A peaceful and serene looking valley spread out before Gii and M and rays of sunlight shone down from the bright blue sky. This picturesque scene is something you would expect to see on a postcard or a computer background, if not for the fact that there were dozens of intimidating furred humanoids that could be seen walking amongst the grass and wildlife.

"There sure are alot of them..."

"Yes there are..."

Gii and M stood at the entrance to the cave they had just exited and were stunned by the sight before them. Gii was less stunned than M because he had expected to see this, but was actually surprised because of how many Kolaks there were. In the past, this small valley was a popular hunting spot for tier 3 players and as a result the Kolak population here was always kept in check. However, at this point in the game there wasn't a single player who had reached tier 2 let alone tier 3 so this valley has been completely untouched.

I may have miscalculated...

"What do you think we can do? I don’t have confidence that we can avoid all of them."

Gii turned to M who was voicing his concerns over their current options.

"Hmm, give me a minute to think it over."

"You seem to have a knack for knowing the right thing to do so i'll trust your judgement here Brother!"

M was confident that Gii would be able to make the best choice in this situation because he had yet to make a poor decision throughout this entire trip. At the very least he recognized that he would not have been able to make it to his current location without Gii's help. Both of them looked out at the expansive valley that was before them and Gii began to analyze what he remembered about the place.

It's not actually that big

Contrary to what it might look like, this valley was actually quite small. In fact, in his previous life he remembered that it was jointly managed by a handful of the most powerful guilds because it could only support a couple dozen hunting teams. As he squinted to his vision he could just barely make out the other side of the valley which he knew was their destination. He pointed this out to M.

"Look over there. DO you see that small black speck in the distance that isn't moving?"

"I think I do?"

M squinted and looked hard in the direction Gii was pointing.

"It looks like.....some kind of building?"

Gii nodded in response

"That is most likely the halfway point I was telling you about. It should have a temple and a Gate location"

M's eyes lit up

"We're so close! but how are we supposed to reach there with all of these Kolaks in the way?"

"I guess we just have to run there..."

"What!? that's the best you can come up with?"

Gii had thought it over and truthfully it was the only thing he could think of that had a chance recently. The reason being was that the base movement speed of Kolaks was slower than that of the base movement speed of the both of them. The only thing that would slow them down would be armor or debuffs. Most Kolaks only had melee attacks and while they were strong enough to 1 shot either of them, that wouldn't matter if they never got into melee range. As Gii explained this to M he began to come to the same realization.

"But, what happens if our path gets cut off by a big group?"

"Well, you're right that we could run into bad luck like that. But most of them dont attack immediately right? It will seem pretty scary to have a big group after you but as long as you can outrun them there would be nothing to worry about right?"

M tried to think of a better solution but could not. He took off his armor and stored it into his inventory.

"Alright, tell me how we are going to do this."

Gii nodded and explained.

"I think we need to avoid the purple furred ones. The look to be the magic casters of these guys and will probably have ranged attacks or debuffs. With the tier differences that would spell certain doom for us if we got hit by anything."

M nodded in understanding, he remembered that whenever he encountered large groups before he met up with Gii, they would always have a purple one with them and they would stay in the back. Although he never was alive long enough to see them cast anything, he felt like Gii's reasoning should be correct.

"Secondly, I think we should travel close to one another but use slightly different paths. That way we can possibly help out and distract them if one of us gets into a bad situation. Additionally...."

Gii paused as he looked apologetically at M

"..If one of use gets one of the purple ones on us the other wont get caught as well."

M was surprised for a moment before laughing wholeheartedly.

"HAHAHA that sounds like the best plan to me brother! no objection here!

Having sorted out what was to be done, Gii and Began to run towards the large field and it didn't take very long for the Kolaks to notice their presence. Gii had purposefully chosen an area where he had seen 2 grey furred ones fighting and as he ran by them one of the red furred kolaks nearby seemed to notice him. It looked provokingly at him but Gii ignored the menace that was being directed his way. As if this was the greatest insult it had ever suffered, the Kolak shrieked and charged after him.

There was a tense few moments as the Kolak began charging him but eventually it became apparent that the gap between them was not closing. Gii knew that these red furred ones were called Berserker Kolaks and would not give up until they or their quarry died. However, as he was careful during his route between the different groups, he made sure to aggro as few of them as possible to avoid the headache of dealing with them for this whole trip through the valley.

