From their demeanor and mocking tone of voice, it did not take a genius to see that the six players were not at all threatened by Reilei's presence. After all, there were six of them and only one of her. Who cared what the circumstances were? They saw an opportunity and decided to take it!
"That thing is definitely on its last leg. Today is our good fortune!" One of the players said as he could no longer hide his excitement as he punched the palm of his hand. He was wearing fingerless brawler gloves, which were the trademark sign of someone who had chosen the fighter class.
"What did I tell you guys? As long as you stick with me things will turn out just fine. Aren't you glad you accepted my offer now?" The player who appeared to be the leader of the group spoke with a smirk seemingly plastered on his face.
He was the one who put together this party and invited everyone here. In the beginning, they were all players whose friends were already far ahead of them or they had no one else to play with. After seeing the chance to form his own party, he quickly established himself as a leader figure
As a result, the six of them swiftly progressed to level 10, finished their class quest, and were on their way to the nearby main city. However, who would have thought that their luck would continue to grow after having met one another?
"Alright, you've made your point, Lost Dream. We've already decided to make you our official party leader and follow you."
The one called Lost Dream was the leader of the party. He was also the one who shot the arrow at Ayanelle just moments ago.
Lost Dream grinned as he said, "In the case, let's hurry up and take care of this thing before it escapes."
"I will not allow you to harm this creature!" A voice carried over and rung into the ears of the six players. Of course, this voice belonged to Reilei.
"You're still here?" Lost Dream said as an annoyed frown appeared on his face. He thought that Reilei would have already left after he gave her the opportunity, however, it seemed that his kindness was ignored.
"Hahaha! Oh brave and strong leader, you're being mocked by a noob." One of the players said as he taunted Lost Dream.
Lost Dream glared at that player and responded, "Hmph, what can one woman do? If she won't get lost herself, then we'll just have to make it happen ourselves, Invoke."
"Well said, leader." Invoke stated as he removed a dagger from his waist and entered into stealth mode.
Lost Dream turned his attention back towards Reilei and Ayanelle as a vicious look appeared in his eyes. He had just gained the leadership role, so he felt that this was a good time to prove himself and show his dominance to his fellow party members.
However, he did not expect that woman to completely ignore his words and even openly defy him! This caused his initially good mood to turn sour.
"Don't say that I didn't give you a fair chance! North Tails, Shivva, Fireward, you three make sure that deer doesn't get a chance to escape! Skulls, hurry up and take care of that summoner." Lost Dream ordered.
As for the one named Invoke, Lost Dream knew that even if he were to give him orders, Invoke would ignore them. However, Lost Dream already had plans to get rid of him and replace him for another member once they reached the main city. So for now, he let Invoke do whatever he pleased.
"Eh? I always get the boring jobs. Guess I'll just make it quick so I can join in on the fun." Skulls said as he shook his head and released a deep sigh. He was eager to fight against that deer creature, so he would end that summoner as quickly as possible.
Reilei saw that she was being completely ignored by that group of players and was brushed off as being an annoyance more than anything. They even casually talked about "taking care of her" as if she could not hear them!
However, her biggest concern was Ayanelle whose state seemed to have worsened ever since that arrow pierced into it.
Normally, a weak arrow like that would not affect a creature like Ayanelle, even if she was in a weakened state and approaching death. But, the arrow had struck directly against the wound on her neck that was being corroded by that dark and twisted energy. In truth, it was not the arrow itself that hurt, but rather the fact that the wound had been disturbed more than it already was.
As the wound became increasingly irritated it caused Ayanelle, who was already experiencing an unbearable amount of pain, to cry out. Fortunately, Ayanelle was able to conjure up the strength to temporarily suppress the dark energy. But, in return, the spheres that had already been reduced to the size of marbles just moments ago, now resembled that of a grain of sand.
Ayanelle lost her strength to stand as her legs gave out and she had no choice but to lie on the ground. The myriad of colors that were within her eyes were now down to only a handful.
Reilei went silent as kneeled down and ever so gently placed the young deer that was inside of the sphere down next to Ayanelle.
As a mother herself, Reilei could not help but feel saddened and heartbroken at the sight of Ayanelle fading away before her very own eyes as she was powerless to help her. All she could do is, at the very least, let her spend the last few moments in peace with her child.
Ayanelle released a small noise as if it were trying to thank Reilei. There was a sad glimmer in the creature's eyes as its gaze turned to the young deer resting inside of the sphere. She carefully rubbed her snout against the sphere in a loving manner.
Mew...
Xiao Liang could sense the sudden change in Reilei's mood as it tried to cheer her up by brushing up against her.
Reilei stood up straight as she held out the palm of her hand towards her shoulder. Xiao Liang jumped onto the palm of her hand as Reilei held it up to her face.
"Xiao Liang, I want you to protect these two for me, okay?" Reilei said in a quiet tone of voice.
Xiao Liang looked a little reluctant at first as it did not want to leave Reilei alone. However, in the end, it gave into Reilei's wishes.
Mew..!
