Battle Of Survival

Shade readied his sword. In truth, he rathered daggers and knives over swords or any other class of weapons. Unfortunately, since the game had given him the Class Ability of the Sword King, Shade had no choice but to adapt to using swords.

The field boss charged directly towards Shade with a powerful roar. Shade, in turn, did the same. The field boss then slammed its jaws shut in hopes of crushing Shade with a single bite. However, Shade skillfully dodged by sliding in-between its legs before slashing all fours with his bronze blade.

The field boss yelped in pain like a massive puppy. Shade smirked at this as he knew he had made the right call. The mechanics of the game worked a lot like in real life. A player could bleed to death if they left their wounds untreated. Similarly, since Shade had wounded all four legs of the field boss, it would have a harder time moving around.

"Shade!" Suddenly called Tristan. "...Be careful of any special attacks! A field boss like this is bound to have at least one!"

Shade nodded in acknowledgment. He had already considered the possibility of special abilities. It was all a matter of timing and patience.

The field boss bared its teeth once again as it looked at Shade. Its feet were badly injured which caused it pain every time it moved. It knew that it now had little chance of catching Shade in its current state.

Due to this, the field boss did something completely unprecedented. It quickly turned away from Shade and began charging towards Tristan and Arora. It was seemingly going to kill them first.

"Damn it!" Cursed Shade as he gave chase. He couldn't allow his group to be eliminated. Tristan was especially important.

Tristan and Arora immediately began running in the opposite direction. There was no way that they could fight the massive field boss and hope to survive.

However, everyone inclusive of Shade had fallen into the field boss's trap. As Shade closed in from behind, the field boss quickly turned around and attacked. It had only acted as if it was about to attack Arora and Tristan to get Shade to chase after it. Now, it was ready for a surprise attack.

Shade cursed underneath his breath upon realizing the predicament he was now in. The field boss went in with a powerful bite which Shade was not ready for. Luckily, Shade managed to deflect the teeth of the field boss with the edge of his blade at the last second.

However, that alone would not be enough. As if prepared for this, the field boss swiped its massive paw at Shade.

Shade groaned in pain as he was swatted like a modern-day housefly into the side of a nearby tree.

"Shade!!" Called Arora worriedly in the distance.

Shade coughed in pain as he slowly looked up to see the field boss charging towards him. This was when he noticed something frightening. His health bar was deep in the red zone. If he took just a little more damage then it would surely be game over. He could hardly believe that a single attack had left him in such a state. To make things worse, there was now a small icon shaped like a bolt of lightning beside his health bar.

"What the hell is that..?" He groaned to himself.

"Shade, you need to get out of there now!" Warned Tristan.

Shade hurriedly redirected his gaze towards the charging field boss. He then made an effort to get back onto his feet but for some reason, he was unable to move. It was as if his body was suffering from some kind of paralysis.

"Wait..." He quickly thought to himself. "Was that lightning bolt icon signifying that I'm suffering from paralysis? Damn it! It's a status ailment! Probably the boss's special ability..!"

Shade was in trouble. He doubted the paralysis would wear off before the field boss got to him. All he could do was look on helplessly as death approached him

However, just then, a sudden shout echoed from the distance, catching the field boss's attention.

"Impale its back leg!"

Suddenly, an arrow shot past Arora and Tristan and pierced the back leg of the field boss. It yelped loudly as it turned its attention towards the voice.

Coming out from the bushes was a team of five players. At the head of the team stood a 20-year-old man with shiny blonde hair and dark blue eyes. He wore a stylish blue coat and held an iron sword within his grasp.

"Next, both its eyes!" He commanded.

Immediately, a girl looking around 18 years with long dark hair and cocoa brown eyes ran forward with a bow in her hands. She then withdrew two arrows from a quiver strapped across her back before firing them off at the same time.

Astonishingly, both the arrows hit their mark as they impaled the field boss's eyes. Tristan and Arora watched on in amazement as the field boss ran around, crying in pain.

