CHAPTER XIX: FIRST HUMANS_The Great Game: A Prime Legacy Story

CHAPTER XIX: FIRST HUMANS

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{10:30 LOCAL TIME 1TH JULY 1ME}

UNCOMMON PERIOD

MORTAL REALM

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LONG BEACH

PRIME

Clyde and Soto walked together between a six-trooper team. Corporal Buzbee was the leader of the patrol teams of the Fort, so it was good to get him out first. He was a cavalry scout in the Army prior to the Breaking, and he was a Duster, so he became a Dust junkie like a lot of the homeless veterans afterward.

A lot of soldiers were exposed to Dust either in combat or withdrawal rampages in close proximity. Buzbee was the latter. His fifteen years of experience was the reason he had gotten the job. He also had two scouting Skill trees. One that allowed him to update the tactical table with anything he and his party had seen, and the other was bug tamer Trade skill, which, combined with a tamer Skill-tree, made him a literal fly on the wall of the entire AOI of the fort.

Buzbee’s team was veteran-heavy. All were former scouts and volunteered to be his teammates. The whole team was dressed in forest green BDUs. They had found item upgrade tokens in some of the Dungeon and beast kills, the Colonel had quite a few as well in his soul storage from his endeavors. These tokens restored the mundane old uniforms to common items. They didn’t get any special properties yet, but they did make seeing them in the forest environment much tougher. A few NPC had gotten tailor trade skills and were working franticly to repair and create uniforms for everyone in the fort.

Clyde mentally had his uniform look like Buzbee’s team. He also changed his interface to readable with his title effect.

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< RETIRED WAR VETERAN >

{TITLE EFFECT: Your interface can be unreadable by peak diamond skills, items, or abilities. The player can project to anyone who tries to scan them whatever they want their information to read to anyone who can’t identify the player level-wise.

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He made it project that he was a level 23 Warlord, while Soto went with his Noble Class Level 19. After they had talked about Dre for a few minutes, they decided it would be better to move out instead of reminiscing at the moment. Dungeon sickness was going to be a problem with their people soon, and they needed allies and answers before they were down for the count.

Soto had chosen to put on an uncommon camouflaged cloak over his black noble set piece. He also wore a black Yankee fitted. His battle buddy had saved a special upgrade token for Soto’s old friend.

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< RANDOM HAT UPGRADE TOKEN(LEGENDARY) >

{A token that randomly upgrades a hat from Rare to Legendary}

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{Item name: Soto’s Fitted.

Item tier: Rare(Growth)

Item description: A dear friend doesn’t have to be a living, breathing being. Anything that brings you comfort can be your friend. May that be a teddy bear, a good book, or a sunny beach, friends can be hard to find, but when you find one, you will grow together. This 30-year-old Yankee Fitted has been your long-time friend, and everyone deserves a long-time friend.

Soul bound to CSM Soto.

ITEM EFFECT: All Dark and Shadow mana-based attacks cool down Moderately faster.

RARE ITEM MOD: +30 to Dexterity times tier, +10% bonus to Dexterity and Intelligence stats.

< GROWTH CONDITIONS >

{UNKNOWN, Tier up twice for more information.}

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When he used the token just after they left the fort, Soto was a little disappointed, but then he understood that it was going to grow directly with him. There wasn’t a way to feed it EXP, so that meant as he leveled, his fitted would, too. Well, at least he hoped so.

Speaking of levels, Soto decided to use his free EXP to level both his Classes to 19 in preparation for meeting their first humans. He would have specialized, but he had used up a lot of his Free EXP leveling his Scout Spec to Max, so he decided he could wait until they completed the final Dungeon quest, and they believed that they were going to do that once they linked up with civilization. The sheer amount of stats he got was nothing to sneeze at, he double-dipped with his titles giving Stats per class level, and he was pretty sure his stats would outpace anyone at his Tier easily according you the knowledge he was getting.

They had been walking for an hour when they looked at the Horde prompt.

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< UNCOMMON BEAST HORDE >

{WAVES COMPLETE 3/5

Time until next wave 1H:29M:16s}

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They had moved quickly at first. As they got further away from the fort, they became more cautious. Their enhanced stats were negated somewhat by the growth of the world since they left. Just by looking at his map, Clyde could see the gray-out areas he had been to pre-breaking, the black areas where he hadn’t been to, and the new growth of the world. The latter was most of his map of Gaia. It seemed like the new growth was much more prevalent in the less populated areas of the globe.

