Running for his life, Sora darted toward the [Snake Pit], hoping he’d run into an ally—or even better, a group of Fox players who could fend off or distract his pursuers.
He knew that the mont he stopped or even slowed down, he’d be dead. Sprinting hard for a solid ten seconds and covering a long distance, he suddenly felt sothing catch him, lifting him off the ground.
Trapped mid-air like a captured animal, Sora glared at the rope binding him, frustration and anger building up. He looked up to et the faces of his captors, determined to engrave their appearances and nas in his mory.
[Maxwell Phelps - Level 155][Clénce Berger - Level 165][Pedro Luiz - Level 161][Asia Sanogo - Level 156][Rachel Claude - Level 149]
His heart sank as he saw their levels. Seeing Rachel among the group, Sora thought bitterly, ’A group of high level human players.That backstabber sure knows how to pick her party mbers...’
Clénce Berger, the highest-level player, was a woman with golden hair tied back in a ponytail, and her pink armor sparkled as if designed by her inner child.
Pedro Luiz stood quietly, his dark eyes visible under a hooded cloak. He carried a massive hamr that seed almost as big as he was.
Asia Sanogo had short-cropped hair, dark skin, and a mischievous smile. She held a glowing book in her hand. Maxwell Phelps, tall and muscular, had spiky red hair and a an look in his eyes. He wore heavy armor that hinted at his role as the group’s tank.
The rope binding Sora led to the highest-level player, Clénce, who looked at him with an amused smile.
"So you’re the one who raised that monster phoenix on the 4th floor… We’re lucky to find a gem like you so early in the trial," she said, her tone strangely praising.
Suspecting the group’s intention, Sora asked, "Do you hunt other human players?"
Before she could respond, the woman paused, seemingly focusing on sothing else, then replied, "The friend here says you’re guildmates. Nice to et you! And no, you’re mistaken—we don’t hunt humans. We save the human players we find, and are focused on tracking down the invading races that threaten humanity. We can’t let them grow powerful under our noses. Would you consider joining us? We’re recruiting humans from all groups to handle any threats we might face."
Sora was surprised by her words. It seed they weren’t planning to kill him and were even open to including him—a Viper—in their Chicken team.
’Maybe this is the safest way to avoid leaving my fate to luck… But it ans trusting people from a different group… And entrusting my back to Rachel again? How ironic…’ He thought.
Sighing in relief, he said, "Sure. I’ll do my best to contribute."
Clénce laughed at his serious tone. "Don’t be so formal! We’re neighbors. I left Belgium years ago, but we can already be considered friends. And don’t worry, we’ll keep an eye out for you if things get rough."
Sora was caught off guard by her friendliness, not expecting Rachel’s teammate to be so easygoing. Despite the apparent goodwill, he kept his guard up, prepared to react at the first sign of trouble.
Pedro, one of the two n in the group, tossed him a pair of boots. "Wear these, they’ll help you keep up with us. You’re surprisingly fast, but without proper gear, you won’t survive for long."
Sora frowned at the man’s words but caught the boots anyway, thinking Pedro was exaggerating. ’Who cares about gear? It’s just borrowed strength—why would it matter in the long run?’
[Normal Boots (Ultimate)][Description: Boots casually forged by a peerless yet anonymous human blacksmith.][Effect 1 (Passive): Movent speed: 400%.][Effect 2 (Active): Movent speed: 4,900% for 5 seconds. Cooldown: 30 minutes.][Effect 3 (Passive): Adapts the user to the speed gained.][Requirent: Human.][Warning: Effects are halved for each Oga above Oga 33.]
Sora’s jaw nearly hit the ground as he read the boots’ effects. ’What kind of item is this? An Ultimate item? Isn’t Legendary the highest rarity? Casually forged? This treasure is trash to its creator?!’
He recalled items being ranked from Common to Uncommon, Rare, Epic, Unique, and finally Legendary. This "Ultimate" rank hinted at sothing even stronger.
Without giving anyone the chance to ask for the boots back, he quickly equipped them.
Still in shock, Sora realized that items like this could be ga-changers, remaining relevant for a long ti. With Oga 33 indicating the level 165 range, it was far beyond his current power. Noticing the human-only requirent, Sora couldn’t believe his luck. ’This has to be the product of an Innate or Supre skill... It’s incredible. And these people just go around handing out things like this?’
"You’re right, one can’t go far without proper gear. Thank you." Sora politely accepted the gift, his opinion changing about items.
"Hey, stop drooling over the boots," Pedro said with a smirk. "Rember, they co back to us at the end of the trial… Now, let’s get going."
Sora reluctantly nodded, aware that running off with the boots would only lead to trouble. ’Unless… hehe. And I get to spend ti with Rachel, which gives a chance to see how strong she really is.’
