Bab 37: 036 Hunted
After all the joking around was done James and his group finished preparing to head out. He distributed the potions that he received from Totem to the other members. When it was time to give Totem his share he only accepted the Anti-Venom potions; he already had his only supply of potions.
Once everything was finished they started to head into the forest, "Alright guys! We are off to at least zone 30!"
Mercury and Talon were not surprised but the others were. "A level 30 zone? You have to be joking right?" Totem knew James was a little off but this sounded crazy.
James tilted his head with a bit of confusion present on his face, "Why would I joke about that? We plan on tackling a level 35 dungeon in the near future. We need to get used to fighting high level monsters as a party. Ideally I would like to end in a level 40 zone before we go for the dungeon but I doubt that will be a reality."
The twins were not too worried, they were teaming up with 3 players on the leaderboards. Not only that but 2 of the 3 killed a BOSS together. Karma was ready to head out, "Lighten up Totem! I don't quite know the terms you agreed to with Blaise but they must be good since he gave you over 8 gold coins worth of items!"
James waved them to follow him as he started to walk into the forest. Mercury was the first to follow James; she skipped right past him and took the lead. She didn't forget to tease him as they went by over emphasizing her hip's shake as she walked. She had also turned her head to give James a wink.
Talon and twins followed behind leaving Totem who was the last person to move out. [What did I get myself into?] He wondered to himself. He could only surrender to his fate and see where things take them.
Even with Mercury and Talon's senses they did not detect that a single assassin was following behind them. He was keeping so far away that he was lucky to keep tabs on them. He knew that they would be sensitive to his presence if he got too close. He was taking extra precaution. He gave updates to Scarlet as they went.
The group of six cleared every zone they entered as if it was a stroll in the park. Before they knew it they were in zone 28.
"This kinda sucks, we haven't found a single elite or violent monster." Mercury complained.
"I will scout out ahead. '' Talon volunteered.
"I will come with you, sis, could you stay behind with the group?" Karma also wanted to scout.
Destiny nodded her head, "I'll stay here. Please be safe though!"
"We will split up a little bit. I will go ahead of the group to the left and you go to the right. After 20 minutes of searching we will both return to the group regardless if we found anything." Talon agreed to let Karma help out. Two sets of eyes would be better than one after all.
Karma agreed to Talon's plan and headed off to do his task. He climbed up a tree and started to jump tree branch to tree branch along the natural path of the trees. After a minute he vanished into stealth.
Talon also didn't waste any time, he had vanished into stealth before Karma even made a move. No one noticed that Destiny had also entered stealth but remained close to the group. All that were left was Mercury, Totem and James.
"Blaise, what should we do in the meantime?" Mercury didn't want to wait around idle.
"We could farm here for a little while; I looked at a few shops in really weird places. I found a place in a shady looking part of town that sold this. He proceeded to link an item to the three of them.
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Name: Beast Bait
Grade: Uncommon
Function: Lures monsters to the area for 15 minutes.
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"Why does that seem like an item that could cause beast tides?" Mercury was off put by the item description.
"I don't think we have to worry about that. I got a notification when I found the shop. It said that I was the first to find the hidden market and that the items sold don't get restocked. Once they are out they are discontinued so to speak." James assured her.
She rolled her eyes at James, "Why do you always find the weirdest things?"
"Don't blame me, I got lost while exploring the city." James shrugged his shoulders.
Totem and Destiny, who was still invisible, were still shocked to see Mercury acting so friendly to James. It was almost more terrifying than when she was in battle. To them they would at least know what to expect if they ever fought her in person, death and only death. Most players go out of their way to avoid her. Not James though, he was comfortably talking to her as if she wasn't a blood thirsty killing machine.
Totem couldn't take it any more. "How do the two of you know each other? Are you friends outside the game?" He wanted to know why the person the entire gaming community nicknamed as Reaper was breaking the persona they all knew she had.
"Hmm?" Mercury was wondering why he would ask something that could be potentially personal, especially since Totem and her just met.
Seeing that Mercury was giving him weird looks he panicked a little, "A..Ah.. I don't mean to pry. It is just unexpecting is all."
Mercury seemed to have figured it out. [I guess it would be weird to others to see someone dubbed as Reaper being friendly to someone.]
She put on a devious smile; James saw it and rolled his eyes. She was up to no good. "We don't know each other from outside the game. I ran into him and the twins when they were being chased by a violent tier wolf. After the wolf was taken care of I battled the twins and him; he offered to pay for their lives."
She then proceeded to hook the wing of per polearm's sigil around James neck once again. She pulled his head down lower to match her height. She caressed his face with her free hand, "He thought I would ask for gold or items for payment but I had other ideas." She paused for a second to take a quick look at Totem before returning her gaze to James. "His hidden class's abilities fascinated me so instead of the typical payment he had to use his person to pay off his debt."
