Reborned Top Gamer: Spell-Swordman Rule the World

28 The Alchemist

Felix was a magician. He was very powerful and he knew it. He had unlocked the hidden profession – alchemist – on one of his quests in the game. Minan group hired him years ago because of his prowess in the game, they allowed him a free hand when it came playing which he immensely enjoyed. Walt was his co-worker at a point, they hired him three years after he had been working for them but he never liked the guy, he was too stuck up and always refused to join the rest of the players for conquests.

When Heather had called him into his office and assigned him that task, he had been ecstatic, things around the company were starting to get really boring. Although he was not part of a team, it had just taken a phone call from Heather and a little bribery to get him into the regional team tournament. Before the game even started, he had already been placed in the forest, so he was able to scout and assess the land before he made his move. Even though he did not like Walt in any way, he knew that he was very smart and would not be easy to track. The best thing he could do was participate in the game and collect as many cards as he could, eliminate the excess so it would be easier to find his target.

He sat on a branch, listening to the cries of battle in the forest all around him. The competition started the previous day and a lot of teams were already out. They let anyone participate in the game now, weaklings that could not last a day should not even play but he supposed without weaklings, strong people would not exist.

“Hey! Hey you!” a voice said from below him, interrupting his thoughts. He looked down and saw a group of three, looking up at him. Without casting a second glance, he looked away and continued his thinking.

“We are Ash team, give us your card and we’ll let you live,” one of them said to him but got no response. They looked at each other, unsure of what to do next. Another one got irritated and was about to move towards the tree when Felix jumped down from the tree with his scepter. The moment he hit the ground, he slammed his scepter on the ground, summoning a spell and wiping the whole team in one strike, causing a deadly explosion that shook the entire forest. This was absolute power suppression.

Felix stood up straight and saw that the explosion had not only burned out the Ash team but also leveled some of the trees around him. With a slight smirk, he walked forward and picked up the only thing that did not burn from the team, their card. The card did not change the name when he picked it because he was not technically a player but when he tapped it, it showed the map of the forest and the locations of the other cards.

He wanted to laugh at how pathetic the team he just defeated was. They only had their card even though the game had started since yesterday. They probably thought he was alone player and they could easily take him. Destroying them had been exhilarating for him though, he wanted to do more of that. He swept back his cloak and made his way into the forest, following the map.

After walking for a couple of minutes, he came upon the team that he had been tracking but they seemed not to be there. He was in the middle of a bush clearing and he was well aware that the members of the team were hiding in the trees around him but he stood still, looking around him like he was lost. Purposely, he held the card he had in his hand, so they would attack him. As he expected, they came rushing down from the trees, surrounding him.

“Hand over the card, there is no need to fight,” one of them who was a magician said. Felix laughed out loud, causing them to look at each other, confused. The swordsman amongst them ran forward with his sword, slashing at Felix multiple times. He moved away from the attacks, dodging them fluidly. In anger, the swordsman lurched forward with an attack, but Felix flew up and pointed his scepter at them, using his air bomb skill which sucked in his targets before imploding.  He landed back on his feet and picked up their cards, they had four.

He wondered why all the players he had met kept telling him there was no need to fight, it was a fighting game. He chuckled as he checked the name of their cards, it read Freedom team. Little wonder he hated the idea of teaming up, they had to come up with ridiculous team names and had to work together. Other people only slow you down, he knew that for a fact. Without looking back, he continued his walk through the forest.

Walt and his teammates were fighting off a team when they heard the first explosion. It had distracted the team they were fighting for a longer time, which allowed them to quickly beat them and take their cards. These ones had seven. Walt had been deeply disturbed when he heard and felt that explosion. It seemed very familiar but the person he knew with that skill was not a team player, so he dismissed it even though it was still at the back of his mind.

They were walking through the forest, tracking their next opponents when the second explosion went off. This time, they all stopped and glanced at each other. It was a powerful explosion and it was scary. Miranda and Scott looked at Walt, frowning, wondering if he was thinking the same thing that they were.

“It can’t be,” Miranda said.

“It might,” Scott replied.

“If it is, then we’re in trouble,” Walt said and the other four looked at each other, wondering what they were going on about.

“s**t, s**t, s**t,” Miranda yelled, holding her head in her hands. Ailsa frowned and folded her arms. She knew it was something that had to do with where Walt used to work because the three of them were sometimes talking about something that she, Jenny, Michael or Hogan could not relate to.

“What are you people talking about?” Ailsa demanded. Walt turned to face her with a look on his face that she had not see before. He looked…nervous, which was unusual for him because he was usually cocky.

“Remember Minan group?” he asked and she nodded “well, there’s a player there, his name is Felix. He’s an alchemist and a very powerful one. He has special explosion skills that are hard to miss,” he said and she c****d her head, confused to the reason as to why they were so worried.

“So? We can still take him,”

“You don’t get it,” Miranda said, with a hind of irritation in her voice “Felix is not a team player. Minan group only assign him killing tasks. If he’s here, there has to be a reason and it’s probably us,”

“Us? What did we do?” Jenny asked with wide eyes. The guy sounded very dangerous to her and they probably should not mess with him at all.

“He’s probably here because of me,” Scott said with a guilt-ridden face “I broke my contract with Minan, they must have sent him here to deal with me,” Miranda scoffed after he spoke and rolled her eyes.

“Oh please, Minan would not send out their best player to deal with a contract break. It has to be something else,” she said, a frown etching on her face as she tried to think of the reason. Ailsa gasped and placed her hand on Walt’s arm. He looked at her, with worry in his eyes.

“Do you think this has anything to do with you losing all their equipment and getting demoted in their account?” she asked and Miranda’s jaw dropped “YOU DID WHAT?” she yelled. Walt groaned and ran his hand through his hair.

“If Felix is here, it’s probably because of that. I changed my appearance but the whole thing with Barnett probably made it easy for him to find me,”

“If you’re scared, then this guy is probably really dangerous,” Michael said to Walt “what are we going to do about him?”

“I’ll tell you what we’ll do, avoid him! As much as we can, till we end this stupid game,” Miranda said and folded her arms in defiance. Jenny was really scared now, Miranda always had a go-for-it attitude but even she was afraid of this Felix character.

“Even if we manage to avoid him throughout this competition, he won’t stop tracking us until he finds us and…” Walt trailed off and the rest of the team wore somber looks. They were still standing there, dealing with the information in their minds and trying to come up with a possible solution when an arrow went flying right through their midst. The arrow barely missed Miranda’s face, scratching her cheek a little and leaving a line of blood.

They gasped and looked at the direction of the arrow. There was a female elf with a bow and arrow aimed at them and two knights right next to her. Miranda let out a low guttural growl, causing her team mates to glance at her. She was pissed. She went off without any assistance from any of them.

Using her recessive stealth mode, she appeared and reappeared multiple times. Throwing her stars at them and using her claws to stab them multiple times. The whole time, she was screaming and attacking them. When they were already down, she started to punch the elf, screaming as she did it. Jenny ran forward and held her shoulders, pulling her off the severely wounded elf and into her arms.

“It’s okay Alice, shh,” Jenny said as she tried to calm the shaken-up demon cat. Walt and the others walked towards them and joined in the hug.

“We’ll beat him, don’t worry,” Walt said when they all pulled away from the team huddle. He walked over to the team Miranda had brutally defeated and picked up their cards, they had four. It will not be easy but a plan was starting to form in his mind.