They discussed briefly about crossing that bridge later and that was when they heard the fighting. It sounded like sword on sword, not sword on claw. Buzbee stopped the scouting party. He looked at the Colonel for more guidance. They really didn’t know what to think when they met their first humans, but they didn’t expect them to be fighting each other during a horde scenario.

[Stand by, Sergeant Major, you are up. Over,] The Raid leader said in the party chat. They were out of range of the fort, but the party chat still worked. The Colonel had to start another Raid party when they left since the old one was disbanded.

[Copy that moving out, over,] Soto replied and stepped into a shadow several meters in front of them.

Clyde led the scouting party to the cover of a cop of trees. He had a ton of Raid points to spend, and he had already brought so many movement Raid Perks for the party. As Soto scouted ahead, he looked at the Raid points page.

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< RAID PARTY STORE >

{Welcome back to the Raid Party Store Legacy. As it is your second time here, would you like another quick overview?

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“Yes.” The Forger said.

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When a Player leads a party of 6 or more non-teammates, they gain access to the Raid Party store. The player can then use their earned Raid points to purchase Raid Perks. The Perks available for purchase vary wildly with each Raid boss, but because of your Legacy title, you can buy any Perks you have encountered and even unique ones.

Be advised not all Perks are compatible with human parties. Raid points are earned by winning battles with raid party members surviving. Each player in your party at the end of the engagement will be used to calculate your earned Raid points.

1) All Perk purchases will go into effect immediately.

2) All Perk costs are reduced.}

< Perk Cost Breakdown >

{After the first purchase in any category, the next rank would be doubled.

Offensive Perk: 10 Perk points for Rank 1.

Defensive Perk: 1 Perk point for Rank 1.

Utility Perk: 1-5 Perk point for Rank 1.}

Raid points available: 28,210,000

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He had already purchased the first level of stealth and movement speed, one offensive, and one utility. The next upgrades were double the cost, but the other Perks were still at the base cost; he was afraid it was going to be really expensive. Not that it mattered. He had accumulated more Raid points than he may ever need on his trial. So, using 15 points to see how the Perks worked was worth it. A 5% flat increase in stealth and movement speed may seem like a small amount, but that could be the difference between living and dying in a fight though.

Soto step through shadows for about three hundred meters through thick trees, and appeared right within the tree-line of a fight.

[Two men in heavy armor with long pike-like weapons are fighting against three women with short swords. Two more mage types, and two ranger type standing by but don’t even have their bows out, they do have some type of collar in their hands, Over.] He relayed what he saw through party chat.

[What color are the collars?] The Colonel asked after a few seconds.

They look like rusted iron manacles, and Soto relayed that.

[They are toying with them. I wish I could identify them.] Soto said in the party chat.

Clyde turned to Buzbee. “Stay here. I will head up to the Sergeant Major. Stay frosty.” The Colonel jumped to the top of the bottom branch of the tree next to them and landed on it easily. The branch didn’t even rustle a little. Then he jumped at a speed that none of Buzbee’s team could follow. The branch cracked a few seconds later from the share force, not even a 5% increase in Stealth could cover up physics being broken.

[On my way.] Clyde said.

Soto didn’t have to wait long, he looked up just as Colonel landed softly on the branch above him, but instead of standing on top of the branch. His best friend was standing under the branch like he was some type of ninja or something. “Yo, that is my thing sir.” He said as the Colonel walked down the tree like every surface was the floor for him. Which as a peak Copper Cultivator it was.

“Let's see what we got here.” Clyde Analyzed them all, and Soto got the auto-share.

First, he looked at the attackers.

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< ANALYZE >

{PLAYER NAME: Travis

LEVEL: 44

CASTE: Commoner(Classer) CLASS: Junior Knight Warrior RACE: Human

POOLS:

HP 16900/16900 regen 850HP per hour

MP 940/940 regen 650MP per hour

DR:238/240

AR:150/150

Highest ATTRIBUTES:

Physical; Strength

Mental; Charisma

EFFECTS: Gleeful}

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< ANALYZE >

{PLAYER NAME: Remy

LEVEL: 43

CASTE: Commoner(Classer) CLASS: Junior Knight Warrior RACE: Human

POOLS:

HP 17500/17500 regen 850HP per hour

MP 830/830 regen 595MP per hour

DR:239/240

AR:150/150

Highest ATTRIBUTES:

