MMORPG: The Elementalist

More and more people had gathered in the front of the Grand Reaper, but in the eyes of the Divine Specter, these human adventurers were just like a swamp of harmless bees. They were way less threatening than the three Demigod Champions it had encountered before, to the point that the Reaper did not have the slightest desire to duel them personally.

‘Advanced Warriors… It was ages ago when such low-rank human was seen in the Underworld.’ The Grand Reaper lamented. The skulls surrounded it vibrated slightly in resonance to its swinging mood.

The Grand Reaper would not even have surfaced and waited here for days if not because of the fact that it had sensed a familiar scent and the sudden appearance of a mysterious Warp Portal at about five hundred meters away.

To the Divine Specter’s surprise, these wimps were able to withstand the assault from high-tier Specters lashed by the Spectral Shamans for five continuous days.

‘It seems Specters are indeed inferior to human.’

Initially, the Grand Reaper had made a decision.

If the useless Specters and Lich hordes were unable to conquer the human station, the Grand Reaper would take matters into its own hand at the last minute when the human city took form. Unexpectedly, those timid insects were bold enough to knock on its front door before it went after them.

‘Interesting.’

The Grand Reaper tightened up the Skull Barrier and soared into the air. The Divine Specter looked at the group of humans, amused. It was looking forward to the “astonishment” that these Tier 5 human adventurers might bring. It expected nothing more than disappointment.

***

After waiting silently for more than ten minutes, the humans finally moved.

The Grand Reaper was slightly baffled to see the opponents continue to expand the battle ring by pushing surrounding Specter further away from its Barrier at the center point.

But the Grand Reaper remained still.

To the Divine Specter, the minions were all expendable. It showed no compassion to those deceased beings since they could be resurrected indefinitely as long as the Spectral Shaman platoon and Underworld were kept intact.

Moreover, it hated to be bothered by the oblivious minions during battle anyway. A spacious battlefield happened to better suit the Divine Specter taste.

***

‘Finally?’

After a long wait…

A Steel Berserker dressed in Dark Gold Armor brought along two Radiant Priests and flew rapidly toward the Divine Specter. The latter chuckled when it saw the Angelic Wings behind the Berserker’s back. Trailing the Berserker small party were seven Tier 5 Champions with assorted classes.

‘So a Tier 5 could bear Angelic Wings now? Hmph. I wondered from which unlucky Demigod monster the human had stolen it from.’

‘How bold of him to spread the wings in front of me, a Divine entity, before the Divinity fusion stabilized.’

Any simple spell would shoot the Berserker down easily.

The Grand Reaper hummed disappointedly.

It might be just a casual sigh by the Divine Specter, but to Qin Ruo and others, the humming sounded like an earth-shattering Magical Fluctuation!

***

Yowl!

Right after the giant skull opened its mouth, a death aura carrying a magnificent Magical Fluctuation was released without prior notice.

“Beware!”

Qin Ruo and co. felt their heart twitch when they saw a dark fog suddenly coming out of the skull’s opening and called out almost at the same time.

The spell reached Judge in no time. He was within fifty meters of the Grand Reaper when the abrupt Magical Fluctuation engulfed him entirely.

The formless attack instantaneously suspended the Divinity power inside Judge, which consequently took out the Angelic Wings on his back.

Judge lost his balance and began to plunge.

Luckily, he was only flying at a low altitude. Judge remained calm despite the calamity and quickly restored balance.

He landed on his feet and stomped hard the moment he touched the ground. The resulting momentum once again launched him toward the Grand Reaper.

Violet Orchid and Violetmoon Devilite had done the same. After being brought down by the shapeless force, they landed steadily on the ground and immediately followed behind Judge without any hesitation.

Further back, Qin Ruo nodded to those around him and the party tacitly split into two streams. They changed direction and rounded the spell to flank the laterals of the Barrier.

It was too risky to stay in one group fighting an enemy with such enormous power. A wrong move might cost the entire party.

The farther they split, the more distracted the Boss would be. This was the only way they could buy enough time and play by their numerical advantage.

This was the impromptu plan Qin Ruo had drafted out of the limited time.

However, they could only engage the Boss provided that Judge was close enough to attract the Grand Reaper’s attention.

Though Judge was no way near Edgar’s level, Qin Ruo believed that his defense was still comparable to the Demigod NPC’s.

Judge was wearing a set that was customized to resist Dark Elemental Damage. It had an 85% reduction on Dark Debuff. Coupled with the strengthened attribute as a result of his Berserk effect, even the Divine Elite Miniboss Grand Reaper would not be able to penetrate Judge’s defense within ten seconds.

Besides, other than the armor, Qin Ruo had also helped reinforce his defense with multiple “supplements”.

Guardian Potion, Movement Speed Potion, Great Tree Sap, and Great Vitality Potion.

