Nilbog’s feet lightly touched the ground. Dead leaves crumbled under his boots as the rest of his party materialized. The sound of steel tearing reverberated through the air as the crevice in the air closed.

He let his body drop close to the ground, the two daggers in his hands pressing against the ground. Everyone else but 666 fell to the floor, disjointed. Their swords, spear, and shields fell on top of them. 666 did not fall but he did sway, holding his face tenderly with his hands.

Nilbog wasn’t completely unscathed, as his face slightly shuddered, his mask nearly fading. A nervous moment passed before his flesh returned to its appropriate place. He bought his head up, surveying the area.

The sun hid behind the clouds as usual, but the surroundings were bright with white light. Trees stood up tall and crooked all around them, their branches naked and badly twisted. Only a couple of the slimmer ones held something to their limbs. Thick bushes stuck themselves in the way, providing good cover. Seeing no danger in sight, Nilbog stood up, relaxing his body.

He glanced at his teammates, their figures still slithering about the floor, moaning and pressing their hands against their ears. Nilbog looked at them, his eyes blank. He felt oddly clear, and without fear. His body felt smooth and firm, the daggers in his hands fitting perfectly. His senses were on point, as well. He couldn’t hear each leaf rolling with the soft breeze, but he could feel it about him. A squirrel ran overhead, and a raven croaked far above.

“Why the fuck are you not shitting your pants?” 666 said, cursing. He took a few threatening steps towards Nilbog, but then tripped forward. He fell, but he fell very slowly. Nilbog raised his arm, looking at it. It looked odd. He looked to the side, and then to his feet. He looked back up.

666 was still falling, just a hand’s reach away. He could have stopped 666’s descent with one hand; he felt it in him. But he didn’t. He stepped to the side, and watched him with interest. 666 had one hand out blindly in front of him, searching for the floor as his face crumpled hideously.

It was the Player Killer skill, he realized with clarity. It activated as the Pianist attacked him, as well as Short-Breath. How many seconds did he have before they ran out?

This was the first time he had to feel Player Killer's effects. Even though the Pianist was gone, the buffs remained for a duration.

666 hit the floor with an oof, sending leaf flying all over the place. Nilbog stepped to the side, and then crumbled to the floor, his brain feeling like squished mush. The buffs wore off, the high fading abruptly. He sucked a sharp breath and then quickly coughed it out, realizing it was frigid and full of dust.

“Fucking idiot, so slow that even the debuff takes time to hit you,” 666 said, grabbing a handful of leaves and throwing them at Nilbog. They fell harmlessly against his side as he joined the rest of his party members in their agony. They groaned and moaned, kicked and whimpered in unity. Each took a different corner to empty their stomachs at.

“At least...we’re building a bond,” 664 said through wet eyes. “That’s worth something, ain’t it?”

“Put a cock on your bond building,” 666 said, still sane enough to retain his toxic tongue.

It took a long while for everyone to fetch their bodies into a coherent function. They sat with their backs against the trees, their arms wrapped around them.

“Oi, look at that,” 663 said, wiping off the sticky liquid from his mouth. Above them, through the wide openings in the trees, there spread a large, spherical blue force field. “It’s...moving towards us.”

“How can you tell?” 666 asked.

“Greater Senses. And Intel. It’s the analyze skill I mentioned. The description says...urgh. Whoever made the description has horrible taste.”

“Get on with it,” 666 said, even more cross than before.

“It...says that ‘the blue force field is...shaped like a breast. Round, soft to touch, but will burn your hand off if touched inappropriately,’ 663 said, rubbing his eyes.

“Do go on,” 664 said, a wide smile on his face.

“Like a breast, the more time it goes on, the smaller and nastier it will get. Avoid at all costs.”

“Say, 667. As a fucking brat, do you think these things are written by someone close to your age?” 666 said, smiling widely.

Nilbog looked at him, his eyes vacant. For a few seconds, his brain worked. It told him that people like 666 were a sad bunch. They took comfort in destroying other people. It brought their self-image up when they crushed other people. It was a common, basic human trait. In fact, it was a common life trait. It was something all the humanoid and even monster races shared. People like 666 were just as fragile as the people he hunted.

