First Clash
"Is that… snow?" A confounded Facebasher observed the surrounding mountain canopy covered in a thin layer of white and gray.
The temperature was too hot for his statement to make sense.
"No. It's ashes and dust from a volcano. We've been teleported to Rising Demon Peak. It's situated kilometers west of the Citadel." Sightseer explained.
Rising Demon Peak was once dominated by infernal fire monsters before one of the Seven Guardians fought them back underground. Although millennia had passed since then, locals and militia would still spot a few of these creatures if they ever traveled deep enough into the mountains.
"I'll be damned, what a headache. I don't have any Fire Protection potions."
The rest of the party was just as ill-prepared, except Sightseer. She brought out four orange-colored potions from her Inventory.
"Got you covered."
"Well well well. Nicely prepared are we!"
—
[Medium Fire Protection Potion:
25% fire damage reduction; Intermediate environmental Immunity to Fiery Plains.
Duration: 1 hour]
—
The foursome group would save the potions for when they were more needed. They would be able to gain an adequate amount of Immunity and strengthen their resistance limits to Fiery Plains.
Environmental hazards such as Fiery Plains, Ice Tundras, or Toxic Wastes drained a player's mental stamina much faster than in normal environments.
Luckily, Sightseer had spent some of her spare time researching the locations near Harshwood Citadel. To her surprise, Fiery Plains were a large part of the northern border's geographical makeup.
"Now, pay up. They're 10 coins each."
"Hey! They're only 8 coins from the vendors!" Evan nagged.
"12 coins." Sightseer smirked.
'Ugh, well played.'
Evan decided it was best to shut up and pay his dues.
As the party ventured deeper into Rising Demon Peak, the temperature grew more heated with each step. However, it hadn't become unbearable to the point that they needed to pop the potions just yet.
Sightseer's C-rank Detection rang an alarm on the mini-map, and a short moment later, Evan's new E-rank Detection followed suit. Evan had obtained the Detection proficiency after he consumed his latest low-grade Soulstone that was dropped by the Wargoyle in Sleeping Giant Crossing.
By contrast, Sightseer's Detection proficiency had received one rank-up from a similar Soulstone while gaining another rank-up after the previous Dungeon evaluation after conquering Ruslow the Assassin's outpost. Thus her Detection range was greater than Evan's.
"It's them." Evan stated.
"Lay ambush." Sightseer briefly replied and dashed toward the right flank and eventually found some appropriate rubble to hide behind.
At the same time, the others split up and found their various positions. There was plenty of cover. As long as none of their opponents possessed Detection, the chances were that the ambush would be successful.
To Evan and Sightseer's dismay, the opposing team had halted on the mini-map.
"They're aware of us." Sightseer informed in the party chat.
Out of nowhere, something struck Sightseer's position, half-obliterating the rubble she hid behind. Pieces of rock shot off from the damaged rubble and bounced everywhere.
[-4 HP]
"Magic user confirmed." She continued to inform as she left her position in order to find some uncompromised cover.
"Two Warriors twelve o'clock. Wait… they're charging right at us?" Facebasher felt doubtful.
Two dwarven Warriors were indeed approaching. Though relatively slowly due to heavy armor. One of them even carried a large tower shield!
From Evan's position on the left flank, his mini-map displayed another player approaching from his left. Moreover, this one's speed wasn't that of a heavy armored Warrior.
"Rogue or Ranger detected on my side."
"Do you need backup?" Facebasher asked.
"No, both sides of the main path are hard to traverse. You and Mille need to halt the two Warriors while Midnight and I take out the two flankers." Their Team Leader instructed.
"We'll go with that." Evan agreed.
This scenario wasn't something Evan's party was unused to when it came to a group of mobs. This time was different. They'd only PvP'ed against a handful of other players up until now. Hopefully, their inexperience against other players wouldn't come back and bite them.
A tiny player soon became visible to the naked eye about 20 meters (61 feet) ahead as a halfling swiftly left his tentative cover and dashed forward to meet Evan.
Evan couldn't see any ranged weapons on the halfling and rightfully considered the aggressor to most likely be a Rogue-type class.
'Rogue Stalker perhaps?' Evan guessed.
In either case, his trap had already been laid. Once the Rogue came close enough, he would be gifted with an explosive surprise.
Evan even withdrew his boomerang to lure the Rogue into melee range. If things went as planned, he didn't have to worry about fighting up close!
Though, to his surprise, 10 meters before the awaited clash and when Evan was about to retreat and set off his Unstable Mine, the Rogue vanished.
The Rogue had turned invisible!
However, Evan wasn't worried. He still carried out his plan regardless as he counted the seconds.
1 potato
2 potatoes
3 potatoes
On the third potato, Evan left his position and detonated his single Unstable Mine.
"Boom."
An "Ugh!" could be heard from his previous position.
[-70 HP]
Evan turned around and saw the displayed damage several meters in the distance and re-equipped his boomerang onto the throwing right hand.
Though it could have been, the explosion wasn't critical. The main rationale was that everyone in the competition should be in Soulbound Combat mode if they've acquired three or more Merits. The damage was significant, but the Concussive effects most likely hadn't maxed out without a critical hit.
Evan threw his boomerang into the shrouded aftermath of the explosion.
[-19 HP]
[Dodge!]
[Dodge!]
[Dodge!]
[Parry!]
"Elusive bastard."
On the other side of the Fiery Plain, Sightseer was locked in battle against an opposing Draconian Mage. By now, she was pretty certain that she was up against a Sorcerer due to the Mage's wand and the class-specific skills that were cast against her.
Sightseer estimated that her opponent was fairly high-leveled or possessed a class cannon build due to the destructiveness of the spells.
Sadly for the female Sorcerer, Sightseer's arrows were damn accurate and didn't lack a punch either.
[-20 HP]
[Critical! -52 HP]
[-21 HP]
If the Sorcerer's reflexes that been slightly less responsive, the critical strike would have been a fatal strike instead as the arrow had shaved past her neck instead of punching through her throat.
'Most likely a class cannon' she ascertained as the Sorcerer retreated after taking a beating from her arrows.