Chapter 09
Fast Domino
FlowerLord was utterly surprised when she saw two masked people appeared out of nowhere and attacked her. Since she’s been using her Dark Spear fighting off two S-ranked players from the Sylphs, the fatigue that befell on her body also became doubled.
Not to mention her manna and stamina have been depleted due to usage of her abilities.
Thankfully, it was a three way fight and the two men from the Masked Organization faced one on each after they arrived.
“What are you doing here?” She gnarled at the man in front of her. “Answer me!”
But the masked man, with his whole face basked in a mask that was a depiction of a murderer, kept silent as he raised his hand.
In an instant, three fire balls appeared around him and it all flew straight towards her direction.
“Multiple talisman?!”
The fireballs the size of basketball was as fast as a baseball hit by a major league batter. It was so fast that it was impossible for her reflexes to dodge it.
So in turn, she crossed her arms and the Dark Spear changed its form to flat disks and met the attack.
An explosion occurred and she was thrown a few meters away. But as she raised her head, the masked man was already upon her, ready to poise an attack to her throat with a short metallic sword.
“Your dark matter is mine!”
The gruff voice was obviously a result of the mask covering the face but the attack from the short sword is a simple but very deadly and effective attack. So she leaned her head to the side as she stepped back, pouring her best effort to keep her distance away.
The short sword reached her hair, cut a few strands, but the following kick of the man was as quick as his attack and she had no choice but to be blown again for the second time.
She regained her balance and used the now normal Ceres and raised her head to glare at the enemy. “Damn it! Why the hell are you here you shameless bastards?”
“Why else?” The masked man jeered. “This is our harvest moon.”
The man pointed a finger upwards and she saw two battleships on their bombardment against the warships on the TGG and Sylph’s. But what actually the man was pointing at was the moon and anger sprouted at her chest as she lowered her gaze back.
“You’re meddling in my job you know.”
“I know.” The man chuckled and his shoulders shrug on every laugh as his left hand covered his face. “And I intend to do more than that.”
The man raised his hand on elbow level again as if to fist pump and clenched it hard, crushing air. Then three fireballs bid the same terrifying attack speed almost in the same moment that they appeared.
Though it was just a Tier-1 magic spell, Burn; three of them at the same + the speed of summoning + the increase in damage and the increase in its attack speed, everything that was abnormal here can only be imputed to the advanced level accessories in this man’s arsenal.
It was a frightening thought.
Any level of magic, when boosted by an accessory that’s even at the basic level such as 1% increased damage, could spell danger on every enemy that that Mage opposes.
It’s because even if talismans are very hard to create items, they have huge benefits that actually eases out all the hardship one has to go through to create it. An accessory which boosts one’s attributes with pluses is an amplifier of those magical abilities.
The system was designed that every starting player has 100 points on all of his basic stats:
STR:100INT:100
AGI:100VIT:100
STA:100MNA:100
DEX:100CHR:100
SPR:0LUK:0 (0%)
There is also the 100 free stat points to be given to every starting player to enhance their basic stats. From how they use the 100 free stat points to distribute to their stats is what makes the difference and actually separates hybrid players to specialized users.
Stat structure can be seen in a spiral cloud, with STR at the top, going clockwise, followed by AGI, STA, DEX, INT, VIT, MNA, and CHR, like eight rays of sun and a corona of rainbow colored sphere in the middle with the word Spirit (SPR) written in a clear but transparent font. But on every character window, there is only the eight basic stat points, along with avatar’s name, current active quest (or mission), additional (if there is any) attributes, the three randomly accessed equipment settings, the currently equipped items, and the achievement window which appears as an external window behind the Character Information Window.
Player abilities differ from how they managed their point distribution and a player can’t leave their starting city unless he’d fully distributed those free stat points.
It was set so that players will learn the importance of planning, at least that’s how they were interpreted.
After the distribution, that’s actually how they will get their Initial Ability that they will carry on until their avatar reached the advanced level. There, they can alter the initial ability by means of advanced level talismans and accessories so the so called “development” that a video game should have can be justified.
This is telling on the Mage’s side.
