Stepping out onto a sheer cliffside, the freezing air was still cold to our breaths and faces, but as snow now gently fell from the sky, we came to realize we stood atop the very dwarven stronghold we were expected to conquer. Flanked by mountains on all sides except for the front, a perfectly defended and walled compound stood 300ft below us; split into an outer guarded stronghold, and a hidden inner stronghold built directly into the face of the mountain. This snow-covered stone fortress seemingly appeared impenetrable, only reaffirmed by the fact that it notably had a single narrow icy ridge acting as the only means to cross to its solid gates, as a deep cloudy fog made it completely impossible to see anything below the stronghold or the other mountains nearby.

Peering at vast fields of grass in the far distance, I recognized them to be very similar to the ones Odelia and I crossed on our way to Leon, making me think “We must be somewhere north of the Human Kingdom and Leon, but if Elven Kingdom is supposed to be in the south of the continent, what the hell are the elves doing so far north trying to conquer this dwarven stronghold? recalling this to supposedly be a re-enactment of Novus’ History. “In fact, how did they even get up here without being noticed in the first place?” I questioned, only seeing a dangerously steep rocky path to the right you need to climb down.

“Goddamn, it’s still freezing out here!” Razi openly expressed, his body shivering as he raised his hood to stay warm.

“Oh, fuck me!” Cullen suddenly exclaimed, stumbling backwards into the cave.

“What? What’s wrong?” I asked, confused by his reaction.

“Don’t mind him, he’s just a big baby scared of heights.” Penelope mentioned, peering down into the stronghold and seeing the few dwarves carefully patrolling the walls.

Looking down too, Razi asked “Those are Players, right? They’re just dwarves like how we’re elves right now?”

“I’m always an elf, but yes, those are Players down there.” I confirmed, seeing their Levels and Names atop of their heads. Although, after I noticed I couldn’t see anything from a majority of the dwarves, I thought “Are those illusions? This ‘Crystal’ lady must want us to think there are more Players guarding outside than there actually are, probably so we don’t expect that many inside and be overwhelmed by their unexpected numbers.”

“Hey, do you guys see that over there?” Razi directed our attention to 4 familiar figures openly running along the narrow ridge towards the stronghold’s gates.

“Those morons, what do they think they‘re doing?” Penelope shook her head while we watched them attempting to break the gates while being continually shot at by arrows and magic.

“I’m more curious how they got down there so fast?” Not seeing how it was possible for them to climb down 300ft in less than 10 minutes, and also somehow already be at the front gates—knowing they would've needed to go around the mountain for that.

“I...I can answer that.” Cullen stammered, anxiously holding onto Penelope’s and Razi’s shoulders while avoiding looking down. He then informed me “Orange more than likely used the Feather Fall Skill on them to jump safely off the cliff—though clearly not knowing the stronghold was below us, they just let the wind carry them to wherever they landed, and it looks like they got pretty lucky considering they weren’t blown away to who knows where.”

“The Feather Fall Skill, you say? You wouldn’t happen to know that too would you?” Hoping Cullen could make this as simple as jumping off the cliff.

“Hah! You think a guy scared of heights would know that Skill—wait, why don't you know that Skill?” Penelope rightfully questioned, “It would literally solve the whole issue of being scared of heights! You’d never have the fear of falling again!”

“True.” Razi agreed, lightly pushing Cullen forward and scaring him completely.

“Waahhhh!” Cullen screamed out, frantically stumbling back into the cave, “Th-that’s not alright, Razi! You can’t do that to me!” but Razi and Penelope just started to laugh at him.

Quietly laughing to myself, I looked down again and saw how high we really were, and asked Penelope and Razi “Do you think he’ll make it through a climb down the mountain?”

“He’ll be as good as dead the moment we start climbing.” Razi jokingly chuckled to himself.

“Absolutely not.” Penelope stated matter-of-factly. “You know, he can barely even walk around Beldra without our help.”

“I wouldn't know, but I’ll take your word for it.” Though before I could ponder how to get us down, my attention was drawn back to the stronghold below where Xander’s Party was actually somehow able to break through the dwarven gates, and were now currently fighting their way through the waves of Players.

