Thriller Paradise

"Qie… they sure run away fast…" When D1-Drake reached the crater from Kamekameha, the place was already deserted. The wind blew and the place was quiet. Drake did not show any solemnity or sadness regarding the death of his partner. He looked around coldly with lazer sharp eyes. Finally, his eyes landed on the spot where Y2-Bright Glow died. "Even an energy-enhanced Bright Glow could be corrupted by her…" He said darkly, "She mustn't be underestimated…"

While this level 1 Anomaly was thinking about that, suddenly… 10 metres away came the sound of a stone plate breaking. The next second, the spot where D1-Drake stood had its temperature rise instantaneously; Four walls of fire rose from thin air to surround him and then swallow him. The fire appeared to have their own consciousness, the fire was small but it was hot enough to melt gold. In less with two second, with Drake as the centre, within the radius of 10 metres, even the air was burnt to dust… D1-Drake's body had disappeared, looks like he had been evaporated.

"Four doors, four ways, human with four sins, the doors open to engulf with flames. Needles of flame drip to the knees, they touch and blaze into billows of smoke." The person who initiated the attack walked out slowly from an alley with his hands behind his back, reciting a poem on his lips. That was none other than the owner of Heavenly Hourglass, Shiva.

"Boss, that was impressive." Brahma followed behind Shiva and put forth a praise but he quickly asked, "But to couple that with a poem… make me suspect that you're falling into the entrapment of the Sophomore Syndrome…"

Shiva glanced at the man and coughed rather awkwardly, "Well, you don't have to point it out…"

"Ha ha ha…" Vishnu followed behind them and he said with a smile, "If he could hold his tongue, it wouldn't be him anymore."

Since the three from Brahman had already shown up, naturally Yama was there as well. She walked at the back of the four. With a pout, she blew at the purple bangs that fell down her forehead and said helplessly, "Aiz… bunch of idiots…"

Perhaps some of the inquisitive readers might wonder how did the four of them get together? Well, we will explain it now… About one hour ago, Phantom Dawn, Shiva, Uncle Worthless and Zombie Blade Victor formed a temporary truce and an alliance. The four decided to split all over the city to search for the other players and join forces to deal with the anomalous situation that was happening within the scenario. On the other hand, after the incident at the blood lake, other than Understanding Death who was killed in an instant in his attempt to negotiate with the Leader of the Demons (Seeing the failed negotiation, Sashimi and Lying Drunk chose 'rationally' to retreat)… the other players chose to stay away from the Leader of the Demons who was passing by. Therefore, the groups of players who were held at Blood Pool had separated.

Soon after that, Shiva was lucky enough to run into his guild mates at the city. The four traded information and then walked together to search for other players. Along the way, they slaughtered many low level Anomalies from Origin. Until… we caught up to the present where the four in hiding accidentally found D1-Drake who stood in the middle of the street.

Earlier, Shiva had met Drake before, he knew very well… as one of the persons who opened the blast tunnel, the anomaly would be impossibly strong. During the experience he had collected from fighting other Anomalies, to deal with this creature, he would have to start with his ultimate. Therefore, Shiva shattered one stone plate and used the ultimate to initiate an ambush. The skill he used was the 'fire' effect from heavenly Hourglass—Inferno.

The effect of Inferno was: Ignoring elemental defence, unleash a flame attack on a player that will not miss once. The attack deals both physical and magical damage and the damage is dependent on the player's Sorcery Mastery. The Stone of Fire will break after use and it will only recover after returning to the log in lobby. In former scenarios, Shiva always used this skill to kill people with one shot and it worked 90 percent of the time. Only those bosses from special scenario or with enormous body would be able to survive. Target smaller than usual… like a player… would definitely die.

Using Killing Game as an example, if he combined both Inferno and Sanctuary, then it was a surefire combo. You'd be killed no matter how high your defence was. Even against a defend-specialist like Long Aomin, Shiva could take him down with one hit.

However, D1-Drake was far more powerful than Shiva anticipated… He was the Anomaly just beneath the three leaders of Origin, how would he be killed by the special effect of a Sorcery Weapon?

"What was that thing?" D1-Drake's voice rang out again, "Feels like some poured a case of warm water over me."

Hearing that, the expression of the four players shifted and they turned to the voice. D1-Drake was floating in the air and he was right above the location where Inferno erupted.

"He evaded it?" Shiva was shocked. [No… that's impossible, the skill will never miss, it's in the description…]

"Even though it's not that powerful, but it's quite disgusting." Drake slowly dropped from the sky and said, "I've already leaped so high into the air when the fire walls collapsed on me but the system still considered that a full damage me." He shrugged as he landed gingerly. "Sometimes I honestly feel… I live in an insane world. Perhaps you guys won't understand it… Just imagine, one day, your neighbour ate a 50 pound mushroom and then he grew twice his size."

"I can see your point." Shiva said, "In the world of data, the rules designed by the system represents the rule of nature. As long as it is within the rules, as illogical as it sounds, it will be part of the 'reality'."

"You are only half right." Drake looked like a boy but his expression and tone shown a maturity that surpassed many adult players in the game. "But… I am afraid you will never grasp the other half." He paused. "But enough talking… Based on your action, I believe you already know what is happening in this scenario." His eyes swept the four players from Brahman, "Would you like to voluntarily follow me, or… shall we resort to violence?"

"Boss…" Brahma whispered to Shiva. "Hit or run, just one word." Brahma was ranked 8 on the combat stat ranking, he was not a coward. He understood appearance was not everything and 4 versus 1 might not be an advantage. At this moment, one shan't act recklessly and it was best to listen to the leader's arrangement.