“We’ve spotted them! Ninen of them! Levels 749, 815, 954, 367, 412, 384, 579, 721 and 987!” a scout called out to all of the forces waiting in the outpost.
It was as if a breath of cold air had fallen over everyone.
“Ah, well, looks like we should be getting some good experience and materials,” Dwayne said to Josh over the general chat.
“I’ve always wanted a tiger pelt,” Josh said thoughtfully.
“Gross, dude. I’m much more interested in how they taste! I’ve heard that sometimes high quality beast meat can return not only Mana and Stamina but both. We’ll be eating better than kings tonight!” Dwayne laughed.
Dwayne and Josh might be a little apprehensive about going up against such powerful creatures, but they couldn’t show it.
Gamers naturally challenged one another, even if they were in the same team or guild. Having better weapons and gear was all good, but the person who did the most damage, or showed just how awesome their abilities were—that was what true gamers lived for. They aimed to be number one; if they were number fifteen or sixteen, they would do everything in their power the next time to be better.
Dwayne and Josh’s words ignited the Players’ fighting spirit as they pulled out their best weapons and gear that they had been holding onto until they entered the temple. Many of these weapons weren’t soul bound and thus could be lost if they died.
But the gauntlet had been thrown down! No gamer would let such a blatant challenge go! They were the best in Emerilia and they were going to show the rest of the world!
“You Players are crazy,” Vrexu said to Josh on a private chat.
“Ah, we’re just competitive.” Josh grinned.
The scared expressions had turned into eager smiles and grins. Sure, they could die here and lose some stat points—so what? This was the biggest raid EVER! They had gone deeper into Ashal wilderness than any other group. Running away might be the smart idea, but these tigers offered the type of challenge that they had come to Ashal for.
Guilds and teams checked with their people, making sure that they were ready, making sure everyone knew their role. With just a few words, they could coordinate with one another. In this battle, seconds would count.
“Three west side, five east, two south!” a scout called out.
Josh saw as the tigers left the cleared area around the outpost.
They were massive. Three were actually bigger than the first tiger they had run into.
“Aerial moving in to attack. Mortars, you are free to fire as needed,” Efri said over general chat.
“Understood,” Vrexu said. The two DCA forces had become much closer as they had fought through the wilderness. The separation created by fighting one another in Anna’s war games in Devil’s Crater had been repaired as they were forced to work together.
They’d come to rely and work with one another. As the aerial forces dropped their Mana bombs onto the oncoming tigers, the ground forces fired their Mana bomb mortars. It took incredible trust and coordination for this to work. If the aerial forces dropped, then they could be hit by the mortars’ Mana bombs.
The tigers roared. The younger ones tried to attack those in the sky, falling behind the older and more powerful tigers that surged toward the outpost.
Under their skin, Josh could see the powerful muscles stretching and pulling. They were magnificent and powerful beasts but today they’d learn why you shouldn’t fight the people and Players of Emerilia.
“Ranged, release!” Gimel yelled. Spells and ranged attacks carved through the air.
“Fire as targets come into range!” Vrexu said. Spearheads shot out like arrows, exploding as they came into contact with the ground or the tigers.
The ground jumped up, creating a barrier for the attacks as the tigers plowed forward, losing Health here and there. But it wasn’t enough to slow them.
The Level 989 let out a roar that seemed to shake Josh’s very soul.
A green light fell over all of the tigers.
“It’s some kind of buff!” a scout said as the tigers continued forward, their Health bars covered by a green light, showing that they had additional protection.
As they reached one kilometer, they were within range of all the ranged weaponry.
The Level 384 from the east had its green protection drop off from its Health bar. The Stone Raiders were on average around Level 300 when not including the more veteran units that had been with them since the beginning. As the tiger’s protection dropped, it took less than ten seconds before the tiger’s Health hit zero and it collapsed to the ground.
No one cheered as they moved to their next target.
