MMORPG: The Elementalist

“Oh, Old Remorseless. You have to look at the positives, man.”

“It’s only Phase Two. And a Battle Royale too! Anything could happen! Dying once or twice isn’t a biggie.”

“Besides, you were surrounded. It was only natural that you got killed that way!”

“Don’t take it to heart.”

“Come on, let’s go and try out another round. Together.”

“Damn it, man. Don’t tell me you’ve lost your will to fight after just one small defeat? Are you not a man?”

Meanwhile, near the Savis Town’s Resurrection Portal, Black Rock was continuously nagging at the dispirited Remorseless Warrior. The former was so engrossed in his “uplifting prep talk” that he didn’t see the latter’s increasingly thickening nerves appearing on his forehead…

“Hmph?!”

As Remorseless Warrior started to ponder if he should jump right back at the Last Man Standing Contest to escape from this nagging weird pervert-looking Black Rock, this noisy man suddenly turned silent.

Then, he noticed Black Rock’s body had turned stiff. Remorseless Warrior turned and glanced at him and followed his surprised gaze… towards the Resurrection Portal…

A familiar person walked out of the Resurrection Portal.

A white magic robe, the black ashen insignia of Fallen Angel… even though he was standing right in the middle of hundreds of players, he still stuck out like a sore thumb.

Remorseless Warrior couldn’t believe his eyes as he stared at the Aquamancer who walked out of the Resurrection Portal.

“Black Rock…” Remorseless Warrior quietly spoke.

Black Rock, like having lost his soul, reflectively replied with an exasperated “Ah”.

It wasn’t quite clear as to whether he had heard Remorseless Warrior calling him.

Remorseless Warrior then continued, “Suddenly I feel much better now…”

Yet before he was able to complete his words, he was pinned down onto the ground by Black Rock. His words whispered into his ears hastily, “Oh, don’t stare. Pretend you didn’t see him. If we’re found out, we’re doomed.”

“What? Why?”

“He’ll kill us to erase evidence!” Black Rock replied as he lowered his head, like he’d seen something that he shouldn’t have, confusing Remorseless Warrior even more.

However…

The two whispering men, who were crouching down near the Resurrection Portal, were too attention-grabbing; it was difficult to miss them. Thus, Qin Ruo had noticed them the very first moment he stepped out of the Resurrection Portal.

“Hey, are you both playing Brokeback Mountain over there?”

As he couldn’t bear to see them embarrassing themselves any further, Qin Ruo decided to approach them. These two were important figures, high ranking members of the Fallen Angels. It was weird to see them acting so strangely.

“Ah? No. Well, yeah! Yeah! Oh, you’re here. What a coincidence…” Black Rock leapt up and pretended that he had only just saw Qin Ruo. Nevertheless, he was so obscenely bad at lying that Qin Ruo saw through him right away.

As for Remorseless Warrior, he immediately pushed Black Rock away and used his hand to brush the area on his body that Black Rock had touched earlier.

“You filthy pervert. Who’s playing Brokeback Mountain with you! I didn’t know you’re a queer. What a surprise. And heck, I know why you’re wearing these rags crouching here. You fag!”

“…”

Black Rock’s jaw dropped to the ground as he pointed his finger at his own nose. What? Since when did he say he’s gay?

***

“Alright, stupid Rock. So what if I walked out of the Resurrection Portal? It’s no biggie.” Qin Ruo shot a glare at Black Rock and continued, “Sure, I was defeated. But it’s not all that bad. I’ve met an acquaintance in there.”

“Acquaintance?”

Black Rock and Remorseless Warrior’s interest was immediately piqued as they heard this. There were so many people participating in the Last Man Standing Contest. What were the odds?

Besides…

it was also someone that could kill the Winter Demon right after recognizing who he was… could it be Majestic Hero? Or Netherclaw?

“Well, you wouldn’t be able to guess who that was.” Qin Ruo grinned.

“Oh, what a perverted smile…” Black Rock finally reverted to his old self. “I think this acquaintance of yours is a girl.”

Remorseless Warrior nodded.

This Black Rock kid was quick to catch on, and the logic of his guess was sound. Remorseless Warrior turned and looked at Qin Ruo. He wanted to hear what Qin Ruo’s reply was.

“Oh, stop messing around. It’s Xin Yu.”

Qin Ruo didn’t think Black Rock would joke on the matter. He shot him another glare and replied curtly.

“Haha, I knew it!”

Black Rock felt completely at ease after hearing this.

He thought Qin Ruo would be traumatized by the battle he experienced earlier in the Last Man Standing Contest. It seemed it wasn’t the case at all… if it was Xin Yu that he had met in the battle royale, then he surely didn’t lose solely because he met a more powerful foe.

“Xin Yu? That Gravity Field Caster from Ascendant Saber? The owner of the Galbis pet?” Remorseless Warrior felt extremely surprised after hearing the name. Then suddenly, he pointed at Qin Ruo and exclaimed, “I see! You let her win earlier!”

Qin Ruo didn’t have the energy to argue with them. He calmly described what he experienced in the Purge Tower earlier.

“Holy shit!”

“So that was what happened!”