Xiao Liang hopped down from Reilei's hands and stood guard in front of Ayanelle and the young deer.
"Thank you." Reilei said as she turned to face the group of players. At the moment, five of them were headed in her direction. Of course, four of them were going straight for the deer while the one named Skulls main target was Reilei. As for the sixth one that turned invisible...
Woosh!
All of a sudden, a dagger swung down without mercy towards Ayanelle who was completely defenseless. It was aimed right at the wound on its neck. After all, it was such a glaring weak spot that it was hard to ignore.
"It's mine!" Invoke said as a large smile found its way onto his face. He had turned stealth to sneak up on the deer and launch a surprise attack! Originally, he planned on waiting until the others arrived before attacking, however, after seeing the deer collapse he chose to take advantage of its state. But, he did not think that it would be so easy! It was practically handing its life to him!
...
Meanwhile at the Amaharpe palace library...
'Hm?'
At the moment, Izroth was on the second floor of the palace library. He had already finished reading all the books on the first floor and organizing his thoughts on them and since he was already here, he decided to spend a bit more time finishing up the books on the second floor.
While there were thousands of books on the first floor, there were only a few hundreds of books on the second floor. However, the quality and information that the books on the second floor provided were far above that of what was on the first floor.
Izroth had just come across an interesting book that discussed some of the strongest known creatures within the Mortal Realm. Of course, it caught his attention since it was bound to have information about dragons inside of it. But, there was another creature that caught his eye.
'The Doe of Creations... Peaceful creatures whose strength are based on the number of spheres at the tip of their antlers. When born, the Doe of Creations relies heavily on its sole parent to survive until it receives its first creation. Be careful to not approach a Doe of Creation with its young as it is highly protective of it. This is understandable seeing as how a Doe of Creation can only give birth once in the long span of its natural lifetime, or so has been reported by multiple studies.'
'The more creations, or energy spheres are they resemble in appearance, a Doe of Creations possesses, the more powerful the creature.'
But, what really stood out and grabbed Izroth's attention was the next few lines of information.
'A Doe of Five Creations is equal in strength to a newborn true dragon. A Doe of Six Creations can rival that of a young true dragon. A Doe of Seven Creations can go head to head with a fully matured true dragon. It is unknown how many creations a Doe of Creation can form within the full span of its lifetime, however, the highest that has ever been reported in the Mortal Realm is a Doe of Seven Creations. This is widely accepted as the peak of this creature's strength.'
Izroth quickly finished reading the book as he closed it and organized the new information in his mind. What he was most intrigued about was the spheres of creation that formed above the Doe of Creations antlers. Its description and similarities reminded him of the Egg of Chaos he came across back in the Chaotic Dogma Realm.
'It seems that there are quite a few creatures within the Mortal Realm who can rival a true dragon. A Doe of Creations, is it? I'd like to meet one someday.'
...
"It's mine!" Invoke attack carried on without the slightest bit of hesitation in his movements. However, just before his dagger pierced into Ayanelle's neck where the wound was located, he suddenly felt incredible light as if he were floating in the air.
"Eh?" Invoke found that his feet had left the ground and the world turned upside down and started spinning rapidly. But, it was not the world that was moving. Without even realizing it, his body had been sent flying through the air and spun like a wheel in constant motion as he landed flat on his face more than ten meters away from his previous position!
Right after Invoke crashed into the ground, his HP bar which was just at a full 350 points, had dropped all the way down to zero! Before he even realized what was going on, his body had already started to dissipate into countless particles before scattering through the atmosphere. Just like that, he had died!
Everyone froze up as they witnessed what happened to Invoke. What was that? Some kind of special magic attack? They did not even see her cast anything! After that attack, Skulls had a serious look on his face along with the rest of his party. Maybe they had underestimated this summoner.
She was obviously capable of using some high-speed instant cast spells that dealt a heavy amount of damage, otherwise, how could Invoke who possessed 350 HP be killed in one hit? They did not know how she came to acquire such a strong skill, however, they knew a skill like that must have a long cooldown and so they were not too afraid of it, just cautious.
Reilei stood there with her summoner's orb in her hand. She felt a bit odd attacking another person, but she reminded herself that it was for a good cause. However, it did not stop her heartbeat from speeding up due to her current nervous yet excited state.
She had fought plenty of monsters before but never another player! But for some reason, it did not feel as bad as she thought it would. In fact, she felt that it was actually even more satisfying than fighting against monsters!
After each level, Reilei would pour all three stat points into her attack stat. Since it seemed to boost the damage she did to monsters, she decided that to focus on that particular stat.
In total, her attack was an unprecedented 250 points combined with the bonus stats she received during character creation thanks to the Eight Lunar Cycles physique she possessed unknowingly. Combined with the critical hit to Invoke's head, she managed to deal nearly 500 points of damage with one hit!
Powerful skill? What powerful skill? If those five players knew that all Reilei used was a simple basic attack with her summoner's orb and not a powerful skill as they believed, how would they react?
After all, what kind of summoner poured all their stat points into their attack stat?!