The Level 589 from the west was the second to go, followed shortly by the 367 from the east and the 412 from the south.
The tigers had been reduced to six fighters, all of them above 650.
“Mana shield!” Dwayne yelled out.
Mana shields, unlike Mana barriers, made a solid wall of Mana. Any attacks from either side would be blocked, including physical attacks.
Fights along the open sections of wall stopped as Mana shields rose.
The southern Level 954 hit first. The entire shield shook with the impact. It bounced off a few feet the shield, losing half of its Health in that one blow.
The east shield took multiple hits, one from the Level 987 and one from the 721 tiger.
They were thrown back; the mages and ranged on the complete walls fought with everything they had.
The Level 653 hit the shield, their momentum stopped but they weren’t thrown back; the shield was the one to give way.
Aerial forces concentrated on the east side. Melee fighters closest to the Level 600 that had made it in were covered in buffs as they rushed in, aggroing the tiger. Thankfully this one wasn’t as smart as the higher levels and the tanks could offset their attacks, pulling the tiger in different directions.
The melee fighters were as big as the tiger’s paw but still they stepped up, lashing out with their attacks to take aggro off one another before protecting themselves from the tiger’s attacks. They could only take a few hits before they would lose their footing or be injured, so their coordination had to be amazing.
“I’ve got him! Come here!”
“Need Health!”
“Buffs incoming!”
“Nice sneak attack!”
“Someone else aggro!”
“I’ve got aggro!”
“Watch out—big boys are coming in!”
Josh listened to the controlled voices of the Players and POEs.
There was only slight panic when calling out for heals. Even that was quickly fixed as people chain healed together, getting people back on their feet in a few seconds, making them almost invulnerable for a few moments with the healing over time spells.
Josh pulled out his daggers. The fight had devolved into party fighting. There were too many enemies for them to focus their efforts like they had with the first tiger. “Dwayne, Kim, Lucy, Esa—let’s go cause some trouble. I want that Level 900!”
Dwayne and Esa let out roars. It was a skill that emboldened others and increased their fighting abilities. They charged forward. The Level 721 was occupied and the melee fighters were getting slapped around by the Level 900.
Josh slinked away out of the Level 900’s vision, picking up speed as he did.
Dwayne and Esa landed their hits. Lucy threw out buffs that increased their speed and Stamina recharge, decreased their cooldown, and gave them a layer of protection.
Kim unleashed Mana bolts from her hands and threw out poisoned darts. These darts decreased defense and would make the tiger sluggish.
The tiger let out a pained yowl at the hits. Each of the Stone Raider lieutenants was equal to a Level 800. The difference between them and the Level 900 tiger was massive, but working together they’d taken down a fifth of its Health bar in just a few seconds.
“I’ve got aggro!” Esa yelled, defending as the tiger laid into her.
> Josh took this chance to attack. His body seemed to turn into a shadowy dart as his senses locked onto the weaknesses of the tiger. He dodged past the wildly moving tails, as the tiger moved its entire body suddenly to land a massive attack on Esa.
Esa went flying. Josh felt power flood through his weapons as he locked onto an artery that ran between the tiger’s neck and shoulder blade. He passed in a bloody streak. His blades dug in deep, cutting through the tiger’s tough hide and digging deep into the muscle and sinew of the tiger’s neck.
Josh dropped to the ground, rolling and taking off. None of the blood had even touched his clothes as blood pumped out of the tiger’s neck vigorously. Josh looked at the side of his screen as Dwayne let out a roar, beating his shield, to draw attention away from Josh, who once again turned into a phantom blur. Josh circled around.
Esa was back in the fight but her armor was dented and dried blood colored her lips and ran down from the corner of her mouth. She took aggro from Dwayne, who was getting heavily beaten.
Kim and Lucy were supporting but they were overwhelmed.
Josh looked at the deep wound he’d left. The tiger’s pelt now had a bloody red coloring it as it moved around, slightly sluggish. But before Josh’s eyes, the wound knit back together.
