Rushing Pt2

While the others were mounting up in preparation to go spectate the sacking of the third outpost in the encirclement, I simply produced a long and broad sheet of crystalline material that I started putting some material enchantments on to try and make it lighter and more mana conductive to cheapen the cost of my plans.

When the sheet was enchanted and transmuted to the shape of a large skateboard, I simply stand on it and extend my mana into and around it to apply Telekinesis. Once the board was under my control, I lifted the board up while using the same power to keep myself in place. In seconds, I was casually drifting along at the same speed as the others on mounts.

Rising to a height of over fifty feet in the air, I quickly spot our allies in the distance fighting outside the walls of the other outpost against hundreds of demons and even more undead swarming about them. Even from the distance I could tell that our friends were in a tough spot, being fully encircled by the enemy who were leaping in and out of range to unleash a few attacks before getting back to safety again.

Their numbers already looked a little lower than usual, proving that they had sustained some heavy damage despite the piling of enemy bodies around their tight box formation. For a moment I started to feel bad for them, knowing they would only continue to sustain losses again and again without the outpost boss even entering the fight.

However, they chose to come here to the weakest remaining outpost by themselves and whatever comes of it will be burdens on their shoulders and not mine. This should actually be a learning experience for them! Little Thirteen obviously did not seem to take this so-called dungeon seriously and he would soon learn the error of his ways.

Did he really think that he could walk up and just waltz through the outpost as if he and his people were the ones at level one-fifty? He was in for a very rude awakening and I could tell that he was slowly coming to while trapped in formation. Their old-school defensive formation was reliable but their own people simply did not have the numbers or the actual defensive ratings to keep it together.

Every few attacks from the demons would result in the loss of a player, cutting down their damage output as well as their ability to continue sustaining damage. It was like watching kids getting bullied, honestly. I was almost starting to feel bad as my friends and I closed the distance.

"Do we get involved?" Go asks uncertainly when we finally come to a stop a couple hundred yards away from the small battle. "You told them they could take the outpost and they sneaked off to do it, but… there's only about half of them left. Do we let them learn a lesson or do we save them?"

Channeling mana into my voice, I could out, "OI! YOU GUYS NEED A HAND?"

The reply was fairly faint because they could not afford to use mana simply for amplifying their voice, Little Thirteen responds with a normally shouted, "Fuck off!"

"You have your answer," I say with a laugh while patting my worried friend's shoulder. "If they don't want our help, there's nothing we can do to help them. They did not even bring Cweeper and Hermes with them, they were doomed to fail as soon as they started. All we can do is let them take the losses and learn to be grateful for having us as shields. Where's Mistress and her people?"

"They found somewhere quiet and neutral to focus on crafting," Ivana relies with a tenseness in her voice that said she was not enjoying the show at all. "They were the smart ones."

I had to admit, for someone with such a strange personality they were smart enough not to push their limits over the edge of a cliff like these guys were. Thirteenth and Duality were used to being the big powers and while they were still top dogs among the players this game was still too new for them to be acting like this. It had not even been open for a full month, yet!

[The outpost commander is coming out to say hello]

"Oh?" I say with interest after the short warning from Melpomene. "This is about to get real ugly real quick. Go, get ready to get involved. The boss is going to make an appearance and they're not going to know what to do with themselves in the face of an elite or boss demon like that. Even if it's weaker than Orion its still too much for them."

Nodding wordlessly, Go spurs his Infected Ice Emperor Scorpion forward at a brisk pace to attack the back of the demons surrounding our allies. However, when Ivana reaches to take out her bow and spur her own mount forward, I reach out to place a hand lightly on her shoulder to stop her before saying, "They won't learn if we send too much reinforcement. He's only going to keep the boss busy for them."

Looking at me with a very dissatisfied expression, Ivana asks, "Are you really going to let them risk getting wiped just to be petty? If we don't help them, things will only get worse between you guys."

"Fine, go ahead," I say with a dismissive wave, flying myself higher up into the air to get a better view of the situation while she rides forward at a brisk pace to try and catch up with Go.

From almost a hundred feet in the air I had a great view of the battle, watching the exchange of skills and magic between players and demons as my two companions pushed forward in an attempt to rescue our allies. The fighting itself was fairly intense with more demons and undead falling than players and explosive powers being handed out like candy on Halloween. However, when comparing the numbers, one side was definitely going to run out of fighters first.

Even if Go and Ivana make it there within the next few seconds it would not make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things. There were simply hundreds more demons than players and the players present could barely even fight one-to-one with these enemies. Fighting such overwhelming odds on their own was downright retarded.

Fighting at the forefront by the wall were both Little Thirteen and Donna, one holding his own against several smaller gecko demons while being supported by Donna's healing and other magics. The geckos themselves were not exceptionally strong in the way of attacking but they were fast without having to play shield for wraiths and even then their defensive values were shocking considering their almost transparent bodies.

