A ball of fire exploded in the sky. Greg had shot one of his fire infused orbs above treetop to mark the beginning of their raid. Leo was observing the wolfman campsite and saw how Dan’s team made themselves visible, drawing the attention of wolfman scouts and their trained wolves.

Leo waited with his team for the majority of the camp to empty, before rushing in. They had witnessed how KillMonger had respawned at an altar and were dragged off to a tent in the middle of their base to wait for his sacrifice.

“How many are left?” Jehmaan asked in a low voice.

“I count six..”

“Seven” Greg corrected and pointed at a huge elite in full plate mail that just emerged from the biggest tent.

“Great.. some sort of warlord perhaps?” Jehmaan sounded defeated.

“Perhaps..” Leo sighed. He didn’t have high hopes for their survival. Could they complete the mission? Absolutely, with a hint of luck. But to live to tell the tale. Doubtful.

“Alright. Couple minutes and we move in.” Leo said with forced confidence “Stonks. You got that special whiskey blend?”

“Right here!” Stonks nodded, pulling a small glass flask, filled with golden brown liquid out of his pocket. “The brewmaster said that this beauty gives twenty-five percent numbing and five percent faster health regeneration”

“Bottoms up then. I imagine that you are going to take some serious damage in near future”

Stonks’ face lit up as he opened the flask and poured the liquor straight to his throat.

“So. Let’s go around our jobs on this mission one more time. Greg. You first”

“Provide suppressive fire. Aim to stun or cripple.” Greg answered like he was reading his lines from a textbook.

“Good. Jeh?”

“Support Stonks, confuse the enemies with my illusions and aid in escape”

“Correct. Stonks”

“Wah? Umm... Draw up aggro?”

“Well.. yeah. That’s the gist of it. And I go for KillMonger and flee with him. When we are outside, we will make like sheep and get the flock out of there”

Nods were all around Leo. It wasn’t the most complicated plan, but would hopefully be effective.

Leo looked at the campsite once again. “I think it is time. Let’s move!”

Stonks was the first one out of their hiding spot. He charged at the camp with a mighty roar, swinging his bat in wide arches above his head. He was quickly followed by Leo and Jehmaan, while Greg stayed as far back as he could to still be effective.

Their sudden assault didn’t quite take the wolfmen by surprise. Apparently they were on edge from the previous disruption. Still, Stonks managed to tackle two wolfman warriors down with his charge. Leo and Jehmaan gave the downed beasts a couple of attacks, but they didn’t stop to fight. That would only let their enemies form up their defenses.

Stonks ran to the altar and came to a quick stop, dirt, and rubble flying around his feet. “Come on you sons of witches! Come at me!” He bellowed in his drunken rage, gaining gnarls and raised weapons in response.

Jehmaan took his place behind Stonks and sent off his ‘Mirage lance’ skill. It collided with a wolfman warrior, spawning an illusion.

Steel slingshot bullets were raining down from the edge of the campsite, striking heads and joints.

As the warriors charged at Stonks, Leo disengaged from the battle, heading straight to the tent where the wolfmen kept their sacrifice.

Thanks to Stonks, Leo didn’t meet any resistance on his short run to the makeshift prison. His drunk friend kept the wolfman's attention perfectly with his insults, large figure, and the aggro he was building up. Stonks’ skills allowed him to stack up aggro when he was drinking. Different types of liquor had different effects, but from what he had told Leo, Vodka and Whiskey were best when taunting enemies into a fight was the goal.

Leo reminded himself to ask about his teammates' skills in greater depth after this was done.

He reached the tent and pulled off the furry pelt that was covering the doorway, revealing a dimly lit tent interior. Inside were two figures, one wolfman, and KillMonger tied up to the tent’s central pole. Leo raised his weapons, pointing one at the wolfman.. shaman, and bared his teeth.

“Move!” He gnarled, but the shaman wasn’t having any of it.

Leo jumped at the floor and rolled just in time to avoid a black bolt of energy that was flying at him. He really regretted tossing his ‘Mage armor’ to the Soul Forge at this moment. Nothing to it. Leo got up and sliced another black bolt mid-flight. Some of the energy still impacted him, and a searing pain coursed through his body. The message was clear. Dodge, don’t block.

He sidestepped the third bolt and in a few quick steps, he was in the attack range. Leo let go of his spellblades, wanting to surprise his opponent.

The blades slashed and thrust from various angles as Leo went through his quickslots. Most of the attacks were stopped before they could connect, but his piercing strikes dealt some damage.

The wolfman shaman had dropped his black energy bolts and now weaved through Leo’s attacks, lashing at him with his claws and fangs at every opening. It was clear that the shaman was experienced in close quarters combat. Perhaps even more so than Leo, but right now that didn’t matter.

He had chosen to win. And if not with skills, then by playing dirty.

During his battering, Leo threw out some normal punches to the mix, aiming at the snout, throat, and eyes, thinking that hits to those areas were most likely going to drain the shielding at a faster rate.

