New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

*** Back on the surface, just before the one-hour time started ***

Khalor was sitting on the last pyramid step, looking in the desert's direction. He was still trying to find Azamus, who he knew had fled to that part of the map.

Right now, most players wouldn't be able to get near him enough to deal some damage to him, but that wasn't a problem for Azamus.

His longer-than-average range made him a threat from a much larger distance. And since he had past dealings with him, he knew that his particular skill set made him good at instant takedowns.

Suddenly, a light flash caught the corner of his eye, and he instantly jumped up, a bullet hitting the steps behind where his head had been a moment earlier.

While in the air, Khalor saw a compact form dashing away from a pillar of stone, making its way away from the center pyramid. He immediately gave chase.

As Khalor ran, his giant two-headed raven picked him up from the back of his clothes, swinging him on its back and flying after the Gnome.

The raven had an excellent vision from up in the air, and with the desert being very barren, Azamus had no space to hide from it. He tried to stop a few times, to shoot at his pursuer, but it was a wasted effort, as the raven dodged away from most shots.

And even where the bird took damage, it was negligible. Since this monster was almost a boss-like entity, for players at their current level, the damage it took to kill it was not something easily attainable.

The chase lasted mere minutes, as Khalor and the raven caught up to Azamus, in the middle of the desert, with no place for the sniper to hide. He swapped out his rifle for a blunderbuss-looking gun and turned around.

"Who are you, and why are you chasing me!?" Azamus shouted, as he aimed his gun muzzle at the player before him.

"I am simply a player you have tormented before, coming for vengeance." Khalor responded, keeping his calm.

"I don't even know who you are!" Azamus said, his eyes red from anger.

"It matters not for now. Know that you have tortured and tormented me enough times to warrant my following actions." Khalor said, pointing his finger at Azamus.

The two-headed raven cawed to the skies before lunging forward at break-neck speed.

Azamus side-stepped away, dodging the attack narrowly, and shot his blunderbuss at the bird, hoping to hurt it enough to kill it.

*-378*

The damage number disappointed him greatly, as he expected to do much more. This was a blunderbuss shot at point blank, after all.

With his attack stat, he should have done a minimum of four hundred and fifty points of damage. Plus, he expected a crit on the attack, but it happened neither.

The massive raven flew upwards before doing a one-eighty turn in the sky, aiming back down at Azamus. The next attack would be a dive attack, making its speed much higher.

Azamus would have less time to react and dodge, if any at all, and then the raven would wipe him out in a second.

At least that was the plan, but Azamus wasn't just going to just sit still and die, after all. He was a pro player and had his pride.

As the raven swooped in, and almost pierced him with its twin beaks, Azamus used Recoil Escape, pushing himself out of the dive attack, and to safety.

He then swapped out his guns fast, from the blunderbuss to the automatic rifle from earlier. Azamus started peppering the raven in rapid fire, trying to peel away its health as quickly as he could.

The damage numbers appearing were laughable, but he did not relent, hoping to kill this gigantic bird, before targeting its master.

Normally, one would go for the master first, but in this case, he couldn't take his attention off from the raven, as it was fast enough to force him into kiting it.

This fight would not be an easy one, Azamus thought, as he kite the raven in circles, constantly shooting at it with different firearms.

Meanwhile, from the side, Khalor simply watched as all this unfolded. He could have acted at anytime, ending this masquerade, but that was not his plan.

He planned on making Azamus see the difference between their strengths, to make him feel small and weak. He wanted the gnome to feel like he had in the past.

Flashbacks kept appearing in his head, of that man towering over him, a whip in his hand, while he cowered in fear, crying in pain at each crack of the whip.

It took every ounce of his mental strength to not fall into utter rage. He shut his thoughts out entirely, making sure he couldn't think about that no more.

This fight would go on for a while, before anyone became the victor.

*** Back to the cave with the Manticore ***

Astaroth was looking at the enormous monster that was now staring back at them, salivating on the ground beneath it.

It was already imagining itself munching of the fresh meat, standing before it, and started advancing towards them. Astaroth snapped out of his slight daze and clapped his hands together.

*Clap!*

"This is going to be a fun fight, but we need to play it smart. Phoenix, are you confidant on leading us to victory?" He asked the woman, keeping his eyes on the approaching boss monster.

"I can try, but this will not be easy." She responded, a slight hesitation in her tone.

It was understandable though, as they were horribly under level to take on such a monster. Not even thinking about damage, they weren't sure if Gulnur could tank this Manticore without dying in one hit.

But now was not the time to think about it, but the time to act. The manticore roared again, this time from much closer, almost sending the frail I'die to his ass.

"It's fighting time!" Astaroth yelled, melding with White Death.