The two red marks on his map alerted Tier as soon as he walked out of the dungeon’s entrance. As usual, there was no visible limit between the dungeon and the outside, they are instantly teleported in or out of the instance once they stepped over a certain boundary.

For the azure drake’s nest. The boundary was slightly behind a snout shaped edge on the top of the cave which acted like a canopy. As his map had pointed out, Zullvic and DeusVult stood on top of them. Which meant that they were standing above the protruding cave roof.

If only line of sight is taken as a factor, then it would make a lot of sense to cast a portal now. However, casting a portal made a lot of noises that the two assaulters would notice what their targets would be doing.

Therefore, Tier came up with a rather complicated plan in order to disorient their attacker enough to make them unable to spot the portal location despite the fact that they might have heard the casting.

“[Smoke Steam],” Macepaw started his casting. His shield started to accumulate water while his mace burned bright. Before he started slamming the mace to his shield, Tier raised a hand to stop him.

Seeing the shaman was a bit too eager, Zackhs quickly dashed forward to the open slope in order to provoke the assaulters. “Come on, guys, a bit more level and we will….”

He didn’t manage to finish his sentence as Zullvic and DeusVult leaped out their cover and struck at the avenger.

“[Shadow Step.]”

Their attacks missed as the avenger moved backwards very quickly almost as if teleporting using shadows. In that short time, Tier quickly identified Zullvic. He’s a human with dark short hair and wore some sort of giant ram horns as his shoulder pad. He dual wielded a sword and a dagger. From the looks of it, this warrior might have taken the Weapon Master path. As for the subpath, it would have been hard to guess.

“[Sleek Strike]!”

“[Charge]!”

“[Winterblade]!”

“[Mark of Prey], [Mark of Prey].”

Flick, Rushvatte, Nubram, and Tier quickly jumped to action. The former two split to attack their opponents while Tier ran diagonally to get more space while marking their adversaries. Nubram’s winterblade helped slow down the assaulters which received the full blow from Flick and Rushvatte despite not dealing much damage.

“You guys again?” DeusVult snickered. He slashed in circular motion around him, releasing light blades that knocked Flick and Rushvatte away. He quickly turned his attention to Nubram, Macepaw, and Renma then dashed towards them followed by Zullvic.

“[Insularis’s Assault!]”

Tier quickly dispatched slowing arrows towards the two. He then proceeded to look away from the fight scene and covered his eyes with his hands.

“[Flash!]!”

As expected, Nubram’s spell had bounced off the walls of the cave, causing massive blinding light that pierced everyone’s eyes including Tier who had even covered his face with his hands.

“Awww, now that feels right!” Macepaw shrieked in joy. Almost instantly, a loud clanging noise and hissing steam could be heard coming from his direction.

It was also then that Tier felt Nubram had moved towards the opposite direction. It seems the wizard just warped away without trying to wait for his eyes to operate well. Subsequently, the signature buzzing sound of portal spell being casted was heard.

“[Threatening Roar!]”

A deafening bear roar swept the entire area with such force that Tier felt that he could be pushed away by its sheer power. There was no damage done to him, as it seemed coming from Rushvatte in bear form.

Tier opened his eyes and aimed [Ankle Break] at Zullvic who was standing in Renma’s path. His sight was obscured by the thick smoke and steam made by Macepaw, but he let his mark on the minimap and other senses to guide him there. A clanging sound was heard, signalling the arrow hit something but not sure what exactly.

Based on the movement Tier saw on the map, Renma almost hit the two assaulters on his blinded way towards the portal. However, he stopped on his track when Zullvic and DeusVult started to yell at each other.

Tier was about to tell Renma to run via whisper, but Deusvult and Zullvic suddenly ran maddeningly towards the priest. He tried to shoot at the two with everything he could. From behind, Zackhs, Flick, and Rushvatte rushed towards the priest.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

However, there was one movement that Tier failed to realise until the last moment.

There was one dot moving rapidly to a location between Renma and the assaulters. Tier’s heart sank at the sigh. He mumbled, “Why? Why are you even here?”

Mere moments after, there was a massive clash. The shockwave sent from the point of impact was massive enough to push aside the smoke and steam away from it, revealing the sight of a lone guardian paladin blocking the attack of both Zullvic and DeusVult with the mix of both [Soul-saving Arc] and [Sanctity Edge].

For a few moments that felt like eternity, Tier saw her glancing at him. Her eyes were sorrowful yet determined. What on earth was she thinking?

“We got a big fish here!” Zullvic yelled with excitement, he turned around the light wall and swung his sword.

At the same time, Zackhs used his shadow to pull Renma and Manna. Yet, he only managed to pull one of them. Manna evaded the pull while parrying Zullvic’s atack.

“What are you doing here, you selfish idiot?!” Rushvatte roared, he dashed at Manna. “[Brutal Impact]!”

