Allan wondered how long they could hold out like this. All three of them had taken a considerable amount of damage.
He climbed into a nearby building through a broken window, nearly cutting himself on a shard of glass. He quickly recognized the building as the city’s apothecary. Everything lay strewn about as if there was a scuffle quite different from the battle that raged outside. Someone had dueled here. With another player or monster, he wasn’t clear. Racks and bottles of potions lay on the floor, many of them broken.
How would I ever find a healing potion in this mess?
He trudged deep inside the building. Frail lamps lit the rooms which battled against the lurking shadows. Minding them not, he stepped over broken objects and went from room to room, scouring every nook and corner. In one of the rooms, he found the dead avatar of a fallen warrior. He didn’t know who he was, but noticed that he had died from many wounds. He would respawn elsewhere, but Allan didn’t think he would return to this city after what he might have witnessed.
Opportunity Alert
Do you wish to loot this fallen player's inventory?
***Disclaimer: only unlocked items are available to loot (item locking is a service only available to Premium Members)***
Loot Body | Leave Body
Allan selected ‘Loot Body’. He was pleased to find a stock of healing potions, and couldn’t help but feel lucky. He declined the annoying Premium Member alert and quickly gulped down one of the potions and stored the rest in his inventory.
System Alert!
Your HP has been filled to 100% capacity.
[HP | 3,300/3,300]
Satisfied, he swiped away the alert and began to head back towards the broken window. Just when he was about to turn the corner, the ground beneath him shook. For a moment, he felt as though it was an earthquake.
No, it couldn’t be. Perhaps the Phoenix had pommeled the ground again, this time closer to the building?
Apart from the loud battle cries, he heard a strange sound. It was like a heavy thump on the ground, perhaps by another monster? He knew it couldn’t be the Phoenix. The footfalls were much louder. No, this was something else.
Was it the monster that had taken resident in this now dead city? Brad… he was alone out there.
Allan rushed forward, raising his sword. He had reached the broken window when a blue beam cut through the side of the building, splintering and cracking its stone. The hole in the window instantly sealed with a thick wall of ice. The force of the beam threw him back to the floor, falling on the broken glass. He groaned in pain, his back crunched against his armor.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
[-50 Damage]
What was that?!
The entire window had become ice. It was a new monster.
Threat Detected: Level 16 Ice Demon
HP| 1,600/1,600
Strengths: Spews forth ice from its mouth and can control a host of undead avatars.
Weaknesses: [LOCKED]
Allan could hear the Phoenix roar and crash against the Ice Demon. Fist against fist, fire against ice. Both the monsters shrieked and screamed. And even while they fought, the undead didn’t rest. They gathered around the living.
Standing up, he chipped at the block of ice and then drove his sword through it. The ice wall splintered and broke into many pieces. He quickly climbed out and saw a huge monster of ice, a white gauntlet in its hands. It fought against the Phoenix forcefully. Fire attempted to melt the ice, but fizzled out in return. He moved towards the Ice Demon, trying to smite it as he had done the wall of ice a few moments ago. But the undead barred his way. Even Brad was too busy to pay him any attention.
The Phoenix gave a loud cry as a white beam hit its chest, sending it staggering to the ground. The earth shook beneath his feet again. Angered, Allan yelled loud.
The Ice Demon turned its attention towards him, its deep blue eyes staring at him like a newfound meal. It brought its long slender hands to squash him, but he ducked just in time. As its hand flew above his head, he felt a discomforting chill tingle down his spine. The cold induced a new level of fear in him, and his HUD glitched momentarily.
Weird. This system glitch seems to be somehow connected to my anxiety level.
Determined, he stood up and made direct eye contact with the monster. It snarled and directed his gauntlet to blast the white beam at him, but he held his sword in its path. His weapon endured for a while before freezing and then bursting, its shards embedding themselves into the skulls of the dead who were approaching.
System Alert!
Weapon Destroyed: Claymore Sword
This item has been removed from your inventory. Do you wish to purchase a replacement from the CyberBolt eStore?
Yes | No
Allan watched in horror as the remaining hilt of the sword disintegrated into dust, and he ducked to avoid the beam. Allan swiped away the alert dominating his vision.
By the sound that came soon after, he surmised the beam had hit something. Looking behind, he saw a building come crashing down. Grunting, he turned to the monster again who looked ready to blast another beam at him.
Far away, Brad was fighting hordes of the dead and trying to reach him. But there were too many. It was the like the monster had raised the dead of the entire city. Fortunately, he had not seen Vickie among them.
The beam blasted from the monster’s gauntlet again, and Allan ran. The beam followed him and he knew he couldn’t outrun it for long. He ran so fast he didn’t notice a stone lying in his path and tripped on it. He fell to the ground, but quickly turned himself over. The undead were gaining on him, snarling, their teeth gnashing.
He tried to access his inventory to at least equip himself with his bow and unlimited quiver, but his HUD kept glitching out as his anxiety mounted.
No, no, no!
He mumbled to himself. He had looted so much. He had gathered so much. And if he died now most his inventory would likely get looted and all his hard work would be rendered in vain.
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