Afterlife Dream

"This is our guild's run," ZhaoYun said with a frown. "It is our prerogative to decide who loots and who doesn't."

PrecisionShot chuckled. "Twelve used to accuse Dominion of protecting their guildmates for stealing. It looks like Twelve has now changed its course and started protecting vicious killers."

HellWitch stepped next to ZhaoYun, her face a mask of fury. "We already told you many times that you should not continue accusing DragonTalon and Antares without evidence. We already helped your top gloveless players to earn their gloves. Now please get out of our hair."

"What if we refuse to?" Ninja asked with a smirk.

We would not be able to win. They had all the top players in there to ambush us. Our own top players were somewhere else. By the time they got here, it would be too late.

Cecilia grabbed me and DragonTalon by our arms.

"We will break through. You guys, just enter the raid dungeon as soon as possible. Do not, I repeat, do not die," she added with a hiss.

The same information was transmitted in the guild chat. Ingenious, ArrowRain, and everyone else were on their way to the Cursed Temple. Naturally, we could not wait for them to appear.

What followed was a fight that was launched from both sides at the same time. We did not have enough players to win the fight as it was, but the Twelve players were resilient. I kicked and shoved everyone around me while I stayed close to the double door.

When the clock hit 16.00, we heard the dialogue between the Dark Fairy and Princess Shi Ran again.

"You dirty wench. How dare you go against me? I am going to destroy you!!!"

"AAHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

The double door opened almost immediately. I ran toward the bright red light beyond the double door but a Dominion warrior grabbed my arm at the last moment.

"Let go!"I shouted.

"In your dreams!" he roared.

I kicked at him and fell right through the double door into the raid dungeon head first.

I clenched my teeth.

"Angel Wings!" I shouted with all my might when the bright red curtain parted to reveal the cloudy sky with the battle scene spread underneath.

Before I was within the reach of a rampaging soldier, Angel Wings carried me smoothly upward. Knowing what to do by then, I quickly rushed toward the Cursed Tower.

Naturally, I had no chance against the Emperor and his elite soldiers when I was alone, but I could save everyone some time by pillaging the tower for useable materials to immobilize the enemies.

By the time I finished gathering all the ropes together, I was so deadbeat. While I was contemplating what to do next, my squad mates arrived behind me, all tattered and battered.

"Huff. Antares. Huff, you are here."

ZhaoYun and the others had to rely on their weapons for support.

HellWitch eyed the pile of ropes at my feet and gave me two thumbs up with a wide grin. "Smart! Now we have gained some extra time."

While we got to work, I scanned the players for DragonTalon.

"Where is DragonTalon? Did he not make it...?"

"He died," Cecilia explained to my greatest dismay. "But no worries. It seems that in this precursor mission it is allowed to die as many times as possible. The players who die can just come back again and again to re-join. After we clear this stage and move to the Dark Fairy's lair, it is naturally no longer possible to join."

I heaved a sigh.

"Did he get killed by the Dominions?" I asked again.

They all nodded. "That PrecisionShot particularly aimed for him. No problem. Ingenious and others are coming soon. They will shield DragonTalon so that he can enter."

I was thankful for that, but we did not require much time to tie the soldiers up. Before long, we were already following the NPC Princess Shi Ran to the fourth floor. DragonTalon was still not around. The button that represented him on the squad screen was still grey.

"Should we proceed?" I asked Cecilia.

"Well, our three looters are here. Laz, Livina, and you. Why don't we just go ahead? We will find out what happens after we finish."

I gazed up at the digital clock. One hour and forty minutes left. Not bad at all.

We clicked ourselves in and started the battle against the Dark Fairy.

We had altogether 28 people fighting against the Dark Fairy. The Dark Fairy did not waste much time before she started showering us with sharp leaves again.

Running was part of a High Priest's job, but I had never run more in my previous raids. The Dark Fairy was exceedingly agile, she moved around quickly and could change direction at any time. Similarly, players were required to not run in a pattern to avoid being hit by the sharp leaves.

I tried my best to run in circles while healing, hoping to catch a few of my poor party members while avoiding the Dark Fairy's attacks at the same time. I believe that was a good idea because I had not been hit even once.

BUMP!

"Ooof..."

I just bumped against Lazarus.

"Sorry, man," I said, pulling him up quickly and then dashing away one more time. Lazarus gave me a curious look, but he then quickly went on his way again.

The HP of the Dark Fairy was slowly going down, but it was not fast enough. 62% left at one hour mark.

BUMP!

My head was spinning from the collision. It was Lazarus again. It was strange. How likely was it to bump against the same person twice in a row?

"Hey, Antares, listen. Why don't we try running together?"

"What?"

Lazarus did not wait for me to answer. He dragged me to my feet and we ran together in the same direction. Lazarus kept attacking the Dark Fairy relentlessly, but he stuck to me like a glued stamp. When we came across our other party members, Lazarus made a point to make them follow us as well. Soon our party of six started running together.

"Why don't we stop?" Lazarus asked.

"What??"

"Laz, you are mad," HellWitch commented.

"No, sis, just do what I say. See if the Dark Fairy would attack us or not."

We exchanged glances. Lazarus was not one to spout a lot of words, but he was a keen observer. He must have discovered something about the Dark Fairy that escaped our eyes.

"Whatever. Antares, make sure you heal us when we get stabbed by the leaves."

I nodded.

We stopped running and started attacking from a distance. The ranged attackers such as Lazarus and Livina could reach the Dark Fairy from anywhere on the map, but the melees had to rely on their sparse magical skills.

"GUYS WHAT ARE YOU DOING????" Cecilia roared when she saw us huddling together like that, unmoving.

"I am testing a theory! Cecilia, can you come close please!" Lazarus shouted.

Cecilia looked at the slowly decreasing HP full of concern, but she still made her way toward us.

"What is it, guys?"

"Please spread your Angel Wings before you come close."

"..."

Angel Wings?

I just noticed that I never retracted my Angel Wings after using them during the precursor mission. Was this the reason why we had not received one single attack so far?

Cecilia spread her wings and approached us, looking puzzled. She noticed it too when she slowed down her speed. The Dark Fairy did not attack her. Or us.

"Wow," Cecilia whispered. "I never knew that these wings were so useful."

"Maybe because the Dark Fairy herself is a winged boss. She might think that you are her ally!"

Oh.

"Nice! Good observation, Laz!!!" Cecilia praised while giving him two thumbs up.

Our strategy quickly changed. Cecilia and I both went in the opposite direction, each of us shielding other players so that they could attack freely. One player with Angel Wings could shield ten other players without getting harmed. That meant that 6 other players unfortunately still had to run around like wild chickens in an attempt to not get caught by the Dark Fairy.

Cecilia arranged for the strongest players to come under her and my protection in order to finish as soon as possible. The attack rate increased tremendously, and soon the Dark Fairy reached 50% HP.

I realized too late what that meant. At 50% HP, players would be trapped on the ground and the Dark Fairy would unleash an AoE...

"Just remember to climb or fly during the two special attacks," HellWitch had said.

My feet were glued to my standing position. We tried desperately to pull at our legs to no avail. We were trapped. The Dark Fairy descended from the sky with a burst of booming laughter. She stood in the middle of the map and looked upward before laughing like a mad woman.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

And then a bunch of sharp glinting knives came raining from the sky...