MMORPG: The Elementalist

Emma, a Canadian Caucasian under the Angel Faction, was a Level 46 Ignis Swordmaster.

She was among the first batch of players who entered the Graveyard of the Gods once it was opened. She was luckier than Qin Ruo, whereby she had not run into any Demon Faction player so far.

Despite that, she remained highly cautious and careful along the way. That was the reason why her pace was relatively slower, and she discovered the Darkfiend Wolves later than Qin Ruo…

Like Qin Ruo, Emma also felt that the Darkfiend Wolf should be an easier target compared to the Iron Lizard. She made sure that “no other player” was around before she let her guard down and paced steadily towards the monster. She was ready to try her luck, first on the closest Darkfiend Wolf.

The distribution of the Darkfiend Wolves was relatively sparse. Each black wolf kept a considerable distance from one another. Hence, Emma was willing to take the risk.

But in Qin Ruo’s eyes, Emma’s actions were nothing more than recklessness. He shook his head in the dark.

As an experienced “hunter” who had dealt with the wolf monster for an extended period of time, Qin Ruo obviously knew a thing or two about a wolf pack’s behavior. Despite appearing to be distant from each other, once a Darkfiend Wolf made a call, the nearby black wolves would most probably come to its aid in no time.

If his postulation was right, then the female player named Emma would be in deep trouble soon!

As he expected, Emma’s presence was immediately sensed by the Darkfiend Wolf when she was roughly sixty-meters away from the monster. The wolf did not immediately jump towards her like she had anticipated, instead, it curled its body and raised its neck to let out a longing howl…

Awooo!

The call immediately alerted its nearby members. More than ten Darkfiend Wolves in the area simultaneously got up and turned their heads. Several pairs of greenish irises synchronously honed in on the intruder, Emma!

In shock, Emma immediately turned around and fled!

Whoosh!

Qin Ruo finally got to witness the Darkfiend Wolf’s speed. His expression immediately turned grim—the size of the black wolves’ body did not affect their agility one bit. They were faster than any wolf monster that Qin Ruo had ever encountered. They were probably as fast as Tier 4 Intermediate Level Violetshock Leopards!

More than 10 Darkfiend Wolves dashed out from several directions at the same time. They moved like a black flash, like more than 10 arrows were just released from a bowstring. Their sharp movements rocked both the air and the floor, creating the false impression of 10,000 stampeding horses passing by. The enormous pressure almost suffocated Qin Ruo! His mind and soul were completely overwhelmed by the monsters’ extreme speed.

Through his observation, Qin Ruo sadly realized that even with his Poochie’s help, he did not have the confidence to take on the group of Darkfiend Wolves… They simply moved too fast! In addition to that, they were at least as strong as a Tier 4 monster at its peak. Even if he tried to cast the Twelve Frostramparts Formation, Qin Ruo reckoned that the wolves would instantaneously crush the Frostramparts with ease…

Goddamn event!

Goddamn Graveyard of the Gods. The whole thing was absolutely absurd!

On one hand, the system restrained ally players from regrouping by all means and forced the players to fight alone in an area full of powerful monsters; on the other hand, it also created a seemingly unbreakable fighting scenario. Was it not almost an impossible mission?! Was it an exclusive training ground specifically designed for top-tier players only?

Deeply depressed, Qin Ruo could not help lamenting in his own mind.

‘If my status was normal, I would brace myself and team up with the female Caucasian no matter what. That way, there may still be a slight chance of winning.’

But the problem was, he was currently a red-tagged murderer!

He would most probably scare the hell out of the girl if he turned up in front of her now. Seeing a red-tagged player while she was being assaulted by so many Darkfiend Wolves, it was possible for her to regard him as a player from the rival faction. Consequently, she would either teleport directly back to town or inadvertently get killed by the black wolf in the middle of the chaos.

***

Emma, who accidentally poked the wolf’s lair, hated her own guts and regretted it deeply now. She never thought that the Darkfiend Wolf was so “seductive” and would immediately draw out all of its comrades to chase after her.

Even if the Darkfiend Wolf was just a Tier 4 monster, it certainly topped the rank. The more than 10 black wolves trailing behind her were not something she could handle all by herself.

She was obviously not going to be able to outrun the Darkfiend Wolf as well. As she continued to run, the distance between her and the black wolves actually got shorter and shorter. Emma panicked and remembered another restriction in the Graveyard of the Gods—local resurrection was prohibited in the region. She would instantly be reborn in town with level reduction upon death. She definitely did not want that to happen and quickly drew out a Return Scroll from her backpack.

But unfortunately, she realized it way too late!