Physical; Constitution

Mental; Charisma

EFFECTS: Bored}

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< ANALYZE >

{PLAYER NAME: Mitchell

LEVEL: 41

CASTE: Commoner(Classer) CLASS: Junior Knight Ranger RACE: Human

POOLS:

HP 11680/11680 regen 750HP per hour

MP 800/800 regen 650MP per hour

DR:120/120

AR:75/75

Highest ATTRIBUTES:

Physical; Dexterity

Mental; LUCK

EFFECTS: Bored}

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< ANALYZE >

{PLAYER NAME: Rachel

LEVEL: 40

CASTE: Commoner(Classer) CLASS: Junior Knight Ranger RACE: Human

POOLS:

HP 11290/11290 regen 720HP per hour

MP 710/710 regen 610MP per hour

DR:120/120

AR:75/75

Highest ATTRIBUTES:

Physical; Dexterity

Mental; LUCK

EFFECTS: Confused}

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< ANALYZE >

{PLAYER NAME: David

LEVEL: 43

CASTE: Commoner(Classer) CLASS: Junior Knight Mage RACE: Human

POOLS:

HP 6000/6000 regen 950HP per hour

MP 1200/1200 regen 1450MP per hour

DR:55/55

AR:300/300(Mana Shield)

Highest ATTRIBUTES:

Physical; Constitution

Mental; Intelligence

EFFECTS: Bored}

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< ANALYZE >

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

{PLAYER NAME: Elle

LEVEL: 49

CASTE: Commoner(Classer) CLASS: Junior Knight Cleric RACE: Human

POOLS:

HP 7500/7500 regen 1150HP per hour

MP 1270/1270 regen 1700MP per hour

DR:65/65

AR:190/190(Mana Shield)

Highest ATTRIBUTES:

Physical; Dexterity

Mental; Intelligence

EFFECTS: Bored}

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Their effects made Clyde’s blood boiled, but he calmed himself, they would pay one way or the other in a few more minutes. All of the knights were dressed in their class-specific armor. Heavy armor for the Warriors, Medium armor for the Rangers, and Cloth armor for the casters. They were fighting on a somewhat well-maintained road next to the thick cop of trees that was an extension of the newly grown forest. Colonel and Soto observed them for a few more seconds.

The three people they were fighting against were contemplating making a run for it but knew that time had already passed, and the woods with the beast horde going on may be worse. Then they looked at the knight rangers and their slave collars and thought about running again. The fact that one was bleeding and couldn’t move was probably the only reason they hadn’t left.

Clyde’s heart rate started to rise again. He Analyzed the three victims.

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< ANALYZE >

{PLAYER NAME: Alanna

LEVEL: 37

CASTE: Commoner PROFESSION: Mail Courier RACE: Human

POOLS:

HP 238/1900 regen 290HP per hour

MP 39/300 regen 270MP per hour

DR:0/10

Highest ATTRIBUTES:

Physical; Dexterity

Mental; LUCK

EFFECTS: Fear}

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< ANALYZE >

{PLAYER NAME: Julia

LEVEL: 35

CASTE: Commoner PROFESSION: Messenger RACE: Human

POOLS:

HP 238/1750 regen 270HP per hour

MP 31/300 regen 290MP per hour

DR:0/10

Highest ATTRIBUTES:

Physical; Dexterity

Mental; LUCK

EFFECTS: Terror}

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< ANALYZE >

{PLAYER NAME: Corporal Valia Smith

LEVEL: 39

CASTE: Commoner PROFESSION: Personnel Trainer RACE: Human

POOLS:

HP 190/3200 regen 490HP per hour

MP 39/300 regen 270MP per hour

DR:0/10

Highest ATTRIBUTES:

Physical; Dexterity

Mental; Charisma

EFFECTS: Terror, Bleeding}

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Three short women with short swords. They were no match for the Warriors, let alone the whole team. Their HP level told a story of a losing battle. Valia was a curly blond, olive-skinned Greek woman who was so beautiful that Clyde had to do a double take. She was in a bad way, yet she looked like a model getting ready for a photo shoot. Just as he watched, 3 HP dropped off of her. They were short on time if they wanted to save them all.

[All of them are professionals.] Soto said in Party chat, looking at the fighting.

[The ones we’re are going to save, yes.] Colonel verified, he scanned the area looking for anyone else.

