MMORPG: The Elementalist

Ever since the Graveyard of the Gods’ entrance was opened, several hundred million players in the H&G world spent most of their time thrillingly on either hunting or being hunted!

Initially, most players were rather impulsive. A majority of them immediately reentered the Graveyard right after they were killed. Consequently, they were randomly relocated into a new environment, thus they had to adapt to brand new, dangerous, yet exciting worlds all over again. Players were constantly awed by the mysterious and never before seen Graveyard of the Gods! But as time progressed, an increasing number of players, who were confused at first, began to learn their lesson and got smarter…

They realized that one could go offline in their current location and return back later. Through this method, players would usually log out into the real world first to gather all the essential information regarding their respective region from the official forum before they continued their expedition.

This greatly improved the survival rate of players in the graveyard, and most Tier 4 monsters on the first level were gradually swept clean due to the better strategy…

Many players also started to move in the form of a party, which allowed them to hunt monsters while they fought off players from rival factions. Soon, a large batch of player parties who survived the first level began to march onward to the second level!

There were a lot of entry points to the lower level…

The Level 2 entry points were segregated in the Tier 5 monster zone or placed adjacent to a Boss monster. Players only had two options—party with other players and kill the guarding monsters to reach the entry point; or find an entrance that was no longer guarded, and enter with relative ease!

***

On Level 1 of the Graveyard of the Gods, the sound of splashing water was faintly heard from one of the tunnels inside a dimly light place called the Underground Frostlake.

The next moment, a three-meter-high Infernal Half-Beast covered in fiery red fur stuck its gigantic head out from the corner of the tunnel. The Half-Beast seemed to be very uncomfortable with the cold surrounding and appeared to be exhausted. It scanned the large Frostlake cave sluggishly to confirm that it was safe. Then it reluctantly raised its furry legs and walked into the cave through the lake water, which went up to its knees.

After it walked for about thirty meters, the Infernal Half-Beast suddenly stopped!

It tilted its head as if it was waiting for something, or perhaps it was just staring blankly at the large cave…

After a few seconds, the Half-Beast suddenly raised its arm and roared hysterically. Its roar resonated loudly throughout the cave. It was the kind of roar that only a carnivorous monster would have, and it immediately broke the dead silence!

The lake water below the Infernal Half-Beast’s knees rippled out continuously under the enormous soundwave!

As if the Underground Frostlake cave was a beast awakened by the Infernal Half-Beast’ roar, its “eyes” abruptly “opened”!

Numerous lively, greenish eyes visibly lit up atop the cave! The eyes looked like they belonged to a single fierce creature lurking on the cave’s ceiling, and it had been disturbed by the Half-Beast’s roar. The eerie sight immediately silenced the frenzied Infernal Half-Beast.

If there had been a player on the scene, he or she would have been able to tell that the countless eyes actually belonged to the numerous black bats hanging upside down on the ceiling…

The next instance, the black bats burst out from their nets abruptly.

Bang!

The chirping sounds along with a high-frequency of wing flapping grew louder and louder inside the cave.

Their black tiny figures were like a bunch of missiles, firing simultaneously fired towards the Infernal Half-Beast that disturbed the silence in the Underground Frostlake and interfered with their sweet dreams…

The bats moved like a flash of lightning!

Soon, the bats were all gathered above the Infernal Half-Beast like a mass of dark cloud.

The Infernal Half-Beast behaved in a disorderly manner. Its already deprived spirit was further diminished by the presence of the bat group. But, how was the Half-Beast still able to react the first time in its current state? That would have struck people as odd.

Roar!

Once the Half-Beast flapped its bulky arm, two dark red flames immediately appeared on the Half-Beast’s palms and the blaze rose about half a meter high. Right at that moment, the dark cloud began to descend. The Infernal Half-Beast quickly crossed its two arms and spread the red flames towards the diving “Frost Vampire Bats”.

Chirp, chirp

The Frost Vampire Bats that accidentally flew into the blaze immediately turned into piles of ashes and fell lifelessly on the Infernal Half-Beast’s muscular chest!

Although they were frightening when they moved in a large group, individually, the bat was just an extremely fragile little creature. Aside from their fangs that were infused with special “petrifying” venom on top of their speedy and flexible mobility, their only other advantage was their horrifically vast number. They had almost zero Defense and a minute HP. An above average attack would easily crush them into nothingness.

Coincidentally, the Infernal Half-Beast’s flame was exactly the lethal kryptonite to a Frost Vampire Bat. A bat that barely touched the flame was immediately incinerated into ashes…

Even so, due to the overwhelming number of Frost Vampire Bats, the two flames on the Half-Beast’s palms were apparently insufficient to succumb a whole cave of bats, which were closing in. A part of the Infernal Half-Beast’s furry body was eventually bitten by the bats that had escaped the flames.

Status Effect: Petrify!

