Evolution Island: Kill to Survive

K.O.

The smoke grenades Aaron had thrown reduced visibility in his immediate area. Apart from that, the smoke also inflicted the 'blind' status effect on all who stepped inside the gray smoke cloud.

Aaron knew he wouldn’t be able to win a head-on battle against the dinosaur, but he could surely outwit it. With a brain the size of a walnut, the Triceratops had never been the smartest of pre-historic beasts. Aaron had deployed the smoke to create some distance between them and set up his final play.

Neither the Triceratops nor Aaron could see through the smoke. However, Aaron had an ace up his sleeve. The most basic exploration skill in his arsenal was going to prove invaluable now. Aaron backed away as far as possible and used up all the remaining smoke bombs to envelop an even larger area in smoke. Then he patiently waited for the beast to make his move. When he finally heard the loud snorting of the dinosaur, he activated his Pyro Vision skill to scan the area. His thermal scan allowed him to pick up the heat signature of the massive beast, hurtling towards him.

As the dinosaur charged in through the smoke cover, its speed halved and it suffered from complete loss of vision. With his eyes already damaged, the smoke inflicted it with a 100% 'accuracy reduction'. This was the chance Aaron had been waiting for.

“I’m standing right here! Come at me, you dumb beast!” Aaron yelled on top of his lungs, backing away to the very edge of the cliff.

The Triceratops heard Aaron’s voice and came charging blindly through the smoke. Aaron stood motionless till the last second and then dived to his right. The enormous dinosaur had no way to see what was in front and ran straight off the cliff, plummeting to death. Despite being built like a tank, a fall from that height did enough damage to kill it.

[*Triceratops killed!*]

[*Achievement Unlocked: Savage Predator!*]

[+20,000 Sky Gems Earned!]

[+50,000 XP Earned]

[Level Up!]

[Current level: 17

2 Skill Points Acquired

All stats increased!]

Aaron went over the notifications and noticed that this time he didn’t acquire any DNA. Since he had run the dinosaur off a cliff, the DNA fragment was also down there. In order to absorb the DNA of the Triceratops, he would have to climb down and reach its corpse. If the quest had been completed, Aaron would have found a way to get down from the hill, but there was still the Dark Orc Warlord to be dealt with. In the end, he had to leave the DNA sequence behind and get back to the task at hand.

Before Aaron could reach his friends, a loud blaring sound resounded across the camp. Rothnak had just used his special battle horn to resurrect the dire wolves which had just been killed. As the dark magic seeped into their corpses, they gradually came back to life. Mawanko used his whistle to try and gain control of the wolves again, but this time it didn’t work, since they were no longer alive. The dire wolves which stood back up from the ground were just corpses re-animated with dark magic. And the only one they would listen to was the summoner himself.

Aaron quickly summoned his Firelings to attack the re-animated wolves. He knew if he didn’t attack them first, they would target Zach and the others. By attacking first, he made sure they would recognise him as the primary threat and ignore the others.

Aaron’s strategy worked just as expected and soon the whole pack of re-animated dire wolves rushed towards him. Soon he was surrounded from all sides, with no room for escape. Aaron chugged down another EP potion and pulled out his Deer Horn Knives. If he tried using his Incinerate skill to target the wolves in front, the others would just pounce on him from behind. At such close range, his only option was to use melee attacks.

“Fire Claw!” Enchanting his weapons with fire, Aaron took on the dire wolves.

In the middle of the burning camp, Zach was doing his best to keep Rothnak subdued with the help of the Cayuga chief and Mawanko. Kawasha wasn’t strong enough to go toe to toe with a Dark Orc warlord, but his pride prevented him from stepping back.

Rothnak had no trouble dealing with humans. His spear sliced right through Nashoba’s leather armour, drilling a hole in the chief’s right arm. For an Orc, he was surprisingly quick on his feet and smart as well. Neither Mawanko nor Kawasha could get close enough to him.

Once Nashoba became injured, Rothnak went on the offensive. Swinging his spear with one hand, he knocked back Kawasha with the blunt end and sliced up Mawanko’s armour. Zach cast his illusion skill and summoned two identical clones to distract him, but the Orc destroyed them in a flash. Rothnak used his spear with all the skill of a trained martial artist, disarming all 3 attackers effortlessly.

As the 3 Cayuga men lay bleeding on the ground, Rothnak jumped in to deliver the finishing blow. Zach was still without a weapon, but managed to push the Orc back with an Aqua Punch. Since he was playing the wizard class, he couldn’t pick up the weapons which were lying around. Axes and spears were useless to him and, if picked up, would only reduce his stats.

“That weak attack won’t save you, magic caster!” Rothnak grunted, puffing up his chest. Then, with one great leap, he plunged his spear with full force.

“Second Chance!”

Zach activated his escape ability just in time to avoid the attack. Rothnak came crashing down on the ground and drilled a hole in the earth instead. The danger, however, was far from over. The teleportation ability barely moved Zach a few feet behind, instead of teleporting him to a safe zone. Surrounded on all sides by burning huts, there was no place for him to run.

“Magic won’t save you from me! I will skin you alive and feed your entrails to the dogs!”

“Die!” Nashoba stabbed Rothnak from behind.

The Dark Orc’s eyes turned bloodshot as black blood dripped from his wound. Despite being stabbed in the back, he didn’t seem to be in any pain. Nashoba kept twisting the dagger inside the Orc, his hands trembling in fear.

Rothnak paid as much attention to the sneak attack as if it were a mere scratch and grumbled in a heavy voice, “I have the blood of the Fallen Deities running through my veins. No human can defeat me.”

Before Nashoba could react, Rothnak turned around and thrust the spear straight into his stomach. Blood spurted out of his nostrils and he groaned in pain.

“That’s what you deserve, human!” Rothnak finished him off by pulling out the spear and kicking him away.

Mawanko and Kawasha could only watch as their chief slumped down in a pool of blood. Rothnak had wounded them so badly that they couldn’t even move their limbs. Having dealt with the chief, Rothnak targeted Zach.

“f**k this s**t! I don’t even have a damn weapon!” In a last ditch attempt to defend himself, Zach picked up an Orcish war axe from the ground. The weapon felt twice as heavy and he could barely swing it, but he tried nonetheless. “I should have picked a better class!” he grunted, struggling to lift the axe higher.

“You magic casters are pathetic weaklings.” Rothnak didn’t even bother to use his weapon. He walked straight up to Zach and snatched the axe from his hand. Zach tried to poke out the Orc’s eyeballs with his fingers, but he caught his neck before his hands could reach his face.

“Let go off me! f**k you, Gilbert...”

Those were the last words out of Zach’s mouth, before Rothnak snapped his neck like a twig and tossed him away.