Elemental Warriors Online

Combat And An Assist

Cassius dodged the thrown dagger just barely as it clipped his shoulder making a hole in his already worn out starter gear. In fact Cassius was surprised it had not crossed his mind all this while to change his worn out clothes for armor so that he could afford more protection. Fortunately for him, he still had a set of the mouse prayer. He equipped the leather armor without breaking his stride for one minute. The mouse armor provided the protection he needed at the moment and gave an extra boost to his stats.

He rounded a corner as an arrow buried itself in his chest. He stumbled and fell in shock. The pain was almost blinding. It was quite possible for him to die here and be sent for respawn. But if that should happen then Cassius will not be able to have a chance whatsoever to escape from his pursuers.

He dragged himself back to his feet and with a mighty roar he pulled the arrow out of his chest. The archer who was perched on the roof did not give him any chance to properly recover as he buried another arrow in Cassius's left shoulder. he took a quick survey of where he was.

It was a narrow Alley, the archer was perched on top of a roof four meters above the ground right at the end of the alley. There were two warriors with shields blocking the exit, and right behind Cassius was the Rogue who had been throwing daggers at him for the past five minutes. he was trapped, but cornering a vampire is a stupid decision much less Cassius himself who had been trained by a master of espionage from the moment he could say dada.

Cassius activated his [CLING] skill and ran horizontally on the walls surface. His sudden movement enabled him to dodge the next arrow which conveniently planted itself in the rogue’s skull. By now Cassius had already reached the surprised Hunter. And with such close proximity it was impossible for him to attack. At least that was what Cassius thought, until he saw the guy take out a revolver.

he cursed and quickly [SHIFTED] into a bat. He felt the bullet whiz over him as he was momentarily blinded by the loud sound the gun made with its discharge. Cassius swung a wing and the Hunter's head flew into the air, his body spraying blood like a fountain of red. Cassius’s stats were far superior to any level twenty to thirty player within Eko city. Unless there’s a player who had experienced the same amount of good luck as he had, Cassius doubted there was anyone within that level as strong as he was.

Cassius kept on flying west for the remaining duration of his [SHIFT] skill. He was able to make it three blocks before he crashed on a roof in his full form sending tiles and shingles spraying to cobbled street below and alerting his pursuers to his location. he took a moment to gather his breath and scout his surroundings.

From his vantage point he was being cornered from all directions by three teams, they did not seem to be in cahoots, which meant they were not allies. Cassius knew he was strong but players were not monsters, a monster’s attack, no matter how sophisticated an AI it was is always predictable to a certain extent. Players or the living NPC in general were a different matter.

If it was a one on one fight the opponents next move could be predicted and countered, but these guys were too many. From where he was, Cassius could already see the roof of the mansion. It was at the extreme edge of the city, in fact it was outside the city walls, although It was enclosed by its own walls and metal gates, it was very much in a dilapidated state. It rested on a hill so it was quite easy to see it from here, and also it’s surrounding lands and property was huge. The mansion on its own was colossal, but it was sitting on a land that if its boundaries, which of course were the dilapidated walls, were to be counted. That mansion was sitting smack dab on a land the length and width of five soccer fields. No wonder he was being hunted this bad, this was a prime piece of real estate, and the fact that he bought it for only seven gold coins seems like an insult.

He heard a bang and a whoosh as the roof he was perched on exploded in a shower of clay. It was at times like these that Cassius cursed EWO for being a steam punk fantasy game. Arrows can be dodged, even at higher levels, but bullets that’s a whole other ball game. And for God’s sake how did this bozos get a gun this early in the game. His train of thought was cut short as he was forced to jump off the roof in other not to present himself as a target to all these people.

Cassius made a beeline for the west gate of the city, the players already reading through his plan were quickly converging at a point in front of him. The fastest where two rogues, one was a vampire and the other a cait-Sith.

Cassius activated [STRIDE] in just the right moment and his speed increased exponentially, to all the players who; although were on an equal or higher level than Cassius, but did not have as much stats as he did, he was only a blur. When he was just two meters away from them he activated [s***h] and swung with all of his power, relieving them of their heads. His figure flashed past them as he came to a stop two meters away his sword arm extended like a samurai. This was the same move he used in killing Despereaux the mouse guard of Jerry. To all the other players after him it was a gory sight, the now headless bodies sprayed blood as it fell like rain drops on top of Cassius giving him a more savage appearance. Then the bodies toppled over in perfect synchronization. And then somehow the heads came crashing down right on their chest.

For a moment there was silence every where, even Cassius who was still holding his pose and could not see what happened behind him was affected. After what felt like an eternity someone from his right screamed.

