NPC into Player: Let's Wreck This Game

"Tell me about it," he sighed, "grab their bodies and make them closer, I'll keep sending the revived ones back to the grave."

"Alright," she ditched the help in killing while starting to adjust their bodies to be closer to Bloom. "Die!" she stabbed the one she was dragging the moment he was about to revive.

"Damn! This is really beyond my comprehension," she stood in between the corpses and glanced at the other flashing lights in shocked expression and denial.

"No time for that," Bloom kept killing, "we don't know if there are more coming at us or not. Let's kill the ones here fast before running a check at the entire mansion."

"…"

She didn't speak while her face showed some struggle. She kept helping in silence while the ten game skilled assassins kept losing levels one each ten seconds.

"Damn! They are all at twenty-nine levels," after he finally killed them for the twenty-nine times he couldn't help but curse.

"They… are one of the elite forces of the game world," she slowly said and Bloom suddenly stopped.

"What do you know?" he asked while having the feeling that she was hiding something off him.

"Sigh," she shook her head before moving to one of them and removed his mask. "This is Mark, one of the strongest shield bearers I ever met in my life."

She then stood up and moved to another corpse and started removing their masks one by one. She kept identifying them and introducing their identity, famed deeds, and what they used to do in the game.

"Are they your friends?" he asked while feeling more vigilant towards all this.

"They… used to serve under my command," she took a deep breath while her eyes turned slightly red and soaked with tears. "I know all their families… some… some even have kids and girls they love…"

She couldn't hold herself back anymore before her body trembled and fell faintly on the ground.

Bloom stood in his place watching her sob and cry without saying a thing for a long time. After she got slight control over herself and stood up again he finally said:

"They were here for you, right?"

She nodded.

"What did you take?" he wasn't stupid and realized this wasn't about him but about what she did to him. Nothing would entice such a group of wolves except if something precious was taken off them.

"I took a key," she slowly said while wiping off her tears.

"A key for what?" Bloom pressured for more answers.

"Don't you think it's a bit suspicious for us to wield the powers of the game in the real world?"

"I got visited by a monster from the game before," he shrugged, "so don't expect me not to believe the weird stuff you wanna say."

She glanced weirdly at him and he only added, "It's a bit complicated."

"I bet it is," she wiped her face again despite there were no tears there anymore, "do you know that the game world… isn't really a game world?"

"I know," Bloom already reached such a conclusion a long time ago.

"And the NPCs, villages, towns, and cities… they are all real… did you know that?"

He nodded while his patience started to run thin.

"Then you'll get it when I tell you this is a barrier between the two worlds, right?"

"Like the game we are playing?" he asked, trying to understand her meaning.

"The game acts like a medium between the two worlds," she nodded, "the barrier prevents anything from that world to cross to our world. Only through the capsules can we move there and return."

"But I got a visit from one of them before," Bloom slowly said, "besides we got our powers from the game to work here."

"That's because the barrier never meant for it to last forever," she said, "or that was the whole theory we had back when we looked for that key."

"Go on…" he nodded as he knew there were others who had more knowledge about the game, much deeper than what he thought he knew.

"There is a place… deeply hidden inside the game. Some call it a secluded realm and others simply think it's just another map inside the game."

"What about it?"

"There is a relic there, something that controls the entire barrier."

He understood what she wanted to say at this moment. "And that key controls it, right?"

She nodded, "it can augment or weaken the barrier, or even totally cancel it."

"Then…" he stopped and gave her a meaningful glance.

"We tried to seek it… to preserve humanity and save the world… stopping the apocalypse, that was what that man once said to all of us."

Her face told Bloom she was recalling bad memories. "Who is he?"

"He is… was my boss," she said it in a way like she was speaking about a lost lover.

"It seems he meant more to you than just a boss," Bloom said casually but the look he got from her made him raise both hands in an innocent way, "'I didn't mean anything."

"He is a jerk, a liar and a bastard that only deserves to be killed," she shouted in strange bitterness.

"Did he… try to fool you? Y'know…" Bloom tried to mimic what lovers would do at bed together with his hands and body.

"We already slept together many times," she waved her hand in a casual way, "this isn't the issue."

"Oh, what's it then?"

"The key," she said in frustration, "he said he wanted to make the barrier stronger but I accidently stumbled over a conversation he had with someone…"

Bloom started to link all the dots together. "A monster?" he asked.

"I… dunno," she shook her head while starting to move around, "I couldn't see his face but I could clearly hear their words."

"And?"

"He was working as an agent for whatever power the other person belonged to. They promised him a seat of a king over the world after he crushes the barrier."

"So you stole the key…" Bloom turned around and looked at all the damaged furniture and walls, "is it here?"