Whoosh—
White light flared, and a well-equipped knight appeared. The moment he emerged, he launched into a tirade.
"Fuck! Night Cherry Tangle is a monster! You call this a trial? This is a fucking massacre! A spotted spider's web silences you, and it hits an entire area! How is that fair? I couldn't use a single skill. I just stood there until it killed me!"
"You got one-shot too?" a Berserker asked without thinking.
"Damn right I did!" the knight snapped.
"What a coincidence. Me too!" a mage added.
"Same here..."
"Me too..."
More and more players nearby joined in, each with a worse story than the last.
Before long, the square rang with the same exchanges.
"You got one-shot too?"
"What a coincidence. Me too!"
The forums were in an even greater uproar.
The impassioned strategy posts from mere minutes ago had been buried beneath blood-red [Death] posts.
[<How I Got Swallowed by a Slime Three Seconds After Entering>]
[<In Memory of My 300,000-Gold Epic-grade Staff, Snapped in Half by a Gnome>]
[<Courage Ladder? More Like the Free-Kill Ladder! Has Anyone Scored Points? Speak Up!>]
That last post quickly shot to the top.
Countless players poured in, and their replies were remarkably alike.
"Can't speak. Just respawned."
"Don't ask. All I saw was a flash of white."
"Points? My fucking Courage Points are negative! Do I lose more for standing around at the Respawn Point? Urgent. Please answer!"
While everyone was still reeling from the shock and fury of being one-shot, a sharp-eyed player left a very different reply under the trending post.
"Quiet down! Check the Courage Ladder! Someone's scored points!"
The reply landed like a spark in hot oil, setting the entire forum ablaze.
"What? Someone scored points? Seriously?"
"No way! I'm a level-eighty tank, and I