Destiny, still invisible, felt a blush sweep across her face. Not only could she not handle the steamy atmosphere Mercury created but she also felt guilty that James had to pay for their freedom.
Seeing that Totem was starting to get uncomfortable with the open PDA (public display of affection) and that she was successful in teasing James at the same time she continued.
She released James' neck; who then took the opportunity to stand up straight again. She didn't give James any time to relax, she stood up on her tippy-toes and brought her body close to his in a hug, her head rested just below James's chin. While leaning on James's chest, she did her favorite thing to do, she drew circles on James's chest. "Certain things happened and thus his debt got -biggggerr- and -biggggerrr-. I'm afraid that he will never get out of his debt at this rate." She teased in a seductive tone.
Destiny was now covering her face with her hands and had a beat red face; she was happy that she was invisible so that no one could see her right now. Totem's mind was all over the place. It almost sounds like she was hinting that his debt was an innuendo for something more sexual in nature; he very quickly took a glance at James's pants. He shook his head, there was no way that's correct. He felt a little ashamed that he let his mind wander to that sort of thing. It was obvious that she was just teasing all of them.
Mercury lost herself in her enjoyment and reached both of her arms up and around James's neck. She hoisted herself into the air and her face was a few centimeters from James's. She put on a quiet but alluring voice while whispering, "But you like it don't you?" Mercury didn't know what came over her.
They both could feel the other's heart pounding in their chests. Both their hearts had started racing while in the moment. For a few seconds they were in their own world. That was until…
"Stop!" Destiny finally came out of stealth while yelling... When she noticed what she had done she covered her mouth and had wide eyes.
Mercury and James were dragged out of their own little world and Totem was also snapped out of his thousand yard stare that he entered while watching the two.
Mercury and Totem turned to look at Destiny. Her face was still beat red; this time it was not just because of seeing such intense PDA but also out of complete embarrassment. She didn't know why she did what she did; it kind of just came out on it's own.
"Awe, you're blushing. Just wait till you grow older." Mercury teased her.
She turned back to James; she saw that he was not looking at Destiny. Instead he was looking in a different direction. It was the direct that they came from.
She would have been lost in his eyes if not for the fact that he had embraced her by her waist. He had a fairly tight hold and was hugging her closer to him then when she was teasing him earlier. His eyes were the mesmerizing ocean teal color; his Magical Eyes were active.
"Blaise?" She called out his name.
The other's turned to look at James. This was the first time they saw his Magical Eyes. "Destiny, get back into stealth." James urged.
Again, Mercury called out to James, "Hey, what is wrong?"
"I can see 11 people approaching us. They are moving very quickly while in stealth and have not deviated the slightest. They are purposefully moving in on our location." James warned everyone.
"I can't sense anything in my perception radius." Mercury was doubting herself.
James gently set her down and noticed that she was questioning her own skills. He patted her head, "They are approaching fast but they are still over 500m out. The only reason I noticed it myself is because my Magical Eyes activated on their own."
She was relieved and happy that James was concerned about her self confidence.
"You said 11 people? Can you tell what class they are?" Totem was very worried.
"There are only a few classes that give off a magical presence. The first set are all Mage classes and the others are the rogue classes but only if they are in stealth." James explained.
Totem's worst fear came true. "I apologize for getting you all wrapped into my conflict with Solemn Sword. If I were to guess those people should be the members of the Harbingers of Death. They are a group of well trained assassins that are at the keystone of the game's underworld. I pissed off Alexander when I canceled my contract with him to join you; he knows he can't openly do anything against me but that won't stop him from hiring others to do it for him."
They all looked towards James, "What should we do? It has only been 5 minutes since Talon and Karma left to scout." Mercury wanted to know if James came up with anything yet.
"Go and start carving our favorite runes all over the nearby trees. We have at most 5 minutes to set up our defenses. Let me know when you are done and I'll come over to add the finishing touches." James gave Mercury a task.
"I practiced making the Rune pattern when we were in town. I'll draw one first, after which could you look at it? I may have figured out how to do the ley-lines." Mercury had surprised James, he nodded to her so she got right to work.
James pulled out a book from his inventory and looked at it for a second. He looked at Totem, who was looking at him waiting to be given a task. "Use this, it will be convenient for us in the fight. Don't get me wrong; it has a price and we will talk about it later."
Totem took the skill book and was amazed, "Where did you get this?"
"From the Devil's Ivy boss. Learn it and use it for a little while; I want to observe it." Since his Magical Eyes were still active he looked right at the invisible Destiny. "Your task is looking for any opportunities to strike out during the fight." Destiny didn't fully understand how he could see people in stealth but agreed to his command.
Totem was amazed at the skill that James gave him. James wasn't wrong that it would be perfect for the upcoming fight.
