“Take cover!” I shouted. “It’s going to attack!”

The [Lvl 55 Forgotten Blade Stalker] dove through a clump of trees, surprisingly fitting its gigantic body through the tight space like a cockroach slotting into a tiny crack. It was seeking a clearer shot at us.

No, not at us. At the youngling players with me.

Why did it want them so badly?

Upon landing, the Blade Stalker swung its arm blades outward. A chorus of keen whistling followed. The air rippled like there was baking hot concrete underneath as almost transparent crescent blades spread. I joined the players sheltering behind the nearest tree. Continuous thuds reverberated as the other side of the trunk endured dozens of strong blows. Branches and leaves fell as the tree shook.

This damned Blade Stalker wasn’t as shy as Kezo said. Was it designed to hunt players with low health? That’d explain its sudden appearance—several younglings, who wouldn’t normally be here if their friends didn’t warp them past the cliff walls, were strolling about these parts.

“Excuse me, sir?” said the female player I revived.

Sir? I raised a brow as I turned around. Did I look like a ‘sir’? I wasn’t as large as Kezo, and neither did my Mardukryon face look particularly old.

She pointed at another dead player, a few meters away from us. He didn’t reach our hiding spot. “Can you resurrect him?”

“My skill’s still on cooldown,” I said, through clenched teeth. “I’ll do it later. Just message him not to revive in the village yet.”

A sad moment that Herald Stone couldn’t grant a prayer. [Embers of Rebirth] had a cooldown of three minutes at level one. I expected it’d be reduced at higher levels and the target would also have a higher percentage of health, perhaps even full, upon revival. Maxing [Embers of Rebirth] would need a lot of LSPs that could have more impact if used in other Shards. This was its downside compared to [Ancestral Awakening], used by Melonomi, which was part of an Ocadule. It could level up through Gli farming. However, I didn’t want to get any more Ocadules right now unless they were truly special.

The tree stopped shaking. I took a peek. A large blur. The Blade Stalker was zooming around again.

“Move over there.” I pushed the players to the other side of the tree. “Hurry! It’s changing positions.”

The eerie whistling again preceded the drumming on the trunk. The blows weren’t concentrated on one spot, so I didn’t think the tree would fall. Maybe it would if this continued for long enough. This Blade Stalker was one relentless guy. I hoped Kezo would step in soon because this mini-boss might eventually get us.

Well… get these new players. Not me.

But Herald Stone wouldn’t leave the weak and the helpless!

Time to get tanky, I thought, turning on [Unselfish Blighted Decay] to damage myself and stack [Ancestral Constitution]. The skill also included a debuff, ticking the defensive passive of [Cleansing Flames]. I wore my double barrier—too bad I couldn’t share it with those I was protecting—and did my whole ritual with ruined food with buffs and minor debuffs. Dying in front of these many people wasn’t an option.

And I was going to help them.

Yes, that was the main reason why I buffed up. Not to show off.

I spotted Kezo and my other party mates joining the higher-level players of this group in chasing the Forgotten Blade Stalker. Finally, they agreed to work together! But they were having difficulties getting close to the Blade Stalker to taunt and pull it away from the newer Mardukryon players.

The Blade Stalker shimmered out of existence. A lot of annoying invisible bastards today. There must be skills available for detecting them. Otherwise, there’d be no countermeasures for these dickish disappearing dingbats.

Kezo and the others stopped in their tracks; probably none of them had detection skills. It was usually the support players’ job to carry utility skills so DPSers could go all out on dealing damage. Partially, I was at fault. However, it was illegal to blame Herald Stone, so there we go.

They discussed something I couldn’t hear. All of them looked down and spread out. Good idea. We were surrounded by snow. It should be easy to find tracks, especially of something the size of the Blade Stalker. Then I remembered that its feet were blades. It might not leave a noticeable trail—just holes or thin furrows—especially with its wide strides and Mardukryon hoofprints everywhere.

Branches rustled. Everyone looked up. Hard to tell if it was the wind or the boss snaking its way through the canopy.

“Wah! It’s here!” About ten meters from us, three people hiding behind a boulder suddenly found the Blade Stalker squatting on top of it.

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“Come this way!” I called out. For a second, I weighed remaining hidden or going out. Not sure what I could do to help them, but Herald Stone needed to be heroic. All about optics—the hero was who everyone saw front and center.

The Blade Stalker stabbed down with an arm, immediately killing one player.

I charged forward, gesturing at the survivors to come my way. Being the distraction was my role—I was a tank. It was another question if I could actually facetank the Forgotten Blade Stalker. At least it wasn’t a boss, just a mini-boss. Even then, I wasn’t confident I could do it because I was barely over half its level.

