MONSTER MMORPG: Mayhem Online

"A freestyle dungeon raid?"

I had no idea what it actually meant. I knew what a dungeon raid was, but didn't know what the 'freestyle' meant.

I was currently on the giant platform that covered the whole stadium. It was divided into segments of people and a VR capsule was placed for all of us. It was surprising that it could hold seven thousand players.

I guess it wasn't one of the world's biggest stadiums for nothing.

"WOAAAHHHHH!!!"

The enthusiastic cheers of the crowd brought me back to reality as I looked around.

"Weird, I don't have stage fright, huh."

I was surprised at myself. I was really calm even after facing thousands upon thousands of people and their enthusiastic cheers.

[All the players are divided into 5 groups, that is, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Diamond. They're divided into the said groups via a sorting function made by our supercomputers, which is decided by how popular or how much impact a player has on the overall worldview of the world.

Lights will now be turned on the platforms of the people corresponding to their group.]

As soon as the host announced it, the place I was standing at lit up with crystalline light.

I looked around and noticed that everyone had lights according to their groups shining on their places on the platform.

[Now, this should make it easier for you to find out your favourite players amongst the rest of them.]

As soon as the host announced that, everyone started looking in our direction. Obviously, according to them, all top players should be in the diamond group.

I would have thought the same too if I were in their shoes. But I had personally witnessed our groups, and actually there were more top rankers on the gold group than the diamond one. Heck, the diamond group was very small to begin with.

It occupied 1/100 of the overall stadium.

***

"Look, I see crestfallen!"

Someone pointed out in the gold group's direction, and everyone immediately tried to locate the said person.

"Woaahh, it's really him. It's weird to see him in normal clothes after watching him in armour for so long."

Another person chimed in and everyone in the started chanting Crestfallen's name, almost like a chorus.

Crestfallen smiled and raised one of his hands and waved it in all of the directions as the huge screens on the stadium zoomed in on his face.

"He looked at me?!! Did you see? He smiled at me!"

A girl shouted, her eyes rolling around as if she'd fall unconscious any moment.

"Crazy bitch, he obviously looked at me."

And soon, a commotion broke out in that part of the stadium.

[Shout the names of the players you want to see!]

The host shouted, and everyone looked around before everyone started chanting names of their favourite players.

'"Abel! Abel! Abel!"'

'"Bowser!! Bowser!"'

"'Elexis! Elexis!"'

As soon a part of the stadium was reciting some player's name, that particular player would be zoomed out on a holographic panel pointing towards that player. Multiple panels shot out, zooming out the favourite characters of the people.

"Tsk, you guys are all so dumb."

An old man clicked his tongue in disappointment.

"What did you say, old man?"

A middle-aged man beside him stared at him, as if he had taken the attack personally.

"I called you all dumb! Dumb! You hear me? You want to see the faces of the people you've already seen thousands of times?"

The old man snickered.

"What… who else would we want to see? Others are small characters that we don't even know the name of."

"Yeah? Then what about someone that you know and is very popular, but you've  never seen his real face."

"Wait…."

"Oh? So you have a brain after all."

The old man looked content that the other guy had realised who he was talking about.

Who was someone that was famous but not one person in the world knew his real name or face.

The answer was obvious.

The first legendary class holder that had managed to remain hidden till date.

"Shura!"

The middle aged man unconsciously spoke out loudly, and the people beside him who heard him finally realised there was a person the whole world wanted to see but haven't seen.

"Shura! Shura! Shura!"

A section of the stadium started shouting.

And before anyone knew it, in a mere matter of seconds, everyone was chanting Shura's name.

"'Shura! Shura! Shura!"'

The whole stadium burst into a chaotic chanting of a single name, to the point where it felt like their voices would be enough to break down the whole stadium.

"Shura! Show us Shura you fucktards!"

"We want Shura! We want Shura!"

As if adding in more dramatic effect, no screen for Shura popped up no matter how much people chanted.

After a while, the huge chanting stopped and a new commotion was caused.

"What? I heard he had joined the competition too!"

"Why isn't his face showing? This fucking Kibea!"

Without anyone noticing, the old man who had started this commotion slowly exited from the crowd and went downwards towards the staff location, peeling off his old man mask.

"Alright, it's time."

He contacted someone from his earpiece before walking off. The people didn't realise that there were many such old men throughout the stadium that had been specifically placed by Terry himself to hype up the revelation of Shura, the first legendary class.