“That was so freaking awesome!!!. I got it all on video and its going straight to the forum. But I am not fighting this guy, you guys tell me how it goes. Log out.”

Cassius gave a smirk of satisfaction. He was not aiming for any reaction or anything, he just loved using that move. But the awe in that guy’s voice just before he ran away was freaking awesome.

“That f*****g coward.” A warrior spat.

Of course Naturally he was the next to go and his own death was even more gory. With his [STRIDE] skill still active, Cassius was able to appear quickly in front of the warrior and shove his sword through the guy’s body, and while he was screaming in pain, Cassius bit his neck, draining him fast of his life giving blood. A system alert jolted Cassius as he tugged a little to forcefully and the guys head came off.

[SYSTEM ALERT!!: drinker was successfully activated. You have received from your opponent +5 strength, all abilities increased by 50% for 100 seconds.]

Cassius was surprised. He had almost forgotten that he had that passive skill, since its activation was entirely up to chance and luck. But Cassius has not been biting a lot of people so it was no surprise he did not notice its effects sooner. With the increase in his abilities Cassius broke out of the encirclement of surprised players.

They may have been playing this game for fun, and with leisure but the sheer brutality of the scene they had just witnessed left them shaken to their core. It took a while for them to gather themselves and remember that they had to chase Cassius and that he was in fact responsible for the shock they were currently feeling. But by then Cassius was almost at the west gate.

It might be strange but Cassius had never felt so alive. The electricity coursing through his veins as he enjoyed the thrill of this chase. Of course he was the one being chased, but it was quite obvious who the real preys were. he gave an immense dark chuckle.

His eyes glowed an eerie red as he vaulted over stalls and wagons that littered the streets of the west gate. It seemed this part of the slums was a market, but Cassius did not pay any heed to it. He was focused on getting to the gate, but when he got there what he saw shocked him.

There were bodies everywhere, all of them in horribly mangled and with broken forms. And right over one of those bodies was a woman who was so beautiful Cassius felt his heart skip a beat. Her red hair only seemed to make her more unreal and beautiful considering she was surrounded by dead bodies. There was a huge humanoid beast beside her, and two other females with purple hair.

It was obvious to Cassius that this m******e was caused by the beast, the people killed were actually players who had laid a trap for him. The guards of the west gate were passed out in a puddle of their own urine, they must have been terrified . the woman turned to him as she spoke.

“You have cost me my consort, not to mention a half dragon at that. So how would you repay me back Cassius, or should I say Benjamin.”

Cassius took several steps back in surprise. She knew who he was? Ben had an extreme hate for wearing some other face when he played games, so the only thing he chose to change during the character creation was his hair, he changed it to white and his eyes were red. What were the odds that he would come across someone who knew him without any prior planning. Those odds were incredibly small.

“Who are you?” Cassius asked with a guarded tone.

“I don’t think you have time whatsoever to find out. Your pursuers have almost caught up with you.” She replied.

And she was right, less than twenty five meters away and closing in fast were a lot more people than he encountered a few minutes ago. Now he was truly stuck, he had greedy players coming from behind him and opposite him was a mysterious red haired who knew him in real life with three NPCS as her followers, not to mention one of those followers was a beast Cassius was sure could kill him in one hit.

“you don’t have much time, invite me into your party and I will help you escape them.” The red haired suddenly spoke up.

Cassius did not trust her, in fact he was now extremely suspicious. Why would she want to be in a party with him, she might have something planned that would lose him the deed. This was not something he could afford to loose at the moment.

“there’s no time to question my intentions, or wonder what I have in store for you. Its either you trust me and keep your deed because I have no use for something so trivial, or get captured. And believe me I am not sure you are going to like it.”

Cassius had no choice at the moment, most of his skills were still in cool down, and the ones available would not be enough to facilitate an escape for him. Besides as soon as he gets into the vicinity of the Mansion his abilities will increase by a huge margin, it would be enough for him to battle this strange woman.

[YOU HAVE INVITED URIEL NIGHTBORN INTO YOUR PARTY]

[AWAITING CONFIRMATION…….]

[PARTY UP CONFIRMED: URIEL NIGHTBORN IS NOW A PART OF YOUR PARTY.]

URIEL NIGHTBORN

SUCCUBUS

LEVEL 48

SORCERESS

ALCHEMIST

She was twice his level at the moment. At this point in the game her Level did not mean much, but to get this far was a testament of her abilities.

“Lets head for the Mansion, my children will hold off those pests and fetch your servants.”

And with that she took off running. For a caster she had a lot of agility. Cassius hurriedly followed her with the sounds of battle gradually fading from behind him as the mansion and all its horrors loomed ahead. Cassius shivered with anticipation, his blood had already been ignited. And whether or not he would admit. His bloodlust was at an all time high.