The bear suddenly gained speed, it then crashed at DeusVult and sent the paladin flying several metres away. Manna didn’t answer the raging mystic. She focused herself to draw the attention of Zullvic and stepped away from the rest of the group while smoke and steam rapidly covered everything again.

Along with it, there was a loud proclamation from Nubram, “Portal’s ready.”

Tier was dumbfounded. For all the recklessness of Manna that he thought he had tolerated, this was the proof it might be for naught. Again and again she risked her position to do something that might not be necessary.

The hunter lost his sense of reason amidst the yelling and fighting. Slowly consumed by his wrath, he involuntarily growled, “[Primal Unleash].”

The roars of beast silhouette thundered across the field of smoke and steam, venting the fury of the hunter away from him. There was stillness in the hunter’s mind, and only one objective he should take. One objective that he could do currently under suppressed emotions.

“[Mimic switch: Rhino], [Eagle Aim].”

Tier aimed at where he felt DeusVult was moving. The tempest paladin had encircled Manna who already lost almost a third of her HP. Tier released his arrow right at where he felt DeusVult swinging arm would be, precisely hitting the paladin’s wrist in the process.

While keeping all his attacks to assist Manna, Tier quickly engaged in the team limited discussion, “Command on: Team Voice. Gi, this might be selfish, but we need to save Manna.”

[On it, buddy, won’t let your beloved one down.]

[I had enough of her obnoxious self sacrifice thing since we’re little. I got an idea.]

[Anything for an intense fight, mate.]

[Well, Azrael it is.]

“Thanks,” Tier murmured. After releasing [Ankle Break], he changed his mimic, “[Mimic switch: Orca], [Hunting Pods].”

At the call of the ability, the map showed a more organised and direct movement of his teammates. The ability reserved for [Mimic: Orca] available for hunters who took Predator’s Tactics enabled Tier to share all information he gained according to target, including what he gained from his profession and [Primal Unleash].

Zackhs tried to pull Manna once more, but failed again. However, Renma managed to land a few important shields and heal for her before transforming to Azrael. Manna, seeming aware of their intent, had moved even further away. This caused only Rushvatte to reach her.

Tier hated that attitude. He felt as if he just saw the exact reflection of something he would do. And he realised how disgusting and annoying it seemed from another perspective.

Rushvatte and Manna moved in a frantic manner to hold DeusVult and Zullvic even under the covering fire provided by Tier, Macepaw, and Nubram. There was a clear shouting from Rushvatte telling Manna to back off while the paladin ignored him. Flick joined the fray soon after, only to get his movement obstructed by the self sacrificing intention of Manna.

Then, something Tier had failed to predict even under [Primal Unleash] happened.

“[Chlorophyll Wave].”

Everything finally fell to a halt when a massive pile of green leaves fell upon Manna and all the players around her. The sheer factor of shock and the fact the ability caused non-ally characters more prone to disable had given them the small opening they needed. Rushvatte quickly slammed his [Brutal Impact] from short range, throwing DeusVult dozens of metres away. On the other side, Flick used [Backpace] to actually push Zullvic several metres away.

“[Wild Drive}!” Rushvatte roared again.

At first, Tier didn’t understand what Rushvatte was doing with the ability until he realised that Rushvatte used the ability on Manna and dragged her away. At the end of the move, he threw Manna at Tier and shouted, “Pras, catch your wife. Zackhs, pull us.”

“What the,” Tier sighed as he quickly moved towards the incoming body of Manna. Luckily he managed to catch the paladin. On the other side of the battle, Zackhs pulled the Rushvatte and Flick away and they started running towards the portal.

Tier put Manna gently on the snow. While turning his face away to look at the direction of DeusVult, he said to her, “Bingo once told me, ‘Never play the hero, it never works’,”

Manna didn't answer, Tier felt she moved as if she was about to say something but cancelled it.

“I’ll be the rear guard, not because I am playing hero, but I have the highest capability to hinder them with [Primal Unleash],” he said again, “Go, I got your back.”

Manna nodded and started running at the portal while Tier kept throwing disabling abilities at the two assaulters. The smoke and steam steadily dwindled away as they managed to get into the portal. However, Tier didn’t jump straight to the portal since a malicious idea appeared in his mind.

There, before the portal to Grandar, the hunter crouched and toyed with his bow to taunt his opponent who started to see him clearly. They both yelled and cursed at him while Tier changed his [Mimic] to rhino and slowly reduced his attacks on them.

And right when both of them almost caught him, Tier whispered, “[Cobra’s Maneuver: Active].”

Zullvic landed a clear stab on Tier’s stomach, triggering the time dilation effect for the hunter. Tier then grabbed the hands of both Zullvic and DeusVult and jumped backwards, pulling the two into the portal to Grandar with him.