Swordsmen often uses these accessories to magnify the effect of their abilities, which is usually inclined to physical augmentations like instantaneous movements, improved defense, increase in stats, or enhanced attack power and damage output.
In her case, she was one of the Unique Players.
Initially, she was an archer, but then she immediately switched into becoming a Swordmage and enjoyed the Special ability, Strike, that allows any attack that was initiated by her hands to cause substantial damage.
It was an ability from the 70% DEX stat distribution.
She doesn’t have the normal stats of normal players, or, if she had to put it in words, her avatar is special.
Her DEX stat is in its advanced form, CON, which only few users knew of. And FlowerLord who had her DEX transformed into CON (Constitution) knew that her opponent from the masked organization is also a player from the “unique” class.
Any wrong move from either of them could instantly spell doom.
She knew this principle and had proven how big its difference was from her experiences.
Therefore, the rapid summoning, meteoric velocity, improved damage output, and the massive size of the enemy’s ability could be traced as a product of such advanced stats and improvements, with the addition of advanced accessories.
She instinctively knew that so such threat, though a threat of an alien was still greater, made her shiver and her arms instinctively moved to protect herself.
The Ceres on its normal S-ranked weapon mode got the full impact and with it, FlowerLord got pushed off again towards a crowd of Sylph players.
“Shit!”
The alliance indicator above her head was red to the eyes of the Sylphs, and thus, they automatically saw her as an enemy and poised to attack, not waiting for her to stand up and regain her footing.
But as soon as she was about to be subjected to their assault, the masked man appeared again with his short blade and from up above them, his image appeared in a stabbing position. The Sylphs looked up as they saw where her eyes were looking and FlorwerLord used this chance to use up all of her manna to initiate a last-ditch attempt and summon the Dark Spear.
While still lying down, she raised her right hand to the masked man and above his head materialized a dark spear, darker than the night, emitting a repulsive aura.
A few inches to her head, the masked man’s short sword froze with her eyes looking at the blade. The man stopped moving, the life that was seen on his eyes vanished and the Sylph warriors all took their distances away. And while she lied there for the next moments, no attack came since the players were frightened by the sight of the Dark Spear.
The Dark Spear was stabbed on the masked man’s throat, all the way through to that small space on the FlowerLord’s left armpit.
“S-Safe…” She sighed in relief with a silent laugh.
The masked man’s body fell down on top of her as the Dark Spear ate up all of her remaining manna and reverted back to the Ceres on her right hand. She then pushed aside the lifeless body and took a bluish gem on her Quick Item Pocket.
Ignoring the information window that popped out on her vision telling her of the loot she got by defeating the S-ranked assassin from the Masked Org., she tried to steady herself as she kept the Ceres’s feel on her hand as firm and as soothing as before.
Her antagonists all looked at her with scared faces as they waited for her to crush the bluish gem on her hand.
In her vision, the [MP: 0] indicator became [MP:1] as the bluish gas escaped from the crushed gem. She then took another item on her QIP on her left waist and this time it was a bluish liquid inside a clear crystal vial with intricate designs.
She drank the liquid and threw the vial and her MP count became 51 which was enough for a one minute bout with the Dark Spear. And the latter appeared on her left with a single thought command.
“Ah, you should’ve attacked me when you had the chance, you know.”
The scared men, low level frontline players, all took out and raised their weapons as they tremble and brace themselves for a collision. But then another group of masked men appeared on their left and those men was obviously aiming for her this time.
But instead of frowning, she smiled instead.
“You got me off guard earlier.” She murmured and the Dark Spear split up into ten thin dark mini spears as she took out another manna potion from her QIP and drink it. “But this time, I’ll be the attacker.”
A light came from somewhere but she started to run, completely ignoring it. It’s a sin, after all, to ever take your eyes out from your opponent during a fight. Most especially during a war. Soon after, someone’s voice cried out:
“FOR PEACE AND FREEDOM!!!”
The loud cry echoed from behind her and everyone who heard it, maybe at the nearest one kilometer of the battlefield, may have froze for a moment to check it out as a bright light came along with it. Then the bellowing of a unified roar came next that reminded everyone of an S-ranked monster ready for the snack who came to challenge their territory.
