Chapter 51. Fox’s demise

Hearing the admonition, Fox finally decided to join the attack on Bowler. She turned her back on Flame's hiding place, giving Flame the chance she was waiting for. By the time Fox became aware that her tracking target was moving towards her, Flame had already arrived by her side. Flame stabbed her in the side of her abdomen, damaging her and interrupting the spell she was trying to cast. When Fox turned her staff to point at Flame, Flame spun around giving Fox no target, all the while continuing to stab her dagger onto Fox's body.

"You bitch!!" Fox screamed in pain and frustration, suffering the fate of long range players when attacked at close range.  She was completely unable to aim at Flame.

Scarface turned and threw a ranged attack at Flame. He hit her and disrupted her attack rhythm, allowing Fox to finally aim at her and cast Mana Bullet. The assault pushed Flame back. But, as Fox was relishing finally hitting Flame and was about to cast more spells, she was struck in the face by a Mana Bullet and took critical damage. Bowler, temporarily freed from Scarface's flood of attacks, managed to land an accurate shot on her.

"Bigarm, come here! Red and Stone alone are enough over there." Scarface commanded as he cast Energy Bolts. The five bolts rushed towards Flame. Flame waited until just before the bolts were about to hit and executed Ranger skill, Roll, to one side. Two of the bolts hit her during her rolls, the other three missed when they couldn't follow the sharp turn. Roll skill also increased her defense by 100%, so she didn't suffer significant damage.

Scarface spotted a light approaching from the corner of his eye and jumped sideways, barely dodging a ball of light aimed at him. It was Bowler's standard range attack. He turned and saw Bowler cast his cooled-down Energy Bolts. Four Bolts came rushing towards him, but only two targeted him, while the other two spread out toward Fox and Bigarm who were running to rejoin him. Scarface used his Magic Shield to defend against the incoming Bolts.

Meanwhile, Flame, now freed from Scarface's interference, had ended her roll near Fox. She resumed her assault as the enraged Fox threw spells to retaliate on Bowler. Fox, once again, was stunned and unable to attack or defend. Flame's movements were too rapid for her.

"Use your Magic Shield, you dumb wench!" Scarface's shout snapped Fox back to rationality. She finally realized that her HP bar was in a critical state. She hastily summoned her Magic Shield to defend from Flame's attacks.

"Too late," Flame told her.

Fox was confused, and then she heard Scarface's shout.

"Look out!"

Fox felt two consecutive searing pains in her back: Bowler's Energy Bolt and standard staff attack. When Flame began attacking Fox, she had positioned herself opposite from Bowler, exposing Fox's back to him, allowing them to execute a pincer attack. As Fox staggered from the hits on her back, she felt cold steel at her neck. Flame timed this attack beautifully.

"N–No!" Fox screamed in denial as Flame's dagger cut through her throat. Her vision started to blur as she fell to the ground.

Bigarm slashed Bowler's Energy Bolt out of the air and halted his steps as he saw Fox fall.

"Damn it!" Scarface cursed, and then told Bigarm, "You deal with that girl! I need to keep the Magician occupied until our people get to him."

On the other side, Jack and Red Death were in the middle of an intense battle. He continued to absorb her attacks since he knew he could not beat her in technique. He forcefully attacked every time she struck.

Red was frustrated.  This was like newbie players hacking at each other without bothering to evade; a simple brawl where winning or losing was determined only by the players' stats. With her nimble movements, she could still avoid most of Jack's attacks, but on the third exchange, she was hit again. Jack's speed was too fast for her to completely suppress him. She had lost half of her life just from two hits, while the HP bar above her opponent had only lost one fifth even after her multiple stabs.

'Crap! How high is his total HP?' She cursed.

By this time, Stonecleave had arrived. Red jumped back to brake away from Jack. As Stonecleave took over the attack, she took out a potion to drink. The potion was crafted by the alchemist in their guild, which gave a better restorative effect than the common medicines they scavenged from deserted stores.

Jack didn't chase after Red; he met Stonecleave's attack with a swing of his own. Every clash of their weapons pushed Stonecleave back another step. Unlike Red Death's, Stone's martial style mostly focused on heavy attacks based on strength. Thus, he was completely dominated by  Jack's overpowering strength stat. Stone's HP was higher than Red's because of his Fighter class, but Jack could hit him easily compared to the slippery Red. So Stone was losing his life at a rapid pace.

Watching her comrade's situation, Red didn't dare to wait for her HP to recover any further. She joined the attack to reduce the pressure on Stonecleave. Jack, upon seeing Red approaching, struck with a wide-angle Swing, assaulting both his assailants. Stonecleave blocked using Parry, while Red expertly dodged using Roll.

Red rolled forward passing Jack. She came up behind him, sending a Swift Strike to Jack's back. Jack managed to turn in time to Parry Red's attack, but this left his back open for Stonecleave's attack. Red had managed to expertly utilize her roll to position Jack between them for a pincer attack.

Jack was having trouble defending from both sides. He tried to break away, but Red continued to anticipate his movements and blocked his retreat path. His high HP was being whittled down slowly by his two assailants while Jack was unable to land an attack. He decided to let go of his attempt to trade blows with them and, instead, crossed his hands as protection then rammed his body forward while ignoring all the attacks landing on his body. He completely utilized his high HP advantage to withstand the damage.

Stonecleave, the target of Jack's ram, was caught off guard by this crude method. His footing was not stable enough and he was sent flying when Jack's body collided with him. Red, on the other hand, could only keep on stabbing Jack's back.

Completely ignoring the backstabs, Jack squatted down. He then sprang up and twisted. The sword in his hand made a fast 360-degree sweep. But Red ducked in time to dodge it. As Red was about to get back up to continue her attack, she realized that Jack's twisting motion in the air had yet to stop.

In that instant, Jack, using momentum from the twist, swept his leg towards her. She blocked the kick using her hand but was thrown several meters away. The kick didn't produce any damage as the system didn't judge it a valid attack, but it still caused pain and forcefully interrupted Red's attack rhythm.

Free from their encirclement, Jack immediately angled towards Stonecleave. The woman called Red Death was too difficult to deal with unless he fought her one-on-one or revealed his Overlimit or Magician skill.

When Stonecleave, now back on his feet, saw Jack barreling towards him, he quickly put away the potion he was just about to drink.  Unwilling to get rammed again, he jumped sideways. But Jack anticipated his move and stormed in with his three circling slashes. Stonecleave dodged the first slash, parried the second, and was grazed by the third. The system judged the graze as a valid hit, so Stonecleave still lost life. His HP was under half now.

As Jack continued his assault, he noticed two black dots closing in on Bowler. He immediately warned Bowler through the Party chat.

"Bowler, jump down now! They are about to come behind you."

Bowler followed Jack's instructions without hesitation. Before Bowler landed on the ground, Jack sent another follow-up instruction to both his friends.

"Scatter! We'll regroup a hundred meters west of here. Use your map to observe the enemy's movements in case you cannot make it there safely."