The Brothers' Invade

"Here they come, Vince!"

"Indeed, our sworn enemies have arrived!"

Powerful foes emerged in front of Luke and Vincent, ready to do battle! They were among the most dangerous beings that the early-game had ever known. So dangerous, in fact, that Luke and Vincent had to join forces to take them down!

Of course, they were talking about the wraiths. After all, who else would be fighting them this early into the game? Only these mini-bosses were bold enough to confront players in the early-game.

"Let's clear 'em real quick." Luke unleashed Dark Blast without a moment's notice. The powerful attack single-handedly wiped out the smaller wraiths and left the wraith boss at death's door.

"Ezpz." Luke charged in to finish off the wraith gang leader.

"Wait for moi!" Vincent hurried after the rampaging beast. This turn of events was too fast for him to keep up with

The wraiths had barely spawned a moment ago, yet their camp was already utterly demolished. Truly, the overwhelming might of the Dark Knight knew no bounds. It was the most powerful being in the universe during the early game!

Everything developed so quickly that Vincent didn't even have time to properly get in position. Of course, he could spend his Shield Bash to close the gap faster, but there was no need to waste MP on such a trivial task.

[Such unbelievable strength.] Vincent narrated internally. [It appears that my help is not even necessary! ... or, perhaps it is.]

Despite how devastating the Dark Blast was, Dark Knight's basic attacks left much to be desired. They weren't particularly fast or strong, so Luke actually had to deliver a couple of hits in order to properly finish off the wraith boss.

So, in the meantime, Vincent also got within striking range of the big wraith.

"I shall leave the final strike to you," Vincent informed as he unleashed two hits on the dying wraith, then stepped back to let his partner deliver the killing blow.

"Danke!" Luke swung his black blade right through the semi-transparent phantom and vanquished the evil spirit. "Ez!"

With that, the wraith dispersed into thin air and dropped the blue mana buff.

"C'mon, take the buff and let's go do the wolves!" Luke turned away from the loot and headed toward the next destination.

"Right behind you." Vincent casually strolled toward the blue buff. The game plan for the foreseeable future was crystal clear, so he didn't have a single concern on his mind.

The opening of the game was a simple matter of collecting the blue buff from the wraiths and clearing the wolves, so there weren't going to be any surprises here. Or, so he thought.

ZOOM. An odd audio cue resounded. It was a sound effect that had no business playing here right now.

Blue light flashed in front of Vincent, quickly transforming into human form. It was the enemy Viking!

"N-Nani!?" Vincent jumped. Before he even had time to make sense of the unexplainable situation in front of him - the Viking charged at him!

[Dios mio! W-Why is this-!?] Vincent froze. [B-Bash! I must bash this evil- agh!]

It was too late. Vincent pressed the key for Shield Bash but his Knight didn't have enough time to wind it up. By the time he started raising his shield, he was already flung across the area.

[S-So fast!] Vincent exclaimed. [What a beautifully executed Takedown! However, this does mean I'm in quite the trouble over here. Oh, and make it double...]

As expected, Winner didn't come here alone. His trusty partner was also here, with his axes already raised above his head. The barbarian was ready to unleash a devastating attack on Vincent!

Amidst the complete helplessness, there was only one thing Vincent could do here.

"E-Enemies spotted!" Vincent reported in a haste. "The Absolute Duo is here and they're craving blood!"

Everybody was stunned by this unexpected development. To think that a notoriously defensive team like the Leopards was capable of launching an early invade like this, and against a team that had a Dark Knight, to boot.

"Goddammit!" Luke gritted his teeth. "When did they get here!? We had the area warded!"

"It appears we've let our guard down..." Vincent tried to sound calm but sweat was forming on his forehead. His situation was bad, ghastly so.

The Viking's Takedown sent him flying in the opposite direction of where Luke was located. The two of them were so close to each other just a few moments ago, but now Vincent was completely isolated, sandwiched between two savage barbarians.

What's worse, after Vincent crashed into the ground, he staggered on the wake-up. Because of that, he had no way to dodge the Barbarian Slam that was charging up right in his face.

WHOOSH! The two axes rained on him like meteors! Just as he was finally about to leave the ground, the powerful slam flattened him all over again.

Truly, this was a magnificent combo by the Absolute Duo! It was as beautiful as it was terrifying.

"It appears that this is as far as I go...." Vincent resigned himself to his fate. While he was stunned, the Absolute Duo ganged on him and hacked him to pieces with their axes.

The two Nordic warriors displayed splendid teamplay as they methodically dismembered the trapped prey. They slashed, hacked, and ripped Vincent apart, not sparing even a single spot on his body.

[But hold on, I might be able to make it out alive still!] Vincent realized his HP wasn't dropping to 0 as quickly as he feared. Despite how savagely the duo was trashing him, he still retained over 20% HP while his stun was about to expire.

[Hoho, I see, I see.] Vincent figured out the mystery. [These subpar attacks are the price you had to pay for your Blink. Indeed, with great power comes great responsibility.]

The Viking's attacks didn't strike as hard as they should've because of his starting build, or rather the lack thereof. He had to spend a pretty penny to be able to start the game with Blink, so he couldn't purchase anything else.

On the other hand, the Berserker's build was normal but the class's basic attacks were always subpar until they warmed up. As such, despite pinning Vincent down to the ground, Challenger was unable to dish out destructive damage quite yet.

Thanks to all that, Vincent lived still! As such, he might be able to make a break for it using Shield Bash!

[The wheel of fate is turning! Heaven or hell!] Vincent recovered from the stun and raised his shield, charging straight at the Berserker! [Pardon me, but I must interrupt your mashing in order to get out of here alive!]

BAM! Vincent charged forth!

He buffered in the Shield Bash for the exact moment when the stun wears off. On top of that, he unleashed this attack at point-blank, so his opponent had no chance of dodging it amidst the unrelenting flurry... or did he?

"Heh, called it!" Ronald canceled his next attack into a Dodge Roll the moment the Knight raised his shield. He had seen this skill a billion times by now so he could dodge it on reaction.

"Git dodged, bruh!" Ronald successfully rolled out of the point-blank assault. Easy!

With that said, this Shield Bash did put Ronald's offense in an awkward spot. He had to roll sideways to get out of range, so now he was a little too far away to immediately continue his attacks. Not to mention, he had to interrupt his ongoing combo, so his axes cooled down.

Fortunately, Ronald wasn't alone on the offense here.

"Bro, finish him off!"

"On it." William was already rolling in pursuit of the dashing Knight. He also responded to the Shield Bash immediately, even faster than Ronald did.

However, unlike Ronald, William didn't do this "on reaction". Instead, he anticipated the Shield Bash in advance and started rolling as soon as Blackhole's stun expired.

It was obvious that Blackhole would use his best get-out-of-jail-free card the moment the stun ends, so William rolled in advance to counter it. If he waited until he saw the shield raise up, then it would've been too late.

[Caught you.] William recovered from the roll right behind Blackhole's back and continued his offense.

The poor guy tried to roll away but he wasn't fast enough. William drove his axe deep into the prey's back, delivering the final blow.

『You have killed an enemy!』

『FIRST BLOOD!』

Just like that, the first death of the game already happened, less than 2 minutes into the game...