Josh once again turned, moving out of the creature’s peripheral vision when the very ground seemed to erupt under the tiger. The air seemed to shimmer in anger as the tiger was hit from multiple directions.
He watched as summoned creations attacked from every side, pulling the tiger’s Health downward.
Induca appeared, like a goddess of war, as she unleashed a continuous stream of fire onto the tiger. It let out a pained yell, trying to get away from the attack as Steve appeared from the midst of their fight with the Level 700 tiger.
“Put me down!” Gurren yelled, at odds with Steve’s war cry.
An angry Dwarf was thrown through the air. “I’m going to kill you, Steve!”
“Fuck, I’m not a Dwarven dart!” Lox barked, following Gurren as they flew.
Look more like baseballs than darts, Josh thought as the fire disappeared. Gurren and Lox’s swords dug into the tiger as they flew over the beast.
It lurched forward with a pained growl. Its back caved downward in reflex as twin red grooves were left in its pelt.
Gurren and Lox hit the ground, tumbling for a few meters.
The tiger turned to attack them as Induca’s flames once again slammed into it.
“Home run!” Steve yelled, planting his foot and swinging his axe with all of his strength.
The tiger had been turning its head away from the flames; now its eyes went wide as it saw an axe as big as a man being swung like a baseball bat from the opposite direction. It didn’t have any time to react before Steve’s axe slammed into its skull.
The tiger’s head snapped back from the impact. A great bloody line appeared on its head as it fell backward.
Steve nearly fell over, getting himself together as the tiger turned back to face him.
It let out a roar that shook the ground. Grass and plants grew in seconds, covering Steve as well as all of those within ten meters of the tiger.
Its tails lashed out, hitting Gurren and Lox as its paw hit Dwayne, making him spit blood, unable to defend or move from his green prison.
Josh came in from the side of the tiger. As he passed, the grass moved as if a light breeze had just passed over them. Josh’s daggers cut through the tough hide and punctured the tiger’s heart. The time between Josh stabbing the tiger and the blade coming out on the other side of it was less than a second. It seemed as if he had teleported to the other side of the tiger. Fresh blood dripped from his blades.
The tiger let out a pained yell as its Health dropped down to a sixth of its health pool. Its body healed the massive wound Josh had inflicted upon it. Its hold on the Earth prisons relaxed.
Steve tore himself free, pulling Dwayne out as if he were a carrot.
The tiger looked to Josh with red glowing eyes. The others had injured it heavily but two of the biggest hits had come from Josh. It leaped toward Josh.
Josh evaded as the tiger was thrown to the side by a powerful fireball. Lightning arced down from the sky, taking the tiger to a seventh of its Health. It wasn’t deterred as it chased Josh.
Josh had spent an incredible amount of Mana and Stamina on the last hit; moving that fast burned his Stamina at nearly ten times his normal rate.
The tiger, although massive, was not slow. Josh had to dodge constantly, burning up more of his Stamina with his high speed movements. He drank a Stamina potion as Dwayne freed Esa. Healing light fell over him as he then ran toward the tiger.
Steve had freed Gurren and Lox, and the trio moved over to the tiger.
Josh was smacked by a paw. Blood rose up in him as he hit the ground and rolled. He spat blood; his armor had taken a lot of the impact but his Vitality wasn’t all that high.
He jumped to his feet, burning Stamina as he pulled out a high-grade Health potion. He downed it. He’d had so many Stamina potions that they were nearing twenty percent effeciency.
Steve, Lox, Gurren, Esa, and Dwayne were covered in boosts. Lucy panted from the Mana she’d spent as the five melee fighters let out their yells. The tiger’s tails lashed out, hitting Steve so hard his upper body dented as he was sent back twenty feet, creating a groove in the ground.
The other four made it into range! Their weapons lashed out, the pain making the tiger look behind it.
Lightning and fire came together, exploding just above the tiger. It was like a hammer of the gods had rained down on it, breaking its back and slamming it into the ground.
