The Demon Faction players did not expect that in the eyes of the damned Level 41 Aquamancer, the Tier 4 Elite Boss Vampire Leech was far less alluring to him than themselves.
After the Demon Faction party retreated from the fight, Qin Ruo caught up to them in “stealth mode” from the side. The six Frostramparts under his command moved and abruptly blocked the Bowmasters and Priests who were leading the escape.
Poochie followed Qin Ruo and entered the Frosrampart formation.
Boom!
A Radiant Priest cried and fell into the pool.
“Bastard!”
An enraged Elementalist from Maverick Vatican scowled and turned around. He blindly threw a Magic Scroll toward the Frostlake and yelled, “Pyroburst!”
Boom!
A blazing fireball was shot past his comrade and burned an empty area about ten meters away from them.
“Force him out. I don’t believe we will lose to one f*cking rat!”
“Cast spell!”
“Bowmaster, take down the damn Pet!”
The other Elementalists copied the first Elementalist’s tactic and flicked open their Magic Scrolls. They chanted spells and released their Magic Scroll recklessly in all direction except one in the hope of exposing the enemy trace. Unfortunately, they had underestimated Qin Ruo’s speed and mobility.
Qin Ruo had sneaked to the front of the group. The Demon Faction players were wasting their effort throwing the Magic Scroll toward the three other directions (back, left, right). After another short instance, Poochie eliminated two other Radiant Priest from the group under Qin Ruo’s command.
“Chi! Chi!”
A few Bowmasters groaned and released arrows in quick succession in an attempt to slow Poochie’s attacks, but none of it could hit the lighting quick little creature. All the released arrows flew past Poochie and shot into the lake.
Although Poochie was not hit, the Bowmasters’ attack did delay Poochie’s movement and forced it to change course. Being a Pet with great ego, Poochie was agitated. It chirped and darted to the face of one of the Bowmasters like a bolt of lightning.
“Ah!!!”
The Bowmaster’s vision was blurred by the rapid movement. Then, two gold claws scratched across his face in a gust of wind. Just when the painful sensation started to kick in, the Bowmaster felt another fluffy substance hack his neck.
It was Poochie’s combo attack—Shadow Slash and Shadow Swipe.
The Tier 3 skill”Shadow Slash was a dual-attack skill. However, it was still at Novice Mastery, so there was only a ten percent enhancement in the attack attribute. Nonetheless, this skill still inflicted more than two hundred fifty damage per attack. Coupled by the Tier 2 skill Shadow Swipe’s damage, it was sufficed to instant kill a Bowmaster that had a relatively low HP.
***
“Squeak!”
The little creature was jubilant after it killed a player, and it did not stop there. Poochie leaped from the dead body and jumped toward the second Bowmaster at the right side.
Poochie happened to take aim at the first Bowmaster following its trail. The Bowmaster received a system notification informing that his comrade had fallen and Poochie had exited his targeting range by using the dead body’s neck as a springboard. The Bowmaster was bewildered when he saw the brown figure drew near to him in a nick of time.
Before he could align his bow, he was knocked out of the way by the little critter and shrieked in pain.
Three dead and one injured. The one-sided massacre terrified the other Bowmasters. They wished to leave this place at once, but something unexpected once again happened to the Vampire Leech.
Qin Ruo, who “treasured” the Demon Faction players more than the Vampire Leech, deactivated Aquamorph once he confirmed that nobody was paying attention. The Bowmasters were all aiming at Poochie while the Elementalists were facing away from him as they were distracted by the fast coming Dark Cyclone and his comrades.
Of course, Qin Ruo was not that bold to expose himself in front of so many Elementalists without putting his barrier up. He placed himself among the Frostramparts and hidden well within the blind spot to remain unnoticed from the Demon Faction players.
“Lycan Barrage!”
Poof! Poof!
