Aurora

It was time like this that having multiple identities was trying. I was with Maxwell as Kaga, but I had to issue orders as Aurora. I was glad the battlefield was close to Nature’s Grotto. I could bring all of my abilities to bear. I had to slip away for a moment during the start of the battle when I felt a build up of life energy. The Goblin Major’s words came back to me, and personally, I’d rather not fight the very forest itself.

I stood on the edge of my aura as Aurora. The sunlight was beyond unpleasant, but I suffered in silence. Raising my hands over my head, I concentrated on generating as much death energy as possible. This probably wouldn’t have been possible had I not literally met Death last night.

My little encounter with Death had given me quite the insight into the branch of magic. It was fascinating how knowledge and information was just downloaded into your drain at times. It was getting to the point that I nearly didn’t notice when it happened. Either way, it let me do what I was doing.

The death energy reached critical mass. I sensed the life energy explode out near Kaga and released my own spell. A wave of death spread out through the forest. The trees in the direct vicinity around me died instantly. The effects grew less potent as the distance increased. By the time it reached the area hit by the druid’s spell, it was just potent enough to cancel out the ritual.

I crossed my arms as I looked at the sky. A nice storm caused by the collision of the two opposing energies was starting to form. Soon the sun was blacked out by the clouds. I turned to Count Drac. “You’ve been cooped up too long. Go have some real fun.”

He bowed with a deadly grin. “With the utmost pleasure, my lady.”

I returned my body back to the dungeon then switched to Kaga. I rejoined the party though I did get a few suspicious looks from a few members of the party. “Everyone ready for some life-or-death PVP?” Maxwell asked with a too serious expression.

The others cheered then we walked out onto the battlefield. The enemy players cleared the field for us, but there were piles of dead bodies everywhere you looked. Blood stained the blood turning the ground into red mud. The smell of copper and iron filled the air along with the stench of goblins that had gone a few too many years without a bath.

“I thank everyone for helping me during this dire time of need,” Maxwell said as we walked.

“What are you saying?” Rowena admonished him. “We’re your friends. Of course we’re going to help.” Wow lady. I was not Maxwell’s friend. I kept my mouth shut though.

“We have a contract,” Sasha said in a business first tone. I liked her.

“If we crush this army, the northern territory will be ours for the taking,” Razz said ever the warmonger.

We came to a stop a few dozen meters from the enemy. A goblin that looked more like a troll walked a few steps forward. In a voice that did not match his face, he said, “No hard feelings, but I have to crush you and your little settlement.”

“Hard feelings. Very hard feelings, man. I’ve been working myself to the bone for my settlement. I’m not about to let you just come in here and take it. If I were you, Crig. I would turn around and make this easier on all of us.”

“That’s funny. By my estimate, you are barely level twenty. I’m well over level fifty. Aliens or not, but this world still runs on numbers.” Crig said crossing his arms.

Level fifty, huh. That was high. Even Count Drac was just under level thirty and that was with me pumping close to fifty thousand mana into him during his creation. Looking closer at the man, he was covered in gear that gave off a slight glow. My necklace from Death was similar as it emitted a low black glow, so these items were all powerful.

To make matters worse, the goblin was an archer from the looks of the large bow in his hand. A ranged fight would be difficult with that level difference. Then you had to add in his party. Nine other players that were all clearly over level twenty from the looks of their gear. Even though we had them outnumber, the difference in strength even that out.

I looked at Maxwell wondering what he would do. His teleportation might give him an advantage. We had a decent number of ranged fighters on our side, but our tanks were limited. Altogether we had five people that specialized in defense. If the front line fell, it would be hard to hold out for long.

The clouds overhead grew thicker by the second with the glow of lightning lighting up sections of clouds. The rumbling added a nice touch to the background music of total war. I closed my eyes to check on my army. They were only a few minutes out. I had to hold until Count Drac and Zaras arrived to provide assistance.

Cirg raised his bow in a single fluid motion and sent an arrow flying at Maxwell. I barely had time to blink before the projectile reached him. Another blink and I found the elf gone. A shout came from Cirg. I turned to see that Maxwell had appeared behind the goblin and was grabbing him around the waist. With another flash, they vanished.

