Both Kevin and Gabriella took it upon themselves to move along the main road which wasn't too far from the inn, to know if it leads to a city away from the forest.

But they didn't find anything.

They drove for twelve hours straight, and yet, the outcome was still the same.

It was Gabriella who suggested they return early before they run out of gas and are left stranded with no means of transportation back home.

But neither Kevin nor Gabriella could predict that over twenty players would be defeated by just a single player before they returned…

And this made Kevin incensed. He had plans with his members but more importantly, they were like family to him and this made a certain part of him to feel hurt by the news of his family demise.

No matter how he sees it, the young man in front of him just had to die.

*Swoosh*

Kevin swiped Ace from his flanks, but Ace was able to deftly evade his attack.

Ace could sense the emotions Kevin had in trying to hit him.

And it was pure hatred.

Kevin's initial plans had been brought to naught all because of Ace, so killing Ace is the nicest parting gift he could give him.

"Just stay still and let me hit you. It will be swift but painless, I promise," Kevin said with an evil grin.

"Hmm, let me think. How about… No," 

Kevin's fierce assaults pushed Ace into the defensive.

Ace was unable to land a hit on Kevin. Every swing of his arm carried an indescribable strength behind it, and this made Ace to be extra cautious while fighting against Kevin.

"You can't keep evading my attacks forever you know," Kevin's face fumed in rage, and he was increasingly irritated by Ace's evasive strategy.

They were men. The least Ace could do was to stand his ground and fight like one.

But instead, he chose to dodge without lifting his fist. 

Such a cowardly act angered Kevin even more.

" If it means I get to stay alive, then yes. I'll keep doing that," Ace replied with an amiable grin.

Ace knows Kevin is frustrated he couldn't land a hit on him, and this only made Ace happy to see this.

Both men have been fighting for over five minutes now, so he knows how strong Kevin really is.

He looked towards the tree Kevin mistakenly destroyed when trying to hit him.

And now, the tree has a massive imprint of Kevin's fist on it. 

But that wasn't all, there was also another tree having a massive hole in between it as well.

And a few others like that were scattered around the forest as well.

But this wasn't the reason Ace became extra cautious while fighting against Kevin.

His sword wasn't with him and was still stuck in the deceased driver's back, but this also wasn't the reason he hadn't been on the offensive.

The real reason was because the timer had dropped to five minutes when he started fighting against Kevin.

However now the timer for the wave was in its final few seconds.

[00:00:05]

[00:00:04]

[00:00:03]

'What is this wave about?' Ace wondered.

He had no assurances about what the wave was going to be about, and so he wanted to avoid draining his HP without being fully prepared for what's to come.

But still, Kevin kept trying to hit him as he yelled for Ace to stay still.

'It is almost time,' Ace thought to himself.

[00:00:02]

[00:00:01]

[00:00:00]

[Ding!!]

A loud metal gong being struck upon sounded aloud.

Ace covered his ears because the sound felt like it could destroy their eardrums.

Both Jasmine and Gabriella had to cease their battle to protect their ears as well.

Even Kevin had no choice but to do the same as everybody else.

The sound surged through the forest and into the ears of the players roaming the forest…

But the sound didn't end there. A second followed, then another one and another.

Soon, everyone in the forest screamed in agony as the metal gong continued to sound fiercely into their ears.

But while everyone in the forest screamed and prayed for the sound to stop, a prompt appeared in front of everyone, few were able to notice it, but others were too concerned about the punishment their ears were receiving.

Ace covered both of his ears but managed to open one of his eyes to focus on the words appearing on the screen.

[Ding! Congratulations on experiencing your first wave.]

[Implementing the Side Quest titled: Survive.]

[Quest: Kill The Dead has been activated.]

[Note: The forest once served as the habitat of thousands of humans living in the countryside of a great city, but a terrific virus plagued the land. The virus flowed through the bodies of the inhabitants, affecting and shutting down all major organs. This allowed a protracted shock to assault them before painful modifications followed right after. However, a small part of their brain activity remained, rendering the virus to act as a parasite and urging its host to obtain nutrients, mainly flesh and warm bloods for its survival. In other words, "YOU". Now, Kill as many as you can to survive, but be careful not to get bitten or scratched without an antidote by your side.]

[Time limit: Two hours.]

[Reward: 1,000 gold coins.]

Luckily, Ace was able to read the prompt in time just before it vanishes from everyone's gaze regardless of whether they read it or not, right after the gong made its tenth sound.

[Ding! The Yellow Wave will commence in 3,2,1….]

This sudden prompt appeared and everyone looked to the sky because the vast starry night suddenly turned into a cloudless pitch-black sky.

Anyone and everyone without the ability to see in the dark is now in a dilemma, for the dead walks among them.

The zombies spawned around all corners of the forest, with their snarls echoing through the woods.

___

The total number of players currently in the game: 77,795.

Number of deceased players: 5

Total number of deceased players: 2,205.

____

This concludes yet another Mass Release. Ciao.