Second World

John's spell formation was completed and his dual-sword-wielding Avatar appeared. He continued casting and eight dirt golems came out. They stood in a formation surrounding him.

"Oh? You have increased your spell level?" Jack asked. The last time he fought against John, the dirt golems he summoned were only seven.

"The enemies were pretty fast!" John uttered while he watched his radar. "There are three. Coming from ten, twelve, and three o'clock directions!"

"What?" Balo asked, puzzled. Jason came beside his fellow martial artist and used his arm to point in the directions John meant.

They heard the sound already, of frozen leaves getting crushed by fast movements.

"Above!" Jeanny shouted.

  Three pale blue creatures rushed out from the trees' branches above. They looked like deformed pterosaurs. They had leathery wings for arms, two clawed legs, and a tail. Their heads ended with a sharp beak. Jack used inspect on them.

*

Ice Ray Bird (Special Elite monster, Avian), level 45

HP: 205,000

*

"Ranged players, attack!" Jeanny commanded.

Only two amongst them had no ranged capability whatsoever, Jeanny and Giant Steve. The others started shooting ranged attacks at the three birds while Viral played her music to increase everyone's attack speed. Viral gained a ranged skill when she went past level 40, called Sonic Darts. It allowed her to shoot sound projectiles periodically when her music was in play. Balo also gained a ranged skill called Ki Bullet at level 40. His punch shot out an energy wave that hit an opponent in the distance. This attack could only be used every thirty seconds, though.

Seeing that his two summons served no purpose against these monsters, John cast another spell to summon his Fae. The Fae joined the others in shooting ranged attacks.

The three birds were fast and durable. Despite so many bombardments, not many hit. The few that hit resulted in damages less than usual. The birds themselves attacked by shooting ice bullets from their mouth. These ice bullets dealt ice damage and caused either slow or freeze.

"Head's up!" They heard Olddemon shout.

A dark red energy rope shot out from him and entangled one Ice Ray Bird that was about to swoop down using its claws. The energy rope was Warlock's Hell Whip. The rope was pulled and the bird was forcefully dragged down. Jeanny, Giant Steve, and Balo immediately pounced at the grounded bird.

Jack was not to be left behind, he cast Magic Bind at one of the remaining two birds in the air. Losing its ability to flap its wing, it fell to the ground. Everyone immediately focused their attacks on these two.

The remaining one, seeing its two comrades were bullied, swooped down in an attempt to disrupt the players. Its two claws came down at Balo's back who was still pinning the grounded bird.

Balo was aware already that danger was approaching from behind, but he heard a voice, "Don't worry, I got your back."<br/><script>ChapterMid();</script>

Jason came and put himself between Balo and the ice bird. The claws struck Jason's long mace. Everyone was worried because Jason's level was low, at 38. He had been focusing on leveling up after becoming an inquisitor, but it was only a few days since then. He was selected because his class was healer-based, Jeanny figured they needed at least two healers on the team. There were, of course, higher-level healers. But when it came to survivability, this martial artist still beat the other healers without a sweat.

Jason's mace turned the same time the claws hit. In one fluid motion, Jason redirected the force of the bird's attack, sending it reeling to the side without suffering any damage. Jack thought Jason's timing was uncanny. This senior of his was truly the best when it came to martial redirection methods.

John's avatar came over to deal damage to this ice bird that was losing balance. Jack rushed over as well, but Jack only managed to hit it one time before it flew away.

John's avatar unequipped his swords and grabbed two small dirt golems by its feet. It then threw the two golems at the bird that had not yet flown far. One of the golems missed. The other one hit the bird and cling to it. The extra weight caused the bird to not be able to fly higher.

"Good job!" Jack said and jumped. His superhuman jump brought him to where the bird was due to being bogged down by the golem's weight. Jack used Flame Strike, slamming the bird to the ground below. The avatar and the other dirt golems came at once to keep the bird from flying back up again.

Jack's magic bind was still holding the other bird. Although this bird was not strong enough to break the magic bind, that spell also didn't last indefinitely. When the duration ended, the bird immediately tried to break away. But before it could fly far, one arrow hit it and energy chains came out from the point of impact and locked it again. It squawked frustratingly for being sealed yet again.