Even Josh was tossed by the force of the combined spell.
Summoned Air creatures that had pulled back with the magical spells now launched themselves forward, cutting at the tiger and whittling away at the less than ten percent Health that was remaining.
Josh got his feet under himself, seeing the tiger raising its neck to let out a roar.
The ground under Josh’s feet exploded outward as he rushed forward. He held his blades out, burning his Stamina. He barely felt the blades sink into the tiger’s neck as he came to the other side, stumbling as he lost all power in his body. His breath came in heaving pants as the tiger’s life blood colored the torn-up ground.
Its head fell forward, its eyes lifeless from the last hit.
The remaining tigers let out a roar that shook the ground. Their Health recovered, bringing them back to one hundred percent Health!
The Level 700 at the east wall tore into the guilds and DCA alike.
Josh couldn’t even move as it tore through its encirclement, a red hue around its Health bar as its tails lashed out, sending the melee types flying.
Its paw broke Josh’s Mana barrier, and its claws dug through his armor and into his chest.
Josh’s Health bar dropped in seconds as he spat blood. He used the last of his strength to lay a powerful curse on the tiger that killed him. His vision turned white as he found himself in a blank-looking room.
You have died in Emerilia
You have been returned home.
You have 5:59 hours (game time) until you can respawn at (Alephir)
Or
1:59 hours in real life
Would you like to play a different game while you wait?
“That fucking tiger!” Josh yelled into the room, going through his interface and accessing the shared guild room within. “We’re putting an ono down there now! There is no bloody way I’m missing out on this raid!”
Chapter 26: You or Me
There was just three tigers left.
Dave couldn’t do anything but sense as the Level 700 tiger went on a killing spree. His consciousness was infused into the soul gem building he was working.
He had connected to every amulet that the Stone Raiders and their allies were wearing to draw power from the soul gems to fuel their spells. Using that as a homing beacon, he c
reated a magical code.
Dave linked the magical code up with the rest of the soul gem constructs. Power flared out from the buildings. It passed to the DCA, the Stone Raiders, and everyone else wearing the amulet.
A second sun filled the skies.
The tigers yelled out, disoriented by the hasty flashbang spell Dave had created, powered by several vault soul gems and other lower-classed soul gems.
Dave let out a breath and held his head, clearing it after a few seconds as he looked around. He stood in the middle of an unfinished floor. Only about a foot of the floor had grown; superstructure extended all around him and upward.
His heart seemed to stop as his eye found Malsour.
Dave had seen Malsour fight many times. He was the type of fighter to save his strength, use the minimal amount of force to alter the balance in his direction. That was completely in contrast to the war Demon riding a steel surfboard with great billowing clouds of darkness following behind him.
Deia was wreathed in flames to his left, and Anna to his right in white ribbons of air that howled to be released.
The Level 700 tiger was pawing at its head, unable to hear or see anything in the passing of the flashbang spell. Flame spears seemed to appear in its hide. Lightning poured from Kim’s hands as other mages unleashed their spells.
The tiger shivered, lowering itself in deference, but the time for giving up was gone.
Induca floated in the air, hurling spear after spear, so fast that their pressure waves tore up the ground as they passed overhead. The tiger was thrown back as they impacted.
The mages and ranged fighters added in their attacks. The tiger couldn’t do anything to fight back; it was off-balance. It couldn’t even try to run away. The tiger had come to kill these supposed weaker creatures, but had instead found a hidden Dragon lurking in their midst.
The Level 954 at the south entrance wasn’t as badly stunned as the Level 700; still, it never saw Anna, Malsour, and Deia’s attack coming.
A spear of solid metal formed, runes engraved down its length as it tore through the sky.
Anna unleashed an attack that cut through the air, turning a small region into a vacuum as air was forced out of the path of the spear. A focused explosion ignited behind the spear.
Time of Change (Emerilia Book 7) Page 28
