"Careful! Their only goal at this point is most likely to make sure we don't make it out of this alive!" Owl said as his talons swiped across one of the plant monsters and finished it off.
"Like we'll just roll over and die!" Du Cheng shouted. A vine quickly shot out towards him, however, he was able to parry the attack. At the same time, he used the momentum from the vine strike to propel himself towards the Su Cui.
As for Su Cui, she clenched her fist tightly as the intensity of the flames increased. She kicked off her back foot and dashed towards the player she had previously struck. He was still being pursued by the vines of the plant monsters and looked as if he was beginning to panic.
He had already taken quite a few hits and Su Cui's first attack only caused more trouble for him. He did not think that they would be so bold as to make a move when they were already faced with the other members of Fatal Touch. Just when he had finally managed to somewhat regain his footing, Su Cui was already right next to him with her next attack.
"Flaming-!" Su Cui fist closed in on the player, however, her fist stopped just before slamming into his face.
"I can't move!" Su Cui said as she struggled to move, but it was clear that she had been stunned.
"You want to kill another one of us? Don't even joke!" Du Cheng said in a cold tone of voice. At the moment, his daggers were impaled inside of Su Cui's body. He used an advanced version of the rogue skill Pressure Point to stun Su Cui and prevent her from taking any action.
"Su Cui! Get away from her!" Starry shouted as she charged forward towards Du Cheng. At first, she was moving incredibly slow and would have never been able to make it over there in time. However, just after she took her first step, she accelerated at a great speed with her shield forward and her eyes closed tightly.
"What are you going to do abo-" Du Cheng was about to taunt Starry, but before he could even complete his first sentence he felt something heavy crash into his body. Before he knew it, he himself was unable to move and had become stunned. Starry had used the skill Unimpeded Rush!
It was a charge based skill for many plate user classes, however, it was difficult to successfully hit a target since most plate users were not used to moving at such a high speed and it took practice to master. But, Starry was actually able to hit Du Cheng with her eyes closed! What amazing luck!
"You!" Du Chen was furious. This weakling who did nothing but hide away and swung her sword around randomly like a madman was able to hit him? He had never been so embarrassed by anything! Not only was Owl watching, but even the big-name players like Silent Steps, Haishe, and Savage were here! He would never be able to live down this humiliation!
"Nice move, Starry!" Su Cui said with a smile on her face.
The player who was Su Cui's original target was shocked. The weakest looking one had actually managed to land a blow again Du Cheng. But, Su Cui was still stunned and he would not pass up that chance.
He lifted his sword up into the air as a faint aura gathered around it and swung it down right towards Su Cui and was able to strike her neck. This caused her HP to drop down by more than 40% from that one attack. It was obvious that he used one of his high damaging skills to shave off so much of her HP with a single swing.
However, just when he was about to quickly follow up with a second attack, a holy light descended down upon him causing him to turn into countless particles. He was already weak from fighting against the plant monsters and taking Su Cui's first attack head-on, therefore, when Luna cast Superior Holy Smite she was able to finish him off in one go.
The instant after she cast Superior Holy Smite, she used one of her newer skills called Holy Flash Heal.
Skill Name: Holy Flash Heal
Skill Level: 2/4
Skill Rank: A
Mana Cost: 400
Cast Time: Instant
Active: Instantly heal yourself or an ally target within 25 meters for 250% of the user's 'Healing Factor'.
Cooldown: 30 seconds
Although the skill was able to be cast instantly, it required an unfriendly amount of MP. Not only that, but its cooldown time was much higher than Heal or Cure. This was why Luna one would stick to using Heal as her main healing skill and only save Holy Flash Heal for emergencies. After all, she could not afford to stop and cast a Heal or Cure since Yu Lan's skill was just about to end.
While she could have used this skill on Xun Guiying, she decided against it. After all, she would ultimately only have delayed her death for a second or two at most.
It was a tough decision for her to make, but Luna knew that as soon as Xun Guiying was pulled in front of that group of twelve players, there was no chance for her to survive given her squishy range based class. However, Luna understood that sometimes being in the leader position one had to make difficult choices and think about the survival of everyone, not just themselves or one specific person.
"Thanks, Luna!" Su Cui said as her stunned state finally ended. She then rotated her body and threw at punch at Du Cheng who was still next to her and stunned. Her fist had reignited and crashed right into his chest.
Du Cheng's facial expression turned extremely gloomy as he was struck. As soon as he was hit, he was able to move again and quickly retreated back while drinking a potion. One could see the amount of frustration written on his face. Not only had the person he was trying to save been killed, but he himself had also suffered a huge loss just now.
The first player that Starry attacked had long since been finished off by the two plant monsters that were attacking him. Now, there was just Owl, himself, and one other player left alive from the original group of ten players. Du Cheng was now stuck in a difficult position.
