Chương 131: B2 Chapter 36 - The Fifth God

My sickle hit CinderLight in the back, missing his nape. How sloppy. I hadn't properly warmed up or practiced [Shadow Dash] as much as I used to. I'd hoped to one-shot the fire mage out of the way to duel Lrekk. The cut in the back brought Cinder to 68% health. He made distance with [Flame Steps], skating just out of my range. I heard steel scraping as Lrekk unsheathed his blade, protecting his fire mage. This works as well! Fire mages were famously bad at supporting close range combat.

Cinder would risk hitting Lrekk with most of his spells. He instead cast [Blade Of Flames], a buffing skill that added flames to Lrekk's sword. Lrekk pounced on me instantly; the opposite of what I was used to in Steel. His swing was basic and reckless, letting me slide in for an immediate counter. Sickle Of The Soul Harvester sliced his chestplate, inflicting [Haunt]. Gritting his teeth, Lrekk cast [Tackle]; a system-cast disengagement skill. I jumped back.

The moment the [Tackling] animation ended, I jumped straight back in for another hit, bringing him to 75% health with two stacks of evisceration. One more stack, and I could probably finish him. He activated [Cut Of Valor]. His defense increased tenfold as he wound up a crushing attack, which would both gap-close and throw a buffed superhuman slash. I [Shadow Dashed] through him, to CinderLight, and Lrekk's attack missed entirely. Cinder was already casting [Pool Of Lava] in anticipation.

The yellow grass under him burned as the ground turned to molten lava. I was forced to overshoot my dash, missing the one-shot. The moment my dash ended, Cinder shot [Fire Bolt]. I ran to the left, dodging. He's still a top player, I thought. This was far from a free assassination. Lrekk took a more defensive position, trying to avoid a duel with me. He couldn't keep up with me in an even battle, letting Cinder fire at me. The short exchange had felt great. [Shadow Dash] felt just as amazing as it always did.

Wonderwind PvP was just that much more intense than the staredowns in Steel. If only Veyra was here as well. More fire spells blasted at my face, and I was forced to retreat. My tools for assassinating CinderLight were limited. Behind me, more nametags appeared. I spotted [Syntrix] LilyRed. Shit, the other guilds were arriving. More particles flashed as people began teleporting in.

All around me were legendary gear pieces and heads to assassinate, but my chances of soloing this guild wipe were getting worse and worse. I had to retreat. Being the assassin class, I had an easy way to escape from most of my opponents in this terrain. I ran to the cliff and quite simply jumped down.

"Shoot him!" Lrekk shouted behind me. CinderLight's flames chased me down the cliff. I [Shadow Dashed] to the ground, and simultaneously dodged his spells. The area below was a forest, though a dead one. Moss grew here and there, but the ground was stone with tree trunks stubbornly growing through cracks and crevices. The cavern's ceiling was visible through the leafless, scraggly branches—like thorns enveloping me in a haunted forest. Nobody had followed.

Shaltar's castle was in the distance, but I could probably run past the walls and any guards that tried to shoot me, escaping to the opposite side. I eyed the woods for threats, turning my head, when I saw movement from above and to the right through the leafless branches of a tree. My heart thumped and I leaned back just as a [Silent Arrow] flashes past my head, missing by inches. Holy shit, I thought, adrenaline pumping straight back to action. That was pure luck.

I happened to glance in the direction just as the arrow fired. If I'd missed it, I wouldn't have sensed it. Hanging from a branch, I spotted the ranger player's bow, [Stealthed] and player tag hidden, as he fired another arrow. That one was most likely a [Homing Arrow]. I [Shadow Dashed] just as the arrow was about to hit me, and it passed through my shadowed form, now losing its target. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

By the time the dash ended, the figure was gone, nowhere to be seen. Where is he? I thought, while moving around in erratic patterns, hoping to make myself a difficult target. I didn't need a magic eight ball to know the identity of my opponent. VeilShot. I couldn't spot him anywhere even without any leaves obstructing the view. His camouflage was perfect. Another [Silent Arrow] came further from the right, but still in view where I could block.

VeilShot was trying to cut my escape route, forcing me back toward the cliff. I ran along the cliffside with gritted teeth. The assassin class was the fastest in the game, but that was a shared spot with the ranger class, especially when in terrain like this, where VeilShot could move from tree to tree. I can't run, I thought. He'll hunt me to the end of the map. The next arrow fired, and instead of dashing away, I [Shadow Dashed] straight at the tree where he'd fired from.