Xander charged in first, engaging the Melee-Class Players by himself with his sword and shield, and mainly focused on blocking any incoming melee and ranged attacks directed at him. On the other hand, Tubby and Garrett split to the right and left, directly charging towards any Players along the walls of their respective sides shooting down onto their Party, and both utilizing the long reach of their weapons perfectly well—Tubby thrusting his spear, and Garret swinging his greatsword. Then entering last, Orange ran in the centre and struck his staff into the ground, creating a protective barrier around the area where he stood, and safely fired his Earth and Wind-Type magic from inside.

Noticing the Players they killed simply disappearing in a blue flash right after they died, opposed to Pocket who’s body is still in the cave, I thought to myself “They might’ve stupidly rushed in ahead of us without a plan, but at least they’re unknowingly saving a few Players’ lives from me.”

“Watching them just makes me that much more frustrated that they don’t use their brains unless they're actually in combat.” Penelope commented, telling me “They’re honestly not as bad as I said they were earlier, as their actual great teamwork and combat instincts in battle is one of the very few reasons Zealot still keeps them in The Guided.”

“Although they’re nothing compared to us and the rest of our Party.” Razi claimed proudly, watching the battle below as well.

“Oh, that reminds me, would you mind meeting with one of our other Party members after this Event?” Penelope asked me surprisingly, “I know it’s kind of weird to ask, but she’s had the biggest crush on you ever since the info of you being a Ranger Class got released and you became her inspiration and ideal to strive for.”

“Urgh, why’d you remind us, Penelope?” Razi groaned, telling me “You should’ve seen how annoying she was after she saw your name back at the Top of the Rankings again.”

“N-Not to mention how livid she got when trying to defend you against the mob in the Waiting Hub before.” Cullen added, carefully approaching the ledge again.

“Well, I don’t really want more Players knowing who I am, but if you guys can take out 30 Players during the Event for me, then I guess I wouldn’t mind meeting your friend.” I told them, at least incentivizing them a little so I won’t be forced to kill so many.

However, our attention was immediately drawn back down to the stronghold after we saw a rush of Players coming out from the large stone doors—leading inside the mountain—and completely surrounding Xander and his Party on all sides. Though unexpectedly, instead of outright killing them and eliminating them from the rest of the Event, they were instead mobbed by the other Players and tied down with shackles and chains to be captured—dragging and escorting them inside the inner mountain stronghold.

“Whelp, there goes our Leader and his Party.” Penelope shook her head disappointingly.

“You still sure you can take out everybody in this Event by yourself?” Razi asked me curiously, clearly not believing that I could.

“Oh, without a doubt I can.” Assuredly believing that to be a fact, but thinking “Now whether I should just savagely murder everyone is a whole different story.”

Audibly gulping as he looked down, Cullen stuttered “I...I think we have to head down now.” reasoning, “If Xander and the others were captured instead of killed, Crystal must want to find out where we are from them, and knowing those twats, they’ll tell her exactly where we are in a matter of minutes.”

“You say that, but I’m not catching you if you pass out while we’re climbing down, you know?” Penelope let him know.

Cullen then looked at Razi, but he said “Hey, don’t look at me. I’m not catching or carrying you down either.” so Cullen lastly glanced over to me instead.

“Uhh…maybe I can think of a different way of bringing you down.” I told him, not really feeling like carrying him down a mountain either. Then looking around the outside of the cave, I was disappointed to see it really was a sheer rock face we had to climb down one way or another, and it made me think “How did the elves even plan to attack the stronghold from here?”

Peering over the ledge again, I wondered “If the Flavour Text for the Event Armour is true and these elves were handpicked archers, it’s safe to assume they were Trinity Archers, and if so, maybe they rappelled down the cliffside and attacked the stronghold from above?” Acknowledging that they would land perfectly in the centre area of the outer stronghold, “I’m sure they could’ve even stealthily taken out all the dwarves stationed outside with a few arrows, all before ever being seen and forced to land prematurely.” and the thought allowed my imagination to run a little wild with ideas.

“Eyes, mate, what are you doing?” Cullen asked, clueless watching me walk back-and-forth between the ledge and the farthest wall of the cave.

“I’m measuring.” I told them, counting my steps and estimating the distance.

“Measuring? Wait, you’re not planning to jump off are you!?” Penelope questioned in concern, “Like we know your the #1 Ranked Player and all, but there’s no way you can survive a fall that far down!”

