MMORPG: The Elementalist

Dark Knight Commander, a Megaboss that was of the same level as the Lich. Qin Ruo knew he could not afford to underestimate it.

Although he did take out two Liches in one-on-one combats, it was just exploiting the out-of-the-box technique—not real actual victories through legit battles.

Qin Ruo had seen what a Lich was capable of. A Lich was powerful, perhaps even more powerful than the Cyclops Commander Galbis. Qin Ruo didn’t feel that he could defeat it if they were to face off in a fair one-on-one battle.

Even if it was a Tier 6 Warrior-type Megaboss Dark Knight Commander, Qin Ruo was not going to take it for granted, what more taking it down alone.

His main purpose in heading to the Dark Knight Commander’s location was to conduct reconnaissance—to determine its exact location earlier, acquire information about the surrounding environment, and to help pluck out a few obstacles here and there for his teammates who were still on the way.

Although Dark Knight Commander and its Dark Knights were entrusted with the security of the Buried City, they were quite different from the other Skeletal and Death Knight Patrols. Unlike the patrols, they were more of the sitting type—holding their positions in the middle of the Buried City’s central plaza.

Qin Ruo leaped onto the roofs as soon as he reached the area where the Dark Knights were last reported. Then he crept along the roof edges to have a look-see… and then, he saw him… the Legendary Dark Knight Commander… also Hades’ strongest army—the Dark Knights!

***

A looming scent of death wafted across the silent plaza. Knights clad in dusky armor, riding unknown armored monsters, stood along the streets all the way from the plaza like countless eerie lifeless statues.

The Dark Knights and their bizarre-looking metallic rides stayed completely still in the plaza; occasionally cold vapor fumed from their nostrils. It felt almost like a troop of metallic art completed by sculpture artists eons ago.

Although the plaza was completely silent, the Dark Knights’ presence gave off an intense tension of danger; a tension that felt as though it could strangle anyone who dared step into the plaza…

And there were almost over a thousand Level 65 Dark Knights lined up all over the place.

Damn!

“…..”

Qin Ruo instinctively clenched his fists as he stared at the Dark Knights one by one… Finally, his eyes locked onto a dozen Dark Knights that were of different sizes, in the middle of the plaza. These Tier 5 Dark Knights seemed much stronger and bigger than the average Dark Knights around them.

They wore crimson red armor, as though they were drenched in blood, giving off a scent of dread to anyone who looked at them. The knights were also glaring at Qin Ruo with their crimson red eyes…

‘Did they spot me?’

Alerted by the knights’ glare, Qin Ruo frowned as he raised his guard. However, he was not retreating. He was about 200 meters away from the knights—he was relatively safe. If the knights wanted to attack him, they would have done so by then.

When he finally calmed down, Qin Ruo continued to observe the enemies—this time locking his eyes on the knights’ rides.

These were much more intimidating than the rides of the other ordinary Dark Knights.

Although they had about the same appearance, these “Metallic Steeds” were bigger in size, giving off a temperament that said they were the kings of the Metallic Steeds. Unlike the ordinary ones that only breathed out a cold breath, these had three metallic sharp horns on their heads; they also had numerous spikes on their bodies, providing not only protection for the Dark Knights who were riding them but also functioning as means to attack their preys.

‘Dark Knights…’

Qin Ruo could not help but utter their names repeatedly in his mind as he observed them. Then, he saw one “human knight” in the middle of the twelve knights.

It was quite an eerie sight!

Right in the middle of the circular formation of these inhuman metallic Dark Knights stood a calm human-like figure.

Yet… this “human” did not seem ordinary. Dressed in cotton clothing, he held a fist-size item that resembled a globe in one of his hands while the other held a dagger. He waved his dagger in the air, as if drawing a picture or a diagram.

This seemingly meek and weak “human” was comfortable and calm while being surrounded by the massive troop of death, focusing only on his “drawing”, agilely swiping in the air with unwavering concentration in his eyes.

As for the knights around him, they surrounded him in complete still and silence as if the silence was served by them to him so that his “drawing” would not be disturbed.

If Majestic Hero did not inform him about this, Qin Ruo would not have guessed that this unassuming “human” was, in fact, one of the strongest Bosses in Buried City—the Dark Knight Commander.

