This is it.
A fight in between two forces unrelenting; my party and the wizard that stayed afloat throughout the encounter. I sighed, calming my nerves to allow me to look at our enemy with anger for what he's done, but keeping a certain level-headedness that I won't lose myself during the fight.
Just a while ago, Old Glenda took the initiative and volunteered to keep the Dragon at bay. We had no choice but to follow her instructions simply because none of us players can possibly fight against such a creature of might at our current levels. Ambitious and futile, I might say.
"Rangers, stay back and prepare for an attack. Synchronize your move with each other to make a one time blow. You'll be our backup." I told three of the players in our group, including Therese. All of them were wielding their own kind of bow and arrows, but I'm sure that they'll do good as they work together for this event.
"Templars, and Berserkers, you'll be staying in front of the group. You'll be our powerhouses, but we need some sort of a defense too." I added shortly, now nodding my head towards Laurance and three others who were among the mentioned classes earlier. Then I gazed towards my left, smiling at the little boy holding his book of spells firmly in his grasp. I whispered, "Then Alek and I will try to deal the most damage from here."
"Roger that! / On it!" They all said in perfect synchrony as all of us moved to our designated position in a V pattern, with Laurance being the head of the bulk. We looked at each other one final time, a form of goodbye, maybe a pronouncement of goodluck, just before Therese and I made a brief eye contact allowing me to communicate with her about our plan. She gestured towards her two other companions and the three of them angled their weapons high enough to hit the target and start our onslaught of attacks.
As soon as a huge amount of arrows went flying into the air, Alek opens his book and casts a spell that helped boost me high into the air. I used the momentum of this move to strike the hooded man with my spear from above, grunting as I clung to my weapon to make it sink deeper into my target, hoping to hit some flesh. Unfortunately, my attack was inevitably averted and the wizard is defended against my aerial attack through the magical barrier that zoomed into life and becomes visible around him after I hit it with my spear. It was futile to try to strike him again, especially when I knew that the arrows we sent earlier may have been useless too.
A mocking smile emerged from underneath the hood. "Hehehe... did you really think that I'd go down that easily?" He paused momentarily, allowing his smile to widen as he finished the rest of his statement. "Take this!" He yelled, casting a spell that should have cut through my avatar like a knife through butter, only if a Templar didn't block the attack with his shield for me, effectively returning the spell through his shield that hits the magical barrier to make it even more visible to our naked eyes.
I noticed that the barrier began to glow yellow as me and my Templar fellow began our descent to the ground, half thankful of him that I wasn't turned into a sashimi. "Thanks." I said to the player as I turned to look over to them to smile, something they will return shortly after we got to our feet and assumed our positions.
I averted my eye from my allies towards the enemy now with an even more visible barrier of magic protecting him from our attacks. It made me grit my teeth in sheer frustration, but recalling how his shield worked earlier had made me twitch my eyebrow in recognition. I looked back to Old Glenda's words earlier. She is counting on us to stop this madness while she try her best to hold the other beast down, and we're not doing a very good job right now.
I held my spear tightly in my hand as I watched what the hooded stranger was going to do next. He doesn't seem to be bothered about the state of his shield right now, making me doubt if what is on my mind actually what is going on with it. My unfamiliarity with magic in this game is enough to keep me in the dark about this matter.
"That's barely a scratch." The man would then say, pulling me back from my sea of thoughts as our group watched him stretch his hand above his head. He is looking down on our position, like a God about to bring down his might on his creation. "Allow me to demonstrate how... it's supposed to be done."
What looks to be clouds began to gather above his stretched hand, but it's quite impossible for that to happen, considering we are deeply within the Taunborough Cavern, with no obvious holes on the ceiling for the clouds to possibly permeate through. Nevertheless, a similar phenomenon occurs, and fear began to strike my body. My thought process is shattered because the immersion that I've got from this game so far is giving me the sort of fear I never had when playing other non-VR games in the past.
"W-What is he going to do?" A player within our formation says in a clear, but nervous tone. Morale between our members dropped, and all of us stood there watching intently what would happen next. No one desired to look away from the scene, as if it was a once in a lifetime moment, a chance that will never happen again.
Air seeped through my gritted teeth as I tried to force myself to be courageous in this situation. Through an unspoken agreement, they all depend on me to make the decisions for the entire party in this scenario.
I paused momentarily to gaze at my companions still enveloped in fear. Laurance is gripping his weapon tightly and his face is showing obvious frustration, while Therese clutched her hand above her chest as our eyes met, merely a coincidence. I attempted to nod my head to her in acknowledgement as I shifted my head to look at Alek and his party.
"Everyone! Tighten your defenses! I want all shields to the front!" I yelled to the top of my lungs, making sure I'd reach the ears of each and every player in the area so that they'll focus on my words, and not the incoming danger that loomed above us. "Alek, Therese! I need you both to cast a shield around us to help support the Templars."
"What are you planning to do, Aron?" Laurance asks out of nowhere, now standing near my position because he moved away from the frontline while the Templars continued to move in.
I simply gave him a smile as I dragged him towards the center of our group; we huddled close to each other so that we can keep the protection of Therese and Alek's spell effectively around us. He seems reluctant to follow my lead, but allowed me to take him to places anyway.
You just have to trust me on this one, Laurance.
I thought to myself.
