The battle was still in full tilt when the Progenitors arrived, and none of them could make teams or guilds. It was as if the market had turned into one giant free-for-all, and the entire path through was occupied with players slashing at each other. There was no uniformity or cohesion to it at all, with people being cut down from behind, only to have their killers suffer the same fate a second later.
“Fucking hell,’ Oscar said, coming to a halt with the rest of them. His initial reaction described their feelings on the matter perfectly. Even Caius seemed taken aback now that he could see the fight with his own two eyes. “Don’t tell me you still want to go into that!”
By way of answer, Caius changed the grip on his shield and slammed down the visor of his new helmet. Oscar rolled his eyes, yet still reached over his shoulder to retrieve an arrow. “Well, at least we’re doing something interesting.”
“Azalea, keep an eye out for Riley,” Caius ordered. “And watch my back, but stay here. I don’t want you getting within melee range.”
Azalea nodded her understanding, stowing her spear away behind her back. Before Caius could rush forward, she was already charging a spell, buffing his vitality, strength, and agility. He gave her a quick nod of gratitude, then hurried forward. Oscar fired an arrow into the mass of struggling bodies, though they couldn’t make out who he’d hit.
She debuffed the nearest players as soon as Caius reached them, lowering their agility and strength. He crashed into the first player with his shield, bowling him over back into the crowd, then swung to the left and right with his sword, claiming two distracted players. He was able to cut down one more before his presence was truly noticed, and he was forced to give up the attack, blocking nearly five different attacks with his sword and shield. Oscar shot down one of the figures attacking him, but Caius was still outnumbered, and in an instant, he was overwhelmed.
The best thing that could be said about their situation was that they could operate as a team, while every other player was fighting on their own. They had tried and tested many tactics since starting the game, and they hade quite a few options that could suit them here. Of course, many of them relied on Riley. Azalea glanced around in all directions, but she saw no sign of the monk anywhere.
“Riley!” She shouted, casting a quick Contact spell. “We’re in the market, on the southern side! Come help us!”
“I’m almost there already,” came his reply. He sounded as if he were climbing something. “I shouldn’t be more than a minute or two.”
One player, noticing Oscar and Azalea nearby, broke away from the general melee and ran at them, his voice raised in a loud battlecry. He didn’t make it far before Oscar shot him, though. Unfortunately, this too was noticed by the mob, and two other players turned their focus on the duo, rushing forward. The man in the lead had a heavy shield on one arm and blocked Oscar’s next arrow. So there were still some guilds standing, she thought, seeing the other player ducking low under the one with the shield.
Azalea drew her spear out once again, hoping that Caius could survive a few seconds. With her left hand, she cast a quick agility buff on herself, then jumped to the side as the shield user jumped at her, his hammer smashing the cobbles where her feet had been a moment before. To her eyes, he was moving even more slowly now, though she knew that was just a side effect of her increased speed. With a C-Rank magic skill, she had a powerful buff.
The shield user stepped to the left to follow her, while his companion turned to face Oscar, who’d slung his bow over one shoulder and now approached with his daggers drawn. The man made a feinting attack, then swept his sword up in a high diagonal slash. Oscar ducked the blow easily and drove one of his knives into the man’s shoulder. The other slashed across his throat.
Azalea, holding the long spear with two hands, parried the shield user’s hammer, knocking it away from his body before thrusting. He managed to turn and block the attack with his shield, but she hadn’t put much effort into that attack in any event. Instead, she danced to the side, and jumped into the air, thrusting down at an angle. It was a move from ancient Greek times, Caius had told her, and it hit him square in the neck just over the protective bulk of his shield.
She stowed the spear away once more, and quickly searched out Caius in the crowd. He was easy to spot thanks to his blue armor. She replenished his buff, then shot a fireball a few meters to his left, knocking players there back a few feet. She didn’t kill them all, but she was sure they wouldn’t survive long in that mob.
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Caius was starting to back off now, keeping the attention of nearly half a dozen players. They followed him grimly, even after one of them was cut down from behind. Ganking and surprise attacks from behind still seemed to be the prevalent tactic of this battle, or else overwhelming a player with numbers. But Caius was uninjured, and even the players chasing him seemed uncertain. It wasn’t until they saw him backing away, apparently tired, that they grew bolder, and advanced.
