But, the most regrettable thing was that Two Tons' previous suspicions were correct. In the 5 hours they were waiting, no other group had shown up to exit the Spirit Cave. This was the worse possible outcome—they were alone!
"What do you all want to do?" Two Tons turned to ask his party members.
It seemed that the players outside had no intention of leaving this place any time soon. However, they could not log out while they were in the Spirit Cave. As for using a Returning Scroll, this was out of the question. After all, how could normal players like them afford something as luxurious as a Returning Scroll?
In the end, they were left with two options. The first was to wait here and hope that the players would eventually leave. As for the second option, it was to try and fight their way through!
"I don't know about all of you, but I'm tired of waiting! I would rather fight than stay hidden away inside some cave for an unknown amount of time!" Phoenix said.
"Yeah, I'm sick of staying in this cave! If we're going out, then we might as well go out fighting!" Hidden Pulse added.
Reilei nodded in agreement. Although she still had much to learn about the world of gaming, she picked up one thing fast—other players could be ruthless! Unlike the real world, in RML, she had the strength and confidence to confront problems head-on! In this world, she would not allow herself to be bullied by anyone!
"Then, 'young master' Xiao Liang, we'll be troubling you to cause a scene." Two Tons smirked.
Xiao Liang looked towards Reilei, who, in turn, smiled and gave him a nod of approval.
"Heh, leave it to this young master!" Xiao Liang said in a slightly excited tone as a vicious grin appeared on his face.
…
Meanwhile, outside the Spirit Cave…
"What's taking them so long?!" Violence Is Blue questioned. The frustration on his face could not be hidden. They dared to waste the precious time of his Headhunter Syndicate and make them wait this long?! They would not get away with being killed once! No, he would make sure that they were killed until they could no longer lose any levels!
"Patience. They can't logout while inside the Spirit Cave. We will simply have another group wait here and rotate with them until they decide to crawl out and accept their fate." Dead Fire stated.
"Someone's coming." Love Swan announced. She had her low-level summon Eyes of Another carefully monitoring the exit to the Spirit Cave. As long as something tried to leave, then she would surely detect it before it was able to get far.
"Finally…! Get ready!" Violence Is Blue shouted.
Tap… Tap… Tap…
The sound of footsteps could be heard coming from within the Spirit Cave. A few seconds later, a young boy emerged, which caused most of the Headhunter Syndicate players to look on in confusion. What was a little kid doing here?
But, when Dead Is Fire saw who emerged from the Spirit Cave, he did not hesitate to give the order, "Attack! Attack, now!" He had witnessed through Love Swan's Eyes of Another the amount of destruction that "child" could conjure up. That young boy was none other than Xiao Liang!
The Headhunter Syndicate players were startled by Dead Fire's command, but they would not disobey his order. Without further hesitation, the ranger-type and mage-type classes in the back unleashed their AOE and crowd control skills!
The scales and tail accompanied by a vicious aura had returned to Xiao Liang. He spread his arms and opened his mouth, revealing a row of sharp teeth.
All of a sudden, the magic attacks and arrows that were aimed towards Xiao Liang trembled. Then, without warning, they were all drawn into Xiao Liang's mouth!
When the players from the Headhunter Syndicate saw this, a look of shock appeared on their faces. Was he eating their attacks?!
Buuurp!
"Full~" Xiao Liang said happily as he closed and wiped his mouth as if he had just finished eating a delicious meal. The scales on his body and tail changed to multiple colors after he consumed the attacks.
A smirk found its way onto Xiao Liang's face as he stated, "Too bad I can't keep it."
Xiao Liang opened his mouth and released a bellowing roar as the same attacks that were aimed at him were suddenly fired back at the crowd of players!
"W-what is this?! Why are we being hit by our own attacks?!"
"Heal! Someone heal me!"
"Ahhh! Hey! Watch where you're going!"
"Get outta the way!"
Chaos began to ensue among the players from the Headhunter Syndicate. Of course, Dead Fire tried his best to reorganize everyone, but the sudden rain of AOE attacks made it challenging to do so.
Fortunately, even though the attacks were thrown back at them, their power seemed to be weakened. Still, having more than 15 AOE attacks being thrown back at you, even if the damage was reduced, it was not something that could be brushed off.
The scales on Xiao Liang returned to normal before they receded into his body along with his tail. He had reverted to his previous form.
"Nice, Xiao Liang! We'll take it from here!" Two Tons roared as he charged ahead! Follow closely behind him was Reilei, Phoenix, and Scarlet! As for Shuyi and Hidden Pulse, they had already gone to take advantage of the confusion!
Woosh! Woosh!
"Ahhhh!"