However, the player in the toughest position at the moment was Owl. There were only fourteen plant monsters left and seven of them were focused on him! He was skillfully evading the incoming vines while taking any opportunity that was available to attack. The owl mask he wore on his face made him look calm and composed as he danced throughout the battlefield.
But, on the inside, he was also quite frustrated by how things turned out. However, he was confident that the people responsible for this would definitely pay the price. There was no question about it.
"Keep running!" Luna reminded everyone so that they would not become too caught up in the fight. After all, their main goal was still to escape from this place in one piece. Even though they may not make it far, every second they could buy would count.
Starry and Su Cui followed Luna's instructions as they began to run along with her and Yu Lan.
"What's taking Jia so long?" Su Cui scowled when she noticed that the plant wall was still up.
Luna furrowed her brows as she had still not yet heard a word from Jia. They were not too far from the plant wall and would soon have nowhere left to run. If Jia did not succeed then they would all, without a doubt, die in this place.
"What are they up to?" Du Cheng said to himself with a frown on his face as he rushed over to help Owl who was currently fighting against a group of plant monsters alone. There was no way to escape in the direction they were headed in. In the end, they would only be delaying the inevitable.
The ice that had trapped the other members of Fatal Touch inside had shattered into countless pieces as its frozen effect finally wore off!
"A bit chilly. Oh look, they've made it pretty far." Savage said as he raised his brows and put his hand over his eyebrows as if he were looking at something from a great distance away.
"Heh, why didn't you avoid that, Haishe?" Savage said with a smirk on his face.
"It's pointless. We're wasting our time here and you know it, Savage. How long do you plan on staying neutral and letting that fool Silent Steps lead us into the ground? He has become too arrogant and blinded by his own agenda. Not to mention, you could have broken free from the ice as well, given your class." Haishe said as he glanced over at Savage to look for his response.
"You know how much I hate politics. Besides, the stronger one will win in the end so what does it matter? Try not to overthink things too much. Ahahaha!" Savage said as he slowly walked over towards the direction of Luna and the others.
"They are unfrozen!" Yu Lan warned everyone as they approached the plant wall.
When they heard Yu Lan's words, everyone began to worry. There was no way they could face that many players head on at the same time. In fact, if not for Luna they would have been dead long ago without making a single elimination.
Su Cui gave a weak laugh and said, "Luna, I hope you have a plan B." However, just as she said those words, the vines on the plant wall began to retreat back into the ground. The pathway was clearing up; Jia had done it!
"Look! The pathway is opening! We're almost there!" Yu Lan said with a happy expression on her face.
"What?! How?!" Du Cheng was stunned. Why was it that the plant wall was going down out of nowhere? Was it possible that it happened at certain time intervals? Or were they just plain lucky?
Luna released a small sigh of relief. Thankfully, it looked like Jia was able to pull it off.
Around three seconds later, a ghostly figure appeared next to them before turning into Jia.
"Sorry! I ran into a bit of trouble, I'll explain later. Last one out is- Well, probably dead." Jia said jokingly as she sped up and was the first to make it out successfully.
"Something's wrong..." Luna muttered to himself. Yu Lan's skill had already ended so why was it that they were taking their sweet time and walking over as if they were on a casual stroll? For some reason, she doubted that it was simply because they were infighting earlier. Silent Steps whereabouts also concerned her. She knew that he was mainly after her, therefore, he should be close by.
As Luna made it closer to the exit, she saw that Jia simply stood there without moving. When Luna saw that, she had a bad feeling about everything.
"Jia, why did you stop running? Don't wait for us, keep-... going..." Su Cui was the next to reach the exit and stopped right next to Jia as her last few words faded out.
As the plant wall fully disappear and retreated back into the ground, Luna and the others saw what was on the other side. Luna's eyes widened in disbelief, however, they soon turned ice cold as she stopped running along with Su Cui and Starry.
"He's really willing to go so far such unwarranted revenge?" Luna said to herself as she witnessed the sight that awaited her on the other side of the plant wall.
There were at least twenty players that had the pathway surrounded with nowhere to escape!
"It's over..." Starry said with no hope left in her voice. She had finally worked up the courage to fight against other players, but it was hopeless in the end.
Although they would not say it out loud, Jia, Su Cui, and Yu Lan felt the same way. No matter what other plans Luna had it was useless from here on out. There came a point where any amount of planning was useless against sheer numbers.
"Did you truly think that it would be so simple? I already told you back inside of the Chaotic Dogma Realm, you would have no peace while playing. You would have no place to hide! Do you believe that I was simply making empty threats?" A voice sounded out from behind Luna and the others. Of course, it was Silent Steps! He had been silently observing Luna's group while stealth.
"If it's me you want, fine. But let the rest of my friends go." Luna said as she stared at Silent Steps.
"Hm, let me think about it for a moment... Ah, right. No! Kill everyone but the healer!" Silent Steps said with a large evil grin on his face.