Fallen Realm Online: Rise of The Fallen Monarch

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"I... I wasn’t dead?"

Xylen lay frozen, his breath shallow as he stared at the vast, empty sky above him.

Just moments ago, he had resigned himself to fate, accepting the cruel truth that the Mossling’s attack would be his end. He had even cursed the heavens for ripping away his second chance before he could fully grasp it. Yet now...

He was here. Alive. Whole.

—

Another aspect that set Fallen Realm Online apart from other VRMMORPGs was the full sensory experience—pain, relief, and everything in between—making it feel as if players had entered the world with their actual bodies.

But now... he wasn’t feeling it.

"Why... don’t I feel any pain?" he whispered, his voice barely above a breath.

Tentatively, Xylen lifted his arms, flexed his fingers, bent his legs... nothing: no soreness, no wounds, no sign of his previous exhaustion from the battle. Instead, at this moment, a foreign yet undeniable sensation coursed through him.

Stronger.

It was like waking up in a body that wasn’t his own.

The fatigue that had nearly broken him? Gone. The crushing helplessness? Gone. In its place was an overwhelming surge of vitality, as if he had shed his former, frail existence and stepped into something... more.

Power.

It pulsed beneath his skin, vast and uncontainable. If before, he could barely hold his own against a level-one monster, now he was certain—he could kill it with just a single, casual strike.

Xylen’s breath caught.

He was bewildered, his confusion mounting.

"Even if, by some miracle, I had survived, I should at least be on the brink of death, right? Barely holding on with just one HP. So why...?"

Then he saw it.

His level.

A chill crept down his spine in the next second as he stared at the notification hovering in his mind, and for a moment, he couldn’t react until finally;

His lips parted, his voice coming out raspy and barely as a whisper.

"I... I leveled up."

"No. Not leveled up."

"I... I jumped four levels at once."

His breathing hitched, his heart hammering against his ribs, each beat a deafening drum in his ears.

’This... this sort of news...’

Xylen wanted—no, needed—to check his stats, to confirm if he wasn’t just imagining things, but... now wasn’t the time for that.

Because—

The Mossling was still out there.

Recalling this creature, Xylen’s thoughts sharpened in the next instant, and then his fingers curled into fists, recalling the monster that had ambushed him, the one that had nearly stolen everything... his second chance in life from him. It was still out there.

And this time, he would finish it.

Immediately thinking this, Xylen’s eyes turned aggressive, and he was going to jump. But just then...

"MY LORD!!!"

A sudden scream rang out, piercing the air with both raw panic and agony.

The moment he heard it, Xylen’s breath hitched. It belonged to... Lilith.

He, however, barely had time to react before she was already sprinting toward him, her crimson eyes spilling over with frantic, desperate tears.

Her face twisted in terror, her entire body trembling as she stumbled forward, choking on her sobs.

"Please don’t die, my Lord! Please!" she wailed.

Her voice cracked. Shattered.

For some reason, Xylen’s chest tightened as he watched her near him, completely forgetting the Mossling’s presence.

"I promised your parents. I... I swore I would protect you with my life! That I would never let any harm befall you!" Lilith’s cries rose, filled with raw, gut-wrenching pain, the kind that could break a person. "Please... don’t die."

Seeing her like this, Xylen wanted to tell her he was fine, that he was standing, that he wasn’t dying—but before he could speak...

CRACK!

An abrupt, deadened branch whipped through the air like a spear... aiming directly at her.

It came from the Mossling, which, like the Springfox, had descended into a blind, unrelenting frenzy right now—its form now a twisted, gnarled abomination.

Lilith, however, barely had time to react.

No, she had the time, but unlike her usual self, she didn’t flinch.

She didn’t run.

Instead...

"DAMN YOU!" she suddenly yelled, fury and grief warping her voice.

In the next second, she drew her bow, notching three arrows at once with trembling hands, and then, Piu! Piu! Piu!

She fired.

The arrows instantly soared through the air, their tips gleaming with poison, but then—

The Mossling didn’t care.

Although it had now weakened several times over, barely able to defeat even a level-three opponent now, it was still stronger than Lilith, so handling her was pretty easy.

So, as if oblivious to her attack, it let the poisoned arrows pierce its bark-like skin without even trying to dodge—proof that it was far beyond reasoning, beyond pain.

And then...

It struck back.

A second, thicker branch lashed out—this time accompanied by a venomous, green-tipped arrow.

The two terrifying attacks instantly rushed directly at Lilith, and seeing this, Xylen’s heart stopped in his chest.

As for Lilith, her face twisted in sudden terror, but she didn’t scream.

She didn’t even try to dodge.

Instead, she charged straight at the Mossling.

"I WILL KILL YOU!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, her voice echoing with nothing but pure, unfiltered rage and hatred.

She threw aside her bow, gripping the blade at her hip and raising it high. She wasn’t trying to defend herself... she was going to take the Mossling with her even if she died together with it.

Seeing this, although Xylen knew Lilith was nothing more than an NPC, a simple computer program with no life and soul, he couldn’t help but feel something inside of him snap.

’SHE’S TRYING TO KILL THE MOSSLING AT THE COST OF HER LIFE!’ he yelled in his mind.

On the other hand, Lilith... like the Mossling seemed to have lost her mind.

She poured all her strength into raising the blade, determined to stab the Mossling to death, even if it meant sacrificing herself. But...

The Mossling’s attack was faster.

Before she could even reach halfway through the Mossling, the branch was already inching from her chest while the venomous arrow was already aiming straight at her throat.

A second. Just a second more, and they would reach her.

Seeing this, Lilith’s red eyes widened and the truth finally hit her—she wasn’t fast enough.

And in that fleeting moment, she also understood... she had overestimated herself way too much.

’Death. So... this is how it feels?’ She suddenly thought, finally regaining her clarity.

She wanted to turn back. Wanted to see Xylen one last time. Wanted to say something—anything before she was gone.

But she couldn’t... the attack had already reached her.

In the end, she closed her eyes, bracing for the end.

But just then...

"ARE YOU TRYING TO DIE?!"

A voice suddenly roared through the battlefield, brimming with unfiltered rage and helplessness.

’This...’

A strong tremor ran through Lilith’s body and her eyes snapped open. But before she could fully comprehend what was happening—

BANG!

A sudden force slammed into her, knocking her sideways.

Her body instantly soared through the air, and finally, she crashed into a thick patch of grass.

For a moment, Lilith couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think.

Then—

"DIE, MOTHERFUCKER!"

The voice that had just chastised her echoed again, but this time, brimming with killing intent and coldness.

Upon hearing it, Lilith’s eyes snapped wide.

’That... that voice.’

’That... voice.’

Her pulse thundered in her ears as she struggled to push herself up, ignoring the pain running through her entire being.

Then she saw him, and in the next second, her breath caught in her throat.

Xylen.

Not weak. Not dying. Not broken.

He was currently standing there, toe-to-toe with the Mossling, and not just that, he was overpowering it.

"This..."

Lilith’s lips parted in disbelief, and then she stared in a trance, freezing in place, with her entire world tilting on its axis.

What... is going on?

This question popped into her mind.