Chapter 00002: Falling from the Heavens
# Falling from the Heavens
Chapter 2
Novel: AFK Game: Portal to Another World
Chapter 2: Falling from the Heavens
Demon Lord Calendar, late March of the 648th year.
Princess Voila stood atop the city wall.
One hand gripped the hilt of her longsword, the other clenched tightly around the stone bricks of the wall.
Her tension was so great, the veins on the back of her pale hand stood out starkly.
Below the city walls, countless bandits howled and stormed toward the fortress.
These bandits were composed of routed soldiers, deserters, and refugees driven by war.
Owing to their background as former troops, they even had siege equipment with them.
"Your Highness, please step away from the wall!"
"It's too dangerous here!"
The female knight Royal Guards around her raised their shields to block the flying arrows, forcefully pushing Voila behind cover.
The situation was bleak.
The bandits were once trained soldiers and had overwhelming numbers.
On Voila’s side, there were only two thousand broken, wounded troops and a few dozen Royal Guards.
Of those, barely a few hundred could still fight.
Even with the city walls aiding them, it was only a matter of time before they would be breached.
Voila dared not imagine what horrors would unfold for the old, the weak, the women and children in the city once that happened.
"Your Highness! The gate—they’ve started attacking the gate!"
Thumps echoed from the city gate as a large gang of bandits surrounded it, ramming it over and over with a massive battering ram.
This Leon Fortress lay on the far border of the Avarus Demon Kingdom.
It had long fallen into disrepair.
If the Capital had not fallen, Princess Voila likely would’ve never even heard of this place, let alone come here.
But now, this was her final stronghold.
The final fortress of the Avarus Demon Kingdom.
Clasping her hands tightly under the protection of her Royal Guards, Voila prayed fervently from the depths of her heart.
"O revered Demon God... King of all Demon Kings... if You truly exist, if You can hear my voice... I, Voila Avarus, daughter of Bracket Avarus, last princess of this Kingdom, Your humble devotee, am willing to offer myself in sacrifice... I beseech Your attention..."
The Demon God was an ancient legend in these lands—no doctrine, no priests, no temple.
Even the most learned scholars believed the Demon God was but fantasy, a myth that never existed.
But at this moment, Voila had no other options left.
If the Demon God did not hear her plea, she had already braced herself to die in battle.
"Your Highness! Your Highness!"
A startled cry from a Royal Guard snapped her from her prayer.
The female knight's face showed a blend of fear and disbelief, and her trembling finger pointed toward the wall.
The siege ladders that had been placed atop the walls and hadn’t yet been pushed down suddenly snapped or were shoved off one by one—as if some invisible force in the air was doing it.
Even the heavy ladders laden with climbing bandits were flung off with ease.
Voila saw it with her own eyes as the bandits on the ladders screamed while plummeting down.
A wave of ecstasy surged in her heart.
She rushed forward, pushing past the Royal Guards in her way, and leaned over the wall.
Every single siege ladder along the length of the wall was being torn apart or flipped down before her eyes—and she saw no sign of any person being responsible.
"Did our mages make a move?"
"No, Your Highness, their mana was exhausted. They're all still resting to recover their strength."
A sudden realization flashed in Voila’s mind.
Could it be... the Demon God really heard my prayer?
"Your Highness! Look to the sky—what is that?!"
The clear sky was now filled with turbulent, sun-blocking dark clouds, swirling with a ferocity like a tropical storm.
The bandits, who had just been fiercely assaulting the city, now stood frozen, mouths agape.
The battlefield that moments ago rang with screams and the clash of steel fell into a deathly silence.
The next moment, a colossal finger, larger than a mountain peak, plunged down from the clouds with a thunderous crash, pressing into the earth.
The force of the descending wind and dust swept everyone off their feet.
Thrown to the ground, Voila paid no heed to the dust in her hair.
She rushed to the city wall and peered outside.
That enormous finger pressed into the ground and shifted slightly side to side.
In that instant, sand and rocks flew, the sun and moon were dimmed, and the earth cracked like fragile biscuits.
The fleeing bandits didn’t even need to be struck directly—just touching the wind stirred up by the finger was enough to tear them to pieces.
In the blink of an eye, outside the city had turned into a chaotic wasteland.
After swaying once, the finger retracted back into the skies, and the dark clouds dispersed.
The light of the setting sun beamed down once again.
On the city wall, everyone stood frozen, staring open-mouthed at the ruined battlefield beyond…
———
Li Chengxi hurried into the bathroom, washed off the wound on his finger, applied some ointment and stuck on a bandage.
Dizzy, he sat down in his chair.
Rationally speaking, Li Chengxi was sure that just now, he must’ve been seeing things.
How could a finger possibly reach into a screen? Or to be more precise, reach into the game currently running on his laptop?
But the sharp pain from his freshly bandaged finger—he couldn’t come up with any explanation for it.
There was a dialogue box on the screen—it read: “Battle Victory.”
Beneath it, a list of spoils had appeared.
A pile of broken armor and weapons, five hundred Gold Coins, and a ring named “Radiant Ring.”
The crack in his finger must’ve just been from dry weather.
He definitely saw wrong just now!
He picked up the sausage lying atop his instant noodle cup and carefully poked it at the laptop screen.
But it was no illusion.
The sausage passed straight through the screen—most of it slid in—yet the back of the laptop showed nothing.
At the same time, he felt it touch something solid inside.
When he pulled the sausage back out, the object inside clinked as it fell onto his leg.
“A ring?”
The ring’s design closely matched the “Radiant Ring” he was just shown on the battle results screen.
Li Chengxi picked it up and examined it.
As he looked, the pattern on the edge of the ring twisted before his eyes, transforming into familiar Chinese characters.
“Shining… light?”
Before he could finish saying the words, he heard a crisp snap.
A burst of light exploded in front of him, making it impossible to open his eyes.
He sat in a daze for several seconds before his vision returned, though everything he saw now carried a faint light blue tint.
He tossed the ring onto the table and leapt to his feet.
Something was wrong.
This game was definitely not normal.
Quickly shutting the laptop, Li Chengxi turned on his desktop computer, hoping to reread the strange email he had received.
But to his surprise, a new game icon had appeared on his desktop too—and the previously open email page had vanished without a trace.
What the hell? It’s spreading like a virus?!
He pulled out his phone, intending to call the police.
But his home screen now had a strange new icon labeled “AAI.”
“Don’t tell me… I got possessed by something unclean…”
Swallowing nervously, Li Chengxi steeled his resolve.
Well, if it’s fate, there’s no avoiding it.
If doom is coming, hiding won’t help.
To hell with it!
He took the mouse from his desktop and plugged it into his laptop.
Then, he reopened the game screen.
The previous victory screen had disappeared.
In its place, a group of chibi-style soldiers outside the city walls were busily hauling away bandit corpses.
He exited that interface with the mouse and clicked on the “Palace District” option.
There, in something akin to a church scene, a multitude of chibi characters knelt in worship.
At the front was a red-colored leader—judging from the pixel details, this one was clearly the princess with a character sprite.
Li Chengxi hesitated, then ground his teeth and reached out to the screen once more.
The suction came again, and his hand was swallowed completely.
What he touched this time was incredibly soft—and even had a bit of a squishy warmth to it.
The strange sensation made his heart leap, and he yanked his hand back immediately from the screen.
(End of Chapter)