"What's- Gaaah!"
Two players who did not receive any heals in time were eliminated by Shuyi and Hidden Pulse, respectively. The moment Xiao Liang was successful in causing confusion; they immediately entered stealth mode and made their way out into the crowd of players to make the most of the situation. Their job was to add on to the confusion.
"Xiao Liang!" Reilei said as she held her hand out. Xiao Liang reverted from his human form back into his small reptile form as she jumped into Reilei's hand. He then crawled up her arm and onto her shoulder with a weary and fatigued expression. After pushing the skill he just used to the limit, Xiao Liang could no longer maintain his human form and required time to recover.
"Well done, Xiao Liang." Reilei said as she gave Xiao Liang a light pat with her finger.
"Circle of Flames." Scarlet chanted as a large ring of flames that was 20 meters in diameter appeared around a group of the Headhunter Syndicate players. This temporarily cut them off from the rest of their comrades and gave Scarlet some additional time to prepare for her next spell.
Reilei went to the front along with Two Tons as an orb appeared in her hand. She kicked off her back foot and accelerated at great speeds, and, in the blink of an eye, she appeared in front of Violence Is Fire.
"H-"
Bang!
Before Violence Is Fire could utter a single word, his face collided with the orb in Reilei's hand and sent him flying back!
Dead Fire's facial expression darkened when he witnessed this sight. How could an orb wielder possess enough attack power to send someone flying back?!
"Focus the summoner! Focus her!" Dead Fire ordered. At his command, some of the Headhunter Syndicate players who had regained their footing started to direct their attacks at Reilei. Being the target of so many attacks, Reilei's offensive capability dropped as she had to focus on avoiding the incoming attacks!
"Hmph, ignoring me. You will regret that." Scarlet finished casting her spell as a grand ball of flames formed above her!
"Hellfire Burst!" She used one of the strongest Elemental Mage fire-type spells, Hellfire Burst!
The giant ball of flames soared onward and slammed into a group of the Headhunter Syndicate players.
Boooooom!
A massive explosion caused the surrounding earth to tremble slightly. With that single spell, five players from the Headhunter Syndicate had been incinerated!
In just a few moments, their numbers fell from thirty players to twenty-two players!
However, Reilei's party's advantage did not last for long. Dead Fire was able to reorganize the members of his Headhunter Syndicate after the initial chaos ended, and this made it almost impossible for Reilei's party to catch their breath.
In the end, Dead Fire was an elite player with experience under his belt. As for those who accompanied him, they were also much stronger than the average player in RML and could be deemed elite or lower-elite players. Although they suffered some serious losses from that initial surprise assault, they were able to bounce back quickly. Now, they had the upper hand in the battle!
Dead Fire made sure to direct focus towards keeping Reilei at bay and Scarlet from casting anything that required longer than one second to cast. As a result, Reilei's party was swiftly backed into a corner!
"What do we do?!" Phoenix furrowed her brows. Her mana was running low after continually healing everyone. She would not be able to hold out for much longer.
"What else can we do? We fight until our last breath!" Two Tons declared.
At the moment, they had been surrounded, and Shuyi, as well as Hidden Pulse, had been forced out of stealth.
Reilei tightly clenched her fists. Was she still powerless to do anything against people like Dead Fire—even in this world? Was this simply her fate?
However, a look of determination appeared in Reilei's eyes. No! She would not accept such a fate! She would fight until the end!
But, just as Reilei's party had resolved themselves, a rain of arrows and fireballs rained down upon the Headhunter Syndicate players.
"Ambush!" One of the Headhunter Syndicate players yelled.
"What?! Who dares ambush my Headhunter Syndicate?!" Dead Fire lashed out.
Reilei and her party were perplexed by the sudden turn of events. Who was this?
"Hmph, daring to stay in this place after killing the players from my Sleeping Gardenia who were peacefully participating in this event—the Headhunter Syndicate sure has some guts! It is a hundred years too soon for your Headhunter Syndicate to offend my Sleeping Gardenia!" A voice sounded out as a group of approximately fifty players surrounded the players from the Headhunter Syndicate. This caused a look of dread to appear on Dead Fire and his guildmates faces.
"Do you dare lay a hand on us, little devil?!" Dead Fire yelled.
"I've already given my answer, haven't I? Listen up, members of my Sleeping Gardenia! Whoever kills the most players from the Headhunter Syndicate, will be greatly rewarded when we return!" The voice sounded out.
The person who arrived leading the group of Sleeping Gardenia players was someone Izroth would have recognized immediately. It was Shao Qingge, one of the Sleeping Gardenia players who were with him when he cleared the Great Sea Palace raid!
