MMORPG: The Elementalist

White Wine and the others noticed Dark Dragon preparing to take action. Although they felt curious, they were a little too far away at the moment, so they did not pay it much heed… until a Tier 5 area-effect spell descended from the sky with a deafening boom.

The color drained from White Wine’s face. Why was Dark Dragon doing this?

“Dark Dragon…” Although he did not approve, what could he do about it? All he could do was mutter under his breath—receiving only silence in reply.

Dark Dragon was already convinced that Qin Ruo was a sleeper agent under the command of Scarlet Bauhinia, meant to serve as a special unit in future conflicts between Leagues and Alliances. He had already made up his mind to take Qin Ruo down a notch, and had no interest in White Wine’s nagging.

As for the other players present, they did not think much of it—they just assumed that Dark Dragon had gotten tired of watching Qin Ruo playing around with Snowblind, and had decided to take matters into his own hands. Naturally, they thought that the best thing to do was just to sit back and enjoy the show.

Gale winds howled! Another Tier 5 AoE spell was about to come down!

This time around, it was being cast by a supreme champion of the Angel Faction, rather than the Demon Faction player from earlier—rather than Tier 5 dark magic, this was wind magic instead.

Starting from a gentle breeze, it swiftly picked up into a squall that tore at one’s shirt-sleeves, and then a hurricane that threatened to knock you off your feet! Dark Dragon was harnessing an overwhelming amount of magical power, and directing it toward the clearing ahead.

The winds were so fierce that they actually carried a Ravage effect, not unlike the Annihilating Blast from earlier—but whereas Annihilating Blast combined all the elements of magic, this spell produced violent physical forces!

Winds so strong that they could be seen with the naked eye tore through the forest, causing the stout branches and giant leaves overhead to sway and quiver non-stop. Only the massive trunks remained unmoving in the tempest, as though not even this was enough to upset their composure.

Having just come out of being Stunned, Emma’s face went pale at the sight of such calamity. Although she was a good distance away from it, she couldn’t so much as gasp in shock.

This was her very first time witnessing the might of a Tier 5 supreme champion firsthand. Although she had felt a bit of the power of the Annihilating Blast earlier, she had been Stunned at the time; now she was fully conscious to experience the spectacle, and that made a world of difference.

But what truly gave her cause for terror was realizing that this Tier 5 pro seemed to be after the one person she had been relying on all this while—Qin Ruo.

Qin Ruo had victory firmly in his grasp, the Bandit from the Netherspirit’s Claw completely at his mercy. When the Tier 5 AoE spell hit, it shattered all three Frostramparts, while Qin Ruo himself was hurled through the air.

As a member of the same party, Snowblind was unharmed by the spell’s effect, and did not hesitate to take advantage of the situation by clearing away the ruined Frostramparts, before pouncing on the vulnerable Qin Ruo, still devoid of any magical protections.

“Look out!” Emma could not hold back a cry of panic. However, the very next moment, there was a complete turn-around in the situation.

***

It was a good thing that Qin Ruo was an Elementalist himself, so when Dark Dragon began channeling that tremendous volume of magic off in the distance, he could already guess at his intentions.

Right now, there was an indescribable mix of emotions in his heart: amusement, disdain, and fury tumbled around each other, swelling until it reached bursting point.

‘Supreme champion? Tier 5?

‘Who gives a crap!’

In the end, he was only human—the same as any other! Just another scheming, self-serving player!

‘You want my life? Sure, but I’ll have you pay the price!’

In that split second as the spell descended, Qin Ruo made the necessary preparations…

Here he came now, his features twisted with shame and rage, racing in for the kill… he issued a silent command to Poochie, who had been unaffected by the spell, and who seemed to be able to feel its master’s blazing wrath. With a whoosh, it sprang forth!

Bang!

With victory just within his reach, the little fellow that Snowblind had forgotten about was now flying in his face, and it was too late to do anything about it.

Poochie’s eyes, alight with its fury, filled his vision completely! And then, just like that, he was knocked away.

Snowblind cried out as he fell sprawling to the ground, Stunned and unable to move.

Recovering from the spell’s effects, Qin Ruo straightened up and cast a nonchalant glance toward Dark Dragon and company—then he turned on his heel and left! Once Poochie had come back to ground, it didn’t bother with its Stunned opponent any further—with a flick of its great tail, it bounded back atop its perch on Qin Ruo’s shoulder.

Dark Dragon’s face was a sight to behold. His heart was in anguish and turmoil.

Disgrace!