With our preparations completed, we braced ourselves for what is coming next. I looked up to find Old Glenda still tied in her own skirmish against the Dragon that the hooded wizard who floated a distance away from our group continues to control, gesturing to me that we need to finish this soon.
I looked up towards the hooded man, finding that what looked like clouds above him earlier now forms a sphere twice the size of his own palm. It was black and smokey. It appeared extremely dangerous, and yet the wizard held it in between his fingers like it was nothing but a toy.
I gulped nothing from my throat, unable to move my eyes away from my own fear that if I do, all of us will perish in an instant. It made me forget that this was a game and genuinely feared for my life, especially when the man lifts it high up into the air, like he was preparing to throw it to us like a game of dodgeball.
I saw his lips tremble, speaking something that I wasn't able to hear from the distance that separated us, and then the chaos began. He withdraws his hand from its earlier position as soon as he lets go of the magical sphere he was just holding earlier.
My eyes widened in surprise, searching my environment for any signs of the ball that I felt approach our position. I found it a minute later, when it was already merely a few feet away from us all. It was huge and it seems to block illumination from the glowing blobs of Spring Green Hemaedonite that were once stuck on the walls of the cave..
"Brace for impact!" Alek yelped as he clutched his book closer to his chest, perhaps out of fear. I touched his shoulder with my hand while the other clutched my spear and waited for what is to happen. I am putting all of my trust towards my companions at this point. Their shield is all we can rely on for defense.
The scene that followed was blocked by hissing and the sound of barriers breaking. The dark and murky ball of magic collided with our own magic shield which continued to become visible as the contact becomes longer. It made me twitch an eyebrow in recognition once again.
"Help-! Shield... can't... last any longer!" Alek yelped once again, causing me to shift my head to look at him struggle to keep the shield up by exerting magic to power it up again.
I heaved a sigh to collect my bearings, letting myself calm down amidst the chaos of our situation. I looked back to Alek and whispered, "Drop the shield."
He raised his eyebrow to me in question. "What? D-Do you want us all to die here?"
"It's going to go through the shield no matter what you do. I just know it." I answered him in nearly a monotone, pointing something I know will happen through instinct. This man obviously has more power compared to us, but if we are going to be smart about this, I'm sure that we will be able to defeat him too.
This is a battle of wits, not just of strength.
When the barriers are finally down, the Templars were forced to step in and raise their shields to retaliate and continue our defensive maneuver. The shields generated a strong deterrence, since it appeared we were sacrificing our own people to survive something we clearly have no power against. If they only knew the true potential of this amazing skill, perhaps they'd think the way I do.
"Gah!" Grunting and howling filled our ears as the Templars tried their best to defend us all against the magic sphere that our enemy thrown our way. Speaking of which, I lifted my eye from the event before me, towards the ceiling from which I've known the hooded man to still be floating, perhaps gloating about his victory against us.
My eyes become as wide as saucers after I realized he was no longer there. Perhaps he used this orb of magic to distract us from his true intentions. I gasped, looking towards Old Glenda and the dragon as they both face the enemy, side by side. The Dragon has completely been weakened at this point, its howls no longer as fierce as they were before. Old Glenda knows about it too, hence she puts herself before her friend as she raises her staff above shoulder level to show that she's willing to fight.
My senses are overloaded. I found it hard to move my legs, my arms, nor open my mouth to speak. I was frozen in space, while I continued to hear the sound of battle in both areas of the cave. First, the hissing ends, resulting in cheering and the noise of victory. Then, it was shouting and the exchange of blows, but it seems that my companions were too exhausted from defending themselves against this attack to be able to see what is going on beside them.
I tried to gulp nothing from my throat, watching with renewed vigor as Old Glenda maneuvered her way through the wizard's attacks. She's skillful, graceful even for someone of her age, but her movement rely on a certain 'lag' that makes her a second late to respond to him. It was a good display of magic like how I remembered novels portrayed it, but skill alone was not enough to bring the hooded wizard down.
A second will pass and the wizard summons a pillar of magic from the ground, causing Old Glenda to move to the side, and the Dragon to howl as if warning her of danger, only that she doesn't see it coming; it was already too late when I realized what had happened next. A magical dagger stabbed the old woman from behind, and she fell to the ground with wide eyes as her health continued to deplete.
No!
My mind screamed at me, but my body still refused to move, almost as if I was forced into a state of sleep paralysis. I searched for Old Glenda's face as she looked up and our eyes met briefly. I saw her speak something, her mouth opening to show her cracked lips, but I couldn't hear what she said as she vanished before my very eyes.
I felt tears well up from my eyelids. Old Glenda may have been an NPC, and we may have not spent many time together as we've only met today, but I remember cherishing what little time we spent traveling to Taunborough Cavern, or even when we were just chatting about her past back in town.
I felt angry, very angry about what is going on, and my current inability to act on my feelings made me more frustrated than ever. Old Glenda counted on us to finish this mess, and yet it only took this wizard one orb to keep us occupied and stop us from spoiling his plans. I felt guilty about what happened, and attempted to scream to the top of my lungs, only that no voice came out of my vessel.
The man faced us, faced me, smirking as he began to command the Dragon once again. What do we do now? How are we going to defeat this man? What will happen to us?
Thoughts poured within my mind as I continued to descend deeper and deeper into my own negativity.