MMORPG: The Elementalist

After he left the chest full of gold coins for the Bandit, Qin Ruo returned to the portal and resumed the Gathering of the two other Nightstars.

While he was harvesting the herb, Cerberus did not teleport back with its Guard ability to ambush Qin Ruo again. Perhaps it had recognized the fact that two simple attacks were ineffective against the intruder and would not be enough to stop him from stealing the Nightstars anyway. Thus, Cerberus gave up trying and focused solely on Poochie and the Amethyst Orc instead. The monster attacked the two mercilessly by releasing spells at an insane speed, rapidly churning away the HP bar of the Amethyst Orc.

In just a few minutes, the Amethyst Orc’s HP was further trimmed down to below forty thousand points. Besides that, Cerberus strategically used one of its hound head to fend off Poochie with AoE spell and forbade the Pet from providing assistance to the Orc. The battle situation had turned extremely dire for the two companions of Qin Ruo.

However, the Amethyst Orc’s resilience exceeded all expectations. The three Nightstars were successfully gathered without much hassle and Qin Ruo had also luckily earned some extra treasure thanks to the uninvited Bandit.

“It’s time to get out of here.”

Qin Ruo stored the last Nightstar in his backpack and glanced over at the heated battle and then to the bunch of people near the waterfall entrance who still refused to leave. Qin Ruo frowned annoyed.

‘The Bandit had left the Graveyard immediately after he emptied the chest of its gold coins and had obtained a rather good quality Gold equipment. What are those guys still waiting for?’

After the fruitful expedition, Qin Ruo had planned to rescue the Amethyst Orc from Cerberus’s confinement. The Amethyst Orc could still hold on for a while with its 40,000 HP, and Qin Ruo reckoned the escape will not be too difficult with the help of the waterfall outside the grotto entrance.

So Qin Ruo was rather unhappy to see the lingering party in front of the entrance. They might be a hindrance to his great escape plan.

His gaze swayed between Cerberus and the waterfall entrance, then he grinned cunningly, “So, since you guys are reluctant to leave… Hehe”

…

Near the waterfall entrance stood a moody Brony, his mood dampened by the Bandit’s sudden detachment from the party and uninformed departure. After losing so many comrades so far, the party had gained nothing in return.

Only a few players who had followed the Bizarre Blade party earlier could still put on a smiling face. They ignored the gloomy atmosphere surrounding Brony and his gang while watching the fight between the two Bosses quietly.

All of a sudden, the group of players squinted and fixed their eyes on Qin Ruo, who had just stood up in front of the Portal.

“Brony?”

“Should we leave now? It seems like the Aquamancer is going to leave soon.”

Seeing that Qin Ruo had started dashing toward them, a few Netherspirit’s Claw followers warned Brony while subconsciously retracting a few steps. The treasure chest had been wiped clean by Qin Ruo and the departed Bandit, so there was no point lingering at such a depressing environment. It was akin to asking for trouble from the two ferocious Bosses or Qin Ruo.

The few players who did not originally belong to Netherspirit’s Claw weighted their options and left through the waterfall without much hesitation.

The Summoner from Hall of Heroes was no exception. Following him, some non-league members who were only Brony’s temporary underlings also made the same decision. Most of them had made out Qin Ruo’s true identity and knew the deep grudge held between the mysterious Aquamancer and Netherspirit’s Claw. They did not wish to be victims of someone else’s feud.

In just a short moment, the party that once had more than twenty players had halved in number.

Looking at the remaining players, Brony and those remained could not help feeling even more depressed.

‘It’s all Dark Dragon’s wanted order’s fault.’ Netherclaw’s Spirit members were asked to kill Qin Ruo by all means when they saw him. Whoever neglected the order was instructed to quit the league voluntarily. When the order was issued, a whole lot of members went along with him while Brony had paid little attention to it. ‘Why the commotion? He is just an ordinary Level 41 Aquamancer who was not even properly equipped. So he has a unique Pet, big deal!’ But now, he realized that he had greatly underestimated the Aquamancer’s power…

Such a dominant foe was definitely not someone they could handle. But then, at the same time they dared not disobey Dark Dragon’s order so blatantly. Should someone leak the news, their only fate will be banishment from the league.

Being an exile was far more upsetting than losing a level for being killed. They did not want to put their future in this game at risk. Brony himself had offended quite a number of players in the game before this by taking advantage of his League member status. If they lost the league backing, terrible, terrible consequences would await them.

Finally, after some serious consideration, they chose the league over their own survival. They stubbornly guarded the entrance, even if that meant they losing their lives for it.

***

Brony’s decision to stay was not out of Qin Ruo’s expectations. Had Brony decided to run like the others, he would have despised these so-called League members’ guts and looked down upon the commanding power of Dark Dragon—one of the most powerful leaders of Netherspirit’s Claw.

Nevertheless, their decision to stay changed nothing. Qin Ruo maintained his forward thrust toward the entrance and was determined to carry out his escape plan despite the disturbing blockade.

Brony and the others were startled by Qin Ruo’s increased speed and some of them began to question the decision of staying back.

This was when an earth-shattering explosion erupted from the clash between the Bosses. Soon after, the few of them saw a purple figure moving hurriedly in their direction. Behind it, a brown figure trailed closely like an arrow just released from a bowstring. The distance in between was rapidly shortened to less than seventy meters.

