MMORPG: The Elementalist

According to Slayer’s Hearts intel, there were been thousands of Skeleton Dragons and vampires flying in the Death Valley’s skies as they spoke. Naturally, there were also hundreds of thousands of lowly cannon-fodder specters roaming aimlessly in the valley, accompanied by Spectral Bosses. And of course, at the end of the line, stood their main targets—the six Liches and two Spectral Shamans. If they could achieve that, they stood to earn over 800 Honor Points.

All in all, they could have netted a whopping 6000 Honor Points taking out this Undead Stronghold. This was the very reason why Qin Ruo set his eyes on the Death Valley, making it the first place for their three-clan alliance to attack.

Yes, it was indeed very difficult to take out all six Liches. However, Qin Ruo came prepared.

He still had five bottles of Holy Cleansing Potion that were made out of Volcanic Essences. Qin Ruo had only used one of these to finish off the Lich back then. Although Qin Ruo was only able to harvest those two Volcanic Essences from the Heaven Peal Island, he was also able to find more around Camp Edgar, thanks to Yaegar’s intel.

And so, Qin Ruo’s Ring of Honor now contained thirteen Purification Potions and five Holy Cleansing Potions. As the effects of the potion could only last up to about three hours, he did not give them to his teammates just yet—they had needed to preserve these potions.

“Alright. Let’s commence the operation!”

Ignoring Dinosaurcerer and Brother Da’s quarrel, Violet Orchid and Xiaoxiao started giving orders to their respective clans. Upon receiving their orders, the Solarmancers and Pyromancers lined up in an orderly manner, then, activating their shields and barriers while at the same time, began receiving various other buffs from Violetmoon Devilite’s Radiant Priests.

Having done with their preparations, the lined Elementalists all stepped into the entrance of the Death Valley.

“They’ve started!”

“….”

The curious player-spectators, who tailed Qin Ruo’s militia, held their breath as they enthusiastically watched the show… although they did not know much about the situation inside the valley, they knew the place was filled with danger and treachery considering the many clans who had failed to conquer the valley. They were hoping to witness an intense skirmish by the great Fallen Angels’ militia…while some of the spectators were actually hoping to see them fail.

***

Right after the Solarmancers and Pyromancers started their push into the valley, the many thousands of airborne Specters began diving toward them—much like a huge cloud of black smog raining down from the sky.

However, the forty Winged Champions were already waiting for them above the Elementalists. The Skeletal Dragons and Vampires were facing a huge wall of fire set by the powerful Winged Champions. It took the champions nearly a minute before they could be burnt to ashes.

“Damn!”

“If we don’t act, there won’t be any more stuff for us to kill!”

Subjugator was watching on the sidelines anxiously as the number of the specters declined gradually. He quickly flew ahead, trying to get some kills before the champions could wipe them all out.

Yet, he was too little too late.

There were only a dozen specters left in the sky, their HP greatly depleted. All he could do was to wave around a few skills and try cleaning up these “leftovers”.

As they were clearing out the airborne specters, the Elementalists were also wrapping up their fight on the ground. The Solarmancers and Pyromancers worked together, taking turns in between charging up Mana and hurling out powerful light and fire magic attacks, taking out the specters from afar. The slow-moving specters stood no chance at all when they faced the showers upon showers of attacks. Even if they were shooting long-range attacks at the Elementalists, the damage was mostly negated by the magic shields and barriers.

In less than five minutes, the Elementalists had trampled and gained a foothold in the Death Valley…

Before leading the forty Winged Champions deep into the valley, Violet Orchid assigned four Winged Champions to watch over the entrances’ airspace and left the more capable ones to guard the area outside of the entrance.

They needed to hurry and lure the Liches away before another wave of airborne specters respawned. This was so that their men on the ground could push forward and destroy the warp portals.

***

Even though the actual commander was Violet Orchid, only a few high-ranking members in the three clans knew about this. To the majority in the militia, their commander was the mysterious Netherspirit’s Menace.

Before they departed, Qin Ruo already devised a plan and decided on who should handle which Lich when they entered the valley. That was how the airborne team was able to act so quickly. Hovering over the air, the forty Winged Champions spotted six trails of black smog—it was the Liches!

“Attack!”

After the Liches were lured into the air, everyone in the valley—the Elementalists, Summoners, and Bowmasters all hurled salvoes of attacks at the six Undead bosses. AoE Magic attacks, AoE physical attacks… everything! They hurled all of those out, almost as if they were trying to dry up their MPs as quick as possible!

As the volley of ranged attacks were raining down upon the Liches, hundreds upon hundreds of players stormed into the Death Valley, inching toward the warp portals.

“Look! Skeleton King! Focus your fire on him!”

“There’s a Skeletal Warrior here! Solarmancers! Pyromancers! You’re up!”

As the players expanded their Elemental Perceptions, more and more Bosses were identified in the Undead horde. However, these Bosses weren’t much of a threat. The Fallen Angels’ militia was organized and well-trained, unlike the soulless, mindless Undead. In just a few short minutes, the Undead Bosses were all but scorched ashes.

