MMORPG: The Elementalist

Boom!

The star fell from heaven with a blinding flash of light, emanating smothering waves of heat. It crashed down upon the Undead Warrior even as it unleashed another attack on Subjugator and Judge.

While the monster staggered under the attack, Subjugator took full advantage of this opportunity. He barely managed to escape a second blast of Darkfire.

Never slowing for an instant, Judge saw the incoming attack but did not even bother to dodge. Raising his left arm and turning sideways, he effortlessly deflected the streak of Darkfire with his heavy shield!

Black flames scattered in all directions.

A stream of Aquaheal fell upon Judge, immediately restoring what little HP he had lost.

Next, two rounds of Lycan Barrage spiraled through the air and struck the Undead Warrior with the force of cannons before dispersing into formless water. The devastating attack left the Undead Warrior staggering and stumbling.

Qin Ruo was not especially pleased by this result: in terms of effectiveness, it was clear to see that the Water Elemental Lycan Barrage was not on par with Earth Elemental spells.

Black Rock, meanwhile, was feeling upset for exactly the opposite reason: the Lycan Barrage dealt so much damage that it left the Level 49 Terramancer at a loss for words. The difference in damage was just between 576 and 581, plus it had dealt several dozen points more damage than his Starfury.

“Watch out!”

Battered by all those attacks, the Undead Warrior had now switched targets to Qin Ruo, who was standing just two dozen meters away. While Subjugator shouted in warning, the Undead Warrior broke away from close combat with Judge, and two lines of Darkfire spiraled high into the air like a great black chain, arching down towards Qin Ruo!

Unfortunately, it had underestimated the steely resolve of Judge, who was already easily within its reach.

Wreathed in the wintry chill, Judge put his shield aside and lifted his massive cleaver once again. Without a moment’s pause, he swung it around in a clean slice across the Undead Warrior’s wrists as the monster twirled its twin spears about.

Bam!

The mighty slash with the cleaver’s blade put a sudden stop to the Undead Warrior’s attack—receiving such a forceful blow, its attack was interrupted!

The ghostly fire within the Undead Warrior’s eyes flashed as its gaze returned to Judge, who had moved to block its escape. It was as though the fell creature could not believe that a lowly human adventurer had managed to perform such a feat. In its rage, it opened its mouth and emitted an otherworldly scream!

Smash, smash!

His Lycan Barrage was coming out faster than Qin Ruo had hoped, crashing into the Undead Warrior from behind.

Judge did not miss a single move either. After he intercepted the Undead Warrior’s attack, he spun around like a whirlwind, getting behind his opponent with surprising agility. Then, with vicious brutality, he buried the heavy cleaver deep into the back of his opponent’s skull!

Successive Strikes!

Even as a third Lycan Barrage was being readied, Black Rock had also finished casting his second spell. Three metallic spikes burst out of the ground, catching the Undead Warrior in their grasp.

Seeing how well Qin Ruo and the others were doing, Subjugator raised his eyebrows, standing back from the fight. It seemed like the battle would not even take 15 seconds.

Just as he thought about this, he noticed the badly-damaged Undead Warrior undergo an unexpected transformation: for a moment, it looked as though the forms of several Undead Warriors had blurred together, but as he watched further, they suddenly split apart in either direction.

Subjugator cried out in alarm and immediately charged into the fray, cursing their misfortune. This was bad.

Having felt the power of the Lycan Barrage spell as well as the threat of the Berserker named Judge, the Undead Warrior decided to use its skill, Dark Genesis.

With a shudder, two identical Undead Warriors tore out from the body of the first one.

This was the kind of crisis he had been standing by to assist with. Subjugator tackled the newly-formed Undead Warrior nearest to Judge, throwing it back and halving the Berserker’s burden!

Everyone in the party simultaneously received vital feedback on how much damage had been dealt through that Charge.

Subjugator has dealt 172 damage to Undead Warrior Spawn.

Charge successful!

Even a Tier 2 Charge attack could deal so much damage to the Undead Warrior Spawn. It suggested that they were vastly inferior shadows of the original.

The dread in Judge’s heart swiftly settled down. Finding his nerve once more, he brought the heavy cleaver around full circle, its lethal edge flashing in a bright ring around him.

Bang!

The attack forced the Undead Warrior Spawn back and also dealt some damage to the original Undead Warrior itself.

Whoosh!

A streak of brown lightning flashed by.