The two combatants went back and forth for a while. Slash, bite, punch, thrust, another slash, altering between upper and lower cuts. The wolfman had already managed to drain Leo’s health down by third when something changed. A sound, like glass shattering, emerged from around the wolfman when Leo struck him, and he could see a faint blue aura becoming visible, then breaking down to shards before fading into nothingness.

A look of panic flashed on the shaman’s eyes and Leo grinned. They both knew that the human had won.

Leo took a step back, grabbed his right blade with both hands, and drove the falchion through the shaman’s heart. With his last strength, the wolfman raised his hand, placed it almost gently on Leo’s cheek, and sliced down, leaving four deep cuts on his opponent’s face.

Leo pulled his sword out and let the body roll on the ground. He kneeled next to it, searching the pockets and pouches for anything useful. Various vials and flasks, some gemstones. Not having the time to do a proper search, Leo ripped the pouches off, stuffing them into his backpack along with anything remotely valuable looking.

He looked at the tied player. xXKillMongerXx seemed to be in okay condition, but something was wrong. Leo went closer, kneeling next to the man and slapped him lightly. No reaction. Feces! Was he afk?! This was no good. They planned that KillMonger would run away as Leo and his team would secure his escape. But if he wasn’t able to...

Leo bolted out of the tent to join the fight. He could see in his party tab that Stonks had less than half of his health remaining, Jehmaan down by a quarter, and Greg... Greg was good.

Two wolfman warriors were lying dead on the ground, but the warlord had joined the skirmish. The massive brute of a wolfman was wielding a massive battle axe and swung his oversized weapon with ease.

Four enemies in total, three normal warriors, one elite warlord. The wolfmen seemed to be in good condition too.

Nope. Him dying, while their target was still around wouldn’t help anyone. Leo went back to the tent and began to untie KillMonger’s ropes. After a few unsuccessful attempts, Leo slapped his forehead and simply cut the ropes connecting the man to the tent pole. After a moment of hesitation, Leo sliced the bindings from his feet too.

He dragged the unconscious man to the far side of the tent, cut an opening, and began to pull him towards Greg.

The marksman noticed Leo and rushed to help him.

“What’s wrong? is he dead? no.. you wouldn’t be dragging him. Paralyzed? Drugged? Knocked out?..” Greg barraged Leo with questions but he raised a hand to stop him.

“AFK. I’m going to join my team. You need to get this guy as far away as you can. We will buy you time.” Leo explained. He didn’t like the new situation at all. “Get him to the safe location. If he wakes up, don’t let him run off. His respawn point is still here. Now Move!”

Greg saluted him and grabbed the man from his armpits, towing him slowly away.

Leo nodded and turned to face the battle. His team was losing.

Moving his hands around in needed arcane gestures and drawing mana to his palms, preparing ‘Blood drain’ enchantment in advance.

When his hands gained the red aura, Leo ran straight at the fight, ducking under the wolfman elite’s swing and rolling behind Stonks. His friend was not doing good. Leo could fix that.

“Stonks! Your weapon!” Leo shouted in a hurry.

The brawler swung his bat around for a while before Leo’s words reached him. Jehmaan, noticing his team leader's spell, took the front while Stonks offered his weapon. Leo pressed his palms on it, passing the Blood drain in. The bat took on an ominous red glow, and when Stonks hit a wolfman’s arm with it, the blood coming out of the wound flowed into the nails, restoring Stonks slowly.

“Can you take the warriors?” Leo asked, eyeing the elite hungrily.

Stonks didn’t hear the question, but Jehmaan nodded.

“Is the target safe?”

“I hope..” Leo said sourly and broke from the formation.

“Hey you big mutt!” He shouted, not really knowing if the elite could understand him. It turned to face him, so at least something had gotten through. “Does your father know, you’re playing with his axe? Seriously. It is too big for you. They should’ve sent a real warrior to defend the camp” Leo taunted him, making rude hand gestures and speaking in a mocking, high pitched voice.

The huge wolfman bared his teeth and gnarled “Big worrrddss.. Frrom ssmall r rrunt!”

It had worked. The elite had his eyes on Leo, seemingly happy to have a fair duel. Leo didn’t know if he could beat this opponent. Sure, his agile fighting style would let him evade most of the attacks. But... there always was a but. If even one would connect, he would be done for.

Switching his stance to defense, Leo grabbed his spellblades and got ready for an attack. Beating the brute was not his goal. It was to stall the fight out as much as he could.

The elite charged and swung his weapon, aiming to decapitate the blademancer. Leo dodged, rolling under the wide blow. He came to his knees and lunged forward out of panicky reflex. Lucky for him, because the battle axe hit the ground hard, sending dirt flying to the air where Leo had just been a moment ago.

He got up and sidestepped another attack. This gave him an opening, so Leo poked the elite’s armor a couple of times with his blades, before having to dodge another swing. His stamina was draining too fast.

For the next ten or so minutes, Leo danced with his opponent. Dodge after dodge, he was draining his opponent out of stamina. Leo couldn’t deal damage to him, and the wolfman couldn’t hit Leo. The elite’s frustration grew noticeably every second, and his attacks displayed it. No more were they wide and powerful swings. No. They were precise and cunning. For too many times they managed to catch Leo by surprise, almost costing him his life.