A shout of outrage came from Crig’s party as they charged us. We couldn’t let Maxwell outshine us. We returned the shout with a battle cry, charging in ourselves. Well, the others did. I used shadow magic to make my body harder to see. Heading toward the enemy, I pulled out my newest pistols that York had made.

The tanks slammed into each other. Sure enough, there was a clear difference in power. Sheer grit and willpower kept out tanks from being sent flying by the heavily armored goblins. I snuck around the enemy line while the mages from the Jade Collective sent spells at the enemy. A barrier of energy formed preventing any from landing.

I spotted a man that wore green robes. The life and nature energy instantly pegged him as the healer. Skirting the fight, I managed to get within a few paces of the man. Glancing at my allies, I made sure they weren’t paying attention then charged the pistols with death magic. Once they were ready, I approached the healer with quick footsteps. When I was less than a meter away, he finally noticed something, but it was too late.

Placing both barrels against the man’s head, he froze. “It’s been a fun. Truly.” I pulled the triggers and black energy exploded over the man’s head. The flesh decayed in seconds. His higher level saved him for a few seconds, but that was it. A double fully charged death spell to the face was fatal to anyone.

A ray of sunlight broke through the clouds. I looked up then frantically jumped away as an arrow slammed into the ground with explosive force. I watched as an updraft from the explosion caught a falling figure just before he hit the ground. Cirg still crashed to the ground with enough force to break bones.

Numbers said otherwise, as the goblin climbed, albeit unsteadily, to his feet. He had gashes on his chest and arms. It was easy enough to see that the marks were made by Maxwell’s Spatial Tear. Speaking of the man, he reappeared with a flash toward the back of the party. He had an arrow lodged in his arm and leg respectively. It really was a good thing that we only felt pain at the moment of death.

From the look on Crig’s face, he was extremely pissed. He drew his bow and landed a headshot on the Jade Collective’s tank in the span of just three seconds. I didn’t think it was possible to draw the bow that fast let along fire and kill a person. I cloaked myself in shadows, while the rest of the party dived for cover. That action actually saved them, though two more members of our team ended up with arrows embedded in their bodies. At least it wasn’t fatal.

Crig’s attention snapped back to Maxwell. I agreed with Crig. The man was a walking irritation. While I rooted for Crig to deal with Maxwell, I made my way over to a nearby mage. If I timed it right, I should be able to kill the man before Crig notices me. I charged my death spell then aimed at the back of the man’s head. I kept a bit more distance between us this time.

Maxwell was blinking around the field to avoid being impaled through the skull with an arrow. It served me well, since it kept most eyes on him. With my spell charged, I pulled the trigger right as Maxwell reappeared. My head then jerked back as part of my vision was blocked out. I fell back staring at the sky.

I reached up and found an arrow sticking out of my eye socket. That was peculiar enough as it was, but what I didn’t understand was how I was still alive. An arrow to the brain usually killed most creatures. I wrapped my hand around the arrow shaft and pulled it out. In a sort of gruesome show, I saw my eyeball stuck to the end of the arrow.

“Huh. Interesting, and thank the alien gods that I don’t’ feel pain.” Clearly, I hadn’t been as clever as I thought. Crig had somehow detected me, and had waited until the moment that I reappeared from shadows to land a death blow. It made sense. In games of old, if the level difference was too high, then sneak and such often didn’t work properly.

My pistols were still charged with my death spells. I was a bit surprised that everyone just assumed I was dead. Even Crig’s party wasn’t checking. Without getting up, I dropped the arrow with my eye and picked up my pistol. I sighted two nearby members of Crig’s party. Aiming at both of them, I pulled the triggers.

Since it was only one spell each, they both only suffered terrible effects due to the magic without it outright killing them. Their skin rotted while various status effects took hold. The rest of Crig’s party focused on me as I grinned. “That’s right. He missed.” A swashbuckler or something similar rushed at me with his sword, but before he could reach me a bolt of flaming darkness slammed into him. Zaras emerged from the shadows under the trees along with a few dozen Greater vampires. Reinforcements had finally arrived.