He knew the right choice; he simply had to say nothing. As long as it wasn’t bad, fighting would only exacerbate the issue. It wasn’t hard, with his current condition and all. Once the Player Killer buffs were removed Nilbog felt like a hollow shell of himself. It didn’t feel pleasant, to be constantly threatened, but moving was too difficult by itself.

“Leave the poor kid alone,” 664 said. “In case you haven’t noticed, you’re the only ass around here.”

“Better be it, and not be as useless as you lot!” He barked back. “I’m the highest level fighter, which should tell you how stron-”

“You can leave, if we’re that useless,” 663 said, shrugging.

“You’ll all die without me,” he said, tapping the shield next to him.

“Your negativity will tear us apart anyway,” the Rogue said. Once again, everyone turned to look at him with accusing eyes. His non-presence left him with little room to speak.

“You know,” 663 began, “I just can’t tell whether you’re doing that on purpose.”

“It’s my natural disposition, sadly. Can’t do anything about it,” he said, and then sulked.

“Doesn’t this mean we’ve got to move?” 664 said, urgency in his voice.

“No,” 663 replied. “We have time. We need to know what we’re doing first.”

“Surviving,” 664 said.

“If we can’t do well this early in the game, then we might as well die now,” the Rogue said.

“665...is right. But that doesn’t mean we can’t play it smart. We need a game plan,” 663 said, with a smirk.

“Very, very clever,” 666 said, glaring at 663. “Me and 664 will frontline. You’ll stay behind us, stabbing with the pointy end of your stick, and give orders. The brat and the pregnant man will annoy then from the sides.”

“You’re...Willing to listen to me?”

“Sure,” 666 said, with a shrug and an entirely unconvincing grin.

“Well, that was unexpected. Anyway, I doubt we’ll be able to fight against other groups; five warriors will overrun our group. Hunting the monsters will get us most points, increasing our survivor for later Rounds.”

“We’re a man down, too," 666 added.

“Huh?” 663 said, turning to face him.

“We got three men, and one brat and one-half woman. The last two count as a half, if we’re feeling generous.”

“I’ll take care of myself, “ the Rogue said, turning towards Nilbog. “Worry about the brat.”

“What do you two have against brats?” 664 asked, sharpening his blade with a whetstone.

“They’re useless,” 666 said.

“They’re a pain,” the Rogue said, avoiding everyone's sight.

“Really? It just sounds like you’re scared, and him being here allows you to vent out your frustration on him,” 664 said, his eyes still glued to his blade. “You think when you're in your at your dying breath, you can blame the kid for being a kid?”

“Let’s move out,” 663 said, after the silence took over. He picked his spear. “Rogue, can you go ahead of us? We’ll move in a circular manner, instead of going straight. The force field isn’t too far behind us, we got ten minutes or so, but only if it stays to its current pace.”

“What we hunting for?” 664 asked, putting his heater shield on. The Rogue moved ahead, but not without voicing a few complaints first.

“Monsters, animals. They’ll be easier. We need practice before meeting another group that’s out for murder.”

The bush ahead moved. The Rogue came out of it, his nose wet with snot. His eyes were half-open and disinterested. He walked towards the group, wiping his nose on his sleeve, and sat behind.

“What you back for?”

“Ghouls,” he said, scratching under his breasts.

“What about them?” 663 asked.

“They’re coming,” he said, sneezing.

“The Ghouls? Where are they? How fa-”

Two dark purple lumps jumped out from the bushes. One fell while the other ran on top of it, charging straight at the party. A few more could be heard following it. Each of them was six feet tall, long and spiny with sharp claws and a large mouth with mismatched teeth. They were all around level 30.

“Not a minute of rest!” 666 yelled, stepping in front of it of the group. He brought his shield up.

The Ghoul charged straight at him, its limbs spinning all over the place until it neared him, in which it attempted to arch its claws over the shield.

666, stepped to the right, ducked slightly, and the moment the thrust went over he threw his arm open and twisted his body to the left, redirecting the Ghoul straight towards 664, who nearly fumbled the handle as the Ghoul impaled itself on his blade. With the motion 666 had stuck his sword out, piercing the next charging Ghoul straight through the head.

It was a risky stab, but it had worked flawlessly nevertheless. It died in one hit, while the other Ghoul was quickly dispatched by 663 and with the assistance of 664, who stood in between the two with his spear.

You have received a buff!

Defensive Manuverses

Increase Speed, Armor, and HP regeneration by 10%.