That was Fierce Flame's Lock shot, another non-standard skill she had learned from a technique book.

The three birds were helpless as the players battered them to submission. When the three birds were in critical health, John noticed many red dots incoming.

"Many more are coming!" John shouted. He continued watching the new ret dots on his radar. The way these new ones were moving was different, they were faster. "New ones are different monsters. Hurry up and finish the ones here!"

"Then why don't you help us attack instead of just standing there?" Jack complained.

"My summons are attacking," John countered. "Now shut up and continue attacking. I should be the only one who talks."

They managed to kill two. For the one getting locked by Flame's lock shot, when the skill ended, another magic bind hit it again before it could fly. It was cast by Olddemon. The bird seemed resigned after being sealed for the third time. It just received the players' attacks quietly.

The last bird lost its life just as the new monsters arrived. They were dog-like creatures of pale-blue skin, similar color to the Ice Ray Bird that had just been defeated. These dogs were level 44 elite monsters.

These ice dogs ran around haphazardly. The party figured that trying to chase after them would be troublesome, so everyone assumed defensive formation and waited for these dogs to approach.

Viral, Bowler, Flame, and John took positions at the inner of the group while the others stood circling them, including ranged class players such as Olddemon and Jason. Olddemon cast Demon Hand spell. His two hands enlarged and turned crimson, ready for melee engagement. Jason readied his long mace, he cast Empowering Prayer, giving everyone increased defenses and HP recovery bonus. John had his summons guard the rear. The eight dirt golems stood around the avatar in nine stars formation.

All the ones with ranged capability shot at the dogs as they approached. The ones that didn't, stay their ground until the dogs came before they attacked.

The ice dogs attacked with claws and bites, but they also spew short-ranged ice breath. All their attacks dealt ice damage and caused slow or freeze.

It's a good thing everyone's ice resistance had increased, reducing the damages they suffered.

Flame's Savage Wind Wolf didn't lose in terms of speed against these dogs. In fact, her wolf was even faster. Whenever it managed to pin a dog down, Flame's arrows arrived soon.

Therras had more difficulty trying to catch these fast-moving dogs, but Therras' HP was much higher. It just waited for these dogs to come swarming at it before it activated its Imperious Pressure. All the dogs in the vicinity lost their speed.

Seeing that, Jack immediately dashed over.

"Cover my gap!" Jack told the others.

Balo who was next to Jack was taken by surprise when Jack suddenly left. Luckily, he had a good reflex. An ice dog attempted to charge in through the gap left by Jack, Balo turned his body and gave it a roundhouse kick that sent the dog away.

With the dogs incapacitated by Therras's gravity field. Jack's sword art speedily took care of them.

Even though there were many more of these dogs compared to the Ice Ray Birds, they were one grade weaker and also ground-based. With the cooperation between the ten expert players, these dogs were soon routed.

They advanced once the coast was clear.

Not long after, they met another wave of these ice dogs and ice ray birds again, and again, and again. They spent almost an hour going forward. Jeanny had used four Resist Ice scrolls in that time frame.

"How far is the easy difficulty?" Jack asked.

"Less than this…," Jeanny replied. "We would have met the boss twenty minutes ago if this is the easy version."

"Guys, do you feel yourself getting slower?" Jason asked.

"Oh? You feel it as well? I thought it is only me," Balo said.

"What are you two saying?" Bowler asked.

"They are martial artists, they are more sensitive to the change in their bodies. Actually, I also feel a bit slower than I should be," Jack said.

"Really?" Peniel asked.

"Hm? Do you know something?" Jack asked Peniel.

"Well, some higher-level dungeons or special locations possessed something that we called environmental buildup. The longer you stayed in that location, the more you get affected. Considering this icy environment. If it has this kind of buildup, it should be affecting your speed. At one point, you might get notified that you are affected by the Slow status. If you continue to allow this buildup to accumulate, you might end up with a frozen status. This status couldn't be cured like usual. If you get frozen, then it is over."

"What the…!" Bowler suddenly uttered.

"What?" Jack asked.

"I just got notified that I have been afflicted by the Slow status," Bowler answered.