Leo walked calmly towards whom he presumed to be the Guild Leader of Tempest. The sound of metal hitting tough skin and magic exploding was almost drowned by Leo’s appearance. The already hostile atmosphere turned even more unfriendly as the two guilds began to figure out if his arrival was good or bad.

A man in his mid-30s with a short military hair cut, heavy looking plate armor, and giant shield walked towards Leo. The man had a conflicted expression on his face. He knew that Leo had business with them specifically, but he could not rule out the possibility of him being a spy.

In Ekalius Online, the PVP system can be abused to some degree. This is simply due to the game’s harsh way of operating. There is no handholding. Leo could join their party and attack Bloodhound, making the entire group count as the attackers and Bloodhound could counter-attack without repercussions.

In normal games, he would simply be kicked out and forgotten about afterward. In this game, however, such an action could literally ruin someone's livelihood. Some players live day by day and sell their in-game currency to pay their bills, food, and other expenses. Losing their gear, more importantly, if its good gear, is devastating.

Leo doubted that Tempest was such a fragile guild but he had to understand his arrival from their perspective. No one wants to work longer hours because some idiot decided to make their life difficult for a day.

Leo approached within 5-meters of the man and began speaking, “Are you the leader for this party?”

“I am, why have you come here? Surely you don’t believe a single player can take on all of us?”

Leo let out a low laugh. He was almost tempted to give it a try just for the challenge but quickly returned to reality. He would have time to test his skill against Bloodhound later anyway.

“That’s not why I’m here, this time. I want to help you win the battle.”

The man frowned slightly as he went into deep thought. This time? Was Leo saying he could take them all on? He began weighing his options before deciding.

“How do I know you aren’t from Bloodhound?”

Leo’s lips curled into a warm smile. The man deserved to at least be considered a Guild Leader for realizing the situation.

“I’ll prove it to you.”

“And how will you-...”

Leo took a quick step forward and thrust his spear to the left, seemingly at empty space. The spear abruptly halted its momentum and a metal sound could be heard. A figure of a person slowly materialized out of seemingly nowhere. They held a dagger in front of their face, Leo’s spear only centimeters from their face.

“A Thief? How!?”

The Guild Leader could not fathom how Leo could possibly have known that a Thief was eavesdropping on their conversation. Leo, on the other hand, could hardly understand why the Guild Leader didn’t realize it. The Thief was practically broadcasting their location with heavy steps and constant movement. They could at least have chosen to not stay 2-meters away like an idiot.

The Thief looked at Leo, disbelief filling his face. Leo recognized the Thief as the same one who allegedly followed the Ancient Golem he defeated. It suddenly made much more sense why he was so inept at covert information gathering.

System announcement: You have been attacked by the player [AwesomeDude] and their party (total of 147 players). You can freely retaliate for 30 minutes without receiving a penalty.

Leo looked at the Thief’s name and nodded approvingly. A simple name for a simple person. Leo thrust his spear at the Thief and ended his life with a simple double stab towards his head.

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To others, it might look like Leo was some overpowered god capable of ending anyone's life with a single strike. This was not true at all. He simply hit a weak spot like the head of a player with low-quality headgear. His attack wasn’t even that fast, it’s just that players aren’t used to basic attacks being useful. Leo quickly looked to his right as if he had spotted another player. He let out a smile and switched his attention to the man in front of him.

“It’s impressive, I do admit, but now you can’t join our party for 30 minutes.”

“That’s only when I’m the one attacking first.”

The Guild Leader looked at Leo and nearly fainted from shock when he realized Leo was not tagged as a red player. Normally when a player initiates the attack they’re marked with an icon above their head. This icon changes the gradient of red from light to dark depending on how many players they have killed. This also increases their death penalty and items dropped regardless of whether a monster or player kills them. They can also be freely killed without penalty for the duration of the icon.

“How? I clearly saw you attack first?”

Leo let out a smile and said, “Are you sure?”

The man thought for a minute before answering. Now that he thought about it, the spear seemed to stop before the sound of metal clashing. The man opened his eyes in shock when he realized what actually happened.

“You … You made him hit your spear? Is something like that even possible?”

“I just did it, so, it has to be, right?”

Leo could understand his confusion. This type of attack would never work on anyone with proper skill. He had deliberately sent his spear as close to the Thief’s face as possible in order to force him to defend himself on instinct. A skilled player would wait for the spear to connect with their weapon, not attack the spear itself. The moment Leo halted the spear’s motion, it no longer counted as an attack.

He could, of course, not do this all day. This feint only works a few times in a row, but not because it’s trying to bait a fight, but because of harassment. Leo could only imagine how messed up it would be for players to constantly attack without actually hitting the target in hope of baiting out an attack. This type of feint attack also has several restrictions that make it difficult to pull off.

“Haha, I have learned much from you today. My name is Riadel, and you are?”

Leo was not wearing his cloak which hid his name, level, and class, but that was not the reason why Riadel had to ask for his name. Players can inspect each other to gain basic information such as name, level, class, and guild, but it’s considered rude to do so. The inspected players receive a notification with the name of the player inspecting them.

“I’m Zero.”

“Well, Zero, what do you want in return for helping us out of this slightly disadvantageous situation?”

“Slightly disadvantageous?”

“Alright, fair enough. What do you want in return for bailing us out of this situation?”

Leo answered without a moment’s hesitation, “I want the first pick on any loot.”

Riadel thought it over for a minute. He had little hope of defeating Bloodhound and decided to give Leo a shot. He might lose a single item, but at least he won’t lose them all, hopefully.

“Alright. One item, first pick.”

