MMORPG: The Elementalist

Instructed by Qin Ruo, Poochie easily outran the seven Darkfiend Wolves and got ahead of them within the five-second time frame thanks to their greatly reduced speed. Poochie then continued its forward throttle and soon reached the few black wolves that were still following the Caucasian lady closely…

Bang!

Once again, the bulky figure of another Darkfiend Wolf was knocked back by the small creature’s laughably tiny body. The wolf stayed on the ground after being stunned and was unable to get up for the next three seconds. The Caucasian lady finally realized what had just happened behind her. She noticed that somehow the number of Darkfiend Wolves chasing her had reduced to a considerably manageable count. As Poochie came flying in with its skill, Shadow Razorsand tusked away another black wolf at the rear, only three Darkfiend Wolves remained in their pursuit of the Caucasian.

Judging from an Ignis Swordmaster’s ability, even if she could not hold back the attack of the three Tier 4 monsters, she would at least not be killed so easily for the time being…

Emma was pleased, and she reassured herself that the rescuer was indeed a powerful ally!

She vivaciously circled around the giant tree and turned back to meet the unknown player who had just rescued her. However, she was surprised to see a player covered in dark red with a strong killing aura. He seemed to have just activated his Frostbarrier, while the seven Darkfiend Wolves moving in slow motion about thirty meters away from him were obviously the few that she had drawn out from the lair not long ago.

Emma was startled by her discovery and did not know what to think of it. If she had not seen the stranger’s whole-hearted efforts in delaying the seven Darkfiend Wolves, she would have likely mistaken him as a Demon Faction player the moment she saw him.

But a Demon Faction Player would never offer help to a rival faction player. She observed him more closely and realized that the stranger’s info was openly accessible to her mind.

Angel Faction, Level 41 Aquamancer, Qin Ruo. Current status… Red Tag: Devil!

So he was just a red-tagged player…

Emma was relieved. Even though the stranger appeared to have a “shameful” past, his Devil identity was without a doubt way better than a Demon Faction player! At the very least, in contrast to being killed by the latter where she would lose an item for sure, she would not need to yield a single item if it was a Devil Red-Tagged player who killed her. The chances of losing an item after being killed by a monster was also higher in comparison.

If he had any ill-intent, he would not have used himself as bait and saved her. She would already be a dead body by now without his selfless act.

After she thought things through, Emma immediately erased any suspicion she had toward the Devil-Tagged player.

However, Emma was still wary of Qin Ruo’s bold actions. He was just a Level 41 Aquamancer, yet he dared to provoke seven Fighter-Type Tier 4 monsters—Darkfiend Wolves—to attack him. Was he not being a little too bold and too confident?

Once the Darkfiend Wolves were freed from the Status Effect, she wondered how he was going to endure their powerful pounce!

Worrying about her rescuer’s safety, Emma suddenly saw a small, brownish figure glide through the back of a tree like a flash of lightning. It chirped loudly as an ink-black Shadow Corrosive Javelin promptly appeared behind its back…

Emma was dumbfounded. A Pet? That’s a Pet? Her hesitation due to the surprise almost allowed a Darkfiend Wolf to throw her down from the back. She let out a soft cry and struggled to fend off the monster that jumped on her. As such, she was unable to continue observing the magnificent, small monster.

***

The activation of the Frostbarrier was pretty quick. It fully expanded in less than three seconds, but Qin Ruo did not relax after that. He continued to sprint away from the enraged Darkfiend Wolf hindered by the Frozen Effect while he rapidly worked on charging up his second defensive spell—the Darkfrost Shield.

It was better to be safe than sorry against seven Tier 4 monsters in their peak!

The Darkfiend Wolves regained their speed after five seconds had passed…

Awoo!

The seven Darkfiend Wolves howled joyfully as soon as the awful frosty effect was lifted from their bodies. With their recovered speed, all of them simultaneously locked on the man, who was dashing in front of them, and leaped toward him like a gust of wind. The less than fifty-meter-distance between the pack and the man was rapidly shortened.

Just as the black wolves were about to reach their target, Qin Ruo managed to cast his Darkfrost Shield just in time thanks to the distance he pulled up a short while ago. An icy shield flashed across his outer body and disappeared swiftly—dual defense had been completely activated.

Qin Ruo was relieved for the time being.

‘I can hold them off for some time with my dual defenses. I’ll be fine as long as they’re not too close to me.’

Moreover, he did not plan to fight the seven Darkfiend Wolves alone from the very start!

Yoooo!

Fortunately, Poochie had just accomplished the task given by Qin Ruo, and it came to his rescue in a timely manner. With a flick and a leap off the backs of the seven monsters, it easily moved past them and reached the front of the pack.

Bang! Bang!

The two frontmost Darkfiend Wolves were successively blasted away by Poochie’s tackle. The impactful strike and the painful groan of the black wolves made Qin Ruo look away. He could not stand the brutal scene and chose not to look at the giant black wolf that was knocked back by Poochie, as well as the other two wolves brought down together by the first fallen wolf.