In the past half-a-minute, Snowblind had been driven mad by Qin Ruo, to the point that he’d succumbed to mindless rage, and it had only been because of Qin Ruo’s consideration of the Supreme Champion present that he’d stayed his hand.

The Aeromancer had come to rely on this presumption, completely forgetting about the Pet. As a result, Qin Ruo had casually denied him this rare opportunity, while dealing him a sharp slap to the face.

Such humiliation… it had been a long time since Dark Dragon had experienced anything like it.

If Snowblind had actually been killed, it would have come as a great shock for them. What’s more, losing the only high-level Bandit in the party would have been a tremendous setback.

One of the warriors, equal in rank to a Field Commander, frowned deeply, thinking to chase down Qin Ruo and put him in his place. Even as he thought this, however, Qin Ruo completely vanished from sight, lost among the trees. So startled was he that he completely forgot any thoughts of avenging Snowblind!

***

White Wine had also been surprised to see Qin Ruo’s invisibility technique. In his excitement and glee, it only raised his regard towards Qin Ruo even higher.

However, his actions had drawn the ire of Dark Dragon. Having been humiliated as a champion, he cracked a cold smile, and then shot forward with all the speed of any warrior class.

White Wine’s face fell—his greatest fear had finally come true!

Even during his days at Tier 4, Dark Dragon had made a name for himself within the Netherspirit’s Claw as someone to be feared. Upon reaching Tier 5, no one dared to mess with him. Over time, the unsavory rumors surrounding him gradually faded from memory… until today. To think that Qin Ruo could provoke him to such an extent, that he would go all-out against a Level-41 Aquamancer.

Well, now he was done for.

White Wine was very much aware that whenever a Tier 5 supreme champion meant to kill somebody, to this day there had yet to be a person who’d survived their retribution—what more within the Graveyard of the Gods, with the target bearing a red tag—even if the sky came crashing down, there would still be no escape for him!

***

When Dark Dragon used the Tier 5 support spell Windwalk, his movement would be greatly enhanced for a brief duration, covering a dozen meters in a heartbeat. Along with his wind-based Elemental Perception, allowing him to detect everything within a fifty-meter radius from himself, it took him less than three seconds to locate Qin Ruo, even in his Aquamorph form!

“Qin Ruo, watch out!”

It was only when he heard Emma’s shout of warning that Qin Ruo noticed Dark Dragon charging in behind him, already less than forty meters distant. His heart leaped into his throat.

He had not expected that Dark Dragon would disregard his own standing and come after him personally. His heart cold with fear, he hurried to pick up the pace, while reaching into his backpack for a Guardian Potion and downing it immediately.

Qin Ruo knew Dark Dragon could call upon his own Elemental Perception, and there was no way he would be able to escape such speed, but he noticed that he had just over a minute left on his Wanted status. No matter what, he could not let himself be killed until it was over! Gritting his teeth, as the System notified him of the Guardian Potion raising all his Resistances and increasing his movement speed by 20%, he broke into a flat-out run.

“Eh?” When he saw Qin Ruo speeding up suddenly, Dark Dragon had to release the spell he was just about to cast. ‘This little mongrel is full of tricks! Let’s see how long you can keep it up.’

In contrast with Dark Dragon’s laid-back approach to the hunt, Qin Ruo himself was as frantic as though he was dancing at the gates to hell, his nerves strung taut, not daring to relax for even an instant.

Using the Guardian Potion had allowed him a precious bit of time to bring up his Frost Barrier. Meanwhile he pulled out a Magic Scroll from his backpack and—inspired by how Emma had defeated that pack of Darkfiend Wolves—ran behind the nearest tree to take cover behind its trunk, a dozen meters across.

In his current situation, every second mattered to Qin Ruo! As long as he could hold out until his red tag expired, it would be okay even if he was killed, as long as it was not while he was still carrying the red tag—as long as he didn’t lose his most important items! So what if he lost a level?

Sooner or later, he’d get back at the Netherspirit’s Claw for this!

Even as Qin Ruo silently cursed Dark Dragon and the Netherspirit’s Claw, he circled around to the other side of the gargantuan tree, but this was doing nothing to help him evade the pursuit of those eyes, like a viper!

How could he hide from that Elemental Perception? A sensation of hopelessness washed over Qin Ruo. He was cornered.

There was still another fifty seconds on his red tag, but Dark Dragon was only another thirty meters away—he could already strike if he wanted to.

Qin Ruo’s eyes hardened. His only hope now was to use that technique!