MMORPG: The Elementalist

“This dude… he’s a formidable opponent!”

Watching the approaching thirteen Demonic Wings and the oncoming airborne Undead horde, Qin Ruo, Majestic Hero, and Black God could not help but raise their guard.

Croc God. As expected of a Vice Leader of one of the Four Leagues, he possessed the strength and the tactical mind of a Tier 5 veteran Champion. He was no pushover.

His adept knowledge in tactics especially, could be seen from the speed and boldness of their troops advances—the Demonic Wings were used not only to advance toward their foes but also to attract the Undead horde, in turn worsening the battlefield. And when the Undead horde had surrounded them, the Berserker League had the advantage in numbers. This meant that they could circle up and form an impenetrable defense to survive. On the other hand, Qin Ruo’s team only had six Angelic Wings, three Summoners, two Bowmasters, two Bandits and two Radiant Priests… they were greatly outnumbered and outgunned when matched up against the combined prowess of the Undead horde and the Berserker’s League.

Croc God sure knew what he was doing. This was a brilliant move. It would seem that Qin Ruo’s victorious success at Camp Robert was a lucky one after all.

As Qin Ruo locked his eyes on the oncoming Demon Faction Winged Champions, a million ideas were tangling his mind…

“Well? What are we waiting for? Let’s end this quickly!”

Black God, too eager to fight with his jittery fists, barked at Qin Ruo and Majestic Hero. And he had a point too. The surrounding area was a wide open space, having no hills, no valleys and nothing for them to take cover. If they waited too long, they would be surrounded by the oncoming Undead horde and Demon Faction Champions.

It would definitely give them an edge for survival if they quickly took out the Demon Faction’s players…

Yet…

Majestic Hero and Qin Ruo were indifferent to this idea.

Even though the Berserker League had twelve Winged Champions in their ranks, they would not too hastily clash with the opponent’s twenty-seven-men team. Their wings provided them great mobility and so, they could retreat fairly quickly. If Qin Ruo and his gang were to face them head on, they would probably fall into the trap that Croc God had set up for them.

“Any ideas?” Majestic Hero turned to Qin Ruo.

Qin Ruo replied in a cautious tone, “Yeah we won’t be able to take them on like this… Even if we could hold off their attacks, we’d suffer a lot of damage in the process… You guys stay here. I’ll go on the offensive.”

“Huh?”

Hearing this, Black God was taken aback. He then heard Majestic Hero’s reply, “This is a little different from what I have in mind. I thought it was supposed to be both of us going forward together while we leave Black God and the others on the defense. You sure you can pull this off alone?”

“Absolutely.”

“Huh?!”

Black God became more shocked when he heard this.

‘Why do I have to be benched? I’m good in a fight too!’

However, after seeing that Majestic Hero was willing to stay back with him, Black God had to finally grudgingly concede.

***

A glaring white silhouette loomed across the Underworld’s sky as thirteen Demonic Winged Champions hovered in the air.

“So, he’s coming alone… as expected from the Winter Demon.” Croc God recognized that Angelic Winged Elementalist in just a glance. He waved his hand with a flick and the three men behind him backed away quickly.

They needed only ten men to handle just one Tier 5 Veteran Champion.

“Beware of his Aquamorph.”

“After he enters stealth mode, I’ll need everyone to bombard the whole area with AoE Magic attacks.”

“I’ll take his head as a trophy.”

After giving a series of commands, Croc God led his men, and flew straight toward Qin Ruo…

“Hmph.”

Seeing this, Qin Ruo flipped his wings and quickly glided to the left. Having changed his direction, the ten black wings in the sky missed him completely. It would seem that Qin Ruo wanted to turn and glide to the area behind them.

“Is that all you’ve got?” Croc God smirked. “You’re not getting away!”

After letting out a huge battle cry, ten Demon Faction Winged Champions zoomed towards the lone white-wing Elementalist…

“Come and get me!”

Qin Ruo did not panic though his foes were steadily getting closer and closer. At least, before they decided to force him to land with AoE Magic, there was no danger that came his way.

He wanted to see if Croc God dared follow him to dive straight into the Undead horde!

“Boss, this prick… We can’t chase him anymore! We’ll butt heads with the Skeleton Dragons and Vampires at this rate!” One of the Berserker’s League champions warned as he saw the swarms of Skeleton Dragons and Vampires ahead.

“What’re you scared of? The Winter Demon isn’t scared.”

Croc God was not worried at all as Qin Ruo was spearing ahead of them, charging towards the Undead horde. If the Undead were to attack, they would attack him first, not them. He was more interested in what Qin Ruo would do when he inevitably met the Undead.

Even though Qin Ruo was also famous among the Demon Faction, Croc God knew this Elementalist was at best, still a Tier 5 Winged Champion. It would be suicidal for him to dive into a huge swarm of Tier 5, Tier 6 Skeleton Dragons and Vampires like this. Not even “Savior” could survive in this airborne horde for more than five seconds…

After all, the Vampires were not just Shadow-type Mage Undead—they also possessed powerful melee attacks and possessed higher intelligence. Being an Aquamancer, clashing with these monsters would be suicidal even for somebody like Qin Ruo.