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The light that exploded like a supernova vanished and she returned her gaze to the masked people up front rushing towards her.
Some of them continued to attack her, some stopped and changed targets.
All those she noticed targeting players with MODs never bade attention to the scream and only showed a sense of professionalism to their known image.
The Masked Organization, a group that knows no bounds and shame when it comes to MOD hunts, was so obviously targeting the players with the MODs.
One after another, they came at those players with murderous intentions, attacking in groups, but actually lacked teamwork. She wasn’t an exception. Or more like, she had the greatest problems compared to the others since her Dark Spear was an obvious sight.
Gamer knowledge, she instinctively knew that these users have been watching them and marking their target ever since the war began. This ambush was one proof of their hideous aim. It was this image of them that actually forced the MOD wielders to keep themselves a secret to everyone else and would actually only use their MODs on dangerous times. And thus, it wasn’t hard to imagine that they waited at the right time when the MOD wielders are pushed to the limits so that they can be marked and attacked.
A simple but very effective trap.
Because if a player used his MOD, or the equipment that had the MOD, the Aura of Category that indicated their class will announce what kind of MOD they have.
Green for Rare MODs.
Blue for Special MODs.
The colors for Legendary and Unique MODs haven’t been publicized and so no one knew until maybe a player emerge with one.
Putting that aside, in place of MODs, the Black Balls that gives the ability for players to upgrade their S-rank weapons into Dark Weapons can also be dropped when the owner dies. It doesn’t base on LUK, but Black Balls will detach itself from the weapon as soon as the owner of the weapon dies.
But aside from that, everything else in her inventory and equipment slots are all items that’s also subject to being looted.
LUK is acquired from the stat with the highest stat distribution points, meaning, FlowerLord’s LUK will be acquired from her DEX (now CON) which has 70% distribution. The system would take half of the total number of that stat and converts LUK from half of it. That said, her CON is currently 170. Half of it is 85. And half of 85 is 42.5 with an approximate conversion to LUK as 10.5%. According to this, for every player she kills, she has a 3.4% chance to get better items from her victim.
But those loots are subject to standards as well. The players that have already lost to FlowerLord were all mostly a rank or two lower than her. They were from B-rank up to S-rank.
Defeating S-rank players, the same as her, will give her 3.4% chance of looting the best item on one of each of their target’s equipment, talismans, weapons, accessories, and 20 random inventory items. It is like a roulette spin where her winning chance is 3.4%. But on a rank lower than her, her chance goes up by 5%. Two ranks below her, it increases by 15%. On the third, it increases by 25% and so on…
But then, in the case of those players who defeated a player whose rank are higher than theirs, though their hunter rank won’t increase, but whatever their LUK percentage is, it will increase by 15% on a rank higher than theirs. Two ranks higher than their own will gain a climb of 30% chance to loot better equipment from the defeated player, and three ranks higher than their own, a climb of 45% additional chance to loot the enemy’s equipment will be given.
It was made so since it was practically very hard to do such a feat, though not really impossible. And for such, there are still a few exceptions.
The fact that the enemies that are coming towards FlowerLord right now are weaker opponents, means that these players aren’t novices. Their equipments and gears may seem to tell her so but just like the last opponent, they may hide some incredible skills and abilities in their sleeves.
But what’s also surprising is the fact that they are all experienced fighting off players. Their reactions are not dull unlike the war participants, more like, they were all polished as if they only fought players all these time and haven’t really been hunting monsters to get better resources and items to be stronger.
Weird.
She thought as she dodged and took a distance from six attackers. Behind FlowerLord was the battling TGG and Sylphs and in front of her was the six people who had masks with a single theme of a smiling murderer.
“Drop the weapon down…” Hissed the one looking the strongest right at the middle. “We won’t torture you if you follow. Hehehe…”
“Hehehe…that’s right, you will only die instantly.”
“Come on now…”
“Just give us the Dark Spear…”
The people on their group spoke with a mocking hiss one by one. They raised their light weapons in a teasing manner and seemed as if to purposely threaten her.
FlowerLord’s eyes moved on the upper left corner of her vision and an MP countdown indicator displayed the remaining time she can use the summoned the Dark Spear. She pursed her lips as the two numbers dwindle and she glared towards the enemies as spikes of small Dark Spears floated around her.
