Pantheon Online

Chapter 105 - Biting Back

Clay roared as he activated a spell to increase his strength dramatically as he slammed his axe down on the shoulder of a member of Kaleidoscope. The woman's eyes went wide as her body turned into motes of light, and Clay swiftly retrieved her orb. He glanced around at the carnage that was happening as players from other Pantheons cast surprised looks in their direction.

'Exile was right...' Clay sighed as he studied how the battle was going. They had waited a long time for Kaleidoscope to make another attempt at the wolves. They had waited until they had been fighting for some time so Kaleidoscope's members would be weakened. With them joining the battle, they had put Aeri's team in a tough situation. 

They were now caught between strong mobs and players, intent on wiping them out. Forcing them to fight on two fronts. After Exile's last stunt, a lot of Kaleidoscope's members were weaker than they appeared. Making this the perfect execution ground. Clay nodded happily when he noticed that nobody was coming to help Kaleidoscope fend them off. 

Aeri had clearly pissed off a lot of people before the recent events, and now it was coming back to bite her in the ass. 'I can't believe he predicted how this would go...' Clay's eyes were full of awe as they wandered to Exile in the distance.

"I'm going to kill you!" Aeri screamed furiously as she leapt towards Exile, brandishing her short sword.

A series of dull thuds broke out as the pair exchanged rapid blows. Aeri was unable to pierce Exile's defence, but the latter was not fast enough to land a counterstrike either. Although their fight looked deadly, it was anything but. They had essentially come to a stalemate and were holding each other off while their Pantheons fought it out.

"Tell me you didn't see this coming..." Exile smirked at her furious expression. "You've been chasing after me for a long time. Always trying to take me out. Did you honestly think I wouldn't dare to bite back?"

Aeri's expression turned ugly at Exile's words as she saw his axe beginning to glow. She swiftly retreated out of the range of what she knew would come next. A bright flash bathed the snow in hues of red and orange for merely a second before Exile cancelled his spell.

'She's too vigilant. I just can't get her with Cleansing Flame...' Exile let out a sigh as the pair stood at a distance from each other. 'It would be a bonus if we could kill her here,' but she'll likely escape if too many of her Pantheon dies.' A complicated expression crossed Exile's face at that thought. There was no way he would be able to chase her down, and he was certain that she would have no problems breaking through their encirclement with her power.

'Still, it will be a good result. We'll still have weakened her Pantheon again, which will take them longer to recover. She'll likely lie low after this.' Exile's eyes narrowed as he gauged the distance between them. It was far enough that he could prepare for a surprise attack, but too far for him to make the next move.

'I definitely need to get my hands on some ranged offensive spells...' At that moment, he noticed an ugly expression appear on Aeri's face. It made him tempted to glance back and see how the battle was going, but he did not want to show his opponent an opening. Aeri cursed under her breath as she noticed a few of Ragnarok's members making their way over to help others on their side. 

It was already clear that they had lost this fight. "Do you always resort to petty tricks!"

"Petty tricks? There's no such thing. Only taking advantage of a situation to ensure victory!" Exile grinned savagely as he noticed that she had slowly started to increase the distance between them. 'Damn! She's going to run!'

Sure enough, she did not disappoint his expectations. She quickly made her decision when she realised there was no way to turn the situation around. Unfortunately, Exile could not keep up as she made a path through his team. Knocking away his own members and saving as many of her own as she could along the way.

Naturally, nobody in Ragnarok except him could stand against her alone. They would have to surround her and wear her down, but they were all spread out. Exile groaned as Kaleidoscope fled the field of battle. He had hoped for a larger score, but he could tell that they had also lost a few members.

"Make sure those that died get to recover their stats first. I'll only use any leftovers after that..." Exile stated as Clay came within earshot.

"Understood..." Clay raised an eyebrow as he glanced at the onlookers. "Should we get out of here before they get any ideas? There's a lot of red players and we don't have any tricks to deal with them this time."

Exile followed Clay's gaze and stared hard at those who were obviously harbouring ill intentions. "Yeah, you and I will bring up the rear. They'll be wary of my Cleansing Flames and a few of them seem particularly interested in you."

The pair laughed as the Pantheon gathered around them. Exile noticed that Beans was trembling while Winter continued to look around with a hungry expression. Midas just looked happy for it to be over, but most of the others looked generally happy at their victory.

Exile kept checking behind them as they headed back to the city. There were a few players tailing them closely, but they looked conflicted. 'This might drive Aeri to make a bargain with other Pantheons to deal with us...' Exile sighed as he considered the consequences of what they had done.

However, a frown appeared on his face as he turned to look at Valheim's gates. Beartooth was standing there, apparently waiting for them. A blue glow covered his body...