Turn the Tides

The players within the vicinity swiftly rushed up towards Ethaniel in a hurdle. Each player held onto their weapons tightly as they began to attack at Ethaniel, who had yet recovered from the battle.

"...!!" In a clutch, Ethaniel dodged the incoming spells from the casters as he quickly held up his sword. Soon after, he parried against the melee attackers that ran up to him. "Hey, what's the meaning of this?!" he shouted as he gave an angry glare over towards Brox.

"...hmph, you thought it was over? Hah, you should've thought otherwise!" Brox said as he drank a health potion. "Why did you think the meeting spot was here and not the arena? Of course, it was to kill you if worse comes to worst!"

"Tch, you piece of shit!" His face lit up in anger as his grip on his sword became tighter. Quickly he slashed at a player from behind him. "You had no intentions of keeping your word?!"

"Hah, if it meant giving up on that necklace? Like hell, I would!" Brox smirked. "You know the stats of it and how valuable it is," he shrugged. "You think I would just give it up?"

"...you!" Ethaniel roared out. Soon after, he spun around, drawing a white circle around him that forced back all the players around him. Moments later, he began to rush up to the brawler.

While he made his way towards the man, he was abruptly stopped as a sword clashed at him. "Ethaniel. I did warn you didn't I?" Lucas said as he sent an arc over towards the swordsman.

"Grrr, bastard!" he clicked his tongue.

"Hah, you only have yourself to blame for coming alone," he sneered. "Should've backed out when you saw my group around, no? Never expected you wouldn't suspect a single thing."

"...originally, it was only supposed to be us two to tackle against you. But I never knew that he'd bring the entire group," Lucas explained as he retracted back, quickly, he drew an arc against Ethaniel. "But even then, you wouldn't have survived either way."

"Haha, now kill him so we can get the rest of the loot!" Brox laughed.

Moments later, many skills headed for the direction of Ethaniel, with Lucas locking his position, there was no way he could avoid all of them. He would die after this.

"...damn it," Ethaniel cursed inwardly. "To hell with you!"

In that moment of instance, a dark orb shadow flung towards the direction of the two swordsmen. Quickly, the orb attacked Lucas from behind, making him abruptly stagger back.

Taking the opportunity at hand, he clutched his sword as he forcefully pushed Lucas back. Soon after, he narrowly dodged the attacks from all sides. However, with the number of skills aimed at him, he couldn't dodge them all.

Taking a few hits, his health slowly dwindled to the red zone once again.

For battles within the wild, when the two parties agree to fight, once the fight ends, both party will regain back half their health back and the resources used. For battles in the arena, by the end, players will recover back everything.

Ethaniel took a glance at his health as he retreated back from Lucas. 'Tsk, I'll have to run, otherwise, I'm dead....' he looked around his surroundings. 'I'm surrounded by players, but whatever! I'll have to go through them with force.'

Taking out a health potion, he quickly drank it. Soon after, Ethaniel quickly began to leap towards a weak spot of the formation around him, in hopes of breaking out of the encirclement.

"Hey! He's planning on escaping! Stop him!" A player shouted out.

"Rotate and prevent him from doing anything!" Another player responded to the call.

"Out of the way!" Ethaniel shouted out as he drew his sword in front of him, quickly slashing through the swordsman and pushing him back. However, right after he did so, he took notice of the incoming attacks from his side. Not wanting to be hit, he twisted his body and dodged it.

"You think you can escape this easily?" Brox said.

"Bah... This is just so annoying!" he frowned at the intervention of Brox.

"Should've thought twice before challenging me!" Brox shouted out as he threw a punch over towards Ethaniel. The moment Brox was about to land his attack, Ethaniel swiftly dodged it, but Brox didn't flinch as he followed it up with a kick at his neck.

"Urk...!" Taking a direct hit from the attack, Ethaniel staggered back.

"Hey! What are you all doing?! Just kill him already!" Brox roared.

"Right!" They all said as they held up their staves and sword. Just as they were about to land, a sudden dark fog protruded out within the area. Following that was a burning flame that shot out from a direction that aimed towards Brox.

"...H-Hey, what?! What's this fog?!"

"Ack-! I can't see!"

"Hey what's going on?!"

Player's cried out in shock as the players entered into the black smoke abruptly.

"...what?" Ethaniel raised his brow as he saw that his surroundings were clear despite being entrapped in the fog like the players around him. "Just what's going on?"

Suddenly, Ethaniel felt a sudden feeling as he looked at his health. "...It's healing back up?" He couldn't understand the situation, however, neither did he had the time to. "Argh! I'll think of this later!"

Getting himself back together, Ethaniel sprinted out of the fog whilst the players were distracted. While doing so, he slashed at the players in front of him, quickly knocking them back.

"This guy's escaping! Someone chase after him...!!"

"Where did he go?!"

"Damn this fog!"

Cries roared out in the area, as half a minute passed. Finally, the fog slowly dissipated. Ethaniel was now nowhere to be seen.

"Tsk... where is he?!" Brox clicked his tongue. "That guy escaped?!"

"...looks like that fog gave him the window of opportunity to escape," Lucas said. "He seems to have backup huh?"

"Tch. So this guy didn't come alone all this time?" Brox frowned. "Just what were you doing while bringing him over here?"

"I made sure no one followed. But it seems I overlooked something," Lucas turned towards the direction of where he was hit by the attack.

"Ugh, useless," he scoffed. "So that mage girl was here all along? Hah. One of you idiots should've scouted the area!"

"...Dark Cloud and Shadow Orb, so his companion seem to be a dark mage," he muttered out. "That mage girl wasn't off that class."

"She wasn't? If it wasn't her, then who was it?"

"I do not know. The other person that went to the dungeon with us was a priest," Lucas clarified. "There was no way that he could have done those things."

"Tch, whatever! We failed to kill that guy," Brox clicked his tongue. "But at least I still got his necklace, so he'll come back for it," he smirked.

"...hmph. There are more easier ways to go about Ethaniel than to kill him, you know?" he said. "If you wanted to fulfil the quest, you might as well just force him to join in exchange for giving back the accessory."

"You think I'd give up the accessory for some measly quest rewards? I wouldn't have accepted that quest if it wasn't for there is a secondary condition, 'kill Ethaniel'."

"I see. What did Ethaniel do to the management to have them want him dead?"

"How am I supposed to know? Ask them yourself, you're close to them no?" he said. "Whatever- We'll just go with the second quest. Find that player named Shinto."