MMORPG : Ancient WORLD

'I wonder how much I can improve in this battle,' Alex thought as he used the cloak of emptiness to make his presence almost invisible to the majority.

The cloak would not give any real protection, but it would help Alex stay invisible to the majority of players and save him from wasting mana.

Alex had closer to 27 million mana at the moment, but he still needed to use it wisely to stay in the game for as long as the monarch aura would allow him.

Despite being aware that the Stygian lance bombardment would inflict minimal damage on the Quetzalcoatl, Alex used more than one-tenth of his mana on it because his aim was to declare himself as the primary threat, ensuring that the creature remained focused on him.

The plan worked like a charm as the Quetzalcoatl ignored everyone and fixed its gaze upon Alex. Hovering in the sky, it wasted no time unleashing multiple slashes of wind with each flap of its wings, directing them toward Alex with pinpoint accuracy.

Alex moved among the players, who were quick to react to presence as they were on edge after sensing the sudden dullness of their senses, but as they solely focussed on him, they missed the large barrage of wind slices coming at them until it was a bit too late.

The majority sensed the attacks, but few were able to evade entirely or defend against them, with the unlucky few getting blasted head-on by the wind blades.

The main guys didn't stay on the sideline, as they were quick to attack the Quetzalcoatl to regain its attention, but the creature ignored them and dived into the dome like a bullet, his sheer speed casing the darkness dome to cave in.

The creature landed atop an unlucky player who had just lost an arm, crushing the poor soul into the ground, and the worst part was that he did not even die from the impact.

'He sure looks angry,' Alex thought as he stared back at the towering creature, his sword cloaked inside a dark dome that was shrinking at a visible pace.

They both moved simultaneously, closing the distance between them within moments and without hesitation, they unleashed their attacks at once.

The Quetzalcoatl had tendrils of dark crimson lightning emanating from his body in all directions, his arms cloaked in tornados of golden flames that incinerated the darkness in the surrounding area and even made the space twist under their intensity.

The creature moved his first fourth and unleashed two roaring torrents of flames resembling monstrous jaws, growing larger and fiercer by the second.

Alex firmly placed his right leg forward, his back muscles relaxing, letting his shoulder lose, and at the same time, his arms muscles contracted as he swung his sword in the fluid arc, the blade disparaging for an instant to even the eyes of Quetzalcoatl.

A torrent of darkness gushed out, starting as a concentrated stream but expanding rapidly like an uncontrollable surge of energy, colliding head-on with the two golden flame tornadoes.

There was a momentary silence as the two elemental forces met, a silent hum reverberating through the space, making everyone watching hold their breath in anticipation.

The flames incinerated the darkness, yet like an unending tide, the darkness tore through the two tornadoes, gushing forth with unbridled might and a display of dominance, instilling fear even in the soulless eyes of the Quetzalcoatl.

The creature made his six feathery wings unfurling to the front, crackling with tendrils of crimson lightning, while a deep blue cascade of water concept coalesced around it for defense.

Alex used his knife to get out of the way of the incoming fire tornados as he watched the darkness erode away the water shield, tearing it open with sheer momentum behind it, meeting the exposed wings head-on.

There was no explosion on impact, just an eerie devouring silence as the massive creature was pushed back before getting fully engulfed in the darkness that stood out even in the pitch darkness of the dome.

'I have improved from the last time,' Alex thought, a smile appearing on his face.

Alex was using the 'Darkness Expanse' technique that he successfully learned to use against the fallen seraphian to channel and compress the potent corrosive darkness concept into the blade.

The technique was a far cry from what Alex envisioned it to become, but he could feel he was improving at channeling and compressing darkness, and if he could control the output of compressed darkness with each swing, then he would be on the right road to create the solid trump card whose only limitation would be mana.

At the moment, each time Alex swung and let go of his suppression of darkness contained inside the blade, all of it gushed out without any control, which made the end product outclass even Sixth rank spell but also wasted a lot, at least half of the gathered energy.

"You are not joining them," Alex said, looking at Killian, who landed a small distance away from him, with Odin, Ra, and their team members also making their way into the dome.

"If it's not one-on-one against you, then I am not interested," Killian said, giving him a cold stare before shifting his to the Quetzalcoatl.

"Summoner, you take care of these Clowes and leave the big guy to me," Fulgor uttered as he zoomed toward the Quetzalcoatl, whose eyes were dead set on Alex.

Alex looked at the players circling him, some of the strongest and most feared and respected in the world, with the lineup containing Odin, and Balder from the Asgardian guild, while the Egyptian guild lineup contained Ra and Horus, and they were being backed by seven players from three different teams, all of them being the best of the rankers.

While Thor and Freya from the Asgardian guild and Anubis, Seth, and Osiris from the Egyptian guild were putting their focus on the Quetzalcoatl, not throwing away their chances of winning the event.

The tension in the air was palpable, so thick that it seemed tangible, as Alex shifted his gaze between the eleven players to his left and then to the Quetzalcoatl, whose aura was seething with rage, as he glared menacingly at him, standing to his right.

It was a standoff between the world's elite and a man known to only a few just before the event, a confrontation of epic proportions that the event's livestream captured perfectly.

Alex raised his arms high, his sword pointed at the Quetzalcoatl, and the space knife pointed at the players, an open declaration for both to come at him.

The creature's guttural roar shattered the silence as it charged towards Alex with a singular focus, only to be intercepted by Killian's massive figure, who was enveloped in a vicious aura of destruction, meeting the creature head-on.

There was a barrage of magic arrows thrown at Alex by Horus as Ra took to the skies, his figure cloaked in blazing flames, with Odin and Balder charging ahead, swiftly closing the distance.

Alex kept his distance as he prepared for another attack, his senses picking on the slightest movement as his eyes stayed fixed on the Quetzalcoatl, who was anything but easy to hold in place.