Time dilated right when Tier avoided a slash from Lyra’s axe. The hunter’s eyes quickly scanned the surroundings to get a grip on the situation.

His total HP was merely 6200 points while Manna’s was around 8000 points. Every strike from Lyra’s gang dealt around 300 to 500 points of damage. On the other hand, Tier and Manna’s attack on Lyra only dealt around 100 points to Lyra and around 125 points to Slicer.

Manna had some healing capabilities, however there are at least 6 seconds cooldown on each of her healing abilities. And the healing done was only around 800 to 1200 points.

Tier was also aware that their opponents were not just those two. He saw some sparks from a rifle far on the higher side of the cliff to the south. Which meant that Lyra brought the mysterious sniper again. Also, Tier could’ve sworn he heard a soft wingbeat every now and then. There’s a mystic somewhere around here. He was sure of it. Fighting against four level 80 players would be suicide, their only option was to run.

“[Venomous Sting]. [Eagle Aim].” Tier whispered as he drew a poisonous arrow that only dealt small damage over the time, but was able to reduce the accuracy of the affected target. He drew a deep breath and aimed towards where he saw the spark from a gunpowder earlier. From the previous fight, Tier guessed the mysterious sniper didn’t like to change locations.

Time rolled normally a moment after Tier released his arrow. However, he was struck right at the same time by a bullet right at his shoulder. The bullet was strong enough to pierce his shoulder pad from afar. And time was again dilated, giving Tier a chance to strike at Lyra with [Ankle Break].

“Die you trash!”

“[Stardust Lancer].”

“Too slow.”

Slicer’s attack on Tier was cancelled because the rogue needed to evade Manna’s thrown pollaxe. Tier took the chance to smack Slicer right on the ribs before turning off [Cobra’s Manoeuvre].

“What kind of hunter uses a staff?”

“One with high Inteligence, duh,” Manna mocked Slicer while she was busy trying to parry Lyra with her light spear.

“You better shut your clever mouth, little girl, [Lightning Cage].”

“Kyah!”

Lyra kicked Manna and created her lightning net again. This time the paladin was stranded on the net and squirming to break free.

Tier quickly dashed towards one of Lyra’s nets. But then he felt a sickening tingle as he heard a gunshot and Slicer’s curses from behind. Yet, this time he was ready for such attacks.

“[Kulbit Manoeuvre].”

The image of Flick’s [Backpace] and fighter plane somersaulting in the sky flashed in Tier’s mind as he jumped sideways while turning in high speed to avoid the attacks. Taking advantage of the momentum, Tier smacked his staff at Slicer and threw the rogue to crash on one of Lyra’s axe, setting Manna free.

“Grrh!”

Tier groaned as another shot hit his ankle and made him tumble down. Apparently his venomed arrow was still not that effective to reduce the opposing hunter’s accuracy. It was just getting clear to Tier that the mysterious sniper definitely took the Hawkeye path.

Lyra tried to attack Tier, but Manna parried her strike with [Sanctity edge]. Knowing the full extent of Manna’s custom ability, Lyra fell back and picked her axe.

On the other hand, Slicer blindly attacked while accompanied by bullets hailing from afar. There was a stroke of confidence in Manna’s gesture as she almost perfectly parried all the attacks by holding her pollaxe on one hand as if blocking smashes from her adversaries in badminton. Meanwhile, Tier didn’t make much of a move on Slicer because he would hamper Manna’s damage build up. Instead, he tried to keep Lyra at bay.

“Ugh, Slicer you fool,” Lyra groaned under her breath as she saw Manna’s spear grow brighter on each parry.

Tier heard the orc’s words and wondered a bit on the reason why Lyra didn’t bother to tell Slicer earlier. What was wrong with these people? Aren’t they allies?

“Release!”

As expected, Manna finally unleashed her counter attack on Slicer. Due to the many attacks she managed to counter this time, the resulting effect of her [Sanctity Edge] was much bigger. Tier was pushed back several steps and completely blinded by the bright light.

Slicer lost half of his HP. His body shook as he tried to stand up. “That hurts… damnit…. THAT HURTS!”

“[Claw Trap]!”

Tier threw a [Claw Trap] right where Slicer was about to step recklessly.