She was disallowed to teleport back since she had triggered battle mode the moment the Darkfiend Wolf spotted her.

The merciless reminder by the system was Emma’s final straw. Ultimately, she accepted her fate and recognized her only way out was to fight through it. She bit her lips and immediately activated her Fire Aura. With a flick, fire could be seen wrapping itself around her sword. She then moved rapidly towards a giant tree not far away in front. Her battle instincts were not so bad after all since she understood that fighting more than ten Tier 4 black wolves on a vacant plain was no different from suicide. Thus, she immediately thought of rushing towards the only landscape in the Greet Tree Forest that could favor her. However, deep down she knew that it most probably would not change the ultimate outcome.

Just as Emma was feeling all dispirited, she suddenly heard the angry howl coming from an injured Darkfiend Wolf behind her. She was excited to hear an encouraging voice soon after, “Hold on there!”

‘Someone’s here?

‘Is he from the Angel Faction too?!’

Emma immediately regained her fighting spirit!

Although she did not see the person who talked to her, his hopeful voice did reignite her dying spirit. Being inspired, Emma replied loudly, “Okay!” After miraculously given a glimpse of hope in such a dire state, Emma quickened her steps and sped up towards the giant tree.

Despite not knowing a single thing about the impromptu rescuer, Emma believed that he had to at least have something up his sleeve. Or else, he would not have lent a helping hand to a stranger out of the blue. She made up her mind and decided to put the giant tree into full use. She would leap around it and avoid the Darkfiend Wolf until her mysterious rescuer reached her.

***

In the end, Qin Ruo decided to help the female player from the same faction. He was certain that his Aquamorph would not be able to deceive the wolf’s sense of smell. Likewise, the Iron Lizard could most probably sense his presence easily too. He did not want to risk losing his belongings under his current red-tag status.

He only had two options left. First, help the Caucasian female player to survive the existing crisis, and subsequently team up with her. They could break through the Darkfiend Wolf blockade together.

Second, ignore the female player in danger and wait honestly in the safe zone until more players were sent in there…

Obviously, Qin Ruo preferred to control his own fate and the former option. As long as the condition was right, he would strike actively rather than stand by passively!

“Poochie!”

Resonating to his call, Poochie quickly turned into a brownish shadow and caught up with the Darkfiend Wolves. Poochie was naturally gifted in terms of speed.

Its target, the waist of the slowest Darkfiend Wolf in the pack…

Shadow Strike!

The black wolf growled in pain after it was hit by the little pet. The seemingly resilient monster succumbed under Poochie’s ravaging attack and was knocked out of its path…

Poochie has hit the target and inflicted 209 damage on Darkfiend Wolf. Status Effect: Stun, three seconds duration.

Qin Ruo confirmed that the Darkfiend Wolf was indeed a Tier 4 monster the moment he received the battle info from the system. He quickly dashed to the side of the wolf pack and raised his voice to inform the Ignis Swordmaster about his discovery, while he rapidly extracted the Water Element in the atmosphere…

Compress!

After two seconds, right when the Caucasian girl avoided a Dark Element spell from the leading Darkfiend Wolf by ducking into the back of the giant tree, Qin Ruo unleashed a Compressed Frost Bullet on the black wolves without any hesitation.

There was nothing to worry at all if the opponents were just a bunch of Tier 4 monsters!

*Chirp!*

The junior Shadowfox had just ditched the stunned Darkfiend Wolf at the rear and moved further into the pack concurrently with the arrival of the Compressed Frost Bullet.

*Bang!*

The wolves party was instantly split in half. Several Darkfiend Wolves were simultaneously impacted by the Frost Bullet and slowed down. One of the black wolves was directly hit by the bullet on its waist, and it was frozen for five seconds.

In the midst of a series of sharp exploding sounds, seven Darkfiend Wolves were quickly inflicted with Status Effect: Frozen (speed reduction by 40%) as a result of the Frostburst. Several pairs of monstrous eyes altered their target from the Ignis Swordmaster to Qin Ruo…

“Come at me, doggie!”

Qin Ruo turned around and fled after successfully attracting their attention. He swiftly escaped from the black wolves’ attacking range by taking advantage of their delayed movements due to the Status Effect. He then wasted no time and began to charge up his Frostbarrier—it was always wise to have a barrier as a precaution when dealing with Tier 4 monsters that possessed ranged attacks.

With Qin Ruo and Poochie’s efforts, several Darkfiend Wolves were distracted from their original pursuit, and the number of black wolves still chasing the Swordmaster reduced greatly to five. Although Emma was still not completely out of danger, the threat she faced now had certainly reduced significantly!