[You can only use your Trade skills, right?] Soto asked the Colonel, knowing the answer, but he knew he had to focus on his leader in times like these. The scene in front of them was not new to them, they had seen slavery many times in their fights with the JTF, and the Army before that.

[Roger that. I am guessing Stronghold structures and wall forging aren’t going to do much here.]

[Siege weapons, then.]

[Yeah]

Soto looked at the one-sided fight again. He looked at his Skill tree, which had just leveled up.

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{SKILL NAME: Grand Shadow Manipulation Proficiency

(Passive/Active)

SKILL LEVEL: Novice 1

DESCRIPTION: The Dark Noble can use the shadows as his ally. As this Skill Tiers up, the more access to more shadow-related effects.

SKILL EFFECT:

See shadows and gain stealth when in shadows. Enhance the shadows while in stealth. Attacks from stealth do double damage on top of all other damage. Any attacks, outgoing or incoming, will break the stealth. Effect scales with Intelligence.

STUDENT EFFECT:

Shadow Step; The player can step into any shadow other than his own and emerge from shadow within a certain distance from original shadow as long as their is a connecting shadow.

Cast time: Instant. Cost: 25MP each additional step doubles the cost. Range: 10 meters. Cool Down: None.

NOVICE EFFECT:

Shadow Dome: The player can create a dome of shadow around himself that he and his Allies can see in, but it impairs the perception of all others.

Cast time: Instant. Cost: 50MP. Range: Self. AOE: 10 meters per tier of skill. Duration: 15 seconds. Cool Down: 30 seconds.

Blinding effect scales with Charisma.}

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[I can step into the knight’s shadows and drop dome on myself. If we are lucky, it will cover the rangers and caster, too.] Soto had learned that his shadow step wouldn’t work on the shadow of players with active shields up, like casters. But he didn’t need their shadow to get close to them.

They were afraid that the warriors would kill the professionals if he went to the rangers and casters first anyway. Saving their lives was their priority over killing the knights. That didn’t mean that the knights would make it out of this engagement.

[Either way, the only siege weapons I can think of helping us are a ballista or Scorpion.]

[How confident are you in punching through the shields with your Siege weapons? You know DR on humans are different from DR on beast and monsters?] Soto was still figuring out his Noble knowledge now that he was in the real world it kept being updated as he leveled it up.

[Not confident at all. That is why I am leaning towards the ballista. That big boy should, at the very least, destroy one of their shields, and you can step in his shadow then, and I can shoot my second shot at the knights before they can attack the Professionals again.]

[Buzbee, move up to us. Over. I’ll ping your map] Soto ordered in party chat.

[Already on the move Prime 4. Over] Buzbee replied.

[Good shit 4 out.]

[We should make as many as we can, we have the numbers may as well use it.] Soto said is team chat.

[Agreed.] Clyde replied then his Perception pinged him that something was off. He activated his Presence as soon as he felt the world start to slow down.

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< ABILITY LEVEL UP >

{Ability NAME: Legacy Perception(PASSIVE/TOGGLE/TRIGGERED)

Ability Level: Journeyman 9

The ability to see the legacy’s surroundings like never before. This perception allows the Legacy to know where all the pieces on the game board are as long as he has observed a similar type of enemy, ally, and neutral party. This Perception can be toggled on to see things he couldn’t see such as skills being used as well as a plethora of other applications.

STUDENT EFFECT: Instinctually feel the flow of battle beyond what the legacy can see with his eyes alone, synergizing all bonuses, skills, and senses and quantifying it in his HUD. Range: 40 meters per level of ability(400 meters in the Sky Realm, 40,000 miles in the Heavenly Realm.)

NOVICE EFFECT: Slows time when the ability triggers. Time continues to slow to a crawl while Active Presence is toggled on.

Cost: 100 Mana per second

APPRENTICE EFFECT: You can look forward in time and see how your current actions will play out. (Be advised if you change one action the future could change as well.) Information can be shared with Teammates within 100 meters per Ability Level.

Cost 300MP. Cool down: 1 common period. (4D:8H:43m)}

JOURNEYMAN EFFECT: All information gained from the ability is instantly implanted into your mind, and HUD, and the player will have a near-perfect memory of the surroundings during the engagement. All allies benefit from the knowledge of the Student Effect and your Presence has a Major chance to lower the perception of the hostiles within your Perception range.}

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The whole battlefield snapped into place in the Colonel’s mind. Soto got a portion of the perception, and he adjusted the plan as well.