Judge was showered with “love” by his teammates. He was supported by two pretty Priests that constantly buffed him and recovered his HP while given Attribute Potions worth ten thousand per bottle to be used as pleased. Not only that, he was also fully backed by a group of League Commanders and a few ten thousand of comrades from Fallen Angels.

The degree of help he got was enough to make any Steel Berserker jealous. Anyone would volunteer to face Divine Specter, or even Hades if they were being treated so lavishly.

***

A twenty-meter distance became a matter of two seconds owing to Judge’s boosted movement speed.

With a low growl, Judge picked up his Dark Gold Shield the moment he entered the Grand Reaper’s attack range. The shield was usually fetched only when he was facing a lethal enemy. The thick shield provided him an extra sense of security and comfort.

Judge’s eyes did not look away from the giant skull in front of him, which gave him greater pressure with every step he took. The notorious, constantly moving ugly skull was daunting to look from far, more so when close in. The mental stress that Judge was suffering staying within thirty meters from the Divine Specter was unimaginably heavy.

This unexplained pressure had greatly restrained his movements. He started to advance with caution due to the death threat from the Grand Reaper that constantly shadowed his thought.

Fortunately, Judge’s unmoving spirit overcame the terror exerted by the Divine Specter. The courage shown by Judge in the face of death had even moved the Grand Reaper.

It was remarkable how a Tier 5 Berserker could get this far under the oppression of such a Divine being.

After a short pause, the green light inside the skull’s sockets came alive again.

The emerald laser hit directly at the advancing Judge before the others managed to warn him.

‘That’s too quick!’

Qin Ruo and others were startled by the attack speed. It was beyond anything they had ever experienced prior to this. The speed of that spell was almost on par to the speed of light, making it almost impossible to be defended.

***

When Judge was attacked, no one else was more nervous than the two Radiant Priests who were following Judge closely.

As soon as the attack was seen, two gentle calls were heard simultaneously.

Two holy lights soon fell on Judge almost at the same time.

After the recovery spells were cast, only the party member received the feedback on the damage count.

Judge is under attack.

Judge received 893 damages.

Judge received 871 damages.

Immune to Debuff Effect: Slow.

The nine other members of the party were relieved when they heard the feedback.

After resisting 30% of the incoming damage, the shield-bearing Judge was still holding his ground at the frontmost defense line. The use of Guardian Potion and Vitality Potion had set his HP at 4790 points. If the first round of attack exceeded half of this HP count, then their upcoming fate would look bleak.

This was because in that case, even Violet Orchid and Violetmoon Devilite who had consumed Sacred Potion would find it impossible to help Judge survive the third cycle of attack. That would force Judge into using his last resort—Great Tree Sap—sooner than expected. (Great Tree Sap, other than increasing Vitality by 100 points, also possesses a hidden effect, whereby the player’s HP will be fully recovered after use)

***

The two Priests’ healing spell quickly restored a large portion of Judge’s lost HP. By using another bottle of HP Potion, the Grand Reaper’s first round of attack was basically wasted and had caused Judge no harm.

***

On the other side, the Grand Reaper was rather amazed to see a petty Tier 5 Berserker withstand two of its Spells composing more than seven hundred Magic Attacks.

Moreover, the opponent was also immune to the Slow effect carried by the Death Laser.

‘This annoying fly is rather capable.’

The short gap of surprise provided Judge a window to reach the Divine Specter closer than ever.

Sadly, he was only getting to the first hindrance, the Skull Barrier, after all the effort.

In the process, the shield had been retracted back into his backpack.

He swiftly changed the equipment in his hand into an odd-looking war blade while dashing forward, which was different from the one he held earlier. After he completed the switch of weapon in a dazzling fashion, Judge slashed the blade down in one swift motion.

A gleaming blade-shaped radiance was formed along the slash trail.

Outside of the Skull Barrier, the concentrated death aura was promptly sliced apart, exposing the horrible skulls underneath it.

Judge felt encouraged. With another slash, he would know whether his Magic Penetration attack could break apart the Demigod Soul swirling outside the barrier.

However, just as the radiance was about to meet the skull exterior, the Skull Barrier suddenly diffused like a smokescreen.

He fumbled slightly after his attack hit nothing.

“Shoot!”

His battle instinct told him that he had missed his target entirely.

He turned his head reflectively and was immediately met by a wind breaking force.

Bam!

The solid collision fired every nerve in his back. Then, Judge felt that his feet were being pulled away from the ground.

“Shoot!”

Shortly after he was sent flying, a warm sensation covered his entire body.

Reassured by the protecting spell, Judge regained his composure. He looked back and saw the giant skull making an exaggerated sneer as if it was taunting him. “You are just a Tier 5 Warrior. Divine Specter is way beyond your league. Know your place!”

But the sneer rapidly turned into a scowl when several bolts of lightning shot down from the sky.

Boom!!

A skull on the barrier was shattered and turned into black smoke after the thunderous attack. The ghost-like smoke then quickly dissipated in the air afterward.

Thirty meters away, the grim looking Homme Fatale retreated slowly in mid-air.