The black colored spears launched as arrows and the two elements in front of the six shielded the other four behind them. They used a normal shield to block the attack but what surprised her was the fact that they’re alright as if nothing happened.
Not even a scratch on their shields.
“Perhaps Dark Spears aren’t that scary after all.”
“Is it a mistake that we are targeting this one?”
The two talked with each other as FlowerLord felt the mocking grins behind those masks. She gritted her teeth and balled her fist. She took a potion from her QIP, drank the contents, and then started to cast magic.
She needed only 5 seconds to cast Ice Path and as a distraction, while casting, she lunged headlong that which two masked men from the back took the bait.
The two were obviously enjoying it as she could clearly hear the chuckles behind their masks. The one coming from the left was an Archer and the other was a Swordmage as the two activated a skill that matched a rare projectile ability.
An arrow from the Archer became four while the other’s swung sword created a ripple in the air and started to come at her like a bladed wind.
FlowerLord used her right hand to use Ceres’s Tech Ability, the Firewall, and both attacks were instantly erased. And then, she waved her left hand in a side arc and a wall of ice ate up the falling players from mid air.
There weren’t even screams coming form them nor their allies as if they were just like bait for the big fish to arrive.
But she didn’t waste time and switched her weapon to the Perseus Bow and started sniping them down with quick powerful arrows. She did not put any tech ability on the bow, like any other experienced archers would, as it will hinder the string’s maximum durability and the bow’s own stability. Instead, what she used to finish them off was her Initial Ability from the special ability list, Strike, aimed at their heads to maximum damage output.
The ice kept the two frozen and the two arrows that cost her 30 manna did a critical hit and brought the two masked enemies into their demise.
But she wasn’t finished yet. Immediately switching back to Ceres, she used the Dark Spear on its pure form and held it on her hands. She felt the cold metallic chill of it as the spear that looked like just a lump of pure energy forming a black colored two bladed spear made her skin tense. She had only once heard all the stories about Dark Spears but she now is experiencing what they called the “repulsive aura” that was coming from its blades.
She poised to throw the spear towards the direction of the other four as the ice wall had a ten second time limit before melting down. As the limit approached, she timed the throw and at the moment it became water and fell to the ground, the spear pierced through and stabbed the leader of the masked group.
Now there was a scream of pain as the leader of the group got pierced with the repulsive weapon on his chest. The weapon’s blackness spread like a plague that crept from his chest to his body and finally devouring all of him until he became a dark statue.
“W-What…”
“Shit!”
“Dark Tech ability!”
“I’ll kill you!”
FlowerLord did not wasted time as her own time on using the Dark Spear was slowly diminishing.
She ran all the way and cut the 40 meters distance, did a long jump, summoned back the sword when she got close to it by 10 meters and modified its form to a very long sword and sliced another player half from his head.
The other players had caught their bearing, screamed in anger, and began to use their abilities to attack. One summoned two fireballs, Burn, but not as fast as the first one. One used the same arrow clone ability of the dead frozen archer, and the last one used Manna Blade, a Tier-2 melee-class magic spell.
The Manna Blade wielder attacked first using zigzag moves, jumping from an inclined rock, down to her direction, while the archer fired her arrows along with the same timing as the Mage.
Four arrows were, of course, faster and FlowerLord used the Dark Spear to shield herself away. The arrows hit and bounced but the explosion created by the Burn magic spell upon contact pushed her a few feet back that gave the B-ranked Manna Blader the opening to attack. She stepped aside and turned, but the masked man seemed to already know what she’s gonna do as he just twisted his body, switching the sword to his right hand and delivered a bone shattering massive slash.
The force of the attack pushed her back but as her experience had taught her, she slightly jumped back as a last resort while using the Dark Shield form of the spear to receive the attack.
Again, fire balls entered her vision while she kept her guard up for the incoming arrows.
As I thought.
She mumbled bitterly.
“You guys aren’t monster hunters.” She spoke as the attacks were blocked then lowered her shield to meet the enemies. “You’re just cold blooded man hunters!”