Chaos erupted as all hell broke out. The initial attack had managed to claim the lives of several Nihon players, but the guild quickly recovered. Their counterattack might not have claid many Phoenix players' lives, but it did stop their escape. Causing the entire scene to develop into an all-out lee, with spells being flung without a care. Players died left and right, so from friendly fire.
While this was happening, Eldrian had taken flight. Refracting the light around him was a rather difficult task, and it didn't make him completely invisible. But he couldn't do much more in the spur of the mont, especially not while maintaining flight and preventing his mana from being detected.
Shockingly, several of Nihon's players glanced in his direction. Even after he moved around the battle. While their tracking seed delayed, they were certainly following his movents.
'That confirms it. They know where I am, but can't see . Or my mana camouflage is flawed, and they can see . Yet, that doesn't explain how they found us in the forest. It isn't so simple to find other parties, and it should have been impossible with our camouflage.'
Eldrian had no idea how, but he now understood that hiding was impossible. Most likely, any sneak attack would fail.
If that was the case, he might as well go all out. Yet, he also had to make sure he wasn't caught in any traps.
'They might want to lull into a false sense of security. Only keeping track of my movents until they defeated everyone else.' Eldrian thought, moving sporadically around the battlefield to prevent anyone from pinning down his location. Just in case they were trying to trap him.
As he moved, he watched Judith struggling to kill as many players as possible. She had clearly abandoned any plans of escaping. She struck her enemies with all her might. Attacking savagely, like a crazed beast. Uncaring for any wound she would take, if it ant inflicting one more onto her enemies.
Using mob tactics, the enemy surrounded her and threw simple numbers at her. This, sadly, was enough. Judith didn't surpass the other players in Tier. Heck, she had lower stats than many here. What with her only having one class in Tier 5 while many of Nihon's mbers were dual or even triple Tier 5 holders.
Despite being outclassed in stats, and likely even equipnt, she fought valiantly. Her savage, reckless attacks had claid several lives. It did co at a massive cost to her HP. Which she regained through potions (courtesy of Erik and Akarui) and so spells the mages focused on her; over protecting themselves.
Her style of fighting seed incredibly effective against other players. Most players weren't used to a do and die attacks. After all, very few enemies were willing to die with you. And everyone, including players, wanted to survive their encounters. Death ca at the cost of too many levels.
Judith was one of the few insane enough to want to take damage as she fought. And oh, did she take damage. With the mages prioritizing healing her over fighting, and her seemingly endless supply of potions, she just wouldn't go down. And she wouldn't without a one-hit kill.
Sadly, soone realized what she was up to. As their cry filled the air, "She's trying to—" Judith realized her ti was up. And before Nihon could scatter, she attacked.
Laughing like a maddened demon, she swung down her sword. One last ti.
"Bwahahaha, eat this!"
Empowered with all the damage she had taken, all her mana, and the rest of her health, the attack bore a terrifying amount of power behind it. It sent shockwaves through the battle. Ripped through armor and players alike. Killing a total of eight players, and sending twenty others flying. Heavily wounded. At death's door.
'Now!' Seeing his timing, Eldrian joined the fray. His first targets were those who had been waiting for him to appear. Too distracted now by Judith's destructive display, he snuck past their guard.
His spells, fine-tuned after years of training, and especially his 'training' under Ziraili's guidance, found their mark with ease.
Simple bombs, small as a fingernail, covered in an ether barrier, slip past the player's armor. Striking into any soft tissue, be this an eye, an ear, or the neck. And there, it exploded.
Seven players collapsed, headless. Perfectly tid with Judith's final attack, Eldrian was sure he would be able to turn the fight around from here.
He had taken out those who were targeting him, and his next target was those who were only half into the fight. Sparing focus onto those assigned to track Eldrian, they were sure to react to his attack, but with so delay. Eldrian was already firing his spell to stop their attempts. Yet, the spell he called never ford.
His mana... dissipated into the air. Dispelled.
'What the—'
"Quick, before he escapes!" One of Nihon's vice leaders shouted, those unwounded turning their attention to Eldrian.
'Shit, I need ti to think!' Luckily, with all his training and all the fights he had been through, Eldrian now knew what the power of ti felt like. While he couldn't slow ti perfectly, he could enhance the speed at which he thought.
Doubly lucky, it seed that whatever was dissipating his spells only worked with external spells. Thus, Eldrian concluded that it was so type of magical barrier. But when had it been erected? And by whom?
'Though Acceleration.' Eldrian had been working hard on perfecting this spell. While mana already heightened a person's speed of thought. This was limited to Agility and Intelligence stats. There were so spells that allowed greater focus, and a few that slightly increased other things. But nothing could compare to the power of Chronos.
The one downside, however, was that he couldn't move as fast as he was thinking. This was the key difference between his usual reckless calling on his bloodline and Though Acceleration.
And while this difference made a world of difference in what he could do, for now, he just needed to figure out how he had gotten trapped. And what he could do to escape.
The first question then; why did his mana dissipate upon being cast?
With ti dilated to a fraction of a second, Eldrian observed his surroundings. Sadly, even moving his eyes was excruciatingly slow. But he could still focus his mind on key areas. Mageia also moved much faster than anything else, though still slow compared to his thoughts.
By splitting these two senses, he figured out the general situation. His eyes taking in the physical, and Mageia the magical. Sadly, the burden on his mind was great, and he was already tiring.
But that wasn't enough to stop him.
'Fascinating.' That was all that Eldrian could say to describe what Nihon had done. It was truly sothing he had never considered. Sowhere along the line, Eldrian had forgotten that he wasn't special.
Sure, he had a talent for magic. But that wasn't why he was currently as strong as he was. No, that was because of his experiences. Experiences he had in ANW. Experiences that other players could also gain.
Sure, his auras and bloodline perhaps made him more special. But he had always wondered why he was so far ahead of the other their soul altered via a Magic Crystal while still learning magic. Before their souls took on a clear characteristic.
players in magic. After all, he had shared how he had learned magic with the world. Anyone could attempt to copy his thod.
To his knowledge, no one had. Which ant no other person had their soul altered via a Magic Crystal while still learning magic. Before their souls took on a clear characteristic.
Yet, what he realized now was, that wasn't the only way to gain sothing special. Besides, his life and death struggle had been what had truly unlocked his talents. The altering of his soul had only made things more likely to develop as they had.
Eldrian was assuredly not the only player to have those experiences. His were perhaps on the extre end, but he wasn't alone.
'So, how do I break out of a trap laid by ghosts? He asked himself. Trying to figure out how they were able to wield mana while dead. It shouldn't be possible, even for him. After all, it took a great deal of effort to resist the pull of the Realm of Souls.
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