Roar!

Cerberus roared angrily for it had been tricked by Qin Ruo time and time again. The monster flipped back onto its feet. All of its six eyes were stained red out of fury and it chased the fleeing party like a speeding bus.

In terms of their speed, Cerberus was comparable to the Amethyst Orc. Under normal circumstances, the Amethyst Orc would barely be able to shake off Cerberus that had a triple range attack. But after it was pinned down unexpectedly by Qin Ruo, Cerberus was hit by Poochie’s Shadowstrike. Despite only being delayed slightly by the attack, it was more than enough to open up the gap between the pursued and pursuer. This allowed the Amethyst Orc to effectively stay beyond the attacking radius of Cerberus.

Enraged, the agile Cerberus dashed mightily in an attempt to catch up.

Unfortunately, the Amethyst Orc and Poochie’s speed were on par with that monster, so it did not seem like Cerberus was able to catch up to them any time soon.

However, that did not mean that Cerberus could not reach the human adventurer that commanded the two monster in time. Judging by the Aquamancer’s now weaker physicality and low speed, there was no way the Elementalist could escape Cerberus’s jaw.

…

Qin Ruo, Cerberus’ last hope, was never at rest. He swiftly manipulated the formation of several Frostramparts in front of Brony and his gang. This easily crushed the mental defense of those already highly stressed players that stood guard at the back.

Cerberus continued to growl frantically. The approaching thunderous steps of the monster, in addition to the Aquamancer’s pressing threat had continuously pricked the Netherspirit’s Claw players’ highly tensed nerve. Worse still, the Frostramparts constructed by Qin Ruo had completely blocked their vision of the grotto and the restricted field of view only further intensified their terror.

Two Bowmasters and one of the Warriors were the first to snap and turned away. Then a Pyromancer retracted his magic and gave up too—Being killed by players from similar factions and being killed by a Boss were two entirely different matters. The probability of dropping equipment was slim for the former but it was 100% for the latter. They were certainly not mentally prepared to face such ill fate.

As a result, only four players were left in front of the entrance, including Brony.

Qin Ruo sped past them using Frostramparts to block their AoE spells. He successfully entered the tunnel behind them with the help of Elemental Perception. Right behind him was a flash of brown lighting—Poochie had entered the tunnel too. Further back, the Amethyst Orc barged in with a magnificent aura. None of the Netherspirit’s Claw players dared to move a finger when the scary monster sprinted dazzlingly through them.

Splash!

The giant purple figure went through the waterfall. After Qin Ruo’s party left, the pitiful Brony and three other players became the only available victims to Cerberus rage.

Compressed Frost Bullet! Compressed Fire Ball! Compressed Light Devourer!

Powerful frosty aura, hot dense flames, and endless shadow light simultaneously engulfed the four helpless Elementalists.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Cerberus did not slow down as it broke into the waterfall. Behind it were four burned corpses and four dropped equipment.

***

The great escape continued. Qin Ruo activated Aquamorph without hesitation as soon as he got into the waterfall and confirmed that none of the terrified players intended to attack him from behind.

From previous experience, Qin Ruo naturally would not allow himself to fall into a chaotic state again. He rode the free-falling waterfall stream steadily and sank into the pond beneath it. Aqua Element from the surroundings was rapidly absorbed into his Aqua body to sustain Elemental Perception.

Just as the lighting-quick brown shadow flashed past his head, Qin Ruo’s wet arm stretched out from the lake surface and swirled a few rounds to grip tightly on Poochie’s fluffy tail.

Poof!

The few players that escaped the grotto earlier struggled in the pool and surfaced. They immediately saw a brownish monster running agilely on the water surface and then on shore. It seemed that the tiny monster tail was attached to some sort of water ribbon. A relatively large figure was heard breaking out from the pool and it splashed up a great deal of water.

“What is that…?”

The bystanders were stunned for half a second before the waterfall were broke apart by a giant purple figure. The Amethyst Orc stomped hard into the pool and splashed the water high. Those players still in the pool were unable to react in time and the water entered their mouths and nasal pathways resulting in a series of vigorous coughs.

The perpetrator could not care less about the players. Once it fell into the water, the Amethyst Orc’s Violet Aura directly repelled the pool water and the monster marched on once it confirmed Poochie’s whereabouts.

The chaos only lasted for good three seconds before the waterfall was once again split into half from the middle. This time, a black muscular figure leaped high out from the tunnel hidden behind the waterfall.

As soon as Cerberus touched the water, a great chilling force was emitted from the three-headed hound.

Crackle! Crackle!

A frosty aura ascended abruptly following the weird noise. Soon after, the players still floating in the pool were horror-struck to find out that they were numbed and could not move. This was because the entire lake had been frozen by Cerberus, except a small region directly under the waterfall.

Cerberus had no time for those weaklings. It launched itself from the ice layer and sprang to the bank, leaving behind a deep claw mark and shattered ice dust.

Just as the players stuck inside the frozen pool were relieved by Cerberus’s departure, the ice layer in the pool suddenly compressed. Then, a deafening explosion took place in the middle of the pool as if a heavy bomb had been dropped into it. After the loud bang, numerous crushed ice was blasted up into the air in all directions.