Two ferocious water wolf skulls broke out from the lake under the exclamation of several rival faction Elementalists. However, the target of the water wolf skulls was not one of them. Instead, these projectiles traveled through the air and hit the two paralyzed Demon Faction players the Vampire Leech detained.
Demon Faction player was killed, gained 1 Honor Point.
Demon Faction player was killed…
Qin Ruo was exploding with glee.
‘One Honor Point for each attack, brilliant!’
Witnessing this, another round of exclamations erupted among the Demon Faction players.
“Monster! This guy is a monster!”
“Blast the Fronstrampart away and run now!”
The Elementalists still could not locate Qin Ruo’s whereabouts, while the projectiles of the Aquamancer reconstructed and killed the third and fourth Demon Faction players entrapped by the leech. The group could no longer withhold the horror and began to focus fire on the Frostramparts surrounding them.
‘For goodness sake!’
Qin Ruo was restless. He never thought these Elementalists were so mentally weak that they decided to run for good. He was nervous and instructed Poochie to right the ship while he stopped the Lycan Barrage and resumed the manipulation on the Frostrampart to forbid the Elementalists from leaving.
‘Bam!’
Just as one of the Frostramparts was shattered into pieces, one after another Frostrampart were ascended from the Frostlake to replace it at a quick rate—all thanks to the insane Aqua condensation speed in this Underground Frostlake. In addition, the rival Elementalists also did not blatantly used all their Magic Scroll to demolish the Frostramparts, or else Qin Ruo’s position should have already been exposed by now.
If Qin Ruo was restless, then the Demon Faction Elementalists were even more so. They were tensed enough to face an Aquamancer, and yet Qin Ruo went ahead to kill the few comrades who were providing HP to the Vampire Leech. It was because of the abandoned players that the dying Vampire Leech had chosen to stay put and replenished its insufficient HP, which gave others the window to escape. Qin Ruo’s intervention lured over the Boss to them earlier than expected. When that happened, wouldn’t the whole situation become more chaotic and scarier?
‘What is this crazy Aquamancer thinking?’
***
Poochie increased its speed after sensing the urgency and anxiety in Qin Ruo’s mind.
“Cheeep!”
In a flash, Poochie’s Shadow Razors tore apart the defensive barrier of a frightened Elementalist and landed six claw marks on him in quick succession. Another instant kill! Poochie continued its attack and bounced to another victim.
Dark Cyclone who received Qin Ruo’s message had also reached timely.
The remaining rival faction players were the last group left, and they were heavily injured. Dark In order to flatter Qin Ruo and leave him a good impression, Dark Cyclone and company gave it their all and attacked mercilessly on the beaten up opponents.
The reinforcement provided by the five men group and Poochie greatly reduced the pressure from Qin Ruo.
The Demon Faction players no longer attempt to destroy the Frostrampart. Their initial number advantage had been dampened and their lives were at stake now, why would they bother about the Frostrampart?
The remaining Demon Faction party forced to shift their focus on the newly arrived rival faction players and Poochie. They resisted the attack while continuing to retreat. Once their attention was distracted, Qin Ruo could finally relax and continue to manipulate the Frostrampart to prevent them from fleeing the scene.
“F*ck! How shameless!”
The leftover Demon Faction Elementalists and Bowmasters were irritated by Qin Ruo’s constant nuisance, yet they were powerless against it. All they could manage was to curse him as loud as possible, while bemoaning in their minds, ‘Fuck the Angel Faction, what kind of angel is this? This evil lad is more despicable, more of a demon than those in the Demon Faction. Don’t let me bump to you next time… F*cking please, don’t ever let me meet this bastard evil Aquamancer ever again!!!’
Without the two Bowmasters, Dark Cyclone and Poochie pinned the other Demon Faction players. The defeated party gave up running and launched their final, meaningless retaliation.
Blood must be paid with blood.
Unfortunately, their final efforts ended in vain.