The two players galloped to me. Could they make it?

They will, through Herald Stone’s grace!

The Blade Stalker jumped down from the boulder. Its potential victims were still a few meters from me. The blades of the Blade Stalker glowed purple. I cast my Totems as far as I could. Two Totems rose from the ground a second before the youngling players passed them; my health was cut in half. [Healing Touch] refilled the cost of the Totems. The Blade Stalker unleashed its skill.

The first few air blades hit the Totems, destroying them. More were coming, but I had bought the time I needed for a dramatic save. I passed between the two players. “Stick together, you two. Stay directly behind me.”

I raised both shields. The rippling air slapped me.

Boom! The barrier of [Carhoni’s Chorus] and my [Greater Pyro Shell] were both destroyed.

And… not even a fifth of my health got chunked off. Huh, I’m pretty tanky now.

My regeneration and secondary effect of [Healing Touch] quickly patched up my injuries.

I had the help of two barriers, my shell even adding extra armor, but hardness was hardness at the end of the day. Unclear about what I meant by that quote. What was important was that I looked cooler than hell was hot. Not that I’ve been there.

A quick look behind me and I saw the two souls I saved.

One player waved as he continued trotting away. “Thanks a lot—” His eyes flicked up to my name. “You’re that Herald Stone!”

I didn’t respond, only waving back before continuing onward. Heroes didn’t stay around to get fawned over by adoring fans. But what was Herald Stone, the Hero of the Century, going to do next? Was I seriously going to hold the Blade Stalker? I’d likely die, especially without Melonomi around—she was away resurrecting other people.

Kezo and the others were also heading toward the Blade Stalker. I couldn’t back out now. I was also closer than they were. Slowing down and letting them reach it first wasn’t a good look. Well… I could do that if I weren’t Herald Stone. But I was sure that I was.

Thankfully, the Blade Stalker didn’t want to embarrass me. I blinked and the Blade Stalker disappeared. Where did that giant elusive pain-in-the-butt go?

“Above us!” shouted someone.

The Blade Stalker wrapped itself around the tops of the trees as if it lost its bones, its torso coiling around thick branches like a monkey’s tail. I braked. No one should expect anything out of me because I couldn’t reach it.

The limbs of the Blade Stalker glowed. I didn’t take cover. More badass if I stayed; I wasn’t going to die anyway. But before the Blade Stalker could swing its blades. A tornado of black flames snaked upwards, hitting it. Other skills followed. The cavalry was here.

The Blade Stalker groaned while suspended above us like a disco ball roof. Its health bar zoomed down. We had overwhelming firepower! Such an anticlimactic end to a fairly cool monster.

And then it disappeared.

“Where did it go?” asked one of our new friends, a mage with a staff.

“Still up there!” I pointed at the shaking branches. “Going that way!” My eyes traced its potential path and then went down the trunk of a large tree, resting on Melonomi and the players she was reviving at its base.

Melonomi looked at me and then up, at the fireworks of spells. She understood what was happening before I could tell her. She urged those with her to run.

Kezo and the others followed me, continuing to fire at the canopy even though the Blade Stalker remained invisible. We were sure it was there. Its pained moans, strikingly eerie, echoed through the trees. Some of the spells exploded some distance from the branches, hinting that they hit something else.

The Blade Stalker shed its invisibility as it reached the tree where Melonomi and her patients had stayed. My hunch was that it couldn’t cast its skills while invisible. Kezo and the rest piled on the Blade Stalker.

“Kill it fast!” roared Kezo.

I threw a poison bottle. It didn’t reach the Blade Stalker because it was too high up. The whirlwind of special effects of various spells hopefully covered my failure. What failure?

“It’s about to die,” said Nitana. The health bar was a couple of seconds away from reaching zero. The Blade Stalker disappeared again.

To make some contribution, I yelled, “Just continue, it’s still—what was that?”

A thick black beam passed through where the mini-boss should be. The Blade Stalker shimmered back into visibility and fell. Before it could hit the ground, I spun around and looked for where the shot came from. Nothing.

“A Pathfinder?” Only now did I realize the value of stealth skills in the Great Hunt. And the Blade Stalker wasn’t even part of the event. Mental note to find countermeasures next time.

“Such an asshole,” Nitana grumbled, sharing my thoughts. “We already had it.”

“Maybe whoever that was didn’t intend to kill-steal,” said Kezo. “He could be only trying to help. He just happened to land the last hit.”

“If so, he should’ve already shown himself,” said Nitana.

“Not worth getting angry over that,” I said, though I was also pissed. “I’ll see if I can resurrect a couple more of our new friends, and then we’ll be off to find more Ichors.”