[Buzbee stand down. Stay back for now. Something is hiding out here. How copy over?] Soto said in party chat.

[Good copy standing down going to retreat a few hundred meters over.] Buzbee immediately responded.

[Good idea, be ready. 4 out.]

Clyde didn’t have his most powerful Effect available, but that didn’t prevent him from feeling something was very off about this whole area. But they had to act because the ‘fight’ was winding down.

“You have 90 seconds to subdue them, or we are killing the pretty one, Travis.” Elle, the healer, said. “I know you like your blondes.

Soto and Clyde made eye contact and went to work.

Soto used a shadow dome to cover them, and the Colonel made a ballista that took 14 seconds to make, it was uncommon. He started to make a Scorpion, just as Soto’s cool-down on his dome was reset. But a scream changed that.

Travis swung his sword down on Maria the dark hair, dark skin Panamanian woman. Her sword was finally lost, as it clang to the ground. His next swing of the sword would kill her. Soto just acted, he stepped into a shadow.

For Clyde time slowed even more, he stopped his forging of the Scorpion and manned the ballista. He looked over the battlefield. Soto was slowly stepping out of the knight’s shadow to intercept Travis’ blow, Soto’s big brown eyes were sharp and determined as he dual wielded his bladed arrow with precision. The rest of the six-man team started to turn to Clyde’s location just as he read a couple of prompts that made him smile.

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< ANALYZE >

{Weapon Name: Ballista

Weapon Type: Defensive siege system

Weapon Rank:(UNCOMMON)

Weapon Durability:1930

Description: A Ballista is a medieval missile launcher designed to hurl javelins or exploding projectiles. They are magically powered by torsion derived from two thick skeins of twisted cords, which were thrust two separate arms joined at their ends by the cord that propelled the missile forward.

Weapon Damage: 250 damage plus Dexterity stat of operator for a single target, 150 damage plus Dexterity of operator over an area. Mana Cost: 25 Mana per missile fired. Range: 500 meters. AOE: 15 meters. Cool Down: 10 seconds.

Manned By: Colonel Jacob}

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His hands were tightly wrapped around the trigger mechanism as he read the second prompt.

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< CHOOSE DAMAGE TYPE >

{Ballista has two damage types: Armor piercing for single big targets and walls or Explosive for anti-personnel.

Choose one:

AP or Explosive.}

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Colonel mentally went with armor piercing because he needed to be able to punch through the shields of the mage and didn’t feel like the anti-personnel missile would do the job.

He was wrong.

Ballistas were, first and foremost, siege weapons made to punch through reinforced brick and mortar walls, which were tougher than your average mage shield.

The missile formed and left the ballista shortly after the forger’s choice of damage type. It was a long spiked projectile with a very pronounced missile head, the entire missile was about a good six feet long. The missile leaped off the ballista and was in flight just as time started to travel at normal speed again. The sound of Travis and Soto’s blades clashing covered the sound of the missile.

The other five members of the knight team look on, confused, as a figure in all black with a black baseball cap on backward emerges from a shadow to block the bigger knight’s sword blow. Their confusion got even worse when the missile from the ballista not only punched through the mage shield of the Healer/leader. It plunged into the healer with such force that it took her off of her feet and through the other caster’s mage shield and into him. The projectile still had enough momentum to carry the two now dead dead casters into a thick red bark and red leaf tree leaving them hanging like a note on a fridge.

Clyde turned his ballista on the heavily armored warriors before the casters had even been hit. Soto had gotten the attention of both warriors as he took the pressure off of the professionals. The archers were just beginning to react when a loud crunching sound distracted one of them. The other was in the process of nocking an arrow and activating a spell aimed at Soto.

The dark Scout dropped a dome of darkness on himself, and the ranger’s shot flew into the darkness. The distracted archer was turning back to the fight just as Soto stepped out of his shadow, blades ready to strike.

CRUNCH

The sound filled the clearing by the road just as Clyde fired his second shot, impaling one of the Warriors stuck in the dome of darkness. The knight was blasted out of the dome and into another red bark tree on the other side of the dome. The warrior screamed more in anger than in pain. His large hit-point pool and class passives gave him a ton of survivability.

