6 Unexpected turn of events

Status effect is a must-have in every video game. It was made to give variation and spice in battles. Players learned to use them in their advantage to win against their foes. When thinking of status effect the first thing that comes in mind is the negative status effect or debuffs. There are different varieties of debuffs in Ren's game, some of it not even in the curse potion, like Silence, sleep and fear.

Ren's potion was a good item, each debuff was terrifying in its own right. However in the current situation, he was looking for something deadly like poison which would infect Gred with a lethal poison in seconds and drain him of his remaining health. Burn was good too, he also hoped for it. Frozebite was not bad as well, but seeing Gred produce ice on his own, it was not the best choice, nonetheless, as frozebite deals damage in the game, he also thought that Gred would die because of it. Bleed was one of the top ranked debuffs in the game and he also opted for it.

The worst debuff in this situation however was beserk, hallucination and paralysis. Beserk would give the person increased attack damage for a severe decrease in defense. The person would also go into a state of beserk inflicting damage to others and himself. Hallucination was like a mild version of beserk, minus the changes in status. It would be put the person under strong hallucination, if the person fought back against it, they might risk injuring themselves. Most people in the game chose to stay put and spam their anti-hallucination potions or spells, sometimes they cast attack skills on themselves hurting them in the process but it would work after a couple of tries.

Paralysis on the other hand, is probably the most dangerous status in the game ever. It was affiliated with the elements of lightning, and most people who got inflicted with such effects would be paralyzed, unable to use potions nor skills against it. Still, it had a low chance of taking effect. Bosses and rare monsters that use lightning-based skills are the only entities who could cast paralysis with an absolute chance rate. For players they would have to chain armor-break and a skill that had a high-chance on paralysis to even have a chance to inflict it.

It was not too good in team battles as well, since those who was inflicted with such effect could be easily removed by priests or enchanters.

It seemed harmless enough, right? Everyone during the first months of the game thought so, until a certain world boss appeared. The top 20 guild brought with them their 10 best players to slay it. It was broadcasted everywhere, and everyone believed that they would not lose at all. At the beginning of the battle with the boss, it casted an AoE paralysis skill and paralyzed all 200 members of the raid. They got wiped in less than a minute. People watching were stunned and those who fought were placed in a state of fear. Each player in that raid, no matter from which guild they belonged to, took pride in being one of the best. To be defeated in less than a minute and embarrassing themselves in front of millions of people was a first for them. Only until their 11th try did they manage to succeed.

It was recorded down in the game's history, after such incident, no one dare to belittle the paralysis status effect. Every player bought lightning element passive skills, items and anti-paralysis potion whenever they approached lightning-element monsters because each death would mean a level reduction and dropping everything they had with them excluding bounded items. No one would like to go to the same place, just to pick up their items and risk losing another level.

It was fearsome indeed, but in Ren's situation it was useless. So what if he managed to paralyze Gred? Would he be able to kill him? When he stabbed him with the arrow, he already used his full power.

"The odds were 1 against 6 and I still managed to draw the shortest straw?! Lady Luck, why have you abandoned me!" Ren could only lament.

Ren deactivated his invisibility and appeared at the side of the house. He was now exposed to the outside world, since the front part of the house was gone. Before, he looked through cracks to watch the battle. Now, he was able to see the whole scale of the war. It wasn't too large like he thought it to be, each group had less than a hundred people. At first he thought there were thousands, now he knew why he was still alive.

"It's not big enough to spread chaos immediately.." Ren heaved a sigh of relief.

Then he recalled his current predicament.

"Should I run now?" He was nervous until he heard a thud near him. It startled him to death.

"?!" Ren looked over to Gred and Drey once again, only to see Gred's body lying on the floor.

"Target of High-level Paralysis, Gred, died because of blood loss, hence the status effect was abolished." The monotonous voice of the system rang inside Ren's mind.

"Successfully finished off Gred, obtained space ring as loot. Make up space in your inventory to retrieve the loot."

"OH GOD!" Ren shouted. His shout was drowned in all the other shouts in the surrounding. He didn't feel too bad about it as he did very little to actually kill Gred, plus it was for his own survival. He was merely surprised that his plan unexpectedly succeeded.

"Okay, I killed him, now what?" Ren looked over once again.

"Maybe I could sneak at the back?" He thought, but even the back of the house was filled with people. The house was literally in the middle of the fight, it was a miracle that the house still existed up to this point.

Ren turned his head over to Drey once again. Seeing the man with numerous cuts all over his body, especially his hands that looked mutilated left him sour. He basically took advantage of the man. If he never fought with Gred, he would have never been able to stab the arrow at his back. Drey managed to injure him and weaken the ice covering his wounds which Ren was grateful for.

"You owe me, Ren Lynn, for saving your life. I will come find you someday to exact this debt." Ren placed his health elixir in Drey's mouth and gave him a drop.

Immediately, his hands healed. It wasn't perfectly healed to the fullest though, the wounds still persisted but it was much better than before. Visually, his hands looked treatable now. The same goes for the other wounds he had on his body.

Drey felt his body healing at an incredibly fast rate, he managed to regain a bit of his consciousness thus enabling him to hear what Ren casually muttered.

"This debt, I will fully remember." He thought and passed out once again.

Meanwhile Ren was thinking that something was weird. From what Gred said, Drey was some sort of big shot. No one would dare touch him nor kill him, if that was the case, how come he was in this big mess? Did he think that everyone would just stand as he killed his enemies? Ren didn't know who Drey was and he decided not to care anymore, he was just thankful for the distraction he provided that assisted his own survival.

Ren browsed his newly acquired memories from the past owner of the body and thought of places that could aid his escape.

"There's Master Drey!"

"Someone's there as well!"

"Protect Master Drey!"

"From the Horned Serpent? Tear him limb from limb!"

People wearing the same clothes as Drey came running to his position. Ren knew he couldn't stay anymore, he needed to find a place quick to hide from the flames of war.

"Oh right I need to make space for my loot, uhh.." Ren immediately retrieved, what he considered the best drop he got in that fateful night's loot box opening session, after retrieving it he sprinted away from trouble heading to who knows where.

"I should head to that place." Ren thought. The place he thought of should be the safest place in the valley right now.