Increase block and parry effectiveness by 20%

Reduce chances of debuffs occurring.

Standing next to a teammate will improve these buffs by 50%.

Duration: 5 minutes

The rest of the Ghouls came charging at them, allowing them no repose. 666 kicked off the dead body of his blade, sending it tumbling towards the charging group. It made the first one trip and the one before it to crash and fall into a heap of lost limbs, but the next Ghoul simply used it to hop over the front line. 666 stuck his sword upward, taking off half of its ankle, and then brought the blade down, towards the Ghouls that crawled towards him.

The Ghoul that went over landed awkwardly, allowing 663 and the Rogue fall upon it with their blades. Meanwhile, the frontline had taken a ravaging as they attempted to hold four wild Ghouls off. They constantly retreated backward, doing their best to not being overrun.

Nilbog had meanwhile run from the sides, distracting the Ghouls with shallow cuts and detracting them from overrunning the shield bearers. He did not swing too heavily, for he did not want to risk the slight downtime nor the possibility of his rusted dagger to get clogged in any bones. By the time he did a slash-by, the agro of the two last Ghouls changed towards him. At that point, Nilbog did the most appropriate a Rogue move: he turned and booked it in the other way, using the trees and bushes to outmaneuver the quick Ghouls.

Though they were quick, they weren’t too bright. Nilbog ran straight towards a tree, the two Ghouls following his heel. Then, just before he crashed into the tree, he lunged to the side. The Ghoul closest to Nilbog, him not expecting the large, twenty-meter tall tree to be where it was, crashed into it, taking ten damage. The other Ghoul reacted in time, dodging the tree and ran after Nilbog.

He attempted the same trick again, but it seemed the next Ghoul had learned. It did not sprint and it kept its attention towards obstacles, but that in turn had slowed it enough for Nilbog to escape its clutches. Not wanting to run into another mob, Nilbog took it around in a circle before realizing the other Ghoul, the one that had crashed into a tree, had broken agro off and was quickly running back towards his group.

Nilbog made a quick turn, dodging under a poorly aimed strike from the Ghoul that was chasing him, and dashed towards the Ghoul. His party was doing well on their own, but one Ghoul from the flank could break the line. As he ran, Nilbog tightened his hold on his daggers, relaxed them, stuck his body low and ran behind the cover of the trees, attempting to hide from the Ghoul’s sight. It might re-agro if it saw him, and with the other Ghoul chasing behind Nilbog that would not be preferable. He had to injure one of them and once again retreat.

Just as the Ghoul lunged forward, it’s claw raised high into the air and aimed 666’s unprotected flank, Nilbog sprung from behind a tree, taking to the air with it. He stuck his left dagger into its right shoulder, in between its bones. Hoping the blade would jam, Nilbog used the handle to swing the rest of his body behind it, allowing his right dagger to come around and behind, piercing the area behind the other shoulder. With the momentum, Nilbog jerked the left dagger off, twirled, jerking the right dagger off the neck, and continued his run, leaving the Ghoul to tumble to the ground harmlessly.

Penetration!

Your strike dealt major damage!

You have dealt 63 damage!

You have dealt a slight bleed status effect!

As Nilbog feet hit the floor and pumped forward, he sucked in a slight breath of relief before having to twist his body to the left, dodging a thrust from one of the newer Ghouls. It was a different variant, larger and wider, but slower, which allowed Nilbog to escape with only a 7 damage taken. Unfortunately, he had turned straight into the heart of the battlefield. The Ghouls were to his right, and 666’s blade was on coming from the left. With a yelp Nilbog ducked slightly, letting the blade go over his head.

Realizing he would crash into the Ghoul that was engaged with 664, he twirled in place and dashed towards the center, in between the two Ghouls.

The moment he stepped past them, one of the Warriors cast Life Force Slash. It was a horizontal wave of either sharp or explosive Life Force, and in this case, it was the later. The shockwave went Nilbog tumbling towards the two Ghouls in front of him, of which Nilbog had somehow squeezed himself in between.

He had aggroed those too, and the moment he stepped by them their claws reached for him. He was now chased by three Ghouls.

Nilbog dashed for a couple of meters, jumped forward, swung on a branch, and climbed up the tree, calling it quits for the rest of the day.

Three Ghouls kept trying to climb up the tree, but Nilbog kept kicking them down.