This was the commander who slaughtered countless lives in the Buried City under the command of Hades! And after the battle, this man slaughterer was calmly playing with his dagger in the middle of the menacing army, ignoring everything else that was happening in the Buried City.

“Rakoff.”

This was his name.

The name of the target of their operation, the name of the Dark Knight Commander, who was calmly focusing on his drawing in the middle of the plaza.

***

“Qin Ruo, we’re here. Where are you?”

The ones who arrived first were Fateless and two other members from the Hall of Heroes and Black Jail. They took off from the closest Eternal Peak immediately after receiving their assignment to join the operation.

As they arrived at the streets near the Dark Knights, they wisely stopped and contacted Qin Ruo, whom they knew had arrived at the location earlier for recon.

After a few seconds, the two Elementalists behind Fateless felt a humanoid presence entering their Perception. They gave each other a smile:

“Here he comes.”

In the next second, several Frostramparts emerged next to them and formed a bridge toward Qin Ruo.

“Come up here quick!”

***

Stealthily hiding on the rooftop, Fateless and the Elementalists were able to see what Qin Ruo saw earlier. They felt a heavy thump in their hearts as they saw the sheer number of Dark Knights before them.

“There are too many of them!”

“It would take a lot of time to kill these Dark Knights!”

“And they’re all Tier 6 monsters too. Tsk!”

As the trio was shocked by what they saw at the plaza, they started to wonder if it was possible for a mere team of twenty people to defeat the twelve crimson Dark Knights while holding off thousands of Dark Knights? Or more importantly, could they slay that Tier 6 Dark Knight Commander “Rakoff” like this?

“There are indeed many Dark Knights guarding the area. However, the number isn’t all that important. The important thing here is, how do we defeat them?” Qin Ruo was not as pessimistic as the trio. If the Executors could pull it off, there was no way that they could not do the same. Besides, he already had a few plans in mind while waiting for his cavalry.

“We still have time. Let’s discuss this together and see if we can come up with a plan to defeat them easily.”

“Easily?”

Fateless and the Elementalists saw the confidence in Qin Ruo’s eyes and finally calmed down. Then, they started to carefully sketch up a plan, one that could deal all the twelve crimson Dark Knights and the Dark Knights in the area.

Several minutes later…

“Leader Qin, we could first penetrate their forces in just one direction. Then put all our focus on defeating all the Dark Knights in the plaza before sending several men to guard the four sides of the plaza, holding off the other incoming Dark Knights. And as they are buying time for everyone, the rest could focus on taking out the twelve knights and the Dark Knight Commander.”

As they were coming up with a plan to deal with the seemingly impregnable Dark Knight troops, everyone started to feel more relaxed.

However, Fateless immediately rejected the plan.

“Actually… it’s kind of difficult to pull this off… look at their armor…”

As they lay their eyes on the Dark Knights’ armor, Fateless resumed explaining,

“They are all Level 65, heavily armored. This means that their equipment are of higher grades than the Death Knights. Their Magic Resistance and Defense are undoubtedly high… their HP would be at least over ten thousand. Besides, they’re all mounted so they possess greater movement speed. In my opinion, it would be very difficult for us to hold off such monstrosities at the four corners of the plaza. It would be quite impossible for just two Elementalists to hold them off and it would be more difficult for the other Classes too. If one or two Dark Knight broke through, then our entire perimeter would collapse. It’s too risky.”

“Besides…”

“If we have three Elementalists guarding the corners, we would not have very few Elementalists left. This would make slaying the twelve knights and Rakoff very difficult!”

Qin Ruo had the same doubt in mind too. He nodded and asked, “Fateless, do you have a better idea to go about this?”

“I can’t say that it’s ‘better’. But I do know one thing… if you’re faced with a huge number of enemies, you should ensure that you fight only a fraction of them one at a time. I thought we were doing exactly that at Aricus Underground Ruins, weren’t we?”

“….”

Qin Ruo nodded with a smile.

Fateless finally got it.

That’s right.

Divide and conquer.

They should bait some enemies away from their guard locations and then defeat them, decreasing their numbers.

And the best way to go about it was to bring their battles away from the plaza and into the streets.