Reign of the Hunters

Chapter 376 A Battle In The Sky

 

It was the first time Lotus Supercenter was at such a close distance with a Dragon. It’s sheer size, its ferocity, and its level were very intimidating. 

 

Their six lvl65 Gryphons were barely a match against a lvl75 Dragon. When the Dragon soared towards them, the players dodged out of reflex. 

 

Fate was a VRMMORPG. It was on an entirely different level compared to the traditional RPG that was played in third person view where players could easily have a grasp of the space around them.

 

But in a full dive game like Fate where everything they did were in first person perspective, they suddenly found themselves losing their calm in the face of such monstrosity. 

 

They knew the Dragon was not real, and that the pain they suffered from a hit would not be as severe, but the players still flinched in the Dragon’s wake. 

 

Ye Ci was overjoyed. It was the perfect opportunity. 

 

But due to their training and teamwork, the party was able to maintain its cohesion. Their involuntary reaction would only buy Ye Ci a very short window of time. 

 

I don’t think I’ll be able to take them all out in such a short time. Thought Ye Ci. After all, “Majesty” was a very troublesome skill. 

 

A battle between players would often be decided in a split second. Lotus Supercenter immediately realized that his evasive action meant that the activation of Majesty was delayed. Such a delay would not affect the outcome of the battle against any other opponent, but they were up against Gongzi You. 

 

“Activate Majesty!” shouted Lotus Supercenter. But he could feel the scorching heat of flame licking his entire body before he could even finish his sentence. And his health, along with the health of his steed immediately plunged. 

 

Ye Ci was shocked to find that Lotus Supercenter survived the Dragon Breath attack. While he had a mere 20% of his HP left, the player was ultimately still alive. 

 

What’s going on? He should’ve died to Dragon Breath! Just then, Ye Ci was hit by a sudden realisation. He must’ve had a Mithril Shirt! She eyed the remaining players in the party. All of them probably came equipped with Mithril Shirts as well! 

 

But she did not have the time to worry about their Mithril Shirt. She attacked again with Poison Breath. 

 

It was not a lethal attack, but would stack damage over time against an opponent. In a situation where a target was constantly healed, the attack might be rendered ineffective. The cooldown of both Poison Breath and Dragon Breath were at thirty seconds. This meant that if the target was able to survive for the duration of the effect, she might not have a chance again. 

 

And as expected, Lotus Supercenter immediately gulped down a bottle of Health Potion while the two players nearby began healing his Gryphon, pulling him back from the verge of death. 

 

Ye Ci narrowed her eyes. She knew that this was her only chance. With two of Ol’ Six’s main attacking abilities on cooldown, there can only be one way… 

 

She narrowed her eyes and flew Ol’ Six higher and over the heads of Lotus Supercenter and his men. 

 

“She’s on top of us, attack her! Don’t give her the chance to attack again!” Four members among the party had been afflicted by Poison Breath, and were gulping down Health Potions to maintain their health. But this did not affect their ability to track the movement of  Ye Ci. They activated Majesty while the ranged players began launching skills after skills at Ye Ci. 

 

She evaded the attack, and planned a flight route for Ol’ Six, before jumping down from Ol’ Six at such a speed that the players taking aim at her did not even have a chance to launch their attacks. 

 

Ye Ci was able to angle herself well, and landed behind Lotus Supercenter. 

 

Lotus Supercenter did not even expect Ye Ci to make such a move. He was a melee player, and he had tasked the ranged player in his party to press the attack on Ye Ci as he directed their actions from a distance. 

 

He saw Ye Ci jumping away from her Dragon, and felt a thud on his steed. The cold blade of a dagger was pressed against his neck before he could even realise what was going on. 

 

“Game over.” Ye Ci whispered into his ears as she sliced her dagger across his neck. He could only watch when his already depleted health bar was drained and he slumped to the front dead. With his Gryphon disappearing along with his health, Lotus Superstar began to fall towards the ground. 

 

Lotus Superstar could see Gongzi You dropping along with him in his black and white vision. They were so close to one another, but his head was pointing downwards, while Gongzi You was facing upwards. 

 

This did not mean that he could not see the taunting smile on her face. He did not even see what happened when his body was slammed away by a force. It was the Dragon. Gongzi You had landed back on her Dragon. She did not even cast a glance at him as she sped towards the rest of his party. 

 

Killing a player would not end Majesty, but it could greatly reduce its potency on a target. Ye Ci quickly realised that Majesty’s effects were already greatly reduced on Ol’ Six. Several Majesty skills that were directed at Ol’ Six resulted in “MISS”.

 

And in a situation like this, the remaining Golden Era players were no threat to her. Only four of the remaining players were of the ranged class, and they were all at a lower level than Ye Ci. 

 

A Holy Dragon’s speed could not be matched by their Gryphons. And this meant that as long as Ye Ci focused her attention on a single target, she could easily defeat her opponents piecemeal. 

 

Ranged classes shared the same traits. Their DPS were high, but their defenses were nothing to write home about. Ye Ci was able to dispatch her opponents easily, while the Cleric of the party was able to avoid death by healing himself up. 

 

Ye Ci did not pursue the fleeing Cleric and the remaining melee player. Her objective was the two flying machines that were dropping players behind Upwards Ho!’s lines. And she knew that the players in the fort were at their limits. 

 

The flying machines were slightly slower than a Holy Dragon. Golden Era’s commanders immediately gave the order for the machines to flee the field of battle once the aerial interception of Gongzi You failed.

 

The Gryphon squadron did not suffer a complete loss only because Gongzi You decided against pursuing its fleeing members. And this fact alone was a victory to them. But if Gongzi You was able to catch up with the flying machines, the result would be catastrophic for Golden Era. and this was why the pilots of the machines immediately changed course with their cargo bays still full of players. 

 

Ye Ci saw only a single flying machine when she arrived in the skies above the fort. The other machine had long fled the area. She narrowed her eyes. Oh, you think you can get away? And she immediately flew towards the remaining machine on dragonback.

 

“Hurry! That Dragon is gaining on us!” the players in the flying machine were panicking. They could not attack with their skills as they were in a transport instead of an aerial steed. This meant that they could only bail out or await death in their seats. 

 

“I know! But this is our maximum speed!” shouted the pilot as he continued flying his machine calmly, unaffected by the panic that was spreading in the passenger compartment. 

 

And the Dragon was fast approaching. 

 

With a loud roar, Ol’ Six angled slightly upwards and landed on the flying machine. 

 

“Where’s the Dragon?!” the passengers’ field of vision was limited. And the disappearance of Ol’ Six from their view spread further panic among their numbers. 

 

But their questions were answered by a violent trembling on the flying machine and huge dents above them. 

 

Ol’ Six decided that trying to claw open the machine was a waste of its energy after its first few attempts. It released the flying machine, and floated to its side, slamming its tail against the machine that was already struggling to stay in the air, and sending the machine tumbling down against the side of a mountain. 

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Day 17 of 31! 

Heavy rain and flash floods everywhere in my state today. Damn we haven't had shit like this for a long time. 

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Stay safe minna-san! Until next time!