Qin Ruo had learned his lesson. While they were in total control, he ignored the Demon Faction players seized by Vampire Leech who would last for a while more and altered the course of his water wolf projectiles to plummet into the Frostlake. Less than a second later, the two wolves emerged from the water beneath the two Demon Faction Bowmasters and hit their jaw. They groaned in serious pain and were thrown upwards before they fell into the lake, back first.
The final three Elementalists were overwhelmed by Poochie, Cyclone, and four other Angel Faction players. Qin Ruo took a quick look at them, then on the Vampire Leech. He made a decision, and raised the Water Dragon’s Staff and pointed it toward the Vampire Leech.
“Rise. Frost! Burst!”
***
The Vampire Leech was indeed a clever Tier 4 Elite Boss. Despite the heated battle, it did not pay much attention to the other site; instead it focused on further tightening the constriction over the player wrapped by its tentacles. The Boss drained the blood of its prey carefully yet greedily to replenish the HP it had lost to the previous adventurers.
Initially, eight preys would suffice to restore much of its vitality. However, the despicable Aquamancer had taken half of it. ‘Blasted adventurer!’ If it was not because of the Aquamancer’s powerful aura, it would have long annihilated the weaklings and consumed them.
It was, after all, a Tier 4 Elite Boss at its peak, so it had high intelligence. Moreover, in this environment, it could tell that the Aquamancer was skillful in Elementalism and possessed formidable offensive prowess. It did not want to face such a daunting opponent before it consumed enough fresh blood first.
Only a champion would excel in Elemental Perception, Aquamorph, as well as the long-lost Lycan Barrage. Besides, the opponent was emitting a powerful sense of life force—a rich bloodthirst aura like itself. Not to mention the unnerving little creature. All of these made the Boss unsettled.
The Vampire Leech felt threatened by Qin Ruo’s presence. Due to this, even after Qin Ruo had cast a Frostburst besides it and killed another three of its prey, the Boss monster symbolically tapped the lake water to demonstrate its displeasure, while transferring its last prey on its back to protect it from the awful Aquamancer.
The Demon Faction players did not expect that in the eyes of the damned Level 41 Aquamancer, the Tier 4 Elite Boss Vampire Leech was far less alluring to him than themselves.
After the Demon Faction party retreated from the fight, Qin Ruo caught up to them in “stealth mode” from the side. The six Frostramparts under his command moved and abruptly blocked the Bowmasters and Priests who were leading the escape.
Poochie followed Qin Ruo and entered the Frosrampart formation.
Boom!
A Radiant Priest cried and fell into the pool.
“Bastard!”
An enraged Elementalist from Maverick Vatican scowled and turned around. He blindly threw a Magic Scroll toward the Frostlake and yelled, “Pyroburst!”
Boom!
A blazing fireball was shot past his comrade and burned an empty area about ten meters away from them.
“Force him out. I don’t believe we will lose to one f*cking rat!”
“Cast spell!”
“Bowmaster, take down the damn Pet!”
The other Elementalists copied the first Elementalist’s tactic and flicked open their Magic Scrolls. They chanted spells and released their Magic Scroll recklessly in all direction except one in the hope of exposing the enemy trace. Unfortunately, they had underestimated Qin Ruo’s speed and mobility.
Qin Ruo had sneaked to the front of the group. The Demon Faction players were wasting their effort throwing the Magic Scroll toward the three other directions (back, left, right). After another short instance, Poochie eliminated two other Radiant Priest from the group under Qin Ruo’s command.
“Chi! Chi!”
A few Bowmasters groaned and released arrows in quick succession in an attempt to slow Poochie’s attacks, but none of it could hit the lighting quick little creature. All the released arrows flew past Poochie and shot into the lake.
Although Poochie was not hit, the Bowmasters’ attack did delay Poochie’s movement and forced it to change course. Being a Pet with great ego, Poochie was agitated. It chirped and darted to the face of one of the Bowmasters like a bolt of lightning.
“Ah!!!”
