When the orc team teleported to the back of the vampire team, Water Lily was also in the midst of casting a spell. Once the stampede appeared, her spell was also completed. A huge chunk of ice materialized in the air. It was her Ice Fall spell. But instead of aiming the large ice block on the enemy or the incoming stampede, Water Lily placed her spell behind them.
The ice block fell to the lava river behind. The bottom side of the ice block was small but its top side was wide. The ice block didn’t melt from the lava. Its wide topside was floating on the river.
The five orcs jumped to the top of the ice block. It was wide enough for five people to stand on.
The rampaging wildebeests stampeded to the edge of the river before falling into the bubbling lava. Each of them drowned without being able to reach where the ice block was floating.
“F*ck! That spell can also be used that way? Attack with your range attacks!” Loudshield commanded.
Operator, Susan, and Naturecall shot their standard attacks. Operator also summoned his Energy Turret to add to the firepower. Four Winds placed himself at the forefront and used his Starlight Field to repel all the incoming attacks.
Naturecall’s stampede lasted for less than ten seconds. Water Lily’s ice block lasted longer. When the stampede ended, the five orcs jumped back to the riverside.
The two teams stared at each other. The vampire team’s summons had greatly reduced in number. The giant lizard, One treant, all the wolves and dirt golems had died. Only the avatar, the pet minotaur, one remaining treant, and the clunky robot remained, but all of them were also not at full health. The vampire players retreated to behind these remaining summons except for Loudshield and Jungletrek who was still in his werebear form. Naturecall cast Wall of Vines between their front lines and the three ranged players.
“No more big spells. Let’s do this old-fashioned way,” Four Winds uttered with a grin. He and his teammates rushed forward.
Four Winds uttered a roar after his words ended. It was his Cry of Rage, his four teammates all received buff from the cry. His body then shot forward, jumping over the vine wall using Jump Assault. The vampire team’s three ranged players at the back were taken aback. Especially Naturecall, who found Four Winds suddenly was right on top of her.
Naturecall tried to dodge, but her movement was slow. Four Wind’s axes came cleaving down. Her wall of vines had instead prevented her frontline teammates from coming to her aid.
Operator changed his weapon to a dagger and tried to draw Four Wind’s attention to save Naturecall. Four Winds reacted faster, his body spun at fast speed using Punishing Cyclone and damaged all three of the ranged players there.
When Naturecall’s HP fell to critical, Loudshield suddenly appeared in front of her and blocked Four Winds from further attack. As the healer of the team, Loudshield had marked her with his Urgent Save skill.
<br/>”Too late,” Four Winds uttered.
Loudshield heard Naturecall’s scream from behind. He looked back and saw their healer’s lifeless body. Disco Rain was standing there. She had used Vanish as her other teammates engaged the summoned creatures and Jungletrek. While being invisible, she sneaked behind the vine wall and backstabbed Naturecall who was already low on health.
With their healer gone, it was a heavy blow to the vampire team.
“Take down their healer as well!” Loudshield shouted. Currently, their frontlines were outnumbering their three opponents. Two out of these three opponents were even ranged players. No sense that they couldn’t finish off at least one of the range players if everyone concentrated their attacks.
But they were indeed having difficulty. Violent Blizzard large greatsword had a long reach. She covered a wide area with one swing. She swung ferociously to anyone who tried to come close to Purple Mist. She fought without care for her own wellbeing. She was continuously struck due to her wild movements. Ten avenging orbs swirled around her.
Seeing that they couldn’t get to the healer, Jungletrek changed his focus to Violent Blizzard whose HP had gone down a great deal. He executed Combination Assault, both he and his Minotaur crashed at her. She parried the combined attack using her greatsword as well as using Knight’s Enhanced block, but her HP still went down a great deal.
Seeing Violent Blizzard was almost down, Jungletrek attempted a finishing blow. But a thick white light encapsulated Violent Blizzard. Her HP which was almost depleted was instantly filled up to full. This was Purple Mist’s Full Heal, a level 40 Priest’s spell.
Violent Blizzard tanked Jungletrek’s blow with her full life and used Raging Strike. She sacrificed all her avenging orbs into this strike, greatly catapulting his damage number.
Jungletrek’s own HP was not in good condition anymore. Violent Blizzard’s greatsword pierced through his large werebear’s body and sucked out all the life.
When Jungletrek fell, his pet minotaur was also forcefully unsummoned. Since Naturecall had also died, her one remaining treant also disappeared. The vampire team’s number had been greatly reduced within a short time. There were now only the three players with the avatar and the robot.
It was five against five now. Yet, no one thought it was a balanced fight. Considering how the vampire’s starting number was much more than this and they still couldn’t take down even one of the orc team members.
However, despite their obvious disadvantage, the vampire team didn’t retreat nor surrender. They continued to fight fiercely until the last man.
When the nearby volcano exploded again, they saw incoming rain of fiery rocks above where they were fighting. Everyone started to scatter. The last vampire team member, Loudshield, forcefully caught the orc healer, Purple Mist, and held her in place. Loudshield was determined to take down at least one of their opponents in this manner.
Loudshield could have caught Water Lily as well. She and Purple Mist were the weakest and the slowest amongst the bunch, but he knew of Elementalist’s Flame Shield. Water Lily could easily free herself if Loudshield caught her. The priest, on the other hand, had no defensive skill.
However, when Loudshield’s hand landed on her, Purple Mist turned around and caught his hand back. She twisted the vampire’s hand with one hand as the other hand stored her staff and went to Loudshield’s neck. Her strong fingers locked his throat and held him in place instead.
Due to Loudshield’s disturbance, it was already too late for Purple Mist to escape. She held Loudshield’s body and placed him at her front as her shield. Loudshield was completely shocked to find that he was overpowered by a weaker class player. The thing that confused him was that he felt himself losing strength from Purple Mist’s clutches.
The rain of fire came and showered the place where they stood. Loudshield was battered by the molten rocks while Purple Mist hid behind him. Purple Mist received splash damage but was not as severe as Loudshield. When Loudshield’s HP was depleted and can’t move anymore, Purple Mist let go of him and immediately took out her staff and cast her spell.
Her casting speed was very fast. Probably at the same level as Selena and Blackhole who were the two fastest spellcasters in this tournament. She cast Words of Prayer and the area around her alighted. She then proceeded with another spell with Loudshield’s body still shielding her. The splash damage from the fiery rocks bothered her but her concentration was rock solid, her spell casting was not disrupted.
She cast Regenerate and Heal back to back. When the fire rain ended, her HP was critical but she survived.
Pallas declared the orc team’s victory.
*
“Why did she insist on surviving? They have already won when that Sentinel lost his life,” Paytowin remarked.
“That is called determination. You cannot be careless just because victory is right in front of your eyes,” Jack admonished. He then turned to his grandfather. “Do you understand why that weaker class girl managed to overpower that stronger class man?”
“She used pressure points,” Domon answered.
Jack came to a realization. He was not a stranger to pressure points.
“And she was very good at it. Her accuracy in hitting the right points and the degree of force used all showed that she was a master in that field. When you face her, don’t get careless and think you will win just because you manage to get her into melee range.”
Jack nodded. This orc team was indeed not simple.
“One thing confuses me, though,” Jack said.
“Hm? What?”
“The two teams fight in a very direct manner. Both of them are very determined and confident in themselves. None attempts any cheap trick.”
“So, isn’t that good? It’s a good match if you ask me,” Domon said.
“It is. But because of this, there is a possibility that I’m wrong,” Jack said.
“About?”
“The assassin from yesterday. Both of these teams didn’t act like one who uses a dirty tactic such as weakening their opponents before the match.”