There was another satisfying thump, and the Undead Warrior Spawn that Judge had shoved back was sent flying into the distance like a kite broken free of its cord.

By then, the fifth Lycan Barrage was already being sent out. The Undead Warrior had now lost nearly 8,000 HP in total.

At last, the Undead Warrior began to show some signs of fear.

The two undead spawns it had brought out seemed to be posing zero threat to the human adventurers. Whirling its twin spears, it brought out a cloud of black energy in front of Judge, then turned to flee.

Whoosh!

Poochie caught the Undead Warrior as it tried to escape, knocking him about like a punching bag. With a resounding thud, the Undead Warrior came crashing to the ground.

Moving from dread to outright panic, the Undead Warrior began to howl in wild desperation, calling for aid from its fellow monsters nearby.

Unfortunately for the monster, the denizens of the fifth level of the Graveyard of the Gods were distributed according to a rather specific order. In the case of patrolling sentries like itself, there were simply no other Undead Warriors in the immediate area.

The nearest Undead Warrior who could possibly respond to the call was marching stiffly 150 m away. Its pace was calm and unhurried as it took things step-by-step. It was clear that it had not noticed its comrade’s peril at all.

By the time another Undead Warrior came its way, it would already be far too late for it.

Ten minutes passed, and the twenty-two Undead Warriors patrolling around the foot of the mountain met with the exact same fate, falling to Qin Ruo’s “Fifteen-Second Strategy!”

***

The mountainside loomed ahead of them.

Over 60 Undead Warriors were scattered across this region, and they were not really far apart from each other, guarding the Mountain Shelter from all angles.

This was not too daunting a challenge for Qin Ruo. During his Advancement Quest, he had to find a way through similarly cruel situations. So, a loose formation like that was not enough to give him pause.

Poochie scaled the mountainside in hops and skips, and under Qin Ruo’s direction, it quickly drew the attention of several Undead Warriors.

The ghostly fire in their eyes flickered as they watched its antics, but they made no move to leave their positions—they remained absolutely aloof, as though they saw right through the human adventurers’ crude attempts to lure them away.

Even so, Poochie was not just running around for show—without hesitation, it dove straight at one of the Undead Warriors!

This set off the Undead Warrior it attacked. Its withered claws suddenly lurched into motion, brandishing twin spears vehemently. A blast of Darkfire was imminent…

Poochie flitted about, dodging every one of the Undead Warrior’s attacks. However, as soon as Poochie got some distance away, the Undead Warrior immediately put away its weapons and resumed standing guard. It never took a single step away from its spot.

‘Damn, you can’t be serious! I actually entered into combat with you, and you’re still not going to move?’

Subjugator and the others watched in silence. They thought that Qin Ruo’s plan was bold to the point of recklessness, but they never imagined that the Undead Warriors would show such level of resolve. It was clear that if you wanted to pick a fight with them, you would have to go right up and ask for it.

What a load of crap!

As the five of them began to share a choice selection of their favorite curses and expletives, Qin Ruo clenched his teeth and snapped, “It’s time for you to show off!”

Startled, they all took another look and saw a lightning-quick shadow dodging two shots of Darkfire in a row before sending that unfortunate Undead Warrior sailing through the air.

Subjugator and company were stunned by this display. But soon after, they heard a twisted, maniacal wailing, and the ground began to quake with the muffled sound of thunder.

How could an Undead Warrior stand the humiliation of being knocked about by a piddling, little Level 31 monster in front of all its fellows? Howling with fury, it began to give chase!

The rest of the party turned around and gave Qin Ruo a big thumbs-up. They then moved to their assigned battle positions.

***

Half an hour later, all was silent on Death Mountain!

The mountainside was littered with the fallen bodies of the once-proud Undead Warriors.

Qin Ruo’s party of six gleefully went on their way towards the Mountain Shelter.

Fifty meters from the entrance, they suddenly stopped!

A serious problem had occurred: There still had to be a Boss inside the Mountain Shelter, and now they were approaching it from downhill… How could they be sure that there was even any treasure inside? The six of them spent a while looking at one another before five pairs of eyes turned in unison towards Qin Ruo.

Qin Ruo rolled his eyes in annoyance. This was just typical of them.

Of course, such a problem was nothing to him.

“Water, freeze!”

He casually conjured up a Frostrampart, smooth and glistening. As Subjugator and the rest watched mutely, he raised the Frostrampart up into the air, carefully rotating it to just the right angle.