Thus, Croc God did not bother hurling his Tier 5 AoE Magic Attacks. All he had to do was tail Qin Ruo to see what he had in mind…

‘Would he suddenly turn back and glide to their backs again? Or would he head straight to the ground next?’

Yet, whatever happened next blew their minds away.

***

A large swarm of Skeleton Dragons and Vampires were inching closer, raving their teeth and claws at the approaching lone Elementalist. Yet Qin Ruo did not seem to be bothered by this and kept on flying towards them.

He had similar experiences before. In fact, too many times.

Heaven Peal Island, Walker Valley, Death Valley, and also Camp Robert… Apart from that, he had also ventured into an Undead gathering ground, which housed hundreds of thousands of Underworld creatures.

It was not that he’d grown numb after all these Undead horde encounters, but rather because he had grown confident after facing situations like this over and over. Such confidence was rarely seen amongst the Tier 5 Champions…

The specters were now a hundred meters away when suddenly, Qin Ruo took out two bottles of potions and gulped them down in one go.

Swoosh!

In an instant, his Angelic Wings’ speed was increased dramatically! In mere seconds, Qin Ruo was able to force himself ten meters ahead, widening the gap between him and his pursuers to seventy meters!

“!!!”

Croc God almost tossed out the Magic Scroll that he grasped in his hand. The treacherous Elementalist, having no care whatsoever, dashed straight ahead with increased speed instead of surging back towards them. Puzzled by this, Croc God stared at Qin Ruo.

“Is he trying to kill himself?”

One of his underlings burst out this seemingly meaningless comment. What he said was true to a certain point—Qin Ruo was not slowing down as he speared straight at the flying Undead.

Then, suddenly several Frost Ramparts started to form next to Qin Ruo!

‘Frost Ramparts? This guy must be crazy!’

Even Croc God could not help but feel the absurdity of his opponent’s actions. Then, as though proving their speculation right, Qin Ruo held the Frost Ramparts in front of him as he dove into the massive Undead horde from the air.

Booom! Boooom! Boooom!

The Frost Ramparts burst into millions of snowflakes as soon as Qin Ruo reached the horde. Then, Qin Ruo disappeared in the glittering snowflakes and hail dust…

Next, several dozen Skeleton Dragons and Vampires started shooting salvoes of long ranged Magic Attacks at Qin Ruo!

“Fucking hell, man!”

Black God, who was watching from afar, cracked his voice up as he shouted in horror, “What on Earth is this damn boy planning?!”

Standing next to him, Majestic Warrior did not make a sound. He too was doubtful of Qin Ruo’s actions and yet, there was nothing he could do to help his friend now other than to just stay still and quietly observe.

***

Swoosh!

After a series of long-ranged magic attacks, the Skeleton Dragons and Vampires swept away the snowflakes and hail dust that Qin Ruo had burst out earlier.

Then, they started to move… Toward the ten Demon Faction players who were observing several dozen meters away.

“…”

Croc God and his fellow teammates were dumbfounded.

Qin Ruo dove into the group of Skeleton Dragons and Vampire hordes and then what… he disappeared?!

Was he dead?!

Or perhaps he activated his Aquamorph and went stealth? No… It was not possible to just go into stealth mode like that in front of Skeleton Dragons and Vampires. They were powerful intelligent Undead and would not be fooled that easily. Besides, even if he did turn on his Stealth ability, he would still be pinned down by the bodies of countless Undead in the crowd. His stealth would then be deactivated as soon as he broke his cover.

To the Demon Faction players, the more logical deduction was that Qin Ruo had died in the hands of the Undead long-ranged volleys earlier. Yet, this was so unlike the fabled Winter Demon that they have heard so much about. He had been dwelt in the Underworld for so long… and he still could not handle a few high-tier Undead?

As they were still puzzled by what they saw, the Undead had now closed in… and were merely fifty meters away!

“Let’s retreat first!”

Even though they were all powerful enough to take on a few dozen Undead, Croc God was not willing to lead his men into the damned Undead horde… who knew how many Bosses hid amongst their ranks?

And sure enough… someone saw it…

“Lich!!!”

The underling’s screech was so loud that it almost deafened Croc God. Nonetheless, the very name of the Boss sent him into a nervous frenzy.

‘Lich?’

Immediately, the Elementalists from their team scanned the flying Undead. They then found the familiar figure hiding amongst the Skeleton Dragons and Vampires. As though it knew someone was scanning for it intently, the Lich whooshed out of the Skeleton Dragons and Vampires!

“Shit!”

Croc God felt a chill run down his spine. Now he understood why the famous Winter Demon would disappear into the Undead horde earlier, as though they were being devoured whole by this huge cloud of black Undead.

‘God damn it!’

“Spread out! Fall back!”

After frantically ordering his men out, Croc God too turned around after gulping down his Movement Speed Potion.

There was a darn Lich hiding in the Undead horde. With its immense power, the Lich could definitely one-up any unsuspecting Tier 5 players, even the veteran ones.

That cursed guy, Qin Ruo! And they had picked the wrong place to settle their score with him too!

Fleeing with full speed, Croc God felt a tremendous regret. Being an Elementalist, he would definitely not be able to escape a Lich’s pursuit!

Suddenly!

A huge terrifying surge of Mana could be felt from behind…