During that time Jehmaan had fallen, taking two of the warriors down with him, and Stonks was now dueling their last opponent.

Leo could only hope that the brawler would finish his enemy soon. He was starting to get tired.

Another attack came down and Leo sliced the elite’s hand in return. As per usual, the attack did nothing but irritate the brute. He backhanded Leo, knocking the man down. Leo rolled back to avoid the next attack just a bit too slowly. The axe hit Leo in his left shoulder, slicing through the armor and almost severing his hand. Leo screamed! His shoulder was on fire. His pauldron caved in, pressing its sharp edges on the deep wound. Tears rushed to Leo’s eyes, and even with his blurred vision, a notification came through.

Bleeding! Severe: -10 health per second!

It was over for him, and he knew it. Leo tried to shake the pain away. He let go of his right blade, abandoning defense entirely, and assaulted the wolfman.

When self-preservation was out of the table, the only thing that mattered was to deal as much damage to this beast as he could.

Hitpoints: 99/330

Leo sliced the wolfman’s arm and dodged another attack

Hitpoints: 89/330

He elbowed his opponent’s stomach and got a fist to his face for his efforts.

Hitpoints: 59/330

Leo struck the wolfman’s face with his good hand and ripped his helmet off.

The wolfman bit Leo’s hand in retaliation, sinking his teeth deep in the flesh.

Hitpoints: 24/330

Leo grit his teeth together, and commanded his spellblades to pierce the wolfman’s skull.

Hitpoints: 9/330

The blades skewered the elite’s brain from both sides, making the beast fall over Leo.

Hitpoints: 0/330

You have died. Calculating… You lose 2800 experience. Time till respawn: 9 hours.

Leo blinked. He looked around the apparent respawn room. A faint phantom pain was itching his left shoulder, and vanished after Leo grasped it. He shook his head. All the pain and trauma aside, that had been one awesome fight. Leo walked to a large bean bag and fell in, going over the recent events in his mind. He didn’t know if the mission was completed. He had guessed that it would be a success if KillMonger was bound back to Ardania. Leo was sure that if Greg managed to get him there, someone would know how to help the man. Fingers crossed.

The hours in the respawn room flew by. Leo opened his internet browser and looked up some combat tutorials, Eternium official game wiki, which was as empty as before he joined the game, and browsed through forums on the game. He wanted to look through other player’s experiences, what class they had got, and how they went their days. Nothing really useful came up. Some general information about professions, basic starting classes, and complaints on how much pain hurts.

Leo had taken a nap at the middle of his cooldown time and was awakened by an alarm bell a couple of minutes before the respawn time went off.

A portal appeared in front of Leo and he stepped through to Ardania.

A wall of information assaulted Leo as soon as he was in Eternium proper:

Server wide announcement! Rejoice! The Mage’s College has been freed from the tyrannical slavery of the Archmage by a player ‘Joe’ of the guild The Wanderers! With the defeat of the Archmage, new goods such as mana potions are available for sale at various shops. The cost of being trained in mage-based skills has been reduced by 60%, and twelve new mage-based classes are available for specialization at the Mage’s College! The guild The Wanderers has maxed out their reputation with the Kingdom of Ardania for as long as ‘Joe’ remains a member! Their guild tax to the Kingdom has been reduced by 75%. Be warned: oppose them and you oppose the crown!

Quest completed: Rescuing a lost soul

Your team has successfully rescued a player xXKillMongerXx from the clutches of the wolfman faction. You are now able to join the followers of Ru’Nez the Blade

Reward: +6 karmic luck. +1000 favor with god ‘Ru’Nez the Blade’ Title alteration: Cruel bounty hunter becomes Righteous bounty hunter. A skill or spell suited to your class.

Title removed: Cruel bounty hunter

Title gained: Righteous bounty hunter.

Even when hunting down people, you know what is right and what is wrong.

effect: illegal and immoral bounties have a black aura surrounding them. You may gain bounties from a kingdom itself. +200 experience for every bounty returned alive to the guards.

Skill gained: Enhance swordbonding. (Unique)

When your weapons are just not enough, upgrades are in order. You can now bind weapons with different qualities to yourself, allowing you to gain access to more sword types, different enchantments and much more.

Effect: you can bind additional 2x swords to yourself and summon them instead of your falchions. where x = skill rank.

Skill increased: Swordbonding (Apprentice II)

Skill increased: Dodge (Novice IX)

Skill increased: Sword mastery (Apprentice I +2)

Skill increased: Dual wielding (Beginner V)

A quest you have offered has been completed. Completion: 100%

Experience gained: 968

Experience held for offered quest: 968

Soul forge complete! Skill gained: Armor aura.

For every point of mana in this spell, negate 1 point(s) of damage from primary sources of physical damage in 3 + 0.25n ft around you. Increase conversion by 0.02n. where n = skill level.

Leo grinned as he scrolled through his notifications. If he ever met this ‘Joe’ character, he would have to thank the guy.

Leo had gained some new options in his progression, two awesome skills, a chance to join the church of Ru’Nez.

He set his way to the temple. It was time to meet a god.