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Name: Trapping Vines
Level: 1
Grade: Rare
Function: Summons vines to lash out and trap their target.
Skill Information:
[Active]: Summons 6 vines that will target enemies around them on their own. If successful; the vines keep the target trapped until one of two conditions are met. The first is that they are cut free by someone else. The second is that they take damage from any source.
Costs: Active - drains 15 mana per second
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"Why do you want me to cast the spell now? Won't that waste my mana?" Totem asked.
James wanted to learn the spell too, he would be able to copy the spell matrix if Totem listened to him quickly, "You have mana potions so you can fill your mana before they get here. My class is Spell Waver; I can create spells. I want to copy the spell so we have two of them at the same time."
After hearing the reach Totem didn't waste any more time. He casted the spell, 6 tall vines grew out of the ground around them. James studied the spell matrix and started working on creating his own version.
He was interrupted by Mercury, she needed his to check the Rune pattern she drew. Totem stopped his spell and recovered his mana while James looked over Mercury's work. He saw that she managed to draw the pattern in full but it was still missing something. He sent a little bit of his mana into the Rune; it shimmered slightly. "Good job! Looks like I still need to interact with them to make them a full-fledged rune. Keep going, I will send out my mana in bulk when you are finished."
James went back to creating the spell matrix for the Trapping Vines. There was only a minute to spare.
* Ding *
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You have created a tier five spell matrix, the spell's information is below.
Spell Name: Engulfed Trapping Vines
Level: 1
Effect: Summons 6 trapping vines, which are made from fire, that will target enemies around them on their own. If successful; the vines keep the target trapped until one of two conditions are met. The first is that they are cut free by someone else. The second is that they take damage from any source other than the vine itself. Any target trapped in the vines takes 5 points of damage per second until freed. Multiple vines can trap the same target.
Damage: 5 damage per second affected by a vine.
Cost: 10 mana per second
Save spell to open spell slot or matrix memory?
[Open Spell Slot] [Matrix Memory]
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James was happy at his spell and saved it to one of his open spell slots. He took a risk by adding a rune he didn't fully understand. There were hints that one of the runes he saw in the past would do damage over time to it's target. He wanted to add a DOT to his attack so he crossed his fingers when creating the spell.
James quickly sent a pulse of mana out to all of the Rune patterns that Mercury drew to turn them into real Runes. Then they all got ready for battle.
Finally James distributed his 6 free skill points into a few of his skills. He took each of his leach skills from level 1 to level 2. Each of those spells now leach up 8% of the targeted stats, can debuff up to two targets, buff up to 3 targets, and the buffed bonus is always the highest % of the debuff targets. He also took his Improved Fireball from level 1 to level 3. It now does 20 damage on impact and 15 explosion damage. Finally he leveled up his new Engulfed Trapping Vines to level 2; which increased the number of vines from 6 to 8.
[- Blaise: They have surrounded us. One assassin is directly in front of us and the other 10 are either in the trees or hiding behind them. -]
The assassin saw that the three were ready for a battle and came out of stealth. "I don't know how you knew we were approaching and when we arrived but it doesn't matter. None of you will be leaving alive." He put on a confident façade but was internally worried. There was no mention that Reaper would be here.
At this point Mercury was itching for battle. Her stance was poised for attack; she was waiting for James to make a move. She was practically twitching from excitement. She licked her lips with anticipation.
Every one of the assassins saw the look that Mercury was giving their leader; they all felt a heavy pressure descend on them. They had no worry about killing two Mages but now a wrench was thrown in the mix.
[- Void: Alexander, the price just doubled… -]
Alexander, who was in the middle of a hunt with his guild mates, took a spell directly to his body. He was knocked to the ground and his face was red with anger.
[- Alexander: WHAT THE F*** DO YOU MEAN THE PRICE JUST DOUBLED! -] He was pissed.
[- Void: You never mentioned that Reaper was involved. -]
[- Alexander: It should only be Totem and Blaise; now that Reaper and Blaise killed the boss their partnership should have ended by now. -]
[- Void: I hate to break it to you but she is right in front of me at the moment. -]
Void quickly entered stealth and James's team waited for the first strike.
[- Void: Like I said, if you want this hit to continue the price has just doubled. -]
Alexander was fuming, [That damn Scarlet set me up!] he thought to himself.
[- Alexander: We can only do credit for the time being. -]
[- Void: Fine by me. -]
* Void left the chat. *
"Damn it! Alexander stood back up and went on a rampage. His team didn't know what fired him up. They started to feel bad for the elite monster that Alexander was taking his anger out on.
[- Void: Hehehe, good news boys. I made Alexander agree to double our fee. Little did he know that we were not going to leave with our tails tucked between our legs. Commence the attack! -]
Once Void gave the order all ten of his subordinates started their attack.
[- Blaise: They are on the move! -]
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
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