Chapter 69 - Elven Forest Battle (6)

Arthur wasn’t just watching from the sidelines. He wanted in on the fight, obviously. The fun couldn’t be reserved for everyone else.

And besides, he was the one who had rallied everyone there. Hiding behind the army he’d put together would look terrible in front of all these players.

So he stowed his bow, switched to his sword, and charged straight into the soldiers.

"Cinder joined the fight!" one of the players shouted. "Let’s see if he’s actually as skilled as they say."

Arthur sprinted alongside the other players, trading blows with the soldiers. He activated Blade Dash, surging forward and slicing through one of them with his sword.

Everyone saw the blue aura flare around the blade.

"Cinder’s weapon is enchanted! How did he get that?"

"Did he craft it himself? I want him to enchant my weapon too. How much does he charge?"

The moment his sword cut through one of the soldiers, the damage number shot up.

[121 damage dealt]

He followed it up with a basic attack, slashing again. Every hit he landed reduced the target’s movement speed, attack speed, and stamina regeneration.

When the soldier tried to strike back, Arthur’s naturally high agility combined with the target’s reduced attack speed made it fairly easy to get out of the way.

But there were a lot of soldiers, and dodging every single attack was impossible, especially with ranged attacks like arrows coming in from a distance.

Arthur sidestepped to avoid a spear thrust, but took an arrow to the shoulder in return, losing a bit of HP.

[20 damage received]

His current health was sitting at around 730, which was remarkably high for a damage class. Those 30 vitality points from the Dragon Bloodline were simply too good.

He only took 20 damage because it was a plain arrow with no skill behind it. Between his leather armor and the 20% damage reduction he had, split between the 10% from his Dragon Bloodline and the 10% from the special skill Scaled Heart, incoming damage was significantly reduced compared to regular players.

It was like having the resistance of a tank while playing a DPS class. Not that it would last forever, but right now in the game, he was basically tanky too.

"Only 20 damage? How is he that tough?" a player commented.

They could see both the damage he was taking and the damage he was dealing, and it left them stunned. The power he was showing was way above the player average.

The worst part, for the soldiers at least, came when Arthur activated Phantom Slash, firing off a rapid chain of sword strikes, each hit landing for 200 damage. Even being 5 levels behind most of the soldiers, he was wiping them out with ease.

"Cinder is insane!"

Arthur heard every compliment. It was great for his reputation. But at the same time, questions started circulating again about his class. Nobody could figure out what he actually was, and everyone already had a sense it was something special.

Even with Arthur cutting down soldiers and showing off his firepower, the battle was still trending against the players.

Little by little, the Rashk Kingdom soldiers started outnumbering them, and the player count kept dropping.

Therin already had that confident smirk on his face. He and Len had been going at it for nearly an hour, trading blows and spells back and forth.

Since both were skilled fighters with similar power levels, it was hard for either of them to land anything fatal.

"I told you you’d lose," Therin taunted. "You should’ve given up from the start. Would’ve been less embarrassing for you."

Arthur had already pulled back from the front line when his HP dropped to around 40%. He wasn’t about to die and lose precious XP.

Not a single player thought he was being a coward, and nobody complained about him stepping out of the fight. It was actually the opposite.

"Protect Cinder so he can recover."

"Understood."

They saw him as the captain who had mowed down plenty of enemy soldiers but eventually needed to step off the field to rest. Protecting him felt like an honor to most of them at that moment.

Arthur kept his distance from the battlefield, staying near the forest they had come through. While he was recovering, he heard roars coming from inside the trees.

Some of the players who had died in the battle and respawned back at the elven settlement were already making their way back.

Therin heard the roars from the forest and frowned. When he realized it was the players coming back again, he couldn’t believe it.

Before, it had just been a guess that everyone there were players. Now he was sure, and that completely changed the picture.

All that confidence he had about winning evaporated instantly. The tide had turned.

This time it was Len wearing the smirk, taunting him right back.

"I told you they were Chosen Ones," Len said as their swords clashed. "How about surrendering? Come in as a prisoner and your life will be spared."

"Spared? Cut that nonsense. Everyone knows I’d be tortured, living a life worse than death. I’d rather die on the battlefield like a warrior."

Arthur was watching the fight between Len and Therin from a distance.

’I think I can hit him with Sniping Shot now...’

Arthur had spent a long stretch fighting in melee, so Therin had basically stopped paying attention to him. There were too many players to deal with, and Len still demanded his full focus. Arthur had completely slipped his mind.

Which was exactly what Arthur wanted. He pulled the bow off his back and activated Stealth, vanishing from Therin’s line of sight.

He drew an arrow from his quiver and coated it with the poison Len had given him. Then he nocked it, aimed at Therin, and waited for the right moment to shoot.

Therin and Len were jumping around the battlefield, which made landing the shot a lot harder.

"Desert Triple Slash," Therin roared.

His sword shifted color, turning yellow like desert sand. He slashed toward Len 3 times in rapid succession.

The attack wasn’t a melee strike. It was ranged. Blades made of sand shot out from his sword and flew toward Len at blinding speed, connecting dead-on.

Even Len hadn’t seen it coming. All three slashes hit the same spot, tearing through a section of his armor.

Len staggered and dropped to one knee, gasping.

"I might lose the battle, but I won’t lose to you!" Therin screamed.

This was the perfect moment to strike. Therin was too deep in his own confidence, convinced he had won, or at least that he was on his way to winning.

Arthur held his breath to keep his hand as steady as possible, then released the arrow he’d already had nocked.

"Sniping Shot!"

The poison-coated arrow cut through the air toward Therin, the captain and strongest NPC on that battlefield.

Arthur was confident the arrow would connect. It was moving so fast that dodging it should’ve been practically impossible, even for a level 30 NPC.

But Therin saw it coming. He couldn’t get out of the way, but he had another trick up his sleeve.

"Substitution!" Therin called out.

His body vanished, and in his place, another soldier appeared. The arrow punched straight through the soldier, killing him instantly.

Therin had found a way out. He reappeared on the battlefield, his gaze locking onto Arthur.

From across the field, he shouted, "Once I’m done with Len, you’re next."