Poochie acted as though nothing had happened and leisurely swung its tail to strike again!

It moved as quick as lighting and hit another three black wolves that caught up to it from the back…

Awoo!

All of the wolves were, of course, deeply infuriated by Poochie’s actions!

Except for two black wolves that were stunned, the other wolves got back on their feet and dug their claw tightly into the ground. With a raging howl and great flux of the Dark Element, inky-black Elemental Bullet, Corrosive Javelin, and Deathly Kiss were successively cast on the constant nuisance, Poochie.

Since Poochie needed to deal with so many close-ranged attacks from several directions all at once, it would inevitably be hit at one point. Indeed, after it barely evaded the first three spells, a homing Deathly Kiss and an unknown “ink-black wolf’s head” spell caught up with Poochie, striking its tail…

But right before the two spells landed on the little creature, Poochie’s tail suddenly shone brightly with a golden ray. Its tail swayed rapidly and directly diffused the two incoming attacking spells. The concentrated Dark Element in the spells immediately dissociated into thin air.

The scene happened to be captured by Emma who fought fiercely with three Darkfiend Wolves near the giant tree. She was once more amazed by Poochie’s resilience and almost put herself in a tight spot again. In a hurry, she quickly consumed a few more HP Potion (L) and continued to dash around the giant tree while she countered the black wolves’ attack.

Qin Ruo, on the other hand, was used to what he just witnessed…

It was actually the Shadowfox’s Tier 2 skill, Shadow Break. The skill was usually used to effectively expel any magic attack! Nevertheless, diminishing two spells concurrently like that was still a rather rare event.

Anyhow, Qin Ruo was glad that Poochie remained unharmed after the merciless bombardment. Even if the Shadowfox was so unlucky to get hit, its current 3,600 HP was still sufficient to absorb the damage.

As all the seven Darkfiend Wolves were attracted and gathered up by Poochie, Qin Ruo fired the second Compressed Frost Bullet at the pack.

The seven monsters were once again affected by the Frostburst. The exploded frost shards restricted their movements and had their speed reduced by 40 %. Not only that, Qin Ruo quickly followed up his bullet attack with a Magic Scroll.

“Million Arrow Sleet!”

A massive flow of magical power rapidly spewed out from the disappearing scroll and condensed into a giant ice cloud on top of the seven Darkfiend Wolves. The sleet was like a series of dense bullets, and it poured down intensively from the sky!

The Darkfiend Wolves, again, switched their target to Qin Ruo. However, their speed was massively trimmed down this time due to the overlapping Frozen Effect and Million Arrow Sleet, so they were unable to escape the Million Arrow Sleet’s AoE range easily. In addition to that, the despicable Shadowfox continued to lurk in the periphery, waiting to knock down any Darkfiend Wolf attempting to escape right back into the sleet’s range!

Farther back, the two other Darkfiend Wolves from the giant tree that had chased after Poochie were no exception. They were also immediately “shadow struck” by the Shadowfox and were thumped into the Million Arrow Sleet’s range as well.

Qin Ruo’s Million Arrow Sleet had been upgraded to Master Rank. This spell could produce 170-175 Magic Attack every second. From the system feedback, Qin Ruo estimated that the Darkfiend Wolf’s Magic Defense was at about 80-90 points. The damage was improved to about 500 due to Status Effect: Frozen, which not only reduced the black wolves’ speed but also their defense.

The five-second Frozen Effect took away roughly 2,500 HP from the wolf pack. That added up with the two prior Frostbursts, the damage done to the black wolves had probably reached 3,500 HP. Two Darkfiend Wolves among the pack, which had been hit by Poochie several times, directly entered the Weakened State… The HP of a Tier 4 monster usually did not exceed 5,000, so these monsters were about to meet their end soon!

However, Qin Ruo was not in good shape too. Throughout the fight, he was sparsely hit with two rounds of Dark Spells. His outer Darkfrost Shield was on the verge of collapse, while cracks were starting to appear on his inner Frostbarrier. He had lost about 30% of his Endurance.

Seeing that the Darkfiend Wolves were being released from the Frozen Effect one after another, Qin Ruo got nervous and immediately condensed an Aquarampart in front of his body to weaken any incoming Magic Attack. At the same time, he took an MP Potion (L) and prepared to begin his final wave of attack together with Poochie to wrap up the fight.

One second! Two seconds!

Another two Darkfiend Wolves heavily wounded by Poochie were finally killed by the Pet.

The decreasing amount of Darkfiend Wolves gradually relieved Qin Ruo’s pressure. He felt the burden on his shoulder getting lighter and lighter! Unexpectedly, just as Poochie eliminated the final two Darkfiend Wolves, he suddenly felt a chill and heard a light slashing sound coming from behind him.

‘I’m in grave danger!’

Thud!

A faint voice suddenly rang next to his ears, and his Frostbarrier also disappeared abruptly without a sign…

The sound of the system notification reached his ears, so did the lady’s warning, which came from afar, “Be careful!”