"Amanda, heal the injured!" Commanded the blonde male once more. "Now, Xavier, you're with me!"

Listening strictly to his orders, another girl looking around 17 with bright pink hair and scarlet red eyes ran towards Shade. She then kneeled in front of him before handing him a healing potion.

"Quick, drink this!" She prompted.

Given that he had no other choice, Shade immediately did as she instructed. This was when he noticed something. The potion given to him didn't only restore his health but also cured him of his status ailment. The potion was no simple healing potion. Shade narrowed his eyebrows upon realizing this.

On the other hand, the leader of the other team attacked the field boss alongside another male around his age. He was of a muscular body type with short brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. His weapon was also an odd one as he was swinging around a massive axe.

The field boss, now more agitated than ever, ran recklessly towards the two.

"Xavier, his front leg!" Commanded the leader.

"Right!"

Doing as he was instructed, Xavier ran towards the field boss ready to remove its right leg. It however seemed reckless as the field boss's jaws were wide open, ready to snap him in half.

Regardless of this, Xavier was confident as he knew his team leader had his back. The leader then came up with a powerful swing of his sword, deflecting the field boss's jaws away from Xavier.

Following this, Xavier waved his axe violently, cleanly removing one of the front legs of the field boss.

It then fell to the ground crying in agony as it was now far too injured to move. The leader of the team then raised his sword above his head before slitting the field boss's throat, putting an end to the fight.

Following this, the team leader turned towards Shade and began to approach him.

"Are you okay?" He asked Shade.

"Who are you?"

"My apologies! Where are my manners? My name is Anwir! And this is my team, The Merits."

Just then, Arora and Tristan ran over to them to thank the mysterious stranger for saving their lives.

"Thank you so much!" Greeted Arora.

"It was my pleasure!"

Shade however had a tugging suspicion about Anwir and his team. He wasn't about to become all grateful just because they saved him from a terrible predicament.

"Why did you save us?" He asked sternly.

"We were passing by and we realized you needed a helping hand. So I did what any kind gentleman would do," replied Anwir.

Shade then used his hand to signify that there was something on Anwir's lips. Due to this, Anwir wiped his lips to ensure that they were clean.

"Good, now that you've cleaned your lips, you can stop talking shit. This is a survival game. You gain nothing from helping us. We could well be your enemies further down the game."

"Hey now, is that any way to talk to someone who just saved your life!?" Argued the girl who had given Shade the healing potion.

"No, it's not. But it is the correct way to talk to someone who thinks he can trick me with such a lame act."

"Shade, I think we should probably be a little kinder to them..." Murmured Arora.

"Shade was it? I truly did mean to save you because I wanted to..!" Continued Anwir with a half-hearted laugh.

However, just then, Xavier stepped forward and shook his head in denial.

"Anwir, it's fine," he began in a very bass and heavy voice. "It seems this one is quite perceptive. We should tell him the whole truth."

Anwir then shrugged with a slight smile across his lips. This confirmed Shade's suspicion.

"Fine, it's true. We didn't save you just because we thought it was the right thing to do. While I do deem myself as a gentleman who helps others, this situation is a little different."

"What do you want then?" Asked Shade cautiously as he braced his hand on the hilt of his sword.

"Slow down there, Shade! We're not here to fight. It's quite the opposite actually. We came here to ask you to join our team!"

"Join your team? Why me?"

"To be honest, we were following you three for quite a while. As you can see, my team only has a total of 5 players. For it to be complete, we need 5 more members. That's why we were following you to see which one of you three would be qualified enough to join us."

"And your findings?"

"We saw how well you handled the boss by yourself. I think you might have even beaten it if your friends weren't holding you back. I would love to add your skill to my team!"

Shade then gave a depressing sigh as he pulled his sword from his waist. He then did the unthinkable and placed his blade against the throat of the girl who had healed him earlier. Shade had taken her hostage.

As everyone froze in horror, Shade spoke aloud coldly.

"Look, if we're gonna talk then we're gonna do things on my terms."