“To tell you the truth, I think I can. But I’m not quite sure if you guys can come with me, and I definitely don’t wanna test that out if it doesn’t work.” Doing some calculations in my head.

“Man, you’re actually crazier than Xander, but I’d love to see you jump off regardless.” Razi said in anticipation.

“Hold on, if you’re not measuring the distance for a jump, what are you measuring for then?” Cullen inquired, still clueless to what I was planning.

After calculating the distance in my head, I asked them “You guys remember what 13 said about this Siege Event, right? That this is a historic battle in Novus’ history?”

“Yes, but unless you know exactly what happened in the past, which I don’t think any of the Players do, what does knowing that fact have to do with anything?” Cullen rightfully questioned.

“True, I don’t exactly know what happened in the past, but what I do know that nobody else does, is the actual extent and abilities of the elves who attacked this stronghold the first time.” I revealed to them, forming a longbow and an arrow with my Mana.

Casting Charged Arrow, I nocked the arrow and drew bowstring back, patiently waiting for the Skill to consume 1,000 Mana as I perfectly aligned myself in front of the farthest wall of the cave, and fired it straight into the mountain’s solid stone—drilling a person-sized tunnel about 100m long into the wall. The powerful impact of the concentrated mana-arrow caused the ceiling of the cave to temporarily shake, stabilizing a few seconds later, but leaving the three of them completely speechless by my incomprehensible power.

However, not being done yet, I gestured for them to follow me into the tunnel, explaining “The elves in the past probably didn’t dig a tunnel into the mountain, as simply attacking the outer stronghold from above would’ve been enough with their elite skills to infiltrate the place, but obviously none of you can do what they can—or even what I can for that matter.” Counting my steps to my rough calculation of 65m from the ledge, “Though with that being said, the elves were right in attacking the stronghold from above, as clearly dwarven defenses would be difficult to outright overcome for anyone—especially when there’s a Player placing illusions everywhere—and so you’ll instead be infiltrating from above in a different way.”

Pushing them back a little, I formed a mana-arrow already nocked to my bowstring and immediately began charging a 2,000 Mana Charged Arrow this time. Then as soon as it was complete, the large form of the pure concentrated mana-arrow barely fit inside the small tunnel, as I then aimed it directly below me, and fired it straight into the ground. Recoiling back and slamming my body up against the ceiling from the powerful force of the attack, the large arrow instantly excavated an equally large and seemingly bottomless pit below us, causing the others to frantically stumble backwards for safety. However, not being able to move out of the way in time, the ground below Cullen crumbled and he began falling into the pit, but going against their earlier statements, Penelope and Razi both caught Cullen by each arm and pulled him straight up to safety with them. And still needing to save myself, I simply activated Leaping Shot and kicked off the nearest wall to propel and land myself on the ledge with the others.

“Woooh, that was a close one!” I said, peering down into the pit and luckily still seeing it as mountain stone, “Perfect, I haven't broken into the inner stronghold yet.”

Crawling over to the edge, Cullen shouted “What the absolute fuck?!” seeing the immense pit for himself

“Uhh…Razi, I think he was being completely serious when he said he could take out everyone in this Event by himself.” Penelope now understood how serious I was earlier.

“T-That’s an understatement…” Razi replied, staring at me in awe.

“Okay, listen up!” I excitedly said to them, rushing to take out 21 arrows from Infinity and spreading them out onto the ground so the arrowheads would hang off the edge of the pit. “They 100% felt the impact of that attack, but before they realize what we’re doing, I have to get everything into position.” Casting 21 Explosive Arrows onto each of the arrows.

Mana: 13/5,480

“Then when I give you the signal, I need you guys to drop all these arrows into the pit at the same time—but be very careful not to let any of the arrowheads touch anything or they’ll immediately explode in your faces!” Warning them while I got up and walked back towards the cave entrance.

“Hold on, where are you off to?” Cullen questioned, gesturing to the others to keep watch of the volatile arrows.

“To be the bait of course.” Taking out two of Pocket’s Uncommon daggers while I set my feet, “Now wait for my signal, okay?”

“W-W-Wait, what signal?” Cullen asked, feeling clueless again.

“It’ll be pretty obvious, don’t worry.” Giving him a wink, as without hesitation, I dove straight off the cliffside head first, shouting “Wooooo-hooooo!”

