MMORPG: The Elementalist

Chirp, chirp!

A brown figure bounced off Qin Ruo’s shoulder in a flash as it chirped pressingly. The pet quickly went up against the “present” that the Deadwood Chieftain threw at them.

Boom!

It looked like the “gift” had been intercepted by a surface-to-air missile as it sputtered into dust and settled all over the place about twenty meters away from Qin Ruo’s group.

Upon landing, Poochie that had just demonstrated its prowess to the Boss, was for the first time, putting on an unusually serious face. Four of its tiny claws dug deep into the ground, and the pet gazed nervously at the humongous creature that just broke out from the ground. Its brown tail stood erect and shook in sync with its squeak as if it was electrified.

The Deadwood Chieftain had a vertical height of about two floors when it straightened up. Its two black arms were longer than its body length. The Boss’ sharp claws were beaming with a terrifying aura as they kept opening and closing.

The system notification indicated that the monster was a Level 51 Elite Boss.

Deadwood Chieftain:

Physical Attack 450-500

Physical Defense 240-300

Magic Defense 240-250

HP 200,000

It was a Tier 5 Elite Boss so powerful that it way exceeded Qin Ruo and five of his comrades’ imagination!

The five players were utterly stunned when they first obtained the stats for the Deadwood Chieftain (Qin Ruo was at Level 41 so he was not qualified to receive the Tier 5 Boss info).

No wonder those who ever attempted to cross the border were met with certain death. Never thought that the border was being guarded by such a powerful entity. What a miscalculated move! We should have gone straight to the warp portal, which may have been easier to go through in comparison.

While some of them felt sorry for their current situation, the Amethyst Orc suddenly took a step forward and stood in front of Poochie. Purple aura circulated around its five-meter-tall body as the Miniboss stood proudly to face the Deadwood Chieftain.

Still, even the tall Amethyst Orc looked timid before the gigantic Boss! The force displayed by the Deadwood Chieftain was further exacerbated by the 60 Deadwood underlings lined alongside it. The whole situation completely overwhelmed the six adventurers and three monsters who stood opposite to the army. It momentarily took their breath away.

At such a critical moment, Qin Ruo was nonetheless calm; unbelievably calm in fact.

He controlled the ramparts in front of him and gave a series of quick orders to his teammates.

“Once we’re out of the Barren Domain, the Boss will most likely give up in its pursuit!”

“Snowleaf, on my mark, push the Frostrampart in front of me and run with all your might…”

“I’ll ask the Amethyst Orc to hold the Boss back. We’ll all break out of the Deadwood siege through the left-hand side.”

“Subjugator, Judge, you two are responsible for luring the minions’ attack away from the group.”

The Deadwood Chieftain was apparently unwilling to spare the human adventurers more time. It pointed its giant Deadwood “finger” at the humans who were obviously plotting something.

Dozens of Deadwood Elves moved uniformly like robots and jumped high into the air. They rushed hungrily towards the human players like a giant group of locusts covering up the sky.

“Run, now!”

The other five players moved to the left tacitly as per prior instruction. Although they were unsure if Qin Ruo could really crack an opening on the Deadwood “wall”, they were out of other ideas and could only do as they were told. They just could not see how they were going to escape this crisis unscathed.

As the six players began to flee, the Amethyst Orc received an order from Qin Ruo at the same time, and it kicked its leg vigorously. Roaring, the Orc pressed on towards the mighty Deadwood Chieftain without any hesitation.

***

“Release!”

The Deadwood Elves were already within the party’s 30-m range after the group barely made 10 m. Qin Ruo quickly gulped down a Darkfrost Potion and took control of the eight Frostramparts delivered to him by Snowleaf. Along with his own seven Aquaramparts, he lined them all up in front and pushed them against the incoming monsters.

Element Relay: Combo Skill.

The skill, which manifested naturally from Qin Ruo’s hands, greatly astonished his other five comrades. Looking at the Frost- and Aqua- ramparts that pressed rapidly against the Deadwood Elves, mixed feeling of jealousy and appreciation creeped into their minds.

Genius!

At that moment, everyone in the party finally understood what Qin Ruo was planning to do next, thus their confidence was greatly boosted. Subjugator and Judge, who rushed to the front of the party simultaneously activated their Battle Aura and Berserk. They first took cover behind the ramparts on both flanks, then they rushed out towards the Deadwood Elves at great speed. They sustained some scratches from claws that came through the ground on their way.

Although the Magic Penetration effect of the Deadwood Elves was a tremendous threat to an Elementalist, it did not have any significant effect on warriors. In the eyes of the two vanguards, Deadwood Elves were just a bunch of common Tier 5 monsters. With their High Defense Dark Gold Equipment, the monsters’ attacks were definitely manageable for the time being.

Judge, who held a shield, acted like a moving Dark Gold castle. He received most of the attacks yet he dashed forward with determination. Potion after potion, he willingly safeguarded his compatriot and reduced the burden on Subjugator, who had the lesser Defense.

As the pressure on the two vanguards intensified exponentially, Qin Ruo’s Frostramparts arrived just in time.

“Freeze!” Qin Ruo yelled.

Bang!

