As he observed his opponent, he raised a barrier of darkness in front of himself as another volley of projectiles came in. Again, the projectiles failed to pierce, leaving the fully-covered gunner to begin reloading his large, black-steel rifle.
"You're just wasting bullets this way, you know," Zero called out to the player, holding the spiraling shield up with one hand.
The gunner responded quietly, "Is that what you think?"
It was a somewhat perplexing response as Zero found himself taken aback by the seemingly high-level gunner's stubbornness in continuing to fire away at the sturdy barrier.
'I doubt there's a single player that doesn't recognize who I am at this point. He knows who I am, so he should know that in a battle of attrition, I'll win ten times out of ten. What's he after here? Let's see–that weapon he's using, I recognize it,' Zero thought.
He recognized the weapon–the "Gridlock": an end-game, single-barreled rune gun that dropped from an electric dragon boss known as "Grillian." It wasn't something he saw often, as the heavy assortment of rune guns weren't popular.
The approach Zero took was devoid of carelessness as he refused to rush the fight, instead staying on the defensive and remaining elusive as he observed his opponent. When it came to player-versus-player combat, it was different from battling NPCs.
'With how stats and skills can multiply into each other, the damage potential players can reach far outweighs what mobs are capable of dishing out. In turn, players have astronomically lower HP than bosses, so that means one thing: a single, well-placed attack can one shot somebody even higher level than you,' Zero thought.
It was the sort of thrill one couldn't achieve through fighting the enemies native to the world of Abyss: a life-or-death encounter with another player where words couldn't be spoken, with the only outcome being one being slain and removed from the virtual world.
He used the surrounding pillars to limit the gunner's line of sight on him while continuing to observe him. The intent was simple: he wanted to bait the player into using his skills.
There wasn't need for anything fancy as he knew he could defend the projectiles, at least the ones currently being used—
["Tiger Bolt"]
The quiet gunner pivoted, sliding from behind the pillar as he pulled the trigger of his weapon, this time erupting the barrel with a class-unique skill. Emerald electricity shaped itself into that of a feral beast, rushing towards the black-armored player with ferocious speed.
["In Abyss Online, there is a single skill above all else that is considered to be the worst in the game. Due to its absurd difficulty to pull off and the risk being too heavy, it is deemed unusable by players. Most players, that is."]
As the bullet, armored by the lightning tiger, neared Zero, he dashed towards it in response–a decision that seemed completely wrong to the gunner.
["If there was one ability that could be chosen as the reason for Zero being at the pinnacle of Abyss Online, the choice would be none other than–"]
'What–? Why is he moving towards it?' The incognito player questioned.
Zero wielded his sword with both hands, halting his momentum as he got within a single meter of the erratic projectile before spinning around. As he spun, a cloak of silver light extended itself around him in the shape of platinum wings.
["Dead Man's Reversal"]
Using the momentum he gained, he used the ethereal wings along the movement of his sword, completely reversing the force behind the lightning-coiled bullet on its destructive path. With that singular movement, executed flawlessly with precision and grace, the gunner's high-end attack was deflected, sent straight back towards the hostile player–with two-times the original power.
"Gahhh–!" The gunner flinched, attempting to jump out of the way.
It came in too fast, bolstered by amplified speed as it landed with a direct hit on the gunner. The impact rattled the quartz pillars, sending vibrations through the marble flooring as strands of electricity danced in the garden.
["Dead Man's Reversal": a skill deemed the worst for its absurd difficulty. One must match the momentum and timing of the attack in front of them. If they fail to pull it off with frame-perfect precision, they will endure the attack at twice its original power. However, if they succeed, it will be deflected back towards its source with amplified impact: it can be used on any ability."]
"Phew," Zero exhaled calmly as the wind swirled around him in the aftermath of the perfectly-executed counter.
The tall, thorny plants of red skin were rustled up as the gunner laid there, twitching as the electricity from his own attack paralyzed him.
"Ghhh…" The laid-out player winced in pain.
Zero walked over, keeping his sword out as he stopped in front of the nameless player, pointing the end of his blade down at him, "Did you know I was coming here? Or did you find out I had already arrived?"
The player removed his own mask, revealing the face of a middle-aged man with dark-brown skin and shaggy, black hair, breathing out as he laid there with his health points quickly dwindling.
"I'm about to log out forever now, what's the point in telling ya' anything?" The gunner said.
As Zero looked down at the man, he used ["Sleuth"] again, this time finding it unblocked:
[Jarun Beasly] [Level: 84] [Class: Gunner] [Affiliation: Black Moon Assassins]
"I might be willing to help you if you give me information," Zero said.
Following his words, the black-armored man swiped his index finger, bringing up his personal menu before tapping on a particular point. A vial filled with luscious, bright-red liquid manifested into his hand, which he shook side-to-side to entice the wounded player.
"...I see why you're at the top of this game. You're cold-blooded," Jarun wryly laughed, coughing up, "But, ya ain't won nothin' yet."
"What?" Zero asked with a raised eyebrow.
BOOOOM
"GAAAAH!"
–In the near distance, an explosion rang through the indoor garden, followed by a panicked yell from what sounded like the companion he arrived with.
'There was another player–?' Zero realized.
Jarun sat up with a wide smile on his face, propping himself on his elbows as he yelled out, "You're fucked, loser! Of course you'd be the number one player in the game–you don't even have a life outside of it! The entire guild knows you're here–you're going to be utterly surrounded soon enough, ha-ha–Gkk!"
"Shut up, would you?"
The obsidian blade was pierced through the gunner's body, silencing him as the last health points of Jarun were cast away into nothingness. Vanquishing the player, the dark-skinned avatar faded away into particles.
Though the words from the defeated gunner were wished to be doubtful, the footsteps of many players were heard on Zero's enhanced senses.
'He said his entire guild knows I'm here. I'm assuming he messaged all of them after spotting me himself. What a pain in the ass,' he thought.
Quickly, he opened his inventory, scrolling through the plethora of items he stored before spawning one into his hand: a thin, yellow piece of paper.
"Consume: Zone Ticket," Zero spoke, using the command to activate the item.
The paper was cast away into shreds before a silver prompt appeared in front of the player's eyes, giving him the info he sought:
[CURRENT INSTANCE: The Millenium Zone] [INSTANCE BOSS: AVAILABLE] [NO. PLAYERS CURRENTLY IN: 20/25]
'Twenty players are here. Looks like it wasn't a bluff. Sounds like Vangrave already ran into one. Once you're in a raid location, you can't use any teleportation skills. The only way out is to clear it, log out, or die. Not a bad plan, if they planned this. ' Zero thought.
"What a perfect chance," he said to himself as he stood back up, glancing around as he could hear footsteps beyond the veil of tall plants, "I'll be able to test out my new skills on some fodder."