The Bowmaster’s vision was blurred by the rapid movement. Then, two gold claws scratched across his face in a gust of wind. Just when the painful sensation started to kick in, the Bowmaster felt another fluffy substance hack his neck.
It was Poochie’s combo attack—Shadow Slash and Shadow Swipe.
The Tier 3 skill”Shadow Slash was a dual-attack skill. However, it was still at Novice Mastery, so there was only a ten percent enhancement in the attack attribute. Nonetheless, this skill still inflicted more than two hundred fifty damage per attack. Coupled by the Tier 2 skill Shadow Swipe’s damage, it was sufficed to instant kill a Bowmaster that had a relatively low HP.
***
“Squeak!”
The little creature was jubilant after it killed a player, and it did not stop there. Poochie leaped from the dead body and jumped toward the second Bowmaster at the right side.
Poochie happened to take aim at the first Bowmaster following its trail. The Bowmaster received a system notification informing that his comrade had fallen and Poochie had exited his targeting range by using the dead body’s neck as a springboard. The Bowmaster was bewildered when he saw the brown figure drew near to him in a nick of time.
Before he could align his bow, he was knocked out of the way by the little critter and shrieked in pain.
Three dead and one injured. The one-sided massacre terrified the other Bowmasters. They wished to leave this place at once, but something unexpected once again happened to the Vampire Leech.
Qin Ruo, who “treasured” the Demon Faction players more than the Vampire Leech, deactivated Aquamorph once he confirmed that nobody was paying attention. The Bowmasters were all aiming at Poochie while the Elementalists were facing away from him as they were distracted by the fast coming Dark Cyclone and his comrades.
Of course, Qin Ruo was not that bold to expose himself in front of so many Elementalists without putting his barrier up. He placed himself among the Frostramparts and hidden well within the blind spot to remain unnoticed from the Demon Faction players.
“Lycan Barrage!”
Poof! Poof!
Two ferocious water wolf skulls broke out from the lake under the exclamation of several rival faction Elementalists. However, the target of the water wolf skulls was not one of them. Instead, these projectiles traveled through the air and hit the two paralyzed Demon Faction players the Vampire Leech detained.
Demon Faction player was killed, gained 1 Honor Point.
Demon Faction player was killed…
Qin Ruo was exploding with glee.
‘One Honor Point for each attack, brilliant!’
Witnessing this, another round of exclamations erupted among the Demon Faction players.
“Monster! This guy is a monster!”
“Blast the Fronstrampart away and run now!”
The Elementalists still could not locate Qin Ruo’s whereabouts, while the projectiles of the Aquamancer reconstructed and killed the third and fourth Demon Faction players entrapped by the leech. The group could no longer withhold the horror and began to focus fire on the Frostramparts surrounding them.
‘For goodness sake!’
Qin Ruo was restless. He never thought these Elementalists were so mentally weak that they decided to run for good. He was nervous and instructed Poochie to right the ship while he stopped the Lycan Barrage and resumed the manipulation on the Frostrampart to forbid the Elementalists from leaving.
‘Bam!’
Just as one of the Frostramparts was shattered into pieces, one after another Frostrampart were ascended from the Frostlake to replace it at a quick rate—all thanks to the insane Aqua condensation speed in this Underground Frostlake. In addition, the rival Elementalists also did not blatantly used all their Magic Scroll to demolish the Frostramparts, or else Qin Ruo’s position should have already been exposed by now.
If Qin Ruo was restless, then the Demon Faction Elementalists were even more so. They were tensed enough to face an Aquamancer, and yet Qin Ruo went ahead to kill the few comrades who were providing HP to the Vampire Leech. It was because of the abandoned players that the dying Vampire Leech had chosen to stay put and replenished its insufficient HP, which gave others the window to escape. Qin Ruo’s intervention lured over the Boss to them earlier than expected. When that happened, wouldn’t the whole situation become more chaotic and scarier?
‘What is this crazy Aquamancer thinking?’