M's luck seemed to stay consistent however as he could see the man running in the distance, as expected of him he already had a train of at least 10 berserker kolaks frantically chasing after him. Seeing the slightly panicked guildmate running for his life in the distance, gii couldn't help a chuckle escaping from his mouth.

The 2 dodged and weaved amongst the groups of Kolaks and made sure to avoid the purple Kolak's. Fortunately they were the rarest kind amongst the Kolaks and their bright color made them easy to spot from a distance. As they traversed the distance and got closer to their destination, the 2 of them could see in the distance a small sanctuary and temple that was acting as the entranceway to another mountainous path. Gii recognized this to be their destination.

It looks like his luck has reared its ugly head once again.

Gii could see M running parallel to him and was judging the path he would have to take to make it to the sanctuary. Unfortunately for him Gii could see a sizable group with a Purple Kolak at it's head that would be directly in M's path. As he noticed this he could tell that M had also noticed this fact. However, instead of getting discouraged he began to run even faster towards the group.

Both of them reached the area around the sanctuary at roughly the same time and both had an impressive number of Kolaks following them, there was easily a few dozen each. However, sure enough the troublesome one was the purple one as it brandished a staff and waved it in the air, a spark of dark energy sprouted from the tip and launched towards M.

As he was hit, he didn't immediately die but his speed did visibly slow down. The large train of Kolaks following behind him would surely reach in a matter of moments and tear him apart. As M was about to give in to despair there was suddenly a violent flash and explosion as many of the Kolaks were blown away. M looked up to see a paladin in shining golden plate armor with a greatsword raised above their head, above them was some green text.

[Tempest Paladin Elrik: Level 180]

M was surprised by the sudden appearance of an NPC, and not just any NPC but a genuine tier 4 powerhouse! The paladin took the moment in which the Kolaks were dazed by the sudden attack to turn and speak to the 2 who had just appeared.

"I'll handle this, You two get back t-"

Elrik was reassuring the both of them when he suddenly caught sight of Gii. Immediately his face lost the kind looking eyes and was replaced by surprise. There was a moment of silence before suddenly his entire body burst with radiant energy and he shouted out.

"ENEMY OF THE CHURCH! I WILL SMITE YOU IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE!"

Gii had expected this to happen as he knew that the first people to make it to this sanctuary would encounter a situation similar to a cinematic that would introduce everything to them. However, this time the amount of Kolaks that he and M had dragged over here was not an insignificant amount. Even though this NPC was a tier 4 powerhouse, he would still need to take time to get through the dozens of tier 3 Kolaks. Sure enough the momentary pause allowed the Kolaks to regain their standing and direct their aggro towards their new attacker.

M was utterly lost in the confusion but watched as Gii sprinted as fast as he could toward the sanctuary as he knew he was now on a timer.

"AGGHH! GET OUT OF MY WAY YOU FOUL CREATURES!"

As the yells of frustration were heard in the distance Gii paid them no mind and made his way directly towards the temple. He could see messages coming from M asking what was going on, but he didn't have time to explain currently. As he approached the temple he could see that one of the servant workers was looking at him in terror as he approached, too scared to move a muscle. Acting as quickly as he could, he brandished his knife and directed his attacks at her.

Seeing the knife finally gave her the gumption to move and avoid her fate and she quickly tried to escape the attacks that were raining down on her. Slash after slash cut across her body and blood began to flow and stain the faded white dress she was wearing. Gii was finally able to grab hold of her and plunged the dagger into her back as she fell to the ground. As he could still feel her moving he quickly backhanded the dagger and thrust directly into the side of her neck. After he repeatedly stabbed her neck until she wasn't moving any longer, he dragged the body from the steps of the temple they were on and through the main entrance.

Focusing completely on his work to be done, he ignored the increasing volume of the fight going on outside. Although it was sloppier than his previous work, he was able to carve out her heart in mostly one piece and used the last remaining bits of holy water he had to create his unholy concoction. As he desecrated the temple and saw the desired notification screens pop up in front of him the Blood soaked Paladin rushed through the doors and shouted while pointing his greatsword at Gii.

"THIS WILL BE THE LAST INNOCENT LIFE YOU TAKE, NEMESIS OF CRASSIUS!"

With that he rushed through the temple and used his divine smite to eradicate the threat to the church. This time when Gii died he saw an additional notification that he had not seen until now.

You have died too many times and your soul Is no longer strong enough to support your ressurection, you will be sent to the afterlife to regain your soul's strength.

As a result of your Karmic value, your soul will be sent to Hell.