The pain lessened as my healing potions ticked my health up slowly. My Party chat had been blowing up during my tangle with the level 54.

Party Chat

BartHeals: Oh shit, Ray! You okay?

TeardropKiller: Someone tackled him out of the sky!

TinkerBell: We’re coming Ray hold on

BartHeals: fuck, contact west

Bart and Bell’s health were fluctuating on my party interface, and their nameplates were blinking, indicating they were in combat.

RayGun47: I’m fine, are you guys okay!?

BartHeals: We’re fine, just go!

I watched as Bell's HP flashed in the red, then zipped back up, only to zero out a moment later.

“Fuck!” I shouted to no one.

I hesitated, wanting to go back for them, but knowing I couldn’t. Bart’s health dropped moments later, zeroing out.

RayGun47: I’m sorry guys…

BartHeals: You’re not out of this yet, move your ass!

I took his advice and started sprinting towards the nearest outpost. If I could just get to the Flight Master, I was home free.

I didn’t dare use my leap after being tackled from the sky, so I weaved through the jungle at full tilt. It wasn’t as fast as my leap, but it was still pretty damn fast.

The problem was, the Necks had no problem using [Bounding Leap], and would close the distance eventually. I just had to get to the outpost first.

I glanced at my map as I ran. The outpost was about a kilometer away - I’d be there in minutes. A sensation on my ear made me stumble; it was Al’s earring turning warm out of nowhere.

Someone was watching me.

I glanced up and noticed two red eyes staring down at me from a tree branch about 20 meters in the air. It was the characteristic glow of a Reborn Undead’s eyes. We spotted each other at the same time, them pulling back on their bow, me charging up my leap. Even as I charged up my leap, I examined their nameplate.

Name: SniperGawwwwd

Race: Dark Elf (F)

Class: Quickdraw (Ranger)

Level: 58

The arrow released as I was flying through the air towards her, my glaive held straight forward like a lance. The arrow pierced my shoulder, causing me to wince, but my arms held steady. My glaive crashed blade first into SniperGawwwwd, pinning her to the tree trunk and killing her instantly. My leap had been deactivated by the arrow, but my momentum had continued, carrying me forward as I impaled her.

As my jump arced downwards, past her corpse, I yanked the glaive free. My feet hit the dirt and I used the momentum to propel me back into a sprint.

The whole fight had taken less than two seconds.

I noted my earring went cold, and I relaxed - just a bit. Now I’d have to keep my eyes on the trees above as well. Just how many players were in this damn jungle hunting me? 50? 80? 100?

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The Necks had never been this organized in the two weeks since my duel with Ysillith. For the first week, they’d literally scattered like cockroaches whenever I made an appearance in a fight. It had surprised me at first, but Bart had explained it to me.

“The whole world saw you take out Ysillith with ease,” he had said. “[Shadow Blade]’s the best dueling spec in the game, and Ysillith is - well, not exactly famous - but he’s pretty well-known in the dueling scene. And you made him look like a scrub.”

“But it wasn’t easy,” I had argued. “He nearly one-shot me before I’d even known he was there. And he almost won our duel too.” I had shaken my head, wondering how others could have drawn a different conclusion. Of course, I couldn’t tell anyone about having a lot of extra help from Al.

Bart had shrugged. “This is what people are saying: You shrugged off a coordinated stealth attack from 5 [Shadow Blades], then single-handedly scattered them, and killed their leader in a one-on-one.” He laughed. “You’re like the fuckin’ Neck boogeyman right now.”

I couldn’t believe it, but I damn sure had used it. Wherever Damsels Guild members were being ganked or camped, I would show up to defend them. At first, my presence had been enough. A week ago, they’d started fighting back, forming groups of 5 or 10 to take me down. But with Ray's Angels, we’d evened the odds, winning every fight we’d been in…until now.

I guess they were sick of getting their asses kicked.

The dense foliage pulled at me as I ran, but I powered through, not trying for stealth. Just get to the Flight Master! My eyes scanned in front and above now - I didn’t want any more surprises if I could help it.

That sentiment lasted about five seconds as I burst through the tree line. The outpost was fifty meters away - barely even a town, really. The outer defenses were more like a cattle wall, gaps big enough for a person to climb through with little effort. There were guards stationed at the entrance - level 24s. Absolutely useless.

And flying above them were nine Necks, their eyes locking on me just as I noticed them.

“There she is!” one of them called, needlessly pointing at me.

Fuck, fuck, fuck. I had no choice.

I charged up [Bounding Leap] for a moment, angled myself, then released. I launched through the air - towards the Necks. As one, their eyes went wide as they realized I was coming right at them. The shock made them sluggish to respond as they reached for weapons or started to cast spells.

But I was already flying over their heads. It must have looked like I was coming for them, but I had charged my leap just enough to clear them and land in the outpost. If I could bypass them, I could trigger the flight out of here before they reacted.

Unfortunately, one of them managed to clip me on my downward arc, deactivating the skill and flagging me for combat. There was no taking the flight out of here while I was flagged for combat. Even worse, I couldn’t reactivate my leap until my combat flag dropped.

I crashed into the dirt, the superior agility granted from [Bounding Leap] was gone when the skill deactivated, and I stumbled a few steps before falling forward, sliding on my stomach as the momentum carried me. I scrambled to my feet, glancing over my shoulder. The Neck that had hit me must have fallen out of the sky from the combat flag, but the other eight were maneuvering towards me now. I looked over to my right. There was the Flight Master…just a few meters away. But there wasn’t enough time for the combat flag to drop. The eight of them would be on me in seconds. Behind the fliers, I noted the pursuing players bounding through the jungle, their leaps bringing them closer by the second. There was so damn many of them.

My only hope was that I was past the last line of defenders. If I could get enough distance to drop my combat flag, I could reactivate my movement skill and leap to the next town or outpost. They couldn’t have seeded the entire region with defenders…right?

I turned away from the fliers and booked it for the other side of the outpost, still heading north. I cleared the little cattle wall with a single, normal jump, and continued sprinting away.

The jungle had given way to rocky hills, the outpost nestled at the bottom of a mountain range. I raced up the rocks, dodging projectiles as I ran. Arrows and spells continued to stream in, but it knocked the fliers from the air, so any that attacked were forced to run after me on foot. I glanced back and noted a few had deferred from attacking so they could maintain their vantage point in the air. And behind them, the Necks using [Bounding Leap] were closing the distance fast. Despite dodging all the attacks coming my way, my combat flag just wouldn’t clear. Maybe because the attacks were close enough to keep me flagged?

I kept climbing, my stamina beginning to drain at a faster rate, my lungs starting to burn as my legs churned. The good news was, if I was starting to wear down, then those chasing on foot or flying would be in even worse condition.

The bad news? The players using [Bounding Leap] were using the most efficient movement skill in the game, and if I didn’t clear my combat flag fast, they’d be on me in seconds.

One-by-one, the fliers were forced to drop as their stamina reached empty. The players on foot were also trailing behind, and the attacks had turned from a steady deluge to a pitter patter of desperate shots.

The closest leaper were roughly 300 meters distant when my combat flag finally dropped. I charged my leap to full, angled my body up the mountain, and shot up into the sky like a cannonball.

I was home free…unless they had even more people laying in ambush up the mountain…

I shook my head to clear my thoughts. One leap at a time, Ray. One leap at a time.