Rachel, watching his expressions shift from worry to relief, then excitent, sulking, and finally a grin—all within a minute—could only shake her head.
Sora quickly leapt to their height, following the flying group as they resud their journey at lightning speed, hunting for enemies. Often, they encountered players, and depending on their faction, adjusted their actions.
When they found a small party of Elental Golems from the Fox group, the six humans ganged up on them. Despite their disadvantage against Foxes, they were so powerful that the handicap hardly seed to affect them. Sora, however, could display his might because of the [Venomous] buff.
’If I rember correctly, Elental Golems are focusing their attacks on North Arica, where the old USA and Canada stood.’ he thought, trying to rember the weaknesses of this species.
Sora watched his teammates fight from ti to ti, amazed.’These guys really are sothing else. Thank god the first PvP event didn’t require fighting directly,’
Clénce, the "kind" leader, turned out to be a ranged fighter who threw flying axes in every direction. The axes would return to her hands no matter where she was. Her thod didn’t match her delicate appearance.
Asia, a mage, had a unique spellcasting technique that stacked spells on her enemies, building up effects in a rhythm until they resonated and exponentially amplified all damage. Her spells, which initially seed weak, quickly overlapped, lting any player regardless of Life Force or defense—provided they couldn’t interrupt her chain of attacks.
Fighting half-heartedly, Sora marveled at her technique and silently resolved to learn sothing similar. ’This is incredible. I need to develop sothing like that to improve my mana efficiency and bring it closer to my body strength. I can’t keep relying on my crude usage of solid mana—it’s not proper mana control.’
Maxwell, anwhile, fought up close, his strikes making his enemies feel heavier with each blow. Sora couldn’t fully analyze the ability, but he suspected it might be either a Supre or Innate Skill.
Rachel and Pedro stayed in the back, observing the battle like parents watching over their kids at a playground. Sora found the sight disappointing, as it didn’t give him much information into Rachel’s current strength.
While his team seed unbeatable, Sora noticed that their opponents’ losses originated mostly from a lack of levels and coordination. The Elental Golems had impressive abilities—enough to impress Sora—but they couldn’t capitalize on them.
Recalling the three Dwarves he’d defeated instantly, Sora sighed in relief. ’I think I know the path I need to take… I’ll focus on killing my enemies before they even get the chance to use their abilities. Learning how to counter all these strange powers would be a waste of ti.’
When they later encountered a team of Vipers, Sora decided to hide, unwilling to risk the system penalizing him for attacking—or even assisting in an attack on—his own faction.
After dozens of battles, the team had grown to 35 players, including Emily, Kim, Kara, and other high-level humans.
When Sora reunited with his guildmates and Kara, he and Kara exchanged polite smiles, still hiding their relationship from Rachel.
"Yo, Min and Oni are nowhere to be seen. I doubt they managed to pass the trials from the 5th to the 7th floor. But five out of nine mbers of Aram made it to the 8th floor. This is incredible!" Emily said, clearly pleased with her recruits’ performance. "Good job on the 4th floor, Ralph—you surprised us in the final battle."
"Humans grouping together was a brilliant idea. Was it Clénce’s plan?" Kim asked, impressed by the group’s power and efficiency. "We kept seeing your nas pop up on the kill feed every few minutes… You’ve taken down so many players. Clénce’s reputation is well deserved, it seems."
Sora pointed at Pedro. "We just kept going wherever that guy pointed, and it was always the right direction."
As the group’s attention moved to Pedro, his expression stiffened, especially when Clénce glanced his way. Her gaze sharpened, and she quickly addressed the team. "Break ti’s over. Latecors, equip your boots and follow ."
By now, Sora was unfazed at seeing Pedro handing out Ultimate-level gear like candy, even giving extra items to weaker players. ’This guy is a walking goldmine… I would love to get more items from him. Should we kidnap him?’
Checking the event panel, Sora sighed when he saw how many players were left.
[Remaining players : 722]
They soon resud their movent, following Pedro’s guidance. They changed directions repeatedly, often just as they stopped in an area, trusting in Pedro’s ability to lead them toward a better spot.
This pattern continued until Pedro finally stopped giving directions. He muttered sothing under his breath before turning to Clénce. After a brief but tense exchange, Clénce sighed and addressed the group.
"Prepare for battle," she commanded, her voice loud. "Form three groups. Chickens on one side, Foxes on another, and Vipers on the last. We’ll fight back to back, covering all weaknesses."
The team quickly positioned themselves, forming three tightly coordinated groups, each facing a different direction. With everyone’s back covered, they braced for whatever was coming. Sora stole a glance at Clénce, catching the focus in her eyes, and the hundreds of axes she was summoning.
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