Elias released the ax from his right hand, tightened his grip on the one in his left, used the free hand to stop the man’s arm, and then spun low to chop off his legs. His ax sliced through thin air and his hand now grabbed onto nothing. Elias tried to find the man but there was nothing. Did the man teleport behind Elias without him noticing? No, Elias could still see the first man in the corner of his eye and when he turned to face him there was no blade.

“Fighting is pointless. You’ll never win,” the man said.

“If that’s true, then you wouldn’t have brought your six friends with you.”

Elias was now sure of two things; these men were the ones who killed the Ugal and they were also the ones who put a barrier around Adad's Claw. The only way to get the claw and get out of here was to kill them all.

He was up for the challenge.

The moment Keen became available again, he activated it. And, as he did, he immediately sensed one of the men charging at him.

Elias swung the ax at the man’s neck but the attack was blocked by a sickle. This time he got a good look at his attacker. The man was in the same costume as the first man he saw. To make sure they were indeed two different people Elias quickly checked to confirm that the first man was still there. He wasn’t.

A blur of black apparated in front of him with a sickle slicing for his waist. Keen hadn’t caught up with the man’s movement yet but still helped Elias dodge the attack. He jumped back from the sickle and stared at both men who stood limber. Elias felt the presence of another and dove forward to escape the huge hammer that crashed into the earth and shattered the ground where he formerly stood.

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Elias scrambled to his feet and charged for the hammer-wielder. A sailing arrow stole his attention midway. Keen calculated that its trajectory would cause it to strike his head. He reacted fast enough to prevent that from happening but not fast enough to dodge it. In the end, the arrow pierced his left arm as he shielded his face. He saw 800 damage inflicted to his health.

While he was distracted the hammer-wielder swung at him again and he jumped back to avoid the blow. Even though the attack missed him he still lost 300 HP over the last 3 seconds. When he checked his health status, there was an alert that read poisoned. Knowing the root cause, he pulled the arrow from his arm and charged at the hammer-wielder again. Another arrow came from the darkness but Keen caught it in time for him to dodge. His opponent swung down and he sidestepped the attack. With his right hand, Elias chopped into the man’s left shoulder, and immediately after, with his left hand, he stuck the arrow into the man’s side. Elias would’ve gotten in one more blow but a sword pierced his rib.

Elias swung at the new attacker and winced when the man pulled out his sword to dodge the hit. Before Elias could further chase the man he felt a slicing pain in his leg. The blow forced him to kneel on the wounded limb. He thought that the only reason he was able to see the shadows move around was that Keen was keeping track of them. The fact that he hadn’t seen the last two attacks coming meant Keen had worn off a long time ago. The worse news was that he knew it would not return before they killed him here.

Any other player wouldn’t be so worried about dying. They knew they would respawn with full health and recharged skills. Other players would take the death swiftly and then return for revenge. But Elias didn’t want to trek to the ruins a second time. He didn’t want to have to fight all the monsters that stood between him and Adad’s Claw a second time. He had the claw here and now; it would be a waste to give it all up when it was within his reach.

Elias tried to get up but just as he did his other leg was sliced. He was now on both knees. He swung wildly from left to right before his arm sailed off into the darkness with the ax still in it. Elias could not process the pain. He couldn’t process anything. That meant he didn't feel the cold chains that were constricting his body. His eyes were still wide in shock when three of the masked figures stood in front of him. When the shock wore off, and he felt the pain, it was unbearable. It was reason enough for him to log out and start his quest all over. They obviously didn’t plan to kill him quickly. Death had its own pain but at least that was short-lived. This one seemed never-ending. He would’ve disappeared but he couldn’t perform the gesture for the logout function.

One of the hooded figures placed a hand on his head. The hand glowed a dark purple and Elias wondered if this was a special move they were using to kill him. Instead, he saw Keen disappear from his skill tray. Then Blade Dance, Double Damage, and Light Shot. Next was his armor, his gauntlets, and his ax. When the man removed his hand, Elias was at level one, he had no skill or items. He was a noob first spawned. Everything he had worked for months to earn disappeared in a few seconds.

He wished they had killed him instead.

Eventually, they did.