The loud bang indicated that Qin Ruo had successfully cast the mighty Frostrampart Formation using fifteen undamaged Frostramparts—all thanks to the selfless protection provided by Subjugator and Judge as they baited away most firepower from the elves with their flesh.

***

Subjugator and Judge waited painfully for Qin Ruo’s Frostramparts to arrive while they braced themselves for the Deadwood Elves’ attack at the cost of depleting their healing potions. Soon, they sensed an enormous chilling aura ascending from the ground below them along with a dense cloud of white mist. The Deadwood Elves that were coming at them continuously a moment ago were now all frozen into ice sculptures. Both of them were not heavily injured, and they could not help but roar jubilantly.

The system consistently updated them on the latest battle situation.

Attacks from the Deadwood Elves stopped altogether. Their attack and movement speed were reduced by more than 70%. In other words, the monsters’ attack, which normally launched within a second, now needed at least three seconds.

“Get out of there quickly!”

Qin Ruo dared not relax just yet. After all, they were still trapped in a rather dangerous situation. The large group of Deadwood Elves trailing behind them still needed to be dealt with!

In contrast, the other five players were bloated with renewed confidence. Black Rock as well as two others followed Qin Ruo’s lead and went around the Frostramparts Formation. In the meantime, Poochie turned into a flashing shadow and dived into the formation. After a series of loud bangs, the little creature took down one Deadwood Elf after another while they tried to mount a counterattack.

Subjugator and Judge also kept themselves busy. They conveniently brought down several stiff Elves on their way out of the Frostramparts Formation.

After joining up right after breaking away from the Frostramparts Formation and Deadwood Elves’ entanglement, the six of them dashed non-stop toward the Tomb Region with all their might.

It all played out just as Qin Ruo had expected.

The purpose of the Deadwood Elves and Deadwood Chieftain was to bar players from crossing the border. Once the monsters saw that Qin Ruo and company were about to pull off their escape, the Elves got anxious. They also went around the Frostramparts Formation quickly and tried to catch up.

Even the Deadwood Chieftain currently contained by the Amethyst Orc roared angrily. The Chief tried to fend off the Amethyst Orc and wanted to pursue the six human adventurers instead. Unfortunately for the Boss, Qin Ruo had foreseen this and instructed the Amethyst Orc to shield the direction they were breaking through from the Deadwood Chieftain. The Tier 5 Miniboss used its strong physique to forcefully block the Deadwood Chieftain from getting through.

Taking the biggest problem out of the equation cleared up their escape route.

“Burst!”

Qin Ruo timed it perfectly and executed a Frostburst. A terrible scene soon unfolded.

More than twenty Deadwood Elves, which passed by the Frostrampart Formation, were unexpectedly blown away by a giant explosion. The magnificent chilling effect of the vast snow created by the explosion completely caught them off guard and drowned most of the Elves.

Those that were trapped at the center of the Formation received the worse fate; they were swiped clean by the close-range explosion.

This provided Qin Ruo and the others a window to advance another ten meters.

They were overjoyed to see that the Tomb Region was less than fifty meters away from them and reckoned that the Elves would no longer be able to catch up.

However…

Roar!

An unexpected turn of events occurred on the other side of the battlefield.

Following another raging roar, the system notification brought disheartening news to the team.

The Amethyst Orc is trapped by the Deadwood Cage! Bind Effect activated! Lasts for three seconds!

The next moment, the quickest of them, Fateless, turned around to witness an absolutely devastating scene. The ten-meter-tall Deadwood Chieftain ditched the caged Amethyst Orc and started to pursue them. It covered 10 m with every step and the initial seventy meters between them was instantly shortened by a third.

Thump!

Thump!

Thump! Thump!

Each time the Deadwood Chieftain dropped its “feet”, it created a loud noise, and the distance was trimmed down by another seven to eight meters.

“Sh*t!” Fateless cursed out of nervousness. He continued to dash desperately toward the Tomb Region. Bandits were usually only effective against players in the Graveyard of the Gods, so he was practically useless under such circumstances.

Subjugator and Judge, on the other hand, could not flee just like that. As the Boss was about to catch up to the party, both of them asked Qin Ruo loudly, “Any ideas?”

“I can only hold the Boss for three seconds at most; the rest is up to you!” At such a critical moment, the Steel Berserker, Judge, acted more decisively. It was perhaps due to his nature as a warrior with high Physical Defense. He held his shield high and launched Berserk to bring his defense up to near 400 points. After he left those words, he immediately turned around and jumped in the Deadwood Chieftain’s direction. At that rate, Qin Ruo, Snowleaf, and Black Rock were not going to make it. Even the two warriors could get caught before they made it to the border. Therefore, Judge decided to buy them some time before the Amethyst Orc could come to their rescue.

Qin Ruo’s opinion was the same as Judge’s. Hence, he quickly turned as well and pointed out his Water Dragon’s Staff. The Water Element in the air quickly surrounded Qin Ruo who condensed mana at an insane speed.

Subjugator also stopped running. Judge had helped him earlier when they were facing the Deadwood Elves together. At the same time, Black Rock and Snowleaf stopped short too. They turned around like Qin Ruo and gritted their teeth in the face of the destructive Deadwood Chieftain.

“Cryospider, strike!”

Meanwhile, Black Rock also released his long-charging spell…

Terra Shockwave!