***
Poochie increased its speed after sensing the urgency and anxiety in Qin Ruo’s mind.
“Cheeep!”
In a flash, Poochie’s Shadow Razors tore apart the defensive barrier of a frightened Elementalist and landed six claw marks on him in quick succession. Another instant kill! Poochie continued its attack and bounced to another victim.
Dark Cyclone who received Qin Ruo’s message had also reached timely.
The remaining rival faction players were the last group left, and they were heavily injured. Dark In order to flatter Qin Ruo and leave him a good impression, Dark Cyclone and company gave it their all and attacked mercilessly on the beaten up opponents.
The reinforcement provided by the five men group and Poochie greatly reduced the pressure from Qin Ruo.
The Demon Faction players no longer attempt to destroy the Frostrampart. Their initial number advantage had been dampened and their lives were at stake now, why would they bother about the Frostrampart?
The remaining Demon Faction party forced to shift their focus on the newly arrived rival faction players and Poochie. They resisted the attack while continuing to retreat. Once their attention was distracted, Qin Ruo could finally relax and continue to manipulate the Frostrampart to prevent them from fleeing the scene.
“F*ck! How shameless!”
The leftover Demon Faction Elementalists and Bowmasters were irritated by Qin Ruo’s constant nuisance, yet they were powerless against it. All they could manage was to curse him as loud as possible, while bemoaning in their minds, ‘Fuck the Angel Faction, what kind of angel is this? This evil lad is more despicable, more of a demon than those in the Demon Faction. Don’t let me bump to you next time… F*cking please, don’t ever let me meet this bastard evil Aquamancer ever again!!!’
Without the two Bowmasters, Dark Cyclone and Poochie pinned the other Demon Faction players. The defeated party gave up running and launched their final, meaningless retaliation.
Blood must be paid with blood.
Unfortunately, their final efforts ended in vain.
Qin Ruo had learned his lesson. While they were in total control, he ignored the Demon Faction players seized by Vampire Leech who would last for a while more and altered the course of his water wolf projectiles to plummet into the Frostlake. Less than a second later, the two wolves emerged from the water beneath the two Demon Faction Bowmasters and hit their jaw. They groaned in serious pain and were thrown upwards before they fell into the lake, back first.
The final three Elementalists were overwhelmed by Poochie, Cyclone, and four other Angel Faction players. Qin Ruo took a quick look at them, then on the Vampire Leech. He made a decision, and raised the Water Dragon’s Staff and pointed it toward the Vampire Leech.
“Rise. Frost! Burst!”
***
The Vampire Leech was indeed a clever Tier 4 Elite Boss. Despite the heated battle, it did not pay much attention to the other site; instead it focused on further tightening the constriction over the player wrapped by its tentacles. The Boss drained the blood of its prey carefully yet greedily to replenish the HP it had lost to the previous adventurers.
Initially, eight preys would suffice to restore much of its vitality. However, the despicable Aquamancer had taken half of it. ‘Blasted adventurer!’ If it was not because of the Aquamancer’s powerful aura, it would have long annihilated the weaklings and consumed them.
It was, after all, a Tier 4 Elite Boss at its peak, so it had high intelligence. Moreover, in this environment, it could tell that the Aquamancer was skillful in Elementalism and possessed formidable offensive prowess. It did not want to face such a daunting opponent before it consumed enough fresh blood first.
Only a champion would excel in Elemental Perception, Aquamorph, as well as the long-lost Lycan Barrage. Besides, the opponent was emitting a powerful sense of life force—a rich bloodthirst aura like itself. Not to mention the unnerving little creature. All of these made the Boss unsettled.
The Vampire Leech felt threatened by Qin Ruo’s presence. Due to this, even after Qin Ruo had cast a Frostburst besides it and killed another three of its prey, the Boss monster symbolically tapped the lake water to demonstrate its displeasure, while transferring its last prey on its back to protect it from the awful Aquamancer.