Leo smiled and nodded in agreement. Riadel invited him to their party and his retaliation timer instantly went to 0. He had no reason to kill any of the Bloodhound members right now. Why would he reduce the number of people killing the mammoth? The faster it goes down, the less chance of more guilds showing up.

“Who had the first hit?”

“One of our Rangers hit it first.”, Riadel said.

Leo nodded and moved into a fighting position. The first hit guaranteed that Tempest would gain 60% of the EXP, as long as they could stay alive until the end, that is. Leo dashed towards the mammoth and began climbing up one of its legs and onto its back. He proceeded to walk towards the head and sent out several stabs in quick succession followed by his [Spear Thrust] skill.

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Its high defense reduced his attack’s potency by almost 60%. Leo had even attacked its weak spot yet his attacks did this little damage. He could only let out a sigh and continue chipping away the mammoth’s health.

The mammoth only had two skills. The first was a low-range AOE which dealt about 50% of the players’ health, while the second was a much longer ranged AOE which dealt about 15% of players’ health. Leo had no problem avoiding the skills while standing atop the mammoth, but the same could not be said for the others.

The mammoth was in constant movement, making it difficult for anyone else to even get up to its back. There were a few who managed the climb but quickly fell down when the mammoth shook its body. It’s like standing on a raging bull. It’s not something completely impossible, but it’s also not something anyone can do without painstakingly long training.

Leo continued assaulting the mammoth from atop its back while the rest of the players fought from the ground. Its health slowly decreased and the actual fight would soon begin. The hours quickly flew by as the mammoth’s health slowly reached 5%.

Leo descended from the mammoth’s back and approached Riadel. He could clearly see that Riadel was nervous about the upcoming fight. Not only do they need to kill all the Bloodhound members, but they also need to make sure the mammoth is low enough that they can finish it off before their enemies can respawn.

Leo let out a laugh and said, “Nervous? Don’t be, it’ll turn out fine.”

Riadel did not share Leo’s carefree attitude towards the battle. The other members of Tempest were all shaking slightly at the thought of having to fight against a 3 to 1 player disadvantage. Riadel had done his best to encourage them but even he was unsure of the outcome.

“Should be about time. I’ll start the fight, you just jump in whenever.”

“What? Wai-...”

Leo dashed away from Riadel before he could hear his response. Riadel hurriedly prepared for the fight and followed shortly after. The members of Bloodhound saw Leo run towards them and panicked. Most of them had recognized him and remembered how the battle went last time. This time, however, he was not alone but together with about 50 powerful players.

“Teluris, what should we do?”, said a man with a rough appearance and a large cut stretching from his temple down to his mouth. This was none other than the Guild Leader of Bloodhound, [Larkos].

Teluris made a serious face and said, “Let him come. Do not attack him first.”

Leo continued his dash towards the group and quickly found that they seemed rather relaxed about his imminent arrival. He let out a sigh and locked eyes with Teluris. A competent strategist is the worst kind of enemy.

Leo reached the first members of Bloodhound and thrust his spear in a wave-like pattern. The spear’s distance became difficult to comprehend and the poor player instinctively raised his sword. Leo elegantly halted his spear and let the sword hit it with full force.

System announcement: You have been attacked by the player [Sonbet] and their party (total of 147 players). You and your party can freely retaliate for 30 minutes without receiving a penalty.

“Fucking idiot!”

Leo turned towards the angry voice and discovered Teluris standing there with his face red from anger. Leo let out a laugh which seemed to make Teluris even angrier. He began spitting out cuss words like there was no tomorrow. His calm attitude was nowhere to be seen as Leo cut through the Bloodhound guild’s members.

“Kill him you imbeciles! AOE his ass back to the fucking graveyard where he belongs!!”

The Mages began chanting while the Rangers prepared to launch a volley of arrows. Leo watched the players and simply turned around and ran away. The Mages and Rangers looked at him in confusion. They still needed a few seconds to launch their attack but Leo was quickly running out of their range.

Leo could hear several insults being thrown at him from behind. The Mages and Rangers stopped their attack and quickly discovered their mistake. Unlike basic attacks, skills should not be canceled. The energy created from skills have to go somewhere and it just so happens that the somewhere is straight in the caster’s face.

Several explosions sounded out in the middle of the Bloodhound party and some players died from the impact. They had failed to keep a proper distance from each other and some unlucky players found themselves in-between several AOE attacks. This was the first time any of them had even needed to cancel a skill. Leo could only sigh and shake his head at the spectacle.

Leo quickly turned around and sent out his [Concussion Shot]. His Creator class was special when it came to the use of skills. [Concussion Shot] is normally a Ranger only skill that requires a bow or crossbow as its primary weapon. Leo’s class does not need a specific weapon for casting skills. In this case, the arrows created from the skill simply shoot out from the tip of his spear. This has the downside of him not being able to reduce the skill’s effectiveness. He also does not have the luxury of using physical arrows to enhance the skill’s damage.

The damage type is still physical despite the arrow being formed on the spot. It’s not technically a magic arrow, nor is it a fully physical arrow. It’s somewhere in between the two. He still needs the right attributes to make the skills worth it, which is why he made his shield transform into a magic based attachment. It’s not required in order for him to use magic, but it’s an easy way to gain intellect and piety.

The [Concussion Shot] hit five players and Leo had already begun casting his [Death Hail]. The travel time for [Concussion Shot] was fairly short and he was already close to the enemy. Its maximum range was 25-meters by default, which most projectile based skills are. Due to Leo manually chanting the incantation for his [Death Hail] skill, he could not only move while casting but also initiate the chant before the first skill hit.

The attack took the Bloodhound players by surprise and they had no time to react. Leo’s magic wasn’t strong enough to kill them, but he managed to send them all into critical health levels. His party quickly caught up to him and the true battle would finally commence.