khay analyzed, looking down at him. "Zero Agility."
He pointed the [Broodmother's Fang] at Rex's throat.
"Don't move," Bhy Khay said.
The three guys at the door scrambled up, but stopped when they saw the dagger.
"Let him go!" one of them shouted.
"Or what?" Bhy Khay asked calmly. "You'll kill the guy with the 1000 coin bounty? Go ahead. But if I die, the token drops off the edge of the building."
He kicked the golden Guild Token toward the edge of the roof. It teetered precariously on the rim.
"NO!" Rex screamed. "Don't!"
"Here's the deal," Bhy Khay said. "I have a bounty. You want the bounty. But right now, you have a bigger problem."
He pointed his thumb over his shoulder, toward the sky.
The red beam wasn't just attracting players.
Screeching sounds filled the air. Dark shapes were descending from the clouds. Gargoyles.
[WARNING: MONSTER WAVE DETECTED]
[TYPE: AERIAL SCAVENGERS (Lvl 3)]
"The beam attracts monsters too," Bhy Khay smiled. "And since you're standing next to me... you're in the aggro range."
SCREEEE!
A stone gargoyle dove from the sky, snatching one of the guys by the door.
"HELP ME!" the student screamed as he was lifted into the air and dropped off the side of the building.
Panic erupted.
"Fight them!" Rex yelled, trying to get up.
"Stay down," Bhy Khay kicked him back down. He leaned in close. "I'm going to leave now. You're going to stay here and fight the gargoyles. If you follow me, I'll drop the Token off the roof."
"You... you're a psycho!" Rex spat.
"I'm the Admin," Bhy Khay corrected.
He looked at Elara. "Jump."
"What?" Elara looked at the edge of the roof. It was a three-story drop. "Are you insane?"
"Do you trust me?" Bhy Khay held out his hand.
The gargoyles were swarming. Rex was struggling to get up. The other students were fighting for their lives.
Elara looked at the chaos. Then she looked at Bhy Khay's calm, glowing golden eyes.
She grabbed his hand.
"Jump!"
They sprinted toward the edge and leaped into the void.
Gravity took hold. The ground rushed up to meet them.
"WE'RE GOING TO DIE!" Elara screamed.
Bhy Khay twisted his body in mid-air. He activated the [Ring of the Void Walker].
[SKILL: SHADOW STEP]
[TARGET: GROUND SHADOW (10m away)]
ZOOP.
Just before they hit the concrete, they dissolved into black smoke.
They reappeared safely on the ground, rolling into the bushes at the edge of the dormitory garden. The momentum was cancelled by the teleport.
Above them, on the roof, chaos reigned. The red beam was still shooting into the sky, but now it was surrounded by gargoyles attacking Rex and his team.
"They think I'm still up there," Bhy Khay whispered, watching the gargoyles dive-bomb the roof. "The beam marks my last known location for 10 seconds before updating."
He stood up and pulled Elara to her feet.
"We have 10 seconds before the beam moves to us down here. Run."
Elara stared at him, breathless. Her heart was pounding out of her chest. He had turned a death trap into a diversion. He had used the enemy as bait for the monsters again.
"You're terrifying," she said, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.
"I'm efficient," Bhy Khay checked his map. "Next stop: The Science Block. We need a server room to cash in this Token."
[QUEST UPDATE: SURVIVE THE BOUNTY]
[TIME REMAINING: 55:00]
They vanished into the shadows of the campus, leaving the jocks to die on the roof.