The only option that could 100% guarantee our win was to get Roxline out here tom one-shot everything!
"Vital Puncture!" Gash successfully stunned Petal as soon as she threw three crystals my direction.
The crystals were each colored blue and displayed the reverse of a death animation for monsters as soon as Petal threw them. While they were all in the air, thousands of tiny red crystals were created and gathered around the crystals to form two goblins and an orc. All of which turned around to dispatch of Petal's attacker.
"Todd! Jeff! Take Matthew's friends far away from here! All the way back to Jericho!"
The two slimes that had Aegis and Violet trapped began to sludge away, but I made it just in time to cut down one of them.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" I yelled as I used all of my might to take down the slime that had Violet encased in one fell swoop. As it returned to its crystal form, Violet still had some residue slime being dissipated that she tried to wipe off, but managed to make it even worse. "Ewww..." She said.
Since the slime is dead, it's going to go away, so it's not like it's that bad.
I had no time to immediately save Aegis, so the other slime slid away with him, Aegis wearing a face disappointment as he was carried off. It was as if he was saying "Dude, really?" As he disappeared into the horizon. Can you blame me? We need a healer!
As the two goblins lunged at me, I dodged them and ran to the back of the carriage. I peered inside and saw Roxline and Polk with their eyes closed. It was Polk's turn to log off for a break, so I didn't expect him to be on. Roxline however...
"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" I grabbed the mage by her shoulders and shook her awake.
"We are?" Roxline rubbed her eye.
"Yes!" I took her and dragged her out of the tent.
As I dragged her out, she immediately used one of her skills to fend off the attackers.
"Wind God's Cry!" She swung her staff to the right and with it, came destructive winds comparable to the strongest of hurricanes. Petal and her crew of monsters immediately had to go on the offensive. It was as if they already knew who they were dealing with as soon as they confirmed who she was.
As for Petal and her giant, the giant immediately prostrated his body across the road, blocking the Support hero from everyone else. It then used an ability that turned it's skin to steel. It must've been trying to harden itself to soften the blow. Petal even attempted to increase the giants defenses.
"MONSTROUS DEFENSE!" She yelled out to buff the giant.
As soon as the Roxline's attack made contact with the giant's side, it clashed. And once it clashed, for the first time, the winds had an opposing force resist it.
All other winds ended up destroying everything in front of us. The winds cut and took down every tree in front of us. Countless thundering sounds could be heard as the trees that were cut down hit the floor. Once the dust and smoke cleared, it was revealed that the forest was no longer a forest, but a field of stumps and logs. I was completely blown away. So this is what a level 45 mage could do in this game. Amazing...
The dust clearing also revealed that the giant didn't make it either. a large pool of blood lied on the floor where the giant used to be. On the end of the pool of blood was Gash, Petal, and the three monsters recovering from being blown back a couple of yards.
Gash saw this as an opportunity and took down the monsters as they were trying to get up. He was about to end Petal, but she presented a crystal that glowed yellow. He stopped in his tracks at the sight of it.
Roxline pointed her staff at Petal.
"That was a warning shot. If you don't leave us alone, then you'll be meeting your buddies in the afterlife."
"I know you wouldn't..."
"Excuse me?" Roxline raised her eyebrow.
"The wizard known as Roxline. Otherwise known as the wielder of the first yellow item: Peladore. It gives its user the ability to level up ten times faster than anyone else. For the first week you got it, you were fairly quick with the leveling. Whereas people that grinded the came as hard as they could only got to level 7, you were already at level 21. But after that, your leveling got slow. Why is that? I'll tell you the answer..." Petal pointed an accusing finger at the mage.
"It's because you don't like doing anything in the game! You just like getting paid to play it!"
Roxline crossed the pool of blood and gave the enemy guild leader a death glare. "Is that so? Is that REALLY what you think?"
"Yes!" Petal stared right back with conviction. Although she wore a face of determination, she was sweating bullets. I don't blame her. She was up against someone twice her level. I began to sweat at the intensity of the situation and I wasn't even at the center of it.
"Geez! You called my bluff!" Roxline threw up her hands in surrender.
Wait, Roxline threw up her hands in surrender?!
I looked over to Violet and then to Gash. They also were stumped at what was happening. I'm glad I'm not the only one.
"I couldn't really care less about what happens to everyone here. Lucia knows that, so I was just hired to be a sort of deterrent for any guilds that wanted to interfere. Just don't mess with the carriage and we'll be fine."
"Fine by me. The plan was to just halt you guys so that my guild could get ahead." Petal said.
There's no way. There's no way in hell that she's going to back down from this fight. I can't believe that there are people in this world like her that exist. I grabbed her by the shoulder and turned her around.
"You have all of this power and you're not going to do a thing with it?! You're despicable! You're horrible! You could easily wipe demon general after demon general but you don't! You sit at the top and laze about with your gift! Give it to someone that would actually put it to good use or actually do something for society-" Roxline immediately pointed her staff to me as I held her shoulder. The warning was clear: if I didn't let go, she would kill me.
As I let go of her shoulder, she explained "This game is a perfect mirror of what the real world is. Actually do something for society?! Don't make me laugh. You think billionaires are waking up in cold sweats thinking about the things they could be doing for society? Of course not! The truth is, it's every man for himself. I was unfortunate in the last world by thinking otherwise, but I won't make the same mistake here." Roxline stepped back into the back of the stagecoach and I yelled in frustration.
"DAMN IT!"
"And with that, it's time for me to take care of you two. It's a shame. I wanted to send you guys back to Jericho, but if you're threatening my life, I have no other chose but to use him...COME OUT! ORIGAMI KAMI!" Petal's yellow crystal glowed as she threw it at Gash. He attempted to cut it in two, but an arm holding a sword grew from it and intercepted Gash's attack. Everything else happened in an instant.
Gash bailed on his commitment to his attack and dolphin dove out of harms way.
Violet seemed confused as to why Gash didn't go through with his attack, but I knew exactly why. The truth is that Gash used both of his swords in his initial swing, but when the monster intercepted, it cut through Gash's swords like they were paper. Gash noticed this and contorted his body to avoid the monster's attack and jump out of the way.
As Gash dodged the attack, it took complete form into a...samurai.
But not just any samurai. A quick look at the color and even texture of his skin revealed that he was entirely made of paper. This is quickly spelling trouble.
"Try to keep up, Violet." I told her as I prepared a stance to enter the fight.
"R-right!" Violet readied herself for what was up ahead.
I unequipped my armor to reveal only my underwear.
"O-oh my!" Violet was going to hide her face behind her hands, but realized she had to pay attention somewhat so she just looked away.
"GET USED TO SEEING ME LIKE THIS, VIOLET!"
"W-W-W-W-W-W-W-W-WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT!?" It was as if heaps of steam was rising from her head as I said that.
"I'm gonna be like this the entire fight. That's what I mean."
"Oh...right!"
There's no point in risking getting Potenshia destroyed by this thing. Besides, I'll probably move faster without it. I need speed more than anything in this fight. In terms of my weapon, I'll just have to hope that it doesn't get cut to ribbons.
As Violet and I charged towards the paper samurai, it swung it's sword at me and I made contact with my axe. The two blades successfully clashed and sparks flew. This is good. I at least know that my weapon won't get destroyed by this.
As we clashed, Gash got a boulder he found and attempted to strike at the samurai's head with it.
"WAIT DON'T-" I yelled out, but I was too late.
Gash's boulder was instantly minced into fine sand and his hands immediately followed. By the time he was finished with the attack, he was missing both of his hands. As blood flowed out of where his hands used to be, he looked at them, dropped to his knees, and screamed.
"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-"