“Arrgh!” Slicer roared in both pain and rage. He thrashed madly trying to break away from the trap. “You noob cheaters!”

For a split second, Tier’s heart sank as he felt a stab of pain. Those roars, those angry curses, he knew them all too well. And this time, he wouldn’t let his former teammate do what has been done to him. He won’t let Slicer ruin Manna’s nor anyone else’s hopes.

“Shut up and fight, Slicer!”

“[Insularis’ Assault].”

Lyra was clearly annoyed with Slicer and thus she lunged recklessly at Manna. Tier took the chance to strike her with his disabling arrows.

“Go!” Tier shouted at Manna.

“Why?” For a moment, Manna gazed at Tier. There was a slight hint of pity and compassion shone through her eye.

“I don’t have anything to lose. Please, just go. [Venomous Sting],” Tier begged Manna while releasing another venomous arrow at the mysterious sniper.

“I… will have your back… one day,” Manna said silently as she nodded.

The paladin quickly ran down the hill. There were no more words nor debate among the two. Both of them knew there were things like this that needed to be done. It was normal in the gaming scene, especially competitive ones, where the one with lesser to lose would be sacrificed first. And nothing should be wasted.

However, mere moments after, Tier heard a faint movement among the trees. The heat of the battle had made him forget about a svannire he had been worried before.

“You can’t run, [Frostbite]!” Xildur exclaimed as he dove to block Manna’s path. With one slap of his wings, he summoned an ice wave that instantly froze the guardian paladin’s feet to the ground.

Tier gasped at the thought of his foolishness and his helplessness in trying to help Manna. All his disabling abilities were already used. The only option he had was luck.

“[Mimic switch: Hornets! [Coba’s Maneuver]: active!”

As the buzzing of hornets rumbled in his ears, the animal silhouette appeared above Tier. The hunter released quick but weaker shots at Xildur who was bombarding Manna with energy balls. And everytime the mysterious sniper attacked, Tier got another chance to shoot at Xildur. Tier was not aiming for damage, but something else with a very small percentage with his current stats.

[Slither Drag] activated: [Fatal Acupuncture].

“Damnit,” Tier cursed at himself as the silhouette of a bee appeared to stung at Xildur. The problem was, it was not one of the effects he wanted.

“Hey, jerk!”

Slicer finally broke free and dashed at Tier who rolled aside without thinking much. Getting struck or not wasn’t his biggest concern, what he cared about was getting [Cobra's Manoeuvre] effect to increase the chance of [Slither Drag] activating the right debuff.

Manna finally broke free, but the paladin clearly has a problem dealing with such an agile spellcaster like a svannire. Xildur could just keep his distance away and slowly whittle down Manna’s HP.

[Slither Drag] activated: [Scorpid Sting].

This time a silhouette of a scorpion struck its tail at Xildur. Not the effect that Tier wanted, but it slowed down Xildur. Thus, Manna got the chance to use [Soul-saving Arc] to block ranged attack and [Cleanse] to free herself from slowing effects.

“Where are you looking, noob?” Slice kicked hard at Tier, causing the hunter to tumble downhill.

Time dilation triggered again for Tier. He tried to stand up and use [Ankle Break] at Xildur. Yet, his eyes saw the movement of something else. Lyra was lunging at Manna. Tier switched targets, drawing his breath, and whispered, “[Ankle…].”

Can’t use this ability under bloodlust.

Tier was stunned by the sudden normal flow of time. He was too focused on Manna to realise how murky his instinct bar was. Slicer kicked him once more then jumped over him.

However, the hunter grabbed the rogue’s ankle then switched his [Mimic] to [Rhino]. With the strength of a rhino, Tier threw Slicer aside. However, he couldn’t do much about Lyra.

Hoping Manna would realise the incoming danger, Tier pointed at Lyra and whispered, “[Mark of Prey].”

“[Stardust Lancer]!”

Manna suddenly turned around and threw her pollaxe right at Lyra’s stomach. Tier stood up as fast as possible then shot his arrows at Xildur to slightly stagger the svannire.

However, both his bloodlust and panic had made his awareness murky. Tier had forgotten about the mysterious sniper. When he tried to run, he got shot by [Ankle Break]. The hunter tumbled once more and he rolled downhill until his body slammed to a tree.