"C'mere!"

Dave lunged, grabbing the a.s.sa.s.sin by the back of the neck he yanked the player's head down to meet his rising knee.

[-12,880]

The knee strike sent the a.s.sa.s.sin arching backwards, he stumbled trying to keep his feet but failed, falling on his sit-bone with a thump.

"Oi, Sadow! Gimme a hand!" the a.s.sa.s.sin called his friend for help.

"You brought a friend? Good! The more the merrier. For ME!" The tone of Dave's voice belied the levity of his words.

From the treeline Sadow fired a [Breaking Shot], pus.h.i.+ng the white knight away from his a.s.sa.s.sin buddy. He followed up the skill with a rapid series of regular shots.

The a.s.sa.s.sin scrambled to his feet and cast [Vanish], becoming invisible. His hunter friend was still firing arrows at Dave, but the damage from them was negligible.

"You're not going anywhere!" Dave stomped to activate [Death Surge] and a golden aura shot out from where his foot impacted the ground. The wavefront of light revealed a blurry silhouette, disrupting the a.s.sa.s.sin's invisibility.

Dave attacked with [Dragon Kick], shooting toward the a.s.sa.s.sin like a high power bullet.

The a.s.sa.s.sin tried to dodge the attack, but took the full brunt of it on his chest. A fiery ethereal dragon materialized behind Dave's avatar and swooped through the a.s.sa.s.sin's body.

[-23,336]

"s.h.i.+t!" the a.s.sa.s.sin cursed and threw a [Smoke Bomb] down. It burst into an obscuring cloud and he turned invisible again.

Dave waved his hand to cast four [Spectral Skulls] and send them away. He detonated them in an semicircular pattern and the a.s.sa.s.sin was once again thrown from the cover of his invisibility.

The hunter fired a [Blinding Shot] arrow that popped off right in front of Dave in a blinding flare of white light, like a flash-bang grenade.

***

You have been blinded for 3 seconds.

***

The only thing he could see were glowing afterimages.

"f.u.c.ker!" Dave cursed.

'This s.h.i.+t sucks! I never realized how bad Lone was doing the mobs when she used that Skill.

It was tough fighting two players at once when they were close to the same level as his.

The a.s.sa.s.sin threw a handful of needles and shuriken at the white knight. They didn't do any significant damage, but the bits of sharp metal added another distraction.

As soon as his vision returned Dave used [Immortal Apparition], teleporting in front of the hunter he swung a [Rising Dragon] uppercut.

[-20,881]

The hunter flew up, as another ethereal dragon gobbled him up. Dave jumped after the hunter and used [Infernal Tornado].

[-15,666]

[-14,887]...

...[-12,200]

The hunter's HP plummeted to the red.

Just as the Skill ended, Dave was stabbed in the ribs again and the Stun effect froze him for a full second. The a.s.sa.s.sin grabbed Dave's head and twisted hard, producing unpleasant sound of bones breaking in a series of loud snaps.

[-18,887]

"f.u.c.ker! That HURT!" Dave shouted.

He spun to counterattack, but the a.s.sa.s.sin used [Stealth] to return to the shadows.

"Oh no, you're not getting away!" Dave activated [Aura] and burned a large circle of forest growth around him to ash in an instant, revealing the a.s.sa.s.sin again.

"s.h.i.+t, let's get the f.u.c.k out of here, we can't kill him!" the a.s.sa.s.sin shouted running back toward the hunter in the trees.

Sadow didn't argue, he just followed his friend's lead, sprinting away from the terrifying white knight.

Dave activated [Approaching Dragon] and pinballed after the escaping players, jumping like a bolt of jagged lightning.

Shouting "Heeeere's JOHNNY!" as he appeared behind and tackled both the players. The hunter immediately used [Blink] to remove himself from the melee while Dave punched the downed a.s.sa.s.sin in the kidneys.

Unfortunately for the hunter [Approaching Dragon] was a gap-closing multiple-attack Skill. The white knight suddenly appeared next to the hunter and punched him in the ribs.

Dave bounced back to the a.s.sa.s.sin with an elbow strike to the temple that whipped his head halfway around.

Desperate, the a.s.sa.s.sin used [decoy subst.i.tution], throwing a pre prepared talisman as far as he could into the forest and teleported to exchange places with it.

He glanced back at the decoy he'd left in his place as he started to run, but a whistle of wind made him look up to see the knight coming down at him in a power dive.

"Here comes THA-BOOOM!" Dave yelled as he came down in a fist-first power dive on the a.s.sa.s.sin's head. The a.s.sa.s.sin's lifeless avatar struck the ground hard and bounced, leaving a web of cracks where it impacted.

[-23,889]

The damage number was followed by a second info-tag amid the swirl of glowing particles from the disintegrating avatar.

[Overkill!]

Dave exhaled deeply, shook out his shoulders, popped his head from side to side then rolled it around to loosen his neck.

"Aww yeah, that's the stuff!"

He looked under his foot, he was standing on an item. He picked it up and inspected the piece of clothing, it was an a.s.sa.s.sin's hood.

'Nice. A level 300 a.s.sa.s.sin's hood, this'll fetch a good sum at auction.'

Dave turned to the spot where the hunter had died. There were a pair of boots there and Dave looted those too. He felt better, ready to grind some more mobs.

Until a voice from behind startled him.

"Nǐ hǎo, gweilo."

He turned to see a big copper-haired man in form-fitting red armor, his muscular arms folded across a broad chest. A giant war-ax was strapped to the man's back and there was a predatory look in his intense jade-colored eyes.

Dave thought the guy looked familiar. Inspecting the player gave him:

***

Long Zhao

Cla.s.s: Berserker

Level 426

Guild: Blood Rage

***

Dave seethed inside, the Blood-Rager's level was so much higher than his own, he didn't have a chance of winning against him. Worse the guy was a Legacy holder. And now Dave remembered where he knew the guy from. He'd been one of the party that pursued Dave and the Boyz into The Wilds, Dave had baited the dragon into attacking them then escaped riding the dunlords as they tunneled underground

'f.u.c.king h.e.l.l. Can't anything go my way? It's like someone voodoo cursed me.'