Just as Melpomene warned me, I could see a large bestial body making its way calmly toward the wall of the outpost from within. The commander here looked like a cross between a scorpion and a wolf with a giant furred body covered in random chitin plates among tufts of stark white fur with giant pincers for arms and three long spindly tails covered in wetly shining barbs.

Seeing the style of weaponry on this guy's body I could already imagine that it was a crude combatant that relied on tanking damage and pummeling its enemies while leveling the field with a venom that I could not even imagine the strength of. However, considering the fact that they were at least level one-fifty I could assume their venom was strong enough to kill one of the allied players by itself.

Mantling the outpost wall with only its four multi-jointed arachnid legs that bore thick white spines or bristles instead of fur, the outpost commander seems to leisurely take up a spectating position and enjoy the slow slaughter taking place. Until, of course, a giant headsman style ax spun wildly through the air like a giant thrown knife and struck them from the side.

A health bar appeared above the outpost commander's head as the ax's giant blade bit into its hip and lower ribs but only about ten percent of their health was actually taken by the attack. Prying the ax from its body, the commander looks in the direction that it had been thrown from to find a single half-orc player riding a giant icy colored scorpion covered in rusty veins rushing toward him from around the encircled players.

Then, as if adding insult to injury, a rapid-fire set of large and darkly burning arrows flitted through the air from a hundred yards away where Ivana was shooting her bow. Out of the five arrows fired only two actually struck home in the commander's body. The other three were viciously smashed from the air with its giant grab-like knobby claws.

Two burning arrows were worth barely more than five percent, meaning each arrows on its own was probably only two percent without the addition of magic or skill. That bow was a top-of-the-line alchemy creation form Oleander's own hands before the update, using a combination of transmuted organic materials and enchantments designed to make both a melee and ranged weapon. The arrows themselves were crafted from troll ivory and synthetic gemstones.

However, it seemed like only a real heavy hitting player and weapon could do real damage to such an opponent. If I were to go in with my staff, I could probably smack down a full fifteen percent before any loss of PDEF from debuffs. However, even if it would save our allies I could not let myself take part in the fight due to justifiable reasons.

Distracted from the destruction of our allies, the demon commander roars loud enough that even I could feel its vibrations from a hundred feet in the air before charging down the wall. Go remained completely undaunted similar to the titles I did not doubt all the players present were in possession of by now. There were several demons and creatures that were around twice their levels which was how I acquired my own Dauntless title.

Arrows continued flying through the air in the general direction of the commander but most of them coincidentally went wide of their target and peppered one side of the demon encirclement. Against the other demons, the arrows were stronger.

Any undead that found themselves struck by a burning arrow also found themselves losing half of their health or outright dying if they were already low enough.

Just as the commander and Go were coming within reach of one another, Go launches himself from his scorpion's back and rushes right up to the commander with triangular axes in either hand. The commander was only too happy to welcome him, spreading out its twenty-foot tails to swat at him from the sides as soon as he came within range.

Contrary to the demon's expectations, Go was a speed warrior who agilely lashed out at the tails themselves while rarely stepping about to dodge an attack. Every time an ax met a tail there would be a slight puff of steam as if the tails also utilized vaporous venom. However, Go was no push-over and the masks of our helms helped to minimize the introduction of such attacks.

As well, every time ax and tail met there would be a sudden but slight drop in the commander's health, The tails were not simply weapons but a part of the commander's body and Go was taking advantage of this to directly attack them. While they were probably not exactly vital locations or organs from the small drops in HP they still took damage.

This back and forth continued for about ten seconds as Go seemed to dance among the tails, whipping one arm out and up while spinning low or directly smashing one tail to the ground before jumping and rolling through the air to avoid the next. Finally, as the demon was brought below seventy percent of his HP he was forced to switch tactics and close the distance for close-quarters combat. Go, though, was smart and fast enough to maintain some distance and stay just out of claw reach.

Ivana took advantage of being a true third-party, taking her time to close the distance and better aim her shots among the enemies. Then, when the commander switched to rushing up to Go she took the opportunity to keep it distracted with arrows aimed at its back or legs. Between the two of them they were able to keep the boss in check, minimizing its mobility so that it never found the right opening to close its pincers on Go.

Even while supporting her brother, Ivana showed that her skill with her chosen class as climbed higher than I anticipated, constantly shifting between striking the mass of demons surrounding our allies and shooting at the boss. Her arrow types even started to variate more and more, producing high-penetration ice enchantments as well as stunning electrical additions to the arrows.

Similar to how Go and some of the others unlocked the Enchanted Warrior class advancement on their own, she had also acquired an archery version of this class. However, as an archer the greater focus was placed on adding magic to her shooting skills.

Unlike the Enchanted Warrior or Spellsword melee classes whose skills were usually one-time slash or stabs with augmented powers, her Arcane Archer advancement skills came with numerous uses. If I remembered correctly, her fire arrow 'enchantment' could only be used ten times before cooling and the other enchantments even less.

Now, though, she had already used twenty fire arrows before every introducing another element.

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