Plummeting down the sheer mountainside with increasing speed, the immense freezing cold air began painfully striking my face and freezing my eyes dry; though the feeling quickly faded as my body was filled with the natural adrenaline rush of free falling from the sky. Although, knowing my body would break if I let my speed increase any further and made contact with anything, I momentarily activated Bloodthirst and immediately embedded the two daggers in my hands into the mountainside—significantly slowing my momentum as the daggers dragged along the mountain stone. However, not being able to handle the pressure for long, the blades of the daggers snapped and broke right off the handles a few seconds later, leaving me back to free falling again.

Expecting them not to anyway, I simply enjoyed the falling and pulled two more daggers from my Inventory. And feeling my momentum increasing too much again as I fell another 80ft down, I momentarily activated Bloodthirst once again and embedded the new daggers into the mountainside. Yet unable to handle the pressure of being dragged along the mountain stone either, the daggers broke and shattered too, and I returned back to falling. Then only having 3 daggers left, I decided to take out all 3 from my Inventory—holding the two best ones in one hand, and the worst dagger in the other.

Approaching the last 100ft until I hit the ground, I momentarily activated Bloodthirst one last time, and using the single dagger in my right hand, I significantly slowed my momentum one more time. Though before the blade could break on the stone, I set my feet against the mountainside, faced my body towards the ground, and activated Leaping Shot to propel myself from the mountain as the blade finally broke off. And as per the hidden side effect of Leaping Shot, I safely and soundly landed onto the snowy cold ground of the outer stronghold.

I stared up and acknowledged the amazing height I fell from, “What a fall—and everything worked a whole lot better than I expected it would.” sighing in relief and taking up each of Pocket’s best daggers in both hands.

Poison-Tipped Dagger Serrated Dagger

Uncommon

Attack: 155

Effect: Attacks have a 5% chance to cause the ‘Poisoned’ Status.

Requirement: Lv.27, 125 Agi

Uncommon

Attack: 150

Effect: Attacks have a 5% chance to cause the ‘Bleeding’ Status.

Requirement: Lv.26, 120 Agi

Noticing how I somehow went undetected from all the dwarven guards patrolling the area, I decided to put two fingers in my mouth and let out a loud echoing whistle to get everyone’s attention, shouting right after “Hey, idiots! I can’t believe you guys just let me sneak in here like this!”

They were all surprised to see me plainly standing in the centre of the stronghold, but my ears keened on the guards watching from the narrow side windows of the solid stone inner gate, hearing one of them say “What the hell? How did someone else get past the front gates? What are those morons doing out there?”

“Who cares, let’s just send out more people to go capture him like Crystal said to.” Another person replied.

Smiling, I watched as the solid stone gates opened up a few seconds later, and all without me even needing to lift a finger. The leftover 16 outer guards then began to finally converge and surround me, with 20 more inner guards approaching us holding shackles and chains to capture me with. While I let them believe I was surrendering myself by holding up my hands, I instead leaped right over them when they let their guard down for a second, sprinting my way straight through the open gates and into the inner stronghold.

The place I found myself running into was a giant stone hallway, beautifully structured and designed, appearing to be at least 100ft tall in height, and had amazingly detailed giant dwarven statues all along both sides of the hall. Though not really having the time to take in the structural beauty of the place, as the mob of dwarven Players were already chasing me down, I stayed focused and searched for the exact position I calculated earlier; and spotting a slight but large protrusion in the stone ceiling up ahead, along with more Players noticing the commotion I was causing, I immediately typed up and sent Cullen a message.

Cullen Now!

Being completely and utterly surrounded by about 50 Players, I said “Okay, okay, you got me! I surrender!” raising my hands up again.

“Don’t trust him, he was pretending before!” Someone from the crowd shouted.

“Yeah, watch it guys, this one's fast!” Another added.

“Oh, come on. There’s 50 of you, and one of me. What do you think I could do against that?” Staring at the ceiling, thinking “Come on, come on. Any second now.”

“Alright, cuff him up and bring him to Crys—”

Before they could clasp the shackles around my wrist, a sudden loud explosion could be heard directly above us, shaking the entire area to its core, and frightening everyone who saw the stone ceiling shattering and splitting right above the place; then for a brief moment I thought the explosion wasn’t strong enough, but that was quickly taken back as I happily witnessed the entire stone ceiling crumble and collapse directly on top of us.