***

While the ground forces were inched their way toward the warp portals, six Winged Champions were zooming toward their respective targets in the air.

Judge was the fastest one—after having activated his Berserk and Berserk Shell, he then warded off a Lich’s attack using his Dark Gold greatshield. Thanks to the Great Tree Sap, Judge’s HP was raised to over 5000 and topped with his equipment plus Violet Orchid’s buffs, Judge’s Magic Defence had surged to over 360 points. As long as his Berserk status was not nullified, he was confident he could tank the Lich’s attacks for 15 seconds… perhaps even more…

Of course, he had gotten help. Violetmoon Devilite was aiding him from behind. Having used the Purification Potion, her healing capabilities were greatly improved; and caused the amount of HP that she could heal to shoot up to 380 points with just one wave. With her support, Judge should be able to hold off the Lich for a couple of minutes.

On the other hand, Violet Orchid and Black Rock were each taking out a Lich respectively. Their equipment was top notch and at the class they were ranked at, they were capable of taking on specters alone. Violet Orchid’s class—the Radiant Priest possessed natural resistance against the specters whilst topping it up with her equipment. That would grant her anti-specter attributes and skills. If the situation arose, Violet Orchid could take on a Lich on her own. As for Black Rock, his class did not offer any offensive advantage. However, his class possessed the game’s strongest defensive capabilities. Besides, he was now equipped with the Galbis set and two Tier 5 Legendary Terramancer. With that, he could take on a Lich’s attack for minutes and still survive.

After the three Lich’s were lured away, Qin Ruo then threw a worried glance at Dinosaurcerer, saying, “Stay back. I could lure away another one with the aid of potions.”

“Oh, stop be a worrying twat!”

Dinosaurcerer flapped his huge skeletal wings and glided toward a Lich. His wings were the reason why he clashed with the Order of the Eight Gods. After recently maxing out his Soul Binding skills, Dinosaurcerer had been sealing specter Bosses into Mana Cores. Although the success rate of doing so was low, he managed to seal a few of them into the cores… and that was after spending hundreds of thousands of gold coins…

One of these Bosses was the Skelewing Dragon.

Even though he did not possess barriers and shields like the Elementalists, Dinosaurcerer’s magic attacks were now almost as strong as Qin Ruo’s; his HP growing beyond 15000 points. In other words, Dinosaurcerer was now almost as strong as a Tier 5 veteran champion.

However, the Boss that he bound with was still a Tier 5 Mini-Boss and at the moment faced a Tier 6 Mega Boss—the Lich. Having him to face a boss like this all alone was still very risky. This was what Qin Ruo was worried about.

Still, he understood Dinosaurcerer’s insistence to face the Lich head on—this was a joint operation for the three clans. Violet Orchid and Qin Ruo had ventured to the frontlines to handle the Liches. Dinosaurcerer, being another clan leader himself, also had to be proactive in this fight.

Luckily, Dinosaurcerer was a shadow-type Summoner. Naturally, he had a strong elemental resistance against the specters’ magic attacks.

As Qin Ruo watched Dinosaurcerer butt heads with a Lich, he had an epiphany. He threw a glance at Homme Fatale…

Their eyes met but they did not speak. They already knew what to do next.

***

“Sundering Electric Arrow!”

“Compressed Frost Bullet Barrage!”

Two of them approached a Lich in a flash and then cast out their charged up magic right before it could do anything… the timing and speed were impeccable!

The first attack that landed on the Lich was, naturally, Homme Fatale’s—Electromancer’s Electric magic attacks were the fastest in the game. The Electric Arrow hit the Lich’s mana barrier and then shattered it like glass.

Then, the three “Ice Swords” (the Frost Bullets’ disguise) from Netherspirit’s Menace penetrated the Lich from behind.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

After the attacks landed, another three more Ice Swords ripped into the Lich yet again, this time with a massive shockwave that sent it back toward Homme Fatale.

It was a six-shot magic attack!

And that was not all. As the “swords” ripped through the Lich’s body, a powerful snowstorm twisted around it…

The snowstorm was swirling and swirling the Lich which was within it, delivering blow after blow of ice attacks upon the poor Undead Boss.

Homme Fatale could not help but to stop and look in awe. Then, in a flurry, a series of Frost Arrows were shot into the snow storm by Qin Ruo. As the arrows vanished into the swirling storm, a loud tormented wail could be heard echoing from the Death Valley.

The next instant, Qin Ruo rushed into the storm… Then a golden ray flashed in the air.

Clone Shadowstrike!

Thud! Thud!

“Oh no!”

As Poochie had successfully kicked the Lich down toward the ground, Qin Ruo then realized the mistake he made. Without hesitation, he quickly zoomed downward to the Undead horde. Being too engrossed in competing with Homme Fatale, he had forgotten that Xiaoxiao’s team was still trying to gain a foothold on the ground.