Soto plunged his bladed arrow into the neck of the unsuspecting ranger just as the knight pinned to the tree started to scream in terror. Arterial blood sprayed from the ranger’s neck, but he used a spell to escape. His body turned to water for a second, and he rolled away. Soto could see that the wound would have been fatal in the old world, but in this world of magic, the ranger could be back in the fight in an...

CRUNCH

Screams of terror turned into screams of desperation.

Almost at the same time, all of the people on the old Ocean Blvd clearing faced the sound of the screaming knight. What they all saw changed their minds on what a monster was. The tree was eating the knight alive.

CRUNCH

“OH GAIA PLEASE HELP ME PLEASE!” The knight screamed as his high constitution was just keeping him alive longer than it should be possible, not that it mattered. The vertical mouth chomped and chewed the knight through armor and flesh easily.

A black arrow punched through the knight’s face, putting him out of his misery. Soto couldn’t stand the screams anymore. The tree happily finished its meal in the quiet late morning sun.

Clyde analyzed it.

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< ANALYZE >

{Monster Name: Blood Hunter Grove

Monster type: Living dead(ELITE)(Area boss)

Level:58

HP:184,000

MP:2,500

DR:80,000

Highest ATTRIBUTES:

Physical; Constitution

Mental; Charisma

Bane: Fire

Weaknesses: Salt

Description: Blood Hunter Groves are a group of trees that are usually set up on opposite sides of throughways such as noble roads and wait for players to rest, then they use their powerful root and branch system to capture the unsuspecting players, Monsters, or Beasts. Blood Hunter Groves then feed on them. They are living, dead monsters that grow the more blood they consume. They can change any nearby plant life into part of their grove. They are stealth hunters but are formidable in the straight-up fight. The level of the grove can give you an idea of its size, for every ten levels over level 10 the Blood Hunter grove grows 50 square meters. Blood hunter groves have high nature and blood affinity giving them ridiculous health and health regeneration. Their primary weapons are their root and branch systems, but they can also turn animals and trees into ghouls. Blood hunter groves elites have a permanent boost to HP (times 5), HP regen (times 10), and damage(times 2).

EFFECTS: Immobile, Hungry, Living dead senses, Hungry Living dead Regeneration, Hungry, Fungal bite.}

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The Colonel immediately got on party chat.

[Scout team 1 retreat back to the fort on the double! That is a priority order.] This wasn’t going well. The sheer amount of HP and DR was going to make killing it tough.

That was when roots exploded out of the ground all around them. Three cable-like roots grabbed at and broke apart the ballista, the newly formed missile falling over as Colonel grabbed the shorter, more compact AOE version of the projectile and put it into his inventory. The roots continued to bombard the legacy missing him as he had dodged when he felt the attack coming.

[Grab the messengers and make a run for it.] The Colonel ordered Soto.

[Where to?] Soto said as he dodged the roots himself.

Clyde thought for a second as he slapped a root away. The root spattered like a mosquito that had just finished drinking your blood. He wiped his hand on his trousers, and the self-clean went to work right away as the blood dried up and started to flake away.

[If they were this desperate to send out messengers during a horde, they must really need our help. Let's go listen to their problems. To the Hamlet, south.]

[Copy that.] Soto shadow stepped to one of the messengers. “Ready to get out of here?” without waiting for her answer, he cut her free from the vines and roots, easily pinning her to the ground.

Clyde easily pulled the roots off of the other two. The bigger trees started to make an odd sound every time he ripped at the roots. He isn’t paying much attention as he picks up Maria and Valia. He dodged a massive log size root taking a swing at him, and ran south after Soto. “Don’t worry, I’ll deal with you soon.” He promised the sentient grove of trees, “Can’t have a monster like you on my lands while I build a nation.

He ran by the tree that was chewing on the last caster. It shot a branch at him, and he rolled out of the way. His Presence felt the magic perception that the tree used for sensing its prey, it probed the area and focused on him as he took a third of its food from it.

The Grove sprung to life, the roots burst out of the ground so violently that the dirt and soil around it and around the road exploded upwards blinding the two messengers on Colonel’s shoulder and causing them to panic.

Clyde continued to dodge in the low visibility of the overwhelming attack. But it wasn’t easy carrying two short, but grown women on his shoulder. While he had the strength to carry them easily, it was moving them effectively without hurting them, was taking all of his concentration. He had to put his body in the way so that he didn’t hurt them when he dodged. The grove was relentless.

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< DEBUFFs ADDED >