One should not mess around with the bats due to the 100 % petrification effect of their venom.

The bitten Infernal Half-Beast instantly let out a foul cry. Subsequently, the flames on its palms immediately disintegrated into the most basic Fire Element and gradually disappeared into the surrounding atmosphere. Its fire-red fur quickly turned dark gray and appeared as hard as stone…

Even when a target was turned into a stone statue, it did not stop the Frost Vampire Bats since their fangs ignored the Petrify Effect and could easily pierce through the target’s body. They joyfully drained the blood from their petrified victims and numerous Frost Vampire Bats only needed about half an hour to completely suck the blood from a monster with more than a few thousand HP, turning it into a dry corpse!

The Infernal Half-Beast was experiencing the same fate…

Bang!

Suddenly, a giant blazing fireball shot out from the tunnel behind the Half-Beast. It hit the Infernal Half-Beast accurately on its body, which was now fully covered with Frost Vampire Bats. Like an unstable bomb, the fireball further exploded into countless tiny flames following a loud bang and blasted off in every direction.

All the Frost Vampire Bats clinging on to the body of the Half-Beast were instantly killed. The bats that were hovering around the body fared much worse, as they were turned into ashes before they got a chance to sip the Half-Beast’s blood. The ashes of the dead creatures rained down into the pool of water.

The bats directly above the Half-Beast were instantaneously annihilated by the single blast too. Only a few hundred bats that stayed beyond the attack range managed to avoid the calamity by retreating to a higher level in time.

The greenish eyes of the Frost Vampire Bats were soon drawn away from the Infernal Half-Beast and focused on the few players who had just entered the cave through the tunnel.

Not giving the bats any time to regroup and launch their mass attack, the few leading Elementalists who first exited the tunnel simultaneously jumped near the bats and released a long-charged AoE Spell in their hands.

Million Arrow Sleet!

Thunderburst!

“…”

Within the dense arrow sleet, blazing white lightning was seen zig-zagging through the gaps and killing off those that the icy arrows missed. Another hundred Frost Vampire Bats fell from the attack, and their corpses were brought down by the Million Arrows, sinking them to the bottom of the cave’s pool.

“Wipe them out!”

An order was given out by a silvery voice, which traveled out from the tunnel. It was a stern order to hunt down all the remaining Frost Vampire Bats that had either escaped or were not within the two AoE spells’ range.

At the next second, more than ten players responded to the order and dashed out from the tunnel. A fury of water splashing sounds indicated that the players were entering the cave in a haste.

Schhwaff, schwaff

Three Bowmasters made some quick releases, and their arrows strung together a few hovering bats.

Plop

The bats fell helplessly into the cold lake.

Besides the Bowmasters, there were also Berserkers, Swordmasters, Bandits, and Summoners.

In the face of Frost Vampire Bats, which had been trimmed down tremendously, the outcome was obvious when the hunters were formed by a group of Elementalists with dual defense activated combined with ten others Tier 4 Classes.

However, the most amazing thing was a Radiant Priest being one of the eighteen players who just exited the cave. Radiant Priests could rarely survive the harsh environment of the Graveyard.

It is important to note that from the moment the Graveyard of the Gods was opened, Radiant Priests had always been the Class with the highest death rate! Fighting anyone from another Class alone basically spelled doom for them.

But if a Radiant Priest managed to reunite with a party from their own League, then that party’s overall strength would be boosted exponentially. It also meant that the party would have a higher chance to strive through the Graveyard of the Gods.

The battle conscious of the Radiant Priest who rushed out from the tunnel was exceptionally high. She targeted a few Frost Vampire Bats in the air and blasted a Psystorm onto their flight path in advance. Her attack projection was better than that of the Elementalists in the party.

A series of chirping and sounds of small bodies dropping into the lake were immediately heard inside the cave. They were followed by a round of applause.

“Sister Violet’s the best!”

“It’s such a waste that you’re a Radiant Priest instead of an Elementalist, Sister Violet.”

The female Radiant Priest who rushed out from the cave was apparently Violet Orchid from Bauhinia Clan. She responded to the compliments with a tired laugh and said, “I think I’m better off as a Radiant Priest. There are already a lot of otherworldly Elementalists out here.”

“Haha. You’re right Sister Violet. Among the ten Tier 5 Supreme Champions, nine of them are Elementalists, and they’re all indeed ridiculously strong!”

Violet Orchid smiled and did not say anything else. Although the Tier 5 Supreme Champions were really powerful, the person she was talking about was not among the likes of Scarlet Bauhinia or Homme Fatale. If Qin Ruo were there, she guessed a Frostrampart Burst from him would have destroyed all the Frost Vampire Bats at once.

While she was lost in her own thoughts, a Bowmaster suddenly pointed at a spot excitedly and exclaimed, “Sister Violet, look, there’s a warp portal over there!”