Black Rock and Remorseless Warrior were shocked after hearing all that had happened—it looked like Qin Ruo purposely hid his real strength and also his meeting with Xin Yu. Also was the fact that he did not realize it was Xin Yu until the very last minute.

“This contest rules are too ruthless.”

“Still, even if it’s Xin Yu that killed you in the contest, you don’t really have to be this happy.”

“How could I not be happy?”

Qin Ruo’s smile didn’t waver as he continued, “I was worried if the little girl was able to fight her way to the Top Ten Thousand Champions. If she couldn’t, Galbis’ great potential would have all gone to waste.”

Then, he paused momentarily before he continued with joy, “There’s nothing for me to worry now. The little girl is now a formidable combatant herself…”

“…”

Remorseless Warrior frowned as he replied, “Didn’t you say that you did not even fling out that Magic Scroll of yours in the last moment? If you had done it, it’ll at least result in a draw. Xin Yu wouldn’t be able to defeat you.”

“Oh, you’ve underestimated Galbis’ capabilities.”

“Even if my AoE Magic Attack was not hurled out, my Defense was already been broken by Xin Yu. And she was able to stun me during that short window of time. These powerful combat techniques and reactions are enough to kill any Veteran Champion. Besides… Galbis is a powerful Magic Melee pet. My Shadowfox would lose if it clashed with Galbis.”

“Besides, not every combatant was like me. They didn’t have the powerful Elemental Perception that I have. No other Elementalists could handle that joint attack.”

After hearing Qin Ruo’s explanation, Remorseless Warrior couldn’t help but to be shocked at what he heard.

He could see that Qin Ruo was truly happy that he was killed by Xin Yu in the Last Man Standing Contest… it couldn’t be helped. If he was able to train up a member that could defeat a Veteran Champion too, Remorseless Warrior would have also been overjoyed!

Nonetheless, Remorseless Warrior was still surprised at a thing that Qin Ruo referred to in his words.

No other Elementalists could handle that joint attack?

So, did that mean that Xin Yu could actually rise up to one of the top combatants in the Grand Tournament?

If that was the case, it would be a ridiculous thing.

After all, since the era of Tier 5 players arrived, Tiger Cub, Fateless and Permanent Lock had all taken the spots of the top Bandits for too long now.

If there was suddenly a new Bandit showing that she could compete against these, it would certainly bring a tremor across the gaming community of “Honor and Glory”!

In addition to that, Fallen Angels would certainly rise up in fame a lot more if there were at least two or three members that could squeeze into the top combatant’s leaderboard.

“Remorseless!”

Qin Ruo looked at Remorseless Warrior and said, “Let’s do our best.”

The latter was taken aback; then, he quietly nodded his head.

The top combatants in the Grand Tournament. How could he not be one of them?

In an instant, three of them disappeared from Savis Town’s Resurrection Portal.

***

As expected, several hours later the official webpage of “Honor and Glory” had updated their battle videos in regard to the Last Man Standing Contest.

Using a bout of impressive technology, the developers’ technicians were able to record and highlight the players’ battles and their responses during the battles. They could then focus on the victors and edit these short clips into entertaining battle videos. No scripts, no dialogue, no bullshit. Just a pure immersive battle experience. The victors were able to defeat the others by cleverly using their skills and magic. Tremors of discussions had now all focused on the victors.

However, there was one who was most eye-catching and it was definitely…

The mysterious Tier 5 female Bandit, who was able to slowly hide in the shadows and move in between the fierce battles. At times, she was swift as a rabbit and at other times, she stood at one spot as still as a tree. She mostly observed her enemies silently and didn’t simply hurl out attacks at the enemies. Yet, this showed tremendous mastery of her Bandit class which hummed a mysterious vibe of her unknown powerful skills and techniques.

As the enemies were slowly decreasing… the female Bandit still didn’t act at all…. Until…

When a mysterious Aquamancer was surrounded by a Winged Warrior and Terramancer, the female Bandit then slowly inched towards them… and then she charged out like the wind!

Like moths flocking towards fire, she dashed towards the trio with unwavering determination…

Although the ever changing battlefield was exciting to watch, the moment the Bandit rushed into battle… it felt as though every other battle before this had become as dull as wood.

Especially the moment the female Bandit stabbed the mysteriously powerful Aquamancer. That decisive, quick move of her blade was quite a sight!

In the meantime, Galbis’ appearance was equally eye-catching to the viewers!

In the next instant… the land and soil of the battlefield started to dissolve and crumble… the Aquamancer’s Magic Scrolls, which was firmly clenched in his hands, also dissipated. He was then stunned as the Terramancer was defeated instantly.

Having lost his defense, the Aquamancer was not able to survive the Tier 5 Ultimate Boss and six Tier 5 Orc’s attacks…

After the two were defeated, their pets also vanished from sight.

The female Bandit didn’t pursue the other surviving combatants in the tower. Instead, she decided to rationally back away and allow her pets—the six single-eyed orcs and Galbis to take him out.

After summoning his wings, the Winged Warrior rose to the sky. Yet, he kept falling to the ground even though he was not attacked by anything, and was surrounded by the pet monsters. He was killed shortly after.

She had earned tremendous fame in just one battle!