Something dropped from a nearby rooftop, crashing into one of the back figures, right as he moved to backstab one of the people following Caius. Azalea noticed the dark blue robe at once and smiled. Riley rolled off the unfortunate player with superb grace, then spun around to smack him in the head. Two players immediately turned to attack him, and he parried one sword with his staff, then lashed out with a punch. An actual punch, Azalea thought in amazement. It smashed into the player’s unprotected face, knocking him back a few paces and stunning him.
Caius stopped retreating as soon as he saw Riley, stepping forward and flanking the other players. Despite his tough armor, he moved quickly, swinging his sword in a flat arc that cut one of the players down. Oscar shot down another, and Azalea hit the last one with a bolt of lightning, and he fell with a choked cry. They’d successfully stopped that advance. Then, disaster struck.
Caius, who was distracted by searching for opponents behind Riley, suddenly let out a cry of pain and lurched forward. Another player, escaping their notice until after they’d let their guard down, had stepped forward and swung a massive warhammer at Caius’ back. His armor - and Azalea’s buffs - had saved his life, but he was still thrown to the ground by the force of that attack.
Riley jumped forward at once, leaping over Caius’ body before the player with the warhammer could recover from his stroke. He peppered the man’s defense with blow after blow, but the enemy player parried the attacks well. He clearly knew how to fight, Azalea thought. He retaliated with a heavy kick to Riley’s gut, but the monk stepped aside, avoiding it. When the hammer came down again, he was too close to make it an effective attack, and punched the fighter inside one shoulder. It staggered and stunned him, and Caius, back on his feet, charged forward to thrust his sword into the man’s stomach. Except that it didn’t connect. Instead, it glanced off the armor, and he stumbled in the followthrough.
The heavily armored enemy player punched Caius with his gauntlet, sending the warrior rocking back a pace or two. He slammed the butt of his hammer into Riley’s gut next, stunning him. Azalea tried to take him down or at least slow him with a spell, but the magic just bounced off his armor with no visible sign of damage. Caius and Riley were both too weak to get out of the way of his next attack. They were dead, she knew.
Then, to her amazement, Oscar appeared from behind. The player seemed to sense him, and turned, but too late. Oscar jammed one knife into his shoulder, making quite a deep wound. The warrior tried to backhand Oscar to get him away, but the rogue was too fast. Pivoting neatly on one foot, he whipped around and buried the second knife into the man’s neck, striking in the gap between his helmet and breastplate.
“I told you agility was meta,” Oscar panted, reaching down to pick up his daggers from the pile of loot that had appeared. “And you told me it would be strength.”
“We don’t know just yet,” Caius replied, climbing back to his feet. He really did look weak. Azalea hit all four of them with another buff. It wasn’t as strong as if it had been focused only on Caius, but her friend still looked a little better. “Thanks, Azalea.”
“We’ll,” Oscar said, reaching down to pick up something that last player had dropped, “We’re still alive. And the fight’s still going on. Are we going to keep fighting, or have you come to your senses?”
“What do you think?” Riley said with a laugh. “If you think old Caius is going to pass up on a chance battle like this, you haven’t learned anything about him in the past two months.”
Even Azalea had to laugh at that. Caius shook his head slowly, a slight grin on his face. “No, we’re still going in. But now that we’re a full team, we’re all going in. Diamond formation, watch each other’s backs.”
Diamond formation. Caius at the lead, Azalea on his left side - his shield side. Riley would be at his right, where he could cover any gaps in the fighter’s defense, and Oscar would take the rear, dealing with external threats while also being able to support either Azalea or Riley if need be. In turn, they would support him when it was needed. It was one of Caius’ best tactics, where one of them could watch out for two friends. The only real weakness was ranged attacks, but that was hardly a problem in a massive melee fight like this.
“What are we waiting for?” Riley said, taking up his position and grinning over his shoulder at Azalea. “Time to make the biscuits.”
And so, without another word between them, they charged at the mob of fighting players, striking the loose, unorganized crowd like a hot knife through butter. In an instant, they were surrounded, but none of the attacks could take them down, alert and united as they were. Caius led the charge, shouting instructions, and they plunged into the chaos, fighting as hard as they could.