VeilShot was much closer than I'd anticipated. I caught his hooded figure grappling to the next tree branch and escaping my dash. My figure returned, and his bow was already drawn for the next arrow. [Silent Arrows] had lost their use, and he instead fired [Scatterbolt] for heavy firepower. The arrow split like a shotgun shell just before me. I dove to the side, but my health bar plummeted, unable to dodge it all.

[Oblique Transcendence - Blood Desperation Active Conditions Met] [Straight Attacks Are 100% More Effective When Under 40% Health]"Where's your mage?" VeilShot asked from the trees as he shot again. Except, nothing fired from his bow. This was a trick, kind of like [Afterimage]. A whoosh came from my left as another [Silent Arrow] fired at me. I'd done my research. I dodged it, knowing this was something VeilShot liked to do. When I glanced to my left, he was gone once again.

I gritted my teeth, cursing the fact that the assassin class didn't have [Super Sensitivity]. Never before had I felt anything like this against a ranger player. Rangers had great tools to hit bosses' weak spots for great DPS and CC tools, but archers weren't known for being good at PvP. VeilShot somehow felt unreachable. Where the fuck was he? The forest favored him greatly. I wouldn't be able to catch him here. I have SoulShadow's boots, I thought. My dashes are faster by one second. Maybe that was enough.

Once I got out of the forest, he couldn't grapple from tree to tree anymore. I decided to just fucking run for it. I bolted out, popping a health potion while I was at it. Running in a straight line was just as predictable for an archer as standing still, yet I needed the speed. Zig-zagging would have made my escape too slow. But when [Shadow Dash] was active, no arrow could hit me. I added as many G-forces as I could into the dash as the game physically allowed and more, pushing the ability to its absolute limit.

The dash ended, and I continued running. Now I had to swerve around a little, though, weaving left and right, between tree trunks, to increase my chances of dodging a [Silent Arrow]. VeilShot's aim could be perfect, but matching that with perfect prediction at this distance was almost impossible. He must have thought the same. An audio cue came, like electricity zapping, as he began casting an ultimate, [Arrow Of The Thunder God]. He has a mythic bow, I reminded myself.

The effect of that bow allowed him to cast two types of arrows at once, one every minute. That arrow was most definitely going to be a [Homing Arrow]. [Shadow Dash] was still on cooldown for over two seconds. If I got hit, I was dead. The arrow flew at me like a bolt of lightning. I tossed The Immortal straight at it. The arrow collided, and thunder burst through the layers of the underground, smiting my dagger into smitherines, as the trees erupted to blue flames.

[Item The Immortal has lost all of its durability in one blow. The item has been rendered unusable. Bring it to a blacksmith for repair.] I ran like my life depended on it, casting one more dash to escape out of the woods, onto the open plains just outside Shaltar's Castle. Archers began firing at me from the battlements. I kept running, and that was enough to dodge the NPC's fire. A bigger threat was someone from the cliff firing at me. But no more attacks came.

I kept running and dashing for another two minutes, way past the castle and to the opposite side, changing directions a few times with my dashes, until I was sure that nobody had followed me. At the end of it, my stamina bar was essentially at zero. I leaned against a tree to catch my breath. My legs pulsed with aches, like I'd just ran a marathon. Each breath felt heavy. Holy shit, VeilShot was good. Of course he was, being one of the five gods. I couldn't think of a way I could have reliably assassinated him.

Just dashing at him didn't cut it; his movement and prediction was too good. I knew he wasn't useless in melee combat either, as he kept daggers as a secondary weapon. If anything, I was lucky to have escaped. If Veyra was with me, we could have caught him, I thought. Hell, if she was with me, we could have probably wiped his whole guild.

"Goddammit…" I cursed under my breath as I drank another health potion, which also helped with stamina a little bit. Then I bit my lip, thinking. A large-scale battle would take place soon between the best guilds in the game. Many players would die on both sides even if nobody intervened. This was a massive opportunity. There was so much goddamned loot available. Over a dozen players with mythic gear would be involved, and pretty much every kill would grant a legendary item.

I was also warmed up, with my melee combat feeling more confident than ever. I didn't think I could lose to any sword user in the game right now. I could have gladly challenged Dragrath. But alone… I just didn't have the tools needed to make profit here. I needed my Goddess, who just happened to be on break right now… Screw it, I thought, and sent her a message. Assassin:" Massive guild wipe in Wonderwind in half an hour. Are you available?" I sent my prayers and really hoped she'd see the message in time.