—-Haha! Good job everyone. It's time, let's show them what they so badly want to see. I'm no one to keep them waiting.

Everyone who was disguised to create the hype of Shura heard the same transmission from Terry on their earpiece.

Terry had made sure to organise all the video recorders and live reporters at the right angle. Shura didn't know the amount of profit his appearance alone had made for Terry.

***

"Fuck! Where is Shura! I'm out if you don't show him to us!"

Someone angrily cursed. As soon as he said that, a huge hologram of a person emerged from the small diamond group section, and a handsome face was seen for the first time in the world.

"Hello, everyone."

Flynn said calmly, and was inwardly surprised that even his voice was being transmitted throughout the whole stadium speakers.

'"Wow."'

"Gorgeous."

"T-this… is Shura?"

The audience was awfully quiet, as they tried to etch down the image of the new face that they had seen. A face that they won't forget in a lifetime. Not because of how good looking or handsome it was, but simply because of the serenity it brought to their eyes.

"I fucking knew it!"

Mary Winter, Shura's ex boss, who was currently in the audience, shouted after staring at Shura's face for a while.

'"WOAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"'

Cheers rang out throughout the whole stadium and the commotion could be heard from miles away.

"AAAAAAAA! SHURA!!!"

"Kya!! So handsome!!"

Young girls who had lost their heart for the first time in life shouted like fangirls after having a good look at Shura's  face.

"Shura, I want to have your babies!"

"....but you're dude bruh…"

Some guys had also lost it when they saw Shura.

"Alright, alright. Calm down everyone."

Flynn said with a smile, gesturing with both his hands to calm down.

Weirdly, everyone again went silent when Flynn asked them too.

"I'm Flynn Grey, also known as Shura in Mayhem. I am so very grateful for all the love and support that you're showing to me, and trust me, I've been receiving it all wholeheartedly from day 1. From all those little forums to talk shows, I've been watching you guys just like how you wanted to see me.

I am extremely grateful to Kibea corporation for making the worldful world called Mayhem, where I found a part of my own identity that I wasn't aware of. I would like to tell a very simple thing to every young and old person watching me. Please continue on dreaming and working for your dreams no matter how much harshness and ridicule you receive for it.

Because at some point, I was just a normal guy like most of you, and I'm here currently because I didn't give up on the one thing that I enjoyed doing. Once again, thank you all, and extreme gratitude to Terry for organising this event and inviting me. Peace."

Flynn finished his awkward and on the spot speech that he ended up giving without realising, and the whole stadium silently listened to every single part of it.

Flynn made sure to advertise the company that was giving him so much money, so that he might end up getting some extra bucks.

"Ahh! I'm in love!"

And yet another girl fell for the charms of the heart stealer known as Shura.

"'WOAAAHHHHHHH!!!"'

'"SHURA!! SHURA!! SHURA!!"'

Everyone cheered, this time the cheers weren't that loud, but it contained the heartfelt excitement of the people.

***

Currently in the staff room of Kibea inside the stadium.

Every big staff inside of the US was currently staring down at the scene in front of them with their mouths agape.

"Ter—I mean boss. Did you ask him to do that?"

Jacob turned towards Terry who had the same expression as everyone else.

Terry's wide mouth finally closed and he couldn't help but chuckle twice before laughing loudly.

He grabbed his eyes as he tried to control his laughing before he looked at Jacob with a smile.

"No, I didn't."

He replied. Everyone else in the room looked around in confusion.

"What? Then why did he just do that?"

"What do you think?"

Terry asked his own question and Jacob went silent. He had no idea why Shura would advertise them like that for free, or even give that speech which he wasn't asking for. It was sure to boost the profits of Kibea through the roof.

"Because he's a natural."

Someone else replied for Jacob. Both Jacob and Terry turned towards Shaquile who had just spoken.

"Exactly. He's a natural born start and profit maker. He knows what kind of profits we will make due to his little move, and he is letting us know that he wants a part of it."

Terry completed Shaq's words and Jacob looked back towards Shura's hologram which was shrinking back into the stage.

"I didn't think he had it in him…"

Jacob murmured, unable to believe the situation. He was someone who believed that Shura got most of his things through sheer luck and coincidences, so it was an eye opener to see a part of Shura that he didn't even know about.

"Honestly, I didn't know either. But you should know, some people are just born for stardom, and he undoubtedly has a lot of starpower in him."

Terry replied, witnessing the rise of the new Star Child of the world who'd be known with many different names.

***

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