Second World

Chapter 972 972. Retreat

The hooded and faceless phantom that Mistress summoned was called Death's Shade. It was the first spell from a first-class special class, Envoy of Death. This was a special class that came from the Reaver elite class.

Death's Shade floated forward, approaching the assassin players who were still attacking the shell. An eerie hum followed as it moved. When it came close to the edge of the shell, those who were attacking that part of the shell had damage numbers appeared on their head. The damage was small, but it kept appearing every second. It was like the reverse of a recovery effect.

The reverse recovery was not that much of a concern, but when the shade came closer, it started to utter a howl. At the same time, one of the closest players felt as if his life was getting sucked. A stream of black light was seen coming out of that player and entered the faceless void under the shade's hood. The damage number that appeared every second above that player multiplied tens of times.

The sudden decrease in HP immediately alarmed the player. He hurriedly retreated, but he felt like he was walking through mud. He moved very slowly. The shade kept on advancing slowly, keeping its distance.

As the player kept on struggling to move away, the shade that followed him came out of the protective shell. Once it was out, the other nearby assassins immediately stabbed their daggers into it. However, their attacks simply passed through the shade as if it was air.

"Haha, you people who only use gunner and assassin classes are the bane of that thing," Ronald laughed. "That thing is immune to physical attacks. Only magic players can affect it."

Mistress frowned at Ronald unhappily.

Seeing Mistress' frown, Gridhacker chided Ronald, "You shouldn't have told the enemies about the particular of the spell."

Ronald was aware of Mistress' glare, but he didn't truly care. "Haha. So what? They don't have any magic players. Even if they know, they can't do anything to it."

Since there was nothing they could do to the Death's Shade, Serpent Boss commanded everyone to stay away from the thing. It's a good thing the shade moved slowly. The only one who couldn't escape was the one who had been targeted by the shade. His speed was slowed considerably after being targeted. The black light continued to come out of him and his HP continued to decrease.

He used Vanish. His body flashed but he stayed in the same place. Vanish skill failed to move him away. The shade's hold kept him tethered. He then used the human race skill, Willpower. The black light broke for a second but it was not enough time for him to escape. The shade's mental hold fell on him again soon after.

He realized then that he had used the two skills in the wrong order. He should have used Willpower first and then Vanish when the shade lost its hold for a second. It's too late now, both skills were on cooldown.

Someone came in between him and the shade. He immediately felt the shade's control of him gone.

"Boss!" He yelled when he saw it was Serpent Boss.

"Go! Everyone, stay at least ten meters away from this thing!" Serpent Boss shouted. Ten meters was the range where the shade started to use the black light hold on a target.

When Serpent Boss was slowed by the shade, Ronald took the chance to shoot at him. Serpent Boss had expected that. He exchanged his off-hand weapon for a shield and covered his head, reducing the damage he received as well as preventing Ronald from scoring a headshot.

Everyone had the utmost confidence in Serpent Boss. When he ordered everyone to move away, no one tried to be a hero and came to sacrifice themselves by taking his place and becoming the shade's target. Once Serpent Boss saw everyone was out of range, he used Battle Ready.

The skill made him immune to all movement restrictions for a duration, allowing him to break free from the shade's hold. It also increased his speed and decreased the damage from Ronald's bullets that were still coming at him. He used Roll and put a distance from the shade.

The Dogs of War continued shooting the shell while keeping a distance from the shade. With their fast movement speed and expert awareness of the battlefield, they could stay away from the shade's AOE while resuming attacking the shell. The shade had a duration. It disappeared after five minutes.

When the shell was almost out, they saw incoming movements. Many World Ruler players appeared. When Mistress started taking action, she sent an order for a thousand players to return. The defenders almost completely collapsed. Even with only guild soldiers, they should have no problem breaking the gate and destroying the guild core within Wicked Witches' headquarters.

"Heads up!!" David yelled after seeing the many incoming players.

Serpent Boss shouted orders for them to rearrange their formation. They couldn't afford to hit the nearly destroyed shell with these many enemies coming at them. They retreated into the woods, taking cover behind the trees, as well as forcing the enemies to come to them and not utilize the protective shell.

Ronald and Gridhacker came out of the protective shell, joining the players who chased after the retreating Dogs of War.

Mistress waved her hand and the soul orb, which had been filled with life absorbed by her Death's Shade, flew to Ronald. The soul orb merged with Ronald and gave him Soul Armor, a protective layer that would heal any damage Ronald suffered equal to the HP contained within the soul orb. This was one of the unique abilities provided by Mistress' special class, Envoy of Death.

Once the soul orb was transformed into soul armor, another soul orb popped up beside Mistress, ready to be filled by absorbing enemies' HP. Yet, Mistress didn't join the advance. She sat back on her lounge chair, letting others do the battle for her.

Ronald, who saw the soul armor was on him, became even more confident. He rushed forward to the front line and shot everyone in sight. Even though Mistress disliked the gunslinger, she still knew he was the best combatant they had here. So, giving him soul armor was the best tactical choice. Ronald's Boom Hound fought next to him while Gridhacker followed from behind, supporting Ronald with his spells.

World Ruler players had better equipment and levels, but Dogs of War players were better combatants. Dog of War players also had better teamwork and better utilization of the environment. They snaked in and out of the shrubs and in between trees, causing difficulties for the enemies to pinpoint them, and struck when they saw opportunities.

The one who truly gave them trouble was Ronald. He was still the one who took out most of their lives compared to the others. With the soul armor, it was as if he was still inside the protective shell. Open fire at them without worrying about himself.

The soul armor, however, wasn't limitless. It could only heal damage as much as the soul orb that was used to form it. Normal Reaver's soul orb could hold a number as much as 100% of the reaver's HP. But Envoy of Death's soul orb could hold as high as 300% HP.

This meant to deplete the soul armor currently healing Ronald, one would need to deal damage that could kill Mistress three times. Reaver was a class that gave higher HP with each level-up compared to other healer classes. Envoy of Death was even more so.

When the soul armor started to dim, many Dogs of War's assassins lunged at Ronald. Ronald used his Wraith Phase to escape encirclement. After phasing three times and confusing the hell out of his opponents, he used Bulletstorm. Intending to finish off many opponents with this skill.

However, as he started to shoot the first few bullets, he was hit by a shot. His Bulletstorm was forcefully canceled.

"Disrupting shot?" He looked around. He wasn't aware of anyone that had made the shot, which meant this shot had been made from very far away.

'The one with the sniper class!' Ronald came to a realization.

Knowing a stalker with such an unusual range was targeting him, he couldn't afford to be brash. He was about to head back to where his comrades were fighting, but a shadow suddenly lunged at him from a nearby bush. He used Roll and dodged the ambush.

At the end of his roll, he saw the one that he had dodged was a fox. A black fox. But rather than calling it black, it was more correct to call it colorless. No feature could be seen of its body. No eyes, nose, or furs. It was just total blackness. Those who looked at it were as if looking at a void with the shape of a fox. Wisps of dark smoke followed its movement.

It was an Abyss Fox, a rare elite demon. This Abyss Fox was Serpent Boss' pet.

When Ronald was still wondering about this Abyss Fox, he felt killing intent from behind him. He whirled around just as a dagger was about to pierce him. He used his revolver to parry.

"You finally come out of your shell," Serpent Boss said.

"Haha. I do prefer to see you up close when I kill you," Ronald returned.