Chapter Six: PVP

West cried out in pain as he came back to life in the Redskirts respawn point…again.

"Dammit!" He cursed out loud. "I was so close to getting out this damn place!" He clutched his chest in pain, particularly the part where Maxximum struck him with his daggers. "Why do these assholes always stab me in the chest!? It hurts like hell!"

West noticed that the ground began to tremble again. He looked from afar and saw the things he was expecting. The minotaurs were back. And they'd like another dance. West quickly got himself up and realized that he's much limber compared to his previous self when he was limping to the zone's exit a moment ago. Guess the fatigue status effect also disappeared when he died. West pulled out his gun and gazed tiredly at the approaching minotaurs. "Time to grind my levels back."

As he got more familiar in taking down the minotaur threat, he managed to reduce the time needed in fighting them. From a couple of hours West could now slay them within one or less. He also gained his level of six without pushing his body to acquiring the fatigue status. And he maintained more of his health this time, with a quarter of his health points still intact. Yes, he was still easy to kill, but it's much better compared to before. His skills at fighting might have have raised a bit too, and maybe if he does it again and again, he would get even stronger. But that won't happen on his watch. Getting killed in this game was a harrowing experience. He'd prefer to experience it less while he's still here.

He cautiously marched through the pathway that lead to the exit, wary of that one player who just killed him. West placed a hand on his holster, just to ready himself in case he spotted that damn player again. He was almost to the exit now. And there was still no sign of that player. He breathed a small sigh of relief. Guess he was just passing through, he thought. He better hurry up or risk encountering another player sharing the same intentions.

West felt something sharp suddenly being pushed on his throat. Was that a knife? It was definitely a knife! The pressure that the sharp edge has forced on his skin was so strong that glowing cubes were flowing out from his throat.

"Level six already? You work fast!" The voice behind him said. It sounded familiar, because of course it was. It's the same damn player from before, Maxximum! West raised his gun as fast as he could. But he was too late. Maxximum already slit his throat before he could point his gun at him. West saw cubes gushing out his neck as his vision slowly turned dark. From his last moments of sight, he could see Maxx turning invisible while also gaining a level.

[Rogue] Maxximum Lvl. 19

"What the hell!" West cried out after reviving. "He can turn invisible? No wonder I didn't see him on the way out!" This proved to be a problem for him. Not only does this guy outmatch him by level alone, he could also cast stealth and ambush him anywhere at anytime! This was bad. Was he really destined to get stuck in this place forever? No! No freaking way! He would get out of this hellhole and he would kick that guy's ass! It doesn't matter how many tries it would take him to do this. But he would not stop until it's done! The dreadfully familiar sound of the shaking ground began again. West pulled out his gun and cocked its hammer.

"Let's get this over with."

West arrived near the exit, gun at the ready. His health was still at half a bar, but he got to the place much faster than before. But instead of having to look for the invisible Maxx like earlier, the damn bastard was just sitting on the rocks near the cliff walls, waiting for him. West wondered why Maxximum didn't activate his stealth skill while lying in wait. Could it be that he could only use it for a limited amount of time?

"Back again?" Maxx said as he noticed West slowly approaching him. A big smile formed on his face. "You really are the gift that keeps on giving, are you?" He charged at West as he activated his stealth skill.

In response, West held out his gun and fired all of his rounds at the direction where Maxx disappeared into. So far he only hit air. He turned around and ran away as he reloaded his gun. He'd kill to have an AoE skill right now. He could hear the sound of metal unsheathing from behind him. The bastard's getting close. He fired a shot from behind without bothering to look. And just like his first attempt, he hit nothing.

"I hate this class!" West said while breathing heavily. He continued to run. That was the only thing he could do at this time. He must come up with a strategy against this guy or he'll just die painfully like always.

"Damn, I'm up." West heard Maxx say. He turned around and saw that the rogue wasn't invisible anymore. His stealth skill doesn't last long, huh? That must be why he didn't use it while waiting for me. He preferred to save it during the fighting only. West raised his gun and centered its aim at Maxx. He then cast his six shot barrage at him. Maxximum was suddenly peppered with a sizzling barrage of bullets. It did little damage to his health, but that was reason enough for him to get angry at West.

"Oh now it's on!" Maxximum rushed towards West at blinding speeds. West fired at Maxximum again but he was too quick for his shots and evaded each and one of them. It only took him a few seconds to get face to face with West before slitting his throat again. West went down after that single strike and exploded into a cloud of glowing cubes. And with that fight over, Maxx gained another level.

[Rogue] Maxximum Lvl. 21

West returned to the respawn point after dying. He gripped his neck in pain as he slowly got up from the ground. "This is hopeless." He said to himself. "There's no way I can take down a guy a who gets stronger every time he kills me!" The ground started to tremble once more. West's features darkened the moment he sensed the ever so familiar shaking. He held out his gun and cocked its hammer with oozing contempt.

"I am so not in the mood for this."

Instead of fighting the minotaurs for the umpteenth time today, West decided to walk past them for a change. After fighting these giant beasts for a quite a while now, it was easy for him to read their movements and predict their attacks. So even though the minotaurs had the advantage of a longer reach and devastating damage, they're pretty much useless when they're up against someone who's a few steps ahead of them. Despite the fact that West's level was back to one, he still managed to get through the minotaur crowd easily thanks to his honed skill of exploiting the AI's predictability. Once he's out of the crowd, he made his way back to the exit zone. But he still should formulate a plan first before getting there if he wanted to leave this place for good. And with that said, West began scheming as he pushed on.

A couple of minutes have passed when West has noticed something odd happening around him. He already made quite a distance between him and the respawn point, but the rumbling of the earth was still there. He turned to look around and what he saw caught him by surprise. The minotaurs were still following him! Granted they move slow so they were struggling to catch up with West, but still, they were following him! He always thought that their aggro would have worn off the moment he got away from them. He wasn't expecting them to follow him to the ends of the earth! An idea quickly formed inside West's head.

"I can make use of this."