Is this really a Game?!

Reign's vision started to blur as sharp pain coursed through his body, his left arm, which was severed, bled profusely while every muscle in his body screamed for rest. He gasped, his breath shallow, as the world around him seemingly slowed down. He couldn't see the others, he had no idea what they were going through, nor what was happening to them.

He had to focus on himself right now, and even that was nearly impossible as all that his body and mind wished to do was rest, just stop all thoughts and movements and rest.

Shadow, who was impaled by the horn of the abomination was in a similar situation, he no longer even felt pain, just coldness that spread through his entire body as immense fatigue settled. Jin, whose chest had caved in, was barely able to breathe, and yet he was forced to defend against tens of creatures who had jumped on top of him, clawing and biting him without a break.

Aelrinder was slowly starting to fall, unable to use his wind or even move thanks to the heavy injury he had received. He could only stare at the sky and wonder if that was it, if they were all going to die now, unable to finish the trial and reach the next realm.

It was in that moment of despair, when everything seemed lost, that a familiar sound echoed in their minds, cutting through the chaos around them as time froze.

[ Trial Complete ]

[ Congratulations players, you have managed to defeat the abominations, causing the massive army to collapse in fear as their leaders fell dead, this trial is over, transporting the players now. ]

Everything around them stopped, the abominations, attacking them with great bloodlust and hatred, stopped mid-attack, their claws, horns, and fangs mere inches away from them. They were all frozen in place, as if an invisible force had suddenly pressed pause on the world, allowing them all to survive.

"Thank... God," Shadow rasped, his voice faint but filled with disbelief. Blood dripped from his side, staining the ground beneath him, but he managed a weak grin as the weight of impending death lifted from their shoulders.

Jin coughed, struggling to get air into his lungs as he pried himself free from the abomination that had pinned him. "I thought… that was it for us."

Reign nodded, his head spinning as he staggered to his feet, cradling the stump of his arm. He had to focus and stay upright. He looked over at Aelrinder, who was still in midair but frozen in time, hovering helplessly above the ground.

[Restoration in progress…]

The second notification blinked into view, and slowly, the battlefield around them began to shimmer. The carnage of the battlefield—the blood-soaked ground, the corpses of lesser monsters—began to fade, disappearing from sight before they all suddenly felt the world spin around them as they arrived somewhere else, a pure white room that seemingly had no end to it.

It was a familiar room, the same one they would be in after finishing an instance dungeon. The room brought them some comfort, as weird as it was.

Reign glanced down at his missing arm, grimacing as he expected to see nothing below the elbow and the sharp pain, only for something shocking to happen. Right before his eyes, his arm began to reform. First, a faint outline of light appeared where the arm had been bitten off, and then, the arm started growing.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Muscles, sinew, and bones re-knit themselves in a seamless, painless process. Only a couple of seconds were needed for Reign's arm to be restored, brand new, as if it was never severed before.

He moved his fingers, he moved the arm around and felt no discomfort, no pain, nothing. Actually, he didn't even feel tired now, he felt good, no fatigue present, nothing.

Jin, Shadow, and Aelrinder, experienced the same. Aelrinder who had been falling to a dangerous landing previously, found himself standing on the ground, his body healing quickly as he also felt no pain or tiredness.

Shadow glanced down, seeing the hole that had appeared on the stomach close itself in seconds while his ribs moved by themselves, the broken bits disappearing and the ribs being restored whole.

The same went for Jin, whose caved-in chest puffed out as his breathing returned to normal.

"I – I didn't expect the system to actually heal us, especially not like this." Aelrinder said as he stared at the others who nodded to them.

Shortly after that, they noticed the others. Beast, Laura, Wolf, Tank, Mia, and Greenie were near them, separated by about 10 meters, their wounds healing as well.

Tank's leg was bent at an unnatural angle as he was sitting down. It was twisting back, slowly healing while Greenie arrived with the right arm seemingly ripped from the shoulder, while his left hand was completely mangled.

Wolf had a part of his face mangled, his left eye seemingly gone, as was the left cheek, showing the teeth. Mia's body was full of injuries, but compared to them, even though two were nearly fatal as she had two stab wounds that had injured her heart, she was not mangled up.

Laura and Beast were the only two that had fewer injuries compared to the others, mostly thanks to the fact they were long-range combatants and thus didn't need to be so close to the monsters. They were both pale, however, and it was clear that they had given it their all during the battle.

"We made it." Wolf said as his voice was low, but obviously glad to see them all here.

"Looks like we're all in one piece," Beast said as he glanced at Reign's arm, and then at Greenie and the others, whose wounds had nearly healed, and nodded happily.

"Good, I was afraid that the wounds would be present after the trial, it's good they're healed."

Ding!

[ First Hell Trial: Fortress of Despair has been Completed! ]

[ The players have successfully defeated the four abominable leaders of the monster horde and have completed the trial. ]

[ The wounds the players have suffered will be healed, returning you to your peak state so that you can continue the trials. ]

[ All the hell trials will do the same, death is true, but if one survives and completes the trial, all injuries will be healed. ]

Reign flexed his body and glanced at the others, all of them smiling upon finishing the first of the Hell Trials they would have to face. They all knew that the next trials would probably be even more difficult, but for now, they had at least managed to complete the first one after struggling for so long.

"I honestly thought we wouldn't make it for a moment, that bastard we had to face, it was tricky, and near the end, we had used everything we had, me and Mia somehow managed to fuse our two abilities and deliver a fatal blow, otherwise, I don't know if we would have managed to even defeat the bastard." Wolf stated as Reign nodded before glancing at them.

"It seems like we all somehow managed to go to the worst possible opponents." He said as he then started talking to them about the four leaders of the abominations, and how things would have definitely played out differently had they first been able to analyze their opponents and then attack, each group being created specifically for facing the monster they were going up against.

Wolf and the others stayed silent at first, and then sighed, a bit angry, but also a bit happy as that meant that at the very least, the trial seemed to have been planned to be easier, it was their own hot-headedness that made it this difficult.

Reign turned his attention back to the system notifications still lingering in their vision, scrolling through the aftermath of the trial:

Ding!

[ First Hell Trial: Fortress of Despair has been Completed in a brilliant fashion! ]

[ Since the players completed the trial by annihilating the leaders of the horde, the system has deemed them eligible for a reward! ]

[ Rewards will be distributed based on the group performance.]

[ Individual rewards will not be given, but the ranking on individual performance has been created ]

The system's familiar voice echoed once more as the ranking screen appeared before each of them. They all scanned the list with curiosity, eager to see how they had fared.

1. Reign

2. Wolf

3. Beast

4. Mia

5. Shadow

6. Jin

7. Aelrinder

8. Laura

9. Greenie

10. Tank

"I mean, you taking the top spot was to be expected, but I have to say I didn't expect my own performance to be better than Dad's," Shadow said as he glanced back at Jin and grinned, causing the middle-aged man to merely stare at him.

"Greenie and Tank are last, that is mostly because they had to defend against the abomination and couldn't do much other than that, still, if it not had been for them, we wouldn't have been able to defeat it, that much certain."